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Hi all,
Am I correct in thinking that the Magic will sync with a MS exchange server without additional software, where as the G1 requires a third party application?
If so, can the Magic version of Android be install on the G1?
Apologies if this has already been covered but I havent found a thread covering this despite yet.
Cheers
Pug
Hi,
Neither of the phones have exchange support out of the box. HTC had put exchange support in their Hero rom and people have ripped it out and used it in their own cooked roms.
Your correct there are 3rd party apps for using exchange in the market place.
Personally i dont have any recommendations for any of them though.
thanks,
Jon
The Android builds with Exchange support work OK, but it's pretty barebones in features, and you can't select folders other than Inbox and Sent Items to be automatically synced. I started using Nitrodesk's Touchdown and it seems to fit the bill.
Thanks for the answers. My brother has the G1 and was about to buy Touchdown and I should have a Magic by the end of the week, so we were hoping that if the has native exchange support, there was hope that the G1 would soon have it. We will look at the Magic exchange offering before buying Touchdown's solution.
Does the native exchange client software sync with Inbox sub folders?
Is there a review of Touchdown anywhere?
(I dont have an Android phone to hand quite yet)
Thanks
touchdown review
I pretty much swear by touchdown. It's got a lot of good features, exchange 2003 and 2007 support activesync/push support, sig support, calander view and creation support, and lots of other stuff. go to the market and try the trial version and see if you like the look and feel, but overall, it's pretty awesome.
rkimbal45 said:
I pretty much swear by touchdown. It's got a lot of good features, exchange 2003 and 2007 support activesync/push support, sig support, calander view and creation support, and lots of other stuff. go to the market and try the trial version and see if you like the look and feel, but overall, it's pretty awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its good in every respect but one. it doesnt push its internal calendar to the phones calendar
pnayak77 said:
Thanks for the answers. My brother has the G1 and was about to buy Touchdown and I should have a Magic by the end of the week, so we were hoping that if the has native exchange support, there was hope that the G1 would soon have it. We will look at the Magic exchange offering before buying Touchdown's solution.
Does the native exchange client software sync with Inbox sub folders?
Is there a review of Touchdown anywhere?
(I dont have an Android phone to hand quite yet)
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just said it doesn't. Touchdown is able to though.
Hi,
I am a system administrator for my company and i am considering switching from windows mobile devices to android devices in our company.
What i am looking for is people who use or have used there android with exchange.
This is mandatory in our company.
The phone needs to be able to sync Email, Contacts and Calendar with MS Exchange.
Are there people who can confirm that
- this works.
- what is your experience.
- Does is work like on a windows mobile device?
- Does it run smooth
- are there any complications.
- Is there anything that needs to be done server side (i assume not)
Any information would help.
Also i would like to know,
From the 3 android phones that are now available (g1, magic & hero)
Seeing that they are all HTC made, do they all have the htc exchange support implemented?
And if not, which ones don't support it, and is there an alternative solution for it?
Thank you in advanced.
Alex
A little info...
anheuer said:
Hi,
Are there people who can confirm that
- this works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this works. The HTC Exchange app "Work Mail" (mail.apk) allows for syncing of mail only. Complete Exchange sync support is available at this time via thrid party apps only. The best I've seen so far is Touchdown. A 5 day demo is available for testing. This solution is frowned upon by all my sysadmin pals because of two reasons... 1) added cost per end user and 2) its not native therefore you're relying on a third party for support. If they go under, your elegant solution is toast.
- what is your experience.
--> See above. Touchdown works well. Mail.apk gets the mail down but sync can be an issue and calendar, contacts and tasks is a NOGO.
- Does is work like on a windows mobile device?
--> Don't think I know what you're asking but... if you mean does it work like windows mobile's implementation of Outlook/Activesync then... not really. Sync is just like Activesync in that it polls your Exchange server periodically and checks for new items. See above for differences.
- Does it run smooth
--> Sure, though some have reported intermittent sync issues, I have not had that problem. Bear in mind pretty much everyone using Mail.apk is running some flavor of an experimental ROM.
- are there any complications.
-->typically, yes. See above
- Is there anything that needs to be done server side (i assume not)
-->no, no config changes are required to run either mail.apk or Touchdown
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also i would like to know,
From the 3 android phones that are now available (g1, magic & hero)
Seeing that they are all HTC made, do they all have the htc exchange support implemented?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mail.apk or Work Mail is a part of the ROMS for newer HTC devices, it is not intended to be used on the HTC Dream/G1 but has been ported over by kickass people to be used on the G1 and is included in newer modded roms like Cyanogens. I believe it first popped up in the Sapphire ROM, search here for in And.dev for the thread that clued me in to its existence.
So bear in mind, any solution you employ will either be entirely 3rd party or incomplete at this time. Also, the Dream/G1 is the only phone with a keyboard, I don't know about you but I wouldn't be composing emails with an onscreen keyboard.
Hope that helps and that I didn't misrepresent anything. If I got any of this wrong get in here and spank me good guys.
innerspace said:
Yes, this works. The HTC Exchange app "Work Mail" (mail.apk) allows for syncing of mail.....................
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply.
I assume that when i use the application Touchdown on the G1, that this will also work right?
On our mail server we enforce 2 things when connected to the exchange mail.
1. force password protection on the device
2. force encryption for files on device and SD card.
Do you have experience with this in combination with Touchdown?
Does it ignore it?
Will it enforce it?
Because i think we at least want password protection
(and then i mean that the entire phone cannot be used until the password has been typed. to protect all date on the phone.)
Just one additional point - the "work email" app DOES provide for full Exchange support (ie. contacts, calendar, email) on SOME ROMs. Any ROM that uses an HTC branded Magic ROM as its basis will have this, whereas Google branded ROMs do not (although they can run the application if one acquires it, in such case you'll get email only - most ROMs over on the development board bundle at least the email only version).
A good ROM to use for this is the Smartphone France ROM, which has full support, and is a moderately fast ROM.
I'm not sure about encryption and/or password protection for Exchange but certainly you can add passwords or even gesture based locking onto Android phones.
I personally found Touchdown to be complete and total gash, just couldn't get it to work at all well. Either it wouldn't sync at all, or it'd take ages for mails to appear, or you'd get a random subset of an inbox rather than a complete listing. However, most people who have used Touchdown seem to think my experience is in a minority.
Loccy said:
Just one additional point - the "work email" app DOES provide for full Exchange support (ie. contacts, calendar, email) on SOME ROMs. Any ROM that uses an HTC branded Magic ROM as its basis will have this, whereas Google branded ROMs do not (although they can run the application if one acquires it, in such case you'll get email only - most ROMs over on the development board bundle at least the email only version).
A good ROM to use for this is the Smartphone France ROM, which has full support, and is a moderately fast ROM.
I'm not sure about encryption and/or password protection for Exchange but certainly you can add passwords or even gesture based locking onto Android phones.
I personally found Touchdown to be complete and total gash, just couldn't get it to work at all well. Either it wouldn't sync at all, or it'd take ages for mails to appear, or you'd get a random subset of an inbox rather than a complete listing. However, most people who have used Touchdown seem to think my experience is in a minority.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you suggest one or more of those locking apps?
So if i understand correct.
The only way to not have to worry about which android phone people would like to use, and still have full exchange functionality is by using touchdown.
If i dont want to use that, then i need to get an android phone that is htc branded, or change the rom to a custom rom.
All Rogers and Hero ROM's have full exchange support NATIVE to the ROM.. do not go the Touchdown route.
As Android is increasingly supporting exchange, Touchdown will be less and less supported.
I am currently running Soulife's Rogers ROM and it handles exchange (email/contacts/calendar) totally native and works really well.
As for your company, it really depends on how many handsets you are supporting, and also depends on whether you really want to root and run different roms on all these devices as well.
I'd probably wait until an Android phone is released in your area that fully supports exchange natively.
There is no remote wipe for Android ... so if you are concerned about security or have to enforce password or locking policies then you should consider blackberry server ... I'm in the same boat as you, would like to use Android but the management tools are not there yet.
I have a magic flashed to jacHero, all aspects of exchange work fine, except one thing. When I try to change the date on a meeting invitation, I get a force close. I guess this is a problem with the ROM, as the stock Rogers ROM did not have this issue.
I have also tried touchdown, which works fine, and has tasks (which is a plus), but I prefer the native app.
Loccy said:
Just one additional point - the "work email" app DOES provide for full Exchange support (ie. contacts, calendar, email) on SOME ROMs. Any ROM that uses an HTC branded Magic ROM as its basis will have this, whereas Google branded ROMs do not (although they can run the application if one acquires it, in such case you'll get email only - most ROMs over on the development board bundle at least the email only version).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm using an HTC ROM on my vodafone/Google branded magic (which does not sync with exchange by default) and the exchange sync works quite well. i get email, calendar and contacts.
one thing though, with regards to exchange contacts, there doesn't seem to be a way to browse the GAL.
in my case i have to click menu, then company directory. then i can type an entry into the search box.
it does feel a bit cumbersome, but i guess it's better than your phone trying to download several thousand GAL entries to your phone.
Do you need wi-fi?
If you need to use wi-fi in your company, and if you are using WPA-Enterprise (AD auth), keep in mind that android doesn't support it yet (at least out of the box).
I see there are a few ROMs out there that have full Exchange support built in, but coming from WinMo phones, flashing an Android phone seems to me a pretty daunting task (even after reading the newbie thread).
Is there any way to get full Exchange functionality without flashing?
If I were 100% certain I was going to keep this phone, I would start flashing it. But it's for my girlfriend, who has been using an iPhone connected to my Exchange server for over a year now.
Try RoadSync from the Android Market. Not free but does the job pretty well.
Looks like it does it all. It's a shame the HTC app doesn't do it all, though. Especially when even the iPhone has Exchange support for no extra charge.
If she keeps the phone, I'll most definitely do a custom ROM, though I still think it's a little much for me. We'll see...
Thanks for the help.
there are three versions of mail that i'm aware of.
one does not support exchange at all (this is the default on "google experience" phones).
one does limited support of exchange (it does email, but i don't think it does contacts or calendar).
and the third one (which i am using) does email, calendar and contacts.
it doesn't look pretty, but it lets me send an receive while i'm away from my desk, so it suits me just fine.
which version you get depends on a) which telco you get your phone from and/or b) which rom you're using.
When I first recieved the Evo, everything synchronized just fine. Contacts both ways, emails, and calendar, but after about 5 hours, I started getting a notification that there were Exchange sync issues.
Whenever I would open up the accounts page under settings, I would see the sync symbol next to Contacts, repeatedly trying, over and over again. Finally, after a while, it stops, and a sync symbol with an exclamation point appears in the notification bar, as well as next to Contacts, and at the bottom of the accounts page, the same symbol with "An I/O error has occurred," explanation.
I don't understand what is going on here... as the original sync worked great. I can remove my Exchange account and re-add, and it works great for a few hours. Same thing if I wipe the phone completely, (factory reset.) The only solution I have had so far is to un-tick the Contact sync, and it seems to work okay, but obviously I need this service to work properly.
I have tried searching for a few days now and couldn't find anything really related to this. Some have had issues with reboots, and I had it BAD two days ago, and I finally wiped my phone. I do believe that there are some serious core Exchange integration problems on the Evo..
Does anyone have any insight on the matter, or should I just email HTC? Would a cooked ROM perhaps be any better?
Thanks guys
Same issue here. Very frustrating.
theadlee said:
Same issue here. Very frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, this DESTROYS my battery. If I actually let it attempt to keep syncing, it's completely dead within an hour.
Also have the same issues and was searching for answers to no avail. Another problem I have is that sometimes random emails just stop showing up on the phone. I can open once and view but later they are gone even though they haven't been deleted. I obviously see them on my outlook on my computer but never see them again on the phone. I hoping an update in the future will fix these issues as I never had a problem with my Touch Pro so I'm thinking it's not the server at work.
njward75 said:
Also have the same issues and was searching for answers to no avail. Another problem I have is that sometimes random emails just stop showing up on the phone. I can open once and view but later they are gone even though they haven't been deleted. I obviously see them on my outlook on my computer but never see them again on the phone. I hoping an update in the future will fix these issues as I never had a problem with my Touch Pro so I'm thinking it's not the server at work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem on my Pre either, and I really don't want to have to buy 3rd-party software to fix something that is supposedly integrated into the phone...
Fellas, talk to your IT dept and have them check the Exchange logs. Different versions of Exchange have different levels of administration over mobile synchronization.
I have an EAS on my EVO with no issue whatsoever.
Bear in mind, Exchange 2003 doesn't seem to like Android synching with a mailbox that was previously synched with another device. I have seen synchs crash consistently until the synch relationship is deleted on the server side.
i have zero issues with exchange on the android.
you guy can try touchdown form the market. its the best exchange app out. dataviz has road sync which is another idea. i have not used road sync but have used touchdown on the hero. it works well.. bullet proof.
i would check with your respective IT Admins and make sure they allow Android handsets to access the server. some companies do not OR recommend you use a 3rd party app (such as touchdown)
Strange, I had my phone replaced yesterday, and it worked from about 5pm to 9:45am today, perfectly... then out of nowhere, it failed, and is now in an infinite loop to sync contacts.
Something to do with Facebook
I think it has something to do with contacts that are linked to Facebook. Very Very frustrating.
theadlee said:
I think it has something to do with contacts that are linked to Facebook. Very Very frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just created a ticket with my IT department to investigate the logs to see what is going on. Something tells me it's related to Sense, and not my Exchange server at all... considering that multiple Windows Mobile phones, and my Palm Pre have all worked fine... even some of my old Sprint dumbphones worked okay, when I used Sprint Email.
I would root my phone and try a standard version of Android, but isn't it Sense that does the Exchange sync? or is that built into Android at this point?
ScrapMaker said:
I just created a ticket with my IT department to investigate the logs to see what is going on. Something tells me it's related to Sense, and not my Exchange server at all... considering that multiple Windows Mobile phones, and my Palm Pre have all worked fine... even some of my old Sprint dumbphones worked okay, when I used Sprint Email.
I would root my phone and try a standard version of Android, but isn't it Sense that does the Exchange sync? or is that built into Android at this point?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried touchdown and can't even get it to create an account. I think it maybe something with my work server that these programs don't like. I know that my employer was too cheap to get an exchange server so they use some sort of activesync client that runs on the standard server. Not an IT guy so I don't know how this affects things but I do know that I had no issues like this with the windows mobile email. On top of my contacts not syncing, I still have emails that randomly disappear or no longer have a body to the email after viewing once. Very strange and very frustrating that I have no work around.
Well we are definitely using Exchange 2007, and I had to bypass our whole "ticketing system," and contact our Exchange/Outlook department secretly. I am hoping for a response in the next day or so. I bet you anything it has to do with the policy-push that happens once or twice a day... basically re-affirms your device is compliant. IE, if you went through and manually disabled your password protection, this is SUPPOSED to push out the requirement again.
One thing I should probably try, is re-wiping my phone and NEVER installing lockpicker... even though the phone is nearly non-functional without that handy utility, perhaps that can be causing issues?
Been running HTC Sense, and Exchange on my EVO without any issues for three weeks.
I have not made any changes to the original setup, other than adding about ten apps from Market Place.
Holy crap, I just got a call from two highest-level managers (with attitude, I might add,) that no one from the company is _ALLOWED_ to help me get this to work. It's an unsupported device. So are iPhones and all WM phones... so this is bizarre.
Basically, this ActiveSync service is a back-door offering, with zero support, and everyone is real hush-hush about it. My asking to investigate the logs seems to have REALLY irritated people in my company, and this is a big place. I hope I didn't create waves... damnit Android, you are ruining my life!!
What assholes. I hate these arrogant ass IT guys. They need to recognize that they are a cost center which only exist to make you a more effecient employee. If your effeciency is enhanced by using android vs a crappy blackberry, they need to make reasonable efforts to accomodate you.
I would send an email to THEIR boss, and ask him what the mission of an IT organization should be. And if he gives you crap, ask the CIO.
You don't understand... the top-dogs just made their call... the next higher up is the VP of our IT group... basically, if I bring it up again, I can consider myself terminated. I didn't realize this was such a sore subject, but apparently it is.
Apparently it has a lot to do with export control, policies, all sorts of random BS that I don't really know about. The ActiveSync service is mainly provided as a back-door 'friendly' service to help those who don't get corporate blackberries.
So it's totally unsupported, and I don't know anyone I can buy a few drinks for in order to get this fixed. I guess I'll have to work the other angle with HTC, but damnit, I already know nothing will help there. Even if they were to offer to help, my IT department would be less than willing to lend a helping hand.
Also, most of our stuff is out-sourced... but I know there are DEFINITELY people in my own building that can help me---I just don't know who, and I also don't want them getting in trouble.
It just bothers me that when the iPhone came out, there were enough 'important' people around, so that even though it's "not supported," our environment was definitely modified to work with the phone...
Le Sigh.
Man, this problem is killing me... I have delete my exchange account twice a day.
man, I wish there was a solution to this... no one else is having this issue?
You could root and get Cyans new Froyo build, it has native exchange support. There is definitely differences between HTC sense exchange and Android exchange.
fragchild said:
You could root and get Cyans new Froyo build, it has native exchange support. There is definitely differences between HTC sense exchange and Android exchange.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does this build support Camera and 4G? I keep hearing about these new ROMs and all their problems.
I just installed TouchDown and figured I'd give it a whirl. If the new Froyo build works on all aspects, I'd obviously rather have that. I like the integration of the stock solution. I don't like that I will have to use TouchDown for everything... calendar alerts, and everything, but we'll see. I also hate that I might have to pay $20 for something that should work out of the box...
Hello my friends. Thank you in advanced for any help/input you give.
Here's my thing.. I am an avid M$er (yes I know, but I get as much good from it as the bad). I'm a professional IT guy, and I run my home network on Enterprise lvl MS Server software and Windows on all PCs.
I have been using WinMo since the days of PPC, so I know the software. I decided to give WP7 a test run (even knowing the limitations) a couple months ago, and still am disappointed. Unfortunately I got stuck with it till now, because just after I installed it my personal Exchange server crashed. It's significant because it holds all of my contact info and schedule (for backup and retrieval when I change roms), so I had to wait till I had time and patience to recover the server and my database, which left me with my only current copy of info on the phone as it couldn't get pushed back to the server to store (I never put my info online so no uploading it wasn't an option for me).
Finally exchanger recovered, its time for me to be rid of this headache of a mobile OS and initially I was going to go back to my favorite HD2 WM6.5.3 rom, but when I finally visited the thread, I came back to realize my fav rom cooker is no longer developing for my device..
So I'm faced with the choices of still using the most current from my fav cooker, finding another WM cooker and get acquainted, or try out Android seriously for a little while at least (I've had it on SD from the beginning, but not definitively explored it).
My main thing is it has to connect to my servers. That's my bread and butter so to speak. I need it to connect to my Exchange and sync seamlessly contact and schedule (main things, but would definitely like as much sync as possible), but never upload my info to Google or anywhere else. So my first proviso is can it do that? (please remember I've never seriously explored Android for this intent), and can you provide info on it?
On remote desktopping and file sharing, like I said I have enterprise lvl servers so my network is high lvl security, can it connect to this kind of network (with certs from my CA)?
Third important thing to me, and one of the big reasons I dislike WP7, the interface. I'm in lust with HTC's sense from WM6.5 roms. Absolutely like it. Is there a way to at least mimic this sense? I've been missing the at-a-glance full screen weather updates soo much too.
Aside from those things, Android on HD2 already has a plus from me for having flash, my favorite IM program (Trillian), and the wifi calling (I live in an area where I don't get service till I'm miles from home).
So with those things in mind, can someone recommend Android to me, and possibly give me as much info as they can on the features that are most important to me? Again, I've played with Android, only a little (American Android currently), and mostly to help clients and friends out.
Thanks again for your help
DemonLoader ;-)
http://www.motorola.com/Support/US-EN/Support-Homepage/Android-Support/Microsoft+Exchange+Email
Thank you PresidentMcCain that is very favorable info. So my question is now, if I set Exchange up as primary email, then add my google account, will it try to sync my exchange contacts with google?
Have you looked at Appbrain website - you can explore all the apps on the market with a good description.
Im new to android (from long standing 6.5 use) and im extremly impressed, using sd method so i can fall back on 6.5 if i need it (), but it wont be long before its ditched.
You can choose specifically what or what not to sync with Google the first time when you boot up the ROM or in the Settings.
Using the "Email" app will not sync with Google servers unless you choose to forward your mail to your Gmail account (duh).
Thanks again. So what about calendar and other info synced with exchange, one note, sharepoint ect?
You can sync your contacts, tasks, messages and calendar from exchange (all of it, or you can choose which sections to sync), and it will never share it with Google for no reason (in fact you would have to explicitly copy the info yourself using import/export methods). It's worth noting that Google accounts themselves actually use exchange so both work similarly.
Sent from my HTC HD2 überphone
Thanks kbm, I didn't know about the site. But that will be very helpful if I switch.
Thanks Atomix86, That puts to rest my questions about connecting and syncing with my exchanger. Very helpful info indeed.
Anyone have any thoughts about the rest?
DemonLoader said:
Thanks kbm, I didn't know about the site. But that will be very helpful if I switch.
Thanks Atomix86, That puts to rest my questions about connecting and syncing with my exchanger. Very helpful info indeed.
Anyone have any thoughts about the rest?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem at all, let me know if you need any more help.
Looking at the link PresidentMcCain posted, I realized the info was for Exchange 2003 and 2007. Will this also help for connecting to Exchange 2010 as well? That is what my exchange server is, and remembering a friend who just got a Mytouch 4g recently was having a problem connecting to Exchange 2010 with the default app.
DemonLoader said:
Looking at the link PresidentMcCain posted, I realized the info was for Exchange 2003 and 2007. Will this also help for connecting to Exchange 2010 as well? That is what my exchange server is, and remembering a friend who just got a Mytouch 4g recently was having a problem connecting to Exchange 2010 with the default app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1179050
Maybe this might help. I read it this morning than came across this thread.
i dont know about exchange accounts. So if this is what you needed than its all good.
Thanks czarsuperstar, that app would help with note syncing, but looks like not for connecting to Exchange 2010 in general.
I was on winmo for a while and loved it to be honest but i went to sd android back in January an the google syncs convinced me and not long after i got nand and Ive not once looked back, i went back on winmo about a month ago just to see whats new etc and think i had it on for about 20 miutess before i flashed android straight back so its always worth a shot so id test the sd builds first to get your own opinion and then build on from there
Good luck and enjoy the future....