Database Users

Why Google needs “Direct Push” for Google Apps

Direct Push with Google Apps?!?!?!
Hi everyone. I think I might have asked this question before but maybe something has developed in the last few months.
I am running my own IT consulting business and as I get more and more busy my calendar is becoming an ever more important tool. My dear wife went out and got me a good old-fashioned spiral bound day-timer but I have a sophisticated day-timer right here in my pocket in the form of my HTC Touch. As an IT consultant I think I should be using it rather then pulling out the pen and paper. Right now I am using the calendars in my Touch, Outlook, Google Apps and the calendar in the Exchange account I have with one of my customers. Too many calendars and all because I really want to use my Google Apps calendar and have it sync with my Touch.
I really want Google to develop “Direct Push” technology so that I can get my email, calendar and contacts all from my Google Apps account just like it was an Exchange Server. I am even considering switching my email back to an Exchange Server just so I can sync with my Touch. This way my wife could login and add stuff to my calendar and it will appear on my Touch. Right now I have my Email coming in from Google Apps via IMAP, my Calendar synching with Outlook (installed locally on my laptop without Exchange) and my Contacts syncing with my customer’s Exchange server. This is a pain and I want everything in one place that can be maintained/synced in real-time.
I will say this right now and keep in mind that as an IT consultant I like Microsoft’s products and install things like Windows 2003, SQL Server and Exchange on an almost daily basis. If Google develops “Direct Push” for Google Apps it will be an Exchange killer. The only, and I mean only reason I am thinking about switching my domain back to Exchange (I moved from Exchange to Google Apps about 1 year ago) is for the ability to sync everything (not just email) with my Touch.
On the other hand if Microsoft comes out with a version of Outlook/Exchange that dispenses with the whole “Inbox/Sent items/Delete” model and goes for the Google-style “conversation & archive” model along with the search capabilities I might fall back in love with Exchange.
The Fish

Oh and just in case anyone from Microsoft is listening, “threaded inbox” isn’t what I mean by “conversation style”. Come on Microsoft. Just admit that Google has actual built a better mousetrap and managed to improve on the age-old email model of “folders” and “sent items”. Go ahead and copy them… copy, copy copy! Oops sorry, I mean “embrace and extend, embrace and extend”

Something like that would be great!

matthew232 said:
Something like that would be great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And not to mention totally do-able. There is already an non-Exchange mail server out there called “KerioMail Server” that implements Microsoft’s Direct Push protocol. Check out this link http://www.kerio.com/kms_activesync.html
Microsoft’s Direct Push is entirely HTTP based. It shouldn’t be that difficult for Google to do.
The Fish.

I guess you have to wait for Google Android.

thefish123 said:
On the other hand if Microsoft comes out with a version of Outlook/Exchange that dispenses with the whole “Inbox/Sent items/Delete” model and goes for the Google-style “conversation & archive” model along with the search capabilities I might fall back in love with Exchange.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The moment they do that (without giving an option) is when I would have to quit using Exchange. I **hate** Gmail's threading and forward those mails to another account that isn't threaded (and the fact that they don't let you turn it off).

I know it's not exactly what you're looking for, but have you checked out any of the 3rd party sync options? GMobileSync is a free little program that allows bidirectional syncing for your calendar (not push though). GooSync offers a free service level that also gives you calendar syncing. If you upgrade to their payed version (I think it is something like $30-40 for a whole year) you get not only calendar sync, but contacts, tasks etc. Might be worth a look.

jeffreycentex said:
The moment they do that (without giving an option) is when I would have to quit using Exchange. I **hate** Gmail's threading and forward those mails to another account that isn't threaded (and the fact that they don't let you turn it off).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Microsoft would never do it without making it an option. But I am surprised to hear you say that you head Gmail’s threading. Quite honestly you have got to be the FIRST person I have heard say that.
I have never (till now) talked to anyone who switched to Gmail who didn’t have anything but good to say about it. Most people I know who use Outlook or Outlook Express and who do ANY real volume of email spend at least an hour to two hours a day “organizing” their email. They have a whole list of sub-folders under their Inbox and then have almost the exact same set of sub-folders under their “Sent Items”. They spend time trying to decide how to file things or if they should file it in the first place or just delete it. Sometimes they delete and email and two of three days later the whole issue has ballooned into a big issue and they are filing the responses but no longer have their original email because they didn’t think it would become important.
Gmail lets me keep my Inbox clean while at the same time never worrying about filing or organizing or having trouble finding things back. I would probably hate Gmail if I was still trying to fit it into my narrow 20-year-old “I must use folders” paradigm of thinking (which I did when I first started using Gmail) but it was fun to give up on that and the new paradigm of “never file, never delete” is so superior.
I don’t really case WHERE my email is as long as I can find it back in a natural way. I think in years to come we are going to see the same thing happening on computers and to some extent we already are. The #1 reason most people hate Windows Vista is because of the way the new “Explorer” obscures the hierarchal folder model that everyone is used to from our Norton Commander days. It is really very Mac-like. Most Mac users couldn’t tell you where their pictures were in terms of a “directory” or a “folder” but they have less trouble finding them, or copying them to a USB drive, or attaching them to an email then most Windows users.
If we ever do see WinFS (Windows Future Storage) it is supposed to be a Microsoft SQL layer bolted on top of the file system and gives you database-style searchability with all kinds of meta data attached.
The thinking behind the Reiser file system is that any structure on top of the file system for storing data indicates that the file system isn’t doing it’s job. And I can kinda see the point.
The Fish

I agree, Gmail should definately come out with direct push technology
I currently use gmail with pocket outlook with imap.
It's annoying having it set to check my email in intervals.
I didn't even know what direct push was until today, until i saw a friend using his phone w/ his private exchange server...my first reaction was wow...i want that!!
I'm hoping android will implement features like direct push, among others.

surgex0 said:
I didn't even know what direct push was until today, until i saw a friend using his phone w/ his private exchange server...my first reaction was wow...i want that!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It’s not even so much that I want “push” email (although that would be cool). The biggest issue is that there is no way to sync my Calendar and my Contacts with Gmail. This means I either A) have to use the Calendar/Contacts on my Touch in their “stand alone” form without syncing to anything or B) have to sync them with something else.
I really like being able to use my web-based Gmail calendar (Google Apps) but I wish like crazy there was some way to get this on my Touch.
The Fish.
PS: when you sign-up for Google Apps it asks you what (if any) previous mail system you used. As an example it says in brackets “Microsoft Exchange”. This makes me think that Google Apps is positioning themselves to take the SMB email market away from Exchange. I think if they really want to do this they will make Google Apps look just like an Exchange Server to the millions of WM devices out there. Currently I am seriously considering moving my email back to Exchange when I get my own server online (in a few weeks).

Google's apps for WM are all in java aren't they?
I know the gmail one is, and it sucks big c---.
I'd rather use opera and gmail html mobile than use their ****e java client.

surgex0 said:
Google's apps for WM are all in java aren't they?
I know the gmail one is, and it sucks big c---.
I'd rather use opera and gmail html mobile than use their ****e java client.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Googlemaps apparently has a native app now (altho I would rather use Livesearch), so no, they aren't all JAVA. I take it you visit the HTML site instead of using IMAP so that you can see the threading and other g-mail features?

If you want gmail to push, use SEVEN at
community.seven.com
john

Sync & Push
I use www.mobipush.com to push my gmail and it works instantaneously. Fantastic. This is free, perhaps only while they are in beta.
I also use www.oggsync.com for syncing my calendar. There is a free version, but I bought the software and daily sync about 11 calendars 2 months backwards and 2 years forwards. Hardly ever any issues. They are working on contact sync - have a public beta out now.

surgex0 said:
Google's apps for WM are all in java aren't they?
I know the gmail one is, and it sucks big c---.
I'd rather use opera and gmail html mobile than use their ****e java client.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don’t know if it’s really the Gmail client that sucks so much as that it just doesn’t run properly on the version of Java that comes on my Touch (the Bell Mobility Touch in Canada). I was pretty happy to have the Java Gmail client on my Razr back before I got my Touch.
That being said I keep hoping they will come out with a native Windows Mobile version like they did with Google Maps. But then again it seems kinda silly to come out with an email client for a device that already has a built-in integrated email client. The better solution would be to make the pre-exiting email, calendar and contacts features work properly (as in within their native capacity – meaning DirectPush) with their Gmail counterparts.
The Fish

Exchange on the Hero, first impressions

I've noticed that not has much been said on the Hero's exchange support in any of the reviews or user reports so I thought I'd let people know what it's like as, for me, this is a must have feature. I should say that I have not had an android phone before and so I have had no experience with Nitrodesk's exchange solution so I can't compare.
Well, I entered my exchange details during initial set-up and after my first attempt was unsuccessful (SSL needed and is off by default) it than worked. Asked me if I wanted to sync Mail, Calender and Contacts all of which I selected. After the rest of the setup had finished the phone told me I had a new e-mail arrive so I could tell it was working straight away.
Mail is fantastic. Downloads everything fine, has at least as many options as WM for choosing which messages to download. E-mails look great on the display and html e-mails show up fine.
Contacts are great, they all appear straight away in the people and the phone application. All the Facebook and Flikr integration works perfectly. Only niggle is that you can't group contacts by company which is something I used to do on WM.
Calender seems to work fine. Appointments showed up ok, including appointments sent by e-mail.
All in all, the exchange sync is way better than expected and in some ways better than WM. The integration seems very deep and integral to the OS rather than a bolt on feature.

I agree with you there Bud, just a shame that there is no task sync support yet - still looking

All was fine for me, but as soon as I've allowed it to connect my contacts to FB contacts, sync fails for conacts with a 'client/server conversion error' message.
I'm using exchange 2003, mail and calendar are syncing fine, and I too would love tasks to be added, along with a fix for contacts and I'm a happy hero user

Strange - I have had no issues with the Fb sync but i use Exchange 07

Just Exchange, or...
...also Outlook?

not tried to sync with outlook yet, whats the best app for that?
I would settle for an outlook connector that I could just set to sync contacts and tasks, as these two arent really changing so frequently I wouldnt mind having to 'plug in' to sync these.

I just use exchange so can't comment on outlook sync. Facebook linking worked fine for me but I also have exchange 2007 so can only assume it's a problem there. Not sure if the exchange functionality is all implemented by HTC or whether they've used part of Nitrodesk's Touchdown but I saw on the Nitrodesk website that they don't support exchange 2003 yet.

gingepaul79 said:
not tried to sync with outlook yet, whats the best app for that?
I would settle for an outlook connector that I could just set to sync contacts and tasks, as these two arent really changing so frequently I wouldnt mind having to 'plug in' to sync these.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only app is HTC sync which is included along with the hero's manual on the sd card supplied with your phonbe, word of warning i just installed htc sync on my vista pc and it caused windows explorer to continuously crash until i uninstalled it, not impressed

Tried to install the app ealier, drivers failed and the app wont work (win 7 32 bit)

Going to try the long way round for now - sync outlook contacts to my google account and keep the google contacts synced to my phone - would I end up with a duplicate of everyone then though?

gingepaul79 said:
Going to try the long way round for now - sync outlook contacts to my google account and keep the google contacts synced to my phone - would I end up with a duplicate of everyone then though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I, like you (not I like you!), have synced up this way. I too cannot get HTC sync to work. I am sure Orange have bundled the wrong version.
So, I export Outlook to a file, then import contact file to google cal, then sync gcalendar to hero. Job done.
No duplicates, google calendar seems intelligent enough to recognise the dups

I would like to share my experience
Booted up.... would you like to set up exchange?
HELL YES!!!!
enter the details..... (internet accessible exchange server)
<entered>
What you wanna sync my boy?
EVERY GOD DAMN THING
oooooook here we go.......
<done.>
Sweet!

Thinking about an Adriod as my next phone, since I think WM is really falling behind everyone else! I use it mostly for work so a couple of questions if you don't mind....
No tasks syncing so far?
How does the calander work, are the views easy to see, day and week stuff?
Meeting requests work?
Can you flag email messages? This is a must for me and I hate that WM 6.5 can't even do it!
How do you find the keyboard replying to emails?
Can you open Word, Excel, PDF files?
Any other features it has for work that WM doesn't?
Thanks

Exchange
I'm having probs with exchange.
It will only sync my main inbox, not any of the subfolders I have, and will only sync via mobile network - fails on wifi ? ?
Then again can't get ANY web stuff on wifi ? ?

Word and excel fully creatable and editable with Docs to Go, and Open Office I think does let you read different docs though not sure which. Best PDF Reader seems to be RepliGo Reader which is good for books as well.
I'm only just getting to grips with Google Calendar but seems to have a great deal of flexibility for appts and stuff.
Widgets really just getting going, so I'm not sure of all those available...
Daisy - Magic owner, so Hero may be slightly different xx

herman3101 said:
I've noticed that not has much been said on the Hero's exchange support in any of the reviews or user reports so I thought I'd let people know what it's like as, for me, this is a must have feature. I should say that I have not had an android phone before and so I have had no experience with Nitrodesk's exchange solution so I can't compare.
Well, I entered my exchange details during initial set-up and after my first attempt was unsuccessful (SSL needed and is off by default) it than worked. Asked me if I wanted to sync Mail, Calender and Contacts all of which I selected. After the rest of the setup had finished the phone told me I had a new e-mail arrive so I could tell it was working straight away.
Mail is fantastic. Downloads everything fine, has at least as many options as WM for choosing which messages to download. E-mails look great on the display and html e-mails show up fine.
Contacts are great, they all appear straight away in the people and the phone application. All the Facebook and Flikr integration works perfectly. Only niggle is that you can't group contacts by company which is something I used to do on WM.
Calender seems to work fine. Appointments showed up ok, including appointments sent by e-mail.
All in all, the exchange sync is way better than expected and in some ways better than WM. The integration seems very deep and integral to the OS rather than a bolt on feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have reiceved my G2 touch and havn't been able to setup exchange sync over the air. It goes past first option i.e. to show me what i want to synch mail, contacts, calendar and than when I click on finish setup it fails with message unable to create account try later! Any idea what is going wrong. How can I fix it?
Sachin

Anyone have any experience with exchange sync where the server requires you to set a password/pincode for the phone?
Heard some people saying that this was not supported by the Hero. A pity if true, as I need this to work in order to be able to use the Hero as a work phone (in other words, if I am to buy a Hero).

The out of the box exchange support is really very good. It just needs the ability to authenticate via password or client certificate.
I much prefer it to WM, but only because its completely finger friendly.
Yes you can flag emails, and they show up under the flagged emails tab at the bottom.

I really really hope the update within 10 days or September will affect this thing? Need to be able to sync more than one folder at the time.

cbailey said:
I, like you (not I like you!), have synced up this way. I too cannot get HTC sync to work. I am sure Orange have bundled the wrong version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
works for me on vista 64 with orange branded HTC Touch. I believe there is an update on the HTC website, not sure if that enables win7 support
I certainly didn't notice explorer crashing after I installed it, chances are it's another explorer extension interfering (either a media codec that is failing at showing thumbnails, or a right-click extension or similar)

A few Leo/HD2 questions

HI,
As some of you may have seen on a previous post I am giving some serious consideration of swapping from an iphone 3G to the HD2, and before I make my mind up I would like to ask a few more questions about the device, mainly the windows operation system as I've never had a windows phone before. I have been to numerous stores and none have the HD2 for me to trial so please accept my apologies for asking so many questions. It would be so much easier if I could get to try it for myself. Anyway here goes (sorry for the referals to the iphone):-
Can I drag and drop word, excel documents etc from my laptop to the phone and view and manipulate the documents on the phone?
I'm assuming you can arrange photos in individual folders, eg holidays, friends etc?
When you open a photo folder can you view the pictures as thumbnails (as on the iphone), or do you have to scroll through each picture to get to the one you want?
To use email (hotmail and googlemail for me) do you have to go via the internet, or is there an app as on the iphone, and does this sync with the accounts online ie if you delete on the phone will it have deleted when I view mail online?
Is it true that the internet on the HD2 does not support flash, and if so how will this affect my internet viewing?
Cheers

snerkler said:
Can I drag and drop word, excel documents etc from my laptop to the phone and view and manipulate the documents on the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but it obviously needs to be a version of the document that can be read by the office applications on the phone (they are Microsoft office apps, but they're office 2007, not later.) It's easy enough to do "save as" on the PC and save as office 2007.
snerkler said:
I'm assuming you can arrange photos in individual folders, eg holidays, friends etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can drag and drop and create folders and sub-folders, just like on your PC.
snerkler said:
When you open a photo folder can you view the pictures as thumbnails (as on the iphone), or do you have to scroll through each picture to get to the one you want?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can open folders in the file explorer, which is obviously just a list of files. You can also use the Microsoft Picture & Video app, or the HTC Albums app. Both have their pros and cons, but they're very similar apps. They both give thumbnail lists of your images.
snerkler said:
To use email (hotmail and googlemail for me) do you have to go via the internet, or is there an app as on the iphone, and does this sync with the accounts online ie if you delete on the phone will it have deleted when I view mail online?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can add mutliple email accounts to the email tab in the Sense UI, which supports POP3 and IMAP email accounts, so you don't have to use an internet browser to read your emails. (You can also add a windows live account to the windows live app, which has its own benefits, such as messaging and push email.)
Your actions will affect your emails (such as deleting), but doesn't work too well the other way round. For instance, if I've got a notification of a new email and I delete it using my PC, it still shows as a new email on my phone. A little annoying, but hardly the end of the world.
snerkler said:
Is it true that the internet on the HD2 does not support flash, and if so how will this affect my internet viewing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Opera does not currently support flash, but IE does. It's not the most up-to-date version (as compared to a PC), but it's good enough for most flash viewing. If you're doing something like viewing youtube, you're better off with the youtube app, and if you want to view some flash intensive sites, you can try other browsers, such as skyfire.
I think that answers your questions, but let us know if you're not sure about anything.

snerkler said:
HI,
Can I drag and drop word, excel documents etc from my laptop to the phone and view and manipulate the documents on the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can do this, the HD2 can support a lot of formats, excel, Word, PFD etc.
snerkler said:
I'm assuming you can arrange photos in individual folders, eg holidays, friends etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows Mobile is much like any computer OS, you can create folders and files much the same way. So yes you can organise your photos in any folders you like, or in the case of HTCs overlay of Windows Mobile, organise by Album.
snerkler said:
When you open a photo folder can you view the pictures as thumbnails (as on the iphone), or do you have to scroll through each picture to get to the one you want?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This depends where and what program you use to open the folder. If you use the Sense UI overlay (HTCs default) then the folder will open with thumbnails. From there you can open photos and rotate and zoom by pinching the photos and dragging them around. If you use Windows default file explorer or Total Commander you will just see the images as files.
snerkler said:
To use email (hotmail and googlemail for me) do you have to go via the internet, or is there an app as on the iphone, and does this sync with the accounts online ie if you delete on the phone will it have deleted when I view mail online?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you use gmail (as I do also) you can read your email from the main UI on the HD2 without having to run a seperate app (though unlike the iPhone you can run several apps at the same time). However if you prefer there is also a Java Gmail app that will also run on the HD2
snerkler said:
Is it true that the internet on the HD2 does not support flash, and if so how will this affect my internet viewing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HD2 like many WinMo phones can of course support Flash. The default Opera browser version 9.7 on the HD2 won't support it. However later Beta versions now support it. You can also use the very excellent SkyFire browser (free) which will also play flash and of course youtube and more all within the browser.

Just to add, there is fix to add flash support for opera
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=544770
also there is beta trial version for office 2010 so you can open up to 2010 versions of office files.

@jagnet Beat you to it

Thanks for the help guys, I'm pretty much sold I think. Another question I've thought of is relating to contacts and email.
As it's a windows device I'm assuming contacts will sync with outlook? Will the email addresses in my contacts automatically sync with the email app so when I use email all the email adresses I need are already there?
With regards to the office docs, I'm currently running office 2010 beta, but it saves the files as 97-2003 docs so I'm assuming this will be OK right?
Do you think they'll be a fix for the emails not deleting from the phone if you delete them on your PC any time soon? LIke you say, not the end of the world, but can imagine it might get a touch tiresome
Cheers

snerkler said:
Thanks for the help guys, I'm pretty much sold I think. Another question I've thought of is relating to contacts and email.
As it's a windows device I'm assuming contacts will sync with outlook? Will the email addresses in my contacts automatically sync with the email app so when I use email all the email adresses I need are already there?
With regards to the office docs, I'm currently running office 2010 beta, but it saves the files as 97-2003 docs so I'm assuming this will be OK right?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, and yes.
You can use outlook to sync contacts, emails, texts etc., either via an exchange server (using your data connection), or via the cable when connected to your PC. I personally don't use this though, as I don't use outlook at home. Far too much like work lol
Saving docs as office 2007 docs will make them usable with the office software on the phone.

snerkler said:
Do you think they'll be a fix for the emails not deleting from the phone if you delete them on your PC any time soon? LIke you say, not the end of the world, but can imagine it might get a touch tiresome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, I doubt it. This is the first time I've ever mentioned it myself, and I've never seen anyone else mention it on here. Besides, I very rarely use a PC for emails now. I've had emails in my pocket for about 4 or 5 years now, so I really only use a PC if I want to send large emails, or attach stuff that's on the PC.
I wouldn't hold my breath on a fix for that to be honest.

Just to add my thoughts on the HD2---
I've had mine since launch and the product is still buggy. HTC are throwing out updates (backdoor and official) on a regular basis. The main bugs for me which I'm not sure are cured yet are SMS getting stuck in the outbox and also the touch screen becomes active during a call which means the side of your face dials digits or hangs the calls.
Regarding email- I moved from Hotmail to Gmail because Hotmail does not support Activesync. I wanted to sync over the air my email, contacts and calendar. Hotmail only supports email and contacts. Gmail works great.
I'm hoping that come the end of January that all the main bugs will be ironed out. HOPING!!! or Praying!!!

philtrick123 said:
Regarding email- I moved from Hotmail to Gmail because Hotmail does not support Activesync. I wanted to sync over the air my email, contacts and calendar. Hotmail only supports email and contacts. Gmail works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A combination of the native windows live features and microsoft myphone would have resolved that issue, and given you the ability to sync a lot more too

philtrick123 said:
Regarding email- I moved from Hotmail to Gmail because Hotmail does not support Activesync. I wanted to sync over the air my email, contacts and calendar. Hotmail only supports email and contacts. Gmail works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A combination of the native windows live and microsoft myphone features would have resolved that issue, and given you the ability to sync a lot more too

Originally Posted by snerkler
Do you think they'll be a fix for the emails not deleting from the phone if you delete them on your PC any time soon? LIke you say, not the end of the world, but can imagine it might get a touch tiresome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me emails delete from handset when deleted from PC (both exchange and hotmail) and vice-versa.
You can also set POP email accounts (i.e. gmail, hotmail) to sync at 'x' intervals (or constantly) so in affect it then turns it into push email service, which is nice - drains the battery though so i sync every couple of hours and then hit "Send/Recieve" if i want to manually update folders.

jrrigney said:
For me emails delete from handset when deleted from PC (both exchange and hotmail) and vice-versa.
You can also set POP email accounts (i.e. gmail, hotmail) to sync at 'x' intervals (or constantly) so in affect it then turns it into push email service, which is nice - drains the battery though so i sync every couple of hours and then hit "Send/Recieve" if i want to manually update folders.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may just be something I've noticed, and not a widespread issue. I don't really think many people would be bothered if they did notice it anyway!
I'm just a pedant and expect a lot

HD2 Notification Screen
Would someone please help me with this issue I have with the notification screen, I am not sure whether this was caused by installation of CM WiFi, but the notification screen is not showing any more when I touch the notification area, instead individual boxes pop out e.g. comm manager, any idea how to fix this.

zoum79 said:
Would someone please help me with this issue I have with the notification screen, I am not sure whether this was caused by installation of CM WiFi, but the notification screen is not showing any more when I touch the notification area, instead individual boxes pop out e.g. comm manager, any idea how to fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ask that question in a new thread. This is called "hijacking" and is considered rude

philtrick123 said:
Just to add my thoughts on the HD2---
The main bugs for me which I'm not sure are cured yet are SMS getting stuck in the outbox and also the touch screen becomes active during a call which means the side of your face dials digits or hangs the calls.
!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought I read that the SMS issue had been resolved?
Is the touchscreen becoming active during calls a common fault?

jrrigney said:
For me emails delete from handset when deleted from PC (both exchange and hotmail) and vice-versa.
You can also set POP email accounts (i.e. gmail, hotmail) to sync at 'x' intervals (or constantly) so in affect it then turns it into push email service, which is nice - drains the battery though so i sync every couple of hours and then hit "Send/Recieve" if i want to manually update folders.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At first i tried setting up my gmail account using google synch to be able to use active sync to do pushmail. It worked very badly imo, when it was set up to sync "as items arrive" the synchronization was very bad, the time between actually receiving an email and it showing up on the device was very long for example, sometimes i had to sync it manualy.
So it set up my gmail account using imap. The downside is you don't really have the pushmail feature and the minimum delay between the "send/receive"s is 5 minutes (although 5 minutes is "quasi-instantaneous" really). The upside is that it works better. And it syncs up the read/unread status, you can delete a message on either your PC or your phone and it will impact the other one, which is pretty cool.
However it get quite weird behaviours sometimes. For example if i close outlook mobile and the device goes to sleep, when I wake it back up I get the outlook inbox directly, i don't know why. Also I did some tests and although my "send/receive" frequency is set to 5 minutes sometimes it seems like i have to do it manually ...
Is anyone having the same kind of trouble (with gmail or other accounts) ? Maybe I should start a thread about those issues ?

I've just had a thought, Office mobile does come preinstalled on the hd2 right?

Yes it does

Exchange Integration questions

I'm tempted -- the hardware platform seems to be very close to what I'd want. (Don't like that the front buttons aren't hard-buttons, but I can probably live with that.)
I'm waiting (for now) to hear some feedback about Exchange integration (calendar sync, push email, contacts sync.)
(I got (and returned) two Android phones so far: an N1 on the day they came out, and a Galaxy S (pretty nearly the day they came out) and ended up returning both. (History: Blackberry 857, Blackberry 5810, Blackberry 6710, Blackberry 7290, Blackberry 8310. Yes, I'm used to my Exchange email and calendar being rock-solid.))
Questions for anybody who gets their hands on one and has Exchange:
- Does calendar sync work? Comments?
- Can you: accept/reject/tentative meeting requests from email app?
- Can you: accept/reject/tentative meeting requests from calendar app?
- Can you create a meeting request?
- Can you view availability?
- Can you change the meeting reminder tone? (Believe it or not, on the Galaxy S running 2.1, there's no way to do this.)
- Does email push? Comments?
- Do email subfolders push?
- Can you move messages into subfolders?
- Can you view and/or search server subfolders?
- Can you get a unified view of your Exchange and Google/GAFYD inbox?
- Can you access the GAL?
- Do contacts sync?
- Do contacts in subfolders sync? Can you choose subfolders to sync or not?
- Can you do these things in the stock apps, or do you have to use Touchdown or K9 or Moxier to get the results you want?
Thanks.

From what you list, Touchdown would be your best bet I think. Granted, I haven't used (or have ever heard of) K9 or Moxier so I don't know how they are but I have used Touchdown since Android 1.5 and it's been fantastic. Last night I got my G2 and decided to try the stock Exchange in Android to see how well it fared and it's fine for basic Exchange email but that's about it. A co-worker of mine swears by it but I'm wondering if he just doesn't want to pay for Touchdown? Then again all he does is basic email. If you're doing more like meetings, availability, etc... then you'd need to look at something other than stock Exchange. In my case, I'm sticking with Touchdown. I don't know if you've used Touchdown at all but you can download it (fully functional) and use it for 5 (or is it 7?) days before it asks you to purchase it.
Now for K9 and Moxier...I haven't even heard of them but will check them out myself to see if they are a better way to go than Touchdown.

Exchange integration is very important to me and so far, this phone is outperforming the Blackberry that I used before I got the G2. Granted, I was not on a BES with the BB; I imagine that there's pretty much nothing better than a Blackberry on a BES when it comes to Exchange.
Here are answers to your questions:
Calendar sync works great. I create an event in Outlook and see it on my phone really quickly, and vice versa. I cannot say that the sync is instananeous but does the trick.
Accepting/rejecting/creating meetings and availability I've never had the opportunity to do, so I don't know.
You can change the overall meeting reminder tone, but not for each individual meeting. At least not natively....there may be an app available for that.
Email pushes. Sometimes instantaneously, sometimes with a bit of very reasonable lag (30sec - 1min).
I'm able to access my email subfolder on my phone. The sent messages sync between my Outlook and my phone, as well as my junk mail folder syncs also (unfortunately).
It appears I cannot move emails from one folder into another (bummer).
It also appears that not only can I not search through any of my emails, I also cannot copy/paste from the body of the emails I receive either (major bummer).
I only have one email address syncing right now.....but I believe you can have the inbox either split your two email addresses into their own respective inboxes, or combine the two and show all in one. I did this on the Vibrant while I had it for a very short time. I can say though that Gmail has its own icon and MAY not show in the general Email application. I don't know for sure as I don't really even use gmail and have not tried adding it under the general Email application.
The GAL is supported and it's pretty cool cause I can start typing a recipient's name in the "to" field in my email and it'll auto search the GAL.
Contacts sync in the same manner as email/calendar sync.
I haven't seen any options to choose contact subfolders to sync. I will say though that distribution lists/contact groups don't sync.
Everything I've said in this post deals with the native Email application of Android 2.2. I am not using any third party application.
Tasks and Notes do not sync.
Best of luck to you.

I have been using TouchDown for +1 year. Started on the MyTouch 3G and it is easier to use on the G2.
The G2 integration is basic: calandar, email and contacts only . Touchdown is a full fledged Exchange client that allows you do everything you can do from your desktop. Took less than 2 mins to configure and it was up and running. There was 0 issue transfering the license from the myTouch to the G2 as they have integrated the license to your google email account, not the phone you purchased it for.

^ Stock does contacts sync too.

The Froyo email client supports Activesync version 12, that eliminated some of the limitations that the stock exchange intergation had. On my G2 I have 3 exchange accounts setup. all sync'ing calendar, contacts, email add, moves, changes and invites. In addition to that I can sync my public folders, most particuarly my GALs.
So that there is no confusion on what I am saying:
Here are important points:
- It is possible to synchronize ALL public/shared folders to the devices. This
includes emails, contacts, calendars and tasks.
- The folders must be explicitly selected for synchornization
- Only few devices can display more than one calendar or contact folder, so all calendars, and contacts even shared will be contained in the native folder. Only a problem with you use multiple accounts.
The only current Activesync limitations with contacts are as follows:
Activesync can synchronize up to 3 email address. Phone number synchronization is limited to 2 Home numbers, 1 Home Fax, 1 Mobile, 1 Pager, 3 Work (one will be labeled 'Company Main') and one Work Fax number."
So you do have options, but as you can see from the other posts, what you want to do can definitely be supported.

I call BS on you syncing tasks and being able to move emails between folders natively.

I bought a license for Moxier Mail back in the days before Android 2.x. I don't keep any third party EAS clients around anymore thanks to the built-in EAS. However, if you absolutely need features like GAL, accept/reject meetings, availability, basically anything beyond mail and very basic calendaring, then you better get one of the third party EAS clients.

aedv said:
I call BS on you syncing tasks and being able to move emails between folders natively.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exchange server version are you trying to do it on, and what is the version of Activesync?

markdurant said:
What exchange server version are you trying to do it on, and what is the version of Activesync?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea......my school runs it.

aedv said:
I have no idea......my school runs it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other than your phone how do you connect to your email account?

For what it's worth the implementation of ActiveSync on the G2 is not supporting any security provisioning.
Passcode lock is not enforced, and I am not 100% about remote wipe. I will be testing at some point in time tomorrow.
I will be contacting HTC tomorrow, T-Mobile didn't have any info about the lack of support for these features.
I was surprised as this is the only 2.2 phone I have tested that does not support these features. (Droid 2, Droid X, HTC 4G, CM6 on my HD2)

Remarkably HTC was even less help than T-Mobile
I was basically informed that not enough people had complained about the bungled implementation of ActiveSync yet, so they didnt have any further information and were not investigating a fix.
It was a nice 12 hours G2, but it looks like you are going back to Tmo

markdurant said:
Other than your phone how do you connect to your email account?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Outlook 2010 direct to the exchange server

mark925 said:
From what you list, Touchdown would be your best bet I think. Granted, I haven't used (or have ever heard of) K9 or Moxier so I don't know how they are but I have used Touchdown since Android 1.5 and it's been fantastic. Last night I got my G2 and decided to try the stock Exchange in Android to see how well it fared and it's fine for basic Exchange email but that's about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried Touchdown back on the N1, and I recall being very unimpressed with the UI; I'm afraid I don't remember specifics, but it didn't leave a good taste.
When you say "it's fine for basic Exchange", can you clarify what you consider non-basic? (I would, for example, consider everything I mentioned to be "basic"; non-basic would be delegate management, category administration, rules....) Thanks.
I tried Touchdown when I tried the N1, and was so unimpressed that I don't think I tried it again on the Galaxy S. Moxier doesn't appear to be updating MoxierMail, but it worked pretty well. K9 was new to me, but appealed because it was rapidly evolving with a strong, tech oriented, development and discussion community -- a couple of small bugs I found were reported, tested, and fixed during just the week I had the Galaxy S.
UPDATE: Just saw this on the Touchdown site: "TouchDown does not work with POP3 or IMAP servers". In other words, I couldn't use it as a single client for Exchange and non-Exchange accounts; for me, that's a killer.
aedv said:
Exchange integration is very important to me and so far, this phone is outperforming the Blackberry that I used before I got the G2. Granted, I was not on a BES with the BB; I imagine that there's pretty much nothing better than a Blackberry on a BES when it comes to Exchange.
Here are answers to your questions:
Calendar sync works great. I create an event in Outlook and see it on my phone really quickly, and vice versa. I cannot say that the sync is instananeous but does the trick.
Accepting/rejecting/creating meetings and availability I've never had the opportunity to do, so I don't know.
[...]
Email pushes. Sometimes instantaneously, sometimes with a bit of very reasonable lag (30sec - 1min).
I'm able to access my email subfolder on my phone. The sent messages sync between my Outlook and my phone, as well as my junk mail folder syncs also (unfortunately).
It appears I cannot move emails from one folder into another (bummer).
[...]
The GAL is supported and it's pretty cool cause I can start typing a recipient's name in the "to" field in my email and it'll auto search the GAL.
[...]
I haven't seen any options to choose contact subfolders to sync. I will say though that distribution lists/contact groups don't sync.
Everything I've said in this post deals with the native Email application of Android 2.2. I am not using any third party application. [...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
aedv, thanks for your response -- I'm a little confused though. You say you don't have BES, but your back end is Exchange? If that's right, thanks -- valuable info. I'd appreciate it if you'd check the contacts subfolder thing; if you're willing, PM me your email address, and I'll send you a test meeting invite so we can see if you get the option to accept/decline.

My back end is Exchange, and I did not use BES while I was on my Blackberry. The Exchange server is run by my school and they don't have a BES.
I tried contact subfolders and that didn't work. I sent myself an invitation to a meeting and I was given the option on the phone to either accept or deny the invitation, so there's your answer.

markdurant said:
The Froyo email client supports Activesync version 12, that eliminated some of the limitations that the stock exchange intergation had. On my G2 I have 3 exchange accounts setup. all sync'ing calendar, contacts, email add, moves, changes and invites. In addition to that I can sync my public folders, most particuarly my GALs.
So that there is no confusion on what I am saying:[...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
markdurant, thanks -- despite your great answer, I'm still a tiny bit confused. Can you clarify re:
- contacts subfolders: I have a main Contacts folder, with a subfolder "manufacturing contacts". Can I cause the subfolder to sync? (I understand from your answer that the appearance on the device may be "flat", i.e. all in one giant list; that's ok.)
- message filing: You are able to move messages from Inbox to other Exchange folders?
- Common inbox: You mention having three Exchange boxes; do you get a consolidated view, perhaps with color coding? Do you have any non-Exchange (e.g. Google) email accounts?
Thanks again.

Nothign can be worse than the Vibrant's exchange integration... for some reason it will NOT sync the majority my calendar entries on my exchange account. Email is fine but the calendar on the vibrant is just terrible. Worked fine on the nexus, and has sync'd fine on any nokia (symbian s60/maemo) phone I've used as well.
One of the reasons I'm ditching the vibrant and jumping to g2 goodness.

moxie said:
For what it's worth the implementation of ActiveSync on the G2 is not supporting any security provisioning.
Passcode lock is not enforced, and I am not 100% about remote wipe. I will be testing at some point in time tomorrow.
I will be contacting HTC tomorrow, T-Mobile didn't have any info about the lack of support for these features.
I was surprised as this is the only 2.2 phone I have tested that does not support these features. (Droid 2, Droid X, HTC 4G, CM6 on my HD2)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does it not support passcodes? It's a feature of Stock Android 2.2...

SuperFly03 said:
How does it not support passcodes? It's a feature of Stock Android 2.2...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My point exactly...

No "Tasks" app :(

For some reason, Samsung excluded the "Tasks" app that is on the Galaxy S II. I use Outlook tasks that are synched via the Tasks app to my SGS II but I was surprised to see it missing on the GT 7.7
I tried installing it from a Titanium Backup of my GS II but no luck -- perhaps there is a way to do it via a File Manager but I would need to know exactly which files to copy and where they go.
I own a copy of Touchdown for Tablets (from my very brief time with a Xoom last year) but I like the stock Email and Calendar apps from Samsung for Exchange mail/calendar and would like the Sammy Tasks app!
Look forward to someone else figuring this out!

Found this:
https://market.android.com/details?...#?purchaseButton=wtoTD5fXw_r6C-JOXXWg4819N5U=
Could not get it set up with my Exchange Account

RTM
Personally, I prefer not to be tied down to any specific platform, so I use Remember The Milk.
They have an app for almost any platform - including Android and a plugin for Outlook called MilkSync. I think that might help in your case too
But I have to say - it's not free!
You can use it for free, but with some limitations - one of which is that the MilkSync plugin isn't available.
(I still don't have enough posts to add the external links, but it's easy to find - just search for "Remember The Milk")

^ I'm not a Google Apps kinda guy - I use Exchange for all my cloud data (email, contacts, calendar, tasks). The only thing I've left behind is notes, only because there's really no Exchange notes sync app for Android (again other than Touchdown which I would prefer not to use) so I'm using Evernote there which is fine.