Hey all,
We're currently evaluating WinMo devices to replace blackberries in our company... thus far the results have been a mixed bag to say the least.
I look after an exchange 2003 environment (SP2) so we're push-email ready, however there's one big thing holding us up - IM.
On the blackberries, we use something called Blackberry Messenger which is capable of both online and offline messages, and pretty infallible. It runs in the background and whenever a user is online handles the sign-on and message delivery, likewise if a user is offline the network queues the message until they're back online.
I can't find anything like this for windows mobile, can anyone suggest soemthing I'm missing? until I have this we're stuck with blackberry...
TIA
German T-Mobile is offering a BlackBerry Software Addon for the MDA Vario - I started a thread a while back right here in the forum.
Since I have no use for Blackberry, etc. I have not installed/used it. But maybe its what you are looking for.
The only way to do (online) IM now on WM5 devices is via PocketMSN I think.
Dont know any alternatives (especially that can handle offline IM).
I'm new here, but....
I know on the PC there is a program that handles offline messaging and it is available on the PocketPC now too. It's called ICQ. You can send a message offline and the person will receive it when they logon.
http://www.icq.com/download/ftp-pocketpc.html
Lemme know if that's what you're looking for.
you can use Agile Messenger.. Lets you use AIM/ICQ/Yahoo/MSN IM accounts. There's a thread someone in here that has the info on it.. just search the forums for Agile Messenger.
You might want to contact Jabber and work out somemthing with them, the idea's mentioned above are good but I know you need something internal (not somthing that has potential use for (ab)use/danger)
http://www.jabber.com/index.cgi?CONTENT_ID=690
Any day now, M$ is gonna release mobile office connect. If you use office connect already this will move the IM client out to WM5.
You can try Saki,
It has the features you mentioned as well as integrated email, RSS feeds, and others. I know a company that chose to use this software and wizards instead of Blackberries.
http://www.sakimobile.com
Let's not forget Microsoft's Live Communication Server (LCS) 2005 with the office communicator SIP client.
Raptor
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
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...
Originally Posted by kimi.singapore
I am a trader, I have clients I need to msn video call to, I cannot find an application to help me perform this task. I changed from I pad to this just coz I thought would be a laptop replacement, unfortunately I find it sad to say that android is not mature yet to provide applications for business use. Anyone has a clue on video calls on msn or yahoo plse reply.
Much appreciated on your reply
Kimi, Singapore
Yahoo is available only for phones at the moment and does not work properly. MSN is supported by 3rd party apps.
Google video works fine.
thats odd I asked our IT guy why we dont use msn video for tele-confrences and he laughed/ Why cause skype and go to meeting is what bunisses use
not necessary, I am a trader, I work from home and I need the app what others use to communicate too. Some use skype, some yahoo some msn some google. We just can't say I can only use this app coz my equipment supports just this? We spend money on technology to make our business and life easy. Sadly Android is still a baby.
Skype
Google Talk
Facebook Chat
Windows Live Messenger
I got pissed to use too much chat application, now I use only GMAIL and GTALK...
Oh you must be one of those porn bots that use MSN for "business"
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App
@kimi: If you work from home buy a PC. It's for business. If you need to be available lets say in the bathroom just buy a laptop PC. Don't buy a tablet and expect (even though you can if you try) to replace your everyday run of the mill PC.