Re-entering Android space, sync photos?

[gordol]

As recently as 6 weeks ago, I didn't think I'd be returning to Android. My last (and only) prior Android was the original Moto Droid X running OS 2.2, Gingerbread. I spent the last 5 years and 3 devices in Apple Land. The one killer feature for me that brought me back to Apple was the iTunes integration for media management. And I was happy.

Then iOS 11 happened. Along with watchOS 4, tvOS whatever, and iTunes 12.crap. And things broke across the board.

This time around, I found MediaMonkey, which I understand has the live updating nested playlists I require for music management (I'll find out, I'm syncing them for the first time now). This past Sunday, I finally had enough, and I had paid off enough of the iPhone to make an early upgrade only cost me one month's device payment early.

My current question is, how can I sync photos? Not the camera roll, album folders I have on my desktop. I want to sync those to the SD card in the Moto, the same way iTunes syncs photo folders to iThings. Select the folders to sync, and content changes get replicated. I don't see this in MM.

 

[chanchan05]

Hmm. I use Foldersync to do that, but I understand this seems to be built into Google Photos and Google Drive now. I haven't tried that option though. I haven't gotten around to cleaning up my Google Drive in a while.

 

[gordol]

Hmm. I use Foldersync to do that, but I understand this seems to be built into Google Photos and Google Drive now. I haven't tried that option though. I haven't gotten around to cleaning up my Google Drive in a while.

I'll look into that when I get home tonight.

 

[gordol]

Google Photos doesn't work for me.

On my PC, I have my photos organized into albums by folders. Google Photos ignores this and groups by date. I have over 13,000 photos going back about 20 years.

 

[ryanidcomm]

Please note if you are switching to a motoz2 play you are going to a midrange phone.. Not a flagship phome

 

[gordol]

Please note if you are switching to a motoz2 play you are going to a midrange phone.. Not a flagship phome

Was there a point to that comment?

 

[benjamminh]

Please note if you are switching to a motoz2 play you are going to a midrange phone.. Not a flagship phome

Other than the camera, most people wouldn't notice the difference. Strange comment though.

 

[chanchan05]

Was there a point to that comment?

Well for one thing it won't exactly be as well supported as flagship models, and may be using slower components than say iPhones and flagship Androids. The internet downlink may be slower, it may stutter in some more intensive games, etc. But overall it will work most of the time pretty well. It's a known issue wherein some people buy a cheaper low to mid range Android and expect it to be as fast as the latest iPhone, or at least the one from last year, or have as good a camera. Typically, good mid range models are about as good performance wise as a flagship from 2 years prior to release, with possibly some new features added or certain 'premium' features removed. An example would be during the era of the Galaxy S4 and prior, only flagships of Samsung had USBOTG, but now it's pretty common that the middle Galaxy A series also has it, while the J series may or may not depending on model.

 

[Ry]

Well for one thing it won't exactly be as well supported as flagship models, and may be using slower components than say iPhones and flagship Androids. The internet downlink may be slower, it may stutter in some more intensive games, etc. But overall it will work most of the time pretty well. It's a known issue wherein some people buy a cheaper low to mid range Android and expect it to be as fast as the latest iPhone, or at least the one from last year, or have as good a camera. Typically, good mid range models are about as good performance wise as a flagship from 2 years prior to release, with possibly some new features added or certain 'premium' features removed. An example would be during the era of the Galaxy S4 and prior, only flagships of Samsung had USBOTG, but now it's pretty common that the middle Galaxy A series also has it, while the J series may or may not depending on model.

How so? The Moto Z2 Play and Moto Z Play have been supported just as well as the other Moto Zs.

 

[chanchan05]

How so? The Moto Z2 Play and Moto Z Play have been supported just as well as the other Moto Zs.

I was talking in a more general mid range setup. Sony and Moto have very good update histories for their mid range, but step outside those two and support becomes murky.

 

[gordol]

Well for one thing it won't exactly be as well supported as flagship models, and may be using slower components than say iPhones and flagship Androids.

I'm still not seeing what that has to do with this or any other question I have asked.

 

[Ry]

I was talking in a more general mid range setup. Sony and Moto have very good update histories for their mid range, but step outside those two and support becomes murky.

And the OP is asking about a Motorola phone....

 

[recumbentbob]

I'm still not seeing what that has to do with this or any other question I have asked.

Neither do I.

 

[gordol]

And the OP is asking about a Motorola phone....

And the OP (me) wasn't asking anything that had anything to do with device performance, either as an absolute or in comparison to anything else.

 

[chanchan05]

Google Photos doesn't work for me.

On my PC, I have my photos organized into albums by folders. Google Photos ignores this and groups by date. I have over 13,000 photos going back about 20 years.

Anyway back to topic.

Have you tried Foldersync? It allows me to sync the photos by folder, so each folder (album) in my phone shows up as it's own folder in my PC. It doesn't have its own cloud though. I linked it to my OneDrive.

 

[gordol]

Have you tried Foldersync? It allows me to sync the photos by folder, so each folder (album) in my phone shows up as it's own folder in my PC. It doesn't have its own cloud though. I linked it to my OneDrive.

I'll take a look. I was hoping to just go PC -> Device without an online service, but I guess that's not possible.

 

[chanchan05]

I'll take a look. I was hoping to just go PC -> Device without an online service, but I guess that's not possible.

I think Sony is the only one left with that option since Samsung scrapped Kies and HTC their software turned barebones. Moto was the first to ditch USB sync of data if I remember correctly.

If it's PC to phone directly, you'll have to do it manually. I haven't seen any new software doing what you want recently.

 

[gordol]

I think Sony is the only one left with that option since Samsung scrapped Kies and HTC their software turned barebones. Moto was the first to ditch USB sync of data if I remember correctly.

I don't care if it's USB vs wifi. I just prefer doing it without going through an online service.

Something that burns me now that I've found it, is that the phone's built-in file manager does not manage files. It also has a wifi based FTP server that claims I can manage the files from my PC with it, but it won't let me create directories in existing locations nor upload files.

But I CAN implicitly create the folders and transfer files via other installed apps...

 

[chanchan05]

I don't care if it's USB vs wifi. I just prefer doing it without going through an online service.

Something that burns me now that I've found it, is that the phone's built-in file manager does not manage files. It also has a wifi based FTP server that claims I can manage the files from my PC with it, but it won't let me create directories in existing locations nor upload files.

But I CAN implicitly create the folders and transfer files via other installed apps...

No experience with the Moto file manager. LG and Samsung versions works as expected in actually managing files. You can probably try Astro File Manager or X-Plore from the Play Store. Stay away from ES File Manager.

 

[nasznjoka]

google photos should be able to do this.. you just need to select the folders to auto sync. but on sdcard you gotta enable it via photos settings first