MS Office Sync

[whippingboy]

Just to clarify- I'm not saying Apple is great- I'm just saying I want Android to CRUSH the competition- you can't do that unless you support your userbase the same way your competitors do. If Apple is great with Exchange support- you need to do the same. If apple provides a 1st party sync solution (I think it sucks it's $99 a year) but they do provide something they say is MADE to work with the phone product they sell- then Android needs to do the same.

I'm not crazy about how the calendar/contacts are handled differently based on the maker of the Android phone. I don't always appreciate Googles "hands off" approach to open source. They should make a consortium, conclude what are good features and roll those out with firmware- not allow the contact database to be a completely different experience with Sense vs. TouchWiz, vs. blur, vs. Vanilla/stock.

It's confusing to the "casual" user. Something you don't have to contend with on iphone or blackberry...and probably won't have to deal with on WM7 either- but we've yet to see how that will work.

 

[caliskimmer]

Just to clarify- I'm not saying Apple is great- I'm just saying I want Android to CRUSH the competition- you can't do that unless you support your userbase the same way your competitors do. If Apple is great with Exchange support- you need to do the same. If apple provides a 1st party sync solution (I think it sucks it's $99 a year) but they do provide something they say is MADE to work with the phone product they sell- then Android needs to do the same.

I'm not crazy about how the calendar/contacts are handled differently based on the maker of the Android phone. I don't always appreciate Googles "hands off" approach to open source. They should make a consortium, conclude what are good features and roll those out with firmware- not allow the contact database to be a completely different experience with Sense vs. TouchWiz, vs. blur, vs. Vanilla/stock.

It's confusing to the "casual" user. Something you don't have to contend with on iphone or blackberry...and probably won't have to deal with on WM7 either- but we've yet to see how that will work.

I really hope the fragmentation ends with Gingerbread. There are so many custom UIs, it's almost ridiculous. Seriously, what is up with that Xperia 10 skin? Does that even LOOK like anything to do with Android?

 

[frankos72]

ahem... Seems we are straying way off topic again.

Here is the HTC Sync App I spoke of.
Application - HTC Sync?„?for Android 2.1 or above

caliskimmer. I looked at your link briefly and it seems like a bunch of bad solutions. After some time on Google, (I finally have more then 5 minutes to check the forums) I see that there is an app by Samsung called Samsung Kies. Well, that was mentioned in that first link you sent, but just with a brief, "I tried kies and all I got was contacts". So THANKS!

So, for those who are interested, Samsung Kies, should do the job. Here is a link to a page where you can download it:
4.0 inch SUPER AMOLED Display, Layar Reality Browser, Android 2.1 OS, 1GHz CPU Speed, 5 Megapixel AF Camera, Music Player - Samsung I9000 - Infotainment - mobile phones | SAMSUNG

Of course we will have to wait till we get our phones to tell how well it works. Maybe the folks over in the Vibrant, Captivate or Galaxy S forums are already discussing it? Course with all the differences in UI, there is no guarantee it will work for the Epic until we try.

I'll be sure to report back when I get a chance to work with it.

 

[frankos72]

OH, I hope this article turns out to be true. I quote:

One of the big advantages of the iPhone platform over Android has always been the iTunes desktop app. For those of us who don't live entirely in the cloud, iTunes lets us stay synced with our PCs the way we have since the first Palm piloted its way into our hearts.

Samsung is really narrowing the gap, though, with Samsung Kies for the AT&T Captivate and T-Mobile Vibrant phones. Kies not only syncs your phone's contacts and calendars with Outlook, it lets you download media and text messages off your phone, lets you tether the Captivate as a modem, and it reformats videos on your computer for your phone. It's much more powerful and prettier than HTC Sync, ...<snip>

Time to see what the Vibrant/Captivate folks have to say about this. It's hard to image that the cell providers would allow Samsung to make an app that allows tethering. I'm downloading the app now incase it get's pulled or updated later. It's not small, 139 MB.

 

[frankos72]

Hrm, it's installing and looks promising. My statement in my last post about I can't believe the carriers would let Samsung make a tether app? Well, I didn't read the entire article on app scout. Check out the last paragraph.

Samsung Kies looks good and works well, but Samsung is actively hiding it from US users for some reason. You can download it from this official Kies download site - you have to go hunting around under "Galaxy S support" on Samsung's foreign-country support Web sites to download it. I can't figure out why Samsung and its carrier partners wouldn't want to promote Kies in the US, as it doesn't let you do anything "dangerous" like deleting AT&T's bloatware. Suggestions are welcome in the comments.

So there we are. Ah it's done installing now... It looks AWESOME! There is a"Samsung Apps" section that is disabled in the US. I did tell it where I was in the install, I wonder if I put another country if it would work.

Anyway, the tethering part seems like it will work, it just says no device connected right now. *fingers crossed* I guess we find out next week!

 

[caliskimmer]

ahem... Seems we are straying way off topic again.

Here is the HTC Sync App I spoke of.
Application - HTC Sync™for Android 2.1 or above

caliskimmer. I looked at your link briefly and it seems like a bunch of bad solutions. After some time on Google, (I finally have more then 5 minutes to check the forums) I see that there is an app by Samsung called Samsung Kies. Well, that was mentioned in that first link you sent, but just with a brief, "I tried kies and all I got was contacts". So THANKS!

So, for those who are interested, Samsung Kies, should do the job. Here is a link to a page where you can download it:
4.0 inch SUPER AMOLED Display, Layar Reality Browser, Android 2.1 OS, 1GHz CPU Speed, 5 Megapixel AF Camera, Music Player - Samsung I9000 - Infotainment - mobile phones | SAMSUNG

Of course we will have to wait till we get our phones to tell how well it works. Maybe the folks over in the Vibrant, Captivate or Galaxy S forums are already discussing it? Course with all the differences in UI, there is no guarantee it will work for the Epic until we try.

I'll be sure to report back when I get a chance to work with it.

I wanted to send that, but I wasn't expecting too much from it. I really do wish I could put in my own feedback for these things, but I just don't need to use them, at least for now. I still would like to help though. If it works well, then it'd be nice. Maybe I can finally convince my parents to switch (like that'll ever happen )

 

[whippingboy]

There was a post somewhere here that Samsung Kies does not work with Epic- (Probably has to do with that is it really running TW3.0 or not issue)

Because it's not supported in the US is why I didn't mention it. Not to mention I've never used it personally- sorry I didn't bring it up earlier that it does exist.

We really won't know till it comes out. It matters not to me in particular because it's PC only.

As for the EVO- while earlier someone said they pulled it from HTC's site- you don't need to - the desktop app is actually on the SD card of the phone.

 

[caliskimmer]

There was a post somewhere here that Samsung Kies does not work with Epic- (Probably has to do with that is it really running TW3.0 or not issue)

Because it's not supported in the US is why I didn't mention it. Not to mention I've never used it personally- sorry I didn't bring it up earlier that it does exist.

We really won't know till it comes out. It matters not to me in particular because it's PC only.

As for the EVO- while earlier someone said they pulled it from HTC's site- you don't need to - the desktop app is actually on the SD card of the phone.

I thought I saw that you can use this with Galaxy S phones somewhere. Interesting.

 

[whippingboy]

Yes- it works with Captivate and Vibrant in the US- I've heard rumors it does not work with Epic.

We really must stop with some of this dialog and just wait till the dang thing comes out and then have a "hey this works thread" for all the questions about what the phone can and can't do compared to it's Galaxy US and Galaxy international brethren.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

Yes- it works with Captivate and Vibrant in the US- I've heard rumors it does not work with Epic.

We really must stop with some of this dialog and just wait till the dang thing comes out and then have a "hey this works thread" for all the questions about what the phone can and can't do compared to it's Galaxy US and Galaxy international brethren.

Considering most of the reviewers seemed to release stuff without knowing too much about the device, I'm willing to bet they tried connecting the phone to the computer with USB debugging off. On another note, the Windows drivers for the epic also haven't been released (the ones for the vibrant and captivate do not work) so that could be another barrier.

 

[caliskimmer]

Yes- it works with Captivate and Vibrant in the US- I've heard rumors it does not work with Epic.

We really must stop with some of this dialog and just wait till the dang thing comes out and then have a "hey this works thread" for all the questions about what the phone can and can't do compared to it's Galaxy US and Galaxy international brethren.

agreed.