Bunch of Newbie Questions

[HnLA]

Just got Evo4g, updating from tracfone, but use Ipod touch.
1 - Cannot use HTC sync without buying/adding a separate SD card?

2 - Cannot synch music in itunes, only songs in my "music folder"?

3 - The emails are bigger than the screen in landscape and cannot sqeeze them smaller, so have to keep moving the email back and forth. Is there a way to fix this?

4 - Is there a way to permanently have the images open in emails, or do I have to hit "open images" each and every email?

5 - Is there a way to get 2-line preview in landscape? or do I have to keep switching from portrait (to see the preview) to landscape to read the full size email?

6 - Is there a way to type in from a computer contact info that is not in outlook?

7 - Is there a way to quickly delete emails, like the left-swipe on the iphone? or do you need to check, delete and confirm?

I got this big phone, as I do like the bigger keyboard for typing and like swype. But I have spent quite some time on trying to synch and it has not worked at all. The people in the store and when calling support are either not familiar with this new phone, or tell me that most of these things cannot be done. Thanks for your help

 

[Tical]

#1 - HTC Sync should be able to be used without an external card, the phone has a storage partition that mimics a card, so it should work fine without a physical one

#2 - DoubleTwist may be a good investment for you. Allows you to sync up your iTunes. I have the paid wireless version, but I believe there is a free version too in the market

#3 - No, some emails are sized wider than the screen, especially those with a banner on top. And you can't resize/zoom out. You may be able to reduce the need by making your font size small (settings > general settings > font size). An alternative is to use the app made for/by your respective email provider (e.g. Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) provided in the market

#4 - No, there is no 'automatically open images' option, though it is sorely needed... Technically it's done to reduce spam confirmation and conserve your data, but it's a pain sometimes.

#5 - No, landscape only has the subject. The only options you have are to increase the preview to more lines in portrait if you want to see more.

#6 - It's pretty easy if you have your contacts linked in your google account. Log into gmail, select 'contacts', and all your linked phone contacts should be there. Any edits you do there will be synced to your phone

#7 - No, checking the box and deleting is the way to do it other than going into each email, which is even slower...

If you need help, you did the correct thing. There are plenty of people on the forum that are just thrilled to be helping you walk through your problems. You only need to be sure to search to see if they have been asked/answered before, and word it nicely, you will surely get all the help you could want.

A slightly different note. If you are coming from a non-smart phone and iOS, you will have a better time of things if you shift your thinking as well. You will hear people on here repeating the mantra "Android is about choice". That means different things to different people... In your case, it's something to keep in mind that with android, you can choose to change darn near ANYTHING on the phone... you don't like the way it syncs (or doesn't) in your case... change your music program... you don't like the way email is handled... change the client... I doubt you will find two phones with the same combinations (other than 100% stock)... good luck!

 

[HnLA]

Thanks Tical.
#1 - I spent an hour dowloading and updating the HTC sync on my computer, then when I sync it says it wont work as there is no card. It will not synch music, photos, etc. I was able to copy/paste some photos, but if you have a synch program, why not allow it to synch to the device.

I guess I need to become more familiar with things, but I do not see where the choices come in. So far when I spoke with two tech support people, the answer was "you cannot do that"

While they say that 4.0 allows you to move icons, the person who helped me set things up, said you can only arrange certain icons. I am not sure which they are, and its not too clear.

If seems that most posts on here are from people who are coming from other Android OS. If you are using non gmail accounts its different than other email accounts. While there is choice, it seems to really be helpful if you limit yourself to google things.
Thanks

 

[Tical]

Well, that last sentence... you said a mouthful... the reality is for as much as we clamor for 'choice' for android, it is admittedly a LOT easier if you just give yourself over to the google experience...lol.

On #1... I haven't really used the sync program, as i usually use dropbox and/or google music to keep my files online and pull them down on an as-needed basis. How about you explain WHAT you want to do, and we can coach you through the best way to do it... it may well be that you are taking the hard road unnecessarily...

"You cannot do that" isn't something that stays that way for long. I've found (as most people familiar with these forums) that a lot of tech support are doing things by a script, and if the solution doesn't fit into the script... well, then it's labeled as 'not possible'. I'm not even sure what you specifically asked to do that was called such.

I came from a Blackberry a few years ago, a very different shift. Keep at it, things become easier after a month or so. For your email accounts, what type are you trying to work with that's giving you less than ideal options? All three of the major types have dedicated apps, so you aren't limited to just the stock client. And even then, there are plenty of generic clients with more features than the stock one as well...

 

[donsloan1122]

Thanks Tical.
#1 - I spent an hour dowloading and updating the HTC sync on my computer, then when I sync it says it wont work as there is no card. It will not synch music, photos, etc. I was able to copy/paste some photos, but if you have a synch program, why not allow it to synch to the device.

I guess I need to become more familiar with things, but I do not see where the choices come in. So far when I spoke with two tech support people, the answer was "you cannot do that"

While they say that 4.0 allows you to move icons, the person who helped me set things up, said you can only arrange certain icons. I am not sure which they are, and its not too clear.

If seems that most posts on here are from people who are coming from other Android OS. If you are using non gmail accounts its different than other email accounts. While there is choice, it seems to really be helpful if you limit yourself to google things.
Thanks

Hi HnLA, I'm figuring out some newb stuff as well. I get the same message as above from HTC Sync when I run it on my laptop running Vista. I have a micro SD card on the way and I'm hoping I can use this program when I install the card in my E4GLTE. In the meantime though, I have been able to transfer files to the phone's internal storage by plugging in the USB and choosing Media sync instead of HTC Sync Manager. Then I can see the device in My Computer on the laptop and open it to access Music, Movies, Pictures folders for drag & drop transfers. Not ideal, but it's fairly quick. Hope that helps!

 

[mjdaggie]

Regarding #1, maybe this thread will help explain what's going on:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?p=1820712

If you don't want to get an SD card, I would recommend AirDroid as well.