Is Kies worth using?

[Jshellz]

I've been using Samsung Kies to put music on my S4 since I bought it. It worked fantastically at first, but now is starting to have problems. It sometimes lists the same albums twice on the phone, even though both are spelled the same and show up as one in Kies. On the phone it will sometimes display the file name of the song, rather than the song name/artist that is displayed correctly in Kies. Similarly, sometimes on the phone, it will put both the artist and song name into the song field, even though it displays correctly in Kies. Am I doing something wrong? Is there a better way to get this done?

 

[bistwo]

Kies runs extremely slowly on my brand new laptop, I use mediamonkey. Its like a fast iTunes with many more features and it will sync any device, but I still use Kies to backup everything, since that's the only way to backup everything without rooting.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[merlin7777777]

I'm seriously regretting moving from blackberry. I've got loads of fun features on my S4, lovely screen, super camera, angry birds etc but none of it makes up for the loss of a local sync with outlook calendar/contacts/nots/tasks.

kies syncs all but notes - even though the S4 has s memo. I assume its something political to do with google but whatever the reason, for a top of the range phone this is very poor. I can't send the S4 back now so i'm stuck with it for 2 years contract. I still have my torch so i may be forced back to that. Very disappointed indeed.

 

[mhunter6378]

I'm seriously regretting moving from blackberry. I've got loads of fun features on my S4, lovely screen, super camera, angry birds etc but none of it makes up for the loss of a local sync with outlook calendar/contacts/nots/tasks.

kies syncs all but notes - even though the S4 has s memo. I assume its something political to do with google but whatever the reason, for a top of the range phone this is very poor. I can't send the S4 back now so i'm stuck with it for 2 years contract. I still have my torch so i may be forced back to that. Very disappointed indeed.

Have you considered using OneNote? If you have Office on your computer you should already have OneNote. Set up a free Microsoft Live account to sync OneNote with Skydrive. You can then select your notes in Outlook (multiple notes at a time if you choose to) right click and choose send to OneNote. Install OneNote app on your S4 and they will be there once you sign in with your Microsoft Live ID. I use it all the time for syncing notes across multiple platforms. This may be a little more work than automatically syncing through an app but if you make the transition to OneNote for your note keeping needs you may find you like it better than notes in Outlook.

 

[thekC]

I use WinAmp. People might correctly argue that it's rather antiquated, but the Wi-Fi transferring of songs has always worked flawlessly for me regardless of the device I've used over the years, including the S4. The app and PC program are free.
(The reason I used winamp, along with the shoutcast plugin to begin with, was for online radio broadcasting)

Posted via Android Central App

 

[monsieurms]

I'm seriously regretting moving from blackberry. I've got loads of fun features on my S4, lovely screen, super camera, angry birds etc but none of it makes up for the loss of a local sync with outlook calendar/contacts/nots/tasks.

This is an Android issue, not a Samsung issue.

When I first switched way back when from Palm, like you I was dismayed at how difficult it was to have a local sync. I'm on my desktop all the time. I want my calendar. And my contacts. And my tasks and notes. I missed Palm Desktop. There was an odd way to keep using it (Companion Link), but it seemed hardly worth the effort once I got the data transferred. Most of all, I was freaked about the Calendar. If I don't have a desktop calendar to check regularly, I'm in trouble.

Finally, I just realized, if I'm on Android, have to go with the flow. Use Google. Then all those work out and normalcy returns. You can keep a Google calendar open in a separate tab on your browser. You can have a widget that displays the agenda (or on a phone with good screen size like the S4, even a month--or both) on the phone. Contacts are easy to access on both the phone and desktop browser. Email can be through iMap and still sync'd and saved locally with Outlook if you wish. (Notes went to Evernote).

Google Tasks handles tasks and integrates on the same screen as the calendar, too. It integrates perfectly with the calendar and provides lot of options. Get it with a widget on your phone with some app like Google Tasks Organizer (GTO). I was a bit bent out of shape at not having memos available with Google's suite of apps until I dl'd Evernote. Evernote doesn't really integrate with Google in the same way the Palm Desktop gave me one app that did everything, but on the other hand, it is wayyyyyyyyy better as an app and does so much more. I've gotten used to it and by its nature, it doesn't really need to be on the same screen as my calendar. Given how robust the Google calendar/tasks apps are, most things can go there. It's only real, standing memos that go to Evernote. At which point, it's separated. So be it. Not a big deal.

Another advantage to Google's cloud is not having to sync, actually. The minute you make a change in the browser or the phone's app, it will be sync'd to the cloud automatically. You don't have to do anything. I resisted that for a long while. I love it now. It's way easier and much safer in terms of backing up data. If I create a task list on vacation and then break the phone, it's gone with Palm because I had no time to sync. With Google, it's right there still. Get a new phone, move on.

Change is difficult. I remember! At this point, however, I'd say there is no real downside and my overall experience is in fact far better, particularly considering how far superior the apps are on the phone, plus the enhancements Google delivers in various ways over what I had.

 

[jtdunc]

Kies runs extremely slowly on my brand new laptop, I use mediamonkey. Its like a fast iTunes with many more features and it will sync any device, but I still use Kies to backup everything, since that's the only way to backup everything without rooting.

Posted via Android Central App

Just dumping my iTunes library into my S G4 and it did a good job as well as transferring pix and such.

 

[Bonnie LeCompte]

Like you, Kies synced with my Note 4 perfectly for the first few times. Now, however, it is not recognizing my phone. I have uninstalled everything, and reinstalled, but it still does not work. Anyone have another program they would suggest that I use to sync my Samsung phone with my Macbook Pro?