Questions about GMail and Calender sync

[shribe]

My wife and I just got our Storm 2s replaced by Verizon with Incredibles, and I have a couple of questions. I'm really happy with the new phones (aside from only getting about 6 hours on a fully charged battery), and so glad to be away from the Storms. We used to sync the phones with outlook, so we had the exact same calender and contacts, which was great to keep up with the three kids hockey schedules, but thought it might be even better to go to google calender so we could make updates and sync the phones automatically. I had a google account and my phone syncd to the calender, but I can't get hers to. We both have seperate gmail accounts, but added both google accounts to both phones. I think I might have went wrong at the very beginning when I set hers up with her gmail address, and mine with my gmail address. Do I need to reset hers and set them both to have the same primary google account to share the one calender?

Also, neither google account has imported the contacts from our phones. When we first got them, I syncd the both from outlook and the HTC Sync program.

What I'm trying to say I guess, is I want both phones to be clones of each other as far as contacts, calender, and email. Can this be done? If so, what do I need to do?

Thanks for the help!

One more thing, where can I find real ringers, not music ringtones. I like to put a few diferrent tones with a few contacts, and the four that are not music are not enough to cover what I need. A couple of them are just to quiet.

 

[TBolt]

My wife and I just got our Storm 2s replaced by Verizon with Incredibles, and I have a couple of questions. I'm really happy with the new phones (aside from only getting about 6 hours on a fully charged battery), and so glad to be away from the Storms. We used to sync the phones with outlook, so we had the exact same calender and contacts, which was great to keep up with the three kids hockey schedules, but thought it might be even better to go to google calender so we could make updates and sync the phones automatically. I had a google account and my phone syncd to the calender, but I can't get hers to. We both have separate gmail accounts, but added both google accounts to both phones. I think I might have went wrong at the very beginning when I set hers up with her gmail address, and mine with my gmail address. Do I need to reset hers and set them both to have the same primary google account to share the one calender?

Also, neither google account has imported the contacts from our phones. When we first got them, I syncd the both from outlook and the HTC Sync program.

What I'm trying to say I guess, is I want both phones to be clones of each other as far as contacts, calender, and email. Can this be done? If so, what do I need to do?

Thanks for the help!

One more thing, where can I find real ringers, not music ringtones. I like to put a few diferrent tones with a few contacts, and the four that are not music are not enough to cover what I need. A couple of them are just to quiet.

Since you want the phones to be clones, I guess you're right about making one account the primary account on both phones. My vote is for deleting the accounts on your Inc; then re-adding the primary account again. (Menu > Settings > Accounts & Sync) This is just my vote, though . . . probably best to wait for a second & third opinion. hehe

My personal preference would be to share a calendar, though. If your calendar was the only concern, I would ask . . . is there a reason why she (or you) can't just "create a new calendar" called "kid's schedule" under the My Calendars area of Google Calendar? Once created, share that calendar with the spouse. Seems to me that would be the easiest way to share the important calendar events while still maintaining separate identities otherwise.

Re: ringtones . . . I only use my own MP3s (songs). I have never shopped for ring tones anywhere. hehehe

Welcome to the world of Droids!

 

[shribe]

Thanks. For my wife, it just needs to show up on her calender, magically, when she presses the calender button. I used to be the magic with the blackberrys by plugging it in and syncing it for her every couple of nights.
I tried to delete the account on her phone, but that first one you put in locks itself to phone it appears, and wont let you delete it. You can delete any others you add after that, just not that one. I tried to share the calender, but couldn't get that to work either, it wouldn't show up on her calender in her phone still. Google cal is still really new to me, so maybe its just a matter of messing with it some more. And I still cant get gmail to pick up our contacts.

 

[TBolt]

Well, it sounds like you're willing to explore shared calendars; so, I wouldn't wipe either phone just to clone them. If everything else fails, sounds like you might have to wipe one. Warning: you would be the first person i know that has tied 2 separate Droids to the same Google account, though. doing so might cause some weird sync issues.

If the calendar isn't appearing on her phone, are you sure that
1) you shared the calendar with her Gmail account?
2) the calendar is checked/enabled on her phone (in Calendar > Menu > More > Calendars?)

Contacts sharing is not a strength of Android; although, people have been begging Google to offer it. Google Apps Premier Edition has some level of sharing now, but that's a whole different ballgame.

I have far too much junk in my Gmail contact list; so, I do not sync my phone's contacts to my Gmail account at all. Instead, I keep a separate list of contacts in VZW's Backup Assistant. If you want to try VZW's Backup Assistant, you could build up the contact list for one VZW account via the VZW web site. When finished, export the contact list and import it into the Backup Assistant for the other VZW account. Both phones would then have the same people.

Of course, changes to the contact list by either person would not magically appear on the other person's contact list. You'd have to keep updating (exporting/importing) on a regular schedule.

It's a manual process, but O well.

Backup Assistant FAQ here

 

[shribe]

Thanks, good stuff here. I will work a little harder on the calender sync tonight. Maybe I didn't go deep enough last night. When I went to the sync menu on her phone, on her primary google account, there was no check box available for calender sync. Only contacts, and mail. I'll look again tonight though.
I think a good plan might be to continue to sync contacts through outlook every so often, then sync outlook contacts to gmail, mainly for when using a pc to check and respond to emails through the gmail account. I think you can do that, right?
Most of this is do to eventually wanting to drop MSN as my usual email service, and switch to google for everything. Just want to make sure everything is working solid before making the switch.

Thanks again!

 

[TBolt]

You know, we need some Outlook guys in this thread. hehe I haven't needed Outlook, or any email client, in years.

Being ignorant re: email clients, then, I won't assume that you can't synch two Droid phones with one Outlook program just as well as you did with the BB's. Someone here will know.

I Googled some terms and found this and this.

 

[shribe]

The sync between the two Android phones and outlook was no problem. Both contacts and calender were perfect.