[SOLVED!] Running ICS Googlefree (at least Contacts and Calendar) - Motorola Droid RAZR

I just updated my Razor to 672.180.41.XT910.Retail.en.EU via OTA update.
ICS is quite nice.
I experienced some minor problems (peakfinder started to act sluggish and grabatron is not anymore fluid as before, but I can live without them!)
... actually the enhancement on Wify is relevant and it seems its the new platform, at least up to JB!
Actually a much bigger problem arised for me!
With GB I was able to keep my phone contacts and calendar synced with outlook without having to use the cloud (gmail).
I installed Motorola PIM sync app and using Motocast USB I succesfully synced outlook's contacts to the Razor creating a new account (Outlook Contacts) were I could easily add new contacts also directly from the phone and sync them back to outlook using the excellent MyPhoneExplorer.
Motocast USB is needed just for the first time (it creates the Motocast USB Outlook Contacts account), then I preferred using MPE as it allows you to sync also calendar, toDos, notes, sms and calls with my Pc locally (no cloud things!).
Keep in mind that while there are also other solutions, the Motocast USB account creation is the only one that let you add to it new contacts from the phone using the default contact app.
Strangely the default contacts app doesn't let you add new contacts to the phone account.
Using instead the standard gmail account without syncing it was not an option as I experienced it syncing with the cloud even if not told to!
With ICS I replicated all the process to sync googlefree but, while the process could be replicated ...wait! I'm not anymore able to add new contacts to the Motocast USB account from the phone!
Actually the Outlook contacts account is created, but I can't select it as an option to add contacts to it from the 'contacts' app.
.... this is the problem!
I'm also looking for solutions using alternative contact apps which could work on Motocast USB account, but, as the new ICS contact application is nice (finally I can search in all of the contact's fields!) I'd like to use it.
Anyone has a solution or an alternative working contact app?
'use gmail' answers not accepted! I didn't open this thread to discuss the opportunity of using gmail !

Solution: use go contact ex!
I just want to share the solution I found to my problem.
Actually I had to resign to the fact that it seems that the standard ICS contacts app doesn't let you add contacts to accounts other than the google one:
- Phone account (not visible from 'account manager' but actually is were Mobile Phone Explorer can add your contacts as an option instead of Google account). This was not possible either with GB
- Motocast USB account (still visible from account manager, but with ICS it's not possible anymore to add contact to it).
What did I do?
1) Deleted Motocast USB account (its now useless for my purposes)
2) Synced Outlook contact with the Razr stating that I wanted to add the contacts to the 'phone' account (not google/gmail)
3) Use Go contact ex to manage my contacs and specified in the options just to use 'phone' contacts and add contact to it (they had been synced to Outlook with no issues!)
This is not the kind of solution I preferred as I had to install an additional app, but, at least I succeeded in keeping my personal data away from the cloud (at least having the illusion of succeeding in it )

Related

Best way to organize email/contacts on the Hero

Good people, I've been on Android ever since the Hero came out and right now I'm waiting to get my new Legend in the mail.
BUT, I've never been sure what's the best way to organize and sync email, contacts and calendar appointments. Do you store all contacts ON the phone and backup thru HTC Sync and Outlook, do you ditch that and go full Google? Do you use IMAP with Hotmail? Exchange Server server with private mail?
First some info about me: I've had a private email service for some years now and a Hotmail account. I've wanted to keep these because of the hassle changing, but I finally caved in and started using the Gmail account I set up YEARS ago (so nobody would take it). I've stopped using Thunderbird as a email client, I've stopped using Lightning as a calendar tool and I've decided to use Hotmail just for junk (ie. Newsletters, registrations on various services I don't need to keep track of).
Now ALL my contacts are "Phone" contacts, not Google contacts. I sync my contacts with Outlook with HTC Sync, but I NEVER USE OUTLOOK. I sync Google Calendar with the Hero and I only use Gmail with the phone.
You getting me? All the options are, stressing me... I need a way to consolidate all my contacts across the board, all my tasks, events, notes...everything, the same everywhere.
1) Would you change all phone contacts to Google contacts?
2) Can you change all "Phone" contacts to "Google" contacts?
3) Use both "HTC Mail" app with IMAP or just use "Gmail" App
- right now I get two notifications, both from the HTC app and the Gmail app.
Edit: I really with HTC could supply a tool, like HTC Sync, that would allow full control of the phone on you laptop, full sync capabilleties and the option to store it locally in HTC Sync (NOT Outlook) and in the Cloud as a backup.
ermmm personally i would sync all my contacts with gmail...at first its a bit messy cos u start getting gmail emails contacts in it but u learn to embrace it...specially if ur email list isnt way too big...syncing ur contacts with google is good specially if u have ORD(obsessive rom disorder) cos it saves u time backing up stuff...and it syncs via cloud so why bother plugging it in to sync
ermmm in terms of gmail i removed it from my htc app and just use the gmail app...the htc mail app is useful if u have any other accounts like hotmail or exchange or secondary emails...if u still want gmail on a pretty looking htc mail app u can just go to the gmail app and turn off notifications(that way u wont have 2 notifications for a single email)...

Exchange contacts sync

I currently have a stock Telstra ROM and will remain as a stock ROM until Telstra release the firmware so I have a warranty copy
I am having issues with the Exchange contacts and Sync - it is set to sync contacts, email, calendar, etc., and when you initially set up the account, all the contacts sync, but if I delete a contact on my phone, it remains in Outlook and if I create a new one in Outlook, it doesn't appear on my phone. The Calendar and email seem to work just fine.
This is becoming a major problem, as I have to create the contact twice, and if I forget the create it on my phone, I have no information for the client I want to call.
Can anyone offer a solution to this - is there a setting I have missed. Is it a bug?
thanks
DT
Outllok only syncs contacts with basic information like names and phone numbers. Any extra like pictures and notes will not resync beccuase it does not recognize these fields.
Cosmic Blue said:
Outllok only syncs contacts with basic information like names and phone numbers. Any extra like pictures and notes will not resync beccuase it does not recognize these fields.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have some contacts with contact images - which do sync the first time you set up the account. However, I created a test contact on the phone - nothing extra and it doesn't sync and I also then created a contact in Outlook with no extras, and it doesn't sync either. This must be a bug, but it is one I have to find a solution for fast, as it effects my business.
thanks
DT
I take it that Contacts were included in the setup of adding the Exchange email account.
Can you view the email account via a web browser? If you can, then you can find out if the problem is with the phone or the Outlook on the computer.
fred_up said:
I take it that Contacts were included in the setup of adding the Exchange email account.
Can you view the email account via a web browser? If you can, then you can find out if the problem is with the phone or the Outlook on the computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it was.
There is no problem with the web outlook, outlook our the exchange server, it is the phone.
DT
I know that it is tedious, but what happens when you remove the account from your phone. Switch it off and on, then add the account again?
fred_up said:
I know that it is tedious, but what happens when you remove the account from your phone. Switch it off and on, then add the account again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply.
It does the initial sync of all contacts, but then no more sync of changes.
DT
Go into Contacts, select Option button, Mor-> Settings -> Save new contacts to. You get the option to save to the Phone, Google (your gmail account) and Microsoft Exchange (your work exchange email account). Select the Exchange option.
When you go into Contacts, select Option buttonthen select Sync contacts. Alternatively you could just go to the email app and do a refresh, then the (Exchange email) contacts should sync.
fred_up said:
Go into Contacts, select Option button, Mor-> Settings -> Save new contacts to. You get the option to save to the Phone, Google (your gmail account) and Microsoft Exchange (your work exchange email account). Select the Exchange option.
When you go into Contacts, select Option buttonthen select Sync contacts. Alternatively you could just go to the email app and do a refresh, then the (Exchange email) contacts should sync.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Already have tried that - it is set to save to Exchange and doing the sync there or in "account and sync" doesn't change anything. I even contacted Samsung and all they suggested was buying Touchdown from the app store - great product Samsung has if they can't even support their own software.
DT
Same issue here. Works fine for a few days then bam! stops syncing. the only way to get it updated is to blow out the contacts on the phone and re-do the initial sync. Which sucks if you have added contacts on the phone.
Evidently this is not an isolated issue. Based on reports from others in other forums, many of which are from IT professionals, this is a recurring issue with no discernible rhyme or reason.
I have a hotmail account. I put on my phone as an exchange account.
I added a contact via the browswer on my PC. Synced my phone and the contact appeared. Deleted it on the phone, synced the account. Checked on the PC and the contact had gone.
I repeated this with a few contacts. some started on the phone and some on the PC. I also took some contacts and modified their details. and synced. There were later modified again with different details on the PC. Every test showed that there was not a problem.
I am using the stock KF3 ROM and the test was run in the standard e-mail app. I have Enhanced Email (just so that I can sync more than 1 month).
d_train said:
Already have tried that - it is set to save to Exchange and doing the sync there or in "account and sync" doesn't change anything. I even contacted Samsung and all they suggested was buying Touchdown from the app store - great product Samsung has if they can't even support their own software.
DT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i Got the same problem...any solution ?
My best regards
galinha said:
i Got the same problem...any solution ?
My best regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope - Samsung said that there is limited support for Activesync and to use touchdown (at $20 from the market). I am using the trial of it at the moment, and even though it does sync the contacts within the touchdown app, it doesn't sync between the app and the stock contacts, which your phone uses for dialing, text, etc.
It is a major bug, and one they don't seem to want anything to do with.
DT
I once again contacted Samsung Support indicating that the contacts sync is a bug and what solutions are likely on the horizon. This is the response...
Thank you for contacting Samsung Customer Care.
Android is an open source operating system owned by Google. If this is
not functioning, it is configuration of the exchange itself that will be
creating issues.
Please find a link below to the Touchdown features.
http://www.nitrodesk.com/dk_touchdownFeatures.aspx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They can't even admit they have a problem - it is all Googles fault!!
DT

[Q] ActiveSync and contacts issue [SOLVED]

I have my phone setup to sync my Outlook contacts, calendar and e-mail via ActiveSync and my Hotmail account. This appears on the phone as a Corporate Exchange account using MS servers, but in reality it is just the Hotmail cloud (no Exchange client). It works fine for me (although contact photos only sync from Outlook to phone, not vice-versa), but I have a problem with contacts I create on the phone. There is no way to assign them to an account so they end up not syncing to my Outlook, which only syncs contacts bearing the corporate symbol or that have been joined from Facebook to an existing Outlook contact. I've looked all over and not found any way to either create a contact on the phone under a specific account or to convert one after the fact. The only workaround I have found is to create a new contact in Outlook with the same name, wait until it syncs to the phone, then join it with the existing contact on the phone. This is obviously not optimal. Any ideas?
I'm looking for information on this as well.
In my case, my calendar, contacts, (tasks?) and email are all being syncronized via corporate exchange. I try to use my corporate exchange as my base point, so I would like to keep my contacts there by default.
When creating a new contact, I do not see how to designate where the contact is to be stored. I would think I would be given the option to save it under:
Exchange
Gmail
or phone.
I thought this used to be an option, but I'm not seeing it under the latest Unamed ROM.
Has this option been removed? or am did I ever have that option?
I have a suggestion but I'm not sure it's exactly what you're looking for. I don't use exchange server email so I don't know if this is what you need.
I sync all of my contacts and calendar to Outlook using MyPhoneExplorer. you can get the app for free in the market and download the program directly to your computer (do a google search to find their website to download the desktop version). If your phone is on the same (wifi) network as your computer you can even sync wirelessly. It syncs perfectly in both directions - phone to computer and vice versa.
hope this helps.
I've also heard that the Kies program works. It can be downloaded from the Samsung website.
Under sync settings, I unchecked the contacts sync for Gmail so now by default all new contacts are saved to Exchange.
Found it,
Maybe NOT synching the Gmail account, made this option available but suspect it was just buried deeper than I remember.
I thought this used to be a context option.
In Contacts
Settings (leftmost key button)
More
Settings again (bottom of list)
Save new contacts to.....
Now, what was that darn password I needed to save again....?
Oh-Yeah, Netflix....
Iqak, that did the trick. I knew I was able to do that before, but why I couldn't find it before is beyond me. Thanks.
jack man said:
I have a suggestion but I'm not sure it's exactly what you're looking for. I don't use exchange server email so I don't know if this is what you need.
I sync all of my contacts and calendar to Outlook using MyPhoneExplorer. you can get the app for free in the market and download the program directly to your computer (do a google search to find their website to download the desktop version). If your phone is on the same (wifi) network as your computer you can even sync wirelessly. It syncs perfectly in both directions - phone to computer and vice versa.
hope this helps.
I've also heard that the Kies program works. It can be downloaded from the Samsung website.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use to use MPE on my Captivate and it was a bit of a pain. I also had issues with it losing contacts and/or scrambling them up. Using ActiveSync with Outlook is the best way and thanks to Iqak I have it working as it should.

[Q] Copying contacts between accounts from the android device

Hi,
Before you continue reading, this is not a question about moving contacts from one android device to another, or from an iPhone to an android (or viceversa)!!
This is my scenario: I've got my android tablet (the asus transformer) and I have 3 accounts set up there, 2 are gmail accounts (say, account A and account B) and a third corporate account (exchange activesync, call it account C)
I used account B when I was in my last job and have a lot of business contacts there. What I want to do is to have a simple way of copying some of these business contacts over to the exchange account (account C). I also would like to copy a couple from account A (personal stuff) into account C.
Any ideas? Thanks
Have you tried to export the contacts you want from the web interface of gmail?
You can select the contacts you want and export them in CSV for outlook or in vcard. I'm not familiar with Exchange but it must have some import function in a desktop client or web interface, at least of vcard.
Nicodroid said:
Have you tried to export the contacts you want from the web interface of gmail?
You can select the contacts you want and export them in CSV for outlook or in vcard. I'm not familiar with Exchange but it must have some import function in a desktop client or web interface, at least of vcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know, that is exactly what I don't want to end up doing because it's a waste of time.
Fortunately I found an app in the market named Contacts Copy which did exactly what I wanted to do! The interface is a bit clunky but it does the job.
Sorry for reanimation of an old thread!
But I'm facing the same problem! Is there any progress?
I was hoping, newer android versions would implement such a (simple?) function - moving a contact from one account to another doesn't seem to be so sophisticated if one has a whole synchronisation framework at hand!
Is there any contact manager out there, providing such functionality?
Thanks!
Same problem here...
I'm struggling with the same thing - I tried Contacts Copy but it just seemed to do import and export and you needed to enter a phone number. Not sure why it needs my phone number so I didn't really trust it. Anyway, if someone has had some luck I'd appreciate the help.
Just to reiterate the issue, I have an Exchange work account (a) and a gmail account (b) on my phone. I can access my works contacts database from my phone and save contacts, but they're linked to the Exchange account. I want to be able to get them from (a) to (b) simply on my phone, rather than needing to export a CSV from Outlook and upload to Gmail.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alefsoft.copycontacts&hl=en
It does it !!
Only one thing is missing - search.
Also it joins original contact to copy in another account and can update existing.
Was sending contacts to myself by SMS/e-mail before.

[Q] Adding new contacts on the phone - Not Google but phone contact!

I'm trying to keep my personal data like contacts, appointments and activities secured (unshared wit gmail) as I do not see any opportunity in putting personal data in the 'cloud' but only risks as I am used to backing up all of my relevant data with outlook.
I'm using with some satisfaction MyPhoneExplorer which is free.
Yet I think that stepping to android from wm6.5 I lost the efficiency of activesync regarding ease of use syncing with outlook (I do use Outlook and don't whant to change!).
With MPE I solved my biggest issue and I succeeded in keeping at lesast my data synced with outlook and unsinced with gmail.
My last problem now is the following:
Every time I add a new contact on my razr it can be only a 'google contact'!
Is it possible to have at least the option to set it a 'phone unsynced' contact from the beginning!
I would like to keep my 'Google contacts' account on the phone empty!
... then I've not yet understood how the 'phone contact' works. It tells me it's a 'Motorola' contact, but I can't find any 'motorola account' in the accounts list!
Is it a separate account or not?????
This is driving me crazy!
I'd recommend using Motorola PIM Sync to sync directly with Outlook, it's in the market. Moto seem to cater to the cloudphobic crowd who moved from WinMo.
There IS a 'Motorola account' that syncs contacts, and it's not listed in the Accounts menu. Use something like anycut or the custom 'activities' shortcut features of ADW & Launcher Pro to create a shortcut to Account & Sync settings. There you'll see the Moto account, and can manually remove the contact sync option if you wish.
Sent from my XT910 using xda premium

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