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Android + Mac OSX

antikryst

Newbie
Apr 4, 2010
38
1
any android users using mac osx? thinking of going android but i only use macs now. hope some people can shed light to some of my questions.

thinking of getting the samsung galaxy spica since its available locally (philippines) for a decent price (about $300 usd), and i just read that it now has an official 2.1 update.

1. updates... can i update firmware OTA or do i really need a windows machine?

2. app store... is this carrier dependent? or can i just connect to the internet via the phone and access the app store and purchase apps (i have a google check out account already... is this how it works?)

3. i can sync via the cloud (address book/calendar/email)... but is there any way to backup with osx? or can it sync via BT or usb to osx for as well? if so.. any other software i could use apart from missing sync (i use missing sync to sync my palm centro (which i want to replace already)

thanks.
 
any android users using mac osx? thinking of going android but i only use macs now. hope some people can shed light to some of my questions.

thinking of getting the samsung galaxy spica since its available locally (philippines) for a decent price (about $300 usd), and i just read that it now has an official 2.1 update.

1. updates... can i update firmware OTA or do i really need a windows machine?

2. app store... is this carrier dependent? or can i just connect to the internet via the phone and access the app store and purchase apps (i have a google check out account already... is this how it works?)

3. i can sync via the cloud (address book/calendar/email)... but is there any way to backup with osx? or can it sync via BT or usb to osx for as well? if so.. any other software i could use apart from missing sync (i use missing sync to sync my palm centro (which i want to replace already)

thanks.

Nexus One + Macbook here.

1. You can update OTA, or download the file and drop it on the root of your memory card named update.zip This will then be picked up using a manual update procedure.

2. AFAIK it's country dependent, but check on a forum for your network / location to be sure. You use your Google Checkout account to purchase apps - I use the account tied to my primary Google Account on my phone.

3. Look into Spanning Sync for syncing contacts, calendars and address book. There are native ways for some I believe but I've had no issues with Spanning Sync (I bought the lifetime license).
Also check out Salling Media Sync for syncing music by iTunes playlists.
Alternatively look at DoubleTwist (I've not used this but people seem to like it).

HTH
 
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There are more than a few of us Mac users here, though the people who buy Android phones just because they're Apple-haters tend to be more vocal. :/

Anyhow, the Mac and the Android work exceedingly well together -- at least as well as with Windows. The phone will easily mount as an external drive when connected to the Mac via USB. As CodeMonkey said, the Android Market is country-dependent. (And to a degree, phone-dependent as well ... you won't see apps there that aren't approved for use on your particular phone model.)

I sync my contacts and calendar events via my Google account, and that works well, both for the Mac's Address book and iCal. Other stuff I sync manually, though I've downloaded DoubleTwist and it has come definite promise. (For one thing, it allows you to browse the Android Market from your Mac, in a nicer way than any Windows or Web solution I've seen.)
 
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There are more than a few of us Mac users here, though the people who buy Android phones just because they're Apple-haters tend to be more vocal. :/

Anyhow, the Mac and the Android work exceedingly well together -- at least as well as with Windows. The phone will easily mount as an external drive when connected to the Mac via USB. As CodeMonkey said, the Android Market is country-dependent. (And to a degree, phone-dependent as well ... you won't see apps there that aren't approved for use on your particular phone model.)

I sync my contacts and calendar events via my Google account, and that works well, both for the Mac's Address book and iCal. Other stuff I sync manually, though I've downloaded DoubleTwist and it has come definite promise. (For one thing, it allows you to browse the Android Market from your Mac, in a nicer way than any Windows or Web solution I've seen.)

Well us "apple haters" tend to be more vocal because for some insane reason mac users think their machines are better for some reason, despite being proved wrong time and time again.
 
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Well us "apple haters" tend to be more vocal because for some insane reason mac users think their machines are better for some reason, despite being proved wrong time and time again.

Personally I'm OS-agnostic.

I use a Macbook at home (with XP on a Virtual Machine for when I need it), run a Debian server (freshly rebuilt this evening), use an Android phone, and work as a developer in a software house partnered with Microsoft.

Whatever works best for me I'll use - different OSs work well for different things.

Android works best for me on a phone, but I'll still be buying the girlfriend an iPhone for her birthday because that's what she's decided on.
 
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well some of us just like to buy what they like with the money they earn.not a fanboy of any product.been with sprint for 10yrs never had a problem and none of the other carriers beat there data plan.yes i have a mac i like it, have the htc hero love it and the whole android os.in the end its just a matter or preference.
 
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well some of us just like to buy what they like with the money they earn.not a fanboy of any product.been with sprint for 10yrs never had a problem and none of the other carriers beat there data plan.yes i have a mac i like it, have the htc hero love it and the whole android os.in the end its just a matter or preference.

Hey everyone has their own preferences, sure. And that's normal. Its just the touting of some artficial superiority *i* come against.
 
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Well us "apple haters" tend to be more vocal because for some insane reason mac users think their machines are better for some reason, despite being proved wrong time and time again.

That is the exactly same argument as Android vs iphone OS vs WebOS vs WinMobile vs Symbian vs anything else for phones. There are as many opinions like yours as users, and everyone have users that bought for one or the other kind of hype.

I'm sure you feel either your home built overclocked watercooled pc is the shit. And I feel my cheesegrater macs is the shit, and I can point at friends who run linux as their primary os who think they got the best end of a bargin. But it doesn't change the fact that for me after using everything from OS/2 to Linux to Windows to OS X find OS X a far superior experience, and the price of the hardware reasonable for the quality. That you feel different is the opinion you are entitled to and I'll not try prove you wrong (I'm not you).
 
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That is the exactly same argument as Android vs iphone OS vs WebOS vs WinMobile vs Symbian vs anything else for phones. There are as many opinions like yours as users, and everyone have users that bought for one or the other kind of hype.

I'm sure you feel either your home built overclocked watercooled pc is the shit. And I feel my cheesegrater macs is the shit, and I can point at friends who run linux as their primary os who think they got the best end of a bargin. But it doesn't change the fact that for me after using everything from OS/2 to Linux to Windows to OS X find OS X a far superior experience, and the price of the hardware reasonable for the quality. That you feel different is the opinion you are entitled to and I'll not try prove you wrong (I'm not you).

That's where another disagreement comes in. Apple hardware has been far and long proven to be inferior to what's available for pc users, (that's why apple ditched their own processors in favor of intel chips) and it is way overpriced for lesser hardware... considering what you can buy for $1000 less running windows and same or better spec. So in your opinion then, is mac osx really worth up to $1000?
 
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Mac user here; I've had a great experience with the Droid so far. I've encountered exactly ONE thing that I can't do with a Mac but could with a PC: use RSD Lite to reflash the phone back to stock. This is only ever an issue if you're screwing around with rooting and REALLY mess something up, though, so don't let that hold you back ;)

Otherwise, the Droid is really platform-independent. In fact, I think you'll be surprised at just how much you can do without even needing a computer at all; you can download apps—even non-Market apps—straight from the phone's web browser and install them from there. There are also websites that let you browse the contents of the Android Market on your computer and then point your phone camera at the screen to download the app.

Media syncing is done by mounting the Droid as a USB mass storage device and simply dragging the files to the SD card in the Finder. It's not quite as seamless as with the iPhone—you need to create your own organizational structure—but it works well enough. You can use this function to back up a lot of app settings as well. There are also apps that will sync iTunes playlists, but I've never had great luck with them.

As far as syncing contacts and calendars, you can configure Address Book to sync with Google Contacts, and the Droid will pull that data automatically when you sign into your Google account on the phone. Calendars are a bit more involved, but I got that working, too. I can't remember all the steps off the top of my head, but I ended up exporting my existing iCal calendars to Google Calendars, then subscribing to the Google versions through iCal. Honestly, though, I find myself just using Google Calendars more and more anyway.

Hope this helps—if you have any other questions, just ask!
 
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Quite frankly ... I would prefer a Mac over a Windows based PC any day of the week. I spend too much time at work playing computer tech to our 24 Windows based PC's. I've never had a problem with my good old trusty G5 at home. My Mac G5 just runs and runs and runs ... period. Can't say that for a Windows PC. On the other hand ... I think Microsoft hit a home run with Windows 7. I've had the opportunity to configure only one machine so far ... but I was impressed by what I saw and experienced. Mac / Windows; Coke / Pepsi; Chevy / Ford ... I believe it's a matter of personal preference ... use whatever works best for you. And that's the whole point ... whatever works best for YOU. The main reason the Android phones are taking off at a phenomenal rate is because they do everything you want and they aren't tethered to one particular network. If the iPhone was on the Verizon network instead of AT&T, with my experience with Macs, I probably would have chosen the iPhone instead of my Droid. However, I'm certainly not sorry for choosing the Droid ... it was a smart move on my part. And I apologize to the iPhone users who visit my place of work and discover that their iPhones are nothing more than expensive cell phones while I enjoy the full benefits of 3G from Verizon with my Droid - it's difficult to keep that smug smile contained.
 
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Quite frankly ... I would prefer a Mac over a Windows based PC any day of the week. I spend too much time at work playing computer tech to our 24 Windows based PC's. I've never had a problem with my good old trusty G5 at home. My Mac G5 just runs and runs and runs ... period. Can't say that for a Windows PC. On the other hand ... I think Microsoft hit a home run with Windows 7. I've had the opportunity to configure only one machine so far ... but I was impressed by what I saw and experienced. Mac / Windows; Coke / Pepsi; Chevy / Ford ... I believe it's a matter of personal preference ... use whatever works best for you. And that's the whole point ... whatever works best for YOU. The main reason the Android phones are taking off at a phenomenal rate is because they do everything you want and they aren't tethered to one particular network. If the iPhone was on the Verizon network instead of AT&T, with my experience with Macs, I probably would have chosen the iPhone instead of my Droid. However, I'm certainly not sorry for choosing the Droid ... it was a smart move on my part. And I apologize to the iPhone users who visit my place of work and discover that their iPhones are nothing more than expensive cell phones while I enjoy the full benefits of 3G from Verizon with my Droid - it's difficult to keep that smug smile contained.

I genuinely enjoyed your post, and it seems you have a square head on your shoulders.

But the way you feel about your droid vs iphone is the same exact way I feel about pc vs mac. I am an extreme power user, always pushing my gadgets to its limit. I'm talking from rendering filters on 10 gb + photoshop files to playing the latest and greatest hardcore graphics game. Macs simply don't cut it for power users, and the whole "just works" thing will eventually be a moot point, as everything in the now and coming days will "just work" but the thing is... what works better? Windows did dominate the market for a reason, and some people seem to forget that.

Macs don't "just work" for many many commercial and industrial applications.

Macs don't "just work" for any kind of real gaming.

Macs don't "just work" with high end video cards.

I could go on all day....
 
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thanks for the replies. been able to get ical syncing with google calendar already although i still need to get the address book on the cloud as well.

nice to know that i can update firmware without a windows machine.... or god forbid forcing me to boot into windows just for that.

it was a real honest question for me... no need for a mac vs windows debate here lol.

one more question... does the android (os in general... i dont know what unit i can get my hands on yet) always need the internet? my mobile plan does not have unlimited data. its time based where i have to pay for every 30 minute chunk i use.... thinking of upgrading to unlimited data when i get my droid but im also considering that ad-hoc email checking/tweeting/surfing/etc would be fine as well as im connected at home and at the office to internet anyways.
 
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and the whole "just works" thing will eventually be a moot point, as everything in the now and coming days will "just work" but the thing is... what works better? Windows did dominate the market for a reason, and some people seem to forget that.

Windows dominate the marked for one reason, Bill Gates signed a contract with IBM to licence MS-DOS (Which they didn't even have at that time, they bought the rights of a cp/m clone and renamed it), and when compaq and the other clone makers managed to reverse engineer the only IBM-part of the pcs and started to build their own, they too licenced the same system for compability. And thats why most people have a windows machine on their desk

Macs don't "just work" for many many commercial and industrial applications.
Macs don't "just work" for any kind of real gaming.
Macs don't "just work" with high end video cards.
I could go on all day....

I can't really see the problem here? If your searching for the least common denominator for computer OS to do all tasks a computer can do, Windows is still not the choice. That would probably be Linux or a unix flavor to meet the security and stability demands of some groups.

If you want the best OS for gaming, yes by all means Windows is your choice. And you have a whole lot bigger selection of graphic cards for windows.

But when it comes to doing real work you choose the tool that is right for you. I work faster and better in OS X - I got a posix backend and a gui that is rock stable compared to the Linux-equalents. At the company I work for the majority of the designers use macs, and they where the people to introduce me to the platform. In the company I worked for eariler the majority ran linux, my neighbor with PhD in phyciscs have linux clusters at work to maximize calcuation power per $, other friends run Windows for their development of .net software.

As much as I love OS X I can clearly see that it isn't something for you. And there are no way you can convince me that Windows is worth the time and money. We have different approaches and mindsets. If it hasn't been for the comeptition Windows wouldn't be there it is now, so instead of thinking it is a brand of heroin and everyone should be addicted try to grasp the fact that what you weight when choosing os isn't what others do.

It's like if I should poke fun of the price my brother in law paid for his powertools, when my black & decker tools can do more. He's a carpenter and I'm a hobbyist, and his tools are more durable, have more power and can take more beatings. But for my use, the B&D tools are amazing.
 
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Windows dominate the marked for one reason, Bill Gates signed a contract with IBM to licence MS-DOS (Which they didn't even have at that time, they bought the rights of a cp/m clone and renamed it), and when compaq and the other clone makers managed to reverse engineer the only IBM-part of the pcs and started to build their own, they too licenced the same system for compability. And thats why most people have a windows machine on their desk



I can't really see the problem here? If your searching for the least common denominator for computer OS to do all tasks a computer can do, Windows is still not the choice. That would probably be Linux or a unix flavor to meet the security and stability demands of some groups.

If you want the best OS for gaming, yes by all means Windows is your choice. And you have a whole lot bigger selection of graphic cards for windows.

But when it comes to doing real work you choose the tool that is right for you. I work faster and better in OS X - I got a posix backend and a gui that is rock stable compared to the Linux-equalents. At the company I work for the majority of the designers use macs, and they where the people to introduce me to the platform. In the company I worked for eariler the majority ran linux, my neighbor with PhD in phyciscs have linux clusters at work to maximize calcuation power per $, other friends run Windows for their development of .net software.

As much as I love OS X I can clearly see that it isn't something for you. And there are no way you can convince me that Windows is worth the time and money. We have different approaches and mindsets. If it hasn't been for the comeptition Windows wouldn't be there it is now, so instead of thinking it is a brand of heroin and everyone should be addicted try to grasp the fact that what you weight when choosing os isn't what others do.

It's like if I should poke fun of the price my brother in law paid for his powertools, when my black & decker tools can do more. He's a carpenter and I'm a hobbyist, and his tools are more durable, have more power and can take more beatings. But for my use, the B&D tools are amazing.

Want to know why "designers" use macs? (Excluding myself) they get them from school. Apple has an agreement with quite a few design schools, due to the previous adobe/apple exclusiveness. Now that adobe isn't mac exclusive, (hasn't been for some time actually) AND adobe products actualy run better on windows(being able to utilize hardware to its fullest, and better hardware at that) that might all soon change. However, change is generally a progressive thing, and it will take some time for the rumor and innuend to be "refreshed". That's also part of the reason adobe and apple are at war right now...because first it was apple only for adobe, then apple first, pc second, and then now pc first apple second, being they can utilize literally every hardware compnent on pcs, and better hardware is available. So apple and gang feel somewhat betrayed by adobe, as their success was initially on the mac platform, and they did (apple) have a near monopoly on high end design solutions. The same happened between google and apple.(almost) when apple made google the default on safari and iphone, they essentially gave mobile search market to google.
 
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thanks for the replies. been able to get ical syncing with google calendar already although i still need to get the address book on the cloud as well.

nice to know that i can update firmware without a windows machine.... or god forbid forcing me to boot into windows just for that.

it was a real honest question for me... no need for a mac vs windows debate here lol.

one more question... does the android (os in general... i dont know what unit i can get my hands on yet) always need the internet? my mobile plan does not have unlimited data. its time based where i have to pay for every 30 minute chunk i use.... thinking of upgrading to unlimited data when i get my droid but im also considering that ad-hoc email checking/tweeting/surfing/etc would be fine as well as im connected at home and at the office to internet anyways.

If you've gotten iCal-Gcal sync working already, you've already done the hard part...to sync your Address Book contacts, all you have to do is go to Preferences: Accounts and tick "Synchronise with Google". And done!

You don't NEED the internet constantly, but you'll be a lot happier if you have it, trust me ;) If you don't want to pay for unlimited mobile data, you can either use WiFi (if you have access to a network) or use an app like Juice Defender to turn off mobile data most of the time.

oh by the way... for the marketplace question... does google ip block apps or do it on a per region basis?

I believe that apps are blocked only by region and device (i.e., you can't see Google Earth if you're running Android 1.6, and the recent "No games for South Korea anymore" thing). What they use to determine this
 
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oh by the way... for the marketplace question... does google ip block apps or do it on a per region basis?

Hi, Filipino Mac user here as well. I have a Motorola Milestone. As for the Market, we don't get paid apps in the Philippines. You'll have to root and install MarketEnabler to fake your location.

We don't get OTA updates either. You'll have to force update your phone. For Moto phones, this is done by using RSD Lite which is PC-only. Fortunately I have a Win7 virtual machine on Parallels.

Regarding backing up to your Mac, you can also try SyncMate. For music, DoubleTwist.

You might want to consider other Android phones as well. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 was just recently released locally. Other models you can check out are HTC's Hero, Magic, and Tattoo. The Desire is set to be released in the country around June.

Hope this helps!
 
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Hi, Filipino Mac user here as well. I have a Motorola Milestone. As for the Market, we don't get paid apps in the Philippines. You'll have to root and install MarketEnabler to fake your location.

We don't get OTA updates either. You'll have to force update your phone. For Moto phones, this is done by using RSD Lite which is PC-only. Fortunately I have a Win7 virtual machine on Parallels.

Regarding backing up to your Mac, you can also try SyncMate. For music, DoubleTwist.

You might want to consider other Android phones as well. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 was just recently released locally. Other models you can check out are HTC's Hero, Magic, and Tattoo. The Desire is set to be released in the country around June.

Hope this helps!

Yikes, didn't realise you guys got the Milestone and not the Droid. My apologies, OP, for giving you misleading information!
 
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Want to know why "designers" use macs? (Excluding myself) they get them from school. Apple has an agreement with quite a few design schools, due to the previous adobe/apple exclusiveness.

A lot of schools have agreements with Microsoft. Thats nothing new. I'm taking a new degree along with my work, and the univ I attend has agreements with Microsoft, with free microsft softsware (not office) the students still use whatever they want. Majority runs windows, but there are alot of os x and linux users. When submitting assignments we use pdf and most of the material out there are also in the pdf format. Everyones happy.

Can't see a reason to drag this on. You got valid claims for your opinion by high end gfx cards and gaming beeing strong plus that makes you run windows. Still, you doesn't seem to grasp the core point here. Everyone doesn't share your views. Yes, you can do the same work on a pc that you can on a mac, and there are perks to windows beeing the biggest platform. But that is completly overlooking the reason we as people choose to use stuff. We choose what fits our needs and our expectations.

You my man are a true microsoft fan-boy. I grant you that. Your just like the apple-fanboys you seem to despite.
 
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A lot of schools have agreements with Microsoft. Thats nothing new. I'm taking a new degree along with my work, and the univ I attend has agreements with Microsoft, with free microsft softsware (not office) the students still use whatever they want. Majority runs windows, but there are alot of os x and linux users. When submitting assignments we use pdf and most of the material out there are also in the pdf format. Everyones happy.

Can't see a reason to drag this on. You got valid claims for your opinion by high end gfx cards and gaming beeing strong plus that makes you run windows. Still, you doesn't seem to grasp the core point here. Everyone doesn't share your views. Yes, you can do the same work on a pc that you can on a mac, and there are perks to windows beeing the biggest platform. But that is completly overlooking the reason we as people choose to use stuff. We choose what fits our needs and our expectations.

You my man are a true microsoft fan-boy. I grant you that. Your just like the apple-fanboys you seem to despite.

Actually I prefer linux. Lol.
 
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Sheesh, can you go anywhere without running into a "my system vs. your system" debate?

I'm a Linux user, but I'm stuck with an iMac at work, so I can probably address some of the original questions. 1) I've done my updates entirely OTA. 2) You can access the market from your phone, though there are region restrictions and you aren't going to see applications that require a newer version of the Android OS than you have. Also, applications that have other requirements that your phone doesn't match will not show (e.g., devices with a QVGA display will not see apps that require an HVGA display). 3) You'll have to refer to some of the other answers for this, as I don't back up my phone to OS X. 4) I'd recommend getting unlimited internet access for your phone. You'll have much better piece of mind and get a lot more out of owning it.

As far as the Windows vs. OS X debate, it all comes down to what you want and what you need (and how much money you have). Windows is good for games and there is a lot of software/hardware that is Windows-exclusive. OS X is good for general use and is usually hassle-free. Linux is good for development, servers, customization, etc. Yes, Apple hardware costs more than the exact same thing as "PC" hardware, but that's because Apple's model has relied on a very solid software experience to push hardware profits. That's changed some (e.g., with the app store), but it's largely still the case.
 
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Sheesh, can you go anywhere without running into a "my system vs. your system" debate?

I'm a Linux user, but I'm stuck with an iMac at work, so I can probably address some of the original questions. 1) I've done my updates entirely OTA. 2) You can access the market from your phone, though there are region restrictions and you aren't going to see applications that require a newer version of the Android OS than you have. Also, applications that have other requirements that your phone doesn't match will not show (e.g., devices with a QVGA display will not see apps that require an HVGA display). 3) You'll have to refer to some of the other answers for this, as I don't back up my phone to OS X. 4) I'd recommend getting unlimited internet access for your phone. You'll have much better piece of mind and get a lot more out of owning it.

As far as the Windows vs. OS X debate, it all comes down to what you want and what you need (and how much money you have). Windows is good for games and there is a lot of software/hardware that is Windows-exclusive. OS X is good for general use and is usually hassle-free. Linux is good for development, servers, customization, etc. Yes, Apple hardware costs more than the exact same thing as "PC" hardware, but that's because Apple's model has relied on a very solid software experience to push hardware profits. That's changed some (e.g., with the app store), but it's largely still the case.

Guess not... sorry =(
 
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