Need some startup help..

[guthrie]

I am new to Android, with my Samsung Captivate Galaxy S phone, but coming from iPhone, miss several things.

I want to know if they are truly missing, or just that I don't yet know how to do them.

1) Lack of an integrated PC based interface - "no iTunes".
- I guess I understand by now that this is just missing.
2) Email - not able to browse folder hierarchy.
- I start in the inbox, but want to go to another folder, by going up one level to the folders view.
I do see a huge list of names across the top, but many I don't recognize
- is this a flattened list of folders? If so - what a poor User interface!
3) Email search - fails
- again, is this just for the current folder?
- Exchange mail clients give partial results for a current folder, and then the option to search all folders.
4) File transfer:
- is there an easier way to move files via WiFi compared to having to hookup and mount device as a USB disk?
- How can I save an Email attachment file locally?
- conversely, how can I send a local file by Email as an attachment?
5) Media libraries - iTunes has a huge library of media and podcasts, iTunes University lectures, TED, etc.
- any of this for the Android world?

Thanks for any pointers.

I am also surprised that many of my favorite games are missing - (Scrabble, Boggle, ...).
[Yes, I saw the "rip-off" cheap clones.]

And no easy backup?
I did see Sprite, but the reviews were terrible, and sending it to DropBox is fine for small things, but I've got 8G on the phone with music and files. This is neither practical or frugal to try to do to the cloud. And it is not an incremental backup.

 

[Copleo]

Doesn't sound as if you like Android very much. Pray, why did you switch?

I am new to Android, with my Samsung Captivate Galaxy S phone, but coming from iPhone, miss several things.

I want to know if they are truly missing, or just that I don't yet know how to do them.

1) Lack of an integrated PC based interface - "no iTunes".
- I guess I understand by now that this is just missing.
2) Email - not able to browse folder hierarchy.
- I start in the inbox, but want to go to another folder, by going up one level to the folders view.
I do see a huge list of names across the top, but many I don't recognize
- is this a flattened list of folders? If so - what a poor User interface!

What email client do you use?

3) Email search - fails
- again, is this just for the current folder?
- Exchange mail clients give partial results for a current folder, and then the option to search all folders.
4) File transfer:
- is there an easier way to move files via WiFi compared to having to hookup and mount device as a USB disk?

Free WiFi File Explorer, a.o.

- How can I save an Email attachment file locally?
- conversely, how can I send a local file by Email as an attachment?
5) Media libraries - iTunes has a huge library of media and podcasts, iTunes University lectures, TED, etc.
- any of this for the Android world?

Thanks for any pointers.

I am also surprised that many of my favorite games are missing - (Scrabble, Boggle, ...).
[Yes, I saw the "rip-off" cheap clones.]

And no easy backup?
I did see Sprite, but the reviews were terrible, and sending it to DropBox is fine for small things, but I've got 8G on the phone with music and files. This is neither practical or frugal to try to do to the cloud. And it is not an incremental backup.

Copy your card's contents to your PC. Tada!

 

[guthrie]

I use the standard Email app on the desktop, connected to an Exchange server.

If I copy the (internal) SD card, does that save everything? Apps, data, ..?

Thanks for the pointer - I'll look at the WiFi Explorer app.

Why switch? good price, lots of current Android hype, nice hardware on the Samsung.
And, exploration... Open Software...

Not that I don't like Android, just the app and support Universe is clearly not so well developed yet. I think that when Amazon enters the marketplace, that will also help.

 

[Copleo]

'Honeycomb' will expand the Android universe and support for it greatly. Google has very recently commissioned a wave of developers to create a lot of apps for it (in addition to the 100,000 plus already available).

 

[gadzooks]

In Gmail, to attach a file, in Composition window, Attach is a Menu choice. Popup choices vary, depending on what you have installed on device. Mine are Gallery and some file explorer apps -- like ASTRO, AndExplorer, ...

Alternatively, viewing photo in Gallery or selecting/long pressing file in explorer app, Send/Share is a Menu choice.

MyBackup (Pro) is another possibility. You can try it free for 30 days.

I let Google do the lifting, where possible -- store settings, contacts, ... On my device, this is selectable under Settings > Privacy

 

[guthrie]

Thanks,
I use the built-in mail app, since all my mail is on a corporate Exchange server.
I don't want to convert to an online GMail approach.

Seems like mail attachments and folder browsing should be an obvious thing, I must just not know how to do it!

 

[gadzooks]

I don't use Email, prefer K-9 Mail (free in Market). I don't use Exchange, but I've read good things about Touchdown app.