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New X owner - coming from an Incredible

That is a great suggestion for those running their email on their own exchange server. Thanks for posting it. It is informative and will be sure to help many.

However the comments from myself and others are centered around the fact that we are not using exchange. We are using stand alone copies of Outlook. We want the ability to sync our contacts, calendar, and notes that are contained within Outlook directly to our phones with out having to use the Google cloud as a middle man. That functionality is available on the HTC line of phones with a simple download of a free app from HTC. There is no such app available from Motorola. Companionlink seems to be hit or miss.

We are small business owners or just private citizens who cant justify the cost of an exchange server, who find that Blackberries or iPhones wont do for us, who need the better call quality to be found on the X but who have just as critical of a need to be able to keep our Outlook based contacts and calendar entries synced with our phones while maintaining the integrity and security of our business contacts, as can be found with the Dinc. Having to sync using Google as the middle man is a security exposure for us. Sync via a physical cable greatly reduces that exposure. So we are understandably frustrated with the situation. Maybe some would see it as a case of wanting our cake and the ability to eat it too. I and other simply see it as a good move on Motorola's part if they would enable this functionality.

Honestly in my opinion in that situation you shouldn't be using a standalone Outlook if you want the most convenience. I'm not trying to sound rude, but you've basically done it to yourself. You cannot expect a standalone program that's only on one PC to be able to sync with other devices. Wouldn't you like that information to be available on your work computer, home computer, as well as cell phone. You all should really check out something like Gmail so you can get this information no matter where you are. There are also paid Exchange providers that aren't all that expensive. I believe I've even seen free ones with certain restrictions.
 
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Honestly in my opinion in that situation you shouldn't be using a standalone Outlook if you want the most convenience. I'm not trying to sound rude, but you've basically done it to yourself. You cannot expect a standalone program that's only on one PC to be able to sync with other devices. Wouldn't you like that information to be available on your work computer, home computer, as well as cell phone. You all should really check out something like Gmail so you can get this information no matter where you are.

Oh I dont think you are being rude at all. I do disagree with the idea that one cannot expect a standalone program that's only on one PC to be able to sync with other devices. I disagree simply because it happens all the time around the world. Look at how the old Palms or current Windows Mobile, Black Berry, or iPhones sync.

People can and do keep all three devices synced quite eaisly. All it does is require a physical connection. You sync the 1st computer with the phone, then sync the phone with the second computer (set the phone to master for this one time). Then when you sync them they will stay on the same sheet of music for as long as you want. In my case, and many others, its even more simple because our work lap top can also be your personal lap top.

The whole point behind not using gmail is that I and many others do not want to trust our data to the cloud. Do we think that Google will start sending steamy donkey and midget pr0n to them? No. But Google will indeed mine the data and that is something that we do not want to happen. As a feature I actually do not see this fading from the other services. For RIM and WinMo it is about security (until they implode) and for Apple its about locking people in to their proprietary kingdom.

There are also paid Exchange providers that aren't all that expensive. I believe I've even seen free ones with certain restrictions.

Godaddy.com will provide exchange or just a small fee. And Google will for free. I don't understand why you would only want to sync your phone with a cable. Google would be about as secure. I expect this type of feature to slowly fade out over time.

Thanks for the suggestions about inexpensive exchange hosting. For small businesses where every penny is critical. I will look into this. If you have any more information on this please feel free to share. Sorry for this OT. I have found this and other threads in this forum to be very helpful with deciding if I wanted to go X or Dinc. Based on the multiple threads I have read in this and the Dinc forums, I have come away with the impression that the X is the superior phone excepting for the UI and the sync issue. I have also found that with a bit of extra work and money I can sync (companion link) and put a better UI (LauncherPro) in place to fix that disparity. So again, thank you all.
 
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I have heard people complain about the Sense UI before, so I guess its all about preferance. They day I got my Droid X somebody with an INC noticed my X, and asked how I liked it. I told him "it is awesome." He said he was considering trading his in for an X because he hated the Sense UI (I played with the INC at VZW a few months prior to getting the X, and I thought the Sense UI was fine). Long story short, he offered to trade his INC for my X (jokingly), and I kinda laughed and walked away. But honestly I think the UI all depends on the users preferance. I like both UI's, but I would still take the X, just because I like the bigger screen, 720p HD, and the fact that its newer and it has that "gotta have it" factor right now.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions about inexpensive exchange hosting. For small businesses where every penny is critical. I will look into this. If you have any more information on this please feel free to share. Sorry for this OT.

I contracted to do systems admin for a lot of small businesses for a while so I am intimately acquainted with the needs and budget concerns of small businesses.

Did you know that Windows Small Business Server comes with a built-in Exchange server? That means that if you have any use for any kind of server, you can have an Exchange server as well. And the hardware doesn't have to be big bucks.

The reason a small server is so advantageous for a small business is it totally centralizes everything. Lose an office computer because of a fried hard drive? No problem - email and files were all stored on the server, just slap any old computer back on the network, sync to the exchange server and re-map his network drive. Lose the server? No problem - it was one server so it was easy to perform a nightly backup off the server rather than backing up 5 computers.

And now, of course, as the workforce becomes more mobile, it provides an in-road for people out of the office. You can check exchange mail/calendars on your phone. Or use the built-in remote desktop function where you can connect to the small business server, and then remotely log into your own computer.

I did small business contracting for several years, and I don't have a single business that regrets investing in a small server.

Sorry for the OT. Just thought you might like an opinion from someone who was helping guys like you out and had a lot of really happy customers.
 
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I have heard people complain about the Sense UI before, so I guess its all about preferance. They day I got my Droid X somebody with an INC noticed my X, and asked how I liked it. I told him "it is awesome." He said he was considering trading his in for an X because he hated the Sense UI (I played with the INC at VZW a few months prior to getting the X, and I thought the Sense UI was fine). Long story short, he offered to trade his INC for my X (jokingly), and I kinda laughed and walked away. But honestly I think the UI all depends on the users preferance. I like both UI's, but I would still take the X, just because I like the bigger screen, 720p HD, and the fact that its newer and it has that "gotta have it" factor right now.

Thanks for calling me out on my very own pet peeve, people taking a subjective matter and stating it as fact. You are right, when it comes to the UI that is a subjective matter and I should have stated so. Having played with a friends droid and another's Eris I do have to say that I liked the Sense UI better, but as you stated that is a personal preference.
 
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This has been stated many times and many ways but a cell phone is a PHONE, so call quality is everything, and the Inc cant touch the X.

I played with my co-workers Eris and the Inc before buying the X and I can't think of one thing other than volume that I would change about the X.

Responsiveness of the X touch screen over the Inc was a big factor, as well as physical buttons.

I may be weird but I tried LauncherPro but pref Moto's Interface. To each his/her own I guess.
 
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Thanks for calling me out on my very own pet peeve, people taking a subjective matter and stating it as fact. You are right, when it comes to the UI that is a subjective matter and I should have stated so. Having played with a friends droid and another's Eris I do have to say that I liked the Sense UI better, but as you stated that is a personal preference.


yep. different strokes for different folks. lol
 
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I guess the idea of a very simple and free interface to outlook on a stand-alone desktop/laptop is lost on the masses. Basically I have about 50 contacts that I update regularly and a VERY busy calendar -- sometimes 2-3 changes to each and every day.

On my Dinc, I updated appointments and contacts in the evening and synced with my phone. If I was away, I updated on the phone and synced when I got home. That's all I needed and it worked great.

Now I'm doing it with gmail calendar and contacts and, while not as graceful as outlook, are doing the job with the "auto add" contact issue with Gmail being an issue. I've got that more or less fixed by stating only "gmail contacts" instead of "all contacts" and it only displays "my contacts" from gmail. Again, not exactly what I was looking for but good enough to use.

I'd still prefer a simple sync to my outlook, though. :)
 
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