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some un-answered questions on Android

saulo866

Newbie
Dec 19, 2010
16
0
Dear Comunity

I bought recently a Samsung Galaxy Tab, 7, running android 2.2
I come from Windows Mobile device, I was loyal for 8 years to Microsoft. I just made this shift, so far I am happy but I have some worries and questions:

1. Locale and text
under settings, locale and text > I cannot find English Ireland and Italian...
How to add these 2 locales?

2. Only 2GB for programs?​
Under settings > SD card and phone storage I see:
- Internal Memory: 12.66GB
- Internal Phone Storage: 1.77GB
- External SD card 14.92 GB (this is my 16GB micro SD card which I separately bought 2 days ago)​
When I use a file manager it finds a SD card and and external SD card. What does it mean? My device has 2 SD cards? One internal (14GB) and one external (16GB)?​

when I install a new application from market place the device does NOT ask me where to put it (among these 3 storage areas)

I got the impression that all apps go to the smallest area (Internal Phone Storage, 1.77GB) which will surely shrink a lot, as I plan to transfer memory-intensive and consuming applications, like TTS, dictionaries (with big databases), medical dictionaries, etc.

Questions:
Where exactly my apps are installed?
Is there a way to force app to be install to external SD card? or on a storage OTHER than phone internal storage (1.77GB)?

3. My application list is now growing fast: is there a way to sort them alphabetically? Otherwise I run the risk that, with 100 apps+ , distributed in 5-6 windows, it it not easy to find them.

4. Upgrade to Android 2.3:
- when the upgrade will be available? An estimate?
- will the unit be upgradable?
- if yes, do I need to re-install all software, apps and re-sync my contact database?

Doing a backup with Titanium will solve the problem? I think not, since, after a major upgrades, most app will lose their configurations files which usually is kept within system files and these ones are cleared during and after a major O.S. upgrade. right?

5. Is there a way to sync Outlook 2010's (x32) contacts to my Android Phone? Shall I first sync Outllok 2010's contacts with my account in gmail? then from gmail to the galaxy tab? If so, how to perform the 2 steps?


6. Paid apps: my ipad, my iPhone and my wife's iphone do share my same account. So I can install a paid application on the 3 devices and this is perfectly legal (up to 5 devices, Apple told me). Is the same here, in android world? I mean, if I buy a second android device and link to my same gmail account, will I be allowed to re-download the same application which I bought recently?


7. Cable
I noted that the power charger and the USB cable are 100% identical to those of my iPad: but when I used my iPad charger + cable it does NOT charge my samsung. Viceversa also true: if I use my samsung cable it won't charge my iPad and my iPhone...Does anybody know why? are these 2 cables different in the pin mapping or else?

8.
Is there a risk of damaging samsung device if I, mistakenly, swap the two cables, the Samsung calbe and the iPad cable (they are both black).

9. Can my (wired) PC, linked via samsung cable to my galaxy, provide internet access to my Galaxy Tab?
I am NOT talking about tethering (which is: galaxy tablet providing internet access to PC), I am talking about the opposite!

10. Is there an alternative "Contacts" to the default one in the galaxy?

11. Which is a good alternative to the DEFAULT browser which is so sloooooowed compared to my iPad?


Thanks a lot and merry Xmas!
Saulo​
 
Is there a way to sync Outlook 2010's (x32) contacts to my Android Phone? Shall I first sync Outllok 2010's contacts with my account in gmail? then from gmail to the galaxy tab? If so, how to perform the 2 steps?
There are a lot of threads regarding Outlook sync. For all your questions, I'd recommend doing some searching and reading here. Things may be slightly different for your tab versus a phone but for the most part, what works for an Android phone should work for your tab.
 
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4. Upgrade to Android 2.3:
- when the upgrade will be available? An estimate?
- will the unit be upgradable?
- if yes, do I need to re-install all software, apps and re-sync my contact database?

Doing a backup with Titanium will solve the problem? I think not, since, after a major upgrades, most app will lose their configurations files which usually is kept within system files and these ones are cleared during and after a major O.S. upgrade. right?

Each update is a little different. Sometimes apps are broken, sometimes they are fine but you will lose the apps data and have to reconfigure them. Some will be just fine. Without any 2.2 > 2.3 upgrades happening, it's hard to guess exactly what will be affected. The Galaxy tab should be able to run 2.3, but getting the update is up to Samsung. Nobody really is saying one way or another right now if and when updates will happen.

5. Is there a way to sync Outlook 2010's (x32) contacts to my Android Phone? Shall I first sync Outllok 2010's contacts with my account in gmail? then from gmail to the galaxy tab? If so, how to perform the 2 steps?

If you are talking desktop Outlook, then you'll need something like Exchange for Android 2.x - Android app on AppBrain


6. Paid apps: my ipad, my iPhone and my wife's iphone do share my same account. So I can install a paid application on the 3 devices and this is perfectly legal (up to 5 devices, Apple told me). Is the same here, in android world? I mean, if I buy a second android device and link to my same gmail account, will I be allowed to re-download the same application which I bought recently?

Yes, if you use the same gmail account, you will have access tot he same paid apps. Easies way is to go to AppBrain Android Market - find the best Android Apps and Games and sync your devices.


10. Is there an alternative "Contacts" to the default one in the galaxy?

There are loads in the market. It's best to outline exactly what you want it to do, so we can make an informed recommendation.

11. Which is a good alternative to the DEFAULT browser which is so sloooooowed compared to my iPad?

Dolphin Browser? HD - Android app on AppBrain

Opera Mini Web browser - Android app on AppBrain

Mozilla Firefox Web Browser - Android app on AppBrain

Try them out and see which one works for you.
 
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#3 Dear Jae

Thanks a lot.
I am not very tech savvy. Can you please elaborate a bit more? How to use apps organizer? Is an embedded app? Or something to download from market?

Thank you again
SA


It is an app to download from the market. See:
http://androinica.com/2009/09/17/app-review-apps-organizer-will-organize-your-android-apps-duh/

By having your apps organized into small categories, it is easy to find the app you are looking for. "Starred apps" are the few apps which you access most frequently. The app provides you roughly 8 default label names. I have added about 8 more for my own use. The labels I want to access frequently are icons on my home screens, and I also have placed the "starred" icon on my central home screen for easy access. I have placed the roughly 10 less important categories into a single "more apps" folder, to save screen real estate.

By default Apps Organizer places your unlabeled apps into "other apps." This makes it easy to find apps that you've installed recently or haven't gotten around to labeling yet.

Keep in mind that you can assign more than one label to a single app. For example, I label the "wifi analyzer" app with both the Tools and Internet labels. But I only assign a single label to most apps.

I can post a few screenshots if this would make things clearer.

Illustrative developer screenshots here:

http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/tools/apps-organizer_fho_screenshots.html
 
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If you are talking desktop Outlook, then you'll need something like Exchange for Android 2.x - Android app on AppBrain
That app (Touchdown) is only for syncing outlook through an exchange server. If you want to sync outlook without that, one option is to sync outlook to google with google's system for that, or a 3rd party program. The other option is to sync directly with outlook, using one of the options listed at Syncdroid.net. I tried "MyPhoneExplorer" which seemed like the most powerful free option and it works well.
 
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7. Cable
I noted that the power charger and the USB cable are 100% identical to those of my iPad: but when I used my iPad charger + cable it does NOT charge my samsung. Viceversa also true: if I use my samsung cable it won't charge my iPad and my iPhone...Does anybody know why? are these 2 cables different in the pin mapping or else?

8.
Is there a risk of damaging samsung device if I, mistakenly, swap the two cables, the Samsung calbe and the iPad cable (they are both black).
Interesting. What little I know about that is that in the microUSB connector there are 5 pins, unlike the 4 pins in USB: in addition to the power, ground, and pair of data pins there is an "ID" pin that can be left open, grounded, or connected to ground through a resistor. This can be used for a device to identify whether it is connected to a computer or a charger or whatever. I don't know whether there is a standard for that, or whether it's up to each manufacturer to come up with a scheme there. Apparently Samsung and Apple have different schemes. I wouldn't worry about damage regardless.


9. Can my (wired) PC, linked via samsung cable to my galaxy, provide internet access to my Galaxy Tab?
I am NOT talking about tethering (which is: galaxy tablet providing internet access to PC), I am talking about the opposite!
Interesting--I would think the most likely thing to do would be to set up the pc to provide a wi-fi hotspot that you could connect the GT to. Here's a posting about one option for that with a link to another in the comments.

10. Is there an alternative "Contacts" to the default one in the galaxy?
Here's a discussion on some options. Haven't tried them myself.
 
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Quote:
5. Is there a way to sync Outlook 2010's (x32) contacts to my Android Phone? Shall I first sync Outllok 2010's contacts with my account in gmail? then from gmail to the galaxy tab? If so, how to perform the 2 steps?
If you are talking desktop Outlook, then you'll need something like Exchange for Android 2.x - Android app on AppBrain


Dear Lunatic

My only requirement is that the number of fields should replicate as much as possible those in Outlook Contact 2010 (x32bit). Why? Because I have almost 3,000 contacts stored in Outlook 2010 and I cannot think to change to another PIM.

2nd requirement (I believe it cannot be done...) is to have "categories" as I do have in Outlook 2010...I am aware, though, that the standard Contact in android devices does NOT have built in categories. It has "groups" which are similar in concept...unfortunately android-groups and outlook-categories do not sync, so groups are worth-less for me

Thanks for your advices!
Saulo866
 
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It is an app to download from the market. See:
App Review: Apps Organizer will organize your Android apps (duh!) | andrew | Androinica

...

By default Apps Organizer places your unlabeled apps into "other apps." This makes it easy to find apps that you've installed recently or haven't gotten around to labeling yet.

...

I can post a few screenshots if this would make things clearer.

Yes, Jae, I will appreciate if you can post some more screenshots. I have purchased apps organizer, but I am sure I am not maximing its usefulness yet. Thanks a lot!
Saulo
 
Upvote 0
It is an app to download from the market. See:
App Review: Apps Organizer will organize your Android apps (duh!) | andrew | Androinica

...

By default Apps Organizer places your unlabeled apps into "other apps." This makes it easy to find apps that you've installed recently or haven't gotten around to labeling yet.

...

I can post a few screenshots if this would make things clearer.

Yes, Jae, I will appreciate if you can post some more screenshots. I have purchased apps organizer, but I am sure I am not maximing its usefulness yet. Thanks a lot!
Saulo


These two screen captures are a little awkward, but hopefully will be helpful. I have covered up some of my other screen icons for privacy reasons, and also tried to cover some of the text which is erroneously placed there because I'm using the "drocap2" screen capture tool on my rooted phone.

The first image shows one of my 7 screens (with portions redacted), and includes 5 of my key Apps Organizer labels (Multimedia, Documents, Internet, Maps&Location and Math&Science). Note that the latter two are my own custom labels, and I googled for suitable images and downloaded them to my SD card.

Then I pressed on an empty space on a screen (Menu->Add does the same thing), then selected Shortcuts->Apps Organizer. From there, I selected the label for which I wanted to create an icon (e.g., Math&Science), and then changed the icon to one of my recently downloaded pictures.

Note that you can get the same effect via Widgets->Apps Organizer, but I don't recommend this approach because you can't drop widgets into a Folder the way you can with the Shortcuts described above. I used this capability to place a lot of lightly-used labels inside my "More Apps" folder.



----

The second image shows what I see when I click on my "More Apps" folder, and from there click on the "Shopping" icon. This shows the 5 apps which I've labeled with the "Shopping" label.

I have a rooted Droid Eris, and have 7 screens with 4x4 "squares", for a total of 112 "squares." But I've only placed actual apps on two of those squares, use 7 squares for Apps Organizer (the 6 shown here plus a yellow Star on the home screen for my 16 "Starred apps"). So I have lots of remaining screen real estate for widgets (weather, calendar, to-do-lists, music-related, etc.). Tablet users will probably have more screen space to play with, but will benefit equally from this level of organization, which only takes an hour or two to setup.

And of course, every app is only one or two clicks away, and are easy to locate because they're well-organized.

HTH ...
 

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