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Help ActiveSync for Android, Moment

momentoid

Android Enthusiast
Nov 11, 2009
363
60
US of A
Coming from the WinOS world. Have been used to Outlook for Email, Calendar, Contacts, Journal, Notes and Tasks, and ActiveSync for synchronization. Using USB, want to sync selectively items from WinXP on to my Moment without putting info on Google account. I do not want to copy or share info with a third party bcos I want to maintain the info on google and laptop separate, similar to gmail and moxier. And, more importantly, continue syncing between the two platforms going forward and make Moment a complement to the WinXP laptop. Did not find ActiveSync or similar product on Android Market. Any recommendations?
 
I am of exactly the same opinion. I have not yet found a (Free/one time cost) solution, but I am almost ready to subscribe to an Exchange service, and dump everything in there and sort it out with server side rules.

I've been looking at SherWeb. It seems to have the lowest cost ($8.95/mo/mailbox), no contract, and no minimum.

With the explosion of web based SmartPhone OSs that are dependent on Google, and Google's business model of selling my demographics to highest bidder I can see a real need for a windows based application of someing like "Exchange Lite" that would make my Outlook information available to me in ActiveSync format OTA.

A few years ago, VZW had that on my Samsung i730, and it was wonderful. I haven't seen anything like it since though.

I'm thinking that a young entrepreneur with the development skills and business accumen to make that happen has the potential of getting real rich.
 
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I just moved one of my clients (40+ mailboxes) off of Sherweb to ITSolutionsNow.com, and I am very happy with my decision to do this. They are slightly more expensive than Sherweb, at 9.95 per mailbox per month. However, you get unlimited mailbox storage (sherweb i think is limited to 3gb per mailbox). ITSN is the only company I know to provide unlimited mailbox size.

If you sign up as a reseller at ITSN (just request to have a reseller account when you sign up), you can get about 50 cents knocked off each mailbox each month.

Interesting Fact: ITSolutionsNow is located in Jacksonville, FL, and Sherweb is located in Canada.

Opinion: Support a business in your home country.
 
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I understand your concerns, perhaps Android isn't the right choice for you? If you're still within your 30 day exchange period, you might consider switching to a Touch Pro 2 if you need activesync support. Personally, I couldn't be happier not having to deal with activesync anymore. That particular piece of software has stolen hundreds of hours of sleep and recreation time from me over the years.
 
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I'd like to think perhaps that Android needs to get it's head out of its butt if it wishes to be called a smartphone. No offense to your post about the phone not being for you. I'm just tired of the new crop of smartphones being strictly google/exchange oriented. The Pre is in the same boat. Smartphones up until these supported local syncing with the standard PIM's. And the masses don't use exchange. Even if some do for work, many still use something else for their personal PIM info. They are more like customizable dumbphones in my eyes and unfortunately are the only options you have if you don't care for BB or winmob unless you want to wait for the nokia n900 coming to T-Mobile.

To get back on topic, there is no direct Outlook to Moment syncing, unlike HTC phones that use HTC sync (which has a few flaws to it). The only real option is to sync from Outlook to Google to the Moment. There are a few programs out there that do it. I just caved and dropped $15 on gsync.

My biggest beef is losing my four user fields I've had for 13yrs with over 1300 contacts. Though I was already peeved about that when I gave winmob a try with the Treo Pro. How can a company who owns Outlook and the mobile OS not support user fields when they were competing against PalmOS and BB?

So now that I have access to Google Contacts and Outlook on the computer I can just keep google contacts open and cut and paste from the user fields in outlook to notes in google. Not my favorite solution as I like separation of the fields for certain info, but again, user fields only seem to be supported in BB and PalmOS.
 
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Random thought since you brought up the PalmOS - I miss my Palm Treo 755p... still within the 30 days with the Moment, so I haven't totally decided to keep it yet. I really miss my 30 day calendar view with color coding. Having 2 kids with appointments, as well as 2 parents with cancer & various dr appointments, it's crucial that I be able to view my calendar quickly & know what's coming up.

Totally hate the Google-based email stuff too. It doesn't work like the PalmOS did. UGH!!

C ~
 
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you better watch it. you'll get flamed for being old and in the dark ages for wanting things that were so convenient with Palm. I don't know how Palm managed to forget they had 13yrs of PIM experience when they designed OS, and it was left to old faithfuls with jailbroken (or homebrewed as they call it) Pre's to create fixes that bring back some of that functionality.

I was a big agendus fan when I used Palm. Hoping some of that functionality makes it's way to Android. I'd imagine with all the Android phones coming out, these types of developers will start developing for it and we'll see some of the PIM functionality we're used to in a real smartphone.
 
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you better watch it. you'll get flamed for being old and in the dark ages for wanting things that were so convenient with Palm.

I AM old and in the dark ages! I'll be 66 in two weeks! And I for one deeply resent being a pawn in the M$<->Google wars.

M$ wants my money up front, and I'm happy to pay it, at least it's honest. Google says "Here, use our wonderful software/services for FREE! Oh by the way, we'll be selling your stuff to the highest bidding spammer."

And Bill's boys are getting a bad rap? Anybody checked Google's net worth lately?
 
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Calendar and Contacts: Agreed with gsync it. Best solution I found. But there is an offline option with Google Calendar.

Speaking of Calendar....I miss colors also in the month view. About the only thing I can think of is to have multiple calendars set up in both Google and Outlook. Different colors for different calendars. Green for work stuff, Yellow for kid stuff, Purple for concerts? But I think the month view only shows one color.

Tasks and Notes: Nothing native for sync. I've got a lot of information in Outlook notes...reference material I'd like to have synced to my Android. AK notepad is popular, but doesn't sync to anything. gTasks looks promising...as it syncs with Google tasks. But not with Outlook. gsyncit says these are comming?

Files, docs, photos, music: All this stuff is stored on the sd. So I guess all we really need is a PC (or Mac) application that can sync a desktop folder(s) to folers(s) on the mounted sd card. Any suggestions?


Wow Dave is fast just checked:

FEATURES:

  • New! Sync Outlook notes <-> Google document
 
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I'm just tired of the new crop of smartphones being strictly google/exchange oriented. The Pre is in the same boat. Smartphones up until these supported local syncing with the standard PIM's. And the masses don't use exchange.

Wow, you're already tired of the future? Local sync is out, cloud computing is in. It's the direction everything is headed, so you might want to get used to it.
That's why more and more software manufacturers are ditching installed copies in favor as software-as-a-service websites. Upgrades and bug fixes are easier and the information is less likely to be lost if it's backed up on a mega server as opposed to just your PC + Phone. My G1 can get trashed beyond all recognition, I can buy a new phone, sign into my google account and within five minutes my email and contacts are on the new phone. That's cloud computing, and it's convenience is immeasurable.

I know people get to a certain age and decide "this is it" that technology, music, art, you-name-it is at it's level of perfection and any future advances or changes are scary, unwelcome, unnecessary, and "bad". Change is the natural state of the universe, fighting it only frustrates you, as it cannot be stopped. You say PIM and local sync were better, well someone older than you wonders why you don't just use paper and pencil and walk around with a day planner, someone older than that doesn't understand why you can't get by with a watch and just remembering everything. When cloud computing is gone, and we've moved on to crystals, or implants, or whatever, someone will complain about how all this new stuff is stupid.
 
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Wow, you're already tired of the future? Local sync is out, cloud computing is in. It's the direction everything is headed, so you might want to get used to it.
That's why more and more software manufacturers are ditching installed copies in favor as software-as-a-service websites. Upgrades and bug fixes are easier and the information is less likely to be lost if it's backed up on a mega server as opposed to just your PC + Phone. My G1 can get trashed beyond all recognition, I can buy a new phone, sign into my google account and within five minutes my email and contacts are on the new phone. That's cloud computing, and it's convenience is immeasurable.

I know people get to a certain age and decide "this is it" that technology, music, art, you-name-it is at it's level of perfection and any future advances or changes are scary, unwelcome, unnecessary, and "bad". Change is the natural state of the universe, fighting it only frustrates you, as it cannot be stopped. You say PIM and local sync were better, well someone older than you wonders why you don't just use paper and pencil and walk around with a day planner, someone older than that doesn't understand why you can't get by with a watch and just remembering everything. When cloud computing is gone, and we've moved on to crystals, or implants, or whatever, someone will complain about how all this new stuff is stupid.

Don't mess with old futs...age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill! B. S. and brilliance only come with age and experience!
 
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I guess people like punk who's needs are simplistic probably don't even need a smartphone, just a glorified dumbphone that could be customized. Oh wait. That's what android is. Sorry people are used to having the added functionality many desktop based pims provided. Sorry mfg's decided to abandon them for an inferior online based pim that only adds functionality when enough people complain. Pretty much the ones that switched away from their old favorite and realized they took quite a few steps backwards. But the great and powerful cloud doesn't allow editing of contacts and calendar on a pc if there isn't an internet connection. You can only view. The ability to natively sync everything can only be done with third party software.

I have no problem with the cloud. But until the programs on it are as full featured as their desktop counterparts they're trying to replace, local options should natively exist. People are migrating from palm, winmob and bb, real smartphones, are the ones filling android forums wondering how to get back all the functionality they've been accustomed to.

Android is great for the big screen, web browsing, apps and customization. It still fails in providing the native pim functionality that was standard on other smartphones, or should I say smartphones that don't rely on google.
 
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OK, I'm only 33 & don't necessarily consider myself "old[, but I DO like my smartphone to be functional. Yes, facebook, apps & mp3s are fun, but I don't need to pay big bucks for a handheld game system. I need a pocket-sized do-it-all organizer... sans pencil. I think I'm trading back down to my Treo 755p this weekend. Maybe in 6 months I'll try Android again. Until then, I want my colored calendar & syncable stuff.

Toodles!
The NOT-so-old Cathy
 
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I just moved one of my clients (40+ mailboxes) off of Sherweb to ITSolutionsNow.com, and I am very happy with my decision to do this. They are slightly more expensive than Sherweb, at 9.95 per mailbox per month. However, you get unlimited mailbox storage (sherweb i think is limited to 3gb per mailbox). ITSN is the only company I know to provide unlimited mailbox size.

If you sign up as a reseller at ITSN (just request to have a reseller account when you sign up), you can get about 50 cents knocked off each mailbox each month.

Interesting Fact: ITSolutionsNow is located in Jacksonville, FL, and Sherweb is located in Canada.

Opinion: Support a business in your home country.

So what do you guys think? Is this spam? A guy logs on once and tries to redirect me to another service!
 
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M$ wants my money up front, and I'm happy to pay it, at least it's honest. Google says "Here, use our wonderful software/services for FREE! Oh by the way, we'll be selling your stuff to the highest bidding spammer."

And Bill's boys are getting a bad rap? Anybody checked Google's net worth lately?

I wonder how much of this angst against Google is founded. Google's privacy policy is very straightforward, and they make sure that you have the ability to read it before you agree to provide any information. They guard your data carefully, and don't directly provide it to any third parties. About the worst thing they do is provide targeted advertisements based on your your search history. They don't actually share your preferences with the advertisers though.

If you look into the history of the company, you'll find that one of their founding principals is "Don't be evil." Vigilance is important, and we as customers should hold them to this pledge. They've updated their principals as they've moved into repressive markets such as China, and they've taken plenty of flack for it, but at least they are open and honest with what they are doing, unlike other companies which hide their actions and hope no one notices. Don't think that MS is selling you out any less than Google, they're just not as honest about it.

I certainly understand the need to trust Google in this model - how some people would understandably balk at this - and I think it's very healthy to question what they're doing with the enormous amount of information they collect, but I don't feel that it's fair to chastise them for things they could do, but haven't.
 
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This is my first time on this thread and it has shown me even more things that are making me think about staying with WinMo. The availability of direct sync is a TOP PRIORITY for my phone as it is my business phone; every evening or the next morning I sync my phone to keep it up to date and organized. And all this "try this program or that" and the subsequent "that one didn't work for me but this one did" then the exact reverse from someone else is starting to tell me that these phones really are just toys and have no business use at all.

Reading all the problems people are having with the Android phones I am starting to realize that my phone is pretty much problem free. Sure, my Touch Pro locks up occasionally and has infrequent glitches (some of which I just found out are problems with Sprint's towers, not the phone), but a quick reset and it works fine again, no application problems, no functionality issues, just solid, syncable dependability. My real complaint is one of convenience, the lack of finger friendliness, a stylus is just too much trouble in many situations. WinMo7 is supposed to take care of that, but there is still no inkling of a release date.

As far as the cloud, that may be fine for peoples personal e-mails, music, movies, etc., but as a business owner the last thing I would want is all my information floating around on a megaserver cloud.

Unless there is a rock-solid app to sync Outlook from my PC directly to Android, or for that fact an actual Outlook e-mail app or close facsimile I will be holding off on Android.
 
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I don't think on a grand scale people have issue with the confidentiality from google's side, but in this day and age we see quite often where systems are compromised, information is taken, glitches shut things down. There are valid concerns with having your info only in the cloud.

To me it comes down to it just being an inferior product and the ignorance of just ignoring the desktop solution when it's still superior to their own offering. HTC saw that and has HTC Sync. Samsung allows their "dumbphones" to sync with outlook, yet says you're on your own for the smartphone crowd.

If google's PIM option was more complete and offered a complete offline program, then I could see having limited options. Thankfully there are 3rd parties that see there is still a need and have come to the rescue. It's just a shame that something that used to be native now has to be relied upon by third parties.
 
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I have subscribed to and am in the process of setting up a hosted Exchange service.

I have it working well with Outlook, and am currently trying to reign in all of my disparate email accounts. It's not easy task since they all do things differently and everyone is willing to accept everyone else's forwards, but make it difficult to forward their own (why do you suppose that is?)

I guess I should check out how well Moxier works before going much farther.

It is probably and expensive solution, but I think I'll be happy with it in the end.
 
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This is my first time on this thread and it has shown me even more things that are making me think about staying with WinMo. The availability of direct sync is a TOP PRIORITY for my phone as it is my business phone; every evening or the next morning I sync my phone to keep it up to date and organized. And all this "try this program or that" and the subsequent "that one didn't work for me but this one did" then the exact reverse from someone else is starting to tell me that these phones really are just toys and have no business use at all.

I think that's a drastic over generalization. I can agree that Android isn't a good choice for YOUR business. But I'm a Unix administrator, I don't use Outlook, I don't care if it's supported. Connectbot is the greatest mobile SSH client I've ever used, period. VNC and RDP are well supported, and using these three tools I've saved myself from having to drive in to the office several times already. The pop3/imap client isn't perfect, but it's suitable for me, I don't keep my email on the cloud, I have my own server, it's not outlook, it's industry standard. For my business and how I use it, it's great. Dismissing something as a toy, or saying something isn't good for business isn't fair. There are many different kinds of users, some of them will be suited to a particular device, and some won't.
 
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