It took some trial and error, but I finally got my Droid using my email address rather than a gmail one, and I'm still able to use all Outlook functions and have it sync seamlessly. I don't even *have* a gmail account! Here's what you need to do.
1. Buy a domain name of your choice (pebkac.us in my case). There are lots of registrars, but I recommend godaddy as cheap and easy (don't fall for any of the "upsells", just by the basic domain). I bought one years ago because I was tired of ISPs getting bought or and sold or moving and changing my address. For quite a while I hosted the mail myself on a home server, but then I found:
2. Google apps. Business email, calendar, documents, and intranet sites for your company - Google Apps for Business Use this free service to host the email for your domain. It's worth it just for their spam filtering alone! This also gives you a portal to use web mail from anywhere, like gmail. Google provides very good step-by-step instructions for moving your email, changing your DNS records, etc. Create a mail account for yourself, and anyone else you want. Verify that your new custom, nice, short address (bob@mydomain.com instead of boblovesflowers123@gmail.com) works by logging in through the google apps web site.
3. Go to your google apps control panel and upgrade to the Premier Edition. This will cost $50 per user per year. Worth it to me. You get a free 30 day trial, so if for some reason this doesn't work for you or you don't like it, cancel within 30 days and it won't cost you.
4. Download and install Google Apps Sync. https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gappssync Click the "Help and Info for Administrators" and follow the steps to make sure your google apps account is configured correctly for this. After installing, run it, connect to your google apps account and let it sync (initial sync might take an hour or two). Set your Outlook default profile to your google apps created one, you won't be needing the other profile again (but maybe keep it around as a backup in case something happens to your saved mail).
5. Add your google apps account as the PRIMARY gmail account on your Droid. If you've already set up a gmail account, you need to do a factory reset to change the primary account. It's stupid, but that's how it is. When setting up your Droid, enter your full email address (user@yourdomain.ext) and not just the username like you would for a gmail account.
6. Enjoy your new custom domain with all the functionality of a gmail account with a Droid! This works perfectly seamlessly to me with zero effort once it's set up, it even syncs contacts and your calendar with Outlook.
There's really nothing here that's too hard, but it helps to have some internet savvy to know what a domain record, DNS, etc. is. Maybe get a geeky friend to help (I'm an Exchange admin and a Cisco router guy, so it was easy for me). Read and follow google's directions to the letter, they're very good.
Step 4 is optional. If you don't use Outlook or don't want to sync with it, then don't do it. Steps 4 and 5 can be done in either order.
1. Buy a domain name of your choice (pebkac.us in my case). There are lots of registrars, but I recommend godaddy as cheap and easy (don't fall for any of the "upsells", just by the basic domain). I bought one years ago because I was tired of ISPs getting bought or and sold or moving and changing my address. For quite a while I hosted the mail myself on a home server, but then I found:
2. Google apps. Business email, calendar, documents, and intranet sites for your company - Google Apps for Business Use this free service to host the email for your domain. It's worth it just for their spam filtering alone! This also gives you a portal to use web mail from anywhere, like gmail. Google provides very good step-by-step instructions for moving your email, changing your DNS records, etc. Create a mail account for yourself, and anyone else you want. Verify that your new custom, nice, short address (bob@mydomain.com instead of boblovesflowers123@gmail.com) works by logging in through the google apps web site.
3. Go to your google apps control panel and upgrade to the Premier Edition. This will cost $50 per user per year. Worth it to me. You get a free 30 day trial, so if for some reason this doesn't work for you or you don't like it, cancel within 30 days and it won't cost you.
4. Download and install Google Apps Sync. https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gappssync Click the "Help and Info for Administrators" and follow the steps to make sure your google apps account is configured correctly for this. After installing, run it, connect to your google apps account and let it sync (initial sync might take an hour or two). Set your Outlook default profile to your google apps created one, you won't be needing the other profile again (but maybe keep it around as a backup in case something happens to your saved mail).
5. Add your google apps account as the PRIMARY gmail account on your Droid. If you've already set up a gmail account, you need to do a factory reset to change the primary account. It's stupid, but that's how it is. When setting up your Droid, enter your full email address (user@yourdomain.ext) and not just the username like you would for a gmail account.
6. Enjoy your new custom domain with all the functionality of a gmail account with a Droid! This works perfectly seamlessly to me with zero effort once it's set up, it even syncs contacts and your calendar with Outlook.
There's really nothing here that's too hard, but it helps to have some internet savvy to know what a domain record, DNS, etc. is. Maybe get a geeky friend to help (I'm an Exchange admin and a Cisco router guy, so it was easy for me). Read and follow google's directions to the letter, they're very good.
Step 4 is optional. If you don't use Outlook or don't want to sync with it, then don't do it. Steps 4 and 5 can be done in either order.
