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Last modified: 16-06-2020 |
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the third smartphone from Google. This is a quick article that sums up things I found useful.
All USB sync utilities require installing the ADB driver in Windows and enabling USB debugging on the Nexus. As the Nexus is from Google, the install utility takes care of installing the ADB driver so you don't have to locate it on the Net. Note that the driver will have to be reinstalled when you upgrade the Android system.
Some applications use Android's Calendar and People (contacts) and add a couple of applications for Tasks and Memos, while some applications require installing their own application for the four sections.
To remove all data from Calendar and People so you can start from a clean slate before trying another application, go to Settings > Apps > All, and click on [Contacts Storage] and [Calendar Storage] where you can press on the "Clear data" button to empty the contacts and calendars.
As of August 2012, I haven't found my ideal solution:
MyPhoneExplorer is a freeware VB6 application. Here's the install procedure:
As of August 2012, MPE and AndroidSync are the applications that can sync an Androphone with Outlook through USB. I found both wanting, but AS has serious issues, so that I ended up using MPE.
On phone, when creating item in Notes with title + body, after syncing and opening it in Outlook, CRLF between two sections is gone: Must open item to edit
When syncing both ways Android <-> MPE <-> Outlook, always
prompted: ""Attention! No contacts on phone!". Just delete all
items in MPE withouth syncing with phone, delete all data in phone, force Outlook
-> phone syncing, sync, and go back to bidirectional sync.
As of Sept 2012, Android-Sync is one of the very few application I found that can sync Outlook and Android over USB.
Does it take care of upgrading the Android applications as well?
$20
Like other similar applications, requires enabling USB Debugging and installing a Windows driver. Install of Notes and Tasks applications is taken care by the PC-side application. After syncing, contacts are added to the People application, schedules in the Calendar application (Trial version on syncs twenty appointments), and two new icons are added (Android Sync Task and Android Sync Notes).
To create a log file to send to Support:
After installing AndroidSync, if it says that 0 items were synced, check if you have multiple profiles in Outlook, and choose the right one.
If AS can sync all items except those in Calendar/People, open Android's People application (The FAQ mentions the "Android Contacts application", but it's actually called People in Android 4), open the menu (three vertical dots), choose "Accounts", and enable "Android-Sync", and check "Sync Contacts". If this still doesn't work, configure the PC application to force syncing Desktop with Android once (Preferences > Contacts > Sync mode = Desktop overwrites handheld, sync, and put settings back to normal (Sync mode = Synchronize).
Couldn't figure out why. Work around is to temporarily use "Handheld overwrites desktop", sync, and set it back to "Sync Outlook <-> Android".
By default, deleted items are not actually deleted and are moved
to the "Pending deletes" state. In the Windows application, check
the relevant option in Settings if you don't want that safety net.
After syncing and opening the items in Outlook, any accented
character in the body of a Task or Note has been removed.
Had same issue
a couple of times with TMS: Looks like due to Outlook.
To create new task/note. I have a hard time clicking on the + sign on the right.
Tasks: Outlook supports Start Date, Modified Date, and Due Date while AndroidSync only sorts by Due Date, and items are displayed in sections (Today, Tomorrow, etc.) instead of a flat list.
Notes: Items are listed by creation date, not modified date
No way to list Notes/Tasks items simply by date last modified. The "Show All" lists alphabetically, and as there's no support for autocompletion/search/fast scrolling, there's no way to find the most recent items.
Until AS allows listing by modified date, shortcut to prepend date to task title?
When connecting the Androphone to XP, I have to wait a couple of minutes before AS starts to sync
Unlike their equivalent on a Blackberry, Notes/Tasks don't support autocompletion (ie. start typing the title of the note/task and it'll jump to it), so users have to scroll down manually to reach the note/task they want to edit. As a work-around, maybe Android provides a Search utility to find items even in third-party applications like AndroidSync
Semi-work around: Sort by date, but it uses the creation date, not the last edit date.
There's no shortcut to save a note/task the user is currently editing: The only way is to leave the item by clicking on the Back icon, opening it again, and scrolling down to it. Too bad if you like to save often just in case you make a mistake and lose everything you typed since the last save...
When saving a note, we're back in the main list, and must find the item to resume editing... :-/
Worse, if a note/task is left open, ie. not saved, and syncing with Outlook, the unsaved contents is gone... Remember to close all items currently under editing.
Applications "Android-Sync-Tasks" and "Android-Sync-Notes" have names that are too long to fit, so they're cut off and users have to remember green = Notes and blue = Tasks. Apparently, the application name is coded in the APK and we must use third-party tools just to rename a shortcut
TMS is what I would use over AndroidSync if syncing over USB were not a requirement.
"The calendar app included on Android OS-powered devices syncs with Google Calendar. To sync with Windows PC we developed the Fliq Calendar app, which works with The Missing Sync to keep calendar events updated and in sync between Android devices and a PC."
DOESN'T SEEM TRUE Important: When syncing, make sure Outlook is closed; Otherwise, new items will not be displayed even though they have been synced into the Outlook file.
http://www.markspace.com/products/missing-sync-family.html
The Missing Sync for Android User Guide
"Missing Sync for Android: Syncing via USB": As of June 2012, syncing over USB doesn't work with Android 4 (ICS). How to receive notification when TMS can sync with ICS over USB?
https://support.markspace.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=520In case a TMS window pops up without wanting to sync, it's due to TMS' MSADSyncMarshaller application. To disable it:
This should disable MSADSyncMarshaller.exe upon start-up.
Tasks/Notes : after viewing/editing an item, hitting the Back button should return the user to the same position in the list instead of being sent back to the top of the list
Tasks : Add sorting option "Last modified"
Tasks/Notes: In Search, add autocompletion and jump to the first occurence without having to hit the Search button
* [General] When syncing, multiple copies of Wizmo are sometimes ran, which turns off the monitor, and must be killed to recover.
* [Notes] Unlike notes entered in Outlook, title is not part of the note and can't be changed in Outlook
* [Notes] When a note uses the default category ("Undefined" instead of "Notes"), there's a very annoying issue: After double-clicking on the note in the Notes section in Outlook and hitting Escape to close it, the title is changed to the first line in the note text
* [Notes] By default, new Notes in Fliq Notes are set to category "Unfiled"... and aren't displayed in Outlook. To change the category for items in Fliq Notes, click on <category> in the upper left-hand corner
* [Tasks] Unlike the Search feature available in Notes, its equivalent in Tasks 1) can only search on whole words and 2) doesn't support clicking on found items. What's the point of searching an item if you can't access it once you found it?
* [Support] In the TMS4Android page, provide a link to the "The Missing Sync for Android User Guide: Windows", so the user knows how to install the Android/Windows parts. Currently, the install procedure can only be found after installing the Windows application, and clicking on the Setup Wizard
* [Support] I suggest adding a user's forum on the site, so that users can help each other instead of waiting for support through tickets
* [Support] In the e-mail received from support after creating a ticket, provide a URL that points directly to the ticket. Currently, the user must go back to TMS's support page, log on, and click on the ticket to see the thread.
* [General] When first connecting to the desktop through wifi, it takes about 30s before syncing starts. Connection starts faster once wifi is already up and syncing has already occured
* [General] The installer should make it clear that iTunes is not needed to sync Outlook, just to sync media. After removing iTunes, Outlook still syncs OK. iTunes is a 70MB download and by default will take over media management on the PC (I use VLC for viewing media files).
* [General] Fast scrolling in Tasks/Notes to jump to beginning/end? Even better, support for autocompletion à la Blackberry?
* [General] Would be cool if TMS could also manage SMS so I could send/receive text messages from PC à la QuickerSMS
* [Calendar] Can't set possible start/end hours for appointments (eg. 7AM-8PM), so must scroll up/down to see appointments or use the Agenda view
* [Calendar] After initial sync, some Outlook items didn't sync on the Androphone. Using TMS Windows application, click on File > Calendar, and change the Date Range from the default "Calendar events from 2 months ago" to "All Calendar Events"
* [Calendar] In Agenda mode, today's date should be on the very first line. Currently, it's displayed around the middle of the screen, so previous appointments fill the upper part.
* [Calendar] In Month view, display today's date in obvious color, eg. red. Currently, all dates starting from today are simply displayed in gray. I find it more difficult to figure out today's date.
* [Calendar] Somewhere on the TMS site, I read that "the calendar app included on Android OS-powered devices syncs with Google Calendar. To sync with Windows PC we developed the Fliq Calendar app, which works with The Missing Sync to keep calendar events updated and in sync between Android devices and a PC.": AndroidSyn syncs with Android's Calendar application, so it looks like Android's Calendar can sync with Windows directly, without going through Google Calendar on the web.
* [Tasks] Unlike Notes, cannot be sorted by creation/modification date: By date, can only sort by Due Date (no way to input Start Date). Work-around? I'm used to Blackberry which lists items with most recent first. I often don't use categories or start/end dates
$50
Requires installing the free DejaOffice on the Nexus; Syncs through DejaConnect USB
Recommends turning off Gmail sync
Syncing requires clicking in both the Windows application and the Android application
Failed connecting from PC: "Unable to connect to DejaOffice". Made sure USB Debugging is enabled and the device ("Android Phone > Android ADB Interface") shows up in Device Manager. Gave up.
To remove DejaOffice from the Nexus: Settings > Apps > select DejaOffice > Uninstall
In the upper-right hand corner, register a new account just to download the trial version of the Premium edition (!)
No trialware available? User moved to Shopping section.
$10
Requires Primary interop assembly for Office 2007 (7 MB) and Visual Studio Tools 2010 for Office runtime (2.6 MB).
Requires enabling USB Debugging and installing the ad hoc driver.
The free version only syncs media and SMS, while the premium version supports syncing with Outlook.
Needs three apps, two for the Androphone and one for the PC:
Strange interface (window bar looks odd, can't maximize window)
In Windows app, Tasks and Notes are not available although Calendar is
After syncing with Outlook, in Andro app, Notes are there but no Tasks
Requires reboot to complete uninstallation.
$13.50
Requires installing the free VCOrganizer SyncCenter and the commercial VCOrganizer.
VCO 5 syncs through "USB Tethering" (PC connects to Androphone through wifi); VCO6, scheduled to be available summer 2012, will provide the option to sync through USB
Their main business seems Oracle-related, and VCOrganizer is just a side-product.
gSyncIT
($20; Can only sync Outlook with Google, not with an Android phone)
MyLink
Advanced ($16.95) ("Partly my fault for not reading
the limitations on anything over 2.1. Be nice if it did work but until they
have full compatibility don't waste your time or money.")
Samsung's Kies software (seems unreliable)
Touchdown
"TouchDown requires an Exchange server, and does not work with Outlook directly"
Here are a few alternative PIM applications that can (more or less) sync with Android:
As of 2012, Release 5 can sync with Android but only over wifi.
Only handles tasks, so is not a full replacement for Outlook.
RATP, Transilien, ViaNavigo, etc.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/25319/complete-guide-to-maximizing-your-android-phones-battery-life/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.latedroid.juicedefender
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367542,00.asp
http://androidadvices.com/save-battery-life-android-phones/
http://www.googez.com/2011/05/8-simple-tips-to-save-your-android-battery/
http://www.androidcentral.com/android-101-save-battery-keeping-wifi-alive
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobile-apps/android-phone-battery-saving-tips-50006271/
Since we're not touchtyping anyway..
http://bepo.fr/wiki/AccueilAlternatives :
Open-source. Looks like a fork from VuDroid. "Due to the fact that the private key for the Android Market were lost, project was renamed [from VuDroid Plus] to EBookDroid."
Supports vertical scrollling through "All Settings > Rendering > Crop pages". If you already have a document open, requires re-applying this change through "Book Settings > Rendering > Crop pages", before closing/reopening the document. Make sure zoom is set to 1.0.
info@unidocs.com
Fit to screen this prevents scrolling from page to page through finger. I can somehow scroll pages by swiping finger horizontally (right to left or left to right), but can't scroll by swiping from down to top: Is this possible?
Says "ln sf < >" on screen: "Ln" means there is a link on the page, "Sf" means you have horizontal scrolling locked while "< >" means "Fit text to screen": How to hide?
Hand-written orange arrow note popped up: Must hit menu (three vertical dots) to hide
MyPhoneExplorer (Hit "Decline" to avoid installing the adwares)
Mobisynapse can do this too.
Leather/plastic screen protector
Pressing the button on the right shortly simply turns off the screen but keeps the 3G connection to the Internet active. If you only need to receive phone calls, you can save power by downgrading to 2G and go back to 3G when you need to access the Internet (Settings > Wireless and networks > More... > Mobile Networks > Use only 2G networks).
Important: In 2G, while the screen is turned off, no more calls are received, and the user is sent to voice mail directly.
Pressing the button longer will shut it down. It's a way to save battery if you don't need to receive calls or use your phone for a while.
Easy way to take notes from a book: Take a picture, and run it through an OCR application
Mobile OCR
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smartmobilesoftware.mobileocrfreeCan it display this without draining the battery à la Blackberry?
Hit the volume down button (on the left) and the power button (on the right) simultaneously, Android will briefly show the screenshot it took and save it in "My Computer\Galaxy Nexus\Internal Storage\Pictures\Screenshots" as PNG files.
You might to unplug/replug the USB cable for the files to show up.
Alternatively, try TomorrowKey's Screen Capture Shortcut.
Click on the "double rectangle" icon on the right
Must use a third-party application
Tired of hitting the Enter key
Much more error-prone than Blackberry
Embedded GPS? Reading GSM/3G infos? Why am I shown about 400m from where I live?
Edit relevant option in Settings > Security
Settings > Hide Toolbar
