Database Users

[Question] Using Android for Company Use?

Hi,
I am a system administrator for my company and i am considering switching from windows mobile devices to android devices in our company.
What i am looking for is people who use or have used there android with exchange.
This is mandatory in our company.
The phone needs to be able to sync Email, Contacts and Calendar with MS Exchange.
Are there people who can confirm that
- this works.
- what is your experience.
- Does is work like on a windows mobile device?
- Does it run smooth
- are there any complications.
- Is there anything that needs to be done server side (i assume not)
Any information would help.
Also i would like to know,
From the 3 android phones that are now available (g1, magic & hero)
Seeing that they are all HTC made, do they all have the htc exchange support implemented?
And if not, which ones don't support it, and is there an alternative solution for it?
Thank you in advanced.
Alex

A little info...
anheuer said:
Hi,
Are there people who can confirm that
- this works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this works. The HTC Exchange app "Work Mail" (mail.apk) allows for syncing of mail only. Complete Exchange sync support is available at this time via thrid party apps only. The best I've seen so far is Touchdown. A 5 day demo is available for testing. This solution is frowned upon by all my sysadmin pals because of two reasons... 1) added cost per end user and 2) its not native therefore you're relying on a third party for support. If they go under, your elegant solution is toast.
- what is your experience.
--> See above. Touchdown works well. Mail.apk gets the mail down but sync can be an issue and calendar, contacts and tasks is a NOGO.
- Does is work like on a windows mobile device?
--> Don't think I know what you're asking but... if you mean does it work like windows mobile's implementation of Outlook/Activesync then... not really. Sync is just like Activesync in that it polls your Exchange server periodically and checks for new items. See above for differences.
- Does it run smooth
--> Sure, though some have reported intermittent sync issues, I have not had that problem. Bear in mind pretty much everyone using Mail.apk is running some flavor of an experimental ROM.
- are there any complications.
-->typically, yes. See above
- Is there anything that needs to be done server side (i assume not)
-->no, no config changes are required to run either mail.apk or Touchdown
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also i would like to know,
From the 3 android phones that are now available (g1, magic & hero)
Seeing that they are all HTC made, do they all have the htc exchange support implemented?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mail.apk or Work Mail is a part of the ROMS for newer HTC devices, it is not intended to be used on the HTC Dream/G1 but has been ported over by kickass people to be used on the G1 and is included in newer modded roms like Cyanogens. I believe it first popped up in the Sapphire ROM, search here for in And.dev for the thread that clued me in to its existence.
So bear in mind, any solution you employ will either be entirely 3rd party or incomplete at this time. Also, the Dream/G1 is the only phone with a keyboard, I don't know about you but I wouldn't be composing emails with an onscreen keyboard.
Hope that helps and that I didn't misrepresent anything. If I got any of this wrong get in here and spank me good guys.

innerspace said:
Yes, this works. The HTC Exchange app "Work Mail" (mail.apk) allows for syncing of mail.....................
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply.
I assume that when i use the application Touchdown on the G1, that this will also work right?
On our mail server we enforce 2 things when connected to the exchange mail.
1. force password protection on the device
2. force encryption for files on device and SD card.
Do you have experience with this in combination with Touchdown?
Does it ignore it?
Will it enforce it?
Because i think we at least want password protection
(and then i mean that the entire phone cannot be used until the password has been typed. to protect all date on the phone.)

Just one additional point - the "work email" app DOES provide for full Exchange support (ie. contacts, calendar, email) on SOME ROMs. Any ROM that uses an HTC branded Magic ROM as its basis will have this, whereas Google branded ROMs do not (although they can run the application if one acquires it, in such case you'll get email only - most ROMs over on the development board bundle at least the email only version).
A good ROM to use for this is the Smartphone France ROM, which has full support, and is a moderately fast ROM.
I'm not sure about encryption and/or password protection for Exchange but certainly you can add passwords or even gesture based locking onto Android phones.
I personally found Touchdown to be complete and total gash, just couldn't get it to work at all well. Either it wouldn't sync at all, or it'd take ages for mails to appear, or you'd get a random subset of an inbox rather than a complete listing. However, most people who have used Touchdown seem to think my experience is in a minority.

Loccy said:
Just one additional point - the "work email" app DOES provide for full Exchange support (ie. contacts, calendar, email) on SOME ROMs. Any ROM that uses an HTC branded Magic ROM as its basis will have this, whereas Google branded ROMs do not (although they can run the application if one acquires it, in such case you'll get email only - most ROMs over on the development board bundle at least the email only version).
A good ROM to use for this is the Smartphone France ROM, which has full support, and is a moderately fast ROM.
I'm not sure about encryption and/or password protection for Exchange but certainly you can add passwords or even gesture based locking onto Android phones.
I personally found Touchdown to be complete and total gash, just couldn't get it to work at all well. Either it wouldn't sync at all, or it'd take ages for mails to appear, or you'd get a random subset of an inbox rather than a complete listing. However, most people who have used Touchdown seem to think my experience is in a minority.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you suggest one or more of those locking apps?
So if i understand correct.
The only way to not have to worry about which android phone people would like to use, and still have full exchange functionality is by using touchdown.
If i dont want to use that, then i need to get an android phone that is htc branded, or change the rom to a custom rom.

All Rogers and Hero ROM's have full exchange support NATIVE to the ROM.. do not go the Touchdown route.
As Android is increasingly supporting exchange, Touchdown will be less and less supported.
I am currently running Soulife's Rogers ROM and it handles exchange (email/contacts/calendar) totally native and works really well.
As for your company, it really depends on how many handsets you are supporting, and also depends on whether you really want to root and run different roms on all these devices as well.
I'd probably wait until an Android phone is released in your area that fully supports exchange natively.

There is no remote wipe for Android ... so if you are concerned about security or have to enforce password or locking policies then you should consider blackberry server ... I'm in the same boat as you, would like to use Android but the management tools are not there yet.

I have a magic flashed to jacHero, all aspects of exchange work fine, except one thing. When I try to change the date on a meeting invitation, I get a force close. I guess this is a problem with the ROM, as the stock Rogers ROM did not have this issue.
I have also tried touchdown, which works fine, and has tasks (which is a plus), but I prefer the native app.

Loccy said:
Just one additional point - the "work email" app DOES provide for full Exchange support (ie. contacts, calendar, email) on SOME ROMs. Any ROM that uses an HTC branded Magic ROM as its basis will have this, whereas Google branded ROMs do not (although they can run the application if one acquires it, in such case you'll get email only - most ROMs over on the development board bundle at least the email only version).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm using an HTC ROM on my vodafone/Google branded magic (which does not sync with exchange by default) and the exchange sync works quite well. i get email, calendar and contacts.
one thing though, with regards to exchange contacts, there doesn't seem to be a way to browse the GAL.
in my case i have to click menu, then company directory. then i can type an entry into the search box.
it does feel a bit cumbersome, but i guess it's better than your phone trying to download several thousand GAL entries to your phone.

Do you need wi-fi?
If you need to use wi-fi in your company, and if you are using WPA-Enterprise (AD auth), keep in mind that android doesn't support it yet (at least out of the box).

Exchange support on stock OS?

I see there are a few ROMs out there that have full Exchange support built in, but coming from WinMo phones, flashing an Android phone seems to me a pretty daunting task (even after reading the newbie thread).
Is there any way to get full Exchange functionality without flashing?
If I were 100% certain I was going to keep this phone, I would start flashing it. But it's for my girlfriend, who has been using an iPhone connected to my Exchange server for over a year now.

Try RoadSync from the Android Market. Not free but does the job pretty well.

Looks like it does it all. It's a shame the HTC app doesn't do it all, though. Especially when even the iPhone has Exchange support for no extra charge.
If she keeps the phone, I'll most definitely do a custom ROM, though I still think it's a little much for me. We'll see...
Thanks for the help.

there are three versions of mail that i'm aware of.
one does not support exchange at all (this is the default on "google experience" phones).
one does limited support of exchange (it does email, but i don't think it does contacts or calendar).
and the third one (which i am using) does email, calendar and contacts.
it doesn't look pretty, but it lets me send an receive while i'm away from my desk, so it suits me just fine.
which version you get depends on a) which telco you get your phone from and/or b) which rom you're using.

Custom roms

I was wondering, are many people using custom roms also use the combination Exchange/ActiveSync? I ask, cause I seem to always have lots of problems with my Exchange sync when using custom roms. It happened with my TP (starting 6.5), and now with my HD2. ActiveSync will tell it is connected, but no synchronization is happening and push does not work. It only works with manual sync, or scheduled sync. It is very annoying and it is pissing me off.
Is this a rom problem, or a HSPL problem? I love the performance of these roms, particularly Dutty since his are so nice and clean, but I *need* ActiveSync push properly working.
I have done hard resets, reflashes and everything I can think of. Nothing works. And I have tried the top5 fastest roms from the benchmarking thread. Flashing back to the stock rom, and everything is fine.
So right now, I seem to be stuck with either a relatively slow rom with push or a screaming fast one without push.
Any ideas or suggestions?

have you tried SONE HDv1.1/..? seems to work fine, speedy, complete rom, wit activesync and exchange.
im using exchange with my gmail contacts and calendar sync.
fist it dosent work when i sync both calendar and contacts, but then it works when i do it one at a time.
i tried contacts first, by selecting menu>options, and selecting just contacts
i let it sync,
then i de-selected contacts, and sync calendar...(tho it deletes all contact data on phone)..ad let it sunc as well.
after it syncd, hen checked them both..and this time works.
i still have problems with mail tho, dont have a clue how to get around that.
hope this helps.

Somehow that doesn't sound very encouraging.

For reference: I found it. For some reason it appears that 6.5 and higher roms do not appreciate you importing ActiveSync settings from a registry export, and require you to manually configure it. On 6.1 roms this works fine. Still annoying, since I like to set things up using UC, but at least it is working now.

this is the dilemma I always have. I've always stuck with stock ROMs because although they are inflated, and often buggy...they do work...mostly
the risk of moving to a custom ROM and finding that the apps I need don't work (I would be totaly screwed if I didnt have reliable push email.
then I think abut the new features that are available in 6.5.3 (threaded email for xample) and really want to move...but there's always the nagging that I will have to constantly reflash as custom ROMS seem to release fixes every couple of days!!

[Q] Noob question - Multiple Exchange Profiles

Hi,
Complete Android noob! Im thinking of getting an android phone, moving from many years of Windows mobile but i now have a need for multiple exchange/activesync accounts (two jobs, both with Exchange!)
If i move to Android, i think i want the Legend simply because it looks and feels better built, but i guess a Desire would also do. The problem is, i've read that while Android (2.1 maybe, 2.2 definelty) supports multiple Exchange mailboxes, the HTC Sense removes the ability. Is this true, and is there anyway of restoring it? Can i get Sense off and revert to pure Android without 'rooting' it or doing anything else that could theoretically make it less reliable?
If anybody does use multiple Exchange profiles, can you tell me how it handles the different calendars and contact lists? does it keep them separate or does it all end up merged together and then sync'd back to each Exchange server?
Sorry for the questions, especially if its the wrong forum, but i want to get this right as the phone is going to be fairly critical for both jobs (and i keep being told an iPhone can do everything i want, but i dont want to got that way!)

Reading my German Vodafone Legends' Manual it says: "...only one Exchange Account...". I don't care about this as I need only one and - I use Nitrodesk's Touchdown Exchange client which not only supports more than one Exchange account but is overall much better than Android's client. Huge feature list, perfect widgets (from third party collaboration), great support (check out their google group). Started using TD more than a year ago and coming from WM too I can say TD is perfect and is worth the money. They have a 30 day trail in the market. Maybe you give it a try (or just study their documents as you don't have a phone already)?
Cheers,
Derek.

Thanks for this. The feature list looks good, so i'll give it a try
Its such as shame that Sense kills the ability to have multiple accounts though.

[Q] What happened to my exchange mail account?

Twice now I have had the mail portion of my exchange account just disappear from my phone. My calendar and contacts are still setup and sync just fine, but if I hit the email button it starts the email setup wizard. Anyone else seeing this? It happened this weekend while I was on the road driving and I just chalked it up to me fat fingering something, but it just happened again while I was in a meeting and my phone was in my office, no fat fingers were near it. I am using the built in exchange support, no add ons (touchdown or the like).

I have had the EXACT same issue. Twice. Once Saturday morning is was gone and then this morning it was gone. My first step is going to be a hard reset and test it for a week without rooting.
Was yours rooted by chance?

I had the same problem. It was driving me nuts because it was causing even further battery drain. I've switched to Touchdown and it's been working great so far.

I have not rooted my phone yet.

Not to highjack my own thread, but do you like touchdown? I installed the demo and didn't see what it would gain me over the built in apps. Is there a comparison someplace? Can you make it replace the default apps so that mailto: links and things like that work properly?

I just tried Touchdown and hated it. It feels like a pocket pc 2003 program (ugly and clunky).

I had the same thing happen to me twice today. It removed two exhange and one IMAP account. Really frustrating. I am not rooted since at this point I haven't seen much to root for. Once recovery, roms, and Verizon roaming are available, I will look to root.
This is just another nail slowly going into the coffin of this phone for me (battery life, build quality, terrible calendar, poor email - no cut and paste, internet link click, etc., poor base widgets). I already had to exchange my first phone since the capacitive keys were terrible. I still have plenty of time to decide on this phone, but right now, I am leaning towards returning it. Sorry to hijack the thread with my mini rant.

This has happened to me twice so far.
No root.

If you don't like touchdown you can try k-9... its free

I am a Touchdown user that loves it. Powerful application that makes my Epic my office when I am out of the office.

monkeypr0n said:
Not to highjack my own thread, but do you like touchdown? I installed the demo and didn't see what it would gain me over the built in apps. Is there a comparison someplace? Can you make it replace the default apps so that mailto: links and things like that work properly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm only on day 5 of the 30 day free trial and so far so good. It has not exhibited the same disappearing inbox problem of the built in app and it has a better integration of mail and calendar. So far, the only complaint I have is a nit, I'm not crazy about how the agenda shows overlapping meetings, but I can get over that and at least the meeting notices let me click on the phone number to call (the default app does not even have that ability). Overall, it is MUCH more customizable, integrated and configurable than the default apps. So far I'm leaning toward buying it, but will go thru another full work week first to be sure.