Related
Hi guys,
I have been waiting for a long time for a mature Android phone (have had iPhone for the past 3 years) and i think Galaxy SII is just that. Its fast, speedy, have good camera, thin, pretty good standby etc...
Feature1 (or rather application suite):
What i been missing from Android phones so far has been a OSX sync, backup, music/video/podcast sync application and for Galaxy this is still missing sadly. So you guys who have OSX what do you use for the sync and backup? (it can be both freeware and thirdparty apps that cost, as long as its working without bugs)
Feature2:
This is something all old phones use to have but for some stupid reason have been removed on both iPhone and Android phones. I'm talking about recording calls natively (not interested using services or mic recording). You guys who know the hardware do you know if this is possible or is it like iphone not possible to do with this hardware?
Other then that i really love the screen of this phone so i like to upgrade to this from my current iPhone. Actually i have two sims so i will use both phones
Thanks for all answers
If I'm not wrong Samsung kies can Sync and Backup
And yes Call Recording is possible. Here is more about that: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1065110
Syncing music, videos is no big deal. Kies does it, so do countless apps out there including winamp. You can basically sync any damn Android or smartphone or dumb phone with memory slot using Winamp.
Kies also has functionality to backup your phone (apps can be synced to your google account anyway ).
You could try Kies Air, it is in your browser so it doesn't need any software.
(I could be wrong, because I don't have the SII.)
Thanks for all feedbacks.
I been searching and reading a little thanks to your tips and i the result wasnt all to positive.
At Samsung i found the Kies only for Windows (intressted for OSX).
samsung.com/se/consumer/mobile/mobilephones/mobilephones/GT-I9100LKANEE/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&tab=support
Same goes for winamp ofcourse which is a Win app.
Kies Air seems to be just for the older models also or has any of you actually been downloading it for Galaxy SII? that would be really nice....
I dont have Android phone to see what i can download but it seems all these call recorder apps work on some models and not others.
Call recorder:
androlib.com/android.application.com-opensystem-callrecord-jjDw.aspx
also
sv.appbrain.com/app/call-recorder/com.schass.recording.call
DroidRecord PRO:
brighthub.com/mobile/google-android/articles/101742.aspx
and
appbrain.com/app/droidrecord-pro/com.gonzo.droidrecord
Also read about TotalRecall which seems to be old and not updated.
Has any of you actually tested any of these and can verify that it works (on GSII)? which one?
Thanks for the help guys but please give me some info that you know for sure works on GSII. Links are also very welcome.
Kies Air seems to be just for the older models also or has any of you actually been downloading it for Galaxy SII? that would be really nice....
Its on SGS2 either as stock or via the Samsung update on the phone .
Not that i have ever used it as i copy and paste .
jje
JJEgan said:
Kies Air seems to be just for the older models also or has any of you actually been downloading it for Galaxy SII? that would be really nice....
Its on SGS2 either as stock or via the Samsung update on the phone .
Not that i have ever used it as i copy and paste .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for confirming. I dont understand what you mean by copy/paste though! Music/video sure you can do that but for contact/calendar and backup i dont see how u can copy/paste.
Any way i'm saving some money for this baby so i hope it can work well under OSX. Seems all Android phones are made for windows. On the other hand SGII has other benefits like playing xvid/divx so no need to re-encode movies....
Doubletwist?
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA Premium App
DoubleTwist works great with OSX, I use it .
I can confirm that my GSII came with kies air pre-installed.
I use kies in windows but kies air in linux.
Drag and drop is really easy on this phone as well due to the large internal memory.
I use iSyncr, works great for iTunes music, videos and podcast synching to my MBP. There is an option to sync by Wifi at extra cost.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
You used an iPhone right?
So in baby words, instead of now using iTunes for iPhone/iPod, you use Kies for Samsung.
You can sync all your music/photos/vids/apps and what not
Easy? It's also the official software for it too so yeah
Ahh DoubleTwist AirSync looks the most promising so far. Pretty much same as itunes. Easy to use and just drag&drop, me like
I wish it had Address Bok, Calenday, Bookmarks syncing as well like iTunes but you cant have it all
By the way one thing i'm a but scared of and cant seem to find a consistent answer to is the application and their saved data. On my iPhone when i sync all application and their settings+saved data (game saves and such) are backed up. So when i do upgrades or jailbreak i can always copy back all i had.
How does this work on Android phone (SGII)?
Lets say i have a few games and have many saved data and want to try a new Android build? how exactly do you backup your data and then put it back? Has anyone done something like this?
Sorry for my noobish questions but after 3 years of having had iPhone it feels strange to not know how anything works. Your support makes the jump much easier
if you are installing new roms get Titanium Backup Pro. lets you store all game and app data on your memory card.
also for calendar and contact sync I've been happy with Google doing that and storing it in the cloud.
artesea said:
if you are installing new roms get Titanium Backup Pro. lets you store all game and app data on your memory card.
also for calendar and contact sync I've been happy with Google doing that and storing it in the cloud.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great tips, will download it once i get the SGII. Thanks.
By the way i just might get mine Tuesday next week, the store is getting in 2 of them and i'm in queue so here's hoping. I been to the store 5 times and played with it. Tested my Bluetooth headset and played some music and it worked perfectly fine.
@Rooster19:If you going to help new people get rid of the attitude or just dont help. I love my iPhone but i'm open for trying new OS:es. Respect other peoples preferences and choices. If you dont like something dont buy it but stop judging people based on what they buy. i work in Telecom business myself and fall in love with iPhone directly from the release of the first device. After my 3GS it did felt a bit tiresome i couldn't access the memory, play movies directly (divx,xvid), change themes, play mp3 for ringtone and some other minor things that i saw obvious.
On Android side i tested many of them like Desire, X10 but they never felt smooth enough and the menus felt messy. SGII is the first device i actually think is mature enough for me to abandon my iPhone. I haven't got mine yet so maybe i go back to iPhone but from what i seen i think not. Time will tell.
Android has some flaws too but thats just the nature of products, everything has its pro and con. Anyway please understand that people have their reason for liking or disliking things. Just because you dont like something it doesn't automatically make it the right thing for everyone.
Hi all, I love the XDA forum, have been browsing it for years, but this is the first time I thought I could add something and wanted to post!
This may not be perfect and I'm certain some of it is replicating, however
I thought maybe a post that covered everything in one place would help someone like me out there making their first foray into Android. And please no haters, I have taken a significant chunk out my night to share my travels with you.
I have spent the last three days trying to ratify my decision on replacing the iPhone with the SG2. The first night was filled with lot's of appreciative 'oohhs', as I explored everything from the beautiful screen to the plentiful configuration options which was exactly what I was hoping Android would be about.
I then spent the next few days (until now) trying to do things that would have just taken an hour or so to do on my iPhone. Namely syncing contacts, calendar, music, photos and videos. This post is aimed at Mac OS users who are taking one small step at a time to Android / Windows 7 .
Firstly, connectivity: two options. You can either go into Settings->Applications->Development->USB debugging which is used by some synch programs, or more useful Settings->Wireless and Networks->USB Utilities->USB mass storage. You'll need to unplug any cable already in, click on the above, and then plug in your cable. Then click on the button that says 'turn on USB storage'. You should then see the internal storage mounted as a drive on your Macs Finder where you can look through folders etc.
Note that if you have an SD card, this will also get mounted, but as a separate drive. I found it useful to use my Finder to rename both drives so I could always be sure which I was looking at.
Business stuff:
Email: Easy if you have a consumer service such as gmail, yahoo etc. For small business owners like myself, unless you run an Exchange server, first thing you should know is that only IMAP mail will give you 'push' to your phone. POP3 will work but requires manual synch and not the best use of your battery. I use Zen Internet to host my domains in the UK, and they list their IMAP settings which you'll need. Works great, even SSL for secure email. And full push email, for iPhone users, this is the direct replacement for using MobileMe for your work email.
This was the first and consequently easiest thing I did after purchasing that lead me into a somewhat false sense of security at the purchase
Calendar: You'll need to share your iCal with Google. Easy enough, just do a search on Googles help for CalDev and iCal, I can't post the link as a new user
Contacts: If you have a newer Mac OS, you can go straight into Address Book and under preferences, share the book with your Google account. This will also transfer photos for your contacts if you use them which is nice. Note, you need to press the 'Sync now' option in the top right on your Mac screen where the two arrows in a circle are for the sync to happen. If you don't have this icon or it is greyed out, set up iSync in your System Preferences under the Apple logo top left.
If like me, this function didn't work great (seems that ppl have better results importing from Google rather than exporting to Google with this method) you can either download vCards from your existing contact system and import them into your device (after connecting), or import them into Google via a browser connection. They will then sync with you SG2. Note you will NOT get photos from vCards, they are just text. However, the SG2 has a nice facility for adding photos from your photo collection once that is synced.. see below.
Personal Stuff:
Quick preamble, there are LOADS of different syncing softwares out there, most tend to do one thing OK, but no replacement for iTunes and iPhone users will be dissapointed. I downloaded countless types. Doubletwist (DT) as recommended by many on this forum was the way to go for me, although of significant note was the iTunemywalkman app which you have got to love for its simple and effective coding, especially the fast on the fly re-encoding of your music if it is DRM (EDIT: not DRM! see below!) or lossless, or you just want mp3 rather than AAC. You can even set the bit rate, top notch bit of software. It is however focused on music.
However, with a little usage help, DoubleTwist does photos, video and music.
Photos: thought you might like to hear how I deal with this. For those who haven't used DT, it is a one-way sync only of photos e.g. it will put all your iPhoto pics onto your SG2, but won't take photos from it.. - don't worry easy to work around.
On my GS2 I have the 16GB internal and 16GB SD card. I use DT to do my photo sync to get the library onto SGS, then once I have mounted the phone storage and can see it in Finder (as per above), I open iPhoto and import the photos I've taken into my library straight in iPhoto just like any other regular import such as from an email or downloaded jpg. File->Import to Library. Then navigate to your internal storage, and go into the DCIM folder to find your photos.
I then delete all photos from my internal storage on GS2 through Finder. As the DT software will download my library onto my external SD card, I still have all my photos to look at on the phone, but it keeps it on separate storage areas and easy to manage. For me it feels similar to when I would 'delete camera roll' after syncing my iPhone and it is really not a hassle.
Videos you just do the same thing.
Music: Ahhh, music...the biggest pain in the butt. Easy to drag and drop music files and playlists onto your SG2, but for me and many other would result in Unknown Artist, multiple entries for collection CDs and almost worst was complete lack of playlist, despite it being in the storage!!
This is where itunemywalkman comes into its own BTW, as you can send music through grouped by Album, Artist or Playlist (where in the SG2, playlists were listed as albums, partly solved it).
Anywhooo, to ensure you get the best results, I first recommend you go into Settings->Applications->Manage Applications->All and then go to Media Storage. Select 'clear data', this will not delete any existing music (although I recommend you do, except for music purchased on the phone which I would then import into iTunes and then delete from phone). This just deletes the index, which can cause problems in getting the rest to work if you don't.
Then you go into your DT software, and sync your music. Make sure you sync to the right Samsung device listed, again one will be your internal storage and one your external.
It will also re-encode some music for you, but not DRM which you can sort out with paid for apps, or I think burn a CD and then rip mp3. Other threads will explain... pain in the arse considering you 'own' the music. One of the reasons I moved from Apple... Another issue to resolve is the multiple entries per album, this is to do with your iTunes setting, go into all the tracks listed on the album and tick the 'part of a compilation' box and if necessary paste the album name into each track. This will ensure the SG2 will see it as one album despite lots of different artists.
Once you have all the music on the SG2, unmount the storage from Finder by pressing the eject button, and the you can do the same on the phone. It will take a little while for the Media Storage scan to do its thing as it is rebuilding its index.
Then go into the Market, and download a free app called 'MediaFix'. The guy who developed this should be given a Google Knighthood for doing what they seemingly couldn't. It will repair all the missing meta data, such as artist name and album etc... Most importantly for me though, the playlists require the correct meta data and after running this app (it took about 20 seconds to do my whole 8GB catalogue), suddenly all my playlists showed up! Hurrah!!!
One last thing, download from Market 'Cover Art Downloader' to get all your album art back, or at least a fair bit of it. DT has their own version for £2.99 which you'll need if you have lots of covers like me... Cover Art Downloader seems to crash after about 430 new albums discovered!
I should note I use the DT player on my phone too, for some reason the Samsung player still doesn't see my playlists although it does have the track meta-data now.
All with correct info, and the most crucial thing my SG2 needed to do well for me...
DT will keep this sync'd for you, just quickly wipe your Media Storage file before sync and then run MediaFix after. A little painful, but I have noticed in my case anyway that if you don't do this every time your playlists can get a little messed up again missing artist info (even though the songs and albums still have it...)
With this for photos, DT for audio and Google sync for iCal / Address Book I have now got an iPhone replacement. MediaFix from market is essential to get it working properly though (or convert everything into MP3 before syncing, like you need to do for DRM)... this is because music loses meta data with the Android media index, this will also resolve playlists not showing up, which rely on the meta data.
Hope this helps someone.. I have spent days trying to get my (amazing!!) SG2 working. Quite a contrast to when I updated my 2G iPhone to 3G and after a 20 minute synch was basically left with the same phone as before with more memory and slightly faster. A little underwhelming an experience for a new phone (but I can hardly moan at Apple for getting sync so right), the SG2 has been far more exciting and a steep learning curve. . talk about them being at opposite ends of the spectrum.
The SG2 is better hardware, but it takes more effort to get running the synch as well, but nothing good in life comes easy.... I'm quite technical and didn't lose faith, but I have been left far from satisfied with the experience which is such as shame as the hardware is so great. Google will NEVER challenge the iPhone until they sort this. I have to admit, if the iPhone 5 came out looking as amazing as the SG2, I would probably somewhat reluctantly strip off my shame and get back into bed with it - purely because of syncing..
It's hard to believe that the hardware is just so far ahead of the needed unified desktop software written by Google for Android with all Android hardware providers submitting an API into their 'bloatware' (I actually quite like the Samsung TouchWiz).
Sorry for the long post, please let me know if this has helped, it will make the lost 2.5hrs of my Saturday night seem worthwhile..
Peter
MediaMonkey
Hi!
First of all thank you for the post
I just wanted to say that mediamonkey (at least the 4.0.0.1393 build that I'm using on a x64 windows 7 vaio) synchronises your music and playlists to the phone or to the SD card with almost no setup required and I had no problems with the id3 tags or album art until know. I use the stock music player and tunewiki on the phone. I have never tried but it also has options to automatically convert incompatible files, including video...
The only hassle I had was with the genius mixes and I solved it by creating proper playlists using itunes DJ by choosing the genius mixes as sources and importing them to mediamonkey.
By the way I have an unbranded SGS2 with the KE2 stock rom
This seems like a lot of trouble. Do you find it annoying and tedious? I use a MacBook Pro, and am trying to decide between getting the Galaxy S2 this summer and waiting for an iPhone 5. I'm just concerned with how much trouble it will cause me to do simple things (lack of compatibility?) using an android phone with a mac.
Maybe it would be easier if I just ran Windows 7 (already have a license) on bootcamp or say, parallels, when I want to deal with Galaxy S2 things?
All that stuff works fine, but I am all apple and I found two Mac programs to take care of everything I needed.
I used BusyCal for iCal syncing, it works with the new Mobile Me Cloud, so no problem there.
Second I'm using The Missing Sync, this program sync's iTunes music and movies, as well as iPhoto to and from the GS2.
Both these programs cost money but a small price to pay to have them work as well as they do.
Why not use Kies for Mac?
nice posting thompps!
it will for sure help ppl when switching from ios to android.
but is'nt it obvious that syncing between devices of the same manufacturer is more simple then between varous systems?
apple will allways put hurdles in the way when it comes to syncing with other devices, thats the way they keep their customers dependent... (i must confess its not only apples procedure, but they are master in this discipline)
anyway thumbs up for your effort and wish ya fun with your phone!
Yes thanks good post even though Apple is not a product i have ever used .
Should be a sticky for ex IPhone users .
jje
sadly DT on my mac doesn't read my iPhoto library. Missing Sync and FoneSync doesn't see external SD... how can I fix this?
i must say, although i don't have a mac or an iphone, i thank you for your post, i really appreciate when junior members decide to give something back to the community and your guide is well thought out and structured. good work.
thompps said:
Hi all, I love the XDA forum, have been browsing it for years, but this is the first time I thought I could add something and wanted to post!
This may not be perfect and I'm certain some of it is replicating, however
I thought maybe a post that covered everything in one place would help someone like me out there making their first foray into Android. And please no haters, I have taken a significant chunk out my night to share my travels with you.
I have spent the last three days trying to ratify my decision on replacing the iPhone with the SG2. The first night was filled with lot's of appreciative 'oohhs', as I explored everything from the beautiful screen to the plentiful configuration options which was exactly what I was hoping Android would be about.
I then spent the next few days (until now) trying to do things that would have just taken an hour or so to do on my iPhone. Namely syncing contacts, calendar, music, photos and videos. This post is aimed at Mac OS users who are taking one small step at a time to Android / Windows 7 .
Firstly, connectivity: two options. You can either go into Settings->Applications->Development->USB debugging which is used by some synch programs, or more useful Settings->Wireless and Networks->USB Utilities->USB mass storage. You'll need to unplug any cable already in, click on the above, and then plug in your cable. Then click on the button that says 'turn on USB storage'. You should then see the internal storage mounted as a drive on your Macs Finder where you can look through folders etc.
Note that if you have an SD card, this will also get mounted, but as a separate drive. I found it useful to use my Finder to rename both drives so I could always be sure which I was looking at.
Business stuff:
Email: Easy if you have a consumer service such as gmail, yahoo etc. For small business owners like myself, unless you run an Exchange server, first thing you should know is that only IMAP mail will give you 'push' to your phone. POP3 will work but requires manual synch and not the best use of your battery. I use Zen Internet to host my domains in the UK, and they list their IMAP settings which you'll need. Works great, even SSL for secure email. And full push email, for iPhone users, this is the direct replacement for using MobileMe for your work email.
This was the first and consequently easiest thing I did after purchasing that lead me into a somewhat false sense of security at the purchase
Calendar: You'll need to share your iCal with Google. Easy enough, just do a search on Googles help for CalDev and iCal, I can't post the link as a new user
Contacts: If you have a newer Mac OS, you can go straight into Address Book and under preferences, share the book with your Google account. This will also transfer photos for your contacts if you use them which is nice. Note, you need to press the 'Sync now' option in the top right on your Mac screen where the two arrows in a circle are for the sync to happen. If you don't have this icon or it is greyed out, set up iSync in your System Preferences under the Apple logo top left.
If like me, this function didn't work great (seems that ppl have better results importing from Google rather than exporting to Google with this method) you can either download vCards from your existing contact system and import them into your device (after connecting), or import them into Google via a browser connection. They will then sync with you SG2. Note you will NOT get photos from vCards, they are just text. However, the SG2 has a nice facility for adding photos from your photo collection once that is synced.. see below.
Personal Stuff:
Quick preamble, there are LOADS of different syncing softwares out there, most tend to do one thing OK, but no replacement for iTunes and iPhone users will be dissapointed. I downloaded countless types. Doubletwist (DT) as recommended by many on this forum was the way to go for me, although of significant note was the iTunemywalkman app which you have got to love for its simple and effective coding, especially the fast on the fly re-encoding of your music if it is DRM (EDIT: not DRM! see below!) or lossless, or you just want mp3 rather than AAC. You can even set the bit rate, top notch bit of software. It is however focused on music.
However, with a little usage help, DoubleTwist does photos, video and music.
Photos: thought you might like to hear how I deal with this. For those who haven't used DT, it is a one-way sync only of photos e.g. it will put all your iPhoto pics onto your SG2, but won't take photos from it.. - don't worry easy to work around.
On my GS2 I have the 16GB internal and 16GB SD card. I use DT to do my photo sync to get the library onto SGS, then once I have mounted the phone storage and can see it in Finder (as per above), I open iPhoto and import the photos I've taken into my library straight in iPhoto just like any other regular import such as from an email or downloaded jpg. File->Import to Library. Then navigate to your internal storage, and go into the DCIM folder to find your photos.
I then delete all photos from my internal storage on GS2 through Finder. As the DT software will download my library onto my external SD card, I still have all my photos to look at on the phone, but it keeps it on separate storage areas and easy to manage. For me it feels similar to when I would 'delete camera roll' after syncing my iPhone and it is really not a hassle.
Videos you just do the same thing.
Music: Ahhh, music...the biggest pain in the butt. Easy to drag and drop music files and playlists onto your SG2, but for me and many other would result in Unknown Artist, multiple entries for collection CDs and almost worst was complete lack of playlist, despite it being in the storage!!
This is where itunemywalkman comes into its own BTW, as you can send music through grouped by Album, Artist or Playlist (where in the SG2, playlists were listed as albums, partly solved it).
Anywhooo, to ensure you get the best results, I first recommend you go into Settings->Applications->Manage Applications->All and then go to Media Storage. Select 'clear data', this will not delete any existing music (although I recommend you do, except for music purchased on the phone which I would then import into iTunes and then delete from phone). This just deletes the index, which can cause problems in getting the rest to work if you don't.
Then you go into your DT software, and sync your music. Make sure you sync to the right Samsung device listed, again one will be your internal storage and one your external.
It will also re-encode some music for you, but not DRM which you can sort out with paid for apps, or I think burn a CD and then rip mp3. Other threads will explain... pain in the arse considering you 'own' the music. One of the reasons I moved from Apple... Another issue to resolve is the multiple entries per album, this is to do with your iTunes setting, go into all the tracks listed on the album and tick the 'part of a compilation' box and if necessary paste the album name into each track. This will ensure the SG2 will see it as one album despite lots of different artists.
Once you have all the music on the SG2, unmount the storage from Finder by pressing the eject button, and the you can do the same on the phone. It will take a little while for the Media Storage scan to do its thing as it is rebuilding its index.
Then go into the Market, and download a free app called 'MediaFix'. The guy who developed this should be given a Google Knighthood for doing what they seemingly couldn't. It will repair all the missing meta data, such as artist name and album etc... Most importantly for me though, the playlists require the correct meta data and after running this app (it took about 20 seconds to do my whole 8GB catalogue), suddenly all my playlists showed up! Hurrah!!!
One last thing, download from Market 'Cover Art Downloader' to get all your album art back, or at least a fair bit of it. DT has their own version for £2.99 which you'll need if you have lots of covers like me... Cover Art Downloader seems to crash after about 430 new albums discovered!
I should note I use the DT player on my phone too, for some reason the Samsung player still doesn't see my playlists although it does have the track meta-data now.
All with correct info, and the most crucial thing my SG2 needed to do well for me...
DT will keep this sync'd for you, just quickly wipe your Media Storage file before sync and then run MediaFix after. A little painful, but I have noticed in my case anyway that if you don't do this every time your playlists can get a little messed up again missing artist info (even though the songs and albums still have it...)
With this for photos, DT for audio and Google sync for iCal / Address Book I have now got an iPhone replacement. MediaFix from market is essential to get it working properly though (or convert everything into MP3 before syncing, like you need to do for DRM)... this is because music loses meta data with the Android media index, this will also resolve playlists not showing up, which rely on the meta data.
Hope this helps someone.. I have spent days trying to get my (amazing!!) SG2 working. Quite a contrast to when I updated my 2G iPhone to 3G and after a 20 minute synch was basically left with the same phone as before with more memory and slightly faster. A little underwhelming an experience for a new phone (but I can hardly moan at Apple for getting sync so right), the SG2 has been far more exciting and a steep learning curve. . talk about them being at opposite ends of the spectrum.
The SG2 is better hardware, but it takes more effort to get running the synch as well, but nothing good in life comes easy.... I'm quite technical and didn't lose faith, but I have been left far from satisfied with the experience which is such as shame as the hardware is so great. Google will NEVER challenge the iPhone until they sort this. I have to admit, if the iPhone 5 came out looking as amazing as the SG2, I would probably somewhat reluctantly strip off my shame and get back into bed with it - purely because of syncing..
It's hard to believe that the hardware is just so far ahead of the needed unified desktop software written by Google for Android with all Android hardware providers submitting an API into their 'bloatware' (I actually quite like the Samsung TouchWiz).
Sorry for the long post, please let me know if this has helped, it will make the lost 2.5hrs of my Saturday night seem worthwhile..
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi, thanks for the post peter. i have registered on xda today, just so that i could reply to the post. so your saturday night 2.5hrs sacrifice is appreciated!
in south africa contract upgrades are only 24 monthly. i was actually the biggest symbian fan and was very reluctant to move to the iphone 3GS. i was sold. but then i found all the nice apps were paid (something which i am against) and it was either jailbreak the iphone 4 or sg2. obviously if i am posting here, i have gone for the sg2.
i have not fully used the syncing properties on the iphone...and was mislead when the usual "connecting to itunes" states "step 2 of 3 backing up" - i upgraded my software after the pdf loophole was discovered - started with blank apps, lost all my photos etc. the contacts somehow remained.
so here is my question. i dont have an imac, i ahve an ordinary dell laptop. i also use my mobile device (either with cable or bluetooth) as a modem to connect to the internet. (this was one of the features that sold me on iphone - swith internet tethering "on" and you surfing in seconds).
having said that: i mainly need all my contacts to be synced.
the rest i can sacrifice, but pics, texts etc will be nice.
so now that you using the sg2, how is the touch screen sensitivity? messages also in chat form? i didnt understand the part of the blog if it allows for push email notifications? i use gmail.
thanks for post once again and thanks for helping me out on my journey to android...
regards
rava
Thanks for the Herculean effort! Have just made the move myself (Samsung Note) and, being less techie, remain daunted. Any experience with Mark Space syncing tools?
I was a long time Windows Mobile user. Having started on a PDA (Dell Axim) and then moving on to a Cingular HTC model and finally an HTC Fuse. I was pretty excited about Windows Phone 7 but when the wait became too long, I finally went to Android. At the time, I was a little miffed about no Outlook Syncing and VPN on Windows Phone 7 (which I could do via Google's services and CompanionLink) so I've gone through two upgrades of my Android Phones, all Samsung’s (Currently with Skyrocket.) I also own the pretty awesome ASUS Transformer Prime tablet. My work phone is the lackluster (but only Verizon option) Windows Phone 7 HTC Trophy. So, I do get a Windows 7 fix but find that I rarely use it. But, I've always pulled for Windows Phone to succeed.
I enjoy Android to an extend but my life revolved around Windows (work and home) and I often find that I can't do much productive work on the Android platform. I love to consume media (Flipboard and Google Reader mainly) but even with my keyboard dock, I just can't feel productive.
That all looks to change for me with SURFACE, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. I love the one ecosystem that is finally coming to shape (I am also an XBOX owner) and the Pro line of the SURFACE tablets look to be what I am looking for. Windows Phone 8 looks to make some impressive improvements and the wait for both Surface and Windows Phone 8 devices seems to be pretty hard.
Can't wait!
I am in complete agreement about the Microsoft ecosystem coming together.
I had several WinMo 5.x and 6.x phones ending with the slow to age HD2.
I went to Android by choice and find HTC's Android Sense works in the business world very well. However, iPads and Android tablets are truly consumption devices and painful for much else.
Apple and Android are being attacked on a front they didn't see coming. Microsoft dominates livingrooms with Xbox. They also dominate in computer OS. However, people demand portability and simplicity.
Microsoft Surface easily replaces, laptop, tablet and e-reader....in a GUI that they have begun to learn with Xbox and possibly Windows Phone 7.
How fantastic to have one Metro GUI for every aspect of your life....coupled with high quality, cutting edge hardware.
FINALLY MICROSOFT!!
Sent from my HTC Vivid using TapaTalk
And I will echo you again. The ecosystem is what is what is drawing me. I've had good times with Android but I don't want to be a hybrid when it comes to my gadgets. The wait for WP8 and Surface is going to be hard.
Until then, I'll continue to enjoy my Droid tablet and phone and play a lot of WOPR:Wargames!
I'm really excited about this too.
I've always thought the windows kernel is just top notch in a lot of ways. It's great to see Microsoft finally push this stuff into the phone. The convergence of the desktop and phone ecosystems can only mean good things for us devs and the end-user.
Good software is the key of mobile market,Microsoft showed us with Wp7 most important thing was not hardware.Wp7 was faster and stabler than android even with poor hardware.And now Wp8 coming harder.I am very exciting for native game development on wp8.I think wp8 phones will be best platform for gaming..
And metro ui is original and useful..
Do Windows Phones sync well with Google Services? (Calendar, contacts, etc.) That is really my favorite function of my Android phone is the syncing of Google Services.
garak0410 said:
Do Windows Phones sync well with Google Services? (Calendar, contacts, etc.) That is really my favorite function of my Android phone is the syncing of Google Services.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are going to buy into the Microsoft ecosystem, I would ditch Google Services. Instead, try Microsoft's equivalent, Hotmail. You set it up as an Exchange server. All calendar, email and contacts sync.
Is there any reason you are attached to Google stuff?
Sent from my HTC Vivid using TapaTalk
willgill said:
If you are going to buy into the Microsoft ecosystem, I would ditch Google Services. Instead, try Microsoft's equivalent, Hotmail. You set it up as an Exchange server. All calendar, email and contacts sync.
Is there any reason you are attached to Google stuff?
Sent from my HTC Vivid using TapaTalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not so much attached but liking it. Google Reader and YouTube are my favorite mobile apps and I hope someone will finally make good versions of them for Windows Phone. I do like syncing with Outlook via CompanionLink and I think they have a sync for Windows Phone/Live too...
Use SuperTube for your YouTube-worries. It gets the job done nicely (also allows downloading of Videos btw.). MetroTube looked a little nicer but it's gone due to pressure from Google to remove it.
As for Sync: Google somewhat supports the Exchange Active Sync Protocol so you can sync your Contacts, E-Mail and Appointments from your GMail Account. Due to the fact that the protocol was developed for Microsoft's Exchange Server it does not support Features in GMail that don't exist on other platforms - you would have to check to see if you're using some of those.
Also sometimes Google has been slow to allow certain features they allow for other platforms (for whatever reason). E.g. WP7 learned in Version 7.5 to sync multiple calendars/account. It took several months before that worked with GMail - problem being that Google's servers didn't offer the other calendars.
Apps accessing Google Reader should be available in the Marketplace.
I'm not using Google services aside from YouTube so I can't be more specific. Hope it helps anyway.
garak0410 said:
Not so much attached but liking it. Google Reader and YouTube are my favorite mobile apps and I hope someone will finally make good versions of them for Windows Phone. I do like syncing with Outlook via CompanionLink and I think they have a sync for Windows Phone/Live too...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, and forgot to mention Google Music...I did download the Google Music App for my HTC Trophy but it has a ways to go.
If the XBOX Music player will allow for playlists for streaming music and allow those playlists to sync between the phone, Surface, PC and XBOX, then I won't need Google Music! Or even Spotify!
garak0410 said:
Do Windows Phones sync well with Google Services? (Calendar, contacts, etc.) That is really my favorite function of my Android phone is the syncing of Google Services.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes my phone syncs with google contacts, google calendar and gmail including saving contacts to google.
For Youtube I use Youtube Pro.
For gmail I use IM+
I don't use google reader so not sure about that one.
v_garg said:
Yes my phone syncs with google contacts, google calendar and gmail including saving contacts to google.
For Youtube I use Youtube Pro.
For gmail I use IM+
I don't use google reader so not sure about that one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am convinced I can move my syncing over to live without a problem. I can still do YouTube and Google Reader through those third party apps. I am digging Flipboard for my Google Reader stuff, so here's hoping it will come to the Metro Ecosystem.
garak0410 said:
Oh, and forgot to mention Google Music...I did download the Google Music App for my HTC Trophy but it has a ways to go.
If the XBOX Music player will allow for playlists for streaming music and allow those playlists to sync between the phone, Surface, PC and XBOX, then I won't need Google Music! Or even Spotify!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's 3 Google Music apps that I can see in the market.
Gooroovster (free while in beta)
Cloud City Music (free)
CloudMuzik ($1)
I used Gooroovster and it's great. Looks and acts like the stock WP7.5 music player.
I'd be surprised if MS didn't make their own cloud music service for Windows Phone 8.
Sent from my SGH-I777
I was unbelievably sceptical about Microsoft gaining any real traction with the new WP, but it does look like it's going to come into its own within the next year so. I personally was put off before because of a lack of high-resolution displays (which the OS didn't even support AFAIK) so will be on Android for the next year or so, but I'm hoping next time around I can seriously consider Windows Phone 8 or its successor.
StevieBallz said:
Use SuperTube for your YouTube-worries. It gets the job done nicely (also allows downloading of Videos btw.). MetroTube looked a little nicer but it's gone due to pressure from Google to remove it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Slightly off topic, but I find PrimeTube to be a worthy successor to MetroTube
garak0410 said:
Do Windows Phones sync well with Google Services? (Calendar, contacts, etc.) That is really my favorite function of my Android phone is the syncing of Google Services.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Live account is actually my Gmail address, so I have them both synched up to my phone (contacts, calendars and emails). The aforementioned PrimeTube has my Youtube subscriptions covered. I'm not sure what else you could want, besides Google+, but with the Facebook and Twitter functionality on WP being the way it is... I kind of forget about my Google+ account.
Edit: I find Windows Phone is a slow burn. At first everyone I knew sort of shunned it and was all "Why would you even want a Windows Phone?" but as time wore on I've won over a few converts, and I'm seeing more and more people dissatisfied with their current smart phones... and it's not over stuff that can be fixed without major overhauls (like just the way things work, UI and so on).
A friend of mine got an Omnia 7 cheap unlocked after owning an iPhone and an Xperia of some sort. She was never happy with a smart phone until she got onboard with WP. My mum too. Smart phones were always too complicated for her, but now she's finally joined the computer age. My sister has had an Omnia 7 for a while as well after being intensely frustrated with her old iPhone, and she's convinced her partner to get one (it was pretty easy after he realised Office was on there. If I knew that was all it took to convince him I would have said sooner lol).
Anyway I guess my point is, Windows Phone is getting there. Slowly, but surely. Windows Phone 8 is definitely the dramatic step forward the platform needs. I'm pretty happy to have been on board from the get go, and I'm excited to see where things lead
Demaar said:
Slightly off topic, but I find PrimeTube to be a worthy successor to MetroTube
My Live account is actually my Gmail address, so I have them both synched up to my phone (contacts, calendars and emails). The aforementioned PrimeTube has my Youtube subscriptions covered. I'm not sure what else you could want, besides Google+, but with the Facebook and Twitter functionality on WP being the way it is... I kind of forget about my Google+ account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank's for all of the app tips. I am not a "Google" fanboy but when I finally let them take me to the cloud with my contacts, email, RSS feeds and podcasts, I kind of liked it. All of their apps are a joy to use (Google Reader, YouTube, Maps, Listen.)
But I am ready to transition to Surface/Windows Phone 8. If it wasn't a bad "buy", I'd pick up an old TITAN until the WP8's come out so I can begin my transition to Microsoft services. My work issued Verizon HTC Trophy just doesn't cut it yet...
StevieBallz said:
Use SuperTube for your YouTube-worries. It gets the job done nicely (also allows downloading of Videos btw.). MetroTube looked a little nicer but it's gone due to pressure from Google to remove it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Slightly off-topic, but in case you guys didn't know, MetroTube is back in the Marketplace
It's by far the smoothest and most functional WP7 app that I've used.
Also, with your original post about being 'into' the Google ecosystem--I was like that when I used Android, and then I gradually switched over a lot of my services to the Live equivalents (hotmail, calendar, etc). I found that the first party app integrations were much more reliable than the third party clients.
garak0410 said:
And I will echo you again. The ecosystem is what is what is drawing me. I've had good times with Android but I don't want to be a hybrid when it comes to my gadgets. The wait for WP8 and Surface is going to be hard.
Until then, I'll continue to enjoy my Droid tablet and phone and play a lot of WOPR:Wargames!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in the same boat.
Cant agree with all of you more. Been using WP& on my HD2 since the early days of its release. I cant/wont use anything else now. All my RSS/email/Office on tap! Even able to connect the phone to my classroom projector for my Powerpoints! My phone is slowing dying however and can not find anything i like to replace my HD2WP7(64GB). I may have to wait until WP8 or unless i can find a 2nd hand HD2!
Last month i bought a Samsung series 7 Slate with Win8 and love it. I use it for work, i use it along with my phone (connection to the phones 3G WiFi) and regulary annoy my iPad/android mates by playing Civ5 and other games on my slate.
Ive always believed that if Microsoft pulled their finger out, they could easily group all their systems together (PC/Phones/Consoles/Online services) and win the market. Its starting to ring true as just this month, 4 friends got rid of their iPhones for WP7 after their phones broke/crashed/stopped working.
People need to stop being fooled by fake advertising and apple design and move away from the dark side to app intergration and one platform!
Anyway, my rant over! Keep it up Microsoft!
I was sold on the Windows phone concept in the days of the Zune HD, which was leaps and bounds ahead of its time (well, ahead by a few years at least) in terms of fluidity and interface. I really love the direction that Microsoft has taken with the next generation of its OS, and I was very happy to see Surface premiered.
The only problem I had when I was using the ZHD was the very limited market for apps it provided, but that seems to be a thing of the past.
Hello people,
I've had my Galaxy Note 2 now for about a month, and initially I was euphoric. The size didn't bother me at all, in fact I used to love my ipad and kind of wished that was a phone and that I didn't have to carry my blackberry too! The Note is small enough to be fine in pockets etc..., but big enough to read the newspaper in pubs! I think it's the perfect size. Although I realised it would take a while getting used to a new operating system, I was convinced this was the best phone in the world for the first week...and laughed in the face of iphone users - but things have started to change.
First of all, I come from a blackberry. Having experienced an ipad, I was sick of the lack of apps on blackberry - my phone was text, phone, email....I wanted a truly smart phone in the same vein, and sensed Apple and Android was the way to go. Sat nav, internet, everything...and a big big screen please! Perfect. Having had an ipad, I knew the typing would be difficult (I was light speed on a blackberry) but I wanted apps, so it was a toss up between Galaxy and Apple, both of which were touch screens. So I bit the bullet on losing the blackberry keyboard. Let me tell you, after a month with the galaxy, my typing on the touch screen has not got any more accurate or fast...it is a living hell. I have tried all sorts of keyboard apps to make it easier, but it is just rubbish. Which takes me on to email.....apart from typing being a nightmare, THERE IS NO SPELL CHECK. Excuse capitals, but the keyboard try's to predict what you're trying to type but if your're typing at speed without looking, you want to get the red line saying "are you sure you have spelt words right"....well it doesn't exist! The lack of a spell check is a major major flaw....do you want to send a work email out having spelt separate wrong? Or definitely? No! So let me tell you, typing on the touch screen is a nightmare....and the lack of spell check is unforgivable.... I have downloaded an app called Airdroid, that basically allow me to type and SMS on my laptop keyboard through my phone (which also spell checks on my laptop). This app is abit of a life saver - get it if you get this phone.
* Addition to above....the file tranfer doesn't work using Android file tranfer and Kies is rubbish(lots of forum complaints) ...Airdroid is also the only app that allows you to transfer files with your phone!
Which brings me onto another point, maybe bigger than the first. If you're used to touch screen typing coming from Apple, then everything above means nothing to you. But you will appreciate having a swapable external SD Card on the Galaxy. This phone has a internal 16GB storage and I've added 64GB external storage too. Wow! This was one of the main reasons for choosing Samsung over Apple....but guess what? You cant use itunes of course....so I uploaded all my music to Google Play, the online cloud music service from Google - naturally I thought the Google service would work perfectly with Android. So imagine my shock when I could only download a few GB of music to my phone (offline content - the whole thing will stream on wifi)?! Obviously the music was saving to the internal memory, not external....no problem I thought, it's just a setting away to save to the external card right?! NO!.....I need a breather paragraph...
So...I did a google search. It seems that Google music player doesn't have an option to save to an external card?! Basically this renders the reason to have a big external card (lots of music) pretty useless. Phones these days are a replacement ipod! I promise I'm not lying...also the threads on external forum boards go on for miles and miles (months!)...Google isn't doing anything about it! There is a fix, but you have to have a degree in computing - the fix involved "rooting" the phone (this is like a jailbreak for iphone users)...and mapping or binding drives to the external card!)...I've fixed it but it took my all day.
Don't Google employees have these phones with Google music player on them?! It makes no sense.
Now this reminds me of a story of my old Dell. I bought a cheaper higher spec computer than a Mac, thinking it was better value...but I literally had to have a degree in computing , it was always going wrong. When I bought my Mac Air...everything "just worked". And here I am, "rooting" a my Galaxy Note....and spending a day messing around with the phone in order to just save my music to an external SD Card?! Google is the new Microsoft...
Yes, the phone is big, beautiful, and the specs are great, its cheap and you can out a great big Sd card in it....but if you value your sanity, pay a little bit more and stick with the tried and tested iphone for a touch screen, or get a decent keyboard phone. If Apple brought out this phone, at this size ...(an iphone Max if you will), then I think it would be the perfect phone. This is the right size and the way to go in my opinion. Unfortunately the Android world reminds me of Microsoft of old...all good on the outside, but a trip here and a crash there...and really, its a complete pain...
Great idea, but the operating system lets it down badly. No spell check, no save music in google music player to external sd card, difficult typing = not good enough. Google maps is brilliant by the way, and use it to navigate in car instead of tom tom now...you dont get that on Apple...
If Google brought out an update for the music player (save to external) and a spell check, I would be alot happier - 4 stars, but the forums have been waiting years for these updates....best of luck! Nothing can be done about the keyboard, and this is one of the bigger ones! If i could go back I would get the iphone 5, stick with Blackberry, or get a "vertical" keyboard Android phone (motorola maybe)...this is from the man who initially loved this phone...
Wish I could write a better review for this phone, there are many good qualities, but if Google can get these big things wrong...what's round the corner?
hulkyhulk said:
Hello people,
I've had my Galaxy Note 2 now for about a month, and initially I was euphoric. The size didn't bother me at all, in fact I used to love my ipad and kind of wished that was a phone and that I didn't have to carry my blackberry too! The Note is small enough to be fine in pockets etc..., but big enough to read the newspaper in pubs! I think it's the perfect size. Although I realised it would take a while getting used to a new operating system, I was convinced this was the best phone in the world for the first week...and laughed in the face of iphone users - but things have started to change.
First of all, I come from a blackberry. Having experienced an ipad, I was sick of the lack of apps on blackberry - my phone was text, phone, email....I wanted a truly smart phone in the same vein, and sensed Apple and Android was the way to go. Sat nav, internet, everything...and a big big screen please! Perfect. Having had an ipad, I knew the typing would be difficult (I was light speed on a blackberry) but I wanted apps, so it was a toss up between Galaxy and Apple, both of which were touch screens. So I bit the bullet on losing the blackberry keyboard. Let me tell you, after a month with the galaxy, my typing on the touch screen has not got any more accurate or fast...it is a living hell. I have tried all sorts of keyboard apps to make it easier, but it is just rubbish. Which takes me on to email.....apart from typing being a nightmare, THERE IS NO SPELL CHECK. Excuse capitals, but the keyboard try's to predict what you're trying to type but if your're typing at speed without looking, you want to get the red line saying "are you sure you have spelt words right"....well it doesn't exist! The lack of a spell check is a major major flaw....do you want to send a work email out having spelt separate wrong? Or definitely? No! So let me tell you, typing on the touch screen is a nightmare....and the lack of spell check is unforgivable.... I have downloaded an app called Airdroid, that basically allow me to type and SMS on my laptop keyboard through my phone (which also spell checks on my laptop). This app is abit of a life saver - get it if you get this phone.
* Addition to above....the file tranfer doesn't work using Android file tranfer and Kies is rubbish(lots of forum complaints) ...Airdroid is also the only app that allows you to transfer files with your phone!
Which brings me onto another point, maybe bigger than the first. If you're used to touch screen typing coming from Apple, then everything above means nothing to you. But you will appreciate having a swapable external SD Card on the Galaxy. This phone has a internal 16GB storage and I've added 64GB external storage too. Wow! This was one of the main reasons for choosing Samsung over Apple....but guess what? You cant use itunes of course....so I uploaded all my music to Google Play, the online cloud music service from Google - naturally I thought the Google service would work perfectly with Android. So imagine my shock when I could only download a few GB of music to my phone (offline content - the whole thing will stream on wifi)?! Obviously the music was saving to the internal memory, not external....no problem I thought, it's just a setting away to save to the external card right?! NO!.....I need a breather paragraph...
So...I did a google search. It seems that Google music player doesn't have an option to save to an external card?! Basically this renders the reason to have a big external card (lots of music) pretty useless. Phones these days are a replacement ipod! I promise I'm not lying...also the threads on external forum boards go on for miles and miles (months!)...Google isn't doing anything about it! There is a fix, but you have to have a degree in computing - the fix involved "rooting" the phone (this is like a jailbreak for iphone users)...and mapping or binding drives to the external card!)...I've fixed it but it took my all day.
Don't Google employees have these phones with Google music player on them?! It makes no sense.
Now this reminds me of a story of my old Dell. I bought a cheaper higher spec computer than a Mac, thinking it was better value...but I literally had to have a degree in computing , it was always going wrong. When I bought my Mac Air...everything "just worked". And here I am, "rooting" a my Galaxy Note....and spending a day messing around with the phone in order to just save my music to an external SD Card?! Google is the new Microsoft...
Yes, the phone is big, beautiful, and the specs are great, its cheap and you can out a great big Sd card in it....but if you value your sanity, pay a little bit more and stick with the tried and tested iphone for a touch screen, or get a decent keyboard phone. If Apple brought out this phone, at this size ...(an iphone Max if you will), then I think it would be the perfect phone. This is the right size and the way to go in my opinion. Unfortunately the Android world reminds me of Microsoft of old...all good on the outside, but a trip here and a crash there...and really, its a complete pain...
Great idea, but the operating system lets it down badly. No spell check, no save music in google music player to external sd card, difficult typing = not good enough. Google maps is brilliant by the way, and use it to navigate in car instead of tom tom now...you dont get that on Apple...
If Google brought out an update for the music player (save to external) and a spell check, I would be alot happier - 4 stars, but the forums have been waiting years for these updates....best of luck! Nothing can be done about the keyboard, and this is one of the bigger ones! If i could go back I would get the iphone 5, stick with Blackberry, or get a "vertical" keyboard Android phone (motorola maybe)...this is from the man who initially loved this phone...
Wish I could write a better review for this phone, there are many good qualities, but if Google can get these big things wrong...what's round the corner?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Itunes Agent for syncing music to your phone (you might have to take the SD card out and put it in a reader before connecting it to your pc as I think iTunes Agent will only 'see' a mass storage device). Es File Explorer can transfer files via WiFi. There are other options out there.
However, I agree, it's an awful device, but as I'm such a decent guy, I'll buy it off you for £200 if you like
Why couldn't you use the File Transfer? I use Android File Transfer just fine. What about Bluetooth?
And if you don't like the keyboard not having spell check, well this is Android, you can just install a keyboard that has it.
Dude cmon.... If you hook your phone up to the computer you can copy files to the sd card. I copied my itunes folder and google play magically added all of my mp3s.
Try Swiftkey.
Try iSyncr.
Android= smart phone= smart users
IPhone= dumb phone= dumb people
And the reviewe above is my proof.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
You're not going to get alot of sympathy from people here about the spell checker. Almost everyone on this forum came from a previous android device so naturally everyone is all used to touchscreen. And they're all pretty much pro at typing and using an appropriate keyboard for it. The keyboard will autocorrect everything so spell checker isn't even an issue, but rather grammar checker would be more needed here. But in the end, you will have to get used to this. Nothing will ever be a proper substitute to a hardware keyboard. Your blackberry was made to be a super productivity workhorse.
Also, keep in mind, the way you are wanting to use Google Music isn't the way Google actually intends you to use it. Google Music is meant to hold all of your music in the cloud so you will primarily stream it. You pin your most played songs on your phone. Not every single song.
It seems you may have issues with MTP? You mentioned you have a Macbook Air? I can't really comment on this, but the user above seems to be able to use the android file transfer app for macos just fine.
You're not going to win anyone over with your opinions about the note 2 and iphone 5. Nobody here is going to switch over. For god sakes man, this is a developer forum you're in, not a general mobile device buyer's forum.
Wtf?
Послато са GT-N7100 користећи Тапаток 2
Request to pls close this thread nothing beats SwiftKey period.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
What an unnecessarily stupid long post. Don't like the keyboard? Download SwiftKey or another of the tens of dozens keyboards in the market.
The fact that you think the keyboard is Google's fault, when it's in fact a Samsung keyboard, is kinda hilarious. You don't even know what you're saying.
Plug your phone into your computer and drag and drop your stupid music to the sd card. Problem solved. No need to use if you don't like it Google music.
Please, go back to iphone. It was engineered specifically for idiotic people.
hulkyhulk said:
Hello people,
I've had my Galaxy Note 2 now for about a month, and initially I was euphoric. The size didn't bother me at all, in fact I used to love my ipad and kind of wished that was a phone and that I didn't have to carry my blackberry too! The Note is small enough to be fine in pockets etc..., but big enough to read the newspaper in pubs! I think it's the perfect size. Although I realised it would take a while getting used to a new operating system, I was convinced this was the best phone in the world for the first week...and laughed in the face of iphone users - but things have started to change.
First of all, I come from a blackberry. Having experienced an ipad, I was sick of the lack of apps on blackberry - my phone was text, phone, email....I wanted a truly smart phone in the same vein, and sensed Apple and Android was the way to go. Sat nav, internet, everything...and a big big screen please! Perfect. Having had an ipad, I knew the typing would be difficult (I was light speed on a blackberry) but I wanted apps, so it was a toss up between Galaxy and Apple, both of which were touch screens. So I bit the bullet on losing the blackberry keyboard. Let me tell you, after a month with the galaxy, my typing on the touch screen has not got any more accurate or fast...it is a living hell. I have tried all sorts of keyboard apps to make it easier, but it is just rubbish. Which takes me on to email.....apart from typing being a nightmare, THERE IS NO SPELL CHECK. Excuse capitals, but the keyboard try's to predict what you're trying to type but if your're typing at speed without looking, you want to get the red line saying "are you sure you have spelt words right"....well it doesn't exist! The lack of a spell check is a major major flaw....do you want to send a work email out having spelt separate wrong? Or definitely? No! So let me tell you, typing on the touch screen is a nightmare....and the lack of spell check is unforgivable.... I have downloaded an app called Airdroid, that basically allow me to type and SMS on my laptop keyboard through my phone (which also spell checks on my laptop). This app is abit of a life saver - get it if you get this phone.
* Addition to above....the file tranfer doesn't work using Android file tranfer and Kies is rubbish(lots of forum complaints) ...Airdroid is also the only app that allows you to transfer files with your phone!
Which brings me onto another point, maybe bigger than the first. If you're used to touch screen typing coming from Apple, then everything above means nothing to you. But you will appreciate having a swapable external SD Card on the Galaxy. This phone has a internal 16GB storage and I've added 64GB external storage too. Wow! This was one of the main reasons for choosing Samsung over Apple....but guess what? You cant use itunes of course....so I uploaded all my music to Google Play, the online cloud music service from Google - naturally I thought the Google service would work perfectly with Android. So imagine my shock when I could only download a few GB of music to my phone (offline content - the whole thing will stream on wifi)?! Obviously the music was saving to the internal memory, not external....no problem I thought, it's just a setting away to save to the external card right?! NO!.....I need a breather paragraph...
So...I did a google search. It seems that Google music player doesn't have an option to save to an external card?! Basically this renders the reason to have a big external card (lots of music) pretty useless. Phones these days are a replacement ipod! I promise I'm not lying...also the threads on external forum boards go on for miles and miles (months!)...Google isn't doing anything about it! There is a fix, but you have to have a degree in computing - the fix involved "rooting" the phone (this is like a jailbreak for iphone users)...and mapping or binding drives to the external card!)...I've fixed it but it took my all day.
Don't Google employees have these phones with Google music player on them?! It makes no sense.
Now this reminds me of a story of my old Dell. I bought a cheaper higher spec computer than a Mac, thinking it was better value...but I literally had to have a degree in computing , it was always going wrong. When I bought my Mac Air...everything "just worked". And here I am, "rooting" a my Galaxy Note....and spending a day messing around with the phone in order to just save my music to an external SD Card?! Google is the new Microsoft...
Yes, the phone is big, beautiful, and the specs are great, its cheap and you can out a great big Sd card in it....but if you value your sanity, pay a little bit more and stick with the tried and tested iphone for a touch screen, or get a decent keyboard phone. If Apple brought out this phone, at this size ...(an iphone Max if you will), then I think it would be the perfect phone. This is the right size and the way to go in my opinion. Unfortunately the Android world reminds me of Microsoft of old...all good on the outside, but a trip here and a crash there...and really, its a complete pain...
Great idea, but the operating system lets it down badly. No spell check, no save music in google music player to external sd card, difficult typing = not good enough. Google maps is brilliant by the way, and use it to navigate in car instead of tom tom now...you dont get that on Apple...
If Google brought out an update for the music player (save to external) and a spell check, I would be alot happier - 4 stars, but the forums have been waiting years for these updates....best of luck! Nothing can be done about the keyboard, and this is one of the bigger ones! If i could go back I would get the iphone 5, stick with Blackberry, or get a "vertical" keyboard Android phone (motorola maybe)...this is from the man who initially loved this phone...
Wish I could write a better review for this phone, there are many good qualities, but if Google can get these big things wrong...what's round the corner?
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Click to collapse
lets begin with typing : on android the spell check is performed by the keyboard and not the software (gmail, whatever..), so if you want a keyboard with spell check, get a keyboard you like that does it, there are a lot on the market, like some people have recommended, swiftkey is pretty good.
file transfer doesn't work? what? have you even tried connecting your phone to your computer? it just opens the root of your phone, add whatever the heck you want in there.
same goes for music, though i don't get why you would want to have all of your music both on your phone and on the cloud at the same time, just save it on your phone manually if you really feel like it, its very easy to do and you do not need any stinking software like itunes to tell you how to do it.
don't expect your phone to do everything for you, but also remember that this is an android phone, and if you don't like something, you can change it.
Go easy on him people. It's his first android experience.
But I really didn't understand why you upload all of your song to Google Music and then try to download it to your sd card instead of just copying all of them directly to your sd card in the first place. You just plug in your phone to your pc and copy them like you're copying to a flash drive. It can't be more simple. You don't need to install icrap and all. It's just like a flashdrive.
And there are dozens of keyboard on play store. If you google it for 5 second, you can find at least a dozen. Install one of them if you didn't like the samsung keyboard. That's why we're here. That's why we like Android. If you don't like it, you can change it and try different things.
A lot of people are missing that he mentioned that he's using a macbook air. MTP isn't really compatible with MacOS, so google made an app called android file transfer for it. Apparently it's not working for him.
No spellcheck? Are you serious? Or had technology really created dummies out of us? If I am writing a work email, I'd spellchecked it myself. I'd proofread it at least twice over to ensure it's prim and proper. What's the difficulty?
And if you cannot type properly, download SwiftKey, or swype, or some other keyboards. At least there's a CHOICE.
iahk said:
A lot of people are missing that he mentioned that he's using a macbook air. MTP isn't really compatible with MacOS, so google made an app called android file transfer for it. Apparently it's not working for him.
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Still, with Android, there's rarely just one way to do something. There's gotta be a dozen wireless ways he could've got his music straight to the phone without this ridiculous method he was using.
This is a strange post. I have owned a tons of Android phones. This one has been the best. Not sure about the music issue my phone is playing my mp3s off my sd card....????
Iphone user regret it sounds..
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
after 3 months with the Ativ WP8 I start thinking to change to android (eventually Galaxy4) for good reasons
1. Incomplete BT stack - no keyboard to connect or certain consoles
2. Miserable sync with Outlook and One-Notes
3. Limited camera functions - e.g. where to save and to transfer to a PC)
4. Cannot use DropBox
5. Useless letters in apps
6. Want not and cannot allow certain info an the cloud (SkyDrive)
7. Calendar - no weekly, daily and to-do app
8. No basic info like battery status, signal strength, Wi-Fi visible as a top bar
9. Better organization for apps, e.g. based on importance and not just one long list to scroll, why not at least two
I am aware that WP8 is a great improvement and with good tools, but I have to decide what serves my daily needs the best. Is there any major update in the next few months to expect. Any suggestions
Not sure if trolling or just ...
Sell it to me.
Sent from rehab using XDA Windows Phone 8 App
mcosmin222 said:
Not sure if trolling or just ...
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Click to collapse
Not trolling mate, this isn't windowsphonecentral. You're not going to get an army of windows phone enthusiasts trying to go against this guy.
Lol trolls.
Sent from Lumia 810 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
theguitarman94 said:
Not trolling mate, this isn't windowsphonecentral. You're not going to get an army of windows phone enthusiasts trying to go against this guy.[/QUOT]
Given his reasons, I am 100% convinced he is either a troll or too stupid to use a smartphone, in which case, Android/WP/IOS won't make much of a difference.
So I think he is a troll.
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Click to collapse
I mean it is very difficult to find the signal strength
If you're not happy with how the phone handles things and if it can't do certain things you need it to do the best way to go is to sell the phone and get one that does. Given that you already tried to find solutions for some of those things and found out that they could not be done differently on WP you are left with only two options:
- live with how things are done/can be done (e.g. Jump Lists in the App List, pinning important Apps to the Start Screen)
- get rid of the phone and use something else in the hopes of it doing things the way you want them done
You can be sure not a troll nor stupid. I use mobile phones from the beginning and can very well distinguish pros and cons. We can and do build out own servers and use the phone as a business tool. Just see what MS did with the BT stack, incomplete, you cannot connect a simple keyboard which is needed when taking notes in conferences, Using the cloud for confidential information is a nono, DropBox does not work with WP8.... Me or someone else calling stupid shows where your standard is.
When I make a final decision to sell the phone you will be the first for an offer. It will come with a nice black leather case open front and 32 GB SD card. I need some additional research to find the right solution.
[email protected] said:
after 3 months with the Ativ WP8 I start thinking to change to android (eventually Galaxy4) for good reasons
1. Incomplete BT stack - no keyboard to connect or certain consoles
2. Miserable sync with Outlook and One-Notes
3. Limited camera functions - e.g. where to save and to transfer to a PC)
4. Cannot use DropBox
5. Useless letters in apps
6. Want not and cannot allow certain info an the cloud (SkyDrive)
7. Calendar - no weekly, daily and to-do app
8. No basic info like battery status, signal strength, Wi-Fi visible as a top bar
9. Better organization for apps, e.g. based on importance and not just one long list to scroll, why not at least two
I am aware that WP8 is a great improvement and with good tools, but I have to decide what serves my daily needs the best. Is there any major update in the next few months to expect. Any suggestions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So to avoid wasting more thread space criticizing OP:
1. Yes, the BT stack is limited, but what's there works well (other phones have all sorts of issues with BT freezing on connect, etc.)
2. If by "Outlook," you mean Outlook.com or an Exchange server, nothing syncs better with those than WP; same with OneNote; the only thing that would make sense is if you mean data stored in a local PST on the desktop Outlook app, which WP doesn't directly sync to-- valid point, but other platforms don't do native sync at all (or very well) either, so the only real comparison point is Windows Mobile 6.x lol; if you do want to do local Outlook syncing, try Akruto Sync
3. What's limited? Plug in a USB cable, or open your SkyDrive folder, and it's all there
4. Actually you can-- see the "Boxfiles" app
5. Don't know what you mean
6. Don't know what you mean
7. The Calendar app has daily, agenda, and month views, along with to-dos- what more are you looking for?
8. All of that is in the top bar- just tap it
9. That's what start screen pinning is for; the list itself has alphabetical and search functions
Good answer, but please see that DropBox (will try Boxfiles App)or Team Viewer or Dragon and other do not work, As an attorney- (working with very sensitive data) I cannot have data from clients in a cloud, I could loose my shirt. I need a weekly calendar which also shows to do and notes like in Outlook.. OneNote on the PC is not fully compatible with OneNote in WP8. I made it work, but it is a work around. In the list of Apps I have at least 10 single letters and when you click on it, it opens the full alphabet, nothing else. SkyDrive is for me only of limit use, A BT Keyboard is a deal breaker, I use the phone in meetings to take notes which later will be part of a client electronic file. Samsung Ativ is a nice phone, basically I like it, but it has to assist and function in my daily work. I do not care to store a lot of music or videos. Miss a good file manager. You mention the top bar, not on the Samsung above the tiles. It shows only the time. Imagine you have a fight with the IRS for hundred of thousand of $$ and I would as your attorney leave documents in your case on SkyDrive.
Thanks and have a great day with your coffee.
By the way, I am for over 10 years a MS Partner.
[email protected] said:
Good answer, but please see that DropBox (will try Boxfiles App)or Team Viewer or Dragon and other do not work, As an attorney- (working with very sensitive data) I cannot have data from clients in a cloud, I could loose my shirt. I need a weekly calendar which also shows to do and notes like in Outlook.. OneNote on the PC is not fully compatible with OneNote in WP8. I made it work, but it is a work around. In the list of Apps I have at least 10 single letters and when you click on it, it opens the full alphabet, nothing else. SkyDrive is for me only of limit use, A BT Keyboard is a deal breaker, I use the phone in meetings to take notes which later will be part of a client electronic file. Samsung Ativ is a nice phone, basically I like it, but it has to assist and function in my daily work. I do not care to store a lot of music or videos. Miss a good file manager. You mention the top bar, not on the Samsung above the tiles. It shows only the time. Imagine you have a fight with the IRS for hundred of thousand of $$ and I would as your attorney leave documents in your case on SkyDrive.
Thanks and have a great day with your coffee.
By the way, I am for over 10 years a MS Partner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
On the top bar, if you tap anywhere in the bar (on the time or anywhere to the left of it), the cell + Wifi + BT + battery status show up. They disappear after a few seconds in the interest of clean design (then show up only when there's a problem, like no signal or low battery). On the app list, in addition to the alphabetical jump-list, there's also a search button at the top-left.
The Calendar app has to-dos (see the "to-do" tab to the right of "agenda"). Week view is indeed missing-- MS should prob implement it in landscape view, as Apple did when it added week view in iOS 5. You can sort of approximate it by tapping month view -> day for each day of the week. Something weird about the month view is that if you look at it carefully on a 720p device in landscape, you'll notice the number of items matches how many you have scheduled for that day, but the actual text is gibberish (lorem ipsum) instead of your actual items, since it's not meant to be visible haha.
I've been a pretty heavy OneNote user- the WP8 app is not the full desktop app by any means, but it's better than what you get on Android or iOS. The local file manager issue is valid-- WP8 does not expose the file system in the interest of simplicity, which does make things less flexible than, say, Windows Mobile. I use SkyDrive as a sort of local drive, since everything in WP8 can save there-- but if you have concerns with consumer cloud services (SkyDrive, Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, etc.) being subpoenable, etc., that's a valid concern.
There is some motion in that space, though-- I know of many law firms that have switched to Office 365 for Exchange/Sharepoint/etc. (which is a lot more data than just files in SkyDrive), since the uptime and security is actually better than what they had in-house (http://www.microsoftbusinesshub.com/Industries/Legal). That includes "SkyDrive Pro," the Sharepoint file store.
If I can suggest something, take a look at the Surface RT, with the Type Cover. You'll get a full-blown Windows experience, with local files, full-blown Office 2013 (minus x86 macros) with desktop OneNote, etc., and a great keyboard, but 10-hour battery life, in a 1.5 lb form factor. There's a TeamViewer app for WinRT, and you can access almost anything a full PC can (here on XDA, people have even ported x86 desktop apps and an x86 emulator). I generally carry the Surface + WP8 everywhere now-- phone for quick stuff and Surface for longer content.
[email protected] said:
Good answer, but please see that DropBox (will try Boxfiles App)or Team Viewer or Dragon and other do not work, As an attorney- (working with very sensitive data) I cannot have data from clients in a cloud, I could loose my shirt. I need a weekly calendar which also shows to do and notes like in Outlook.. OneNote on the PC is not fully compatible with OneNote in WP8. I made it work, but it is a work around. In the list of Apps I have at least 10 single letters and when you click on it, it opens the full alphabet, nothing else. SkyDrive is for me only of limit use, A BT Keyboard is a deal breaker, I use the phone in meetings to take notes which later will be part of a client electronic file. Samsung Ativ is a nice phone, basically I like it, but it has to assist and function in my daily work. I do not care to store a lot of music or videos. Miss a good file manager. You mention the top bar, not on the Samsung above the tiles. It shows only the time. Imagine you have a fight with the IRS for hundred of thousand of $$ and I would as your attorney leave documents in your case on SkyDrive.
Thanks and have a great day with your coffee.
By the way, I am for over 10 years a MS Partner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U couldnt have data from ur clients on a cloud? Then u shouldnt use android
And if u want not to use Skydrive with Onenote u can also create Offline Word Documents and write down ur Meeting Information there.
And what exactly isnt working with One Note on PC and ur Phone?
But for what r u using dropbox? Isnt that a cloud too?
After u press a Letter in the Apps Menu the Alphabet is show so u can select the Letter u want ur App starts with.
For the Topbar u can always touch on the Clock to get the Whole Topbar shown with all Informations.
[email protected] said:
You can be sure not a troll nor stupid. I use mobile phones from the beginning and can very well distinguish pros and cons. We can and do build out own servers and use the phone as a business tool. Just see what MS did with the BT stack, incomplete, you cannot connect a simple keyboard which is needed when taking notes in conferences, Using the cloud for confidential information is a nono, DropBox does not work with WP8.... Me or someone else calling stupid shows where your standard is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Androids bt stack is also incomplete. Most of the other things you mention are there. If its trully business usage you want then buy a WM device, not even your beloved android comes close to wm. The only thing wm doesn't do better is games and video playback and most of that is down to crap drivers from the oems
Sent from my Arc using xda app-developers app
Thanks for your answer but you should not imply like "not even your beloved android comes close to wm" never used it. You asked "And what exactly isnt working with One Note on PC and ur Phone?" On the PC I have in One Note a personal and office section. The office section can only be seen with Sky Drive.Why not having both section direct in the Phones One Note without Sky Drive. Any suggestion? I guess it is possible but do not know to get it done. It seems Logitech will bring a compatible Keyboard for the Ativ,
Calendar, I use Week View 8 what does the most I need, but you cannot change there appointments or to dos, you have to go through agenda.. We have Office 365 and have until today nit made a final decision.A replacement for Team Viewer not found except you run it through Internet Explorer.I will always listen and learn and keep things in an appropriate way.
[email protected] said:
Thanks for your answer but you should not imply like "not even your beloved android comes close to wm" never used it. You asked "And what exactly isnt working with One Note on PC and ur Phone?" On the PC I have in One Note a personal and office section. The office section can only be seen with Sky Drive.Why not having both section direct in the Phones One Note without Sky Drive. Any suggestion? I guess it is possible but do not know to get it done. It seems Logitech will bring a compatible Keyboard for the Ativ,
Calendar, I use Week View 8 what does the most I need, but you cannot change there appointments or to dos, you have to go through agenda.. We have Office 365 and have until today nit made a final decision.A replacement for Team Viewer not found except you run it through Internet Explorer.I will always listen and learn and keep things in an appropriate way.
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Click to collapse
I like vnc better then teamviewer personally. Ive never had as problem with one note or outlook syncing. I also enjoy the android os on my tablet. Perhaps that might be a solution for you. I use my Aviv s to provide internet to my android tablet.
Sent from my A100 using xda app-developers app
[email protected] said:
Good answer, but please see that DropBox (will try Boxfiles App)or Team Viewer or Dragon and other do not work, As an attorney- (working with very sensitive data) I cannot have data from clients in a cloud, I could loose my shirt. I need a weekly calendar which also shows to do and notes like in Outlook.. OneNote on the PC is not fully compatible with OneNote in WP8. I made it work, but it is a work around. In the list of Apps I have at least 10 single letters and when you click on it, it opens the full alphabet, nothing else. SkyDrive is for me only of limit use, A BT Keyboard is a deal breaker, I use the phone in meetings to take notes which later will be part of a client electronic file. Samsung Ativ is a nice phone, basically I like it, but it has to assist and function in my daily work. I do not care to store a lot of music or videos. Miss a good file manager. You mention the top bar, not on the Samsung above the tiles. It shows only the time. Imagine you have a fight with the IRS for hundred of thousand of $$ and I would as your attorney leave documents in your case on SkyDrive.
Thanks and have a great day with your coffee.
By the way, I am for over 10 years a MS Partner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If there is one thing that WP does infinitely better than Android, that is protecting your privacy.
Hell, on android you can even get spyware and trojan downloaded from the marketplace, and you will never even know it. If you want privacy, go for WP and stick with it.
mcosmin222 said:
If there is one thing that WP does infinitely better than Android, that is protecting your privacy.
Hell, on android you can even get spyware and trojan downloaded from the marketplace, and you will never even know it. If you want privacy, go for WP and stick with it.
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Click to collapse
LOL.......it seems that 95% of WP apps require access to your location, and they send this also to Microsoft. Having access to my location is fine, as long as it makes sense.
Darkjamzi said:
LOL.......it seems that 95% of WP apps require access to your location, and they send this also to Microsoft. Having access to my location is fine, as long as it makes sense.
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Click to collapse
cause yeh LOL google maps location process doesn't run like 100% if time in the background on ANY android phone.