Develop Bugs

Replace Android with WM

I'm very unhappy with my new Desire. It is of course, also, the problem regarding "the change" from WM to Android, but... I cannot choose "My location" and now I just discovered that YOU CAN'T SYNC NOTES AND TASK with Outlook. This is unbelievable! If the problem with My location and weather shown in the HOME Screen it's not so serious (you can check the weather on line) the problem with the sync it's awful, and there is no program on the "market" to solve it.
I can't believe that I just bought a 500 euro phone and it is so useless. Is there any chance to replace the famous "Android" with a real OS like WM 6.5 (from HD2) for example???
Please I'm desperate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

buy a HD2 instead. (!!!11!1!!!)

Why did you buy an Android phone if you want to install WM 6.5 on it?

Why do people still use Outlook is beyond my belief
Why do people still sync to a computer (that can only be in one place at a time) is again beyond my belief.
I have my Desire for 2 weeks now and I never even installed the sync app, don't even know what it looks like.
But to answer your question: NO you can't replace Android to the fake ... i mean real OS Windows Mobile.
I came from Windows Mobile and I couldn't be happier i got rid of it. Stop thinking offline, and start thinking cloud sync... it'll eventually be the default weather we like it or not.

You can argue (From a technical pov) that WM6.5 is a real OS and that Android isn't. In fact even Symbian would be more of a "Real" OS than Android. The difference is that those two OSes can run native code and Android just runs everything via Java. This doesn't mean much to most users but to developers it means a lot.

someone please shut this thread before the OP gets flamed to death......

If native code means a deficiency of decent apps, where even the few good ones are jerky, clunky and Windows CE...ey then I'm all for Java - go Java.
I left the HD2 because Windows Mobile is unreliable (believe it or not) because it was never meant to handle such complex skins as Sense UI and therefore leaked memory like a teabag full of pulped brain; and also because there was a deficiency of decent apps (despite its supposed ability to handle 'native code'). If it's so great then why are most of the .cabs people install fixes and patches rather than ACTUAL apps? And why are there no decent alternative Facebook apps etc? Is Windows Mobile 'TOO GOOD' for this sort of software development? For an OS a fifth of the age of Windows Mobile, Android has ten times as many IM apps (for example). Why is this so?
Android allows for one to code/install apps for even CORE applications like SMS and Email: show me a decent email replacement for Windows Mobile? One that ACTUALLY REPLACES the native one....you can't? Android can.
And as capricious as it might seem the rubbish email client in Windows Mobile was one of the reasons I started to loath the OS. What is the point of the 'click to scroll right' and 'pictures blocked for security reasons' BS??? Is it REALLY necessary? And why is it so....ugly?
Anyway I thought I'd get my word in before this thread gets closed. If you can't move with the times then go and buy a TyTn 2 or something. Outlook syncing will soon be as dead as Windows Mobile so for Google to include it would be a backwards step, being as more necessary features are still to be implemented.
It's all about the cloud.
P.S. research before jumping in and buying a phone as you seem to have very specific requirements. Outlook task and notes syncing is a VERY SPECIFIC requirement which in the overall scheme of a burgeoning OS would be deemed unnecessary by Google. I wouldn't buy a Renault Megane if I needed a tractor.

I think it's just a case of people not liking change at all. So the different and sometimes better things that Android provides seem not so good.

Why do people still use Outlook is beyond my belief
Why do people still sync to a computer (that can only be in one place at a time) is again beyond my belief.
I have my Desire for 2 weeks now and I never even installed the sync app, don't even know what it looks like.
But to answer your question: NO you can't replace Android to the fake ... i mean real OS Windows Mobile.
I came from Windows Mobile and I couldn't be happier i got rid of it. Stop thinking offline, and start thinking cloud sync... it'll eventually be the default weather we like it or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For work purposes most likely? Information that has to be stored securely in outlook on a system which they DO NOT want in the cloud? But would like to sync via hard wire or secure connection to the device?
Outlook syncing will be alive as long as Microsoft push it and businesses continue to use it and would rather not have information in the cloud, even Windows Phone 7 offers outlook syncing, it isn't going anywhere.

I havn't tried but doesn't htc sync allow to sync with Outlook?? I though that was what it said on the box....
Anyhow, i've just come from an HTC Touch HD where i have tried all the versions of windows and senses and other interfaces and i have to say i am loving my new desire!!!!
I am no developer but Android is so much better adapted to a smartphone, it's fast, fluid and allows all sorts of customization and when i had my HD, as far as i can remember, there were like 20 apps on the marketplace, i thin android market is at 30.000???? No question, no comparison!!!

An app on the Market - Touchdown allows tasks syncing with outlook. Not sure about Notes.
But to be honest, as has been said, why spend €500 on a phone and not have done any research into wether it will do what you want it to.
Not only that, but if its a problem, then in most instances you wil be able to return it within 7 or 14 days for a refund (less any charges) so you should have done that.
Whats the moral of this tale :- Always do your research!

solaris78 said:
I'm very unhappy with my new Desire. It is of course, also, the problem regarding "the change" from WM to Android, but... I cannot choose "My location" and now I just discovered that YOU CAN'T SYNC NOTES AND TASK with Outlook. This is unbelievable! If the problem with My location and weather shown in the HOME Screen it's not so serious (you can check the weather on line) the problem with the sync it's awful, and there is no program on the "market" to solve it.
I can't believe that I just bought a 500 euro phone and it is so useless. Is there any chance to replace the famous "Android" with a real OS like WM 6.5 (from HD2) for example???
Please I'm desperate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you had such explicit requirements, why didn't you do the research before hand?
Regarding issue with syncing tasks, use the calendar to create your tasks in outlook, use an app on your computer called google calendar sync to upload it to a gmail account, then you'll have them on your phone... simple.

Gustibus non disputandum est!
That means (I hope I write it down correct): the tastes are not questionable!!
I did my research before buying this toy, and I can return it in 30 days (10 to go), and the HD2 was the first option but the sizes ... to big for me.
At the office I use Outlook on my laptop to do notes, task, appointments (on my laptop)... and so on, and when I'm on the field maybe I need some of them, so.... I WILL LIKE TO SYNC MY NOTES FROM LAPTOP WITH MY PHONE. What is so hard to understand? That not everybody use the phone for games and billions of apps which are doing the same thing. In 3 hours of searching I found not more than 5 interesting application (and the WM has 3 of them in the original OS). That's all!
Why I use Outlook ? Because I have a job and an server e-mail and like any more than 70% of this world computers I use MIcrosoft Software. I received an advice from one forum: use Gmail notes! You gotta be kidding ! This 500 euro phone should have some real business apps. I don't use phone for music, pictures and games, instead I need a mail client which allow me to select different mails and mark them like read, or unread. I receive hundreds of mail daily and I need to organize them. What it's so hard to understand?
Give me a break with this Android OS. I hoped that will be different than Iphone but it's the same sheet. I prefer to have notes instead Facebook...social communication ! And tasks instead youtube!
When I bought this phone I never thought that the sync software will not sync notes and tasks. The 5 years old Nokia or Sony that I used then had it. MY problem is that the solution is so simple but you prefer to tell me that I have 3 billions of apps, why I need notes when I can play poker or chess?in 5000 languages.
In my opinion Android is a great software but ... for this price you should think that are some people which are trying to use it for the daily job and not for messenger to pick-up minor teenage girls.
One of you wrote: why do you use Outlook, get on-line... Some information will never go on-line... company policy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And yes Android it's more simple to use than WM, but because it's simple he does simple things, but I NEED MORE! so I guess I need WM, complicated but it has what I need; it's just like cars: some people like muscle cars (pure power and simple technology), but others prefer German or Japanese cars which are maybe a little bit complicated but they offer something different.
thanks anyway!

snapilica2003 said:
Why do people still use Outlook is beyond my belief
Why do people still sync to a computer (that can only be in one place at a time) is again beyond my belief.
I have my Desire for 2 weeks now and I never even installed the sync app, don't even know what it looks like.
But to answer your question: NO you can't replace Android to the fake ... i mean real OS Windows Mobile.
I came from Windows Mobile and I couldn't be happier i got rid of it. Stop thinking offline, and start thinking cloud sync... it'll eventually be the default weather we like it or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what mail client do you use: Gmail, yahoo? are you in the kindergarden? or maybe you use phone for Facebook and Youtube. It's so cool you can see your friends on-line. Take care, maybe someday you will lose contact with the real world, and than you will be in the MATRIX... and poor me I'll be offline!
Sorry I couldn't resist ! but now seriously :WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THIS PHONE ?

So basically you're here to have a rant because you made a poor choice when buying a phone. Fair enough.
For what it's worth, I work in IT, and I use the Desire to keep a watch on my company email and calendar, sync'ed from Exchange Server. Does the job just fine. I don't use notes in Outlook because what ever you want to do, there is always a better alternative, even a note app on the phone itself would do a better job.
Sent from my HTC Desire using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

solaris78 said:
That means (I hope I write it down correct): the tastes are not questionable!!
I did my research before buying this toy, and I can return it in 30 days (10 to go), and the HD2 was the first option but the sizes ... to big for me.
At the office I use Outlook on my laptop to do notes, task, appointments (on my laptop)... and so on, and when I'm on the field maybe I need some of them, so.... I WILL LIKE TO SYNC MY NOTES FROM LAPTOP WITH MY PHONE. What is so hard to understand? That not everybody use the phone for games and billions of apps which are doing the same thing. In 3 hours of searching I found not more than 5 interesting application (and the WM has 3 of them in the original OS). That's all!
Why I use Outlook ? Because I have a job and an server e-mail and like any more than 70% of this world computers I use MIcrosoft Software. I received an advice from one forum: use Gmail notes! You gotta be kidding ! This 500 euro phone should have some real business apps. I don't use phone for music, pictures and games, instead I need a mail client which allow me to select different mails and mark them like read, or unread. I receive hundreds of mail daily and I need to organize them. What it's so hard to understand?
Give me a break with this Android OS. I hoped that will be different than Iphone but it's the same sheet. I prefer to have notes instead Facebook...social communication ! And tasks instead youtube!
When I bought this phone I never thought that the sync software will not sync notes and tasks. The 5 years old Nokia or Sony that I used then had it. MY problem is that the solution is so simple but you prefer to tell me that I have 3 billions of apps, why I need notes when I can play poker or chess?in 5000 languages.
In my opinion Android is a great software but ... for this price you should think that are some people which are trying to use it for the daily job and not for messenger to pick-up minor teenage girls.
One of you wrote: why do you use Outlook, get on-line... Some information will never go on-line... company policy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And yes Android it's more simple to use than WM, but because it's simple he does simple things, but I NEED MORE! so I guess I need WM, complicated but it has what I need; it's just like cars: some people like muscle cars (pure power and simple technology), but others prefer German or Japanese cars which are maybe a little bit complicated but they offer something different.
thanks anyway!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah after reading a bit, i think that you didn't really put much research into this... On your statements i would recommend Blackberry, its for emails, tasks and sync.

solaris78 said:
it's just like cars: some people like muscle cars (pure power and simple technology), but others prefer German or Japanese cars which are maybe a little bit complicated but they offer something different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Show me the man who looks to buy a broken car, and I'll show you a HD2 that actually works as it's supposed to

solaris78 said:
what mail client do you use: Gmail, yahoo? are you in the kindergarden? or maybe you use phone for Facebook and Youtube. It's so cool you can see your friends on-line. Take care, maybe someday you will lose contact with the real world, and than you will be in the MATRIX... and poor me I'll be offline!
Sorry I couldn't resist ! but now seriously :WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THIS PHONE ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dude, the thing is, YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT THIS PHONE. Period. When you bought it you know, it's running android. As for syncing with outlook, you could have research it before hand. If you explicitly use it for syncing with outlook, and your work has a lot to do with microsoft software, why did you not buy a windows mobile device? answer me, plz.
What next? ppl are gonna come out complaining they cant install windows mobile on their iphone? give me a break.

solaris78 said:
what mail client do you use: Gmail, yahoo? are you in the kindergarden? or maybe you use phone for Facebook and Youtube. It's so cool you can see your friends on-line. Take care, maybe someday you will lose contact with the real world, and than you will be in the MATRIX... and poor me I'll be offline!
Sorry I couldn't resist ! but now seriously :WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THIS PHONE ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually working for a global telecom company as IT, so your statement above makes me laugh.
Do you guys don't separate your work life from your personal life? Are you doing work all the time.
My phone is exactly that, MY phone, not the company's phone, not the work phone. I'm not paying MY money to have a phone for work. My company gave me a phone and that's the work phone, that's the phone i'm called when someone from WORK wants to reach me, that phone is for work mail, that phone is for the stuff you said you needed. That phone that has the features my work requires from me.
This phone is my personal phone. I don't want to be contacted on this phone, I don't want to do work on this phone, it's MY phone and yeah, I do use Gmail as a personal email, I do use Google Calendar as my personal agenda, I do use Google Contacts and many many other cloud applications Google offers and I couldn't be happier. I want Facebook on MY phone, I want YouTube on MY phone.
Oh and that outlook you so much want is just a fronted to a MTA server, be it POP3, IMAP or Exchange. If you're not working for a secret spy agency most likely those MTA's are public and accessible from the internet. Why not connect to those and insist to connect to Outlook? If your company uses Exchange you can set up this phone to use it also, and you can sync everything outlook has ... through the cloud (that is if you work in a normal company that actually lets users check their mail when not at the office), so you don't need to be connected to anything, just need internet on the phone.
I configured the Exchange ActiveSync from my work account the phone and works like a charm, if i put an appointment on my phone it shows up on Outlook after a few minutes "just like that", if i put an appointment on Outlook it shows up on my phone "just like that". To tell you the truth since I got this phone, i never once hooked it to a computer, only transfered via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth sometimes.

foner78 said:
So basically you're here to have a rant because you made a poor choice when buying a phone. Fair enough.
For what it's worth, I work in IT, and I use the Desire to keep a watch on my company email and calendar, sync'ed from Exchange Server. Does the job just fine. I don't use notes in Outlook because what ever you want to do, there is always a better alternative, even a note app on the phone itself would do a better job.
Sent from my HTC Desire using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No man, I don't have a rant here, just trying to explain myself. It's not fair what happens to me here, because I asked a question and everybody jumped on me instead helping me. Exchange Server it's a great solution but unfortunately my company will not use a server for this. And for me there is no better alternative than Outlook, WE ARE DIFFERENT, accept it. I installed 10 notes apps, but none have sync with outlook. I know that I can use notes directly on phone but it's much easier on the laptop.
I repeat: I can, and probably I will return the phone. I love how it looks, dimensions, the hardware... and I was thinking that maybe because it's a software problem it can be solved. Why are so ... LOCKED ?

Calendar Syncing

I don't have a WP7 phone and am wondering about the calendar. Is it true that if you have google or windows live calendar you can only sync one calendar? I have multiple calendars set up (personal, business, wife etc.) and want to know if a WP7 phone could be set up like this.
Thanks

At the moment, WP7 will only sync your default calendar from each account. So you can't directly access subscribed calendars etc... I would imagine this will be fixed in an update as it simply doesn't make sense to allow subscribed calendars in outlook, windows live etc... and NOT on the phone!

Yes it doesn't allow other shared calendars to be viewed but it seems even on the iPhone it's not possible (not sure about that though). So it may be that only Android has this function for Google Calendar.
What I do is to have a live tile that leads me straight to the mobile version of Google Calendar that would allow me to view everything from the browser.

rob_p said:
At the moment, WP7 will only sync your default calendar from each account. So you can't directly access subscribed calendars etc... I would imagine this will be fixed in an update as it simply doesn't make sense to allow subscribed calendars in outlook, windows live etc... and NOT on the phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That’s pretty rubbish.
So if I’ve two Windows live Calendars – say Appointments & sports – I can only add one..
The Windows Phone 7 developers must really have no lives to omit this function. They probably don’t even use Windows Live.
I suspect Microsoft employees would have their own in-house calendar software. If I were the big boss I’d insist all employs use Windows Live. I’m sure that’d motivate them to fine-tune their products.
FYI – I use nuevasync on my Windows ‘Mobile’ to access my iCal through Goggle Calendar (though gCal has been particularly unreliable lately).

'Tron said:
That’s pretty rubbish.
So if I’ve two Windows live Calendars – say Appointments & sports – I can only add one..
The Windows Phone 7 developers must really have no lives to omit this function. They probably don’t even use Windows Live.
I suspect Microsoft employees would have their own in-house calendar software. If I were the big boss I’d insist all employs use Windows Live. I’m sure that’d motivate them to fine-tune their products.
FYI – I use nuevasync on my Windows ‘Mobile’ to access my iCal through Goggle Calendar (though gCal has been particularly unreliable lately).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there was a rumor going around that it would be fixed up in the first update... but who knows. we'll just have to wait and see.

I Why would you need separate calendars when you can assign different colors to the accounts? I have both my work and personal calendar on my Surround. Work shows up in red and personal is blue.
I do not have a Google calendar but I would think you would be able to sync it too.

action_efn_jackson said:
I Why would you need separate calendars when you can assign different colors to the accounts? I have both my work and personal calendar on my Surround. Work shows up in red and personal is blue.
I do not have a Google calendar but I would think you would be able to sync it too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ummm your question is kind of ironic
you question the point of having seperate calendars (within 1 account) by suggesting a method that's more tedious (having separate calendars in separate accounts.)
windows live/hotmail allows multiple calendars, you can work on the same calendar and just list them under the diff calendars....isn't that more convenient than maintaining 2 different calendars across 2 accounts?

DOH! I misread the "or". I thought he meant he had 2 serperates and was worried he couldnt sync both to his device.

Anyone know if NuevaSync is working on Windows Phone 7 syncing?

eelpout said:
Anyone know if NuevaSync is working on Windows Phone 7 syncing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. Sure is.
1. However, it’s no longer free. The basic subscription is 15 bucks a year – which isn’t much.
2. In the ‘email & account’ settings – Nuevasync (listed as gmail) prefers to be set to download new content ‘as item arrives’, or manually.
I initially had it set to download every hour, but it kept saying ‘unable to complete sync’ or something like that.
While Nuevaync works fine, I’m thinking of transferring to Windows Live calendar as my main calendar. Google Calendar has been unreliable – especially with iCal feeds. It’s displaying my iCal feeds in GMT time zone (a known issue) & it screwed up all my recurring appointments for some unknown reason.
Windows Live Calendar lets you mark events as private, which hides events if the calendar is shared – a must have feature for me.
Of course it would be nice if WP7 supported iCal feeds directly. But as I’m learning with WP7 – you make do. Compared to MinMo 6.1, I’m prepared to cut it a lot of slack because it’s just so damn nice to use.
P.S. – if anyone knows a way of incorporating an iCal feed into a default Windows Live calendar that would be great. And I’m not talking about downloading the feed & then importing it into the calendar. I’m talking about a cloud sync i.e. iCal event to WL calendar in real time. But I suspect this isn’t possible.

'Tron said:
P.S. – if anyone knows a way of incorporating an iCal feed into a default Windows Live calendar that would be great. And I’m not talking about downloading the feed & then importing it into the calendar. I’m talking about a cloud sync i.e. iCal event to WL calendar in real time. But I suspect this isn’t possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny you say that, because that's exactly what I'm looking for: a cloud based iCal (MobileMe) <--> Windows Live solution. Though I'm sure no such animal exists. I thought Google calendar could work as an intermediary, but that's looking doubtful as well. Apparently when Apple went full CalDAV last Fall, they stopped allowing change access outside their own internal product.
It's not looking good currently for a cloud based calendar sync solution if my wife and I want to have differing phone platforms when MobileMe is involved. Ah Apple...

Syncing stuff over multiple platforms a recipe for a nightmare. Especially anything that involves plugging in a USB. I tried with Outlook, but ended up with appointments doubling etc.

A workaround for Tasks / Todo List users

If, like me, you use Outlook's task (to-do) list, and have upgraded from WM6.5 to WP7, you're probably disappointed that there is no solution for syncing tasks onto an app on your shiny new phone.
I use a workaround that seems to be OK, and will tide me over until proper task syncing comes along, as I'm sure it will soon.
I use Windows Live Mesh to sync a folder on my Pc, containing spreadsheets, to Skydrive. You can navigate to that synced folder on your phone by pointing your browser to http://devices.live.com/Sync, and going into the folder in question. You can pin the page for the folder to your start screen for quick access.
I created a new spreadsheet in the synced folder called Tasks. What I now do is, each morning while munching my breakfast, I review my tasks in Outlook. They're filtered such that only today's tasks show on screen. I press CTRL-A to highlight them all, then CTRL-C to copy them. I then open the Tasks spreadsheet, clear it out and paste all the tasks into the sheet, then close it. Windows Live Mesh then syncs the spreadsheet into Skydrive. I then access it on my phone and save it to the Office hub.
I now have all my tasks for the day in the sheet. I can add filters to the sheet and filter by, say, category, and I can modify the status of each one to add in notes or say it has been done.
Then the following morning while reviewing my tasks over breakfast once more, I start off by looking at the Tasks spreadsheet on my phone and marking up the previous day's tasks as complete, or modifying them as my notes dictate. Then I paste the new day's tasks into the spreadsheet on the PC and the cycle continues.
Have a go, it's not perfect but it's the best I can come up with.
Unless you have a better suggestion?

Thanks, not a bad solution.
Another method would be to copy your list of tasks into the Onenote webapp on skydrive. This can be set up to sync to your phone automatically. So you would avoid having to use live mesh, but you would still have to copy your tasks from outlook into Onenote.
Obviously neither solution is perfect.
I would even settle for a RTM or Producteev app so at least tasks could be synced to the web.

There are a few task apps on the market place. I haven't tried any of them yet but there's several available.

greener88 said:
Thanks, not a bad solution.
Another method would be to copy your list of tasks into the Onenote webapp on skydrive. This can be set up to sync to your phone automatically. So you would avoid having to use live mesh, but you would still have to copy your tasks from outlook into Onenote.
Obviously neither solution is perfect.
I would even settle for a RTM or Producteev app so at least tasks could be synced to the web.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with doing it via OneNote is the tasks have no structure, they're just lines of text. In Excel, the fields go into columns an you can edit them and filter them, which is way more useful. But yeah, you do need Live Mesh.

Ren13B said:
There are a few task apps on the market place. I haven't tried any of them yet but there's several available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but they all use local storage, so you can't sync with your Outlook tasks. Plus, none of them support start dates and/or recurring tasks so they're pretty useless really.

I know that this is not an outlook task based solution, but if you need some sort of task function, get a free remember the milk account then download the WinMilk app.

True MS tasks have start time & end time & reminder. MS says tasks are NOT supported in MP7

"I use a workaround that seems to be OK, and will tide me over until proper task syncing comes along, as I'm sure it will soon."
What makes you think Tasks will come to WM7?

Poppapete said:
"I use a workaround that seems to be OK, and will tide me over until proper task syncing comes along, as I'm sure it will soon."
What makes you think Tasks will come to WM7?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tasks are already supported in Windows Live Hotmail, I can sync my WM6.5 device's tasks to it. I would have thought MS would write a tasks app that can sync to that in the same way calendars and contacts do. At the moment they're focussing on consumer stuff, but in the new year I understand they plan to start rolling out business oriented stuff like Skydrive support for Word & Excel, and I'm hoping tasks will feature in there somewhere.

Poppapete said:
True MS tasks have start time & end time & reminder. MS says tasks are NOT supported in MP7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you give me a reference for that assertion?
Plus I think it's obvious they're not supported *now* but have Microsoft made a definitive statement regarding the near future?

karelj said:
I know that this is not an outlook task based solution, but if you need some sort of task function, get a free remember the milk account then download the WinMilk app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just had a look - it's an interesting solution. It's a shame it doesn't support Start Date and the WP7 client doesn't allow repeating tasks to be created though. I'll look into Milksync too.

Tasks / Todos...Progress

There's some progress on the synced Task list front.
Appa Mundi Tasks does at least sync with Exchange Server tasks lists, which is a start. Unfortunately it doesn't support recurring tasks, so you can't use it for your annual MOT or your quarterly VAT return.
Also, strangely, tasks with a start date in the future appear in the list of "Active" tasks, which is just plain wrong.
Anyway, I remain hopeful a tasks app will become available soon which does support recurrances, filters active tasks properly, and syncs with Hotmail tasks so we don't have to purchase an Exchange service online.
Keep your eyes peeled and post on here if you spot anything.
I was looking at Remember the Milk as well but it doesn't support start dates or recurrences either.

Ever try Toodledo?
I used Toodledo when I when from WinMo to iPhone and really needed tasks. It's a terrible web UI, but has a full featured iPhone app that would sync with Outlook tasks. I'm working a WP7 app right now. Not sure what other sync capacity it has, but it's MUCH better than Remember the Milk.

http://photon.funkymule.com/post/photondo-sneak-peek-1.aspx
Keep an eye on that for PhotonDo, it's a task app that syncs with ToodleDo. Then again, why didn't MS allow Live Hotmail to support tasks and we wouldn't have to wait for a tasks app.

Hotmail tasks are pretty bad. Better than Goigle, but nithing comparable to Outlook/Exchange tasks...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Just had a look at toodledo.com and it seems to do what I need. Until Photondo comes out, I can probably handle using the mobile version of the site, toodledo.com/slim
I'm going to import my Outlook tasks to toodledo tonight, and start using it for a bit to see how it goes.
Thanks for the tip.

FYI... I just purchased "To-Do Tasks" in the marketplace. Nice app that seems to be well supported. Synchs with Toodledo perfectly.

Frank_Toronto said:
FYI... I just purchased "To-Do Tasks" in the marketplace. Nice app that seems to be well supported. Synchs with Toodledo perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I imported my outlook tasks to toodledo last night, all looks good. Am downloading To-do Tasks and will give it a spin.
Edit: The trial doesn't support sync so I can't really see how it works. Can you tell me, does it support recurrances and start dates? Doesn't look like it does. Do tasks with a future start date show up on-screen? I need future tasks to be hidden. The upcoming PhotonDo should do all that I think.

Why no 3rd party PIM or email apps on WP7

As above. Can't because there is no demand, can it? One of the big let-downs for me coming from PalmOS and Agendus is the really week Calendar app. Let's not get into the bizarre two week limit on past events! I also miss the tweakability of ChatterEmail. But that was then ...
So why no PIM or email apps? Is it a programming issue? Is the WP market entertainment, not enterprise? Will it change with Apollo/WP8?
Just wondering.
PS: other than that I love WP7. Just hoping for more.

truthfully the built in is so good and i use exchange so i never really thought about it. I also have yet to see anyone but you so far ask for it, so i am not thinking the demand is there yet. I have see in the marketplace a few task and calendar apps though.

ROCOAFZ said:
truthfully the built in is so good and i use exchange so i never really thought about it. I also have yet to see anyone but you so far ask for it, so i am not thinking the demand is there yet. I have see in the marketplace a few task and calendar apps though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PIM was very useful on WM, I don't understand why there is no demand for it? I guess it is what it is, Don't want to even ask because I don't what to hear some [email protected]$$ fanboy comment about that feature is so 1999 or something.

The real reason is that everything is sandboxed.
You don't have direct access. You used to just import poutlook.dll Then you could send an email. It would go into the phone's outbox for the account you wanted to send with. It would get sent on the next sync.
Now, you will be asked if you want to send the mail.
Also, I don't think there is any way to programatically get at the content of your emails. This is actually a good security piece. Imagine a dev writing a pretty cool app. You use it. Only months later you find that the content of all email messages on your phone were being sent to the dev while you used the app through a http post.
This is the why. Now, Microsoft could provide controls that would access this information.
Back in Windows Mobile, I wrote an app for users of Sense that also used the Facebook tab that would go through all of your contacts that were linked to Facebook. It would let the user update the contact with the Facebook pic. It used poutlook.dll.

ROCOAFZ said:
truthfully the built in is so good and i use exchange so i never really thought about it.
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Click to collapse
Built-in so good? I don't think so. Good as far as it goes maybe. I too use Exchange, that's the backend. It's the presentation of the PIM data that is so lacking.
Needs more views. Today summary. Ledger view for day. 5/7 day week view. A proper month view, with readable text and icons. Templates, filtering. Ability to duplicate events. Tasks in the tile. Lots of little things. When I think what could be packed into my little 320 X 320 Centro display ...
Have a look at the features in the iOS and Android versions of PocketInformant or Agendus.
While I'm at it, the email app needs customisable notifications per mailbox.
JVH3 said:
The real reason is that everything is sandboxed.
You don't have direct access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The more I look, the more I'm getting that message. Just have to see what the future holds.

conorn said:
Built-in so good? I don't think so. Good as far as it goes maybe. I too use Exchange, that's the backend. It's the presentation of the PIM data that is so lacking.
Needs more views. Today summary. Ledger view for day. 5/7 day week view. A proper month view, with readable text and icons. Templates, filtering. Ability to duplicate events. Tasks in the tile. Lots of little things. When I think what could be packed into my little 320 X 320 Centro display ...
Have a look at the features in the iOS and Android versions of PocketInformant or Agendus.
While I'm at it, the email app needs customisable notifications per mailbox.
The more I look, the more I'm getting that message. Just have to see what the future holds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PIM is only needed for sms and history. Exchange or hotmail backs up the rest when you put contacts in unless you don't have a data plan. And if you want it all backed up... here yah go (only for stock roms)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1346276
by xda themselves
Next
Needs more views. Today summary. Ledger view for day. 5/7 day week view. A proper month view, with readable text and icons. Templates, filtering. Ability to duplicate events. Tasks in the tile. Lots of little things. When I think what could be packed into my little 320 X 320 Centro display ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me break this down for you...
Duplicate events... go to the event, scroll down, hit more details. press occurs, Choose once, everyday, every weekday, every saturday, every (Day number) of the month, ever month day (as in yearly)
For Tasks in the tile - while on agenda,
Week view? for someone that has a lot of appointments, weekview is never readable, same with month. At least in month you can tell there is an appointment and click on it.
For tasks tile that syncs with exchange try this one - http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/3455bef8-895d-49d6-9c71-131a8fd0106a
They do however show in agenda once you have opened the task

ROCOAFZ. Maybe you don't understand what I was trying to explain (BOTD). Also, please don't be so defensive, I'm not trying to diss WP. I'll be in for the long run. But if I see (IMO) a weakness I will point it out. And to me the functionality in the Calendar app is poor. Especially when other parts of the OS are so good.
Responding to your points ...
Firstly, forget about Exchange, etc. I'm not talking about backing up. I'm talking about the presentation and management of the data. I don't care where it's stored. Could be local, could be cloud - doesn't matter.
Secondly, when I use the term PIM, I mean it in the broadest possible way. I want to manage my personal info. Traditionally, on PDAs, that meant calendar, contacts and tasks. Smartphones have replaced PDAs, so now I want my current smartphone to do this at least as well.
Thirdly, the intent of the original post was to query why there are no 3rd-party PIM-type apps available for WP7. There are for iOS and Android, even BB. There were for WM6 and PalmOS. Why not WP7? A couple of replies confirmed what I suspected. The OS doesn't provide the access programmers need. Everything is very hands-off. Maybe this will change in future releases. there are indications that this may be so.
Finally, some specific comments -
ROCOAFZ said:
Duplicate events... go to the event, scroll down, hit more details. press occurs, Choose once, everyday, every weekday, every saturday, every (Day number) of the month, ever month day (as in yearly)
For Tasks in the tile - while on agenda,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I'm talking about duplicating existing appointments. Not recurring events, i.e., I had a meeting today at 2pm. We agree to meet again on Friday at 4pm. All other details the same. Previously I would quickly duplicate the event, update the date/time and I'm done. Now I must create from scratch. I right-click drag in Outlook, Google Calendar has Duplicate in More Actions - so it's not just me.
ROCOAFZ said:
Week view? for someone that has a lot of appointments, weekview is never readable, same with month. At least in month you can tell there is an appointment and click on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My choice to decide, but at least give me the choice. In month view I want to see better indicators. Maybe the smallish Lumia 800 display is at fault, or my chosen theme, but I really have difficulty noticing the existing (pretend) indications and they give no indication of what's there (task, appointment, all-day event). There is plenty of room to show boxes and bars for an 'at a glance' overview of my time. Especially in landscape view. BTW, what happened Categories?
ROCOAFZ said:
For tasks tile that syncs with exchange try this one - TaskTask
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. That, and some others, look interesting. But comes back to the issue raised by others. The only way to get at the tasks data is to go direct to the server. Shouldn't have to do that. It does work though, but should be in sync with inbuilt, not duplicating functionality.

conorn said:
Responding to your points ...
Firstly, forget about Exchange, etc. I'm not talking about backing up. I'm talking about the presentation and management of the data. I don't care where it's stored. Could be local, could be cloud - doesn't matter.
Secondly, when I use the term PIM, I mean it in the broadest possible way. I want to manage my personal info. Traditionally, on PDAs, that meant calendar, contacts and tasks. Smartphones have replaced PDAs, so now I want my current smartphone to do this at least as well.
Thirdly, the intent of the original post was to query why there are no 3rd-party PIM-type apps available for WP7. There are for iOS and Android, even BB. There were for WM6 and PalmOS. Why not WP7? A couple of replies confirmed what I suspected. The OS doesn't provide the access programmers need. Everything is very hands-off. Maybe this will change in future releases. there are indications that this may be so.
Finally, some specific comments -
No, I'm talking about duplicating existing appointments. Not recurring events, i.e., I had a meeting today at 2pm. We agree to meet again on Friday at 4pm. All other details the same. Previously I would quickly duplicate the event, update the date/time and I'm done. Now I must create from scratch. I right-click drag in Outlook, Google Calendar has Duplicate in More Actions - so it's not just me.
My choice to decide, but at least give me the choice. In month view I want to see better indicators. Maybe the smallish Lumia 800 display is at fault, or my chosen theme, but I really have difficulty noticing the existing (pretend) indications and they give no indication of what's there (task, appointment, all-day event). There is plenty of room to show boxes and bars for an 'at a glance' overview of my time. Especially in landscape view. BTW, what happened Categories?
Thanks. That, and some others, look interesting. But comes back to the issue raised by others. The only way to get at the tasks data is to go direct to the server. Shouldn't have to do that. It does work though, but should be in sync with inbuilt, not duplicating functionality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1st, not being defensive, just pointing out the way others like myself do it. What i say may or may not work for your situation but it's good to see another way to do it.
For contacts, calendar and tasks - without exchange - they are synced to the cloud hotmail. You don't need to back them up in that case. Last time i hard reset my phone, i didn't even restore via Zune. I put in my hotmail account. That brought in my local contacts and birthdays + vet appointments for my dog. i then synced facebook. That brought in all my friends. then exchange which brought my work contacts, email calendar, tasks ect. You have to get a windows live when you 1st bring up the phone. It is an automatic backup. Now what i did lose was my app list and saved games + contact history.
For apps go to https://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/my under get my apps and you will find a list of everything you purchased or got for free. you can send each app to your phone from there. So only thing is lost is contact history and saved games. Zune sync brings back pictures and music. I wanted to change what i had on my phone and didn't care to keep the exisint pics since they were on my pc anyway so i opted not to do this.
But if you want full local backup i highlighted a homebrew way to do it that doesn't require you to be unlocked.
Tasks - for your example, if you created the event, i normally would just edit it and change the date. Granted it's not copy but does the same functionality, unless you need a record of the event that passed.
I have a Titan so my display it pretty big. I probably could show a week view but on some weeks there are so many appointments that it would have to be bars. They should allow month view to zoom into calendar even if pinch to zoom to satisfy everyone.
Categories i didn't miss because i didn't use them but someone else asked me about them before purchasing a phone. That is when i noticed they were not there. Instead of categoris, i add to the subject.
example = Meeting with consumer - Billable
Instead of a billiable category which i can't do much with i add the text because outlook will allow me to search for it. at the end of the week when i bill out, i just enter in outlook's search (i do billing from pc) billable and it will show all my Billiable appointments in a list with time and date. it works way better that way for me. I haven't quite figured out what people use categories for yet though but i do know that they are not on the phone. Probably because each calendar has it's own color.

Thanks again. But, really, I have no issues with backing up, syncing, etc
Yes, I do keep old events. Which is why I can't believe you can only go back two weeks. Thank goodness for web access.
Second half of post is interesting. I may just have to change my habits. Certainly the idea of using different calendars for colour coding sounds good.

conorn said:
Yes, I do keep old events. Which is why I can't believe you can only go back two weeks. Thank goodness for web access.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm i never notice that. In the hotmail calendar it goes back further. I always thought it followed the email since i have it for a month but i never look back that far.
I didn't know if you knew this but if you change IE to Desktop version in settings you can do full outlook web access with all calendars including shared. (i know this works on 2010 exchange at least). One thing the iphone can't do as you are locked to mobile version and Outlook has no link to change out of it.