Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
iPod Touch, PIM, and Outlook (WAS: Thunderbird as a PIM Hub)
steeladept:
steeladept, does that assessment change any at all when it is considered I will not be buying a data plan for reasons stated here? How many cloudless Apple apps are out there?
Actually looks like there are a few. I know there is an iSilo for iPhone as well.
Also, can iPod Touch use passthrough connectivity from a PC when connected to the PC like Windows Mobile can? Then in theory I could do some things like downloading podcasts "online".
-daddydave (October 14, 2010, 03:43 PM)
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No. Everything I said works equally well with my iPod Touch (that is what I am using as a proxy for testing). As for the passthrough connectivity, yes. Well sort of, I think. I honestly am not exactly sure what you mean by passthrough connectivity. The iPod Touch can link to any wireless (802.11b/g maybe n) connection and run directly as a device for podcasts and whatnot. You can also use iTunes (either on the computer or the preloaded app) to download podcasts and other similar content. Lastly, there are yet more apps out there that allow you to view pretty much anything else that they support independent of Apple (YouTube, for example, has an app that will let you download YouTube videos directly to the device without going through iTunes). Actually most apps that are made for the iPhone work equally well with the iPod Touch. The few exceptions I can think of are phone specific, or location based apps. These need the GSM towers to connect and function. Everything else (even SMS apps and the like) work fine on the Touch. Of course you need a wireless connection for any connectivity type apps, but they work.
I don't really understand any of this. I have an Android phone and I'm not locked in. Email apps are available and easy to sync with any email provider that you are using.
I haven't looked at syncing with Outlook, since that is the last thing I want to do. But I've seen references to CompanionLink and Fliq which claim to sync.
-Dormouse (October 14, 2010, 04:17 PM)
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The problem is you need a separate app for each of them and not all services provide one. On the iPhone, the generic email app allows me to consolidate my Yahoo, Hotmail, GMail, Exchange, and any other IMAP or POP3 email account (up to 4 accounts) into the one app. I can likewise download separate apps if that works better. With the Android platform I *MUST* create a GMail account and I *MUST* register and use it for many different uses, even if I already have several email accounts and don't want to use GMail (which I don't). With the Apple platform (Gah, I am already starting to sound like a fanboy, yuk! - <washes mouth out with soap....comes back to finish typing>) I do need to create an Apple account for the iPhone/iPod Touch, but then I don't need to ever use it again (except for any iTunes/app store "purchases"). All email communication comes in on any email service I prefer, and in fact I have no Apple email service at all.
As for the apps that claim to sync, I don't recall Fliq, but I know CompanionLink is VERY expensive ($40+ USD) and really doesn't fully sync. I think it syncs emails, but my main concern was with contact lists and calendars and it didn't do calendar syncing at all IIRC. Must have been thinking of a different app I tried. However, to make it even more expensive, not only is this app $40, but then you needed to get DejaOffice on top of that. Don't know how much more that would cost.
Just looking at Fliq real quick already shot it down. Need a Fliq account and must sync with the account, not just between Outlook and the Device. I can already do that if I am willing to go through GMail and use that as the common hub instead. Guess I really do need to read closer. But this app too is quite expensive. If I had seen it when I had my android device, though, I might have given it a whirl and seen if that would have satisfied my needs.
My problem is I didn't want a common hub to complicate my life further, I just wanted something that consolidated my already too distributed electronic life.
Dormouse:
The problem is you need a separate app for each of them and not all services provide one. On the iPhone, the generic email app allows me to consolidate my Yahoo, Hotmail, GMail, Exchange, and any other IMAP or POP3 email account (up to 4 accounts) into the one app. I can likewise download separate apps if that works better. With the Android platform I *MUST* create a GMail account and I *MUST* register and use it for many different uses, even if I already have several email accounts and don't want to use GMail (which I don't). With the Apple platform (Gah, I am already starting to sound like a fanboy, yuk! - <washes mouth out with soap....comes back to finish typing>) I do need to create an Apple account for the iPhone/iPod Touch, but then I don't need to ever use it again (except for any iTunes/app store "purchases"). All email communication comes in on any email service I prefer, and in fact I have no Apple email service at all.-steeladept (October 16, 2010, 03:39 AM)
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The app on mine will manage all my email accounts if I want.
Android does require a gmail account (& Google Checkout) for the Market. No different to Apple in that. No need to use it. All email can be through any service you want. And I suspect you can get manage it differently, and outside Google, if you want.
Maybe the Android phone you had wasn't the same as mine.
As for the apps that claim to sync, I don't recall Fliq, but I know CompanionLink is VERY expensive ($40+ USD) and really doesn't fully sync. I think it syncs emails, but my main concern was with contact lists and calendars and it didn't do calendar syncing at all IIRC. Must have been thinking of a different app I tried. However, to make it even more expensive, not only is this app $40, but then you needed to get DejaOffice on top of that. Don't know how much more that would cost.
Just looking at Fliq real quick already shot it down. Need a Fliq account and must sync with the account, not just between Outlook and the Device. I can already do that if I am willing to go through GMail and use that as the common hub instead. Guess I really do need to read closer. But this app too is quite expensive. If I had seen it when I had my android device, though, I might have given it a whirl and seen if that would have satisfied my needs.
-steeladept (October 16, 2010, 03:39 AM)
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DejaOffice is free (approx $10 to for no adds). But it isn't actually required if you are happy to sync with the Android apps & Google. $40 is quite a lot - but they charge the same for the iOS version.
These apps are quite expensive in app terms - but no different to the standard pricing for WM programs really. And only a small part of the price differential between Apple and Android.
I'm quite happy having a lot of things going through my gmail account and that works out free. I have some email accounts I keep completely separate, so I do that too. If I used Outlook, I could set up a system to sync with that too if I wanted. The only point I'm making is that there is no reason to be locked into Google just because you have an Android phone. And, because it is OpenSource, I'm sure that all needs will be met by someone as the Android App market develops.
daddydave:
steeladept, thanks for making me consider iPod Touch as an option, which was unthinkable for me before you started making the case. Sounds like you were where I was. My own research is so far corroborating what you say:
* MobileNoter Wi-Fi edition for iPod Touch/iPhone syncs to Microsoft OneNote cloudlessly. I don't currently use OneNote, don't really like it, but maybe I need to.
* Pocket Informant for iPhone. Used to sync only to ToodleDo and Google though, but "Version 1.2 adds syncing directly to Oulook via our WebIS Desktop Sync" Thus it also can be cloudless.
* The PIM situation on Android seems grim. Do a Google search for Android PIM and you will find dozens of threads like this, but no finished apps and apparently no open API's on Google's side.
bob99:
I have been looking for a full fledged Android PIM for some time. No real luck. There are have been a number of posts by people on the Android Forum also looking.
DejaOffice has been trying but it seems it works well on some mfg & model phones but not so well on others. Companionlink is needed to perform a USB sync and there was talk of them coming out with a wireless sync about the time I stopped trying to get DejaOffice to work on my phone. Here is a link to their forum if you'd like to look at it.
http://www.dejaoffice.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?13-DejaOffice-for-Android
The Handbase database app has just recently been released for Android. I have not used it yet but there have been ex Palm & Pocket PC users on the Android and some other forums that have been waiting patiently for it's release. Saying this will allow them to use their Android phone more effectively. May be someone will come up with a PIM using it.
Handbase site
http://www.ddhsoftware.com/Android/
Edit
Adding the Handbase forum link.
http://www.ddhsoftware.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=7
daddydave:
Handbase on the Windows Mobile platform and also on Palm was a great app which I almost registered. In fact, I tried several and on the WM platform, I found it to be the best balance of power and ease-of-use.
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