Phone that will sync (usb) with Outlook w/o using Gmail/hotmail etc?

Dubwat

I'm looking for a phone that will sync email/calender/contacts via usb with my (Win7) desktop Outlook 2013. I've searched around but can't find what I'm looking for.

Can anyone offer suggestions on phones or even brands?

The Nokia Lumia 520 seemed to be a good bet initially since their headline says it does sync with Outlook 2013 but the small print says you either need an Exchange server or you have to sync with Live/hotmail first.

A commentator on another thread here said you don't really buy a phone anymore - you're buying into an ecosystem. So if you buy an iPhone, you get iCloud etc. If you buy Android, you get Gmail etc.

I know I probably sound like a dinosaur but I've used desktop Outlook for over a decade and it's survived several phones and a couple of computers. I trust Outlook on my desktop more than the 'cloud'.

Thanks in advance...

harney

Who is your email provider e.g. hotmail, gmail, yahoo etc?

Davy

All the info is here on how to do it:> http://www.nokia.com/ie-en/support/troubleshooting/?qt=outlook+2013&action=faqSearch

Its straight forward really. What phone are you currently using?

Dubwat

@ harney:
I have my own .com, not hotmail etc.

@ Davy:
I saw those faqs. It's not so straightforward... 1st two faqs:

Yes, setup the Microsoft account in Outlook 2013 via the Exchange ActiveSync option (the server is m.hotmail.com) and then move contacts, calendars and tasks into the Microsoft account. This will cause these items to automatically sync between the Lumia phone and Outlook using the Microsoft account as the intermediary.

Note You cannot use a USB cable to sync contacts from Outlook on your computer to your Windows Phone.

To sync contacts, you transfer them to a Microsoft account (such as Hotmail or Outlook.com), and then you sync your contacts from the Microsoft account to your phone

Edit: I have an iPhone 3Gs but I don't like it anymore.

Czarcasm

Dubwat wrote: »

I'm looking for a phone that will sync email/calender/contacts via usb with my (Win7) desktop Outlook 2013. I've searched around but can't find what I'm looking for.

Can anyone offer suggestions on phones or even brands?

The Nokia Lumia 520 seemed to be a good bet initially since their headline says it does sync with Outlook 2013 but the small print says you either need an Exchange server or you have to sync with Live/hotmail first.

A commentator on another thread here said you don't really buy a phone anymore - you're buying into an ecosystem. So if you buy an iPhone, you get iCloud etc. If you buy Android, you get Gmail etc.

I know I probably sound like a dinosaur but I've used desktop Outlook for over a decade and it's survived several phones and a couple of computers. I trust Outlook on my desktop more than the 'cloud'.

Thanks in advance...

OP I'm not really sure what your difficulty is tbh.

I'm using a Nokia N8 and I can sync my contacts via USB through Nokia Suite which then get imported and updated in Outlook 2010 when I open it.

Now as I understand it, you can use your own e-mail address as your Live Passport, it doesn't have to be an outlook.com or hotmail.com address, and that way you can sync your contacts up too with your Microsoft Exchange service on your device.

I personally wouldn't go for the 520 as it's a low end Lumia and will probably frustrate you more than you'll find it helpful tbh. You'd want to be aiming at the 820 if you want to get any longevity out of your device and make it pay for itself in terms of productivity.

As far as I'm aware, you can set up multiple exchange accounts on a Lumia device, so technically what you could do, is set up your own domain e-mail on one exchange account, and have your contacts sync on another such as an outlook.com account (I know Microsoft are encouraging moves away from Hotmail).

The thing you need to be aware of when setting it up is- duplicate contacts! At one point during setup I had over two thousand and something contacts on my phone when I accidentally synced from Nokia Suite, Outlook and Outlook.com... absolute nightmare! My phone was syncing and copying from three different sources!

It took me a few hours to sort things out but eventually I got all my contacts and calendars to sync properly across all platforms.

I can only have one exchange account on the N8, but the Lumia as I said will support multiple accounts, including syncing your Gmail e-mail contacts and calendars. It took me a while to get it all integrated, but you're by no means limited to one ecosystem once you're willing to put an initial investment of a couple of hours to get it all set up once. After that you're on the pigs back to so speak as when you get a new device, such as the Nokia Lumia 820 I'm thinking of purchasing, you just again put in your account details for your accounts and all your stuff gets synced up and ready to go in a matter of minutes.


Can't fathom why you'd still want to use USB though, all this stuff can be done over a wireless connection once you have Internet access. Well, maybe seeing as you're a desktop which don't normally have Bluetooth built in, you might need to use USB to do the initial sync with Nokia Suite, but that's about it!

Dubwat

@ Czarcasm
I don't think Nokia suite works with Windows/Lumia phones:

http://www.nokia.com/ie-en/support/product/nokia-suite/
Nokia Suite is meant for the latest non-Lumia phones, such as the Asha family.

I think I've found a phone that does sync with the desktop Outlook -- Huawei Ascend G300 -- but I'm still checking it out.

Czarcasm

Dubwat wrote: »

@ Czarcasm
I don't think Nokia suite works with Windows/Lumia phones:

http://www.nokia.com/ie-en/support/product/nokia-suite/
Nokia Suite is meant for the latest non-Lumia phones, such as the Asha family.

I think I've found a phone that does sync with the desktop Outlook -- Huawei Ascend G300 -- but I'm still checking it out.

Dubwat click on the "More" option in that link you posted

There must have been something lost in the translation there as Nokia Suite 3.8 actually adds MORE support for the latest Lumia models and Outlook 2013. I think what they MAY be talking about with regard to the Asha models is a different Nokia PC Suite, because Asha models are based on the Symbian S40 operating system, which is, well, it's not even worth talking about really tbh!

The G300 though is a popular choice of phone and should easily be suitable for your needs, you'll also get the latest Android release- Jellybean 4.2, which is nice!

Here's some instructions to give you some idea how to set your exchange account up in Android-

http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/article/setting-up-your-android-with-microsoft-exchange-2010

I imagine the setup in Office 2013 wouldn't be too different, even if the new 2013 interface does look like, well, having tested the preview for a while I have no intention of purchasing a licence for all the big Metro style and very little by way of change in substance! I'll stick with 2010 for now, though I do like Microsoft's attempt at a uniform interface across all devices.

Dubwat

@Czarcasm:
Thanks for that! Didn't cop on that there is a Nokia Suite and a Nokia PC Suite. Looks like Nokia Suite will do exactly what I want!! Thanks a mill Thanks to everyone else as well.

That's my question answered...

WRT to the Lumia 520, it ticks a lot of boxes for me but I'll have another look at the lumia 820. I'm deliberately not looking for a high-end phone, just a basic or mid-range phone that I can buy without a monthly contract. Then I'll probably just go with three.ie for their €20 top-up/month deal.

Czarcasm

Just something to mull over Dubwat in that case, if you want to pick up a second hand G300 on Adverts.ie or similar, you can SIM unlock it using this guide-

http://www.modaco.com/topic/358599-how-to-free-sim-unlock-your-g300/

The Lumia however there are various online sites that you can legitimately obtain a SIM unlocking code, but it'll cost you, not quite sure how much.

Three prepay is great btw, 15GB per month data allowance plus free texts to any network all week and free calls to national numbers at weekends!

Three also have a "Talk to" forum here on boards if you wanted to find out more about their latest phones and offers.

Dubwat

I thought I would add this link for completeness, in case anyone else comes looking for "phone<--outlook-->computer" sync. I've no idea if it works or not... just something I bookmarked during my searches.

http://www.akruto.com/about-us/

Direct, two-way, cloud-free synchronization of Outlook Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks on your PC and your smartphone!

sarahovo

Hey Probably not the right thread but Im having trouble signing into my gmail account from a laptop or pc and I cannot log out from my phone! any suggestions as to what I could do

Czarcasm

sarahovo wrote: »

Hey Probably not the right thread but Im having trouble signing into my gmail account from a laptop or pc and I cannot log out from my phone! any suggestions as to what I could do

Hi Sarah,

Have you tried the Password Recovery option?

sarahovo

Yes and Im not getting the option to resend my password or a code to my phone or alternative email. It keeps going to 2 step verification which looks for emails that I would have emailed frequently, labels, the date I opened the account and the last date I was able to log in. Which of course I can't remember.

Czarcasm

Sarah you should be getting a screen like the one I've attached below when you enter your e-mail address at the link I gave in my previous post.

Google Account Recovery Screen.JPG

sarahovo

Yup exactly the same but its only giving me a headache trying to put in the details lol Is there anyway of contacting google do you know?

Navaneetham

Hi, The Blackberry series are best for this purpose. Load the blackberry software on PC, connect your mobile through USB. Now you can flawlessly sync with Outlook Contacts, calender, etc. either uni-direction or bi-directions.

Now I have purchased a Nokia Lumia 520 Windows Phone, I am in deep **** to do the above. There is no way like BB on these phones. You need to export your data to Hotmail or similar and then your mobile will sync automatically with that. I found this is a pure nonsense and big security breach, since all your contacts and related information are uploaded to the email site, where the email company has full access. So be careful.

Another bad thing about this process is that, if you have multiple email accounts like hotmail, gmail, yahoo, etc. and follow the Windows phone way of syncing, you will get multiple contacts list for the same one person and it is going to be further problem in dealing with contacts.

Also the Photographs from Outlook (PC) can not be uploaded, so can't be synced. So you need to add it manually from photos again for each contact.

So request Microsoft to provide a new utility to do the USB way of uploading the contacts, calender, etc..

Hope that helps. The world is changing, but security need to be kept in mind.