Android and Hotmail
I was going to wait for a Verizon phone with the Windows Phone 7 OS until reading today that they will not be available until the end of Q2 this year. I'm looking again at Android based phones and have a question about Hotmail support. I expect I can add my Hotmail accounts, but will my primary account integrate with an Android phone's calendar? Getting my phone calendar to transparently sync with my Hotmail web calendar is one of my main reasons for considering a new phone.
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When I went to Android in 2009, I had already been using Gmail for many years, but still had my Hotmail account. Instead of putting my Hotmail account on my phone (which I tried for all of five minutes before deleting it), I just integrated my Gmail and Hotmail accounts.
I've also helped a number of customers do the same. Since an Android phone practically requires you to have a Gmail account anyway, there was some logic to integration.
On the Gmail web site, under Settings, under Account & Import, I added my Hotmail account to the section called Import Mail & Contacts. Slowly, I've transferred anything that was left on Hotmail (that I cared about) to Gmail. Now, I don't use Hotmail that much at all. But others continue to use Ho...
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I've also helped a number of customers do the same. Since an Android phone practically requires you to have a Gmail account anyway, there was some logic to integration.
On the Gmail web site, under Settings, under Account & Import, I added my Hotmail account to the section called Import Mail & Contacts. Slowly, I've transferred anything that was left on Hotmail (that I cared about) to Gmail. Now, I don't use Hotmail that much at all. But others continue to use Ho...
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Wow! That is insidious! Android making a Gmail account mandatory killed Hotmail. No wonder Microsoft is in on this Windows Phone 7 gig.
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Thanks for the reply. I actually do already have Gmail, and I'm aware that I could forward my Hotmail email to that account in real time, but can the calendar information also be replicated? I see an option in the Hotmail calendar to share it, but not forward it. Is there a way to do this? I understand that I could just switch over to gmail, however I have multiple accounts in hotmail, business cards, etc, so I'm rather reluctant to change everything in order to use an android based phone.
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You need to look at it from the Gmail end, under Settings. Hotmail will let you forward to another MSN address. Gmail will check your Hotmail for you, import data, and put it into your Gmail.
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Yes, I see the option in Gmail settings to import mail and contacts, but it says nothing about calendars. It also looks like a static, one time operation as opposed to a real time update. Email is not the problem since it's clear I can forward it. It's all about the calendar and I'm not seeing support on either end yet. If I'm missing something please try again.
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Sorry, I totally forgot about the calendar aspect.
Short of using a recent version of Outlook to integrate your Hotmail, then using Google's Outlook importer to integrate Outlook with Gmail, there's not much else that I'm aware of at the moment. This was part of the reason I practically abandoned Hotmail for Gmail six or so years ago.
Hotmail has never been known to play well with others.
On my Gmail calendar, I can share different calendars with most anyone. And with Android, I don't need to plug anything in, click on anything, or worry - it just works. And I share other people's calendars on there, if I like.
There are some one-time transfer options if you're switching over to Google Calendar entirely, but that doesn't soun...
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Short of using a recent version of Outlook to integrate your Hotmail, then using Google's Outlook importer to integrate Outlook with Gmail, there's not much else that I'm aware of at the moment. This was part of the reason I practically abandoned Hotmail for Gmail six or so years ago.
Hotmail has never been known to play well with others.
On my Gmail calendar, I can share different calendars with most anyone. And with Android, I don't need to plug anything in, click on anything, or worry - it just works. And I share other people's calendars on there, if I like.
There are some one-time transfer options if you're switching over to Google Calendar entirely, but that doesn't soun...
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Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately you're confirming what I came up against last year when I was getting ready to upgrade. Seems like waiting for Windows Phone 7 to come to Verizon is my best bet. Since it looks like Sprint will be offering a CDMA WP7 phone very soon I have to wonder why Verizon won't be ready until the end of Q2, but who knows? Maybe this is BS and Verizon will be ready much sooner?
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Well, I took a few more minutes to dig around.
I got Hotmail - email, contacts, AND calendar - to sync to my original Droid. Still trying to get it up and running on my Incredible.
On the Droid:
Go to the Email app.
Add an account.
Type in your Hotmail email address and password.
DO NOT press Next, press Manual Setup.
Select Exchange from the list (POP3/IMAP/Exchange).
Make sure the the "Domain\Username" field has your full Hotmail address, preceded by a "\"
For example, if my email address were "[email protected]," then I would have this entered into the "Domain\Username" field:
\[email protected]
Leave the password field alone, unless you think you typed it wrong.
Change the Server field to say "m.hotmail.com...
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I got Hotmail - email, contacts, AND calendar - to sync to my original Droid. Still trying to get it up and running on my Incredible.
On the Droid:
Go to the Email app.
Add an account.
Type in your Hotmail email address and password.
DO NOT press Next, press Manual Setup.
Select Exchange from the list (POP3/IMAP/Exchange).
Make sure the the "Domain\Username" field has your full Hotmail address, preceded by a "\"
For example, if my email address were "[email protected]," then I would have this entered into the "Domain\Username" field:
\[email protected]
Leave the password field alone, unless you think you typed it wrong.
Change the Server field to say "m.hotmail.com...
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Now, that's exciting! I will try to find a phone I can test this on. There's a lot to like about the Android OS and if I can make the email/calendar work I suddenly have some very cool phones to consider 😎
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Regarding getting this working on your original Droid, what version of Android is it running?
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Incidentally, I couldn't get it to work on my wife's Samsung Continuum. Not sure why - it appeared to install, but ended up not working.
So far, I've only been able to get it to work on my Moto Droid. Again, on 2.2.
So far, I've only been able to get it to work on my Moto Droid. Again, on 2.2.
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Thanks, I appreciate the confirmation. I read in another forum that Froyo 2.2 was required. So, it didn't work on your wife's phone with the 2.2 OS? I'm thinking of either a Samsung Fascinate or a Droid X and it would help if I can confirm it works on these. I may have to go to the store and try it on a display unit (I'll ask about wiping the phone afterward if necessary before I do it).
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I believe I read where hotmail not has ActiveSync or Exchange support. You should be able to set it up like an Exchange account on Android and get true push as well as Calendar and Contact sync.
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Thanks for confirming the info about Exchange and ActiveSync. I'm wondering specifically about the Droid X. I was in a Verizon store today trying to set it up on an "X" running Android 2.2 and I couldn't find an Exchange option. Going through the regular email account setup only offered POP and IMAP. Do you know if it works on the X? Was I just looking in the wrong place? TIA
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Yep, it does. I actually have the Droid X and use Exchange. All Android devices do. Go to Settings, Accounts, Add, then it's the Corporate Sync option.
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Awesome, thanks! Have you been happy with the Droid X? Any thing to be aware of? The screen blew me away. It's so good I think I could deal with not having a hardware keyboard.
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Its great. I love it. I've had this, the Incredible, and the Fascinate and the X is my favorite.
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