I'm considering a move from another OS to a Lumia 925, I won't say which one because I tend to find that people have preconceived notions of what iPhone and Android people are looking for and whether they'll be able to deal with the way Windows does it.
Just some questions...
1. I'm entirely in the Windows world for productivity (Word, Excel, Outlook, SkyDrive) so I imagine that will be seamless on a Windows Phone? I mean, is there anything that is actually not doable when operating documents, spreadsheets, etc? I just want to make sure it's not like with Google Drive/QuickOffice where you technically CAN open and work on docs but there are always formatting issues and tiny bugs that crop up from time to time.
2. How does file management work? I'm referring to copying files, music, pictures to and from the phone.
3. Can one save email attachments, attach anything one wants to an email, open any kind of file (pdf, office, images, audio, video, etc)
4. Can I use my own music files and set them as ringtones and notifications?
5. Will the email app allow for an IMAP account from my own email server and let me see all of its folder and subfolder structure?
6. If my wife and I both have Windows Phones and I assume we each will have our own accounts on our phones, how can we each connect to our PC at home? Will it mean having to have two different profiles of Windows on the tower?
7. Is there a way to know which phones will get the 8.1 update? I want to make sure the Lumia 925 gets it.
If anyone can help with these things, I'd really appreciate it. Unfortunately, mobile phone customer service reps in stores simply don't know these things well enough to give any kind of help and these are the kinds of things that really matter to me, not how many apps there are in the market or whether a phone's camera has a certain number of megapixels.
Thanks!
Here are some answers to the questions you have.
1. The Office suite on WP8 is obviously a stripped-down version compared to the desktop counterparts. However as long as you don't use anything advanced you should be fine. On the phone you will have Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote available. OneNote is especially useful on a phone.
2. It's different. Once you connect the phone to the PC you will find the following pre-defined folders:
- Documents - for Word, Excel, Powerpoint files
- Music - for.. well, music
- Pictures
- Ringtones - for ringtones and notification sounds
- Videos
There is no file manager on the phone itself, however there are apps, which handle files from each of these folders, through which you can rearrange or delete these file types. The system has an API (thus some apps developed as well) for handling new file types like zip, rar, ebook types, etc., which can be registered. You may attempt to open any file type you just downloaded, if an app on your phone is registered to it, it will open the file using it.
Copying the files into the folders I just listed is as straightforward as copying any file using your favorite Windows file manager.
3. Saving email attachments isn't supported out of the box - however you can open them if an app is registered for that file type, and if the app supports saving the file, then you may do that there too (this will save the file to the app's work folder). Once you're in the email app you can only attach photos, but I'm pretty sure you can attach other file types using their own apps and the share button (if any).
4. The short answer is yes. I haven't actually tried this, but I know music ringtones are supported and custom notification sounds are/will be supported with GDR3 (which is an update you can already download if you're a developer or will be getting soon through OTA updates). The way to actually do it is by copying the files to the Ringtones folder, but I think there are some apps, which automate this process (I'm not sure).
5. I'm currently using 2 google IMAP email accounts. I'm pretty sure you should be fine here.
6. Yes, you will have different accounts on the phones, but you don't HAVE to have different ones. I never actually tried sharing accounts, but I know logging in from the same account on several phones is possible, this way you'll get synced contact list, app list, you'll only need to purchase an app once for both of you, and some other benefits. No, you won't necessarily need two different accounts for it on the PC. I use the same account on my phone and on my home (and work) PCs (running Windows 8 and 8.1) and I haven't really seen much syncing between the phone and the computer other than the contact list and account list (email accounts, facebook, twitter, linkedin, microsoft accounts).
7. We're in the same ballpark here, I'm currently enjoying my Lumia 925, I personally think it's a great phone. All of the current devices running WP8 were promised to get 8.1, however we don't really know much details about the update.
People coming from a different major OS generally experience Windows Phones differently, than people coming from feature phones. Android users usually miss the Notification Center and Multitasking, which works differently here (the Live Tiles are your notification center and multitasking works by different rules), and iOS users might miss Siri? Actually I have no idea, since I've never actually owned one.
The sheer number of apps in the store is considerably lower, however there are hardly any apps, which don't have a counterpart in the WP8 store, some are even better than the originals on Android/iOS.
I wish you the best and I hope I helped. Choose wisely
That's a great overall description! A few more comments:
1) The phone should be able to *open* any Office document just fine, but you won't have anything close to the full Office suite's power to make changes; it's mostly basic edits only. For example, you can add or delete slides to a Powerpoint deck, and edit their text, but I don't think you can create or edit custom themes.
2) Documents, music, and pictures are no problem. The phone connects via Media Transfer Protocol (MTP), same as most modern Android phones do; all major OSes can access it, but it is *not* the same as USB Mass Storage. You can't just use it as a USB drive. Additionally, this kind of access only works for the built-in "Libraries" (in the Windows "My Documents", "My Music", etc. sense) on the phone; if you, for example, use a third-party app to handle a file type, that won't show up. One example is ebooks; you can open ebook files on the phone if you download them from the web or open them from attachments, but you can't just copy a bunch of .MOBI files into (or out of) the Kindle folder, for example. Note that this assumes no special hacks; we've been able to get full filesystem access on Samsung phones (such as the ATIV S, which I have).
3) Generally, opening any kind of attachment is possible. If the phone doesn't have an app to do it yet, it will offer to search the Store for compatible apps. If it has multiple compatible apps, it will ask which one to use. However, where attachments get saved is up to the app. The built-in Office programs and image viewer can save to the system libraries. Not so sure about videos or music, although they will open using the built-in apps (for recognized formats, at least).
4) Yes, using your own music works fine. Copy the clips to the Ringtones "folder" over USB, or use one of the many apps (they can do things like trim the file for you, too). Some notification types require GDR3, which your phone may or may no come with but which you can upgrade to easily.
5) IMAP works great. Switching folders is a *bit* more annoying than I'd like - three taps - but it works, and you can control which ones automatically sync to the phone. I use a private IMAP server without any trouble.
6) You really *should* have different user profiles on the PC (for unrelated reasons), but the phone OS doesn't require it. I don't know for sure how well the "Windows Phone App" handles the situation, but I do all the stuff manually anyhow (using Windows Explorer and other tools) and that works fine with multiple phones.
7) No way to know for sure. It's pretty well guaranteed that a phone released so recently as the 925 will get the update, though, and these days Microsoft allows developers and enthusiasts to get updates without waiting for them to finish carrier testing and customization (you'll get the customizations once they're released too). T-Mobile US is pretty good about releasing updates anyhow, though, and the phone's specs are easily good enough.
If it helps, the Samsung ATIV S (SGH-T899M, not the other models) works great on T-Mobile frequencies. The only problem I've had is with the WiFi tethering (USB tethering is unofficial but works fine and is built in if you can find it; instructions are on the forum) and everything else works including LTE. Can't get the loan from TMo for it, but you can find a SIM-unlocked one online for cheaper than the 925 anyhow.
Many people asked me to be more specific on these questions on a WP forum I found so I'll paste those more specific questions here just in case someone can help further...
I'm coming from 3 years on Android after 3 years on Windows Mobile. I've rooted every phone I've ever had, principally to be able to flash a different ROM to the stock version on the phone. There are any number of features you can play with on a custom ROM but my only concern was to get rid of Touchwiz, HTC Sense, and other ROMs I hated in favour of a more pure Android experience. So, no I wasn't rooting my phone for access to millions of "hack-y" applications.
I'm concerned about burdening people with a long post but I'll try to expand on my questions.
1. Office - Aside from the obvious limitations of not being able to put an ENTIRE version of the Office programs into app form on a phone (cause you'd need a computer) do all the Office apps offer view, edit, create, email, save to phone/cloud, share to other apps.
2. Files - Basically, can I take (non-DRM) an ebook file, music, video, document, pdf, photo on and off the phone by using a USB cable and Windows File Explorer on my PC/laptop.
3. Email attach - Can I get an email with any doc, pdf, photo, image and open/save it. Can I attach any file from my phone into an email? Even if it means doing it from within the adjoining app. A PDF by sharing through a PDF viewer, a photo(s) through the WP gallery app or other camera/photo apps, an Office document through Word.
4. Ringtones - I think I got the answer I wanted but I have several ringtone mp3s I've used for years for specific people, SMS, Email, Whatsapp that I'd like to keep using by copying to the phone. Yes? No?
5. Email - I have a private email server on bluehost. I have found very often that some email clients that are too basic will let me add these accounts with IMAP but won't let me define the IMAP Path Prefix for folders and subfolders to appear correctly. If you've done this and you have slightly nerdy email organisation, you know what I'm talking about. It comes down to all the email folders appearing as they do on your Windows email programs/clients as opposed to appearing as though all those folders are floating within the phone's inbox. It looks like hell and creates a very messy email experience.
6. Accounts - This is something that comes from being an Android user that never sat well with me for various reasons. For those that don't know, the entire Android experience is based on your phone being constantly connected to one gmail account at a time which is tied to your all apps and basically all other user info on the phone. Logout, everything is gone. The question is... at home we like using Windows without having to keep two different profiles/accounts/etc. except for in Outlook. Android doesn't really play well directly with the Windows productivity world (one of the reasons we don't want Android anymore). But now that Office and other elements of Skydrive will sync for us beautifully, we want the link to be easy as possible. So, to that end, does Windows Phone have the same concept of signing into your phone to operate it and how does that affect BOTH of us having instant access to all of Windows on our PC and Laptop? Will we each have to sign in to Word when we're sitting here? Will only the profile logged into in Windows see their files? Will we be constantly logging into and out of Windows? If I'm logged in will my wife not see her files? Hope that makes it clear?
Additional things...
- I'm going to the Lumia 925 from the Galaxy S3. I was on a Google AOSP ROM so there is nothing TouchWiz that I'll be missing. I don't even know what was on there to be honest. It was flashed pretty quickly. Anyway, if there are any opinions about the 925, limitations, problems.
- Most important, crucial must-haves for us on a phone are: strong camera quality, photo apps, phone call quality, good maps app, email and web browsing. Pretty much nothing else.
- My use is about 95% camera, ebook reading, web browsing, Twitter, light gaming, Whatsapp, SMS, note taking, recipe saving and working on documents. I never use mobile phones for any kind of music or video playing. I don't watch video on anything smaller than a TV, and I only listen to music on a dedicated audio media player that plays specific file formats.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, if you do. I appreciate it.
Nevermind.. mistake post
tinpanalley said:
1. Office - Aside from the obvious limitations of not being able to put an ENTIRE version of the Office programs into app form on a phone (cause you'd need a computer) do all the Office apps offer view, edit, create, email, save to phone/cloud, share to other apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can. Currently I could use the Share feature for email or bluetooth, but I suppose it's possible for other apps to show up there if installed.
tinpanalley said:
2. Files - Basically, can I take (non-DRM) an ebook file, music, video, document, pdf, photo on and off the phone by using a USB cable and Windows File Explorer on my PC/laptop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The answer is: no, yes, yes, yes, yes(only through the office application if placed in the documents folder), yes; but remember, these answers are for STRICTLY using the Windows File Exporer.
The easiest ways to handle file transfer for ANY file type is either SkyDrive or downloading the file from the internet(for example: through a web-browser using an ftp server over local Wi-Fi). Pocket File Manager is a great app for downloading stuff (and opening) from anywhere including ftp, SkyDrive, GDrive, Dropbox, etc.
tinpanalley said:
3. Email attach - Can I get an email with any doc, pdf, photo, image and open/save it. Can I attach any file from my phone into an email? Even if it means doing it from within the adjoining app. A PDF by sharing through a PDF viewer, a photo(s) through the WP gallery app or other camera/photo apps, an Office document through Word.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can attach anything if you have a handler app for the specific file type, which supports sharing through email (like the Office app for office documents).
tinpanalley said:
4. Ringtones - I think I got the answer I wanted but I have several ringtone mp3s I've used for years for specific people, SMS, Email, Whatsapp that I'd like to keep using by copying to the phone. Yes? No?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have the option to select ringtones and SMS sounds for individuals using the People hub. I haven't used Whatsapp, so I can't help you there.
tinpanalley said:
6. Accounts - This is something that comes from being an Android user that never sat well with me for various reasons. For those that don't know, the entire Android experience is based on your phone being constantly connected to one gmail account at a time which is tied to your all apps and basically all other user info on the phone. Logout, everything is gone. The question is... at home we like using Windows without having to keep two different profiles/accounts/etc. except for in Outlook. Android doesn't really play well directly with the Windows productivity world (one of the reasons we don't want Android anymore). But now that Office and other elements of SkyDrive will sync for us beautifully, we want the link to be easy as possible. So, to that end, does Windows Phone have the same concept of signing into your phone to operate it and how does that affect BOTH of us having instant access to all of Windows on our PC and Laptop? Will we each have to sign in to Word when we're sitting here? Will only the profile logged into in Windows see their files? Will we be constantly logging into and out of Windows? If I'm logged in will my wife not see her files? Hope that makes it clear?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the limitation here is the computer/laptop. I just read up on having multiple SkyDrive accounts and it seems it's not officially possible without logging in/out for each switch. HOWEVER you can actually choose which SkyDrive account you want to log in to from the phone(using the official SkyDrive app or the Pocket File Manager app, or others), it doesn't necessarily have to be the same as your phone's microsoft account.
The Lumia 925 is an awesome phone, has great camera quality, has included navigation with offline maps, has lens apps(for photo modifications), has photo post-processing apps in the store, it has 4G LTE for quite a few networks. Overall, I love this phone and I hope you'll love it just as much
GoodDayToDie said:
You can open ebook files on the phone if you download them from the web or open them from attachments, but you can't just copy a bunch of .MOBI files into (or out of) the Kindle folder, for example.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So is there not an ebook app that will read any .mobi or .epub files you place on the phone somehow? There's really no way to do this at all?
Not without hacks, no. I use Bluetooth to transfer them, rather than USB; the phone accepts files via BT and opens the appropriate app to handle them, and there are several apps that can do that handling. However, while the apps can save the files to their local folders, those files can't be subsequently accessed either from the PC or from other apps.
The exception to this limitation is SD cards. Apps can open files on SD cards if those files are of the same extension that the app registered for (such as .MOBI, .PRC, .EPUB). You can also load up the phone's SD card over USB from the PC. Of course, if your phone doesn't *have* an SD card, that's not much use.
GoodDayToDie said:
Not without hacks, no. I use Bluetooth to transfer them, rather than USB; the phone accepts files via BT and opens the appropriate app to handle them, and there are several apps that can do that handling. However, while the apps can save the files to their local folders, those files can't be subsequently accessed either from the PC or from other apps.
The exception to this limitation is SD cards. Apps can open files on SD cards if those files are of the same extension that the app registered for (such as .MOBI, .PRC, .EPUB). You can also load up the phone's SD card over USB from the PC. Of course, if your phone doesn't *have* an SD card, that's not much use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So strange, I just read about 2 apps that can read epub and mobi files off SkyDrive and Dropbox and without the need to use sd cards. Freda and Raccoon Reader.
That's not on the phone in any way, shape, or form. Of course any app that wants to (assuming the ubiquitously declared ID_CAP_NETWORKING) can open a TCP socket to dropbox.com and send some HTTP traffic over it and download files. That has nothing to do with the OS capabilities, though. The question was about "files you place on the phone somehow" and my butt doesn't count.
Related
Hi All
First post, had a look at the search and couldn't find an appropriate post already so here it goes:
I am so close to ordering the HTC One (Tmo) as a significant upgrade from a cruddy old BB Curve. Although the BB is anitquated, it does some things very well like email exchange (multiple accounts) and contacts, calendars etc.
Will I find the HTC to be as good in these aspects?
What about microsoft tools etc?
I have seen a slick 'portfolio' style app for iphone (yuck) to display projects on to potential clients etc - is there something similar for Android?
I heard the bluetooth is a weaker antennae - is this true?
Any particulalrly good features about HTC One that I can capitalize on as a business user?
I would like to use it as a hot spot for my next purchase (a tablet) - can I keep everything else stock and easily ensure FREE hotspot usage and avoid nasty TMo charges - if so where do I go to learn about that?
Finally - I am getting a tablet to go with it, again for a lot of business use (and a lot of personal use) but the tablet will be a BYOD so can be a bit more expqerimental with tweaking it with the goodies on this fourm - so what would be a better pairing - a Kindle Fire HD, or possibly the next Nexus - the specs for it sound amazing. Thoughts?
Thanks in advance
I'm a heavy business user but have only ever used Android as my main device. The company issues BB devices but I refused to take one & more and more other people I know I moving away from BB.
As a Business Device I find it very satisfactory. I have receive my Exchange Email on it and I have to say I quite like the Email app (I keep my personal email separate and receive that through the dedicated Gmail app).
Previously I had used Pure Calendar as a widget for quick access to my calendar as I seem to have more and more meetings and need to keep track of things. Since getting the HTC One I use mainly the dedicated HTC Calendar App which I find very good.
I don't really use Bluetooth significantly expect for in my car so can't really comment on any issues with it.
Working for a company with offices in many different locations, I also find the quick access to Dropbox and ease to share documents, CAD files, PDF's through it excellent.
As well as the HTC One, I also have a Galaxy Nexus 10 - this is an absolutely beast of a tablet. Again I have my Exchange Email on it, Dropbox for sharing files etc. I also have Quick Office Pro (Polaris is also good) for opening any Office documents. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by a 'Portfolio' App but when giving presentations I always load the PowerPoint onto my tablet as well so I can have a side-meeting if required with the presentation easy to flick through. As a frequent traveller also, the Nexus 10 is a great Multimedia device to just watch a movie or TV show while hanging around airports.
I would also say that the ability to easily 'drop' files onto either device using the traditional drag and drop method when connected to my desktop is a massive time saver. I find the iPhone absolutely terrible in this regard.
Hope this helps.
squire
Awesome feedback, thank you Squire!
The portfolio app is a very impressive way to demonstrate your past projects using slide show format, but on the home screen, it has your entire 'portfolio' arranged by project/industry or whatever you need so you can quickly go to that type of project depending on the type of client you bump in to/present to. I have to do a lot of business development as well as my day job so this is quite important but not a deal breaker for the phone. More likley I will have it on the tablet anyway.
The drag and drop of files between devices /PCs etc is absolutely critical for me too - I need it to be quick, easy and painless , which it is not on the IPhone/Pad to PC as you rightly say. I noticed that you also deal with CAD files means that base is covered, do you have a CAD viewer also? Is it an expensive app to get?
Does the HTC calendar app and contacts sycn with Outlook or will I have to migrate to a new system?
I think if these two things are seamlessy integrated into Outlook, I think I am going to take the plunge and place the order today.
Can you point me in the direction of that Portfolio app - it sounds interesting.
adams.an.android said:
I noticed that you also deal with CAD files means that base is covered, do you have a CAD viewer also? Is it an expensive app to get?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an official AutoDesk app called AutoCAD 360 which is free on Google Play.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.autodesk.autocadws
adams.an.android said:
Does the HTC calendar app and contacts sycn with Outlook or will I have to migrate to a new system?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Contacts & calendar sync perfectly with Exchange (i.e. Outlook). I essentially have 3 sets of contacts on my phone - current work contacts from Exchange, personal contacts from my private Gmail and old work contacts from what I call my "professional" Gmail (i.e. the one I don't mind telling people I work with about). I also have 5 different Calendars syncing - Exchange, 2 x Gmail, Tripit & another internet calendar which gives me local Religious holidays.
Just another note - in general I find editing Office files on the tablet very cumbersome. This goes for both Nexus 10 and iPad (my gf has one). What I find it most useful for is quickly accessing email attachments and commenting on them. You're certainly not going to be writing a Technical Report or Business Proposal on it.
These are generally the 'work-related' apps I use
AutoCAD 360
Box (similar to Dropbox)
Dropbox
File Station Tablet (best Windows Explorer like File Explorer for an Android Tablet)
Gmail
Google Keep (I'm not a great lover of Evernote; this is basically Google's version of it)
iSyncr for iTunes - PC (essential for syncing your iTunes Library to your Android device)
Maps (living in the Middle East, you often have to rely on Maps to find places rather than incomprehensible directions)
OfficeSuite Pro 7 (PDF & HD)
Sendspace (for 'public' sharing of large files to my Client)
Skype
Thumb Keyboard
Tripit (absolutely indispensable app to organise your traveling life)
Plus various news readers etc.....
Just figured out the thanks/karma thing so have given props - thank you for the info and the links. I will definitely load them up when my phone comes!
You seem to have extremely similar usage profile to me, several calendars, several address books, do a lot of business travel and receive a ton of attachments that you need to be able to call up on the fly.
Re the portfolio app: I haven't broken my 10 post limit yet however, if you add the http you should get to the following page
//ipadportfolioapp.com
I have seen it in action on the IPad only so far, but the splash page is cool - put your company logo as the backdrop, and your projects load up below that. The reviews of Android equivalents haven't been overly positive, but I haven't hunted down every single similar app yet - and still need to conduct my own test for my particular needs.
I am a hardcore Google user. I have an android phone and tablet and lots of google stuff online. My phone is getting old, and I was thinking of trying out something new.
Couple questions:
1. Whats the equivalent of "rooting" on wp8, if any?
2. How would you go about "rooting" your phone.
3. Are there any recommend phones for general use+development?
Julian90090 said:
I am a hardcore Google user. I have an android phone and tablet and lots of google stuff online. My phone is getting old, and I was thinking of trying out something new.
Couple questions:
1. Whats the equivalent of "rooting" on wp8, if any?
2. How would you go about "rooting" your phone.
3. Are there any recommend phones for general use+development?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. There is no equivalent of rooting at this time, as Windows Phone is much more locked down than Android (comparable to iOS) and there aren't as many devs working on it
2. Nothing yet, but its very easy to developer unlock it to side load custom made apps
3. You are probably best off getting a Nokia, either a cheap (~$100) Lumia 520 or a higher end like the Lumia 920/925/928 (I'd go with the 1020 if you can afford it). Windows Phone is very efficient, and runs almost as well on lower end hardware like the 520 as it does on higher end.
If you are really a hardcore Google user you are likely to find Windows Phone lacking as Google is intentionally keeping their programs and services off the platform (at least first party, nearly everything can be accessed through third party apps).
I made the switch, and I love it, but Windows Phone is not for people that want to constantly tweak everything because it is locked down. I used to love to tinker, now I love that I can't.
Yeah... WP7 was eventually broken wide open, but WP8's lockdown has been harder to bypass. There's a few devices (Huawei W1?) for which people have reported being able to edit the stock ROM somewhat, which is probably usable for "rooting" the phone, but none of the high-end devices have a known working exploit yet.
Developer-unlock, which will allow sideloading low-permission (no special capabilities, just the standard public ones) apps, is available for free, but you have to use PC tools to do it. Get the WP8 SDK from Microsoft (free, but a big download) and run the Windows Phone Developer Registration tool. Unless you pay for a developer account, there will be a very low limit on the number of apps you can sideload.
I'm actually personally pretty happy with the Samsung ATIV S phones; they have the best hardware in many ways (biggest battery, biggest and nearly highest-resolution displays, biggest internal storage that also has an SD card slot, best currently-available-in-WP8 CPUs) and you can install many of the Nokia apps anyhow (you can also install the Samsung apps on Nokia phones, same for HTC, etc.) using a proxy to modify the store requests. However, for a budget phone, the Nokia Lumia 52x line is hard to beat, and for camera quality, the Lumia 1020 is the best smartphone available, bar none.
There's plenty to do if you like to tinker with the phone... the problem is, you have to find it all yourself. There's not that much, aside from things like using a proxy to get apps intended for different OEMs' phones, that we've found to work so far. I've written a neat app that lets you browse the visible parts of the WP8 file system and registry from your PC (see my signature, it's the webserver app) which I hope will help people find something exploitable to get full Admin privileges on the phone, but so far, that hasn't happened. There's lots of other potential exploit vectors too; people just need to find them and make them usable!
Like GoodDayToDie said, it's NOT rootable. End of story.
As an experience goes, though, I switched iOS -> Android earlier this year because I was firmly in camp Google. I seemed to have problems that most other users did not, but all in all it was a miserable experience. After about 4mo switched to WP8.
For reference, on the phone; I use Google Maps, Google Voice, GMail, Contacts, Calendar, and search.
Contacts, Calendar, and mail all sync smoothly with built-in stuff. Search is an app, and it can't take Bing's place on the search button.
There's not an official Google Maps app, but there are apps in the Store that offer it. After about 6w now, I'm mostly using Nokia's Here stuff for mapping though.
Google Voice is available as a third party app. I was using Metrotalk. It was better than GV on iOS but inferior to GV on Android.
For what it's worth.
Except, you know, the part where it's nothing at all like a desktop OS.
No support for arbitrary applications or running as Admin. No file browser or registry editor. No command prompt or built-in scripting engine. No third-party background services (officially, at least; unofficially it's possible if you can work with the low permissions) or multiple windows at once. No task manager or management console. No device manager or third-party drivers. No user installer or recovery tools. No way to uninstall updates or make disk backups. No way to pass a file directly to another application (it must go through a registered extension handler, which the other app must be selected as the handler for). No multi-user support. None of the standard Windows power management tools. No OpenGL support, or ability to manually update the drivers. No support for external mice (or really for any mice, properly speaking). No support for USB host mode (that I can see, at least not in the base OS). No support for Windows networking or VPNs. No (built-in) support for remote desktop. No printing. The included version of Office is very limited compared to the full thing. No way to change the default web browser, email client, or several other such things. No support for installing new system media codecs or fonts. No way to choose what store a certificate is saved into, to export a saved cert, or to delete a saved cert.Browser has a limit of six tabs, no Flashplayer, and no Tracking Protection [Lists] feature.
Windows Phone 8 has about as much to do with Windows 8 as Android has to do with Ubuntu. In fact, it has significantly less, from the user's perspective.
some Noob's experience with WP8/ Nokia 928
Some other problemsthat i have stumbled on while trying WP8 for past 2 days, Nokia 928.
1. Ringtones and txt messages are changeable but notifications sounds for other programs are not (i.e. metrotalk - client)
2. Using public wifi that requires a comfirmatory click on their acceptable use page - Broken - works first time for me, then every time after it constantly loads up "w w w.msftncsi.com/nsci.txt" and the phone is constantly asking if I want to continue connecting to that wifi hotspot - Annoying.
3. Internet explorer is the builtin browser ( with some 3rd party UC browser, Surfcube 3D browser) but NO chrome nor firefox, - some pages load weird, especially if you choose desktop mode.
Images that appears in the browser search in IE 10 or UC browser, using bing or google comes back blurry, until you choose to open that one pic in full size image , but then you can't scroll through the result of images until you go back, at which time the images will sometimes not load, mind you this is on wifi.
4. No native Google voice apps - Metrotalk is good but you have to go through some hoops to setup push notification (ie having the app be able to notify you of txt and voicemail without actually having that app open), and you can't change the notification sound of Metrotalk as stated above
5. No file browsers
As I said, this is my experience with the phone and WP8 for the last 2 days, YMMV
Hello,
I'm just starting my dev journey with WP8 with my new T-Mobile Lumia 520.
First what I need to do is to debrand my lumia - for faster updates. T-Mobile is not offering yet the next release of fw which allows to disable images in IE, and as dev I need to be up-to-date as fast as possible. I need to download the FW, but I don't know which one - localized for sure, but what GDR is? What Amber means? I can't decide which one do I need to download and flash. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2515453 This instruction doesn't show the moment of decision).
Next question is about unlocking. I'm downloading music from Soundcloud via Cloudoh and I want to access them from my PC, same as files located inside of other apps - do I need to unlock the device to do that? For example - how to upload a pdf from PC to winpho pdf reader?
Windows Store allows me to download installable files at PC and install them via SD Card. Some apps aren't supposed to work with my device. Is there any solution how to install them at my risk?
And the last question, but not least - I have my dev account but its time limited and app-count-limited. Is there any way how to check if my Lumia is dev-unlocked, how long this unlock lasts and what is my current app-limit? Just for my information - I like to have the ways to check everything.
Please, help me
GDR = General Distribution Release (a brief web search would have told you this). Microsoft-ese for a post-initial-release update (think of service packs for other MS software). The current version is GDR3, also called Update 3. "Amber" is Nokia's codename for the firmware version that they ship along with GDR2. "Black" is Nokia's firmware name for GDR3. Note that OEM firmware (such as Amber or Black) are different from Microsoft OS updates (such as GDR2 or Update 3), although they are typically delivered together. If you're already on at least GDR2, you can get Update 3 directly from Microsoft without waiting for T-Mobile or Nokia; search the Store for "Preview for Developers".
You cannot access files stored inside an app from anywhere else, either a PC or another app, unless the app explicitly makes them available by including a method to export them. Most apps don't implement this. The only exceptions to this rule are for images (which can be stored in the Pictures Library of the phone, much like the built-in camera app or screenshot functions) and OEM apps, which can have extra permissions (Capabilities, such as ID_CAP_PUBLIC_FOLDER_FULL) that aren't allowed for third-party developers. However, for development apps (that is, ones which were sideloaded to your phone from an unsigned XAP file), you can access their Isolated Storage from your PC using the aptly-named Isolated Storage Explorer Tool (or any other program that implements the required APIs, such as Windows Phone Power Tools).
To upload a PDF to the phone, you can do any number of things. Over USB, copy it to the Documents folder on the phone using any MTP software (Windows Explorer works). Over Bluetooth, just send the file directly. Over email, just attach the PDF. Over the Internet, you can use SkyDrive, or any other "cloud" app, or if it's on a web server you can get it from the phone's browser...
I'm not aware of any work-around for the minimum-memory restriction on some apps. I believe it mostly only applies to large games? In any case, you have one of the lowest-end WP8 devices on the market; there are limits which come with that.
The official way to tell if your phone is dev-unlocked is to use the Windows Phone Developer Registration tool, the same one you use to do the dev-unlock in the first place. A paid developer account always gives a limit of 10 apps (the free one is 2 apps). There's no official way to tell how many apps you have remaining, but it's simple enough to tell if you have any space left; just try sideloading any app that isn't already installed!
GoodDayToDie said:
GDR = General Distribution Release (a brief web search would have told you this).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I did some sort of search on forums and Google and I haven't found anything.
GoodDayToDie said:
You cannot access files stored inside an app from anywhere else, either a PC or another app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After unlock it is still unaccessible? I had to jailbreak my iPad because without jb it is not easy to operate. I thought about something like this for Lumia. I think it is only the need of time for others to omit this problem
Disney offered lastly a promotion for its games. I was interested with some of them, but only one was accessible for my device. xap file needed only 70 mb of space. I think there was a problem with performance, but if I want see a laggy game I should have the ability to install it despite everything.
There's no jailbreak available for Lumia phones yet. Something like that should, indeed, allow accessing the storage of the apps (and everything else) but we don't have one...
The size of the XAP has very little to do with the runtime requirements of the app (RAM and CPU). I have written apps of only a few kilobytes that required over 10 gigs of RAM to run (not a phone app, obviously). To avoid people with low-end phones getting annoying with the platform and thinking it's the fault of either Microsoft or the app developer when an app crashes from running out of RAM, they've prohibited installing high-RAM apps on low-RAM devices.
You mean T-Mobile's Lumia 521 right? There's no other ROM you can flash to it that might have the update.
Hello
And happy new year to everyone!
This is my first week on Lumia 735 after being 6 years with Android.
I like very much it's desktop, but there are some simple things that I thought until now I would figure out but I cannot find a solution....
1. How can I download a PDF from an email and then attach it to another email?
2. Is there a way to have a shortcut on notification bar for data connection?
3. Is there a way to remove Bing and get Google as default engine?
4. Is there a way to tide up settings? I feel that are randomly scattered...
5. Is there a way to open a new tab in internet explorer, but open in background? Cause we are always transferred to the new tab.
Thanks!
I'm on the same phone since about 4-5 days, so I have not yet answers for you, but another question to add:
- why on some apps the keyboard doesn't turn in landscape mode when I flip the phone? I found it working on some apps only, but in Bing search (just an example) it remains in portrait
EDIT: a bit of googling partially answers to 3: I'm a newbie so I don't know if I can link external sites here, but it seems you can change the default search engine in Internet Explorer in the browser settings (so when you type words in the address bar, it uses Google instead of Bing). Regarding the phone search button, maybe the trick is not so easy...
1. did you see download in email message? click on that link to download file to your phone.
2. with latest WP OS 8.10.14219.341 you can add mobile data shortcut in action center
or use Quick Launch app from store
3. settings - applications - internet explorer, select advanced settings and change to google
4. no... latest updated is always at end of list...
5. not exactly... try UC Browser 8.1, maybe you like it better than IE
Download a app named File attacher,it can help you to attach any files into outlook client.
Sent from my AT&T Nokia Lumia 920 using Tapatalk for Windows Phone
1) Download the file to your phone. You can then open it from the email (which will let you choose what PDF viewer to open it with, if you have more than one installed; some of them directly support sharing) or you can then switch to a file manager app (Files, Pocket File Manager, Aerize Explorer, etc.), go to the Downloads directory, and share the file from there. When "sharing" the file, one option will be to use email; this will attach the file to the email. This approach also works for other file types, by the way.
2) As dxdy says, you need to be on a new OS version (you may need to be using the "Preview for Developers" app) to get the ability to add mobile data specifically to the Action Center (swipe-from-top notification area thing) but there are lots of other ways (tons of free apps, for example) to pin a link to it on your Start screen. You can also have both WiFi and Airplane Mode toggles on the Action Center, even in less-than-newest versions.
3) Not unless you're in Russia, I think? You may be able to change the IE default search engine using the method dxdy posted above, but if you want to change the search button behavior, that's trickier. I think in Russia (or possibly just tell your phone you are), if you have the Google app installed, it may run that... haven't tried, though.
4) Settings are, unfortunately, not directly orderable. The default order for Microsoft-provided settings is basically "what MS has found people use most often", thus things like visual and audio customization are at the top, WiFi is on the first page, and stuff like Backup requires scrolling down a bunch. There's also OEM customizations, which are technically just Store apps that are pre-installed and use the Settings hub instead of the normal app list; those are always listed underneath all the Microsoft settings, and (as dxdy says), the one that was most recently installed/updated is at the top of that section ('top of the bottom of the list' if you will).
5) Doesn't seem to be any such way in IE, but there's lots of other browsers. Most of them just wrap the IE rendering engine, so pages will look the same as on IE but the UI can be totally different. This includes changes to tab management. They won't sync with your other devices, at least not by default, though. There's also a beta of Opera for WP8; it still has some bugs but mostly works and has a very different UI from IE. Annoyingly, though, Microsoft doesn't allow any of those apps to be set as the default browser (you can't change the URI association for http:/https: for example).
@axxel84: It depends on whether the app supports landscape mode. That requires work from the developer, since they have to change the layout of everything, so a lot of apps don't support it. If the app doesn't support it, then it will be locked in one orientation no matter how you turn it, keyboard included. Some apps (mostly games) are also locked in landscape mode only, and don't support portrait.
Hi guys, thanks for the help but I am still finding difficult to compose with windows after coming from fully updated Android phones.
- pdf attachments, not possible. You can see that you download files but no where to be seen in order to attach them in another email! What????
- the option to change Bing to Google was in the past, but they don't have it on new phones. And this is the company that wants to increase market share? With these kind of acts I don't think they will last many years...
- I found a way to have a shortcut on desktop that takes me to settings and there to click on for data. But why don't they include this in notification option? How difficult is this?????
- the other frustrating thing I am feeling, is that most other times when resuming an app when I go out and then in, it starts the"resuming" screen and takes 5 seconds to load... For example viber, I can't chat instantly with someone, I have to leave the program on continuously to do this
- no led notification. I should have known earlier by reading reviews, but there is no led notification!!
- no major apps as official pinterest, dropbox, instagram, sms backup to gmail. My biggest disappointment is Dropbox... I am thinking of selling the phone now and going back to Android. Having two small twins, I take continuously videos and photos, and I don't want to think about backup. I found another application but doesn't sync videos automatically. And also the backup app of windows doesn't do automatically the job... If I was windows I would hire people to help these companies develop the "big" apps...
- notification center doesn't always work. for example when a new app is downloaded, nothing comes app on notification. Or in viber you might get 10 messages on notification, if you click one and then in viber you read all, they remain on notification
Nobody seems to have emailed me a PDF recently, but I can download them from the web and they show up in my Downloads folder (on my SD card, since that's where I told Storage Sense to put new downloads). From there, I can see it in Aerize Explorer, select it, Share it, and choose an email account; a new message is created with the file attached.
Some new phones have the option for Google search, but it's not in all regions.
As you have ALREADY been told, the option to toggle data service from the Action Center is available in the latest version. It's also largely un-needed; Data Sense and related settings should give you enough control over your data usage to make it fairly unimportant. Mind you, I agree that it should have been there from the start, but asking rhetorical questions isn't actually helpful.
The "Resuming..." screen can come up for two reasons (or a combo thereof):
1) Badly-coded app that does a bunch of stuff immediately on resume, before it lets you use the app.
2) Your phone ran low on RAM and removed the app from background execution ("tombstoned" it, sort of like hibernating a laptop), so it needs to be restored from the Flash storage and then resumed.
Lots of phones don't have notification LEDs. That's not a WP8 thing, that's a "if this feature is important to you then you ought to buy a phone with that feature" thing. My HTC has a notification LED, my Samsung did not. Both are/were WP8 devices.
Automatic backup of photos and videos is included in the OS, has been included since WP7 actually, but it goes to OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) instead of Dropbox. Microsoft software uses Microsoft services; this isn't really surprising.
SMS is automatically backed up as well, just not to Google. Why would Microsoft include a feature to back up your messages to a competitor's service?
Lack of official apps is somewhat annoying/disappointing, but you could have easily enough checked that before buying, and the apps will come in time. In the meanwhile, there's usually third-party versions of those apps.
App downloads are fast, and you know when you started them. Why would you need a notification for that? As for the thing with Viber, it's not the OS' fault that the app doesn't report when a message is read. Notifications are really easy to clear though, just swipe them to the right and all notifications for that app will clear (or hit the "clear all" button to get rid of all of them at once).
Edit 1-8-23: I've updated the Mantano apk file. Seems there were still some issues with the aspect ratio of the default.png (book cover) image. Fixed now at 1.5!
I keep my NSTG on FW 1.2.1 because there are issues with Tasker and plugins on FW 1.2.2. The resulting apps are OK, but development is a problem unless I do it on FW 1.2.1. So that one device has B&N apps removed. AlReader has been my go-to reader app. Until now.
While working on some thorny issues with a Tasker app update I came across a book I wanted to read. Unfortunately it was only available in PDF format and AlReader can't handle that. I soon found that something like EBookDroid really couldn't deal well with a PDF file that begged for text reflow (problematic as that is). I wanted something that was at least as good as the stock reader. I could have just picked up one of my other NSTs and read the book that way, but when you abandon the B&N system you should at least break even, not lose. So I went searching through the forum for some ideas.
Mantano Reader caught my interest. Not only can it reflow PDF text (pretty much like the stock reader-don't get too excited), it can also display PDFs as a continuous scroll, with zoom. It can handle Adobe DRM books! And the TTS works (not a big deal). So I looked around and started with version 2.2.12 from Apkpure. This is the last version for Android 2.1. I found that full-screen reading was broken in this version and I couldn't see why, so I worked my way back until it wasn't broken. That was version 2.2.3.
Not for everyone
Those are some of Mantano's virtues, but it's not for everyone. I think it's chief drawback is the absence of full font support. There is only the default (admittedly not bad) and although there is provision for user fonts, there are issues. More on that later. Then there is the really tiny user interface. The colors render somewhat muddy on the NST also. Those are really tough issues to address, certainly beyond my pay grade. Also, none of the syncing, cloud, downloading of dictionaries, OPDS books, fulfilling of .acsm files, additional fonts, user manuals, etc., works. Can't be fixed. I looked. Finally, the reader options are pretty simple, about what is available for the stock reader (except for fonts). So if you like the hundreds of setting combinations in something like AlReader or FB Reader, this app is not for you. If you want something straightforward so you can just read a book without all the B&N hoopla, Mantano may be worth a look.
Mods
When I started getting serious about this I decided to try to learn by doing. My goal was to remove (or at least hide/disable) stuff that did not work. Almost all of my modifications were in the resources folder of the apk file. There was also one annoying issue with the aspect ratio of book covers that required a minor change in two smali files (thanks to @Renate). Here's a short list:
1. Removed Bookstore (OPDS) tab on home screen (formerly "My Catalogs" as described in User Guide)
2. Removed menu icons for sync and cloud
3. Disabled sections in Settings that don't work (Login, Sync, Dictionary download, Fonts, User Manual download)
4. Corrected font colors in some local dialogs so text is visible
5. Made the page number black, smaller, and with a transparent background for less visual distraction
Also, there were a few dialogs with invisible text that used the system framework to generate the window. The only way to fix this was to make a few very minor changes in framework-res.apk. This worked well and even helped with a few other apps that formerly had invisible text. A win-win. You can update your framework-res.apk using the CWM zip provided below. Despite its filename, it is not an "update" zip. You'll just be installing a zip file with CWM.
Making do
Overdrive Library epubs: No app will be able to fulfill .acsm files on the NST/G. The SSL is just not up to it. So there's no point in registering the device with Adobe. That just wastes one of your allowed devices and so I disabled that first Settings selection. However, the app can read Adobe DRM books, understands due-dates, etc. You just need to introduce your device to ADE running on your PC (ver. 3.0 works well for me on Windows) and transfer fulfilled books from there, just as you would with the stock reader.
Fonts: You can, in theory, supply your own TrueType fonts and place them in /sdcard/Mantano/fonts. When a book is opened, the lower menu options include "Themes". This odd term is for adjusting the appearance of the book (fonts, margins, justification, line spacing, colors). You can make a new theme or edit the default one. Either way, you will get to select a font. You will see the font you added in the folder (you can copy any font you like from /system/fonts or from anywhere else). The problem is that Mantano has no way to deal with font families. For example, I prefer Malabar. Of course, there is the base font, the bold instance, italic, bold italic. Mantano makes you choose one of these. Clearly you choose the base font (no need to copy over the others). If there are italics or bold type in a book, the reader uses the default font. This would not be such an issue for small sections of emphasized text, but the font scales are not the same. Malabar is larger than the default font. So any italics is obviously smaller. I tried a software package for scaling the font but it just turned it into rubbish. I am learning to like the default font. This issue was fixed in version 2.4.6, based on what I've read. But that won't run on the NST, of course.
Dictionaries: The reader has the ability to go out to find definitions on the WWW. Big pain. Although you can't download any dictionaries from within the app, Mantano does play nicely with ColorDict and there are plenty of dictionary options for that. Easy fix.
User Guide: I poked around and found a guide labeled "Version 2.1". That was the best I could do. It seems pretty close, although what was the "Bookstore" tab in this version (which I have removed) is referred to as "My Catalogs" in the manual. Either way, it's non-functional and gone. The same goes for references to cloud, accounts and sync. None of it works and all of it has either been removed from view or disabled in this mod.
Extras
Unlike AlReader and FB Reader, Mantano's main activity is the library view. That means there is no simple way to use the "reading now" status bar button to go directly to your current book.
I also like to be able to use the current book cover as a screensaver. AlReader and CoolReader both have this capability. Mantano does not, but it does create thumbnails for each book (if you let it) and one of those is screensaver size (default.png). For some unknown reason, all the thumbnails of various sizes for display in the library have the correct aspect ratio except for default.png. I fixed this in the app with a view to using it as a screensaver image.
To address these issues, I have used Tasker to create two small apps. Mantano_Extras1 enables a listener for when the reader is closed (either by two presses of the back button or simply by pressing the "n" button). When that happens, the Mantano database is queried for the last reading point/book. This is stored in a variable. Accessing Mantano_Extras1 after setup sends a command to open that file. If Mantano is your default app for epubs and/or pdfs, the book will open automatically to the right place without passing through the library. Thus assigning Mantano_Extras1 to the "reading now" button with NookTouch ModManager restores the function of that button.
Mantano_Extras2 does everything described above. During setup it also creates the folder /media/screensavers/CurrentBookCover. When the reader is exited and the database information stored in a variable, it copies the default.png for the current book to that folder. If you select that folder in your NST Settings app for the screensaver, the current cover will be displayed during sleep.
I should add that both apps check to see if the current book has changed before they do anything. If there is no change, they simply stop.
As these are Tasker-generated apps (but don't require Tasker to run), they have a dependency on two small library files. If you don't have one of my other Tasker apps already, you need to copy the two files in the zip as below:
/system/etc/permissions/com.google.android.maps.xml
/system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar
Set permissions for both files to rw-r--r-- and reboot. Without these files resident, the app will not install.
The apps also use sqlite3 and busybox. If you rooted with NookManager you already have busybox. A few other special packages probably include it. If you have it, you will find it in /system/xbin. If it's not there, copy the file from the zip to that location and set permissions to rwx-rwx-rwx.
If you don't already have sqlite3, move the file from the zip to /system/bin and set the permissions to rwx r-x r-x.
When you have prepared the way, reboot and then install whichever of the two "Extras" apps you want. When you first tap on the app icon there will be a pause while things are set up and then a request for root access. Once that's done they are good to go. Use NTMM to assign the app to the "reading now" status bar button and set your screensaver directory to "CurrentBookCover" (if you installed Mantano_Extras2).
This is nice work. I have heard good thing about Mantano reader before. I believe it still exists although under new name I think. Its sad that you had to remove app options to make it work on NST. Still I am glad that you make some improvement that could if exploited properly make this device better than before. I believe that solving invisible text message is best of what you did and if understood properly can make number of apps that had this problem before usable again for this device. I would not dismiss even TTS working as I remember that someone tried to implement that on NST before yet I do not remember it was solved. So if it work out of box with Mantano reader it might be prudent to see what makes it work if it is fine TTS not some hardly intelligible sound generator. This options you removed how did you confirmed that they are not working? For cloud I believe it was NST lockout and now enforced TLS1.2 it can not reach that gives you hard time. Yet for syncing it is little harder to understand. For the rest like OPDS and such I guess my knowledge is not sufficient to guess how that even work so if you know more than me I am more than ready to listen.
SJT75 said:
I believe it still exists although under new name I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now Bookari.
SJT75 said:
Its sad that you had to remove app options to make it work on NST.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't so much remove options to make it work. It worked as-is, but not the login/download components, and they are not necessary for the reading functions.
SJT75 said:
I believe that solving invisible text message is best of what you did and if understood properly can make number of apps that had this problem before usable again for this device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's possible. I noticed improvement in dialog boxes for ES File Explorer. But there are other types of dialog boxes and I only dealt with what was needed for this app. Spillover is a gift.
SJT75 said:
I would not dismiss even TTS working as I remember that someone tried to implement that on NST before yet I do not remember it was solved. So if it work out of box with Mantano reader it might be prudent to see what makes it work if it is fine TTS not some hardly intelligible sound generator.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that could have been me. Pico TTS (if not removed) always worked on the NST if you downloaded some voices. I have a post about this somewhere with links. But the quality is really wretched. I looked at this further awhile back and found that Google TTS began with Android 2.2 (of course). There is a "bridge" system involving a custom settings app but each application must include this custom code to work. I did a MOD for AlReader to enable this, but it's not easy and would be (nearly) impossible for Mantano as very few of the smali files have descriptive names. Most are just "a.smali, b.smali", etc. So it's really difficult to track down what you want.
SJT75 said:
This options you removed how did you confirmed that they are not working? For cloud I believe it was NST lockout and now enforced TLS1.2 it can not reach that gives you hard time. Yet for syncing it is little harder to understand. For the rest like OPDS and such I guess my knowledge is not sufficient to guess how that even work so if you know more than me I am more than ready to listen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not all SSL. Or it may be that also. The URLs in the apk file don't go anywhere, even on my PC browser. So far I've gotten up to version 4.5 and still no working URLs. Perhaps when Bookari emerged as the name the old URLs were abandoned and the old Mantano apps became crippled in this way.
Thanks nmyshkin you clarified some things. I agree that change to new platform and abandoning the URL domain for cloud use could be cause for that option not functioning anymore. Yet unless the syncing have not be performed through a same route (login account on the same domain) sync should function fine from one device to another for example. About the rest you are correct I have come to a same conclusion that even slight upgrade of Android on this device would make vast improvement in options available to exploit. Sadly B&N did not go that way. I will look upon PicoTTS to see if something about the way it actually work can be understood to evaluate if it is worth the effort or it maybe can be discarded as irrelevant for this device.
Just crossed my mind... nmyshkin did you tried to hunt down inside apk file exact spot where that URL is written/coded and change it to something else like IP address of your computer/drive/*/*/sync folder ?
SJT75 said:
Just crossed my mind... nmyshkin did you tried to hunt down inside apk file exact spot where that URL is written/coded and change it to something else like IP address of your computer/drive/*/*/sync folder ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it didn't occur to me. I only read on one device so that's not the kind of thing that interests me. Also, I just transfer books over from my PC to the Nook when I get them, usually via FTP.
I did see cloud, sync, etc., URLs but I suspect that just changing them would not produce the capability you seem to be hinting at. It's likely a lot more complicated than that. It seems to me that syncing implies active communications from both ends. Teaching your PC to respond to the overtures of the Nook would be a whole other rats nest.
You are correct. Using URLs to connect to PC is not safe. Therefore some home workgroup network or SFTP access are more reasonable way. Maybe if you change cloud sink URL to Dropbox folder you get something?
SJT75 said:
You are correct. Using URLs to connect to PC is not safe. Therefore some home workgroup network or SFTP access are more reasonable way. Maybe if you change cloud sink URL to Dropbox folder you get something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so. The app innards were designed for negotiating with certain remote servers and expect a certain dialog. Just changing the URL doesn't address these issues. Using Dropbox as an example, there are login credentials to be supplied and other issues to be addressed before files can be freely moved in either direction.
Well yes unless dropbox folder is public shared one what I wrote will not work. What if you link sync/cloud to internal folders on device inside Dropbox application that also initiate script written to execute Dropbox synchronization? Then login credentials would come from Dropbox app I think.
SJT75 said:
Well yes unless dropbox folder is public shared one what I wrote will not work. What if you link sync/cloud to internal folders on device inside Dropbox application that also initiate script written to execute Dropbox synchronization? Then login credentials would come from Dropbox app I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I am not a Java programmer. What you are suggesting is going to require significant changes in the app. It's not in the same league as the modifications I made.
2. I have no interest in the feature. People who must have synchronization with myriad other devices would be better served by selecting an app that currently has this feature working (like FB Reader).
3. If someone who is a Java programmer and is interested in this feature wants to take a crack at it, more power to them. I personally think it's a dead end. Just about the time you get it figured out, Dropbox will no longer work on the NST. Any modification that relies on exchange with an external commercial server has a built-in self-destruct timer, just waiting for tightening external server access rules. It's over for Android 2.1.
nmyshkin said:
Just about the time you get it figured out, Dropbox will no longer work on the NST. Any modification that relies on exchange with an external commercial server has a built-in self-destruct timer, just waiting for tightening external server access rules. It's over for Android 2.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amen to that. Making NST more cooperative with Calibre is much better option anyway. Commercial server could be also a trap. There was an outcry when Remarkable for example started charging access to their services out of blue and without warning.