To Exchange, or not to Exchange?

[libra89]

Just got an Essential phone two days ago, updated to Oreo 8.1 beta and setting it all up.

So far the only true two-way syncing of Contacts I got to work was with Nine, which was super simple, just logged into my Microsoft (Hotmail.ca) account and selected it to sync contacts, no manual settings or anything else required. Sync in both directions is fast, auto-updates in under 30 seconds. If using Nine to refresh manually, changes from outlook.com happen immediately.

Outlook Android app and Blackberry Hub both failed, one way from Outlook.com to the phone was fine, but not the other way. Blackberry Hub was also weird in that in the Contacts app my contacts showed up under All Contacts but not under the sub-heading Contacts (said I had zero contacts). New phone contacts got saved under the sub-headed Contacts, but would not sync back to outlook.com.

I swore there was an option to setup an OS level Exchange account when I first used the phone on Nougat, but there's no Exchange option now under Settings -> Accounts in 8.1 on this phone so never got to try that method.

Boggles the mind a third-party like Nine can get it right but Microsoft can't in their own Outlook app?! Now is it really worth the $15(?) to buy Nine just for proper contact syncing...

As someone who bought Nine to do this and have had it for a while, it is worth it as an app. IMO, it's the only way to do Outlook with contacts and calendar on Android. Anything else is a waste of time. It was worth it for me. It's sad that you have to pay for it because on iOS, it just works. No payment required.

 

[RumoredNow]

As someone who bought Nine to do this and have had it for a while, it is worth it as an app. IMO, it's the only way to do Outlook with contacts and calendar on Android. Anything else is a waste of time. It was worth it for me. It's sad that you have to pay for it because on iOS, it just works. No payment required.

Blackberry Hub does a great job at integrating all aspects of Outlook. I believe it's $0.99/month for non-Blackberry devices.

Suite News: BlackBerry Releases Five New Apps and Hub+ Subscriptions for Android | Inside BlackBerry

 

[libra89]

Blackberry Hub does a great job at integrating all aspects of Outlook. I believe it's $0.99/month for non-Blackberry devices.

Suite News: BlackBerry Releases Five New Apps and Hub+ Subscriptions for Android | Inside BlackBerry

I forgot about the Hub. It seems like either way, if you want it to work, you have to pay on Android.

 

[RumoredNow]

I forgot about the Hub. It seems like either way, if you want it to work, you have to pay on Android.

Or buy a Blackberry which has Hub for free along with other BB ware that is security/privacy conscious.

 

[lazybum131]

As someone who bought Nine to do this and have had it for a while, it is worth it as an app. IMO, it's the only way to do Outlook with contacts and calendar on Android. Anything else is a waste of time. It was worth it for me. It's sad that you have to pay for it because on iOS, it just works. No payment required.

Don't know what magic occurred, but I re-tried the Outlook app for contact syncing and it now works two-way.

Initially I disassociated my Hotmail.ca account in Nine, and re-enabled the contact sync in Outlook. To my surprise it worked. So then I uninstalled Nine altogether and restarted the phone and it still works.

I can also edit and existing contact and changes get synced and appear on Outlook.com. However deleting a contact from the Contact app doesn't, but I can live with that.

Even the Outlook Support said it's only a one-way sync. So no idea why it's working for me right now.

 

[libra89]

Don't know what magic occurred, but I re-tried the Outlook app for contact syncing and it now works two-way.

Initially I disassociated my Hotmail.ca account in Nine, and re-enabled the contact sync in Outlook. To my surprise it worked. So then I uninstalled Nine altogether and restarted the phone and it still works.

I can also edit and existing contact and changes get synced and appear on Outlook.com. However deleting a contact from the Contact app doesn't, but I can live with that.

Even the Outlook Support said it's only a one-way sync. So no idea why it's working for me right now.

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Sounds like you are a lucky one! I hope it continues to work for you.

 

[neo158]

Originally posted by anon(10324754)

Originally Posted by toph36
I have a Pixel 2 XL. I have the Microsoft Launcher installed, I have all the Office apps installed including OneDrive. I have Cortana installed and linked to the Home Button. Even have Hey Cortana set up, but haven't tried it yet. I use Outlook for my email and Calendar, and Edge as my browser. I have Skype installed, but I am using Facebook Messenger as my SMS client.

If I didn't have to go into the Play Store, I would think this is a Microsoft phone. Only bought a "Google" phone because I got $300 off, plus a $250 gift card when I bought it at Target.

The one thing that I did was created a new Google Account using an alias I created off of my primary Outlook.com account. I did have an old Google Account for YouTube at one point, but haven't used it so long. I didn't want an @gmail.com account, and I did not want gmail at all. You can't uninstall the app though. Good luck.

You don't have to use Play Store to download apps. I use the Apkpure app. Although whether these are exactly the same as store apps or more or less safe I don't know.

What I really want from MSFT, which I doubt will happen, is their own dedicated app ecosystem in Android. So when I turn on my new Android phone for the first time it asks me for my email and when I choose Exchange it logs into the native Outlook Email, Calendar, Contacts, etc, which then works with the messaging app. The same way when I get a Samsung it uses it's own native apps for these functions and not Gmail or Google photos or any of that other Google crapola. Even adding Cortana to the phone in a dedicated manner like Bixby on the Samsung would be cool. These are things you can do without Google's permission (maybe?). Also, MSFT has shown lately that they are very good at making apps for Android so I don't see why not.

I use the Store for apps normally as it's safer, I do sideload apps occasionally but I also use apkmirror to obtain a lot of updates before they hit the Store.