A lack of Exchange ActiveSync support has largely relegated Android to the enterprise sidelines since its commercial launch last year in the
G1, and while third-party apps have attempted to come to the rescue, there's nothing quite like a little first-party love to instill confidence in the world's IT managers. Strangely, CNET Asia noticed that its
Magic seems to support Exchange -- indeed, it's listed right there in the mail setup and the reviewer reports that it works like a champ -- but a check with Google would have you believing otherwise. CNET's US bureau dropped Google a line to get the straight dope on the current Exchange situation and was greeted with an unhelpful response of "Android does not currently include support for Microsoft Exchange," going on to say that third-party devs are filling in the gap. Yo, Google, Magics in the field would have us believing otherwise, so do you want to clarify what's up here?
[Via
CNET]
posted May 15th 2009 7:54AM
I bet HTC put it there... the always seem to put some sort of software on a phone to make it better.
HTC did indeed put it in there, and it is not a part of google. Hopefully tmobile will work with HTC, or create their own exchange that is built into the OS for the next G1 Update.
They have. I've tried Haykuro's build based on the HTC code on my developer G1, and it has had exchange support for a little while now. HTC have also created a nice PDF viewer app (the best on the G1 in my opinion), which is a part of their build too.
Having a good exchange client is the final thing I would need to switch from WinMo to Android.
So HTC's firmware includes a home-grown email app that supports Exchange. What's so complicated about that? Windows Mobile doesn't have 3D touch-friendly home screens either but HTC customizes those, why is a custom Android install so difficult to believe?
Slow news day? :p
I use touchdown app from the market and it works just fine.
for $30 that app is a piece of crap. All emails, contacts and everything reside in that app and it is separate from your phones contacts. Granted it's pretty much one of the only exchange apps but man buying a phone and then buying a bunch of mediocre apps to make it almost as functional as other phones doesn't make much sense to me.
HTC added it to their build, and there are also Exchange apps on the Market.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Android is an open platform. If HTC wants to add support for MS Exchange, they can (by implementing ActiveSync as an application). So there's no reason why the HTC magic could not have support for Exchange, even if Google does not provide support for it.
@vb. I just tested it and the accepting appointment does work and shows up at the bottom of the message. I'm not sure if it didn't work in older software or we just missed the fact it was the whole way at the bottom. I did just test Task and the task request email doesn't even show up at all.
Exactly!
Android is an open platform for smartphones, photo frames, car computers, set-top boxes, appliances, etc.. Does built-in Exchange support make sense, for all of these applications?
Also, I suspect there is a licensing fee than needs to be paid. Does it make sense for Google/OHA to pay a fee for every copy of Android, when it is ultimately given away for free? These fees are best paid for by device manufacturers, who can include the cost in the price of the final product.
G1's don't do ActiveSync? That explains why my Android-loving friends are so tolerant of my iPhone......
And please, 3rd party Exchange apps are borderline useless. Nice to know Apple's still on top!
Borderline useless = essentially identical to first party support?
Seriously, what's the difference?
To clarify, you have to remember that on the Android platform, the OS does not know the difference between Google's apps and third party apps. Even the built-in programs use the exact same public APIs as third parties do, and any of them can be outright replaced by a third party app that has exactly the same level of system access.
Unlike Apple's environment, there is absolutely no reason why a third party app can't be equally as useful as the first party one.
The iPhone can't even accept a task or meeting request on exchange. Hell blackberry can't either but we know all the people on here bitching and moaning about WinMo obviously don't work in the corporate world. I'll take function over form any day.
In both cases, Exchange support was implemented by the handset manufacturer. Both of them probably had to license the technology from Microsoft.
If there is any 1st party/ 3rd party distinction here, it's a flimsy one.
@jughead
I don't know about tasks, but the iPhone accepts meeting requests just fine. They show up in the calendar, and you get an "accept/decline/maybe" choice to confirm the meeting.
@vb see comment replying to the post above since I clicked the wrong reply button. Appointment works but task doesn't after just testing with someone in my office.
why is there no exchange support?
Well if you are using the gphone you know by now that the contacts, emails, calendar has the possibillity to sync constantly like on a exchange account.
what protocol is there beeing used? i think exchange.
How manny exchange profiles can you have on a regular phone? 1
Just check http://www.google.com/mobile/, google has allready an exchange server availble for the iphone, all nokia s60 phone, rim, windows mobile devices.
All these phones have almost the same settings, and they sync the same content as the gphone.
I am not sure if its exchanges active sync protocoll, but if you have a service ready for synchronisation would you invest extra for another?
technically "android" doesn't support google/gmail, either.
The current Exchange support stinks on my G1. It's why I'll be going back to Windows Mobile once HTC releases the new batch of phones.
Download and install one of the dream builds (you'll have to root your phone first if you don't have the developer version). The Exchange support provided by HTC is pretty good.
Well HTC worldwide already has that information. They added the application. http://www.htc.com/www/product/magic/overview.html
Yeah, sounds great. Hack your G1 to get Exchange support. "It's possible". "There's no reason why"....
Gosh, I thought Android was gonna rule the world. Not surprising to hear it sucks as bad as any Linux implementation. Sure, just compile this, or hack in to that. Sounds great!
And how exactly is this any more "hacking" than Apple, or any other handset manufacturer adding Exchange support to their devices?
I'm pretty sure they compile code as well.
Touchdown is Exchange support that works. I like it much, much better than my iPhone (v2) because I can actually use it because of the physical keyboard in the phone. For some reason, my mobile replies are quicker and tend to be more detailed than the iPhone people at work.
I've never had faster tech support for a product than for Touchdown, too. When I was installing the ActiveSync beta build, the support emails were received within a minute of sending the question.
How anyone can consider a virtual, error prone keyboard a "business" tool is beyond me.
Touchdown is nice because it plays well with WebDAV. The sad fact is that many corporate environments will explicitly disable Exchange mobile support for all sorts of spurious "security" reasons, and because most tend to standardize on BB for mobile email. But since most also enable OWA (and hence WebDAV) for outside access to corporate email, that still leaves an opening for us non-BB folks to get our mobile email fix. Sure, no push email, but with 15min polling it ain't that bad, either.
Probably another OWA hack.
you don't understand, no one corporate is going to search your
arguably horrific app market to find a 3rd party knockoff brand
application to install on all their corporate phones to get exchange
to run.
when companies go to shop for phones they're going to look at OFFICIAL
support and see "hey this one doesn't have native exchange support,
sorry lads back to your blackberries"
you will NEVER gain a foothold in the very large and lucrative
enterprise market if you don't support commonly accepted enterprise
applications "out of the box". and to be honest you do your loyal
developer base a huge disservice by denying them traction in this
market.
android deserves it
yobparc makes a good point, one which Android (and open source geeks in general) don't seem to grasp. Just because it -IS- possible doesn't mean it's a good way or acceptable.
Apple has made it easy to hop on your corporate Exchange. I mean, excruciatingly easy. But you Androids think it's just as acceptable to come up with some basement hack to, as some other poster said, probably utilize OWA in some weird way. That method will suck, does suck, and will continually keep you and your pet penguin in obscurity for EVER.
The Magic has built-in exchange. HTC added it. The builds from Google don't have it.
Ask MS if Windows Mobile comes with Opera Mobile. No.
Ask HTC if the Touch Pro comes with Opera Mobile. Yes.
you don't leave enterprise support to the hardware manufacturer, you incorporate it into the OS so that ANY manufacturer can use it, and they all don't have to create their own ports.
it'd be like you can only use MS office if you're on a dell laptop, if you're on an Asus you're SoL until Asus creates their own Office port.
this type of thinking makes me worried about the flash development going around. if Bsquare or whatever the people making the flash port decide to only create it for one device, NO ONE is going to want any of the other devices.
i don't see how this is good for the platform at all
i'm actively using Exchange ActiveSync on my G1 (root hacked). The build is an HTC build and works marvelously. It's far better than the other android Exchange apps too. (Touchdown, Moxier)
I don't understand why HTC can't release it onto the G! if it and the Magic have the exact same specs...
It's T-Mobile that's the problem not HTC
Lack of Exchange is the only thing stopping one of my friends from getting a G1. However, I have a G1 and I bought the Touchdown app for Exchange. It's pricey (in comparison to other apps in Market) but... It does work. Rather well. It's saved my bacon at work more than once when I couldn't get access to my computer for whatever reason. However, I do agree without a built-in Exchange app on G1 it will never take off in the corporate world. But for all the folks who say "My iPhone does Exchange". I wish you would remember that when the iPhone first came out... It DIDN'T do Exchange initially. It took a while and a bit of beta testing to get it to work.
I guess this is "good" news but I just wanted to say that I really hate exchange. We do use it at work, but I have all my mail forwarded to a different mail service, so I sort of don't use it anymore.
"third-party devs are filling in the gap"
Uh... No they aren't. There is one, it's $25 and is "meh" at best.
We shall see.
The Mail application on the HTC/Chungwah builds of the Dream is com.htc.android.email, not com.android.email.
It's a proprietary fork of the core email client. It's quite nicely done and a couple steps ahead of the core client.
Of course, K-9, (code.google.com/p/k9mail) also includes Exchange support and a zillion other features.
(Disclosure: K-9 is fault)
You can download Roadsync from Dataviz. It works perfectly, including calendar sync, invite response, etc. And it's free.
Go to the Market app on the phone, search for "exchange", and you'll find it straight away.
More info from Dataviz here...
http://www.dataviz.com/products/roadsync/series60/features.html
Not perfect, but it looks like it's still a beta.