HTC Magic supports Exchange, Google says Android doesn't

by Chris Ziegler posted May 15th 2009 at 7:54AM

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]

Filed under: Software, Android

Tags: activesync, android, exchange, google, htc, magic

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

su2lly @ May 15th 2009 8:42AM

Dweebs need exchange. Just release this thing in the US please. I'm so sick of waiting for more Android phones. It's starting to get stupid.

Highly Ranked

Brent @ May 15th 2009 8:42AM

Something is wrong with this picture.
There are community releases over at XDA that have included the Exchange client in their early builds for the G1. Recently, these community releases became based on the G1 developers release, so the Exchange client went missing.

In addition, the early builds had a much more functional (and feature-rich) Camera application as well. Again, once the builds started using the official G1 developers release, the Camera application reverted to a basic, no-frills (or settings/options) Camera app.

And finally, the HTC Magic builds for the G1 had a nifty Teeter game too. Sadly, it's not included in the G1 builds currently available.

What's up with all this?

I know the community builds are based on the official G1 developer edition. The great community builders will probably come up with an enhanced version once they get their hands on the official OTA release for the G1. We can probably expect Exchange support, the HTC camera application, Teeter, and much much more in future community builds.

But most G1 owners aren't aware of the hacked versions. Most G1 owners are probably scared of flashing their G1's with un-official ROMs. Most G1 owners aren't even aware of the differences between the HTC Magic vs Google releases. Most G1 owners aren't aware of the capabilities of their phones ... and many are very disappointed with features missing in their phones leading up to Cupcake ... and will still be very disappointed after Cupcake reaches their phone by OTA updates.

Most of these disappointments could have been easily addressed by adding the Exchange support, the enhanced Camera application, and a few of the other features known to work from the HTA build but missing the Google build.

It's sad that such an impressive phone remains lackluster if used with the official Cupcake update.

It's a boneheaded decision by whomever made the decision to strip the G1 Cupcake update of all these seemingly workable features of the HTC Magic build. It's just like Microsoft's decision to cripple certain versions of Vista. Vista often has the features rights there ready for use, but MS chose not to enable the features in certain versions just so they could offer them in more expensive (and unncessary) version of their software. It seems like whomever, be it T-Mobile, Google or HTC made a critical decision to leave out these features in the G1 Cupcake build just so they could entice people to upgrade their G1 to future Android phones that have these feature sets.

With this decision, I have no intention of ever upgrading my G1 to it's predecessor simply for added features. I'll stick with my G1, use the hacked, community versions offered of XDA, and when my phone wears out, I'll then have a difficult decision to make... I might consider another Android phone if (and only if) community builds rectify this nonsense of omitting features in OTA updates. But more than likely, I'll move on from Android and choose a different carrier (and a Blackberry or iPhone) because of my dissastication with the whole process.

It's ridiculous having to jump through hoops just to get features that are obviously supported on a phone. Luckily, we have XDA and Jesus Freak and others that are willing to put together fine hacked builds that include all the nifty features. They spend a few hours getting things to work that Google builders can't (or won't) get to work despite their "expertise" and dedicated teams of OS builders.

Geez, this doesn't speak well of anything Google, Android, G1, T-Mobile, or even HTC. It does speak very well of the community builders.

Highly Ranked

Christian @ May 15th 2009 8:44AM

this exchange support comes from a an addon from htc - what is so surprising? a little research on xda would make that clear

Neutral

Brent @ May 15th 2009 9:36AM

@ Christian,
That's the whole point. It shouldn't require seaching for something so basic as this. Yes, you, me and many others are aware of XDA, and we aren't scared of flashing of phones. But for the good majority of G1 users, they expect this type of support right from the jump. With each OS update, everyone has waited patiently for basic features and fixes. Cupcake disappoints! If the developers over at XDA can manage to get these things working on the G1, then there is no excuse for them not to be built into the official OTA update. While we can customize our phones to get all this stuff, most users will still be disappointed, won't look for ways to get what they need (or will pay $25 for ridiculous market apps), and it will all lead false criticism of a phone that deserves better.

Neutral

Christian @ May 15th 2009 12:03PM

all that buzz and misunderstanding about "cupcake" and now we're getting sober and have to realize:

a) the whole android developing process is quite good comparable to Mac OS X the stages - it takes time (long time) to have a really feature rich and stable base - any one remembers 10.0? ...

b) android is just a plattform from google, there is still only one android manufacturer on the market (samsung will be next month here in germany), t-mobile placed the g1 anywhere in the internet-fun-mobiles - so I didn't expect that much and the I guess the target audience doesn't care about exchange support - anyone who needs this will buy something else

c) the g1 has its limitations (screensize, connectors, memory) and was never ment to be the S-Class of android phones

I think there is nothing wrong with android, the g1 or the actual ota update - we're just at the beginning and its to early to start bashing google or htc or whatever - wait till the end of the year everything will be better. Or just look what the poor WinMo Users get from MS 2.5 years after the iPhone and over 1 year after Android

Neutral

chris @ May 15th 2009 3:54PM

HTC cooks their roms pretty well. I tried out the HTC build on my G1, and THEY had hacked in exchange support, not google.

Neutral

Brent @ May 15th 2009 3:54PM

Yeah, you're right Christian. There is a difference between a fun-phone and a business phone. I do think the G1 is capable of being a nice business phone with a little work. Or let's put it this way, Android has potential to be the operating system for a future nice and secure phone.

I don't think we disagree much about our opinions of the 1st generation G1. All-in-all, I'm fairly happy with the phone. Some days I brag about it, other days I curse it. But that's the disadvantage of being an early adopter. I love the --mostly-- open source nature of the phone. I love being able to tinker with it and make it pretty much what I want from it. I bought it as a toy and I use it as such. The fact that it's a phone too is a bonus.

The only thing(s) that truly disappoint me happen to be the lack of native Exchange support and the horrible camera. When I tested the HTC ROM over at XDA and it had Exchange support AND a much nicer camera app, I was sorely disappointed when "Cupcake" (based on the Developer's Version) started making the rounds. It just baffles me that the brains behind 1.5 didn't address these two major issues that so many people complain about. When reading the forums and reviews, it seems that the major complaints are Exchange (lack of), Camera (horrible), battery life (awful without serious tweaking and sacrafices), memory, and Flash. I don't expect miracles, and I know Android is an evolving OS. But obviously Exchange and the Camera could have been addressed with 1.5. More importantly, they SHOULD have been addressed.

I think they have failed us with the 1.5 update, that's all. Somebody shut the oven door on this bake way too soon. Fortunately, we have XDA and community builds. That's the big plus of a --mostly-- open OS. Too bad most G1 (and successor) users know nothing about XDA and even less about Linux. I far from regret my G1 purchase, but I do feel sorry for the majority that use stock firmware. Then again, they bought the phone based on the features they read about or try for themselves at the store, so I guess they got pretty much what they wanted. Hopefully they'll move to the darkside, find a great community build, and proceed with caution. It can provide a lot of fun as well.