[Q] SGS2 Exchange 2010 client and modded ROMs - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi, there
New to this forum group, having just taken delivery of SGS2, with three.co.uk.
Prior to this I had an HTC HD2 with O2 UK, and made much use of the HD2 forum groups in modding that phone.
This forum group has been so active, I see a steep learning curve ahead. This is all to the good - it means folks are enthusiastic about this phone.
A major reason for me choosing the SGS2 was that Samsung Exchange client supports SMS sync with Exchange 2010 accounts.
This is vital for work, as I can send up to 1000 sms a month to clients and staff.
With SMS sync, I can keep a message history for past and current issues and projects.
My question is: should I stick to the standard Samsung ROM (it isn't "3" branded, as I got it through a reseller, and came unlocked) to keep SMS sync?
Or, can I give in to my inner geek and get modding?
There seem to be 2 main branches for mods - Samsung ROM based and "other" ROM based.
If I were to install a modded ROM would I preserve the functionality?
Or, could I reinstall the Samsung Exchange client if it wasn't present in a modded ROM?
Please excuse me if the answer is out there. I have done extensive reading and searching, but haven't found an answer yet.
If the answer to my question is "search some more, son, this has been answered already", please let me know politely.

I would suggest learning first which things do you need to be able to run SMS sync. If the only thing you need its Samsung Exchange Client, you can use any ROM you like and you can install Samsung Exchange Client app in there so you would be able to run SMS sync without problems.
If SMS sync requires certain kernel or more deeper system stuff, it would be harder to move to another ROM.

Hi, AzureusPT, and thanks for replying
I suspect it is just the Samsung Exchange client I need - it is the only one, other than WM6.1/6.5 that has the SMS sync feature enabled. Standard Android and other variants (HTC, etc.), Apple and Windows Phone 7/7.5 don't enable the necessary features.
I've tried Nitrodesk Touchdown (on a HTC Wildfire I set up for my Mom as a second phone) and it's implementation is spotty.
I guess you're right - I will have to bite the bullet and try out various options. It will be the only way to know for sure what is necessary. From your comment, I take it the Samsung email (Exchange) client is available as a separate download?
Also, I see you are using HyperDroid-Androidmeda - I was thinking of giving that a go as my first ROM rooting adventure. Is it a variant of the Samsung ROM?

I'd also be very interested about this.
Here's another (older) thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1012634

Related

New to Android

I've moved over from the Windows Mobile camp very recently (2 days now!) and thought i'd say hi
I've found plenty of info in the Hero section very helpful to get me going, and so far I'm remarkably impressed, I was expecting a much less robust solution as Android is so young. I've found it slick, fast, easy to use and very reliable - it's taken away all the pains that WM can cause!
To anyone who has yet to take the leap, I'd STRONGLY recommend it, if you're considering Android in place of your WM handset, you won't be disappointed.
Within an hour of having the device, I've updated the rom, connected it to my exchange server and gmail accounts, setup a forward from my sms to my email (for this sms problem that i've heard mention of), looked at the sky on google sky etc. and it's been a great experience so far.
Anyway, I'll see you around in various threads - no actual questions as such...but this felt the correct area!
Does Android itself provide MS Exchange support for corporate emails without any add on third party software?
I am in double minds to switch to Android but am held back only for the excellent MS Office support on Windows Mobile.
Please advice. I need to decide on this in a day.
The Hero supports exchange natively, but the software provided by Touchdown apparently provides a better corporate "experience", in terms of PIN enforcement etc.
For MS Office support, use DocumentsToGo, which is great, though the device is supplied with QuickOffice which can read many MS Office documents.
Both Touchdown and DocumentsToGo are paid apps.
Regards,
Dave
I find the exchange support sufficient with the hero (Hero version of android supports it natively, Android itself doesnt).
I'm running exchange 2007 and connected it with SSL without any issue at all. calendar, contacts, email all work perfectly fine

[Q] Multiple Exchange Sync Accounts?

I'd be grateful if someone in the know would clue me in:
Stock Android, I believe since 2.0, has supported multiple Exchange sync accounts (at least for email sync, and probably contacts). Running the
Android emulator on the desktop, I can configure as many accounts as I please.
However... I just took delivery of a Samsung Fascinate (Verizon) and as hard as I try, I can't make it configure a second account (it dumps me into the 'edit' UI for the first account when I ask to create a second one).
So I tried an HTC Incredible that we have here. Same behavior !
Yet, when I Google search 'samsung galaxy s multiple exchange accounts', I find a bunch of people claiming to be using multiple accounts.
What's up with this? Am I just not doing the setup correctly, or did Samsung remove this capability from the devices recently ?
I also figured I could install the stock Android email app as a workaround, but that doesn't exactly seem to be a 'one-click' process. K-9 has no ActiveSync support, so that isn't useful.
Can't speak for anyone else, but I have yet to see any Android phone that supports multiple Exchange accounts out of the box. That's one of the reasons I bought Touchdown, as it supports multiple Exchange profiles. Of course, only one of them can be active at a time, but if I needed to have two accounts active simultaneously, I could use Touchdown for one, and the stock email app for the other. Oh, and just FYI, I didn't mean for this to become a Touchdown advertisement. ^^;
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Actually, I have a Touchdown license so this is a good plan.
Presumably the situation is this : stock Android supports multiple accounts but none of the device vendor skins do, yet. Correct ? (and it isn't possible to manifest the stock Android behavior side-by-side with the vendor skin).
I was just coming in here to ask this question. I would like a way to get multiple exchange accounts too. Since it was supported in 2.0 on up i think we should be able to get this to work. Unless Samsung messed this up for us.
Hmm, I thought Sammy left the stock Android email app on the Fascinate, but it looks as though they modified it just enough to cripple it. :-(
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
There are actually good reasons NOT to do this. Corporate IT admins have massive problems with this, and because Google/Sammy/etc. are actually TRYING to work with corporate IT... you end up with this.
Outlook doesn't allow it either, nor does any other mail program which respects Activesync conventions.
It has to do with security... and compartmentalization.
The Droid X and the Droid supported 2nd Exchange accounts.
I'm sorry, but I disagree that this is a security issue. They are completely disparate accounts, and this functionality should be stock on all Android phones.
That said, the Samsung client is the worst of all of them, and Touchdown is the best option, IMHO.
Gurm said:
There are actually good reasons NOT to do this. Corporate IT admins have massive problems with this, and because Google/Sammy/etc. are actually TRYING to work with corporate IT... you end up with this.
Outlook doesn't allow it either, nor does any other mail program which respects Activesync conventions.
It has to do with security... and compartmentalization.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, really? That's interesting. I work on the helpdesk for an IT company that hosts Exchange servers (and much more) for dozens of clients, including numerous medical and financial institutions (i.e. security is a significant concern), and I have never heard about any such security issue. Please explain to me how being able to setup multiple Exchange accounts on a single device is such a huge security concern, and include links to references if possible, as I may want to present the information at our security meeting, which I'm actually attending tomorrow. No joke, that's my job, and I am on the security team.
Btw, Microsoft themselves eliminated the single Exchange account limitation with Outlook 2010. It's still not unlimited, but you can now have three Exchange accounts per Outlook profile. Oh, and did I mention that iOS 4 now also supports multiple Exchange accounts per device? So yeah, if you have any links to share about these alleged security nightmares, feel free to enlighten me.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
8notime said:
That said, the Samsung client is the worst of all of them, and Touchdown is the best option, IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I tend to agree with you, I'd like to point out that I haven't seen any issues with actually reliably syncing with an Exchange server with the Fascinate, whereas the mail client on the original Droid was plagued with bugs, and while it improved later on, one of the more recent post-Froyo patches broke the ability to sync with Exchange 2010 (which has since been fixed).
Also, if I remember correctly, the helpdesk I work on got a bunch of calls from clients who bought the Droid X when it first came out, because it couldn't sync with Exchange 2003, which was a pretty serious bug. Motorola had apparently tested it thoroughly with Exchange 2007 and 2010, but never with 2003. It was so bad that they were giving away licenses for Touchdown for free to anyone that complained, until they were able to issue a patch for it.
Anyway, no mail client is perfect, and all have their pros and cons. Which stock one is better or worse depends on whether the features that don't work right matter to you or not. Me, I'll stick with Touchdown, which basically mops the floor with the stock mail clients, just in sheer volume of features alone.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
IOS 4, android 2.* and up and WP7 all support multiple exchange accounts. Unfortunatley Samsung messed this up for us.
I wonder if there is a way to pull the AOSP e-mail.apk and try that? Or if there would be another way around this.
Since someone got a little cranky I will elaborate on the security problem.
The issue is largely one of partition. Let me paint a scenario...
I am government contractor x. I provide you with exchange on your phone. Your phone very helpfully merges all your data together. That violates my policies. Additionally, your android device doesn't respect remote wipe, remote lock, or security policy for disclaimers, password complexity, etc.
But the biggest issue is that the exchange data isn't self-contained.
If the phone, client, or whatever provides partitioning of the data then multiple accounts becomes a possibility.
Essentially I as an exchange admin don't want some other company's mail cross pollinating with mine. And because my company is in Massachusetts, it's actually a violation of state law at this point to let our emails into someone else's system.
Outlook 2010 supports separate cache files, contact lists, and all other data... So it can do multiple accounts. The iphone doesn't, and neither does droid.
I love my android phone, but I cannot let the end users have them, because we can't secure thee data. Full stop.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
And yes, ios 4 and some iterations of droid do allow this, but not in s way that is kosher with either microsoft or your mail admins.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Hehe, I wasn't cranky. I just wanted some additional info to back up a rather vague, blanket statement about data security. I could go on to discuss security issues, but it looks like your concerns exist at a much higher level. If the Android platform as a whole is too insecure for you to allow, then whether or not a phone supports multiple Exchange accounts is irrelevant. That being the case, I won't draw this on much longer, as it's beginning to drift off topic.
Based on what you've listed as your security requirements, I believe Touchdown actually has a strong enough feature set to safely allow Android devices to work in your environment. It supports a healthy set of Exchange security policies, namely remote wipe, PIN/password policies, and complete data encryption (it even encrypts the data it stores on the SD card), and since it only allows one account per profile, and all data is contained within the application itself, and not mixed on the phone, the partition requirement is met. Plus, you can deploy a template that dictates desired config settings for the app, and locks them down to prevent users from changing them. Oh, and don't forget the added benefit of standardization, in that you would only have a single email app to support, regardless of which Android device end users have. The only real down side is the added cost, as it's extra software to buy. And for those wondering, no, I do NOT work for NitroDesk, the makers of Touchdown.
I apologize if I'm still failing to understand any of your points in all this. I do have an interest in security topics like this, and while I'm not completely ignorant, I'm by no means an expert either, not by a long shot. If you'd like to discuss this any further, feel free to PM me, so we don't get any further off topic in this thread. Thanks!
Gurm said:
Essentially I as an exchange admin don't want some other company's mail cross pollinating with mine. And because my company is in Massachusetts, it's actually a violation of state law at this point to let our emails into someone else's system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have never in my life heard of this happening, nor is there any proof that it's technically possible. I get the whole concept of all data being on the same partition, but cross pollination? They are totally different accounts, with their own data stores.
If a companies security policy is this strict, they probably shouldn't have any phone connecting to their network, unless they have a device management tool in place that prohibits installation of any 3rd party apps unless they install them themselves. Oh and they should probably remove the camera too, if they're a government contractor with this much security in place.
I don't think the Fascinate was designed for a company like this.
Just to throw in my 2 cents. A division of the company i work for engineers nuclear plants and because of the strict government regulations only blackberries are permited because other platforms are not secure enough.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
8notime said:
I have never in my life heard of this happening, nor is there any proof that it's technically possible. I get the whole concept of all data being on the same partition, but cross pollination? They are totally different accounts, with their own data stores.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? Your contact list isn't comprised of all the contacts from all the accounts? Do you keep strict track of which little yellow "new mail" envelope you've just pulled down? It can't happen? Think again.
If a companies security policy is this strict, they probably shouldn't have any phone connecting to their network, unless they have a device management tool in place that prohibits installation of any 3rd party apps unless they install them themselves. Oh and they should probably remove the camera too, if they're a government contractor with this much security in place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. Guess why Blackberries are still the biggest corporate device? For exactly this reason. Why is there always a Blackberry variant with no camera? BINGO.
I don't think the Fascinate was designed for a company like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No Droid or iPhone was.
Then why are we even having this conversation? We're talking about the Fascinate.
Also, we were talking about email, not contacts. Emails are stored in entirely different data stores. I don't have 1 giant inbox with emails from both accounts. They are totally separated.
8notime said:
Then why are we even having this conversation? We're talking about the Fascinate.
Also, we were talking about email, not contacts. Emails are stored in entirely different data stores. I don't have 1 giant inbox with emails from both accounts. They are totally separated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because Exchange isn't POP or IMAP. It's an entire comm system. It's not just mail, it's contacts and calendar and notes and public folders and a half dozen other things.
If you just want to sync the contents of two Exchange inboxes, sure there's no TECHNICAL reason you can't. But that's not how Exchange WORKS, typically. I'm sure you could write a client that does that, but as yet folks haven't.
You can go in and uncheck to sync the calendar and contacts, but new "events" will still arrive and have to be thrown out by the client. Essentially you would need to write MORE code to NOT have the entire system than you would to HAVE it.
I'm sorry but that isn't true. Like I said earlier, I was able to add more than one Exchange account - contacts, calendar, and email - on both my Droid and Droid X. One Exchange account for work, and the other a personal account through a hosted Exchange provider. There was no "cross pollination" between either account, and each had a completely separate inbox/data stores. So not only is it technically possible, the functionality is also available for use. Also, as a security professional, I think there are other real security concerns/vulnerabilities to focus on, than something that has never been proven to be one.
8notime said:
I'm sorry but that isn't true. Like I said earlier, I was able to add more than one Exchange account - contacts, calendar, and email - on both my Droid and Droid X. One Exchange account for work, and the other a personal account through a hosted Exchange provider. There was no "cross pollination" between either account, and each had a completely separate inbox/data stores. So not only is it technically possible, the functionality is also available for use. Also, as a security professional, I think there are other real security concerns/vulnerabilities to focus on, than something that has never been proven to be one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand that you have done it before. I've done it too on an iPhone. My point is that the capability to do so is not something that comes pre-cooked in an Exchange client. MS didn't do it until recently themselves. Given that a lot of the stuff in the Fascinate is pre-2.1 due to Samsung's pidgin kernel (really a 1.5 or 1.6 kernel hacked up for 2.1, from what I've read on here) I'm not at all surprised that functionality only recently available is missing.
Like I said - it takes more code to do it than not to do it... don't hold your breath for it from Samsung, although anything is possible in 2.2!

[Q] Best ROM with GAL integration for Exchange??

I live off of my phone for work and absolutely love the stock Sense 3.0 integration into MS Exchange server. I'm able to search for contacts in our GAL easily, search for email on the server, email a recently accessed email (history) not in my list...the list goes on. Its all of those things that outlook does so that you dont have to ever touch your contacts list.
NOW, that being said I'd like to get away from stock. I'm new to the scene of flashing and dont plan to do it often. I was however looking for a ROM that preserves the email functionality described above without a crappy third party email app (i hate touchdown). I'm also looking for some flash and over improvements without slowing my phone down.
Ideas, opinions? Warm 2.3 sounded interesting and looked good. I like the additional mods etc.
Pretty much any rom will be able to sync with exchange. The mail app on most roms is still the stock htc email application which allows you to search on the server and when sending an email will automatically search your GAL. Every rom I have tried has played nice with exchange. I'm in the same boat as you are, I live off exchange server for work (and manage it too).
The only issues i've come across are sometimes a specific build of a rom wouldn't sync properly over 3g with exchange through the phones email app. I could pull up OWA without issue, but it just wouldn't sync through the phone as normal. But, just flashed a different rom and it was back to normal. It seems that I'm flashing a new one about once a week anyways.
Any sense based rom "should" be a non issue with exchange, senseless (sense based with it removed) would be next best, AOSP being the most likely to have a bug or issue but try them anyways. Totally different feel in those roms.
Let me know if you have any questions and ill try to help as much as I can.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Thanks fr validating this. Always tough to jump in before knowing the details.
That being said do you have a top 3 favorites of sense roms?

Corporate Email on Galaxy Tab

I have this tablet, however Iam not able to set up the email client to use my work email. I keep getting a message saying that my server requires settings that are not supported by this Android device.
can anybody tell me what is going on? I even went into the settings and encrypted the tablet because my work email requires to have the device encrypted but it did not work. However I also have the Galaxy phone but that works ok with my email. so my issues is only on the tablets.
Am I m missing something?
What email system does your company use?
Also this may need to move to Gen discussion.
This is not in the right forum.
If your exchange admin has enabled security features that Android does not have then you're out of luck unless you can get them to change them. Otherwise your web based exchange should work ok.
owa
Use your OWA address as the mail server.
Can you get mail on your phone? Then you should be able to get mail on your tab. If not, then your IS folks probably have owa sync disabled. We do for all phones except droid, apple, and bb.
I had the same problem with HC 3.1 and 3.2. You can try one of the ICS preview roms like Mabalitos ICS rom in this forum.
I finaly got it working with that after six months of struggeling.
Questions or Problems Should Not Be Posted in the Development Forum
Please Post in the Correct Forums & Read the Forum Rules
Moving to Q&A
My corporate exchange servers have some requirements that the stock email application won't support so I ended up using Moxier mail. Suggest checking it out, im not sure if they have a demoversion though. Retail version is pricey but worth it for me, ymmv.
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk

[Q] Android & Exchange

Hi all, very stuck!
I have tried setting up my work exchange email on 7 different android handsets,
(Different models, makes and os versions (non rooted, all standard os))
on non of them does it ask to "update security settings" during setup, and as such the account does add but does not sync.
So your aware I’m actually one of the tech guys for the company and when I set all other staff accounts up (so far) on android it does ask for the update which I accept and it then works fine
i have no other phones attached to my account & only the one email address.
and every aspect of my account as far as I can see matches that of others whom it works fine for
Any advice on this would be great and very much appreciated
thanks in advance

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