Samsung Kies Alternative: MyPhoneExplorer

After many hours of trying to figure out how to connect a colleague's Samsung Nexus S phone (GT-i9023) to its own-made sync software called Kies, I finally gave up. I have followed so many methods that some claim worked for them but just didn't for me and I was close at considering rooting this device that I don't even own. Samsung support sites were no use at all. It turns out that this phone has been racking up frustrations among those who bought it when they find the need to sync the phone to their PC for contacts, calendars, backup, firmware update etc. Don't get me wrong though, Samsung Nexus S is awesome in its own right, needless to say, being an Android phone with 2.3.3 Gingerbread on stock. It's just really the connectivity problem on Kies.

So I gave it another shot by installing Android SDK but still, to no avail. Then an old-school "ting!" finally hit me and why it took me that long I didn't know. I said to myself, "why not look for an alternative to Kies?" and once again, I found myself on google-mode.

And lo and behold... I found MyPhoneExplorer!

This software supports Sony Ericsson (SE) and Android devices and just right when I needed because I had to transfer contacts from an SE P1i phone to the Nexus S, which I already did.

MyPhoneExplorer is also capable of wifi and bluetooth connection that added flexibility and convenience for me. There are also cool extras like the ability to show the phone screen display over my PC/laptop and control the icons via mouse from there instead of tap/swipe. Text input was also made possible from my PC/laptop keyboard direct to the tablet... wireless!

There are certainly some areas for improvement like some quirks I encountered during sync process. I get disconnected occasionally on WiFi mode. The developer may also perhaps look into synching speed between outlook and phone.

Other than those, the tool is awesome. I just made it my main sync software now in lieu of Samsung Kies. So that's another reputation point stripped-off of Samsung's over the past year I've engaged their brand. They should seriously look into those issues on technical details (i.e. VPN functionality problem on GT-P1010 and firmware upgrade option to Gingerbread 2.3 to fix it) from their products and follow the much sought reputation of Apple in terms of quality and customer satisfaction.

Kies problem on Samsung Nexus S apparently is isolated on Kies itself because I'm able to make the phone work using MyPhoneExplorer. It shouldn't take that long to fix and it's been a year now since the phone's release, wth!?

Gladly, there are brilliant minds out there such as those from FJ Software Dev Team. 'Hats-off to them. ^_^

Nokia C3-01

Worst Nokia phone I've ever encountered.

- Touchscreen malfunctions easily
- Annoying bottom keypad
- Battery drains fast
- Battery heats up
- Too many more to mention

Troubleshooting is so frustrating, can't do hard reset 'cause it requires touchscreen access. If it gets a problematic touchscreen like this one I'm trying to fix, you're done. When it goes locked-mode (idle for 60 secs), can't unlock it 'cause it requires screen swipe / press. I had to remove the battery just to "unlock" every time. Well, maybe most touchscreen phones would have the same problem, but just 2 to 3 months use will make one experience this? Now I can't even respond to simple yes/no confirmation because it only accepts from touchscreen command.

So I've been getting lots of complaints from assignees, and looking at the forums, most of the cases are touchscreen related problems. I hope they finally do a product recall on this one.

It just wasted a good 3 hours of my time, 'giving up now >.<

File Collaboration via a Cloud Service

File collaboration or file sharing.

The way it's done traditionally in our environment is by email attachments. Still, many of our users can't seem to get away with it even that I've already introduced shared folders and mapped them directly to their desktops/laptops.

Just recently, a mandate from the upper management was given to project managers/members to make use of our MS-Project software in ensuring that projects are on-track and reported to the stakeholders, needless to say, in a manner that they have to be presented. So this "project-minded" people attended an MS-Project refresher course and collaborated on devising a system to make it work.

Moving straight to my part, the challenge for me is to ensure that these people working on their projects are "synchronized" at zero cost. I knew they had to make use of shared folders which are always available in our private network. But how is it when they are offsite with some means of internet access? One solution is via VPN which I already have in place, yet flexibility is an issue because it has its limitations.

And so I've thought of another solution that could complement that, a free online service called Dropbox.

In summary, Dropbox is an ingenious service that guarantees your files are "available anywhere" and can be accessed on multiple platforms be it on a desktop, laptop or mobile devices. I've been using it for a month or two now and it served me well in synchronizing my files among my devices, particularly to my android tablet.

Thing is, Dropbox is kinda personal as it seemed to be meant more for an individual use. When I first tried linking a shared folder to it, it did not allow. So to make it work in a corporate setup, one has to go through some work-around. Gladly I found this link which guided me (again, thanks to Google).

Now that it's working, I'm geared-up to deploy it among the project team members.Yay!

Dropbox as an Android App