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Is HTC Sync necessary?

G

groucho

Newbie
I'm planning to get an HTC Wildfire for my wife. I sort of wanted to settle some questions before I do buy it.

I was wondering if HTC Sync is a necessary software for the Wildfire. (Or is it like, let's say, the superfluous photo-editing software that's packaged with a brand new Canon DSLR purchase.....something you can do without considering that there are other third-party softwares that accomplish a much wider range of jobs, albeit more efficiently?) HTC Support says it is used "to synchronize Outlook contacts and calendar or Outlook Express contacts and the bookmarks of web browser between your computer and your phone. It also lets you install third-party Android applications on the phone, and bring your photos, videos, documents, songs, and playlists to your phone."

If I don't use HTC Sync, will the Wildfire be able to communicate with my PC just with the USB cable?

We don't use Outlook nor Outlook Express, which seem to be the big reasons for HTC Sync. Should I install it anyway for the other functions?

Will I not be able to download third-party Android Apps without HTC Sync?

What do I lose if I don't use HTC Sync?

I'm sorry if the questions seem stupid. I'm new at using HTC. But my wife adores the Wildfire. I just want to be able to answer her eventual questions when she asks them.
 
You don't need it. You can plug the USB into any pc and put the phone into disk-drive connection. Your phone stops reading the micro-SD and the PC treats it just like it's in a card reader. You can then move files in either direction, e,g get photos off the SD card, put music onto it., etc.

When you unplug the phone recognises the SD card again and you can make use of the files you'v added to it, or start using the space you've made.
 
And if you per chance you did need to sync Contacts and Calendar at a later date it's far slicker to set up a Gmail account let them sync over the air, and in fact if you own a Mac or Linux machine this is the way forward, just use the USB port as James suggests above.
 
Phil and James, that's good to know. I suspected that were the case.

So, what's HTC Sync really for? Primarily as a bridge between the phone and Outlook?

Also, will I be able to download applications, including third-party, without HTC Sync?
 
All you need to download and install apps from the android market is a gmail account and either a wifi connection or a data plan on the phone.

I've never tried getting apps from anywhere else but the android market.

Does third party apps mean not on the android market? or just not HTC?
 
James, I'm not sure about these third-party apps. Like I said, I'm new to this HTC business and to Android in general. I suppose what I meant was "not in the android market AND not HTC."
 
I would assume third-party to mean any apps which does nit come as standard with your phone i.e. from the factory. Would be most unwise to install anything which does not come from android market.
 
The Wildfire has 384 MB RAM; 512 MB ROM. Should I load an app from the Android Market to my phone (not to my microSD) will this significantly slow down the phone's operations?

Also, I'm curious. The Wildfire can support up to 32 GB micro SD. What can I put there? Just photos, videos, and text files?
 
When you down load an app from the market it installed on the phone's internal memory. On version 2.1 you couldn't move any app to the SD card. Now most of us are upgraded to 2.2, about 60% to 70% of the apps can be moved to the sd card freeing up space on the SD card.

You can put any kind of file on the SD card: Music, photos, .pdf, video, document, spreadsheets, html, back-up of contacts;bookmarks;etc, settings and logs from your apps... - if there is a file format that the standard apps can't work with there is probably something on the market that can.

There are a few good file manager apps that can explore the SD card on the phone... ES file manager, Astro, Linda, and few more too,
 
You may wish to install apps like APP2SD in your phone. This will identify and tell you which apps could be moved to the phone memory and do that for you. Though you can do that manually, app by app. :)

And you can use any apps in your phone if the app is in .apk format.
Take the file in your phone, select it, it will give you option for installing. Bingo.:D
 
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