Syncing Google services - via Kies or OTA?

[westbros]

Just a quick question which is kind of worrying me, before I take the jump and buy an S3.

I currently own an HTC Desire and on this phone any changes to Google services (calendar, contacts, Gmail) are automatically synced to the cloud. The same applies to non-Google apps that I have (Evernote, Endomondo).

I've been doing some reading about Kies, since I've never had to use it, and one thread I read seemed to suggest that it was necessary to MANUALLY sync these services via Kies every so often. Is this true? Or will they be synced to the cloud automatically like I'm used to with HTC?

To be honest Kies really confuses me. Can someone suggest a decent tutorial (Youtube or otherwise) showing what Kies does? Thanks all.

 

[elbeeuk]

Hi there,
I'm personally not a fan of Kies as I find it to be a bit buggy.
I had an HTC desire before the SGS3 and I was using all the Google services you mentioned plus Evernote.
When I came to the SGS3, I just made sure everything I wanted to transfer(contacts/emails/calendar) had synced normally from the desire to the cloud then switched phone. Logging into your Google account at startup pulls your emails and contacts through. Then logging into Evernote brought my notes in.
The only thing you really need to do manually is move your music/photos/vids manually from your old phone to your PC/Mac, then use 'Android File Transfer' to transfer from your PC/Mac to your SGS3.
If you're desperate to move saved games/across maybe someone else here can help with that as.
Saved SMS/Call logs - if you were on an Android phone prior to the SGS3, you could use something like SMSBackup+ in the market to transfer them.


Give me a shout if I've forgotten something obvious(it's still early here!)

HTH

Elbee

 

[westbros]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Can you please let me know whether - when you first logged into your Google account on your SGS3 - all of your historical and future calendar entries were pulled down or just the last couple of months and the coming 12 months? I've read on other threads that some people have had problems getting all of the entries to load.

Are you using S Planner? Or the stock Google calendar? Or some other app? I am currently using Calengoo.

And the $6m question is - if you make a new change to your calendar on your new SGS3, does it automatically sync this data OTA back to the cloud, or does this have to be synced manually via Kies?

I realise it's still early days, but if you or someone else could check on this and let me know, I'd be grateful.

 

[elbeeuk]

Hi there,
I've a number of calendars set up in Google Calendar(online).
When I first logged into the SGS3 all my calendar entries came through for all of 2012. Can't seem to find an option to bring through previous ones but I don't really need to. There are other calendar apps out there where you can specify the 'back in time' distance to sync (Pure Calendar).

Just testing the 'forward in time' aspect. If I create an item in Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr/May 2013(on Google Calendar online), it shows up on my phone. But not in Jun 2013 so looks like it may be limited to a 12 month period ahead.

I'm using S Planner as it looks nice and does everything I need.

If you're creating a new event, just make sure that the 'Calendar' option at the top of your new event window is changed to your gmail calendar and it will all sync up with the cloud - NO KIES REQUIRED. If you have any probs with the sync side, just be sure that settings>accounts & sync>your gmail account> option on your phone is set to sync the calendar.

HTH

Elbee

 

[westbros]

Thanks Elbee. That's what I'd read about S Planner as well (the 12 mth forward limit). I'll investigate the options on Calengoo and see what I can find.