Liberated FR008 & Exhange ActiveSync

[mr72]

Hey guys-

I recently went from Liberated b005 to the FR008 and everything is working great except one thing: Exchange ActiveSync.

I have my normal email with gmail, and my business email & calendar is on Exchange. I am using the HTC "Mail" app on the phone. The problem is that it does not get the mail in a timely fashion. With the previous Liberated b005 Eclair it worked perfectly, just as expected, with no tweaking required. I'd get mail on my phone within a few minutes of when I got it on my PC. But now I generally have to open the Mail app and manually refresh it to get any Exchange mail.

Under "Accounts & sync" settings, I have "Background data" checked and "Auto-sync" (which I understand is aka "push email") is unchecked. Maybe it works right with Auto-sync checked but my battery life is horrible with it set that way.

I have "Exchange ActiveSync" account
Under "Data and synchronization" for that account, it has:
Schedule: Manual
Sync mail: checked
Sync contacts: not checked
Sync calendar: checked

If I click "Schedule", it has "Peak time" which is Mon-Fri 7:30am-7:00pm, and then "Frequency" Peak times: Every 15 minutes and Off-peak times: Every hour

I don't recall these "peak time" and etc. from the b005 settings. It just seemed to work as expected without me having to fool with it.

Any ideas why this isn't syncing my mail ever 15 minutes as I would expect during "peak time"?

Oh and by the way, thanks attn1 for the ROMs. This stuff is brilliant.

 

[matt_b]

i don't think theres anything particularly wrong with what the app is doing.

you put that the schedule is manual...rather than you manually setting it, perhaps it means it only refreshes when you refresh it manually?

i would set it to auto sync and perhaps change a few other things to manage battery life better? disable gps/wifi when not needed, lower screen brightness all that stuff.

i know i'm not extraordinarily helpful, but thats all i've got.

 

[mr72]

Well, clearly under the "manual" settings, it appears that it's supposed to be doing something automatically.

I already manage gps & wifi and all that other stuff to improve battery life. I still have to charge the phone mid-day. Turning on Auto-sync may "fix" my mail issue (work around it, really), but the cost is way too high in terms of battery life.

 

[Noobla_Khan]

Hey guys-

I recently went from Liberated b005 to the FR008 and everything is working great except one thing: Exchange ActiveSync.

I have my normal email with gmail, and my business email & calendar is on Exchange. I am using the HTC "Mail" app on the phone. The problem is that it does not get the mail in a timely fashion. With the previous Liberated b005 Eclair it worked perfectly, just as expected, with no tweaking required. I'd get mail on my phone within a few minutes of when I got it on my PC. But now I generally have to open the Mail app and manually refresh it to get any Exchange mail.

Under "Accounts & sync" settings, I have "Background data" checked and "Auto-sync" (which I understand is aka "push email") is unchecked. Maybe it works right with Auto-sync checked but my battery life is horrible with it set that way.

I have "Exchange ActiveSync" account
Under "Data and synchronization" for that account, it has:
Schedule: Manual
Sync mail: checked
Sync contacts: not checked
Sync calendar: checked

If I click "Schedule", it has "Peak time" which is Mon-Fri 7:30am-7:00pm, and then "Frequency" Peak times: Every 15 minutes and Off-peak times: Every hour

I don't recall these "peak time" and etc. from the b005 settings. It just seemed to work as expected without me having to fool with it.

Any ideas why this isn't syncing my mail ever 15 minutes as I would expect during "peak time"?

Oh and by the way, thanks attn1 for the ROMs. This stuff is brilliant.

I have my exchange account set as follows:

Days: Every day
Peak time start: 05:00
Peak time end: 22:00

Peak times: As items arrive
Off-peak times: Every 4 hours

Works brilliantly.

First off I think "Auto-sync" being off is your issue. I do not believe that the "Auto-sync" setting refers to "push mail". I believe the auto-sync setting is general for all apps and how they are allowed to sync data either manual or automagically, where as push mail has to do with your mail client only. I believe setting your exchange account to receive items as they arrive is "push mail". I have Auto-sync enabled.

Think of it this way, your schedule settings are for the exchange app in particular where as the "auto-sync" setting is for all apps that use a data connection so no matter what you specify in the app settings, the general data sync settings will over ride them. By turning off auto-sync you are telling your phone to not allow any app to sync on it's own but to allow the app to sync when it is launched manually.

The only other thought that comes to mind is that if you are using wifi and connected to the same network that your exchange server is on, your phone will not be able to sync your mail unless you turn off your wifi or you have your wifi set to sleep after 15 minutes of phone sleep. Once your wifi sleeps your exchange mail will use the carrier network and be able to sync.

 

[mr72]

OK, I get it.

"Background Data" is aka "push"? Or, in other words, there is no way to allow a timed sync like a normal old fashioned email app, while also disabling push email, correct?

 

[Noobla_Khan]

OK, I get it.

"Background Data" is aka "push"? Or, in other words, there is no way to allow a timed sync like a normal old fashioned email app, while also disabling push email, correct?

Push refers to how an exchange server sends email to your mobile client, it has nothing to do with the "background data" or "auto-sync" settings. No matter how you want your exchange client to sync, either timed like every 5 minutes or immediately when items are received, you have to have "auto-sync" enabled for it to work.

Let's break it down like this:

With "auto-sync" enabled your mail should update per the schedule you set automatically without launching the app.

With "auto-sync" disabled your mail will only update when you launch it from the application shortcut.

Does that make sense?

NOTE: Background data must be enabled as well.

 

[matt_b]

Well, clearly under the "manual" settings, it appears that it's supposed to be doing something automatically.

I already manage gps & wifi and all that other stuff to improve battery life. I still have to charge the phone mid-day. Turning on Auto-sync may "fix" my mail issue (work around it, really), but the cost is way too high in terms of battery life.

turning on auto sync isn't a work-around; as a$$h4t pointed out, it is a solution. for your phone to grab mail as per your schedule, auto sync must be enabled.

as far as your battery woes go, i'm at a loss as to how it could be draining so much if you already manage your battery life pretty well. i would install the app watchdog task manager to keep an eye on any processes trying to eat more battery than they need to.

also, a readthrough of this tutorial never hurts.

 

[22-40]

Under "Accounts & sync" settings, I have "Background data" checked and "Auto-sync" (which I understand is aka "push email") is unchecked.

The Background/Auto-sync settings are purely advisory, and many apps ignore them completely. To change the HTC mail sync behavior you need to change the settings in the HTC mail prefs.

When you do set Background and/or Auto-sync, most of the Google apps (and some of the HTC ones) start polling the network regularly, which is what kills your battery. Weather, stocks, gmail, etc etc. In my experience it takes quite a lot of tweaking to run them all down. Once done though, I've been able to re-enable those global settings without killing the battery.

 

[mr72]

thanks for the tips. Auto-sync is working fine now with Exchange and it's not draining the battery unduly, well not any more than it drains it with auto-sync turned off.

I can't seem to remove apps like News & Weather, GMail, Stocks, etc. that would use background data services and which I do not ever use. Guess I can just delete the apk files.

 

[Noobla_Khan]

thanks for the tips. Auto-sync is working fine now with Exchange and it's not draining the battery unduly, well not any more than it drains it with auto-sync turned off.

I can't seem to remove apps like News & Weather, GMail, Stocks, etc. that would use background data services and which I do not ever use. Guess I can just delete the apk files.

You can go into settings under "Accounts & sync" and go into each account that you don't want to sync and uncheck sync. I usually do that with news, stocks and weather right off the bat when I set up a phone. That will cut down on the background data and help with your battery life.

 

[matt_b]

thanks for the tips. Auto-sync is working fine now with Exchange and it's not draining the battery unduly, well not any more than it drains it with auto-sync turned off.

I can't seem to remove apps like News & Weather, GMail, Stocks, etc. that would use background data services and which I do not ever use. Guess I can just delete the apk files.

you can remove certain system apps via this method. i always do this for facebook, news/weather, stocks and things like that.

and for more battery help, check this out.

 

[mr72]

thanks. i'll check it out. location-based wifi would be the bomb for battery saving, but Y5 does not work on Froyo/Aria and everything else that has this feature is a paid app... guess I just am not yet willing to spring for it. Cheap == me.