I know this phone will do more than just let me play Angry Birds.
February 22, 2011 8:59 AM Subscribe
How do I get my computer to talk to my husband's phone. Specifically calendar and address book functions. Use small words please...
My husband is starting his own handyman business and I want to help out by doing the administrative stuff.
Ideally a client would call me and I'd fill out some kind of work order. I'd like to be able to send the order to my husband's phone. At the very least I'd like to be able to put the job on his calendar and add the client's information to his address book.
I'm sure there is something like this out there, but I'm kind of clueless when it comes to computer things. Is there an app for this?
My husband's phone is a Droid X.
My laptop is a PC with Windows Vista.
We both have Gmail, and I'm using Google Chrome.
We also need to keep track of his hours. He has a couple apps that manage his hours, but it's only on one project at a time. He often works on three or four projects. There was a program for his Palm that did what he needed but we haven't been able to find anything for his Droid. Any suggestions?
My husband is starting his own handyman business and I want to help out by doing the administrative stuff.
Ideally a client would call me and I'd fill out some kind of work order. I'd like to be able to send the order to my husband's phone. At the very least I'd like to be able to put the job on his calendar and add the client's information to his address book.
I'm sure there is something like this out there, but I'm kind of clueless when it comes to computer things. Is there an app for this?
My husband's phone is a Droid X.
My laptop is a PC with Windows Vista.
We both have Gmail, and I'm using Google Chrome.
We also need to keep track of his hours. He has a couple apps that manage his hours, but it's only on one project at a time. He often works on three or four projects. There was a program for his Palm that did what he needed but we haven't been able to find anything for his Droid. Any suggestions?
For contacts, you would sign into HIS gmail account and any changes you make will sync to the phone.
Same for calendar entries, though here you also have the option of a shared calendar where you could update it in YOUR gmail account and it would sync to HIS phone.
For the work orders, you can push arbitrary files to the android using dropbox. Set it up on your desktop and configure a "dropbox" folder where you store the files as they come in. On the android he'll need to go and look for the new file (it doesn't automatically download them), but is a pretty easy way to transfer files between the two. Dropbox is free for low volume use, pay for plans also available.
Final step is to notify him that something changed on the phone, and for that you can just send an email.
posted by devbrain at 9:17 AM on February 22, 2011
Same for calendar entries, though here you also have the option of a shared calendar where you could update it in YOUR gmail account and it would sync to HIS phone.
For the work orders, you can push arbitrary files to the android using dropbox. Set it up on your desktop and configure a "dropbox" folder where you store the files as they come in. On the android he'll need to go and look for the new file (it doesn't automatically download them), but is a pretty easy way to transfer files between the two. Dropbox is free for low volume use, pay for plans also available.
Final step is to notify him that something changed on the phone, and for that you can just send an email.
posted by devbrain at 9:17 AM on February 22, 2011
Yep, use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, and possibly even Google Tasks to do this.
If you want to sequester work from personal stuff, you could create a separate work Gmail address and sync that to his phone as well. This allows you to create keep work-related calendar entries, emails, and contacts separate from everything else. But since you can seamlessly sync multiple Google accounts to an Android phone, your husband gets everything in one place.
If you don't want the new address, then at least you can create a separate Work calendar on your husband's Google account. That way, work appointments appear in a different color from personal appointments. And he can give you different permissions on each calendar. So if you're signed in to your Gmail (not his), you have full control to modify the work calendar, but you can only view the personal calendar.
If you need a way to track work orders, but aren't putting them on the calendar, you could either use a label in Gmail to keep them separate or put them in a Google Task. If you need to send the work order to him as some kind of file, you could attach it to an email or email him an alert then sync it via Dropbox as devbrain points out.
As far as I can tell, if you want to add the contact details to his contacts you'll have to log in to his Google account yourself. Oh well, no solution is perfect.
posted by Tehhund at 10:47 AM on February 22, 2011
If you want to sequester work from personal stuff, you could create a separate work Gmail address and sync that to his phone as well. This allows you to create keep work-related calendar entries, emails, and contacts separate from everything else. But since you can seamlessly sync multiple Google accounts to an Android phone, your husband gets everything in one place.
If you don't want the new address, then at least you can create a separate Work calendar on your husband's Google account. That way, work appointments appear in a different color from personal appointments. And he can give you different permissions on each calendar. So if you're signed in to your Gmail (not his), you have full control to modify the work calendar, but you can only view the personal calendar.
If you need a way to track work orders, but aren't putting them on the calendar, you could either use a label in Gmail to keep them separate or put them in a Google Task. If you need to send the work order to him as some kind of file, you could attach it to an email or email him an alert then sync it via Dropbox as devbrain points out.
As far as I can tell, if you want to add the contact details to his contacts you'll have to log in to his Google account yourself. Oh well, no solution is perfect.
posted by Tehhund at 10:47 AM on February 22, 2011
Although, timr is not free.
It might be a different (reduced function) app that's only available where I am, but when I look at the marketplace timr is free.
posted by K.P. at 12:16 PM on February 22, 2011
It might be a different (reduced function) app that's only available where I am, but when I look at the marketplace timr is free.
posted by K.P. at 12:16 PM on February 22, 2011
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Just use the standard android calendar app for the appointments and if you add contacts to your contacts in gmail, it should sync with the contacts list on the droid.
posted by royalsong at 9:03 AM on February 22, 2011