[BB-JAM215]

With the PRIV i did initially set it up without a google account and discovered pretty fast that it shuts you out of alot of the built in google services. Contacts, Calendar, and email are all tied together with the gmail account. However, if you chose not to use any of google services it will allow you to add any pop email.

You can set any email, contact, and calendar accounts you want in the BlackBerry HUB using POP or IMAP.

You do not need to tie any emails, contacts, or calendar events to a GMail account. When you set up accounts on a new device, Android will keep prompting you to use GMail instead of the HUB, but it is still up to you to choose.

[BB-JAM215]

... Does Android have and do ONLY on device contacts and calendar?

You can keep all your contacts and calendar events local to your device or associate them with any account your want.

[anon(870071)]

You can set any email, contact, and calendar accounts you want in the BlackBerry HUB using POP or IMAP.

You do not need to tie any emails, contacts, or calendar events to a GMail account. When you set up accounts on a new device, Android will keep prompting you to use GMail instead of the HUB, but it is still up to you to choose.

Yes that's correct but in my case I did find it was nice that my contact's list and calendar entries all populated when I signed in with a Gmail account. Switching devices is always a concern for me as I have lost major information in the past. Whereas I could backup easily and restore with BB10 devices. I think with android the would ideally like you to use their services.

[tickerguy]

So how do you deal with Contacts? Can you import contacts and calendar to only the device and NOT sync them to the Google cloud?

Yes.

I have my contacts and calendars on an Exchange account which is NOT synced to Google -- it's on my own infrastructure. You can also save them to local storage ONLY (no sync at all) if you wish.

This has worked perfectly on both the Priv and DTEK60; when I moved to the DTEK I simply added the (private) Exchange account and my email, contacts and calendar all showed up immediately, and none of them are synced to Google.

There are a lot of apps that will not function (at all!) if you disable Play Services, however. The question becomes what level of restriction of functionality of those apps you're willing to live with -- for the BlackBerry apps (Hub, etc) you're fine running locally or against non-Google sources, but many apps off the Play Store will not work at all without services enabled.

[BB-JAM215]

... Whereas I could backup easily and restore with BB10 devices. I think with android the would ideally like you to use their services.

Yes, if you don't want to have anything to do with Google then don't choose a device that runs Google Android.
But if you do choose to use an Android device, there's not much reason not to have Google account even if you only use it to keep your OS and apps up to date. It also makes sense to at least backup some of your data to Google Drive.

[anon(870071)]

Yes sir totally agreed!! Its a choice and i like that with google. You can choose NOT to use their services. But if you want your information to appear and follow you from device to device I would.

[bb10adopter111]

So how do you deal with Contacts? Can you import contacts and calendar to only the device and NOT sync them to the Google cloud?

I don't use Google for contacts. There are many services that do that besides google.

Posted with my trusty Z10

[bb10adopter111]

It seems a lot of people have become so used to apps handling everything in the background that they no longer understand where their data actually resides and how it is accessed. While one needs a Google account to access Google Play Services, one does NOT need a Google account to maintain email, contacts, calendars, tasks and notes. MS Exchange, Outlook.com, Yahoo, and a number of other services can do all those things perfectly well on an Android phone.

I will likely set up a dummy Google account to register the phone, and auto forward email from that to my personal email so that I get all of my notifications from Google.

I will use my own cloud Exchange server to sync my other PIM data.

I will not add payment info to my Google account. Any apps I buy will be paid for through another channel, directly to the vendor if possible.

I don't pretend that this protects all of my private information or that it will make me anonymous, but it will circumvent some of the worst parts of the app store-based business models I dislike.

Posted with my trusty Z10

[BB-JAM215]

... I will likely set up a dummy Google account to register the phone, and auto forward email from that to my personal email so that I get all of my notifications from Google. ...

I don't use the GMail app. The BlackBerry HUB provides all the notifications I need for all my accounts including GMail.

... I will not add payment info to my Google account. Any apps I buy will be paid for through another channel, directly to the vendor if possible.

I use my PayPal account for Google Play Store app purchases and I don't purchase Android apps from anywhere else.

[bb10adopter111]

I use my PayPal account for Google Play Store app purchases and I don't purchase Android apps from anywhere else.

90% of the paid apps I use are part of subscriptions, such as Office 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, etc. so while I will download them through Google, I purchase them directly from the vendor.


Posted with my trusty Z10

[BB-JAM215]

90% of the paid apps I use are part of subscriptions, such as Office 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, etc. so while I will download them through Google, I purchase them directly from the vendor.

Most people coming from BB10 find that they need to add a number of apps to get the experience they want on Android. If you try to stick to free apps, you will not only get ads, but also notifications to install apps you're not interested in. Many Android apps are free to install, with the option of a paid version that removes ads and provides a full set of features.

[Taigatrommel]

Personally I am just using a dummy Google Account. I created it years ago for my first Android device. My phone(s) are setup not to sync mails, calendar or contacts. So it's only used to get access to Play Store and device updates (which I *think* require a Google account). Also I virtually never access the Gmail for the account anywhere. All my e-mails go through other services and calendar/contacts are synced via Cal- and CardDAV through other service providers. Works well enough.

[bb10adopter111]

Most people coming from BB10 find that they need to add a number of apps to get the experience they want on Android. If you try to stick to free apps, you will not only get ads, but also notifications to install apps you're not interested in. Many Android apps are free to install, with the option of a paid version that removes ads and provides a full set of features.

I prefer paid apps to free ones with ads. But most of the apps I use are paid for through my contracts with the vendors. I don't anticipate purchasing many, if any, on the Play Store.

Posted with my trusty Z10

[bb10adopter111]

So how do you deal with Contacts? Can you import contacts and calendar to only the device and NOT sync them to the Google cloud?

I need to keep my contacts/calendars/notes/tasks segregated by client. I currently have 4 populations of each as follows:

Personal (synched to Outlook.com)
My business (synched to my Cloud Exchange server
Client #1 (synched with their Exchange server)
Client #2 . (synched with their GoDaddy services)

The only reason I would use a Google account is if I wanted/needed to synch with Google. Currently, I do not. I have a Gmail account that I use as my Spam alias, but I don't want to see all those marketing emails. That's why I buses that account.

Posted with my trusty Z10

[Denise in Los Angeles]

The only reason I would use a Google account is if I wanted/needed to synch with Google. Currently, I do not. I have a Gmail account that I use as my Spam alias, but I don't want to see all those marketing emails. That's why I buses that account.

Posted with my trusty Z10

I suggest a dummy gmail for your KEYone so that you can get your apps from Play Store.

Just remember to NEVER give the email out to anyone to avoid the spam.

[bb10adopter111]

I suggest a dummy gmail for your KEYone so that you can get your apps from Play Store.

Just remember to NEVER give the email out to anyone to avoid the spam.

Right. That's what I said I was going to do. For the record, I am not anti-Google as a business. I just dislike their non-standard implementation of most of their PIM services, and don't want to have to manage them.

Posted with my trusty Z10

[jakie55]

Well, I guess I am way to trusting, and threw away my tin foil hat a long time ago. My very first email, contact, and calendar account was, and still is my gmail account... and that was with my Curve 8530. I know they get all sorts of data, but my take on this is that my data is mined by all sorts of entities. All of us who bank, purchase, and surf online have more to lose than my calendar and contacts information. I trust that the banks don't want the black eye, and so work to maintain their security.

I know..... way too trusting, and naive

[Event4izon]

I don't use the GMail app. The BlackBerry HUB provides all the notifications I need for all my accounts including GMail.



I use my PayPal account for Google Play Store app purchases and I don't purchase Android apps from anywhere else.

PayPal account for Google play store purchases... this is good, I didn't know you could do this.

[bb10adopter111]

Well, I guess I am way to trusting, and threw away my tin foil hat a long time ago. My very first email, contact, and calendar account was, and still is my gmail account... and that was with my Curve 8530. I know they get all sorts of data, but my take on this is that my data is mined by all sorts of entities. All of us who bank, purchase, and surf online have more to lose than my calendar and contacts information. I trust that the banks don't want the black eye, and so work to maintain their security.

I know..... way too trusting, and naive

There is nothing wrong with being happy with your providers. Google offers a lot of great services for free in return for the opportunity to advertise relevant products and services.

Posted with my trusty Z10

[Resilience]

There is nothing wrong with being happy with your providers. Google offers a lot of great services for free in return for the opportunity to advertise relevant products and services.

Posted with my trusty Z10

And data mining

[FF22]

I guess you could also use Amazon app store (just like BB10) if you're trying to avoid GooglePlay for apps. Fdroid also has much, too, as has been noted

Posted via CB10

Maybe I've missed something but doesn't Amazon now have some special app scheme where they provide the apps for free but log everything/time you use the app to reward the developer?

Can you just pay directly for apps and not be tracked/logged by them?

[Kebero]

To answer possible questions, using my outlook.com (Office 365) email in the Hub along with work email. Contacts Tasks and Calendar all come through outlook.com. Using OneNote and Wunderlist.

This is me in a nutshell on my PRIV (even sometimes going as far as to use Arrow Launcher).

[jakie55]

And data mining

In this day and age, do you actually believe that Data Mining does not occur with every on line service?

[o4liberty]

Google has more than Apple does as far as integration goes from photos to maps and so on cant go wrong with google IMO

[keyboardweeb]

Maybe I've missed something but doesn't Amazon now have some special app scheme where they provide the apps for free but log everything/time you use the app to reward the developer?

Donno about that but when I saw the permissions list for the Amazon Underground app (where you get apps for free) I noped the hell out of there. Being an Android 4.x app, even on BB10 it was an all or nothing deal. I chose nothing!