My success story for pictures, calendar, contacts and email sync

[Fabián Rodríguez]

Hello

Among the components I had not been able to replace until now on Android
were the calendar, addressbook and pictures sync to my own server.

After much testing of different options, I've found two interesting free
software alternatives.

Kolab includes support for ActiveSync and CardDav/CalDav. You can also
sync email but I use IMAP/SMTP instead. ActiveSync has the advantage of
not requiring to install anything extra. A proper sync app dedicated to
Kolab is in the works but labeled as beta. So far I haven't found free
open source CardDav/Caldav clients that worked in Android - not even
paid ones were without important bugs.

The Kolab project also offer a hosted service (SaaS) which although not
ideal provides a path for testing and use before setting up your own
server. Their site is very well done IMO and has a very good FAQ:
http://mykolab.com. They also include file storage (WebDav accessible),
but I haven't found a free software webdav client yet. Their email
service uses RoundCube for a nice integrated interface including the
other services (Tasks, Files, Calendar, ToDo, AddressBook). It's also
accessible via IMAP/SMP which the K-9 free software client covers in
Android too.

I tested the last 5 versions of so of OwnCloud with terrible results:
very involved configuration, data corruption and files sync conflicts
were common.

Regarding pictures, I setup a Piwigo server, and the RegalAndroid app
let upload to it easily.

If there any suggestions to other similar solutions, I'd like to hear
them. I thought I'd share this here as using Android w/o Google Play and
its accompanying services (othe rGoogle Apps including account services,
Addressbook sync + calendar) seems to be an important dependency when
wanting to leave such ecosystem.

Cheers,

Fabian Rodriguez




-- 
Fabián Rodríguez
http://fsf.magicfab.ca