Santa bought me an android tablet for Xmas.
Apparently I have to synchronize this with my PC.
I've plugged in the USB cable and clicked on the 'Computer' thingy. Two new things have appeared; Removable disc 'E' and 'F'.
Double clicking either and a dialogue box asks me to insert a disc.
I'm stumped.
Answers in terms a 5 year old can understand please.....
Firstly I am not sure why you have to sync with your PC.
People without PCs can still buy and use tablets.
Some software such as various Google bits will offer to sync between devices if you log your devices into your Google account.
I don't know why you are being asked to insert a disc. The tablet is showing up as a couple of drives and so you should be able to see the contents.
A few questions:
(1) Which tablet? (2) Which PC? (3) Are you running Windows on the PC? If so which version?
Cheers
Dave R
To install the Google Docs app so I can word process on it. If I try to download that it says I need iTunes, if I try to install that it says I need to synchronise.
It surfs the net OK.
Neither do I :-)
Unknown cheapy. D2D Lite?
Compaq
Windows 7 I think.
Is there anything on your PC you /want/ to sync with it?
if you want to use a common email account on both, I'd recommend using IMAP4 on them both,
For anything else, like files, it's usually more convenient to pick a "cloud" service GoogleDrive, MicrosoftOneDrive, DropBox etc and keep them synced via WiFi (or 3G/4G if the tablet has that too)
Calendars, probably via Gmail, they may be mnufacturer specific ways to sync over a USB cable, but you don't mention what make you have and it may be less convenient anyway ...
use the "Play store" on the tablet itself to install the app
iTunes is for Apples, not Androids.
Though it *is* possible to visit the website, and login to the same Google account on the PC that the tablet uses, then "send" an app to the tablet over the Internet, if that's more convenient ...
Andy, you are a genius!!!!
Silly me, I hadn't associated Play Store with word processing :-(
Oh. Thats what it told me to do.
Thanks.
>
Are you sure that drives E: and F: are anything to do with the tablet and not related to something different, such as a memory card reader? In my experience, Android devices show up in My Computer as a name rather than a pseudo disk drive. For example, my Nexus 10 tablet shows up as Nexus-10 and my Android phone shows up as XT1068 (which is its Motorola part number).
As others have said, there is probably no need to synch it with a PC unless you want to keep things like your diary and address book in step with other on both devices.
And, as others have also said, you install Apps on the tablet itself by pointing it at PlayStore - nothing to do with the PC.
If you want to copy files between PC and tablet (in either direction) it's well worth installing ES File Explorer on the tablet[1]. It works in a similar way to Windows Explorer *and* it works over a wireless connection - so there's no need to use the USB cable.
[1] As always, look for it in PlayStore - it's free!
w00t!
No you don't *have to* .
But you can...
Hmm. Should look like a regular media drive. Someone else might be able to suggest as I neither use windows nor android-usb-myPC (I run an ssh server on android to move files around over WiFi).
If you don't mind Google having the phone numbers of your friends, connect it to a Gmail account.
NB you do not have to use Gmail itself - the inbuilt mail reader can work with any IMAP/SMTP mail service (or many if needed). Lots of alternative mail readers too - I like the "K9" Email app. AquaMail is also good.
You *may* backup the device settings etc to google - or not.
You may use Google Drive selectively, or Dropbox, or SpiderOak (for encrypted data).
It is quite flexible and you can operated completely without syncing anything to anything if you wish.
Google Play store is the Android equivalent of the Apple App store. It's where you download/install apps.
Google Play store is the Android equivalent of the Apple App store. It's where you download/install apps.
I know it's not what was originally asked about, but I find ShareIT quite useful for moving stuff between devices, PC's etc..
When you plug it in, it ought to ask if you want to "Turn on USB mass storage", at which point it unmounts the flash storage and they become available as your drives E & F. You might need to drag down the notifications area at the top of the screen to see this.
Why does there have to be an intermediate? Just rsync it from A to B, job done! :-)
Silly me
I thought it had something to do with poxy games - so I deleted it :-(
tim
Can you delete it?
Well, you can't actually *delete* the Play app - maybe just the icon - so worry ye not, it's still there somewhere.
But I agree - stupid name.
Is rsync really suitable for suggesting to a non-technical visitor to move files to or from pc/tablet/mobile phone?
I genuinely don't know, but would be surprised if it was there in the app store and just came with 2 buttons, send and receive.
You don't really... ;-)
However things like google drive or dropbox can create shared folders that can be accessed from both devices.
Sounds like its letting you see the tablet's storage space as if it were a removable disk on the PC.
But for some reason does not recognise the format.
OK the key to seamless synching of stuff on Android is a google account. Once you tell the device which google account to use it will automatically keep things like your contacts and calendars etc synched with the google account - you can then access them from your PC by visiting the relevant web site, or from other devices like your phone if you have an android phone.
The google account also remembers what you have installed on the table via the play store, and will let you reload it anytime you like should you erase it on the tablet.
If you use thunderbird for email etc, then there are a couple of nice add ons that allow synch with a google account. Add the "Lightening" add on to thunderbird, (it gives you scheduling and calendar capabilities), and you can get that to seamlessly integrate with the online google version and the tablet / phone. So make a reminder on the PC and it will pop up on the phone / tablet as well when triggered.
Thunderbird Addons worth playing with:
Lightening Provider for Google Calendar Google Contacts
Maybe you also have an Apple device like the Ipod Touch, which tries to turn your world into fruit. Brian
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