Android 2.2 update on Dell Streak

Jan 12

The Android 2.2 update for the Streak has had many people screaming with impatience and moaning about every extra day they had to wait for it. Me I was quite happy to wait, the phone came with Android 1.6 and I had no qualms with it, a few niggles maybe but nothing major. I then updated to 2.1 a few months ago and found that I had more issues and it wasn't really an improvement so I was sceptical about 2.2, but if you haven't yet made the leap you can find the list of changes here.

Well finally last month my Android 2.2 update announced itself to me, but this time I decided to do a backup as when I did the 2.1 update I lost all my data as it was a clean install. This time round Dell have made it impossible to avoid the backup warning/suggestion as the update takes you through a step by step wizard and tell you to download the backup software, sadly this is however where the problems started.

To backup or not to backup, that is the question.
I downloaded the backup software, but then was stuck, there was no continue or next button, no instructions on what to do next at all. I eventually discovered have to hit back and go to the previous screen to do step 2. DOH! I bet I am not the only one who got confused by this.

So I ran the backup software but it kept telling me to insert an SD card, WFT! I of course had an SD card plugged in and it was working as I could see it from my PC.

So off I went to the forums and found someone with the same issue who said he had just gone ahead and done the update and all his data had been intact, so I thought screw it, I will risk it. I tried the backup one last time and bizarrely it worked, did my 2.2 update, and low and behold everything remained intact, this however was to be short lived.

You didn't want your contacts anymore right ?

The first time I went to make a call I discovered all my contacts phone numbers had vanished, all I had was email addresses. After some investigation it turns out that the Facebook app is set to sync your contacts with Facebook by default (regards how you had it set before), which overwrites all your existing contacts, so be warned, turn this option OFF before your phone has a chance to sync. This is a royal pain, but at least you can just re-sync your phone with your PC and get your contacts back right ? WRONG!!

No more Outlook Sync.

It also turns out that the DEL PC Suite software is no longer compatible with Android 2.2, so you have to download and install the new Dell Mobile Sync by Nero instead. I could not get this to download from the Dell site, all you get is some download manager which kept telling me there was nothing to download. I finally found a link to a direct download on the nero site and got the software that way.

However after installing I was shocked to discover that this new software only sync's photos, music and video, there is no option at all for syncing with outlook, so there was no way to get my contacts and calendar over to my phone, oh how fricking wonderful, what a useless piece of software. What idiot at Dell thought this was a good idea, whoever you are you are a total A**hole.

So I had to find another way to sync my contacts.

Luckily I subscribe to Plaxo, which provided my solution. Plaxo will sync with Google Gmail/Apps and so will Android. So you basically just use Google as the connector. Obviously because I already use both Plaxo and Google Mail this was not a big deal for me, however for others this would not be an ideal solution. If this solution is an option for you, then here is how to do it, you will need a Plaxo premium account. If you do not use plaxo then you can find tools out there to sync Outlook with Google, e.g.
- Google Calendar sync.

- Google Apps sync for Outlook

Sync with Plaxo

Now on your phone, go to Settings -> Accounts & Sync -> select your gmail account -> choose which options to sync (mail, contacts, calendar)

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If you get stuck with anything try the Andoid forums. The Dell forums probably wont be much help as they mainly full of people with issues and no-one with answers and Dell do not bother reading their own forums or responding to anyone.

Let me end by saying that I do still like the Dell Streak and think it is a great Tablet/Phone, but Dell have made some big cockups with the rollout of all the updates by the looks of it and their support seems to be non existent. I have emailed them a couple of times and so far no reply at all.