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We know you have your reasons for buying an Android phone instead of an iPhone. We won't judge you. If you bought a WinMo phone, however, we'd judge. Just a warning.
Here are some tips and how-tos to get your Android phone working with your Mac almost as well as an iPhone. Almost.
Difficulty Level: Easy
What You Need:
> Android Phone (we used the Motorola Droid)
> doubleTwist
> Rings Extended (available on the Android Market)
A majority of this how-to utilizes doubleTwist. If you haven't downloaded and launched the app already, hold off until you've read the entire article. This will make more sense once you see the portion about syncing music.
Hooking it Up
The Android's main feature is that it works seamlessly with the "Google Cloud." That's great, if you've invested all of your media and communication through Google. If you haven't, you can still plug your Android phone into your Mac and sync your media thanks to a handy--albeit somewhat buggy--piece of software known as doubleTwist. The app is similar to iTunes in appearance, although we wouldn't use it to play media. What we would use it for is syncing third party devices, like the Android family of phones, the Palm Pre, WinMo phones, and the Sony PSP; the entire list can be found on the doubleTwist site.
1. Attach the phone to your Mac via the supplied USB cable. Before you yell out "Nothing's happening!" relax, you have to turn on USB mounting on the phone. Launch doubleTwist.
2. To turn on USB mounting you can touch and pull down the menu at the top of the phone. From there you will see the ability to turn on USB mounting. Turn it on and you should see the Android phone under the Devices area in the left hand corner of doubleTwist.
Photo Times
You're Android's SD card will show up in iPhoto for importing ease
Once the Android phone is mounted, iPhoto should automatically launch much like it would if an iPhone or any camera was attached to your Mac. You can import your photos and videos just like the iPhone, attached SD card, or attached camera. Easy as pie.
Adding Your Photos
Now that you have your photos off the Android phone, lets put some new photos on the device so the world can see just rad your halloween costume was. Like a majority of this how-to, we'll be using doubleTwist to place photos on your Android phone.
1. Your iPhoto library and albums should appear in doubleTwist in addition to the Pictures folder on your Mac. If you happen to have two iPhoto libraries like me, both will appear.
Drag and drop photo action (click to embiggen)
2. You can drag individual images, a selection of images, or an entire album to your Android phone. The Android OS can handle JPG, PNG and GIF files.
3. After copying over, you'll need to unmount the Android phone and unplug it and then launch the Gallery app.
You can set any image in th Gallery app as Wallpaper. You can crop the image to fit on your phone.
4. After getting your photos on the phone, you can start to customize it with your own desktop image. In the Gallery app, find the image you want as wallpaper. Tap the, Set as option above the picture and you'll be prompted to create a Contact icon or Wallpaper. We created a 640x480 image so the world knows we're still Apple Fan Boys and Girls.
novamedia
July 08, 2011 at 5:21am
Hello,
it would be great if you could check out FoneSync for Android (novamedia.de/en/mac-fonesync-android.htm). It is a new sync software for contacts, calendars, music and photos and works like iTunes. It does not need a cloud based service, just a USB connection, so it is fast and stable.
Tell me what you think!
Jan Fuellemann, nova media, info@novamedia.de
benbogart
January 25, 2011 at 5:21am
Unfortunately iCal doesn't play nicely with Google's CalDAV so don't expect your recurring events to update properly from your computer if you use this method. This has been an open bug on Google since 2008 and they don't really seem to care about it. [I tried to post the link here but it triggered the spam filter]. Try a search for "google-caldav-issues issue 26".
For me this is the killer. I can't get an Android phone until my calendar syncs properly with google. For me its first a phone, and second a calendar, 3rd everything else.
Lythox
January 23, 2011 at 6:57pm
"You're Android's SD card will show up in iPhoto for importing ease"
(You're means you are, and your is when it relates to ownership, like "your Android's SD card")I don't want to sound like whiner, but come on, it can't be that hard to get it right... Good tutorial though, it helped me out so thanks a lot for it.
drdave
July 31, 2010 at 1:11pm
Good Day!
I'm not having much luck syncing albums from iPhoto to my Eris, even with Doubletwist. Thanks to Chriscord, awhile back, I learned to sync Contacts and iCal fairly well. But not photos and iTunes tunes. In Doubletwist, photo albums are listed as music playlists. I don't doubt that this is my fault, but would like some help figuring it out!
bigredcndymn
February 05, 2010 at 1:36pm
Bring the iphone to Verizon and I will buy one immediately. As long as the iphone is with AT&T, I will use the Android.
drdave
January 02, 2010 at 8:11am
Hey, Chriscord - Thanks for taking the time. Planning to get either an Eris or a Droid today. I plan to use your suggestions either way. Tough choice between phones: I am happy with the Eris keyboard and prefer the smaller form factor. The screen and speed of the Droid are fab, though. (I'm still not sure about SAR - the Droid's are 1.49/1.50 - close to FCC max - while the Eris' are 1.19/.78). What do you think about the Music player on the Droid ?
Thanks again!
DM
chrischord
December 17, 2009 at 9:25pm
Dr Dave,your best bet is to open a gmail account and make that your headquarters for address book and calendar. then use the gmail calendar to create a .ics address to paste into your ical calendar subscription area. The export all your mac address book as v-cards and import into the gmail contact list.the ultimate advantage of this is that the droid syncs marvelously with your gmail calendar and contacts-both ways. If you add a contact on your droid, it automatically pushes to your gmail account and vice verse. The music player and even the default video player will work with the observed formats just by mounting the droid device through USB and dragging the media to the music or gallery section. However, one nice aspect of double twist is that it will also import album art work if you have that loaded into your itunes library. I just dragged ipod ready movies directly to the droid and they showed up and played easily in the gallery section.this device and it's operating system seem to be well suited for mac integration. I also loaded documents to go onto the phone, bought the pro upgrade key and found that i could load and edit microsoft word, excel power point files on the droid. also nice for pdf reading, etc.i've had apple products from the mac plus days. But, i doubt that i will get an iphone because i like the way this device works. It's nice to have a qwerty keyboard that slides out and a flash for the 5 MP camera. And, google maps is amazing. iLike!
drdave
December 13, 2009 at 7:26pm
Will Salling Media Sync and Double Twist also sync iCal and Address Book with Android phones? A simpler answer would be a Verizon iPhone, of course, but nothing seems certain about that coming.
Jok
December 11, 2009 at 3:00pm
The magazine has become the iPhone's Book of Love without any reportage on the other half of the phone concept. OK, the instrument itself is wonderful. But when one cannot receive or make actual phone calls, it would be better to think of it as an iPod. That other half is the lousy service offered by ATT. Questions for the MacBoys and MacGirls at MacLife: 1. When does ATT's exclusivity in the USA end? Are the contractual agreements lacking a legal basic such as TERM? [(n.) in contracts or leases, a period of time, such as five years.] 2. Has there been communication between Apple and other service providers, such as Verizon or Sprint? 3. Are there any plans, or better yet actual construction, of new ATT cell towers in places like New York or San Francisco? The latter city is my home, and after buying three different iPhone models over the years, I've found SF to be mottled leprously with dead zones. Even the much touted rebroadcasting units can't find ATT signals in much of the city. I've bought 2. Since the magazine is based in SF, hasn't any of your staff noticed? These 3 are questions that journalists should be doggedly pursuing. I mean you do, I hope, get paid as reporters and not as bloggers. A brilliant phone is the instrument AND the network through which it connects one to other telephones. Why does the magazine pretty much ignore this? And I do want an iPhone that works. Jok
sedcclint
December 07, 2009 at 9:20pm
I downloaded and used Salling Media Sync on the recommendation of Andy Ihnatko - worked perfectly. Synced all of my non-DRM music without hanging up, along with all of my playlists, podcasts, and photos. There is a free version that syncs everything everytime, so it is slower than the paid version. For about $20 you get to do incremental updates which takes no time at all after the first sync.
mike Hartman
December 03, 2009 at 1:17pm
I love Mac products. I have an iMac, MacBook Pro. I had an iPhone but due to AT&T's terrible service I returned to Verizon. As the name indicated, iPHONE is first a phone. If one can not make or receive calls and the carrier has a high rate for dropping calls the value of the product is significantly reduced! It is sad that because of personality issues the best phone and best carrier can't get together!
My point, don't be so critical of individuals who want to have good phone service and better 3G coverage which means using a Droid or some other non AT&T device.
bigriver108
October 29, 2010 at 10:16am
couldn't agree with you more, Mike. i've worked for a big 3 telecom carrier for 12 years and spent 6 more in telecom consulting. its really sad that Apple can't move more quickly to rectify this. i have to think they're leaving money on the table.
