Just a few days ago, Hotmail completed it’s upgrade to be able to sync utilizing Microsoft Exchange services. This means syncing your Hotmail account, including your contacts and calendar is now much easier. There is one catch. Your phone must be capable of supporting Microsoft Exchange services. If your phone has Android 2.2 you are set, if not, you may or may not be able to sync. Some phones, such as HTC phones with Sense UI, have Exchange support built in, while others simply do not. If you have Exchange support and love you some Hotmail syncing, keep reading.
In my example I’m running Android 2.2 on my HTC Hero (CyanogenMod 6). I start by opening the Mail application and setting up a new account.
If this is the first time you’ve opened Mail, it will automatically ask you to add a new account, such as my first screen shot below. If you have used it before, you’ll have to go to the list of Accounts and then click MENU and Add Account. I have setup a fake account for this demonstration, but basically, enter your Hotmail user name such as thesearethedroids@hotmail.com and password, but don’t tap Next, instead tap Manual setup and on the next screen tap Exchange.
New Account
Exchange
Settings
In the Settings page, be sure and fill in the fields such as I have with a “\” then your full user name including the “@hotmail.com” part. The server should be “m.hotmail.com”, note it will default to just “hotmail.com”, so you must add the “m”. Leave SSL on and tap Next. It will begin to contact the exchange server then the Account Options screen will appear.
Exchange Options
Make the choices you want and select Next and then give the account a Nickname. You can call it something like “My Hotmail”, “Work Hotmail”, or “Joe’s Funky Phonemail”. That’s it. At this point, auto syncing, push email with contact and calendar support is now setup on your Android. Enjoy.
For more information see the Windows Live Solution Center.
