Setting up HTC EVO 4G with Macbook Pro

Posted by ihazem on June 10, 2010 · 5 Comments 

There were numerous challenges I faced when trying to setup my new HTC EVO 4G device with my Macbook Pro – primarily for syncing purposes. Of course, I’m used to the iPhone where everything just works together. In this case, there were numerous hurdles that I had to jump to get it properly working. Reason of course for leaving the iPhone is due to the horrible AT&T service. I would literally get several dropped calls a day – completely unacceptable. So I decided to make the move over to Sprint and the HTC EVO 4G.

As of now, I’m REALLY happy I did. Here are the main reasons why:

1. Better coverage for the network/carrier (Sprint)

2. Ability to tether my device to my Macbook Pro (free of charge)

3. Better camera and display

4. Open standards

5. Huge app selection (same as Apple iPhone)

So here is how I got everything working together:

Contacts

If you have any weird issues/duplication, make sure to clean it all up in Address Book first after you do one final iPhone sync (if you have an iPhone)

Sync with Google contacts by opening up Address Book on Mac -> Preferences -> Accounts -> Synchronize with Google -> Input Google account info

Then click on synchronization icon on Menu Bar on Mac (see pic below) and click on Sync Now. Strange, but it uses the same sync mechanism as MobileMe. After you do this, it will sync up to Google Contacts and then to your phone (automatically). This assumes that you setup your Google Account on your phone already (from home screen on your phone -> Settings -> Accounts & sync -> Add account -> Select Sync calendar, contacts and Gmail

Sync after Configuring Settings in Address Book

I found that a lot of times you have to sign out of your Google account on your web browser and sign back in for the changes to take place.

I have also tested that changes made on my Evo, make it to my Google Contacts and eventually to my Address Book on my Mac. So all good there.

Calendar

Calendar was straightforward. I have 2 emails (personal/gmail and work/exchange). When setting up the mail accounts on the phone, it will automatically download all the calendar events to the phone from both. The one thing I had to differently which I wasn’t doing before was to add my Gmail Calendar to iCal (to keep it sync’d with my Macbook Pro). You can do that by doing the following:

Open iCal on Mac and go to Preferences -> Accounts -> Hit the + button to add a new account -> Select “Google” for Account type drop-down menu and put your Google account information. That’s it!!

Photos

Connect your Evo/Android to your Mac via the USB, then select “Disk drive: Mount as disk drive” on the “Connect to PC” app options on your phone. This will automatically launch iPhoto and you can sync as you do normally with your iPhone

Music

For Music (iTunes), the only easy way I found was to download a free app called doubleTwist (http://www.doubletwist.com/). Pretty straightforward to use and has a similar interface to iTunes. Anyways, connect your Evo device to Mac via USB, select “Disk drive” again (iPhoto will launch again, don’t unmount from iPhone, because then it will unmount from doubleTwist. You can then go ahead and add iTunes playlists from within doubleTwist to your device SD card.

Password Manager

I used to use 1Password (love it!) for iPhone/Mac, but they don’t have an Android version yet unfortunately. So I am still looking for something to replace. Will update post when I do find something.

Tethering

For tethering I used PdaNet. Downloaded and installed from Android Market on my phone directly. Then downloaded and installed the Mac client from http://www.junefabrics.com/bin/PdaNetA242.pkg

Have to restart Mac after installation. Then connect Evo device to Mac. Choose “Charge Only” option on device. On Evo device, go to Settings -> Applications -> Development -> and select USB debugging. Click on PdaNet app icon on phone. Then select “Enable USB Tether”. At this point the phone is setup and ready to go

You’ll then see a phone icon on your Menu Bar on your Mac. Click on that and click Connect. Here is the image of what to expect:

That’s it for everything at this point! Not too bad. Took a bit of poking around here and there to get it all working. Overall it’s worth it and I’m very happy with it all.

-H

Filed under Android Setup