About three months ago I bought a Samsung Galaxy S2 from T-Mobile. It is a fantastic phone, large bright screen, fast processor, plenty of features, etc. I was very happy with it until Saturday, when for some reason it stopped connecting to my email account, a hosted Microsoft Exchange mailbox at Office 365.
As it turns out, the version of the Android operating system used by Samsung on the Galaxy S2 includes an implementation of Microsoft’s ActiveSync software that is not fully compliant with the specifications. The result is that users of the Samsung Galaxy S2 are no longer able to access their email, calendar and contacts if they are hosted by Microsoft on Office 365. I can’t tell you how debilitating it is for a busy person to be suddenly deprived of mobile access to this information.
Because the number of users of the Galaxy S2 who also use Microsoft Office 365 for their email, calendar and contacts is so small, Samsung is unlikely to release a software update to resolve this issue. This is very disappointing because it has been working fine for three months. If I had known that this phone would no longer sync with my Exchange account at some point, I would never have purchased it!
My options for resolving this problem are as follows:
- Move my organization to a Microsoft Exchange host that will work with the Samsung Galaxy S2. Not a good option.
- Buy a new phone that is compatible with Office 365. Expensive.
- Purchase a third-party Microsoft Exchange client for Android such as Moxier Mail or Touchdown. I probably will do this.
- Root the phone and install a version of Android that features a more compliant implementation of ActiveSync.
I hope this post is helpful for those users of both the Galaxy S2 and Microsoft Office 365 who are wondering what has happened to their mobile email.
