Related
I know it is hard to believe that in this day and age there are people who do not spend half their day refreshing Facebook and Twitter. I personally do not even have an account at Facebook or Twitter or any other social networking site.
This is no problem as long as Facebook access is contained in an app that I can simply not launch. In WP7 however, from what I've seen of it at least, the social networking aspects seem completely unavoidable.
Whenever I go into contacts or people or whatever they are calling it, there will be a whole "What's New" column (Facebook Wall or recent Tweets I guess?) that for me would be blank all the time. Then there is the option to "share" content with others that seems to appear on every other context menu in the OS.
I'll admit my knowledge of WP7 is so far only skin deep. It is just a lot of what I read about it talks about how well integrated it is with social networks.
So does anyone know how far this integration goes? Is it just a few features that can be easily ignored? Or is it so deeply weeded to the OS that it would be constantly in your way and difficult to remove, like IE used to be with Windows.
If it is the later, clearly the best solution would be to not purchase a phone with WP7 on it.
Clearly WP7 has a ton of social integration within the OS but I don't think it's going to be mandatory that you actually use the stuff. They are aiming the device at business as well as entertainment and I know some companies would not want their employees doing facebook on their work phones. I'm sure they've realized this and made it so those features just don't show up when you arent linked to a facebook account.
MooGoo said:
I know it is hard to believe that in this day and age there are people who do not spend half their day refreshing Facebook and Twitter. I personally do not even have an account at Facebook or Twitter or any other social networking site.
This is no problem as long as Facebook access is contained in an app that I can simply not launch. In WP7 however, from what I've seen of it at least, the social networking aspects seem completely unavoidable.
Whenever I go into contacts or people or whatever they are calling it, there will be a whole "What's New" column (Facebook Wall or recent Tweets I guess?) that for me would be blank all the time. Then there is the option to "share" content with others that seems to appear on every other context menu in the OS.
I'll admit my knowledge of WP7 is so far only skin deep. It is just a lot of what I read about it talks about how well integrated it is with social networks.
So does anyone know how far this integration goes? Is it just a few features that can be easily ignored? Or is it so deeply weeded to the OS that it would be constantly in your way and difficult to remove, like IE used to be with Windows.
If it is the later, clearly the best solution would be to not purchase a phone with WP7 on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 with a little difference.
What do people like us do who do have facebook and twitter account but since we are based in china they are completely blocked here. Facebook, twitter, dailymotion, youtube etc are mostly blocked and hence i see the integration in Win 7 not much useful. Though i do think it will offer a lot of uniqueness but for me it would be iphone in the very future when i decide to buy the phone.
+1
I hate face..shi..t and I don't need twitter
but, because I do not have an account on these sites would stop using WM7
sorry for my english.. is english-google.. XD
if you dont have a account then just dont sign in..its not mandatory, just an added feature that you can turn on if you want/need
I don't understand. If you don't use Facebook and Twitter then just... don't use it. What task could you possibly be trying to do that would say"must log in to Facebook to continue"? None
If you don't have Facebook feeds coming in there is nothing to avoid or ignore.. so what's the problem again?
burnblue said:
I don't understand. If you don't use Facebook and Twitter then just... don't use it. What task could you possibly be trying to do that would say"must log in to Facebook to continue"? None
If you don't have Facebook feeds coming in there is nothing to avoid or ignore.. so what's the problem again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure?
In the emulator at least, the column "What's New" is always there. Whether it be right next to the alphabetical list of contacts, or right next to the single contact info screen.
Also, because of the panorama display, you always see part of the next screen to your right. Then there is the fact that it is necessary to pan your way through contiguous screens to get to the one you want (there seems to be no way to skip over intervening screens/tabs).
These are the two main reasons which lead me to believe that this kind of integration is not something that can be simply disabled.
I never setup any Facebook account on the emulator.
Of course I realize that this is beta/alpha software I am dealing with. Hopefully Microsoft will be smart enough to remove social networking related tabs (screens, pages, what are they supposed to be called now?) if the appropriate accounts are not set up.
I don't see why a "share" option in a context menu or a "What's New" tab on a panel can't be shown if a person does not have social networking set up.
Take Sony Ericsson phones for example. MusicNow and stuff like a WAP browser don't simply "disappear" if you don't set it up. It's still there among the options.
Look at Nokia phones. Even if you don't set up an APN for use with internet, the option to click on a link from a SMS to launch a website would still appear. Whether you click on it is up to you.
The option to "share" in WP7 should always be there. Whether you click on it is up to you.
Hemant said:
What do people like us do who do have facebook and twitter account but since we are based in china they are completely blocked here. Facebook, twitter, dailymotion, youtube etc are mostly blocked and hence i see the integration in Win 7 not much useful. Though i do think it will offer a lot of uniqueness but for me it would be iphone in the very future when i decide to buy the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you can use a proxy or VPN service?
MooGoo said:
Are you sure?
In the emulator at least, the column "What's New" is always there. Whether it be right next to the alphabetical list of contacts, or right next to the single contact info screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the whats new maybe if you don't have Facebook/twitter linked it would just show recent SMS under peoples names or emails?
I'm going on the assumption that because the OEM developer documentation says that any OEM included applications 'must work without network/internet connectivity' that the OS will also work this way and there will be options to turn on and off the features.
It may turn out that we need to 'unlock' these features though as so far I've only seen it written in OEM info.
Interesting. Wouldn't that requirement exclude the inclusion of something like a weather application? Or does it just mean that the program would have to have the capability to cache data for offline use if necessary.
Even assuming that 'What's New' doesn't show you emails, SMS and other updates from that contact that have nothing to do with social networks...
you don't have to swipe over there.
With developers' ability to plug in, 'What's New' is at some point going to include some functionality you're interested in. Even if it's empty, that's no reason to disable it
I do hope you are correct about What's New being populated with emails/SMS etc, that would at least make some sense. But if this is not the case, I do not see why I should need to put up with an entirely worthless panel just on the off chance that some carrier may someday decide to put something there that interests me.
And why shouldn't I be able to disable it? If it is not disabled and just left empty as you suggest, I would indeed have to swipe it as the OS does not seem to provide a way to simply jump to the panel you want to see. This is another issue entirely, constantly having to swipe through unwanted content just to get the information you do want will get old very quickly.
MooGoo said:
And why shouldn't I be able to disable it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why shouldn't you be able to multi-task?
Why shouldn't you be able to develop in any language for any API that you want?
Why shouldn't you...
Hi!
I just installed the KITKANG rom (cf. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2549776) and a the first glance, it is pretty nice. But then I noticed a few things I really dislike such as
- The Web Browser does not reformat text (to make it fitting on the screen) if you zoom in manually by gesture. The browser I had on my previous image (caynogenmod 7) did this. And I don't want to miss that feature anymore.
- The contacts application seems to work by syncing contacts tothe Google cloud, only. My old contacts app had the choice to store contacts locally on the phone without Google sync.
I have no idea how to get this missing features back, again. Any comments / pointers?
I.
- Install another browser that has this feature
- The newer 'people' app may not have the option to store locally, but why do you want this? The whole point of an Android phone is to sync with your Google account.
It is dangerous to only store your contacts on the phone, because if you ever lose the phone, you lose all your contacts.
If you sync your contacts to your Google account and you lose your phone, your contacts are still safe :good:
eddiehk6 said:
- Install another browser that has this feature
- The newer 'people' app may not have the option to store locally, but why do you want this? The whole point of an Android phone is to sync with your Google account.
It is dangerous to only store your contacts on the phone, because if you ever lose the phone, you lose all your contacts.
If you sync your contacts to your Google account and you lose your phone, your contacts are still safe :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@ browser issue: I meanwhile learned that the issue cause by a change of the the rendering engine in Android to WebView. So, almost all browsers are affected by this. (For details, google "Text Reflow Removed From WebViews In KitKat, Probably Not Coming Back"). Opera is an exception, because it comes alone with its own machinery. However, I tried Opera and is is slow on my HTC Desire. As many, many other people complaining, I cannot understand why the Android development folks dropped such a fundamental feature. The Android Browser of Kitkat tends to be unusable now! And I consider a smartphone without a proper browser as unusable as well. Which at the end might prevent me from buying another Android smartphone...
@ contacts: I totally disagree. Well, yes, from Googles perspective, your statement might be true. But for the user, Android is at first just an operating system to run your smartphone. Think about why Google wants your data...! - I want to *own* my data, so I don't want to use cloud services. Strange that you think syncing of data is equivalent to syncing to Google! Of course I sync all my data. To my own PC. If I'd loose my phone, I won't loose my data, just re-install it to my new phone from my PC.
It is nice that Google offers syncing. But enforcing to sync *is* evil...
inmado said:
@ browser issue: I meanwhile learned that the issue cause by a change of the the rendering engine in Android to WebView. So, almost all browsers are affected by this. (For details, google "Text Reflow Removed From WebViews In KitKat, Probably Not Coming Back"). Opera is an exception, because it comes alone with its own machinery. However, I tried Opera and is is slow on my HTC Desire. As many, many other people complaining, I cannot understand why the Android development folks dropped such a fundamental feature. The Android Browser of Kitkat tends to be unusable now! And I consider a smartphone without a proper browser as unusable as well. Which at the end might prevent me from buying another Android smartphone...
@ contacts: I totally disagree. Well, yes, from Googles perspective, your statement might be true. But for the user, Android is at first just an operating system to run your smartphone. Think about why Google wants your data...! - I want to *own* my data, so I don't want to use cloud services. Strange that you think syncing of data is equivalent to syncing to Google! Of course I sync all my data. To my own PC. If I'd loose my phone, I won't loose my data, just re-install it to my new phone from my PC.
It is nice that Google offers syncing. But enforcing to sync *is* evil...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see this descending quickly into a rather philosophical debate, but on the basis of your reasoning I wonder whether an Android smartphone is suitable for your needs in the first place. I didn't know your stance on personal data from your first post.
I agree with the text reflow browser, a really useful feature. Opera has it like you found out, though the Desire is just an old phone now which struggles to run it. Plenty of newer Android devices will run it just fine. The depth of the Play Store is such that you'll almost certainly find an alternative suitable for your requirements, so perhaps test and consider that for future smartphone purchases.
As for syncing with cloud services, it comes down to user trust and needs I guess. You're right you don't have to use Google, but an Android smartphone really does work best if you use their services.
No, I don't think that syncing of all my data is equivalent to syncing to Google, I use other other accounts too and don't sync everything. In my opinion I think it's possible to find a reasonable middle ground between paranoid tin hat and being ignorant about all personal data. For me, I disable all location tracking stuff and usage stats for any apps (not just Google ones), as I don't need them and feel uncomfortable sending this data. But I do sync other google services like Gmail / contacts because I find they work and are convenient for me. You believe it's evil, I believe it's useful and convenient, just a difference of opinion.
For your workaround, if you don't want to sync contacts, you could disable contact sync within the settings. Would be equivalent to local storage. Or install a different contacts app to manage and store contacts locally.
To avoid this philosophical debate, I'll try give a short answer.
I am using Android for about 5 years now. Without using Google cloud services. And have been a happy Android user. Sounds quite funny to me if someone wonders if Android would be the right thing for me.
Using cloud services is not really a matter of trust. I.e. I am not afraid that Google looks into single items and makes use out of it. But if you have heard about "big data", you can imagine what the result can be when all the data of some many people gets available for ... things you cannot even imagine..
I tried to add a contact with Google sync switched off. It just don't work. The app hangs...
inmado said:
To avoid this philosophical debate, I'll try give a short answer.
I am using Android for about 5 years now. Without using Google cloud services. And have been a happy Android user. Sounds quite funny to me if someone wonders if Android would be the right thing for me.
Using cloud services is not really a matter of trust. I.e. I am not afraid that Google looks into single items and makes use out of it. But if you have heard about "big data", you can imagine what the result can be when all the data of some many people gets available for ... things you cannot even imagine..
I tried to add a contact with Google sync switched off. It just don't work. The app hangs...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're revealing more about your preferences and Android experience to date with each post...it's not just me wondering whether Android is right for you, in your second post you said so yourself
Anyway each to their own.
Have you tried installing a completely separate contacts/dialer application? You could sideload or use a different app store to find one. A few I know of:
- Contacts+
- Ex dialer
- RocketDial
- Go contacts ex
I'm certain at least one of them will be able to create phone contacts only.
Hi,
finally I found LineageOS as a suitable OS for the Moto G4 Plus in a work environment, where employees get an restricted user profile. In my test, everything seems to work fine up to now. But the problem is now that I cannot enable the "Email"App for the restricted profiles to connect to the Exchangeserver 2010.
Since k9-Mail does not work with Exchange, it could not work as a replacement.
I read, the reason is that a google account cannot be used in restricted accounts. That is fine. But I don't want to use a google but an exchange account. Does anyone has an idea how to solve this?
risaer said:
Hi, finally I found LineageOS as a suitable OS for the Moto G4 Plus in a work environment, where employees get an restricted user profile. In my test, everything seems to work fine up to now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have this device but, your best bet is to post this question within the following Official LineageOS thread for your device.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3522101
If all else fails, and you don't receive any responses from the above thread, you can always try to obtain some member guidance within the following Q&A thread that's specific to your device.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3526598
Good Luck!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I DO NOT provide support via PM unless asked/requested by myself. PLEASE keep it in the threads where everyone can share.
risaer said:
Hi,
finally I found LineageOS as a suitable OS for the Moto G4 Plus in a work environment, where employees get an restricted user profile. In my test, everything seems to work fine up to now. But the problem is now that I cannot enable the "Email"App for the restricted profiles to connect to the Exchangeserver 2010.
Since k9-Mail does not work with Exchange, it could not work as a replacement.
I read, the reason is that a google account cannot be used in restricted accounts. That is fine. But I don't want to use a google but an exchange account. Does anyone has an idea how to solve this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you have gapps installed. Do you really need it in this setup? Without gapps you get the default aosp mail. No Google account on the phone.
Hmm. I suppose it is not a device specific problem, but a general one.
Maybe even a general Nougat one? <-- UPDATE: Stock seems not to have the selection list **
And no. No GAPPs. It is the modified Version with MicroG. Email app is com.android.email (Version 7.1.2). I will try the unmodified version also.
If I go to the user page where I can allow, which apps can be used, more or less every app is listed but (UKW-Radio, Recorder AND E-Mail).
I also tried to move the Email from /system/app to /data/app which only caused force closes.
Maybe another reason could be that by entering exchange data you will be forced to add it as device administrator so it is not in the list?
Any help is apreciated.
I tested several mail-apps now, but either they do not support the Exchange server or they send a lot of data to other obscure servers so I have not found any alternative. I also installed the "Gmail" app (which is also usable with an exchange account) but this also does not appear in the share list and I absolutely do not understand why.
risaer said:
I tested several mail-apps now, but either they do not support the Exchange server or they send a lot of data to other obscure servers so I have not found any alternative. I also installed the "Gmail" app (which is also usable with an exchange account) but this also does not appear in the share list and I absolutely do not understand why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like you should install something from Microsoft.
kurtn said:
Looks like you should install something from Microsoft.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, if I do not understand if there is a hidden meaning behind this. If this is a serious tip I do not know what app? The android outlook app (which really looks neat) happily transfers AND STORES your account credentials and the content on their servers (see e.g. https://www.pcworld.com/article/288...s-new-outlook-apps-over-privacy-concerns.html , article is from 2015, but I suppose it is still valid. Some time ago I checked it and found out that there is no connection to my but only to some foreign servers). That is not only critical in my sense of privacy but also illegal in the sense of the GPDR. Funny that some people advertise certified Microsoft cloud products for the GPDR.
Nevertheless: Even if I would not use an MS server this would not solve the problem that I cannot select Email or GMail as an allowed app for an restricted user. I also tried the unmodified Lineageos but it has the same issue.
I really do not understand how all the companies work with android phones in working environments. All this fiddeling around just do protect the phones by encrypting the content in case of loss, to give the user restricted access so that they cannot install apps that must not be on the device and to care about privacy. Like on a usual work pc. Do they all use I-Phones?
possible Explaination (?)
(arrg. Always copy your text before you try to send your post) short summary of what I've written:
according to these links my understanding like this:
https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/3175031?hl=en and https://android.stackexchange.com/q...restricted-accounts-on-phone-running-lollipop
"Normal user" and "restricted user" is not equivalent to windows "admin" and "restricted user". "restricted users" are not allowed to use accounts so you need to use "normal user" which has some rights less than the owner. All allowed apps has to be installed again (but are just links, no duplicates).
The store and some other apps can be locked with a pattern.
I will test this. If you have further ideas or a suiable management solution for more than 10 phones to hesitate to write.
Below represent my own opinions and views based on years of using honor/huawei phones but specifically my latest one, Honor 8x.
1. Official Gmail app cannot show notification dots/numbers under honor launcher. If you go to launcher settings--> Badge app icons, gmail app will never be there as one of the options.
2. Official honor email client limits number of gmail accounts you can have. I have enetered 10 gmail accounts and on trying to enter another one app tells me limit reached and i have to delete all (yes that's right ALL) current gmail accounts if i want to add another one !
BTW honor's email client is about as primitive as they come with very few features/options available so don't expect a gmail, edison, thunderbird, protonmail etc.. experience.
3. Notifications sometimes fail due to aggressive background battery optimisation. Yes you can try and control some of these via 'ignore optimisation' but they don't always seem to work. Search the web and you'll see many complaining about this same issue.
4. Honor's reluctance to install any other launcher but their own. Yes you can do it but (a) first they warn you that it's not recommended, why ? and (b) notifications again become a problem if you move away from their launcher. For example, i tried Nova with tesla unread and ran into the notification problem outlined in 1 above.
5. Comparing with some of my other phones, 1+3T (stock) and Honor 9 Lite (OmniRom) this 2018 Kirin 710 is NOT impressing me. It's ok but not what i expected in late 2018 mid range and the H9L, with OmniRom gsi, beats it hands down. I can only put this down to Honor's EMUI overhead.
6. Bloatware, some you can uninstall but not all. You can disable the rest but not uninstall them, why ? why do i want to keep facebook services on my phone if i don't use facebook ? for example.
7. Lastly, the elephant in the room, as it were. Since no bootloader is available for honor devices anymore (yes i knew this when i bought it) many of these complaints can never be overcome.
Honor's devices are great value for money, that's why even knowing all the above i still buy them, but they fail on so many fundamental things for people who like android because of its customisation potential. Also it has been my experience, after owning 5 different honor phones, that they're not great on updates either.
Enough of a rant, only wanted to put this out there as my own personal view of my experience with Honor phones. Love their design, looks and pricing, hate their functionality (or lack of it) compared to other developer friendly phones.
xzyk said:
Below represent my own opinions and views based on years of using honor/huawei phones but specifically my latest one, Honor 8x.
1. Official Gmail app cannot show notification dots/numbers under honor launcher. If you go to launcher settings--> Badge app icons, gmail app will never be there as one of the options.
2. Official honor email client limits number of gmail accounts you can have. I have enetered 10 gmail accounts and on trying to enter another one app tells me limit reached and i have to delete all (yes that's right ALL) current gmail accounts if i want to add another one !
BTW honor's email client is about as primitive as they come with very few features/options available so don't expect a gmail, edison, thunderbird, protonmail etc.. experience.
3. Notifications sometimes fail due to aggressive background battery optimisation. Yes you can try and control some of these via 'ignore optimisation' but they don't always seem to work. Search the web and you'll see many complaining about this same issue.
4. Honor's reluctance to install any other launcher but their own. Yes you can do it but (a) first they warn you that it's not recommended, why ? and (b) notifications again become a problem if you move away from their launcher. For example, i tried Nova with tesla unread and ran into the notification problem outlined in 1 above.
5. Comparing with some of my other phones, 1+3T (stock) and Honor 9 Lite (OmniRom) this 2018 Kirin 710 is NOT impressing me. It's ok but not what i expected in late 2018 mid range and the H9L, with OmniRom gsi, beats it hands down. I can only put this down to Honor's EMUI overhead.
6. Bloatware, some you can uninstall but not all. You can disable the rest but not uninstall them, why ? why do i want to keep facebook services on my phone if i don't use facebook ? for example.
7. Lastly, the elephant in the room, as it were. Since no bootloader is available for honor devices anymore (yes i knew this when i bought it) many of these complaints can never be overcome.
Honor's devices are great value for money, that's why even knowing all the above i still buy them, but they fail on so many fundamental things for people who like android because of its customisation potential. Also it has been my experience, after owning 5 different honor phones, that they're not great on updates either.
Enough of a rant, only wanted to put this out there as my own personal view of my experience with Honor phones. Love their design, looks and pricing, hate their functionality (or lack of it) compared to other developer friendly phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have entered 10 email accounts...that's a lot
10 email accounts on a phone are totally enough for a normal person otherwise you have special needs. It is ok to download some apps to do it.
I have similar complaints.
Just got an Honor 8x last weekend, and it's lovely phone, fast enough but the battery optimisation is ridiculous. I wish there was a global way to turn it all off, without messing with it, WhatsApp stopped getting messages, DNS Ad-Blockers are a write-off, my google feed refreshes and reloads WHILE IM READING IT!! and basically leaving an app for more than 5 seconds makes it unload and reload when I come back. For instance, i'm on reddit is fun app, click a YT video, and when i press back after watching it, reddit app refreshes and i'm back at the front page, having lost my place.
I'm on nova launcher as well, took me a little minute to figure that one out!!!
I'm really annoyed about DNS ad blockers (VPNs) just not working. I want to use Blockada but even with every single 'keep alive' setting, and all battery optimisations off in app settings, it seems to just eventually freeze and kill the network connection entirely, wether wifi or mobile.
I bought it because my Moto G5S+ was away for repair (GPS) and was taking forever. I'm right on the edge of switching back because battery optimisation combined with horrible EMUI limitations is starting to really wind me up. It's my phone, let me manage it!
Oh i thought of another. Join SMS app doesn't work. Only the default app on huawei devices can write to the SMS database, so sending a text from join in chrome sends the text, with no record of it at all in the sms database, ie textra when you look on your phone. That's really bad for me, I hate typing on the phone and try to get around that as much as possible.
Stefan / Germany.
Thanks everyone for Your service!
My Redmi Note8T doesn't synchronize my contacts to the Google cloud.
As contra measures to excessive advertising I deleteded all system updates and didn't create a Miui account.
The latter I read could be the cause for my contacts not to sync into the Google cloud. I have tried to work around that by installing the Google contact synchronisation app from the Google Play Store but it didn't download at all. So I tried APKMirror where the app was available in several 6+ and 10 versions with nothing in between to match P9 (according to Droid info my system software at hand).
I chose the latest 6+ version but cannot locate the executed app nor do the contacts sync with Google now …
Thanks so much for Your help.
Stefan
Lodidol said:
Stefan / Germany.
Thanks everyone for Your service!
My Redmi Note8T doesn't synchronize my contacts to the Google cloud.
As contra measures to excessive advertising I deleteded all system updates and didn't create a Miui account.
The latter I read could be the cause for my contacts not to sync into the Google cloud. I have tried to work around that by installing the Google contact synchronisation app from the Google Play Store but it didn't download at all. So I tried APKMirror where the app was available in several 6+ and 10 versions with nothing in between to match P9 (according to Droid info my system software at hand).
I chose the latest 6+ version but cannot locate the executed app nor do the contacts sync with Google now …
Thanks so much for Your help.
Stefan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regards the ads, you have in settings on every app (or almost) the ads/personalize ads to choose from showing or not.
Regards the contacts issue, enter to /Settings/Google/Settings for Google app/Google Contacts sync and check that all is correct there.
SubwayChamp said:
Regards the ads, you have in settings on every app (or almost) the ads/personalize ads to choose from showing or not.
Regards the contacts issue, enter to /Settings/Google/Settings for Google app/Google Contacts sync and check that all is correct there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I have neither succeeded in even finding possibilities to personalize apps like contacts, calendar, file-management, playstore that all showed advertisements before deleting their updates nor could I find anything wrong with the settings for Google sync …
Lodidol said:
Unfortunately I have neither succeeded in even finding possibilities to personalize apps like contacts, calendar, file-management, playstore that all showed advertisements before deleting their updates nor could I find anything wrong with the settings for Google sync …
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you face the first setup, you have to see from the 5 items (all checked) at least 3 items related with ads, you have to uncheck. After that, take for example the Miui Music app, from the settings you can find an option to disable ads, the same happens with the Miui Files and so on. When I spend the time waiting to unlock bootloader always I do that, and I don't have annoying ads disturbing me all the time, we have to get apart from that, browser behavior, it's a different thing, some ads don't rely on Xiaomi itself, TBH.
Actually I'm running a custom ROM based on AOSP, but in the path that I gave you can see, the number of contacts that's synchronized, I have to guess that you're doing something wrong, can you share some screenshot from this path? To see what's saying.