Sync contacts & groups between two Android devices

[bvm]

Can MPE be used (in a simple, elegant way) to synchronize contacts and groups between two Android devices (a Samsung Galaxy ACE (S5830, Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread) and a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 (N-8000, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean)), with or (preferably) without a PC with Outlook 2010 as "middleman" ? At first sight, such a "triangular" sync topology could quickly become a headache...

My wife would like to quit using the PC, and keep just the Gingerbread phone and the Jelly Bean tablet, preferably without a Gmail account (email via POP/IMAP from local ISP and contacts via Outlook.com's People), but we are facing hurdles. Among the unsolved issues: the proper replication of groups, as e.g. groups created in Outlook.com People get replicated via EAS to Gingerbread, but not to Jelly Bean !
Other nice "rich" features were lost by leaving MPE (contact photos, etc.)

Running out of ideas, so perhaps someone here has some hints....

[Koelner]

Nope, you´ll have to deal with a 3rd party client like Outlook or Thunderbird.

Belive me, it´s not that bad. I use it to sync my phone, my tablet, my PC in the office and my PC at home and it works fine.

[dvhttn]

Wot ^^^^^ said.

[bvm]

Belive me, it´s not that bad.

Well, it's not for me, but for a "computer illiterate" user

[Koelner]

Well, I guess you´ve found a new hobby then.

[bvm]

Perhaps not the best place to ask, but now that we returned to MPE to sync the contacts for the two Android Devices, does anyone here know how to get rid of unused built-in Groups in Android: if Outlook contacts are assigned a category whose name matches the name of an existing Group in Android, a duplicate Group is created after MPE sync: one has the corresponding Outlook contacts, and the other (the built-in one) remains empty; I could not find a way to remove this empty group (having the same name as one of the Outlook categories used) or any of the other built-in groups.

[Koelner]

I don´t know any way to remove the build in groups for contacts.
Maybe you can do it on a rooted phone but therefore you have to ask someone else.
If you use groups, choose their names carefully and if a build in group exists with a name you want to use, don´t create that group name a second time but use the build in.

[FJ]

MyPhoneExplorer doe snot create reall group duplicates but f.e. Samsung has some special Groups which are spanned over all contact accounts - these groups cannot be written by MPE. If you want to delete existing groups on the phone then try "DW contacts"