Ask Paul: November 11 (Premium)

I’m traveling tomorrow, so welcome to a special 11/11 edition of Ask Paul that will kick off the weekend even earlier than usual.
Outlook.com contacts and Android
richfrantz asks:

As you are now testing the 6 pro, do you have any instructions on how to make my Hotmail AND Gmail contacts feed into the Contacts app? And sync edits? I'm still setting mine up and can't seem to get it right.

Almost a year ago, I wrote about my latest and still-current way of management multiple email accounts (with their associated contacts). That is, I consolidate all of my secondary accounts into my main account, a Gmail/Google Workspace account, at the cloud level. That is, I forward all of my email to that Gmail account, and I’ve configured that Gmail account so that I can respond to emails as if I were doing so from the original account. I do this for a few reasons, but one of the big ones is that I test multiple smartphones and computers every year, and configuring multiple accounts on each every single time is beyond tedious. It’s a waste of my time.

That’s a roundabout way of saying two things, I guess. Yes, I did recently switch to a Pixel 6 Pro, but I’ve used several different handsets in 2021 alone, so this latest move wasn’t particularly unique. And I don’t sync Hotmail/Outlook.com contacts with the Contacts app in Android as all of my contacts are in Gmail. Sorry.

That said, there are probably a couple of ways to make this work. I’m not sure what app(s) you’re using for email and calendar, but if you install Outlook mobile and configure it for your Hotmail/Outlook.com account, it will fully synchronize your apps with the Contacts app in Android. As Microsoft explains, “therefore, users can choose to add new contacts or make changes in either the Outlook app or by using the built-in Contacts app on Android. Changes made in either location will sync back to your email service.” So that sounds like the best approach.

If you don’t use Outlook mobile, it may be worth installing just for this functionality. (You can turn off notifications, etc. and remove the app from your home screen.) Or, you could do what it is I think you’re trying to do and manually add your Hotmail/Outlook.com account to Android Settings via Passwords & accounts. This should work, but again, the Outlook mobile app approach is probably the simplest way.
Haunted Pixel 6 Pro
crunchyfrog asks:

I know that you're using or at least testing a Pixel 6 Pro and I am wondering if you or any other readers are having this issue I am getting. I have the standard Pixel 6 and it's up to date on everything but several times a week now when it is just sitting on my desk, screen off, not doing anything it suddenly starts playing music or podcasts or what ever I was last listening to. Other than that, it's been trouble free.

Wow. No, I’ve not seen that. And I’m curious if anyone else has.

This sounds a bit like the way Bluetooth works in, s...