As a freelancer I like to use the powerful Desktop Outlook client to manage my calendar and contacts. Unfortunately this stores all its data in .pst files which are very unreliable. It is far better to use web based calendaring and contact management. To do this but still use Desktop Outlook I am in the process of migrating my data to Outlook.com. This is a free service and supports ActiveSync.

Because Outlook.com is a cloud service you can connect to it using Desktop Outlook and other devices.

To have your Outlook.com contacts and calendar on your Android phone you must add it as an “Account”. The instructions for doing this are here.

https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/Set-up-email-on-an-Android-phone-or-tablet-886db551-8dfa-4fd5-b835-f8e532091872#BKMK_OutlookComSetUp

— update 2015-09-05 —

We have found that the Outlook apps for Android and Apple work very badly. Poor features and high power consumption. I recommend using your device’s built in mail and calandar application but use an ActiveSync account to connect them to Outlook.com.