Now I can't edit contact and add new contact to outlook.com account on my Android phone.

I am also having this problem.  I have an android tablet with Jellybean.  I can sync just fine with my contacts via outlook.com, but when I want to add a new contact, I get presented the message "Your new contact will be synchronized with my gmail account (which I never use).  I have the two choices of OK or add a new account.  But, the only two options I have under add a new account is "google" or "corporate".  Then, I can go through the steps of setting up a new exchange account.  

I've turned off syncing contacts for gmail in the system settings/account settings.  And, I've gone ahead and added a contact to see if it would sync with outlook.com.  I figured, if I got the contact in the contact database, it might just go ahead and sync with outlook, but this did not work.

But, I finally tried "Contact Editor Free" available on Google Play.  The way this works is when you choose to add a new contact from "People" (the address book that came with my android), you can choose to use the contact editor and then you can choose to create the contact under my outlook.com account.

This works, but is not really elegant.  I'd rather create the contact straight from my address book.  But it works just fine.  If anyone has a better idea, I would appreciate your responses.

Dear Carsok,

Thank you so much for this solution which works perfectly. I couldn't believe that it wasn't possible to create or edit contacts within the outlook.com android app. On my Motorola Razri I had the choice of adding a new contact by saving to my sim card but this wouldn't sync to my outlook.com account.

As I have only recently acquired my Android phone I hadn't tried adding/editing contacts with the old outlook.com app, but given the date of DannyWongMTCA's original question I assume that this is a longstanding issue. If so, how extraordinary that it wasn't addressed when the updated app was released just a few days ago.

I don't want to use gmail and really want outlook.com to be a viable, if not better, alternative, but to echo User\_333, Microsoft seriously needs to get its show on the road. If Contact Editor can provide this functionality why can't Microsoft?!!!!

I don't know how you found out that Contact Editor would solve the problem, Carsok, but I am indebted to you for your help. However, my debt is nowhere as big as Microsoft's debt should be to Contact Editor for rescuing their product.

I found a solution by combining Outlook.com app and the the Exchange account type that comes with Jelly Bean. In fact, I would probably have used only the Exchange ActiveSync account but it doesn't support multiple Windows Live Calendars.

The way I did it is to configure Outlook.com to sync only calendars, not contacts then I created the ActiveSync account and requested it to sync only Contacts and Tasks (not Calendar and Email). This way, I can modify / add contacts and (any) calendar events and I take my emails in Outlook.com app.

Hope this can help.

AWESOME!!! Thank you so much. I too was hoping that with the upgraded Outlook.com app for Android Microsoft would have the insight to make the obvious option available. I'm using a Motorola Droid Bionic running Android 4.0.4. I've had a hotmail address for years and don't want to change. I don't want to have contacts to update in more than one place. This solved my problem. Thanks again!

I found another work around that you can try too.  It's quite simple, really.  Here's how to do it:

1. Uninstall the Hotmail or Outlook.com app, as applicable.
2. Follow the instructions on how to set up an Exchange account on your device provided here:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-access-hotmail-and-outlook-com-on-your-android-device/

Basically you'll be setting up your Outlook.com account as a system level account (just like gmail is), which will unlock 2-way sync capabilities between the stock Android apps (email, contacts and calendar) and Outlook.com.

In summary, it's the Outlook/Hotmail apps that are getting in the way.  If you configure your account this way, 2-way sync is enabled between the stock apps and Outlook.com.  You don't need Microsoft's app or any other 3rd party app for this to work.

I've had success on both Gingerbread and Jelly Bean using "snt-m.hotmail.com" as my server.  Note that you need to make sure the syntax for your domain includes your full email address. For example: "******@outlook.com."  Android will try to use "\username" by default.  It won't work.  You need to manually configure it.  To do so, interrupt the configuration process (i.e. press "cancel") when it tries to connect and revise the domain as noted above. You'll be good to go.