smartphone for a Mac user?

[calda]

My cellphone is dying and my Palm TX is on it's way out too. I'd like to get something to replace the two of them, an iPhone being the most logical choice as I'm a happy Mac user, but I'm loath to give up the Memos/ Contacts/ Calendar/ Tasks I'm used to from the Palm Desktop... iCal and Address Book from Mac don't come close to the detail I need. In terms of PIM should I be looking at Entourage, or The Missing Sync (neither of which I know much about, though I haven't read much positive feedback wrt Entourage)?

I also want to be able to run UpToDate medical software off my device (http://www.uptodate.com/home/help/ma...daInstallation) without using a web connection, and the phone has to be GSM/GPRS/
EDGE as I work in Africa and need to be able to switch SIMs/ providers easily.

Essentially I need an international mobile phone, a good detailed PIM tool that I can sync with my desktop (no cloud networks please), and something to run medical software. Email and web browsing aren't so important as the places I'm in don't often have the required network support.

[Drillbit]

I think its just way too obvious you need to get an iPhone, which also satisfies the requirements of your last paragraph.

[questionfear]

I think its just way too obvious you need to get an iPhone, which also satisfies the requirements of your last paragraph.

Except the OP would have to either unlock the iPhone or buy an unlocked one, both of which are going to jack the price significantly.

OP, if you don't go iPhone you are probably going to be best served by a Centro or a used Treo 680. Both are available unlocked and you can use your current software.

[calda]

As you point out the iPhone is locked and also has no external SD card slot. The 8-16 GB memory just won't cut it for many 3rd party programs. Also as I point out iCal and Address Book aren't very good PIM tools. I've considered the Centro and the Treo and my one hesitation is that lack of support Palm has for its desktop software. I figure one day I'll wake up and not be able to transfer my Palm data to whatever new smartphone/ PDA is out there!

Does The Missing Sync sync the Palm Desktop to Entourage and iCal/ Address Book?

[questionfear]

As you point out the iPhone is locked and also has no external SD card slot. The 8-16 GB memory just won't cut it for many 3rd party programs. Also as I point out iCal and Address Book aren't very good PIM tools. I've considered the Centro and the Treo and my one hesitation is that lack of support Palm has for its desktop software. I figure one day I'll wake up and not be able to transfer my Palm data to whatever new smartphone/ PDA is out there!

Does The Missing Sync sync the Palm Desktop to Entourage and iCal/ Address Book?

Yes, either one can be sync'd via Missing Sync. Also, Entourage and iCal are both platform-neutral, so even if you used a windows mobile phone or even an iPhone at a later date you shouldn't have a problem with portability of data.

I agree with your thoughts on Palm desktop though. Run far, far away. It's best to keep your data in a format that is readable by several platforms.

[brickman65]

MissingSync always worked very well with my Treos. I certainly recommend it.

BTW, I am curious. What third party apps are so large that they will not fit on a 16G iPhone? I mean lots of Music and Movies I understand, but apps?

[calda]

Bad wording on my part - it's not the app that's too big it's all my music filling up the available space and leaving no room for anything else!

Sorry to be obtuse and repetitive here but I'm ready to start spending money - I'll be able to export all my precious Palm Desktop PIM data into Missing Sync?

Thanks all for your input. As a technical retard I really appreciate it!

[r0k]

Bad wording on my part - it's not the app that's too big it's all my music filling up the available space and leaving no room for anything else!

Sorry to be obtuse and repetitive here but I'm ready to start spending money - I'll be able to export all my precious Palm Desktop PIM data into Missing Sync?

Thanks all for your input. As a technical retard I really appreciate it!

No such thing as a technical retard. The retards are the guys who design the software and make these things so difficult.

1) Export from Palm Desktop for each PIM application. Calendar, Contacts, Memos and Todos. Palm Desktop exports several formats for each app, I think I used vcal for Calendar, making sure it was exporting everything not just one appointment or one category. I think I used vcard for address, once again making sure it exported everything, not just one contact or category. I don't remember how I exported memos. I suppose they came out as plain text files but it's been so long I forgot.

2) Import Calendar into data into iCal - make sure your data looks right before you sync it to a new phone
3) Import Contacts into address - make sure your data looks right before you sync it to a new phone

4) back up your calendar and ical data before doing a sync to any phone. You just exported from Palm Desktop and imported to the Apple apps. Now would be a good time to do a complete backup. Address and iCal both have backup and restore features.


Steps 2 and 3 are all you need because any phone knows how to sync to ical and address

For todos and memos, you have to wait until you decide on a phone. If you choose to purchase missing sync, it has its own way to handle memos. I would NOT purchase missing sync yet. Decide on a phone first. I use missing sync for blackberry and it syncs my phone book to address on my mac and it syncs my calendar to ical. It syncs my memos to its own proprietary memo program. I don't bother with todos so I don't know what missing sync would do if I did.

Let me give you a word of warning now. Apple PIM apps are not best in class. They are mediocre and some say they are among the worst. iCal is a bugger to sync with. address is the same way. The only seamless sync will be to an iphone. It's almost Microsoft like, isn't it? Resist the temptation to get an iPhone if you don't like it. You can find a sync solution that works on Mac OS but it will not be "trouble free". Back up early. Back up often. Keep your eyes open and don't just assume everything is fine. I STILL count records after every sync to make sure I don't suddenly have 4,000 extra contacts and hundreds of new appointments on either my mac, my Blackberry or in MobileMe.

BTW, MobileMe is completely optional and it allows you to sync your phone to your mac and your mac to the cloud. Somewhat old fashioned by today's standards but I still like it. Years of Palm ownership have me somewhat conditioned to think the best way to recover from a disaster involves a trip to my mac rather than an OTA sync. Remember when I mentioned iCal is a bugger to sync with? It doesn't like Blackberry but it doesn't like google contacts, either. So I feel safer syncing the "old fashioned" way. Perhaps something like the Pre will come along and change my mind.

[questionfear]

Bad wording on my part - it's not the app that's too big it's all my music filling up the available space and leaving no room for anything else!

Sorry to be obtuse and repetitive here but I'm ready to start spending money - I'll be able to export all my precious Palm Desktop PIM data into Missing Sync?

Thanks all for your input. As a technical retard I really appreciate it!

Missing Sync is not a program that holds your PIM, it facilitates moving your PIM between your Palm and another program (like iCal or Entourage). Everything will be there, rather than in Palm Desktop. Frankly, with how finicky iCal can be, I'd recommend making sure you have it all on your device, then syncing your device with Missing Sync...leave Palm Desktop out of the equation. That way you have a backup in PD if anything goes wrong with Missing Sync, and you dodge any weirdness that Palm Desktop might try to pass along to iCal directly.

No such thing as a technical retard. The retards are the guys who design the software and make these things so difficult.

1) Export from Palm Desktop for each PIM application. Calendar, Contacts, Memos and Todos. Palm Desktop exports several formats for each app, I think I used vcal for Calendar, making sure it was exporting everything not just one appointment or one category. I think I used vcard for address, once again making sure it exported everything, not just one contact or category. I don't remember how I exported memos. I suppose they came out as plain text files but it's been so long I forgot.

2) Import Calendar into data into iCal - make sure your data looks right before you sync it to a new phone
3) Import Contacts into address - make sure your data looks right before you sync it to a new phone

4) back up your calendar and ical data before doing a sync to any phone. You just exported from Palm Desktop and imported to the Apple apps. Now would be a good time to do a complete backup. Address and iCal both have backup and restore features.


Steps 2 and 3 are all you need because any phone knows how to sync to ical and address

For todos and memos, you have to wait until you decide on a phone. If you choose to purchase missing sync, it has its own way to handle memos. I would NOT purchase missing sync yet. Decide on a phone first. I use missing sync for blackberry and it syncs my phone book to address on my mac and it syncs my calendar to ical. It syncs my memos to its own proprietary memo program. I don't bother with todos so I don't know what missing sync would do if I did.

Let me give you a word of warning now. Apple PIM apps are not best in class. They are mediocre and some say they are among the worst. iCal is a bugger to sync with. address is the same way. The only seamless sync will be to an iphone. It's almost Microsoft like, isn't it? Resist the temptation to get an iPhone if you don't like it. You can find a sync solution that works on Mac OS but it will not be "trouble free". Back up early. Back up often. Keep your eyes open and don't just assume everything is fine. I STILL count records after every sync to make sure I don't suddenly have 4,000 extra contacts and hundreds of new appointments on either my mac, my Blackberry or in MobileMe.

BTW, MobileMe is completely optional and it allows you to sync your phone to your mac and your mac to the cloud. Somewhat old fashioned by today's standards but I still like it. Years of Palm ownership have me somewhat conditioned to think the best way to recover from a disaster involves a trip to my mac rather than an OTA sync. Remember when I mentioned iCal is a bugger to sync with? It doesn't like Blackberry but it doesn't like google contacts, either. So I feel safer syncing the "old fashioned" way. Perhaps something like the Pre will come along and change my mind.

If you aren't on an iPhone Mobile Me is basically useless...kind of like iCal itself!

I'd go for Entourage if given the choice. It may not be the best, but it's better than iCal...which in my view is possibly the worst calendar program ever written, second only to the halfwit version that comes with the iPhone.

[r0k]

...


If you aren't on an iPhone Mobile Me is basically useless...kind of like iCal itself!

I'd go for Entourage if given the choice. It may not be the best, but it's better than iCal...which in my view is possibly the worst calendar program ever written, second only to the halfwit version that comes with the iPhone.

I use the MoMe backtomymac feature a bit. I suppose I could use logmein, but I didn't like the way the app wrapped itself around my OS like some sort of snake. I use the mac photo galleries and have about 4 gig (downsampled) of my 60 gig of photos and videos posted. I started moving everything to flickr and picasa but I ran out of time before my renewal was up so I re-upped for another year.

I don't agree that MoMe is useless if you don't have an iPhone because it does allow you to propogate settings across multiple macs, even walk-up machines (remember to log out when you are done ).

I don't like Apple's web hosting. They are almost as clueless as Microsoft and only support HTML. No php. No server-parsed HTML. Their url-fixup algorithm takes my site down more than twice a quarter and their server seems less reliable than even the bad old days of badly run outfits like Prodigy. Apple's web hosting seems to be set up to take advantage of every feature in NCSA Mosaic 1.0.

So I'm ready to go mentally but not physically. I guess this gives Apple another year to get their heads out of you know where because I will have all my stuff off their server over the next few months and could care less if my subscription lapses this time next year... Unless I've got an iPhone by then .