PocketMac® SP Edition by Information Appliance Associates

[Guest Simon Desser]

A nice looking solution for Mac users to sync with their MS Smartphones has just been released :D

PocketMac® SP Edition by Information Appliance Associates

Here's a summary of just some of what we've added & enhanced in Phone Edition 3.0! (Now with Panther 10.3 support!)  

Entourage Sync - You can sync Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks with Entourage Hear Real PocketMac Users

 

Address Book Sync - You can sync Contacts with the OS X Address Book.  

iCal Sync - You can sync Calendar and Tasks with iCal Calendars. Full Support for multiple calendars now in Phone Edition 3.0.  

iSync Integration - PocketMac® Phone Edition 3.0 is now integrated with iSync on your Mac. You can use iSync to sync, or you can use PocketMac's own software to sync.  

iTunes Sync - Sync your MP3 music from iTunes to your Smartphone for tunes "on the go".  

iPhoto Sync/Integration - You can sync photos from iPhoto to your Smartphone, or export selected photos directly from within iPhoto itself.  

Now Contact Sync - You can sync Contacts with Now Contact from PowerOn Software. (Requires Now Contact.)

 

Installation Of Smartphone Software--You can use PocketMac® 3.0 to install Smartphone software from a CAB file or most Windows EXE files.  

Desktop Mounting of Smartphone & Smartphone Memory cards.  

Bluetooth Sync - You can now sync your Smartphone to your Mac using Bluetooth in addition to USB and Airport/Network connections

PocketMac® SP Edition by Information Appliance Associates is available from Handango

[Guest Taoski]

Phwoaarr!

Sexy or what!

Now then.... just got to get a Mac first... :cry:

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

Mmmm, that looks sweet!

Shame 17" Powerbooks are so expensive ;-)

P

[Guest carvas]

true... those damn beautiful powerbooks are so expensive but such a wonderful machine... windows just keeps disappointing me (not the smartphone edition ;) )... i've just lost all my stuff in my HD because windows didn't want to start anymore... so i had reinstall everything. i'd really really love to have a mac... and i always thougth, well if i get a mac i can say goodbye to my Qtek 8080 ... now it's a case to think about! :D

[Guest Taoski]

The whole PC/Mac debate is running around in my head as well as the "which phone do i get when i upgrade next month" debate.

I think that if i had Mac i might do more "serious" things with my PC rather than just tossing it off on the internet all the time.

Probably not... i bet MoDaCo looks pretty nice on those Mac TFT screens though... (yum yum).

[Guest JasonKenny]

I bought this software about two months ago...but it's never worked as advertised...and the customer support is very poor....I've even been suckered by handango into purchasing it twice - don't ask.

I only started getting replies from customer service when I mentioned MoDaCo (cheers Paul) but I think it was the trained chimp's day off so I got his stand-in...not impressed with this company.

Jay

BTW

[Guest ultimasnake]

Installation Of Smartphone Software--You can use PocketMac® 3.0 to install Smartphone software from a CAB file or most Windows EXE files.  

errrrrr.... so you can sync it with the mac... and to install it you have te choice between a CAB file or WINDOWS EXE FILE? isnt the last one useless for mac users? :roll:

[Guest spark303]

I bought this software about two months ago...but it's never worked as advertised...and the customer support is very poor....I've even been suckered by handango into purchasing it twice - don't ask.

I only started getting replies from customer service when I mentioned MoDaCo (cheers Paul) but I think it was the trained chimp's day off so I got his stand-in...not impressed with this company.

Jay

BTW

I bought this about a month ago, and after an update, it now seems to be working ok with my G4 and my e200. Customer Services seemed a bit disinterested though.

errrrrr.... so you can sync it with the mac... and to install it you have te choice between a CAB file or WINDOWS EXE FILE? isnt the last one useless for mac users?  

Somehow it extracts the cab data from an EXE file. Dunno how. Apparently it doesn't work on all EXE files, but I suppose its better than nothing. Installing CAB files has worked fine for me so far :D

[Guest ultimasnake]

but can you access the phone from the mac without the software on the phone? :s else you still need a windows machine to run it. Exe files are formats mac doesnt understand ;P

[Guest Chic0]

I bought the Powerbook 12" with Superdrive few months ago and have never looked back. After numerous problems with my pc I'd just had enough. I'm not going to get into the PC or Mac debate, but it's been a wicked experience so far. :D

Anyway around the same time I bought the mac, I also purchased PocketMac from the company site (not handango). I have an SPV and it syncs seamlessly between the two. The program also enables you to install cab files,and exes directly from a mac, but I haven't used that functionality yet.

You can browse your phone contents i.e. ISPM, Storage card also and freely copy files to and from phone to mac, mac to phone. The only downside I have with this software is that it's not as quick as transferring files as it would be from a pc. I think this has something to do with the software and phone but I think a card reader will rectify this minor problem.

The software also gives you the option to sync over usb or bluetooth. As the Powerbook has bluetooth built in this would be handy but at the moment I have been using just usb, but cant wait to use the bluetooth once I upgrade to one of Motorola's new beauties (whenever they come out that is).

Anyway, just wanted to share my thoughts.

[Guest spark303]

but can you access the phone from the mac without the software on the phone? :s else you still need a windows machine to run it. Exe files are formats mac doesnt understand ;P

You're getting confused. The PocketMac application itself comes as a normal OS X installer. You install on your Mac, and the first time you run it, it does whatever is neccesary to set up your phone.

When they refer to 'installing Smartphone Software', they're talking about installing additional software on your smartphone, which obviously come as either CAB or EXE files.

Hope this makes it clearer.

[Guest]

Ok, I bought this to try with my original SPV, I've tried connecting it via the USB cradle that came with th ephone, and when you put th ephone in the cradle, it opens iPhoto, and does nothing else.

As far as the software is concerned, there is no phone there.

Then, when you remove the phone from the cradle, it crashes the mac.

After a few moments, the SPV bleeps an error about being unable to connect due to a winsoc error (something like that).

Any ideas anyone, before I try their help email??

Many thanks.

[Guest Taoski]

Then, when you remove the phone from the cradle, it crashes the mac.

Crashes? Mac? Thought they were'nt supposed to? :D

[Guest Chic0]

Ok, I bought this to try with my original SPV, I've tried connecting it via the USB cradle that came with th ephone, and when you put th ephone in the cradle, it opens iPhoto, and does nothing else..

Pete, have you gone into the preferences for PocketMac and configured it? If you go into preferences you can specify exactly what you would like to sync i.e. Contacts with Address Book, Calender notes with iCal etc...

I think by default it creates a playlist folder in iTunes and iPhoto. If you place any files in those lists it will automatically try and sync them with SPV. I disabled this on mine.

Also, I received a Support email from PocketMac about 2 weeks ago saying how to resolve a problem with OSX ver 10.3.3. If you are using this version but didn't get the email, let me know and I'll try and dig it out for you.

Hope this helps.

[Guest]

Thanks for that,

yeah, I've been into prefs and disabled iPhoto and iTunes sync, which makes it all the more weird that it opens iPhoto!

I'm going through the support system with the company, via email, waiting to hear more, as at the moment, it appears that the software/system thinks I'm using a PocketPC, and as the drivers are for SPV, this doesn't sound too good.

It's OSX 10.3.1 I'm on, I think the file size to update was something huge, and as I'm on dial up, that's why I haven't done it.

Anyway, thanks for the advice, and I'll update when I hear more.

Thanks,

Pete.

[Guest lewdvig]

In case someone needs a mini review when they find this thread. This is an OK produect - worth teh $28 they charge. Still needs soem polish though:

1. Manual is for the PocketPC - they refer to menus that do not exist in the SmartPhone OS.

2. iPhoto and iTunes sync does not work well. Freezes a lot. You should be able to point to the folder where you want these things synced.

3. iCal sync requires a 'PocketMac' category - it will not sync your existing Home and Work appointments. Big bummer.

4. Sometimes PM does not appear in iSync after install. There is a utility that can fix this, but the link on the PM site is dead.

5. No photo ID sync with address book.

6. File explorer does not seem to allow you to delete or move files - only copy.

7. File explorer mount the phone as three seperate volumes.

8. File explorer often leaves volume shortcuts on the dekstop after device has been disconnected.