Apple has released the beta version of iSync, the synchronization software based on the SyncML protocol. iSync synchronizes the contact and calendar information on your mobile devices with your Macintosh. In addition, if you have more than one Mac, it will also help to synchronize the information in your address book and iCal calendars. (.Mac membership is required.)
The mobile devices supported by iSync include the latest GPRS, Bluetooth-enabled phones (such as the popular Ericsson T68 and the Sony Ericsson T68i) and Palm OS devices (such as the Palm m515). iSync also synchronizes the information on your iPod with your Mac.
To download iSync Beta 1.0, go to www.apple.com/isync/. The download is about 7MB. You need to have the latest Mac OS 10.2 Jaguar running.
Installing iSync is a snap, provided you have already installed iCal. iCal is required for iSync to work. You can download a free copy of iCal from www.apple.com/iCal/.
iSync beta 1.0 contains two packages--iSync and iSync_Palm. The latter is required for synchronization with Palm devices.
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For this article, I have tried iSync using my Ericsson T68 and my Palm m515. I will walk you through the steps to get the devices connected as well as how to set up Bluetooth on your Mac so that the synchronization can be done wirelessly.
For Bluetooth connectivity on my Mac, I used the Billionton USB Bluetooth adapter.
When you boot up your Mac with the USB Bluetooth adapter plugged in, you should see the Bluetooth icon in your System Preferences window:
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Clicking on the Bluetooth icon reveals the four tabs for configuring Bluetooth access. As I want to establish a connection between my Mac and my Ericsson T68, I'll go to the Paired Devices tab, and click on New....
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You also need to turn on the Bluetooth radio on your T68 and set the phone to be in the Discoverable mode.
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Once the T68 is found, click on Pair to establish a relationship between the phone and the Mac. You will need to supply a passkey to ensure that the connection is secure. If the pairing is successful, you will be prompted with another screen allowing you to choose the services that you can use with this phone.
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Once this step is completed, you should be able to see your T68 icon in the iSync window:
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To start syncing, simply click on the Sync button:
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To further customize the syncing option, you can click on the T68 icon and select the relevant syncing options.
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iSync will synchronize the Contacts and Calendars information on the T68 with the Address Book and iCal on your Mac respectively.
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The Palm that I use for this article is a m515. It comes with a Secure Digital (SD) slot for SD cards.
I use the SD Bluetooth card (made by Toshiba) with the m515 for Bluetooth connectivity:
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Adding Palm devices to iSync is not as straightforward as adding a phone. First, you still need HotSync Manager (I use version 4.0) to be installed on your Mac. For synching Palm devices via Bluetooth, you first need to pair up your Mac and the Palm device (as shown in an earlier figure). Next, you need to inform HotSync Manager that you want to use the Bluetooth connection as a serial port for syncing purposes (in additional to using the cradle).
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Once this step is done, you need to open the Conduit Setting from the HotSync menu and perform the following settings:
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Finally, configure the setting for iSync Configuration so that iSync knows what items to synchronize with your Palm device:
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These steps are required so that when you perform a HotSync, all the items in Address Book, Date Book, and To Do List are synchronized with iSync, and not with the Palm Desktop.
You should now see the Palm device in iSync:
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When you've completed all the steps above, the next time you use HotSync to synchronize your Palm device the Address Book, Date Book, and To Do List will be synchronized with the Mac's Address Book and iCal respectively.
To test this out, I set my calendar information in iCal and used iSync to sync it with my Palm m515:
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As a precaution, you will be alerted to any changes you make to your devices, so that you can decide to proceed or to cancel the operation.
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Note that there are two ways to sync your Palm devices. You can either use the Bluetooth connection (in which case you have to use the HotSync icon on the device) or you can use the cradle. If you are using the cradle, you need to press the HotSync button on the cradle. Clicking on the syncing button on iSync does not synchronize Palm devices.
iSync will synchronize the Address Book, Date Book, and To Do List on Palm devices.
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My initial impression with iSync was good. Setting up the phone was easy, but the Palm devices required some digging into the help files. My wish list for iSync is future support for my Pocket PC. But because iSync uses SyncML, the onus is now on Microsoft to support SyncML on Pocket PCs.
iSync is a beta release so it has its share of bugs and glitches. Be sure to back up your valuable information and read the release notes by Apple. In addition, Apple hosts an iSync discussion forum. Be sure to check out the errors reported by other users and some possible remedies.
Wei-Meng Lee (Microsoft MVP) http://weimenglee.blogspot.com is a technologist and founder of Developer Learning Solutions http://www.developerlearningsolutions.com, a technology company specializing in hands-on training on the latest Microsoft technologies.
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Copyright © 2009 O'Reilly Media, Inc.
