I’m in the middle of another post and was distracted reading some RSS feeds when I came across this gem. Google now supports ActiveSync for contacts and calendar 
I already sync my contacts and calendar to google but it’s only updated on the phone when I sync it with iTunes. Now I get to experience the joy that is push calendaring!
February 12, 2009 at 1:16 am
It’s better than that. Snow Leopard adds Exchange Sync support to Mail.app – so now I’ll get push email on my Mac too.
Annoyingly, I *won’t* get push email for my work email even though it’s on an official Microsoft Exchange server using the official Microsoft Entourage client. Yet a third party client can use a Microsoft proprietary protocol to talk to a third party server….
There’s something not right there.
February 12, 2009 at 1:18 am
And I just remembered one of the big limitations – you can only have one Exchange Sync account on your iPhone at a time. So I can’t have push email for home and work on my iPhone.
Oh well.
February 12, 2009 at 4:49 am
I was using NuevaSync’s service to do the same thing, but just dropped it for Google’s ‘native’(?) support.
The only downsides of using Google contacts vs. Address Book/iTunes sync is fewer fields (no birthday or URLs, for example) and no groups. It’s still a zillion times better than my old RAZR, so I’m not complaining.
The best part is that I haven’t plugged my phone into my computer in weeks. I’m even considering giving up on Address Book, Mail and Calendar completely.
February 12, 2009 at 11:41 am
AJ: I had forgotten about Snow Leopard. This is going to be so cool, I won’t need third party hacks to sync my data anymore
The single-exchange limit is annoying but I’ll just switch to IMAP for work email since I hardly ever use it.
Jack: I hadn’t heard of NeuvaSync until various comments about google’s service today, but I agree an official google solution is more appealing.
I always sync my iPhone daily for podcasts so relying on iTunes sync hasn’t been a problem for me. Plus I do use Mail and iCal occasionally so it’s nice to have everything on my Mac as well.
February 13, 2009 at 4:48 am
Re: podcasts, have you taken a look at RSS Player?
(itms link: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=302006628&mt=8)
I haven’t tried it myself (no time for podcasts these days), but he has a test-drive app (limited to 2 feeds – kind of a cool idea).
He also has a drumkit app which my son is going to love (downloading now…)
February 13, 2009 at 9:29 am
I’ve read about RSS Player, and it’s predecessor Podcaster. I don’t want to download podcasts on my phone though
I spent two and a half years syncing my iPod every night to update the podcasts, so it was no problem to switch to syncing my iPhone every day.
Besides which I don’t use the podcast tab in the iPod. I have a bunch of smart playlists I use to listen (and the iPhone never seems to update those on the fly correctly).
February 28, 2009 at 1:46 am
You guys should try out the app Sync In A Blink. It has alot of the functionality the new google active sync is missing. I was pretty excited about the new google sync too, but after trying it out, its not really that impressive (except for the push part). I like having my group syncing with Sync In A Blink.
ajsutton is you use sync in a blink for one of your email accounts, you can still use ms exchange for work.
February 28, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Yeah I’m not willing to risk trying contact sync, I have at least one contact with more information than ActiveSync would give me.
As I said though I’m quite happy with the standard iTunes / AddressBook sync for contacts. It’s the calendar OTA sync that I really wanted.
March 17, 2009 at 4:16 am
Is it just me, or does this post keep popping up as new in NG for everyone else (or at least Spyder
)?
March 17, 2009 at 8:29 am
I’m not subscribed to my own blog, so I wouldn’t know
I guess I can subscribe and keep an eye on it.
July 4, 2009 at 11:40 pm
[...] and having tried syncing to a real exchange server I knew it was the fault of the protocol. I was excited at first to get push calendaring but the benefits just didn’t seem worth the hassles I had to put up [...]