[booey1]

Hi

I've not had a new phone for a while, and I'm wanting to get a new one.

Something with a really good calendar that I can organise and plan my time on so I don't need to carry around a diary.

It would also be nice if I could get a phone which would sync with Mozila Thunderbird as I use that calendar already, is there anything that would do that?

Lastly I'd like something affordable that I don't need an expensive contract for.

Any advice or guidance would be great, I don't really want to get something that 'looks good' but then turns out to be a real pain to use in the long term.

Thanks

[RobM]

What's your idea of affordable / expensive? That may help shape the answers.

Without knowing that, I can at least say the iPhone has a very good calendar, as do Android devices and Windows Mobile devices.

The latter may be the best place to start if cost is a big concern, but if not being a pain in the backside is a concern they may not be ideal. Marmite

Android isn't quite as good as WM or the iPhone, but is a mighty fine option, especially if you use Googlemail for email and calendars.

[Pofadda]

I'm me-too-ing this as my dear Palm Treo 650 is not supported by Mac anymore. The alternative Palm-aware syncing software, Missing Sync, will not sync with Mac iCal calendars that are linked with Google Calendar by CalDAV.

In addition to the OP's plea, I would like an idea of just how cheap I can go and get a Pay&Go phone/calendar with (Google or iCal) syncing powers? Even one with Windows, I suppose!

[RobM]

Pofadda - Perhaps you're looking at this the wrong way.... bear with me.

If I understand correctly, you have a Google calendar that you Sync with iCal so the two are kept in check. You are trying to Sync your phone with iCal.

Why not sync your phone with Google instead? Same calendar, just connecting to it directly instead of via iCal.

Use Google to search for 'Google Mobile Sync'. This uses Microsoft Exchange Activesync to give you Email, Contact and Calendar Sync and Push. The Treo 650 supports Exchange ActiveSync, so you could configure it to use Google Mobile Sync to collect your email, contacts and calendar.

The beauty of this is everything is backed up online. So you may have some short term pain in getting your contacts stored with Google, but once done you'll never have a risk of losing them.

[booey1]

To be honest I'm looking for it on 12 month contract for £20pm or less. Any tips or good options.

To be honest there doesn't seem to be anything on 12 month contracts these days

[Pofadda]

Originally Posted by RobM83

If I understand correctly, you have a Google calendar that you Sync with iCal so the two are kept in check. You are trying to Sync your phone with iCal.

Why not sync your phone with Google instead? Same calendar, just connecting to it directly instead of via iCal.

Use Google to search for 'Google Mobile Sync'. This uses Microsoft Exchange Activesync to give you Email, Contact and Calendar Sync and Push. The Treo 650 supports Exchange ActiveSync, so you could configure it to use Google Mobile Sync to collect your email, contacts and calendar.

Before trying the CalDAV option, I had a fairly successful 3-way sync (apart from some irritating but bearable Event duplications). All this took place with the Hotsync cable connecting to my Treo. Exchange Activesync is strictly wireless/phone, is it not? ...and my phone is Pay & Go with GSM connection. It can get a web connection if I really want it but would this entail 'ringing in' each time and fumbling with the (appalling) browser, perhaps? Could it be automated?

My apologies for my ignorance, but I have to start somewhere!

[RobM]

Originally Posted by Pofadda

Before trying the CalDAV option, I had a fairly successful 3-way sync (apart from some irritating but bearable Event duplications). All this took place with the Hotsync cable connecting to my Treo. Exchange Activesync is strictly wireless/phone, is it not? ...and my phone is Pay & Go with GSM connection. It can get a web connection if I really want it but would this entail 'ringing in' each time and fumbling with the (appalling) browser, perhaps? Could it be automated?

My apologies for my ignorance, but I have to start somewhere!

Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) is indeed wireless/phone, but in this example it connects to the same source as your laptop is connecting to (Google) so you'll still have the fully meshed Sync.

It is all automated though, all behind the scenes in real time. It's essentially what coorporates use for mobile access to their Exchange hosted email. Google have just licensed the product and offered it as an alternative to IMAP/POP3, with the bonus of it including contacts and calendar.

I did a quick search before posting my original response to confirm your 650 supports EAS and found reference to a software update from 2007 that provided it, so I'm fairly confident you have the option you need. But to be sure, look in your email settings for the option to create/add a new account and look for the Exchange / Outlook option.

Assuming you have this option and it includes Contacts and Calendar, once setup everything in your Google account now will Sync to the device. It will then be kept in-sync in real time in the background, although some phones have the option to change this to a scheduled sync every x-minutes or hours. This is still automated though, so you wont have to go into the browser or manually start anything. It relies on your mail client doing all the work.

This will require a data connection of course and therefore, it would be wise to look at what data bundles your operator offers to minimise the cost. If this works as I would hope though, it will allow you to keep your current device which saves on cost overall.