It was definitely quickly glossed over in today's
iPhone activation and sync walkthrough, but Apple pretty clearly stated that Mac users with Entourage can sync their calendars with the iPhone through iTunes, and PC users can sync their Outlook calendars the same way. That's totally heartening for any corporate calendar users wondering how they were going to get their datebooks on their new phone, but there was no mention whatsoever of contact syncing via Outlook / Entourage for Active Directory, just Apple Address Book and Yahoo Address Book (which could potentially leave PC users in the lurch). So, your thoughts?
Update: According to Mossberg's
early review it does in fact sync contacts too! Not the same as live, over the air AD access like on WinMo, but definitely close enough!
iPhone syncs with Outlook and Entourage| Good enough for me | 1918 (29.8%) |
|---|
| Half way there | 1297 (20.2%) |
|---|
| One step forward, two steps back | 1078 (16.8%) |
|---|
| iLoathe the iPhone | 2135 (33.2%) |
|---|
posted June 26th 2007 12:04PM
iloathe the iphone
FILL IN THE BLANK POST FOR EVERY i-PHONE HATER
Another iPhone post, every time I log onto engadget looking for __________, I have to wade through these dang posts.
What a wast of money the iphone is. I can't believe it doesn't come with ______ feature. I use that all the time on my _____, and it is ridiculous that such a hyped phone wouldn't have it.
All I know is I bought a _________ from ________ service provider. I cracked it open and added some lasers and flame thrower. I also taped a digital camera to the back. SO my phone can do everything the iPhone does for only $_____ dollars per month.
Exactly!! I have a co-worker who just bought a phone from ATT... "SmartPhone" but yet he want's it to look like the iPhone. He downloaded some crap that changed the skin look like the home menu of the iPhone... that's about it... Not working that great.
Can you do visual voicemail? NO ... Can you use gmail, yahoo, or other email pop set-ups? NO unless i hack it...
Can I use like an iPod? NO... umm it has Windows Media player... That sucks!!!
I can go on on..... but we all know that the iPhone is not going to come out with every single app, feature, etc... ON DAY ONE...come on people. What world do you live in? Will they have those features in the future...Of course... do you need to wait for the next gen iPhone...NO.
You forgot "frickin" lasers..........Love the post, btw
That was hilarious. I hope all the haters use it. Its basically what every of them say all the time. Now we have a template for them. I'm using this as my sig.
Just gotta say, I LOVE the voting.
Not the slight bit one sided whatsoever, Engadget is getting a little attitude lately.
Whether this comment makes it or not, I think Steve Jobs should come over an kick Ryan Block in the balls cause this little, fem apple-hater is getting on my last nerve.
Syncing with Outlook on a PC should be trivial. The exposed object model makes it easy to do that. Synching with Entourage should be just as easy as it supports an AppleEvents/AppleScript interface.
What about blue collar workers, artists, ivy league college kids, people who run their own businesses, housewives, etc. Would they need all this fancy type of syncing with business email systems? It seems there's still a lot people that can get by the "weak" features of the iPhone. The iPhone is not for everyone. I guess it'll just be for the people that want it for what it can do. Using one application to sync everything seems to be a very simple way to get all your info into the iPhone if you already use iTunes. Guess it'll be a hassle if you don't.
I've heard the the iPhone can be upgraded by firmware fixes that might be able to put hooks into various email systems (I don't know if that's true or not). Still, this is just the first version and there will be room for improvement if it becomes popular, even if it's present features are somewhat limited or considered insufficient. BlackBerries, Treo and Nokia smartphones all progress with each years model, so why not the iPhone.
But as you say, it can't do it now and that's that. Buy another phone.
G-Stylez,
Either YOU are clueless, or your friend is clueless.
First off, installing third-party apps isn't 'hacking' any more than installing say Photoshop on a Mac is hacking MacOS. The fact is, there are tons of third-part apps for WM smartphones - which means we have choices. Unless Apple opens up the iPhone, its owners won't. At the moment - it looks very much that Apple is not interested in letting anyone write new installed apps on the iPhone. Period. That *may* change in the future - but you don't know that. You're hoping it's true. On the other hand, with Windows Mobile, it's true NOW.
There are several POP/IMAP clients for Windows Mobile. There are TONS of media players for it too.
Oh.. and BTW, yeah - you can use it like an iPod. There's a program called pPod (which Apple has spent a LOT of time trying to stamp out) that does a very good job of bringing the iPod interface to Smartphones.
If you're happy with the iPhone, then it's great. But if you ever decide it doesn't work the way you want it to, yer screwed. The best you can do is hope they come up with an improvement that makes it more like what you need/want.
Me? I like the freedom of being able to write my own apps and share them with other WiMo owners so that we all get a better experience, rather than relying on the 'Mothership' to make all our decisions for us.
Thats the thing to me about the iPhone criticisms. I'm a smart guy and I get pretty excited about any new gadget.
But come on, writing your own apps and sharing them? I can definitely see why the iphone isn't for you, but you must realize that you are in the extreme minority.
the beauty of the iphone, which may or may not be true and we'll see once people actually revie it, the beauty is in the whole package, not the individual features.
Does it lack in certain areas? Absolutely, but I don't have to write 3rd party apps, I don't have to find some program to let me play iTunes.
And Apple has always been pretty good with updates. I hope that trend continues.
Yep. And of course, not all businesses use POP/IMAP servers for email, especially not if they're using Blackberry or Exchange. Interestingly, RIM is about to release Blackberry for Windows Mobile, which essentially is an app that emulates a Blackberry on any WM6 or later device. It'll be interesting to see if Apple asks them to make a version for the iPhone.
But you're absolutely correct. The iPhone has a very clearly defined feature set, and it's a closed box - so for the most part, you get what you get. It's really easy to look at the features and say 'yep, that works' or 'nope, it doesn't and then decide.
I don't hate the iPhone - I just think it's massively overhyped and feel that a little reality has to be brought back into the picture.
Is it a bad phone?
No.
Is it a great phone?
No.
Is it 'revolutionary'?
Hardly. In may ways, it's a step backwards. But that's normal for Apple. They remove features, limit others and call it revolutionary. If our experience with iPods holds true, you'll also find that this will spur everyone else to shoot ahead with even better designs and Apple will drag their heels refusing to catch up. ("No one wants video on their iPod.")
Is it a slick phone?
Gods yes. Hell, even *I* get entranced watching the tour.
Is it for everyone.
Gods no.
Is it worth the price?
Well 'worth' is subjective. If it's what you want and you feel the price is acceptable, then it's 'worth' it. But in terms of features/expandability/price, I'd have to say that no, it's not worth it.
Whenever someone points out a limitation or weakness of the iPhone the stock responses are:
- Well, the competition sucks worse (no.. not really)
- Apple will fix it in a future release (maybe)
- You guys are all just haters (I'm sure some are - but some have good points)
Thing is, if you really think the iPhone is good enough - then get one. But please, don't try to pretend there aren't problems with it - some of which will be significant.
And stop lying about the competition to make the iPhone sound better.
true... iPhone is not for everyone. Apple has their reasons for what they do. So far they have succeeded with other products like ipod, macbooks etc...
I'll just wait until users have it in their hands before I can say anything negative about it.
With the loathe iPhone option there should be a I don't give a rat's ass about Outlook/Entoruage support too ;)
Entourage has sync'd with the Apple Sync Manager since the last major update. That is, The Entourage address book data appears in the Apple Address Book as well. The same is true for calendars and iCal. I believe that it is the Sync Manager data that is transferred to the iPhone.
iTunes already syncs with Outlook on PCs... don't forget that you can sync your Calendar and Contacts with an iPod. I bet iPhone uses the same mechanism.
There sure seems to be a lot of cry-babying going on here. "It's horrible because ... !!!" The iPhone does just about everything the nay-sayers have said it cannot do. It integrates with Outlook. It allows the user to view Excel, Word, and PDF files.
And my goodness, how secure does it really need to be?! Do you have any idea how insecure email is? Yet, almost every company I know of sends sensitive information insecurely via email. Nothing is totally secure, and most things aren't even mildly secure.
It uses EDGE. So what? Are you downloading movies to your cell phone over the cellular network?
Oh, it's so expensive! Well, you're getting a video iPod and a whole lot more. What did you expect? The RAZR debuted at a very high price, and it's just a phone, and a clunky one at that.
No other phone on the market beats the iPhone in functionality and usability, no matter how you might subjectively skew the assessment. Show me another phone with the same capacity, features, and ease of use.
The other funny thing is the talk about Apple hyping the iPhone like nobody's business. They announced the device in January, with no greater lead time than they give many of their other products. Then within the next four months, they said close to nothing about it. The commercials only started a few weeks ago. There has been phenomenonly less hype from Apple around the iPhone as there was from Microsoft about Zune. And we all know how well that turned out. Is anyone crapping on Microsoft for all their hype and crappy delivery?
The cry-babying from the naysayers is pretty sad and one-sided.
"And my goodness, how secure does it really need to be?! Do you have any idea how insecure email is? Yet, almost every company I know of sends sensitive information insecurely via email. Nothing is totally secure, and most things aren't even mildly secure."
Quick point of order - The method that most all email and other Exchange data is synched with phones supporting this feature vial Cell Data uses Exchange ActiveSync, which is indeed a secure, encrypted connection via the data connections internet feed to the Exchange server it contacts. Can it be hacked? Probably, most things can given enough time, but it is secure, and far from sending plain text in the clear.
Every time I try to turn on sync inside of iTunes, iTunes crashes. I'm using Outlook 2007. Anyone else experiencing this?
The real question that i have not seen answered is whether or not it syncs your contacts and calendar wirelessly. I assume it must, but I have not seen this confirmed anywhere. Anyone know if it does this? If it doesn't do this, then it seems to me you're basically buying a very fancy iPod.
Well if there is any truth this this -
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/26/apple-and-microsoft-to-push-exchange-direct-push-to-iphone/
It's capable of recieving both contacts and calendar data, just so long as the software on the phone supports using that data.
I'm still wondering why people keep whining about the iPhone being unable to connect to corporate networks, and syncing with their corporate email. Since when did this device ever become something for a corporation to use? It's so far from being a useable device a corporation would ever want to use. I can't imagine they want to purchase their salespeople an Ipod, or have them going around with a media player. I'm just amazed at how silly this idea is of using it with your work email.
Let me guess, today it is silly to think about using it with work email, but tommorrow if they announce that it can sync with work email, you'll be talking about how amazing that is, and how dead the Blackberry is.
Yes, but ti doesn't specifically say anything about Apple Mail and iCal. That being said, I wold be shocked if the iPhone didn't use isync over the air.
oh ok. my bad. i just remember spring being in my memory. whose lining up to get one though?
I can't get my iPhone to sync with my Outlook contacts. Any ideas? If I do a sync with Outlook closed it does open it but nothing moves across. It is the last and most important thing I need on my new iPhone.
I'm waiting for the Nyah, Nyah, Nyah.
I use a Blackberry (nextel) and let me tell you. the e-mail support sux, it'll work for a day or two, then it'll die, so if the iPhone is anything like my Powerbook, it'll be better than my dingleberry. Btw, I don't really want an iPhone, even though I swear by my Powerbook. So not all Apple users are blindly Apple addicts.
I am using e2Sync's e2Entourage product to successfully sync Entourage categories to the iPhone. Much safer I feel than Apple's sync-everything-as-one solution.
http://www.e2sync.com