Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Cell Phones and Outlook

I need your geekhood.

Gawd, that didn't come out right at all.

I'm in the market for a new cell phone. Has to be Verizon. Has to be this weekend. Don't talk to me about the iPhone. I've had good luck with Motorola Razrs. I don't consume TV or internet using a phone. Mostly, it's just a phone, but I wouldn't mind using it for a music player and it's cool to be able to get GPS services if I need them.

The question is:

Has anybody had a satisfactory experience synchronizing Outlook calendar events with a non-PDA phone? If so, what model and what method?

I can get a Moto Q or a Palm Centro, but the form factor is pretty big.

Thanks for your wisdom.

Well, if you're syncing Outlook calendar events, you're going to be paying for data. Just be aware of that. Data is verra spensive.

No no. I just want to do it at the desktop level using one of them universal burial sub things.

I use an iPhone and my wife uses a Blackberry, so I don't have any really current advice.

But I used to (a year ago) have fairly good luck with Outlook synchronization with a couple of different Samsung phones. Most specifically the Samsung Sync. They would have been GSM phones.

Samsung has a free software suite that handles syncing calendars & contacts (it's own address book/calendar, Outlook, or Palm Desktop, I think), uploading ringtones, up/downloading photos, etc. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good. It would occasionally do some really weird things with my calendar entries though, so I didn't sync all that often. I can only assume that it would work with a CDMA Samsung phone.

Going further back in time, I used to have a couple of Nokia phones. If I recall correctly, there was a Nokia software suite as well that would allow syncing to Outlook. I can't remember if it worked all that well, but it's been several years.

I would bet you dollars to donuts that the overall sync experience will be far superior using the Centro or the Q. Both of which were designed from the beginning to sync with your PC. Rather than the somewhat clumsy work-arounds that a 'dumb' phone will be.

And no, you shouldn't incur any sort of data charges if you're just syncing with your desktop PC via a USB cable (or whatever).

If you use any type of smartphone running Windows Mobile or similar, it shouldn't be too difficult to get Outlook synced up via a USB cable. The Moto Q, Samsungs and Treo Centro should be fine. Though I've never tried it w/ a non-PDA phone.

Blackberries and iPhones also connect, though some may require an extra app. I've used a Treo w/ Outlook so that's not an issue either.

Thanks, guys. I may just have to (gasp) compromise somewhere.

I have the original "Q" does the job syncs fine through data cable (no charge) well it charges the phone (power) but does not charge you (money) lol

Well, bumpity.

We have Centros at the moment, and man, what a great solution.

Problem is, Mrs. Tuttle dropped hers about 20 feet onto concrete yesterday. Amazingly, it still works, but the screen is shattered.

Might want to look at the next generation of Verizon phones. I like to have the same phone as the missus, because supporting fewer platforms and fewer chargers is good for the Tuttle Tech Department.

Syncing with Outlook contacts and calendar at the desktop level is still the litmus test.

What's the deal with Andriod, anyway? Is that relevant to my question?

So, Verizon phones and Outlook desktop syncing. Go.

Thanks.

Curious. Why next gen Verizon phones? What do they have different from other carriers?

In order to get Outlook Sync, you need something that runs a smart OS, like WebOS (Palm), OSX (iPhone) Android, or WinMo.

An alternate solution is to use Google Calendar. I'm sure you can get Outlook conduits to sync w/ Google. Then all you need is a phone that supports Google Apps or at least a web browser so you can navigate to Google.com.