Paul Jacobson

One of the reasons I complained about the Nokia N97 when I got a demo unit was that it lacked iSync support on my Mac. That immediately made it that less useful to me because I had become accustomed to syncing my Nokia devices with iCal and Address Book. Its how I used to roll and still my preferred way of keeping everything in sync.

Since I started using my N97 as my primary device, I became accustomed to using Mail for Exchange on my N97. I have been synchronising my phone with my business calendar and contacts on Google Apps and although it took me a while to get the hang of it, I finally figured it all out and its been working reasonably well for me. The main downside is that I can only sync one calendar at a time and my choice has been my business calendar (unlike most people, I like to have separate calendars for different spheres in my life).

Today my experience of my N97 got a little better. Nokia SA’s Tania Steenkamp messaged me and asked me if I had tested iSync with my N97. Of course that got my attention because there previously was no iSync plugin for the N97. I rushed over to the Nokia site and this is what I found:

I installed the plugin faster than you can say “Don’t I have other work to do” and starting a fresh sync with my N97 (I opted to reset my N97 rather than wade through a few hundred sync queries from iSync). Like any reset it takes a little while to complete the initial process (around 20 to 30 mins for me). The result is that it worked reasonably well except when it came to some of my calendars. I need to explain how I have setup my calendars though because my setup is probably a bit more complex than the average user.

I have setup my calendars to sync with my Google calendars. My personal GCal actually has a couple calendars for alternative projects, family and friends, home and so on. These are identified as “delegates” and are subordinated to my main personal GCal calendar. The structure is pretty much as you see in the image to the right.

The way I understand it, these other calendars are almost subsets of my personal GCal calendar (the “Paul Jacobson” one in blue). iSync allows me to sync my N97 with the two primary “Paul Jacobson” calendars (work and personal) but not the other ones. This type of setup seems to be an issue for MobileMe too because MobileMe doesn’t sync these other calendars either (I’m pointing this out in case someone feels the urge to tell me to get an iPhone, again). Update: I just checked MobileMe and it doesn’t sync any of my Exchange based calendars at all! Nokia 1 – Apple 0.

I suspect that if I had setup my calendars normally in iCal, my calendars would sync with my N97 through iSync correctly and would also sync with MobileMe. I would just lose the ability to sync with GCal. Ironically, I am not sure I want to give up the GCal sync via Exchange so even though this is one of the features I most wanted from Nokia, I probably won’t take full advantage of it.

Another thing to point out is that I have come to realise that Exchange sync between GCal and my N97 over the air is really handy! I don’t need to connect my N97 to my MacBook to sync, it just happens behind the scenes. Unfortunately that is even more limited than the iSync method because I think I can only sync a single calendar (I have this notion that multiple sync profiles in Mail for Exchange would just scramble all my calendars and ruin my day).

Anyway, the big news is that you can now sync your N97 with your Mac using iSync!

You’ve heard about the amazing Nokia E71 and you may be thinking about getting one for yourself. It is a terrific phone, for sure, but it has just been superseded by the new Nokia E72 which is even better (all existing E71 owners … I feel your pain).

The E72 boasts a number of improvements over its year old cousin including a 5 megapixel camera, support for download speeds of up to 10.2 MBps over HSDPA and a new optical navigation key which seems to bring the scrolling experience that much closer to the Blackberry’s trackball. It gets better. The audio jack is the standard 3.5mm jack and the phone runs s60 3rd edition (feature pack 2 – the same version the E75 runs). It also comes with Nokia Messaging for a better email experience.

There is some pretty exciting instant messaging integration built into the device too. According to the Nokia press release:

On top of these developments, for the first time, owners will be able to set up instant messaging (IM) accounts provided by Nokia Messaging direct from the homescreen. In just a few steps, device owners will be able to connect to their favorite IM accounts such as Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and Ovi, amongst many others.

These new IM features are complimented by Nokia’s range of email solutions with a lifetime license for Nokia’s mobile email and IM service, Nokia Messaging, as well as onboard clients for Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveler. Accessing popular accounts such as Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, Ovi Mail and thousands of other email service providers is simple through improved on-device email setup, with the same easy to use UI integrating all of the owner’s corporate email accounts as well.

It feels like just yesterday that I got the E71 and as fantastic as the device is, the E72 looks even better. This slim device is an even better business tool and the only gripe I have right now is that the space bar is so small. I have been trying out the E75 and will post a review soon but if the E72 performs the way I think it will, it will beat the pants off both the E71 and the E75.

Update: I received the E72 datasheet from Nokia yesterday: