In my last post, I mentioned that I was looking for a way to sync my Google Calendar to my Windows Mobile 5 phone – the Cingular 8125. Well, I found one. I actually found two things actually.
The first bit of software is for syncing Google Calendar to the Windows Mobile 5 Outlook Calendar. It’s called OggSync. There is a free version, and a paid subscription version. With the free version you can *manually* sync 1 Google Calendar with your phone. Personally, that was not enough for me, because I use about 5 calendars for various things (Personal Public, Personal Finances, Movies/TV Shows, Social Life, and the-spot.net). So I bought the subscription version, with allows *scheduled automatic* updates at regular intervals, and unlimited Google Calendars to be sync’d.
The program has 2-way read/write capabilities, with the exception of repeating events – and that is an issue on Google’s end, not the software’s. It’s got a simple and unattractive interface, but once you set up your configuration, you rarely have to bother with it. It does not autostart with the phone, so you do have to load it when you want it to auto-sync. But when you close it, the program runs in the background to keep things going. And that works great in conjunction with Google Calendar, and Provider for Google Calendar plugin for Mozilla Thunderbird.
The other bit of software that I started using with Cingular’s Xpress Mail that came on the phone. This functions in the same fashion as the Blackberry’s Xpress Messaging software does, which allows you to keep synchronized with your desktop exchange calendar. When you install the PC software, you register your phone and a user name, and leave it running all the time alongside Microsoft Outlook. Then you install the client by going to the web interface and go to the Download section in the upper right hand corner. There you download the appropriate device client by choosing your phone manufacturer, and entering your phone number. Click Next, and choose whether to send the link to your PC or via SMS for the client to install on your phone. Once you go through the setup and configuration, it’s seamlessly integrated with your Outlook Client. The communication is near instantaneous, and helps a lot when you’re an IT worker or executive that is out of the office doing business, and need to be up-to-date with your communications.
Now if I could just find a way to sync up my Google Docs with my Open Office and/or desktop and/or Windows Mobile My-Docs. I’ll let you know what I find.
