You’ve got a brand new Palm Pre, and you’ve got Outlook on your computer with all your contacts and calendars, and you’re looking at the two and trying to figure out how to get them to talk. While Palm does have the Data Transfer Assistant to pull your stuff out of Outlook, throw it into the cloud, and then push it down to the Pre, it’s no substitute for actual synchronization. Chapura, makers of the PocketMirror Palm OS-Outlook sync program have declared their intent to bring PocketMirror to webOS. The newest version of PocketMirror will not only sync your Outlook contacts to your Pre, but will do it over your local Wi-Fi network, eliminating any concerns you may have about syncing your data into the unsecured cloud. PocketMirror for webOS, which Chapura’s website claims is 'coming soon,' will create a new Synergy account for Contacts and Calendar, enabling you to sync to-and-from Outlook with ease. Chapura will also be releasing Echo, a program that will do the exact same thing as PocketMirror, but with Palm Desktop! With the recently-announced The Missing Sync from mark/space also on the way, it’s looking like the cloud-averse are going to have plenty of options for the coveted local sync.
Thanks to Brian for the tip!
Comments
Yeah, that guy that was behind me in line on Saturday, who waited 2 hours and decided NOT to get a Pre because it wouldn't sync up to Palm Desktop, and got a BB Curve instead....yeah, he's going to be pissed....
Echo "Compatible with Palm Desktop 6.2" Please tell me it will still work with 4.1.4e!! I want the colors in my calendar.
A lot of folks are upset (some of them like the guy in line) about no local sync. Good to see this solution (and the other one from MarkSpace.com, Missing Sync for Pre (also coming soon).
But will it sync ALL of Outlook? Especially Notes???
Lawrence
Chapura..(shudder)..my goodness, I thought that was some garbage I got rid of years ago after leaving Palm OS. It's baaaaack!
I think the lack of desktop sync is a huge fail, one of the reasons I skipped getting a Pre right off the bat. Paying for basic sync on top of the device? No thanks.
Well, this eliminates *some* of the concerns of the security conscious company, but not all. Yet again we see a solution which requires WiFi. Truly security-conscious companies, like mine, do not allow WiFi in the building.
Why can't we just sync over a physical wire, for crying out loud. Come on Chapura / Mark/Space, make it happen!!
You gotta wonder the composition of the development team. A bunch of high school kids that spend their day on Facebook and SMS'ing away?
Seems like very little practical thought was put into how the WebOS would work in the real world.
Throw away local cable'd syncing since it's not hip and streamlined? Fine
Throw away expandable memory because the iPod doesn't have that and it would require an entire millimeter more thickness? Fine
Only put a top-end of 8GB space in it because that seemed a massive amount of memory in 2002 when we first dreamed this up? Fine
Mandate syncing via "cloud" portals instead of enterprise and home standard desktop applications? Oh yeah!!
...and Phone as Modem and OS5 emulation with sync isn't happening either?
Pre seems like a pretty phone, but once you start looking at the details you gotta wonder why Palm tossed away so many present capabilities of their 2-year old phones with the bathwater when they developed the Pre. Other than the "Palm" name, there's very little resemblance to the capabilities of even the 2003 Treo 600 with the WebOS Pre. But again, it does look pretty...
>"it’s looking like the cloud-averse are going to have plenty of options for the coveted local sync."
Unless you are using Linux or BSD... then there are apparently no non-cloud options. I used to use jpilot and/or kpilot to sync with my palms under Linux... no problem. It seems all these new non-cloud sync "solutions" require other MS-Windows (and sometimes MacOS) software.
In any case, this doesn't solve all the paranoids' problems- because everything on the phone is STILL sent to Palm through the "cloud", no matter how you "sync" it.
Oh well :)
Guys please come to the online era.
Gmail is the best email out there. Calendar is perfect and Pre Syncs over the air with it.
Setup a imap of Gmail in outlook and put your contacts in it. then sync with PRE.
then you have a backup of your contacts always online.
Oh and all of that is free in Gmail pop Imap. EVERYTHING...
Why do we need to come to the online era? You must be the type of person that believes everything you hear? I personally do not like someone or something in charge of MY personal information. I thougt this phone was going to be great but so far I'm not digging it, all of the basic features I have on my 700p are missing like protecting private, and sensitive info i.e passwords, banking info etc. You would have thougt these guys would have made that a top priority for this phone. To me this is not considered a smartphone any longer. I understand competeting with Apple, but how many companies or executives are using apple as the phones for staying in contact?
What about this software called "Missing Sync"?
My question, if I migrate my Palm desktop now, will I be able to use one of these other's when they came out?
i am so confused.... i bought the pre and then returned it 7 days later because it would only pull from my outlook, but would not send back to it. does it sync both ways? if not is that something that could be fixed with an update?
i don't want to switch to gmail, i don't want to figure out what the heck a "cloud" is, i just want to sync the pre with outlook (both ways). Can i do it?
I would fire PalmPre product manager for his decision of not including a local sync. tool ..
This idiot is jeopardizing Palm’s last chance of staying in marketplace!
And my thanks to Chapura and others who recognized this mistake and are working to address it.
Keep the good work ....
Now that Chapura is charging $30 for the PocketMirror, is anyone working on a less expensive app to do this?
crxssi, I believed you're right. its just a thing of switching your mind and see the big picture. Just I have one question. I setut the IMAP gmail account but I don't see how to put the contact in there. can you explaing to me please?? Thanks.
whats up with having to pay to sync with outlook. this is nuts, I thought I bought a smart phone not a dumb phone that I have to pay for an add on to make it smart. Every other palm device could perform this function. Palm should include chapura in the pre.
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