Outlook is always mentioned, but it should be said though that Outlook itself is horrible when it comes to synching contacts. Outlook can't import vcards properly, it can only import one contact at the time. This is totally useless for corporate users, and Outlook 2007 still hasn't fixed this. Outlook shouldn't be considered the measure stick by far.
And yet, between them Outlook and Notes have 80+ percent of the market in date planning/contact apps. Sure, Outlook can't do VCards very well but most WinCE PDA's don't use VCards for Sync. And unless the N800 can replace a WinCE PDA, it will remain a rather small market segment and risks loosing customers to the new large screen WinCE PDA like the Sharp unit.
A lot of people don't care about "It's a Unix" or "It follows official standards" stuff. That includes software engineers like me. The metering stick is "It works in my Windows-Based company net/infrastructure". The thing is a tool, not the center of my life. If it can't do the job, I won't buy it/use it.
OTHO I am willing to back a resonable sum for a working USB-Sync between an On-Unit, Offline-capabel PIM and my desktop system that does not involv any external service centers/computers or Web-Servers. Actually I think that commercial software is the ONLY chance to get such a solution, not putting much faith in OSS interacting with commercial standards.
The WinCE PDAs don't use VCards for sync because they use Outlook, which is severely handicapped in this area. However, lots of mobile phones support vcard files out of the box, with two exceptions that I've seen: Windows smartphones, and Nokia phones (at least all Nokia phones I've tried, NB: non-smartphones. Symbian seems to work, although I've not tested Nokia versions).
At work I can download the company contacts list (with email, name, address, two or three phone numbers for each employee) to a Palm PDA, and then just bluetooth it to anyone as and when I get near them. This way it's easy to maintain the contacts on everybodys phones (we only use mobile phones here). Well, except for those unlucky individuals with the abovementioned phones. They tend to be without any contacts on their phones as it's just too much work to send the contacts one by one (which works but takes forever).
If you google (sorry, if you use the FWSE*-- G. don't like their name to be used that way) for outlook+vcard you'll see that this has been a complaint on Outlook for a very long time.
Should a software tool support VCard? Well, should it support a standardized method of interchanging contacts? In my opinion "yes", although I would be interested to know if there are other equally standardized methods around (I'm not aware of any but willing to be educated).
(Actually, Outlook does support VCards -- it's just that it supports only a single VCard entry at the time, which is why I call it useless in the corporate environment. MS implemented it for users with not very many contacts to deal with.)
I disagree here. Without some sort of phone, the N800 is dead weight. Sure it has wifi, but this not always handy. I have the N800 and a E61. Combined, I can reach the net all the time from virtually anywhere. I am not sure of the biz strategy of Nokia regarding the N800. It seems like an unfinished device. More of a, "you do it, no you do it, no you do it" device.
I have a hair to split: how do you define phone? For instance, there's more than one way to skin a cat--
I have been a palm/treo user for over 4 years, and can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've opened the calendar app.
I need a device to 1) browse the web in a legible usable manner 2) connect to email 3) do instant messaging and 4) Skype. It needs to be portable and have a good chance of connecting to wifi while i travel.
Right now the N800 looks pretty good for what I need.
I have been a palm/treo user for over 4 years, and can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've opened the calendar app.
I need a device to 1) browse the web in a legible usable manner 2) connect to email 3) do instant messaging and 4) Skype. It needs to be portable and have a good chance of connecting to wifi while i travel.
Right now the N800 looks pretty good for what I need.
1, 2 are ok on the N800...3 is non existent and 4: If you believe Skype will ever be available on the N800..I have a bridge I need to sell
I just met with some one in N series. PIM Sync is something they seem to work on for the N800. No garantees, it was just a hint ... But confirmation that this can't be the priority compared to the tsunami of "regular" phones and n phones shipped by Nokia.
They may, and I mean "may", do a BT sync to the PIM and other info on an Symbian device. They will not do a PIM application on the N800 this year. btw, most of the PIM work is being done in ES, not the N series.
