Yes if Google sync was working well it wold do exactly what I want. The problem is that because of the Google data model for contacts (especially addresses which are stored in one single field) and the fact that Google has to reply on Exchange for the synchronization, the contact data is synchronized extremely poorly.
For exemple: - Addresses are all messed-up: The street name, postcode, and city are concatenated in the same field on the iPhone (street). As soon as you modify the contact on the iPhone this can spread to your Mac. This is because for Google and address is on single field whereas for everybody else it is separated in street/postcode/city/country. Spanning Sync does a very good job at handling the synchronization between the two data models. Google sync does a very bad one and messes up all my addresses. - contacts can only have a limited amount of phone numbers. For example each contact can only have one mobile number (and I know many people who have more). If you enter several numbers on Google you don't know which ones will go to the phone. - contacts can only have 3 email addresses. For all my contacts in gmail I keep all their email addresses including the "old" ones (so that I can easily search all messages from that contact). With Google sync only 3 addresses will synchronize, and you don't know which ones (plus they are just labelled 'email' instead of home/work/other). Also for contacts in the situation you cannot anymore add a new address on the iPhone without deleting one of the 3 addresses which were synchronized (because the iPhone is in Exchange mode and will only let you have 3 addresses per contact). So if someone gives you their new address while you only have access to you phone address book, you have to delete another one have though Google would support it. The reason I am still using Spanning Sync over cheaper/free other option is that I find it does a much better job than free options. If it was working fine I would just enable the built-in Google contact synchronization on Snow Leopard, ics calendar subscription in iCal, and Google Sync on my iPhone. It would be free of charge with no need for Spanning Sync and full over the air synchronization as a bonus. But like I said the reason I am still using Spanning Sync (a paying solution which give less functionality) is that it doesn't mess-up data which is important to me. The day Apple fixes the Google contact sync in Snow Leopard (it works well but doesn't synchronize birthdays), to me there is no point whatsoever in paying for Spanning Sync as MAc OS has everything included for free. If my idea is implemented Spanning Sync still has a business because it is again offering a feature no one else has (which is why the first release was successful, at the time it was the only option to synchronize Apple/ Google data). Now I don't know if this is technically feasible but at least it is worth looking at. Boris On Jun 6, 9:38 pm, Patrick Bos <[email protected]> wrote: > I don't get it. > > We use Google apps which uses push to update the calendar entries and > contacts on our iphones and we use spanning sync to keer our macs and > google apps in sync. > > This is what you want right? This is what works already so if what you > want is slighly different, please enlighten me:) > > Grtz, > > Patrick > > Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPhone > > Op 6 jun 2010 om 21:58 heeft mike <[email protected]> het volgende > geschreven:\ > > > > > Just want to second this idea. I too would love "spanning sync over > > the air" now that I've got an iPad and my old iphone relying on the > > sync link on my iMac to keep various Google calendars up to date with > > iCal. I presume as Boris already suggested the only barrier to this > > would be the need for Spanning Sync to hook into Mobile Me without the > > conduit of a user's Mac? > > > On Jun 6, 6:47 pm, Boris <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi all, > > >> I have happily been using Spanning Sync for a while but I am not > >> frustrated with the fact that because has to run on my computer its > >> field of action is limited. It is able to give me almost real time > >> synchronisation between my Mac and the Google services, but my iPhone > >> and iPad are lacking behind: if I had a contact in gmail it will only > >> go to my iPhone when Spanning Sync has synchronized it from my Mac > >> and > >> then uploaded it to MobileMe. None only this has a lot of machines in > >> the middle, but also it is not working if my computer is turned off. > > >> What I would very much like to see is an online app on the Google > >> Apps > >> marketplace which would automatically synchronize my Google and > >> MobileMe contacts and calendars without the need to run any software > >> on my computer (ie this would also work when my computer is turned > >> off). Basically that you be a spanning sync running on Google's > >> servers which would wake up regularly and keep my Google and MobileMe > >> data in sync without any intervention form me. > > >> That way my Mac/iPhone/iPad can just subscribe to MobileMe and they > >> will automatically get all the data from Google (and I don't have > >> anything to install on either device). > > >> Is it an idea Spanning Sync would consider as a future product > >> evolution? (I think it would be a good differentiator compared to the > >> many synchronizign options available today) > >> Do you know if there is some kind of API for Mobile me data which > >> would make this feasible? > > >> Thanks a lot, > >> Boris > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups "Spanning Sync" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected] > > . > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/spanningsync?hl=en > > . -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Spanning Sync" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/spanningsync?hl=en.
