Sync Windows Mobile to Mac?

February 25, 2006 2:42 PM

Thinking of abandoning Palm OS for Windows Mobile, and Windows for Mac. Can I still sync? Please let's avoid a four-way fanboy war here. Just asking about syncing.

As my reasons to stick with Palm OS dwindle and the variety of new, slim, and yummy devices running only Win Mobile draws me out into what once would have been sacrelige country, I'm also being drawn more towards Mac for home use. I know everybody has their sales pitches for each of those systems (and the sea of devices), but I'm not looking for that kind of input.

What just occurred to me is that if I go Win Mobile, and I go Mac, neither of which I've ever used, will I still be able to synchronize my handheld to my computer? My first thought was almost certainly not. But with versions of Office for Mac, for example, and all those creative third party apps out there for people who straddle the Mac/Win world, I figured it was worth asking.

Obviously I'd want to sync the PIM functions, but I'd also want to sync everything else, like documents, spreadsheets, etc, and like all the little third party apps. I'd want it to work just like synching Palm to Windows currently. Is this possible? Is it:
A) a built in function
B) a clean third party app function
C) an ugly hack function
D) not possible
E) other - please explain

By the way, I've never used Windows Mobile, but I'm assuming there's a large body of neat-o third party apps and a developer community and all that as there is with Palm. Right? An app for just about anything you can think of? Lots of shareware and freeware?

posted by kookoobirdz to computers & internet (7 comments total)

Just google "mac pocket pc." There are two current software options.
posted by gramcracker at 3:01 PM on February 25, 2006

I currently use The Missing Sync for my Palm TX and Mac. I've used in the past with a Tungsten E and Mac. It has worked very well and includes some nice extras, like syncing iTunes playlists and iPhoto albums to the Palm. I don't have direct experience with Missing Sync and a WinCE or Windows Mobile device, but I'd guess it's a comparable experience.
posted by mph at 3:06 PM on February 25, 2006

I was just talking to a freind who has a phone running what I think he said was the latest version of Windows Mobile. He commented that he was looking forward to the next version of The Missing Sync supporting it.
posted by Good Brain at 3:25 PM on February 25, 2006

I'm in the same boat, switched to a PPC-6700 for the BT and EVDO. Unfortunately, neither PocketMac or Missing Sync support WM 5.0.

BTW, based on my experiences with my 6700 as someone making the transition, I recommend you hold off/look for alternatives for a bit. The SMS is much worse than on my Treo, and the email not that much better (certainly not Blackberry quality). Even though it's running a 400MHz ARM chip, everything still seems laggy, even after tweaking the glyph cache and other registry entries and otherwise running stock. I thought my Treo 600 was flakey, but my new WM phone makes it look like the Rock of Gibraltar in comparison - I am constantly getting the "black screen of death", mysterious lag/hangs that end up making me calls, etc... So, before dropping $4-600, make sure its not a boat anchor like mine!
posted by lhl at 3:35 PM on February 25, 2006

The short answer is "Not right now, but soon".

What you want is The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile, which is for Windows mobile phones and also Pocket PCs.

It doesn't support PPC 5.0 yet though - though it will soon.
posted by Mwongozi at 4:41 PM on February 25, 2006

Thanks everybody. Very helpful. And a good lesson in proper google technique too. (I was too Jeevesy)
posted by kookoobirdz at 7:19 PM on February 25, 2006

Palm works best with Mac (and better with windows than Windows mobile) in terms of syncing. The windows syncing software has a history of flakiness, and although much, much better now (it was previously apalling) it still fails sometimes, and these failures are spectacular.
I know people who ended up with 5 copies of every record on their device (try undoing that easily) or simply lost random records, with no way to tell which ones.
If you rely on these devices for appointments and contacts, well, I wouldn't.
The 3rd party applications to fix these issues are quite good, but then you have the issues with extra costs, and the version lag as devices get updated then you wait for the 3rd party to catch up.
posted by bystander at 8:10 PM on February 25, 2006