Syncing Business Contact Manager on Symbian OS Phone

[wmatthies]

I purchased Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager a few years ago and
recall a problem syncing the Business Contact file with my then Palm phone.
I ultimately uninstalled it and have just been using the standard Contact
file since. Has that issue been addressed and could I now reinstall and use
the more robust Business Contact file with my Sony Ericsson 910 phone with
Symbian OS? I see there is some sort of update for Mobile PC phones but that
won’t help me. If I can, what do I need to do?

 

[Tim P via OfficeKB.com]

There is good 3rd party software available that enables you to now synch your
BCM Contacts folder with either a Palm OS device or a Window Mobile device
(Though not yet for the latest Windows Mobile 5.0). I could be wrong but I
don't believe that there currently is a way to synch either the native
Outlook Contacts folder or BCM Contacts with a Symbian OS device. Check with
Sony Ericsson to determine if they have created their own software for doing
this. It also may depend upon which Symbian version you have on your phone.
I know that Nokia has an application called Nokia PC Suite which creates an
intermediary conduit to synch "some" limited data fields between native
Outlook Contacts, Appointments (Not Tasks though), and Notes. This Nokia
Suite does work with certain of their Symbian Series 60 phones. I have long
believed that the Symbian OS device OEMs are really missing the mark in the
North American market by not making this adaptation to Outlook data easier
for their devices. Symbian OS is very dominant in Europe and Asia and
Outlook is also widely used throughout the world so I don't really understand
the disconnect there. Anyway, your synching challenge may not be just with
BCM but also even with regular Outlook by itself. You may need to change to
using a Palm OS or Windows Mobile OS phone device as a solution.

-THP

 

[wmatthies]

Thanks Tim. Not what I wanted to hear but it is what I expected. As an
aside, my Sony Ericsson Symbian phone syncs just fine with Outlook, a little
slower doing so than my previous Blackberry phone but it does work. Just not
with BCM which the BB did not as well.

Actually I am surprised at everyone who has a piece of this including MS and
SE. A serious (read expensive) PDA phone such as the SE 910 should sync with
everything Outlook does and MS should work to see that it does if they want
their database software to be a stardard. I thought that it might by now in
that I first tried it with a Palm device around 3 years ago when, I belive,
BCM was new but such is not the case.

At any rate thanks for the confirmation.

Bill

 

[Tim P via OfficeKB.com]

Bill,

Eventhough Microsoft is the world's largest software developer, don't assume
that everything they do is seamless eventhough it is certainly logical to
believe that it is in their interest to be more so than they are. They is
evidence aplenty within this newsgroup alone that this is not the case.

Does your SE device have direct conduits that synch with Outlook or is there
a separate app to synch between the two? How complete of a data set does the
synch provide to your phone device? You may want to check out this link to
www.chapura.com. These folks do an excellent job with synch app design and
performance with Outlook. I use their Key Suite application to synch between
both Outlook & BCM and my Palm OS Treo 650. It works great with a very
complete data transfer between the many Outlook fields and the device itself.
Best wishes.

-THP

Thanks Tim. Not what I wanted to hear but it is what I expected. As an
aside, my Sony Ericsson Symbian phone syncs just fine with Outlook, a little
slower doing so than my previous Blackberry phone but it does work. Just not
with BCM which the BB did not as well.

Actually I am surprised at everyone who has a piece of this including MS and
SE. A serious (read expensive) PDA phone such as the SE 910 should sync with
everything Outlook does and MS should work to see that it does if they want
their database software to be a stardard. I thought that it might by now in
that I first tried it with a Palm device around 3 years ago when, I belive,
BCM was new but such is not the case.

At any rate thanks for the confirmation.

Bill

There is good 3rd party software available that enables you to now synch your
BCM Contacts folder with either a Palm OS device or a Window Mobile device

[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]

 

[wmatthies]

The sync between Outlook (excluding BCM) and the phone appears complete and
does not require any additional software other than that which came with the
SE phone (a program from Teleca Software Solutions AB). I say appears only
becasue if anything is missing I am not aware of it.

Believe me I do not assume that MS software is seemless; only that I would
think something as obvious as this would have been addressed in the 3 years
since I first encoutned the problem.

I will check out Chapura and thanks for the lead.

Bill

Bill,

Eventhough Microsoft is the world's largest software developer, don't assume
that everything they do is seamless eventhough it is certainly logical to
believe that it is in their interest to be more so than they are. They is
evidence aplenty within this newsgroup alone that this is not the case.

Does your SE device have direct conduits that synch with Outlook or is there
a separate app to synch between the two? How complete of a data set does the
synch provide to your phone device? You may want to check out this link to
www.chapura.com. These folks do an excellent job with synch app design and
performance with Outlook. I use their Key Suite application to synch between
both Outlook & BCM and my Palm OS Treo 650. It works great with a very
complete data transfer between the many Outlook fields and the device itself.
Best wishes.

-THP

Thanks Tim. Not what I wanted to hear but it is what I expected. As an
aside, my Sony Ericsson Symbian phone syncs just fine with Outlook, a little
slower doing so than my previous Blackberry phone but it does work. Just not
with BCM which the BB did not as well.

Actually I am surprised at everyone who has a piece of this including MS and
SE. A serious (read expensive) PDA phone such as the SE 910 should sync with
everything Outlook does and MS should work to see that it does if they want
their database software to be a stardard. I thought that it might by now in
that I first tried it with a Palm device around 3 years ago when, I belive,
BCM was new but such is not the case.

At any rate thanks for the confirmation.

Bill

There is good 3rd party software available that enables you to now synch your
BCM Contacts folder with either a Palm OS device or a Window Mobile device

[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]

Symbian OS? I see there is some sort of update for Mobile PC phones but that
won’t help me. If I can, what do I need to do?