Jonathan Blum
My assistant Nick and I have been testing various Mac-to-smart-phone connectivity tools over the past several months, and the results have not been encouraging.
First we downloaded a product called Missing Sync ($39 for a single license) from an operation called Mark/Space Inc. in Los Gatos, Calif. The company's Web site offers a full range of downloadable products to synch Macs to non-Macs, including software for devices like Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Blackberry and the Sony(SNE Quote - Cramer on SNE - Stock Picks) PSP. We downloaded the synching tool to link an iMac to a Samsung BlackJack II running Windows Mobile 6. And immediately we had problems. Our device was not included in the software's dropdown menu and our profile information did not load properly. So our iMac did not recognize the device when it was plugged into the computer's universal serial bus connector. Only after much tinkering did the device appear on the Apple desktop at all. And we could not get the two units to reliably set up a connection, much less exchange data. In other words, we couldn't make it work. Worse, messages left on the company voicemail went unanswered -- and still haven't been answered a month or so later. Next we tried SyncMate, which is billed as a free alternative to Missing Sync. It comes from a company called Eltima Software, based in Germany but with an office in Bellevue, Wash. Again, we had problems. Device recognition was an issue, which is remarkable considering the popularity of the BlackJack. And again, we could not get the units to reliably recognize each other. Even more ominously, customer service was essentially nonexistent. Again, our call was never answered.
RSS
