Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

BTP · Jan 9, 2003, 04:04 PM

A bit of frustration yesterday trying to sync the Sony/Ericsson P800 with OS X. I used Bluetooth and was ablt to pair the phone. I used Address Book, clicking the Bluetooth button, and despite it's sending a lot of data (could see the icons and lights showing data transfer) nothing showed up under contact on the phone.

Then I used iSync.

Ok, that didn't work. Hmmm. I next tried GSM Remote. Which couldn't see the phone at all. (I did read the instructions.)

Ii then tried the Ericsson client, which also couldn't see the phone. I didn't look for an update for that, as by this point I was very frustrated.

To be fair, I had an equally lousy time on a PC, which the software was made for. Endless updates ( I had to upgrade to service pack 2 for W2000, my fault) just to get the SE software to install. Then I needed to get the contacts off my Palm and onto the phone. Palm not supported. Only Outlook. I exported every way possible from Palm, but Outlook wouldn't import them (1,893 contacts). I tried CSV, TSV and Vcards. Nothing would work. I finally dicsovered that Outlook would import Vcards one by one. It was cumbersome to export the Vcards one by one on the PC, so I did it from Address Book in OS X, one by one, drag and drop. Still sucked, but far easier and faster than exporting on the W2000 machine. If I selected all, they would just export as a single Vcard in Mac or PC, which Outlook wouldn't import.

Now that the contacts are imported, I need to work on syncing the phone on a regular basis. Anyone have any thoughts on how I can do this? Am I missing something?

tobli · Jan 9, 2003, 04:23 PM

The P800 is, afaik, the first phone to use version 8 of the Symbian OS. The phone differs greatly from previous Sony Ericsson models, and from other phones on the market. It doesn't directly support the protocols that GSM Remote and Ericsson client uses to talk to phones. Rest assured, work is in progress to provide support for the P800. The developer of one such product is a friend of mine. I probably shouldn't say more, so you'll have to wait and see...

BTP · Jan 9, 2003, 04:31 PM

Tack!

Good to know. I can't tell you the level of frustration I had with this very cool phone. I was under the mistaken belief that since it was Bluetooth, I'd have no problem syncing it.

I should have expected this, to some degree anyway, as it is brand new and not even released in the US yet. I called SE and they said that I couldn't get support in the US, as it was not released. The finally relented and assisted me, but no one knew much about it.

This one *very* cool phone!

k2director · Jan 10, 2003, 02:12 AM

BTP,

How is the hand writing recognition? Pretty accurate? Do you feel comfortable sketching out thoughts or quick emails with it?

Also, how about the camera? Have you tried taking a picture and emailing it to a friend? How refined is the workflow to do that? And if you take a picture at 640x480, but want to MMS or email a smaller version, can you fairly quickly convert the picture to a smaller size for sending off? I know it's technically possible, but I'm just wondering how convenient all that stuff is, because I would like to be able to use the camera a fair amount for email pics to people...

Many thanks...

Producer · Jan 10, 2003, 03:02 AM

I'm planning on picking up this phone...just need to see if anything intersting came out at CES...so far doesn't look like it...and no Apple iPhone so...
ofcourse getting a super tiney phone and the that new Sony PDA with the Cam and 802.11 would be pretty sweet too

decisions decisions...anyway how do you like this phone so far? and if you are in the US...how the hell did you get it. through the United arab emerites? rua developer?

BTP · Jan 10, 2003, 04:14 AM

K2-

I haven't had enough time to use everything yet, but I have taken some picture, but I haven't done any converting for MMS, I also haven't sent any to other people- yet.

I only used the keyboard so far, I haven't tried the handwriting recognition yet.

The phone is quite easy to use, the operating system is responsive and solid, providing good feedback. The jog dial is really handy and makes it easy to navigate. I don't know what you mean by a lot, but I doubt you'll have much trouble.

Producer-

The phone is totally fantastic. I got it from the UAE via FedEx. Great great great. Iam still reading the manual and learning all the stuff that it does.

Expensive right now, but once it hits the US, the price should drop to the MSRP, which is still expensive, but it is just such a great device. I can't call it a phone, or just a phone, as it does so much more. I need to find more memory for the phone, it only has 28MB 12MB onboard and a 16MB Memory Stick DUO. The DUO is a half size version of the Memory Stick and I can't find it anywhere. I'd love another 128MB..

The screen is bright and clear, the calls sound great, the rings are cool sounding, the software is efficient and easy to use. Let me use it for a while so I can find some complaints.

If you have the means, I highly suggest you pick one up. It's so choice.. But seriously, if you wait, you'll have a lot. Were the prices more comperable, I bet this would outsell the T68i.

How long do I have to wait for OS X support!!

k2director · Jan 10, 2003, 04:18 AM

Thanks for the info!

By the way, I hear it goes well with a Bluetooth headset! I have my eye on those tiny Bluespoon models.

MickS · Jan 10, 2003, 04:46 AM

I'm surprised at the lack of support for the P800. It seems that Apple have been working closely with Sony Ericsson to get phone syncing working, this phone has been on the horizon for so long I would have thought it would have been a priority.

k2director · Jan 10, 2003, 05:01 AM

Not out in the US yet. Once it's here, I have a feeling Apple will support it within a couple of months. But yea, I wish they were ready right out the gate...

SwitchMonkey · Jan 10, 2003, 05:48 AM

Oh boy, here we go..

"THE YEAR OF BLUETOOTH TROUBLESHOOTING"

BTP · Jan 10, 2003, 10:15 AM

No, I don't think so. As I said what did I really expect with a phone that I bought from halfway around the world , that isn't even released in the US yet?

It won't be released for a few more months, so they have plenty of time to add support.

cmlewan · Jan 12, 2003, 06:12 AM

You can read about my troubles on http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...readid=140001. I couldn't even pair the computer and the P800. But now, I might have found a way, by making the mac and the P800 look for each other at the _exact_ same time. For the moment they're paired...

I could get the Address book to _appear_ to send data, just like BTP describes it. The P800 even recognized that my mac tried to send it data and I had to press "Ok" or something similar on the phone to allow the mac to continue. But no data stuck in the Contacts. And I can't send sms or dial via the Address book in the mac; the popups are grey. And the mac doesn't recognize when I receive a call to my bluetooth phone as it should do.

I have no PC, but I guess the next step is to try out VPC 6.0 and XP. How else can I download the games and apps from the cds that came with the P800?

The P800 runs Symbian 7.0; I don't think there's an 8. 7.0 is very new and Nokia 7650 only uses 6. See http://www.sonyericsson.com/P800/main.htm?facts.

I guess we simply have to wait. I don't know how fast the GSM Remote people are, but there's something to watch. Apple are so unreliable, support could have come two months ago, it may come tomorrow or it may wait until summer. (They decided _never_ to support my usb cd burner, nor did they support (Mac OS X) the dvd player in my Lombard, something I will _never_ forgive them for.)