iPhone

If you dream about having BirdieSync casting your horoscope, this is the place to ask for it...
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wabik
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 3:25 pm

iPhone

Post by wabik »

Birdy,

Could you please tell me if synchronization with iPhone would take a lot of work?
iPhone already synchronize MS Outlook ...

Brgds,
wabik

Hugues59
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 11:22 pm

Re: iPhone

Post by Hugues59 »

+1
;-)

If I can synchronize an iPhone with TB, I will be the most happy guy in the world

fuzzynavel
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 11:55 pm

Re: iPhone

Post by fuzzynavel »

I agree - I would love to get my info sync'd between my iPhone and T-bird. If you decide to take a shot at programming this let me know and I'll help out financially.

drewgraham
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:02 am

Re: iPhone

Post by drewgraham »

It's something I need as well.

I emailed BirdieSync about it when it was unofficially announced that the iPhone 3G was going to licence ActiveSync ages ago, and they replied with a "no idea what you're talking about" and again when it was officially announced, but they never replied.

It seems such an obvious thing for them to do with the iPhone SDK, it's use of ActiveSync and their knowledge of TB syncing. But worry not, if they don't do it, someone else will - the pieces are there to develop the software really quite easily.

Melloware
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:47 pm

Re: iPhone

Post by Melloware »

+1

There is a huge need in the marketplace for syncing Thunderbird with the iPhone. Now that iPhone supports ActiveSync I would think this should be very easy for Birdy to add support for it? It should be no different than syncing with windows Mobile devices. Has anyone actually already tried BirdieSync with an iPhone? Maybe it already works?

I am a software engineer and would be more than happy to help develop this any way I can help!

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Melloware
http://www.melloware.com
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Melloware
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:47 pm

Re: iPhone

Post by Melloware »

I think I am going to use this instead....

http://www.funambol.com/solutions/iphone.php

Funambol lets you wirelessly sync with the iPhone, no Itunes needed and there is a Thunderbird plugin too. So Funambol is the open source middleman holding your contacts and you use first class plugins written by Funambol for syncing with Thunderbird and iPhone 3G.

drewgraham
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:02 am

Re: iPhone

Post by drewgraham »

I've got an iPhone since the last post, and have spent a week getting it to sync with TB and Lightening, and thought I'd share my experiences for you.

I have 5 calendars and three address books that need syncing. The iPhone support multiple calendars but not multiple address books.

BirdieSync have not, and will not, release a sync app for the iPhone because, although Apple have licences ActiveSync, they have added it into iTunes and is even more obscure. The iPhone SDK does not, apparently, allow for the kind of interaction that would be needed to develop the sync ability. Apple are having a hard enough time getting it to work with Outlook http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... ID=1595598.

Funambol currently only support single address book syncing, and not calendars, and when it does it will be a single calendar. I can see Funambol, or a similar app, working eventually, but not for some time.

If you do use Funambol for a single address book sync, the calendar sync is more difficult - I intended to use a published ical in Lightening and access it through the iPhone, but the iPhone does not support remote icals. The only two ways of syncing with a calendar is through outlook via itunes or via an exchange / .mac service, and I could figure out no effective way to get either of those to sync with Lightening.

My solution - I ended up migrating to Outlook. I'm moving to Exchange later this year anyway, so it's no biggie, but it will be for most people, and even then you'll be hit with the problem linked above. I'm happy to answer any more Qs.

Melloware
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:47 pm

Re: iPhone

Post by Melloware »

Thanks for that detailed review!!!

I actually only need to sync Thunderbird on two different PC's and my iPhone with the same 1 addressbook. So I think Fumnabol will suit my needs perfectly. I feel your dilemma and I think Outlook would be the easiest to migrate too, I just do NOT want to tie myself to any Microsoft products. Hopefully Fumnabol will get better and better support for iCal and Lightning in the future.

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