A cure for PDA sync-shyness

Eric Christ blamed his personal digital assistant’s sync-shyness on the software. PocketMirror, the syncing application that shipped with his Palm Pilot, didn’t reflect the Atlanta manager’s needs.

“I wanted something that kept everything in sync, but I also needed something that could work on the Web,” he says.

Then he heard about ReadySyncGo, a free service that synchronizes data between mobile devices but also offers the same information from any Web browser. (The service makes its money by charging corporate customers for enterprise versions of ReadySyncGo.) Christ signed up as a beta tester late last year and liked the way ReadySyncGo made his PC and PDA march to the beat of the same virtual drummer.

Sync-shyness is isn’t always that easy to overcome, and in the imperfect world of technology, no solution is flawless. Christ encountered a couple of developmental hiccups while testing ReadySyncGo, including the inexplicable appearance of duplicate appointments, and when he migrated to a new PC, he lost the application. He has yet to reinstall it.

Ironically, PocketMirror didn’t crack when he gave ReadySyncGo a try. The application is still needed in order to make a PC and PDA talk to one another, and an industrial-strength version, PocketMirror 3.0 ($49.95) even offers cool features like the ability to synchronize e-mail subfolders. But the Web-based solution did solve his main problem.

Not every synch story has a happy ending. Jeff Stollman, a Philadelphia IT manager, thought that making his new Motorola Timeport phone talk to his PC would be a cinch with the TrueSync software that the phone shipped with. And it was, to a point.

Everything worked fine – until the mobile device went kaput. Stollman bought a replacement and set about trying to sync the new phone and PC. “I assumed that this would save me hours of reentering numbers,” he says.

TrueSync successfully transferred the data. Just one problem: it also reordered the phone numbers. “I had taken pains to assign different people to different memory codes and my order was lost,” he says. It took him an hour to re-order the entries.

Even when sync-shyness is overcome, no one ever asks, “What took you so long?” They know how hard it can be. Often, a successful sync means using different hardware and software to accomplish what is essentially the same task. Take the case of Randy McClary, who manages a metaphorical quilt of technology in order to get synced between his computer and an HP Jornada 540. His address book is synced at home to Outlook 2000 through a USB adapter. However, in order to sync his schedule, he uses Intellisync’s Sync-it, which can handle talking with his office’s Groupwise collaboration software.

In order to get spreadsheets synced he uses – you guessed it – yet another application. Microsoft’s ActiveSync does the trick for him.

It’s enough to short your circuits, isn’t it?

As a sync-skeptic, I don’t need much reason to criticize the sync status quo. I’ve already complained loudly about how syncing a PC with another is problematic (and that’s putting it mildly). What’s to stop me from going after PDAs, which are naturally sync-shy devices?

Only one thing: I think there’s hope.

I’m willing to overlook the fact that my Handspring Visor froze the first time I tried to sync it with PocketMirror 3.0. It worked the second time. I’m willing to set aside my fears – so far unjustified – that at some point in the syncing process, a malfunctioning PDA will overwrite my entire PC-based address book. I’m even willing to ignore, against my better judgment, the discomfort of posting my entire schedule on the Web, which ReadySyncGo essentially did.

I think there’s a light at the end of this digital tunnel, and I think the PDA is going to be the first to see it. I base this not only on how easy it is to sync handheld devices compared with making PCs see eye-to-eye, but also on the emergence of programs such as SyncTalk which lets two or more PDAs chat it up. The PDA’s OS orientation is irrelevant: this $14.95 program allows Palms make beautiful music with PocketPCs, Psion and smartphone devices.

If only PC operating systems could do that…

What if we give up? Eve Carr almost did a few years ago when she couldn’t get an early-version PDA to interface with Lotus Organizer. “As a result, I have been PDA-shy and have been reluctant to plunk down even more money without a guarantee that it would work,” she says.

To Carr and anyone else afflicted by sync-shyness, I have only one thing to say: Don’t lose hope. Things are looking up.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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