Mac Lab Report

Just Because Apple Doesn't List It Doesn't Mean Your Cell Phone Won't iSync

- 2005.03.22

We recently had to upgrade our cell phones because Cingular bought AT&T Wireless, so my wife selected one of the free picture phones, a Motorola V220. She asked me which one I preferred, so I referred her to the iSync phone compatibility page.

If you inspect this page, you'll see that the V220 isn't listed. It requires a USB cable, not Bluetooth, but at first glance I believed this meant that I would have to settle for a phone that wouldn't synchronize my phone book or calendar, and from which it would be difficult to send and receive pictures from my Mac.

When the phone arrived, I noticed the USB port on the side and thought, what the heck. I plugged it in, turned on the phone, and waited. Nothing happened like when you connect a digital camera, so I figured that was that.

iSync Then it occurred to me to fire up iSync manually. To my great surprise, iSync recognized the phone and added it to the window automatically. The picture didn't match the actual appearance of the phone, but otherwise it seemed to be responsive.

I then synchronized the phone and found that all my address book contacts and calendar items appeared on my phone. Further, an event added to my phone synchronized back to iCal. In short, my Motorola V220 phone isn't listed on the iSync page, but it should be as far as I can tell.

I wonder what other digital cameras, phones, and PDAs are actually Mac compatible but no one knows because the manufacturer hasn't even tested them yet?

Jeff Adkins is a science teacher who isn't afraid to state his preferences in computing platforms. In his classroom he has everything from a beige All-in-One to a a G4 XServe, and they all work together nicely. He calls himself the "poster child for technology integration" in the classroom. He was the 2006 Outstanding Educator of the Year for the California Computer Using Educators (CUE) organization. He also maintains a site for astronomy teachers at www.AstronomyTeacher.com.

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