No Outlook needed! Syncing to Mobical

Published by Rafe Blandford at 11:57 UTC, July 31st 2007

Steve Litchfield has been getting twitchy feet over his reliance on Outlook as the PIM partner to his smartphones and he's overjoyed to find a Web-based PIM that's totally cross platform, that supports just about every smartphone ever made and which is completely free! In this walkthrough, he explains how to set Mobical up and start syncing.

"There's one big thing that's always got me down about keeping Symbian OS smartphones synced with my PC and that's the reliance on Microsoft Outlook, which is both the default and often ONLY PC client software that's fully supported. Syncing is important for two reasons, of course. It maintains a full backup of your important PIM data on a physically separate computer and it lets you access the data (or enter new entries) on perhaps a larger screen and keyboard.

Now, I've got nothing against Outlook, but the way it's part of an enforced activation process against a specific PC's hardware makes me nervous. Wouldn't it be great to have a way to seamlessly sync with something totally neutral and platform-agnostic? No reliance on Microsoft and their activation schemes or fees. Just fool-proof syncing to a home on the web."

Read on....


 

Filed: Home > News > No Outlook needed! Syncing to Mobical

Platforms: Series 60, Series 80, Series 90, General, N-Gage, S60 3rd Edition, UIQ 3

Categories: Software, Miscellaneous, Links of Interest, Editorial Thoughts

News Discussion

Dogmann
Hi Steve,

Very nice find i have used a few services in the past that never quite hit the spot and Outlook is definitely where everything happens for me. This looks like the perfect partner for my on the way E90, Mobical with it's easy interface looks well worth checking it out and i will.

Marc
TomJ
Who runs the service and how robust is their security/data protection? I don't want to be putting all my movemnets, let alone all of my friends' personal data, somewhere it can be hoovered up by any Tom, Dick or Harry.
slitchfield
See https://www.mobical.net/mobical/about/ - though I for one don't store anything confidential in my PIM set. Anything with any degree of secrecy gets stashed away in Handy Safe 8-)
Nikos g
If you have two three or more "Mobile" numbers in one "Contact" Mobical sync them as mobile numbers or as "Other" like Outlook??
chrsfrwll
Nice. Thanks for this. Now using it as my preferred PIM. Can't believe how seamless it is, and it handles contacts and tasks as well. Goodbye Goosync and messy Google calendar, hello Mobical.
dgduris
This came at the right time for me as my WM5 phone's mini USB socket met with the deleterious combination of a stylus and my occasionally mischievous 7-year-old.

I downloaded the Oracle Sync ML software from here

http://www.synthesis.ch/dl_client.php?lang=e&lay=desk

and had my calendar synchronized - literally - within minutes. I think that, from watching Steve's Smartphones show to sync with Mobical may have taken all of 10 minutes. :)

There is always MightyPhone, which i used extensively when I used my old SE T637 (fantastic phone for its time) and my P910a. That works pretty well too.

As far as security - I never sync contacts and keep all the important stuff someplace safe and secure.
jdushe
If you are with Orange UK and registered for Web services you can synchronise PIM data on the phone with their servers. You can also synchronise from Outlook to their servers using a downloadable PC client. The settings on the phone are already set up in the Sync application. However I still just use Outlook synchronised via PC Suite at the moment, I need Outlook because of work meetings.
Unregistered
Has anyone been able to get the SMS sync to work (with E90 and/or others)? I have E90 and they say it should support it, but haven't got it working yet.
scrosland
I've been using mobical for years without major problems. Their support staff are good as well, quickly sorting out any small niggles I have had (like P910 timezone problems).
Unregistered
If you live in Norway, like me, you will get a message that Mobical is not available for free in Norway. Instead you must pay for a limited version of the service from Network Provider Telenor. You will only get backup for names and addresses, not calendar data. This is bad.
Jonek
The same is true here in Sweden. It's a shame.
slitchfield
Can't you just tell Mobical you're in a different country?

Steve
moonshot
It does not seem to sync. the NOTES that are in Organiser.

Also if a contact is listed by company name only, it does not show the company name in the Mobical screen contact list, it leaves it blank with just the phone number. :icon13:
Aijoovai
Mobical and ZYB are my preferred alternatives to Outlook. If I remember right Mobical is Swedish and ZYB is a Danish company. Both have worked like a charm with Symbian (S60) devices as well as a PC SyncML app I've tried.
sirox
I have tried many of these SyncML servers, and ended up using Memotoo (www.memotoo.com). The web interface is a bit messy, but very powerful, and this is the only service that not only supports SyncML, but also synchronises with Outlook, Thunderbird, synchronises Bookmarks with Firefox and import-exports with IE, gives access to your contacts via LDAP, allows to publish your calendar/contacts on the web, and lots of other things.
I think there is no other service with all the connectivity/sync features available in Memotoo.
There is a free version, and an inexpensive pro version.

The webmaster is a nice French chap who has been extremely active in solving a little synchronisation problem that I had, due to a strange character in an appointment. So service is tip top.

After having using it for a couple of months, I recommend Memotoo 100%.
slitchfield
Thanks, Memotoo looks even better than Mobical, and 30 euros a year is neither here nor there.

Another one to try then! Cool.

Steve
gerardvl
Memotoo premium is actually 12 euro per year.
wouterk
Anybody with an E61 got a fast sync working?
I get slow syncs (full synchronization) every time... :(
Wouter
Unregistered
Set up the E90 using the Generic Settings but when I try to sync, go upto the following stage : Connecting -> Syncronizing and then all too suddenly "System Error!!"

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Krish
slitchfield
Wierd. The N95 also runs S60 3rd Edition FP1 and syncs perfectly. Might be some subtle E90 sync problem?

Steve
Phanthomas
Just in case anyone is looking for a chance to sync Thunderbird vs. S60 Devices.. I set up a solution some time ago that even the official (german) Thunderbird FAQ is linking to: symbian60.mobi/2007/01/07/synchronisation-via-syncml-auch-fuer-thunderbird/

It uses "TSync" SyncML Plugin for Thunderbird and synching over SyncML to and from ZYB (Free Service).
juwlz
One of the reasons I switched from WindozeMobile to Symbian was the over-reliance on a PC (and the assumption in some situations that if there's a conflict, the PC MUST always be right!*) and specifically Outlook, which I don't use and don't want to. (It has some nice features, but is a pain to back up everything successfully, especially if you tweak things, which I always want to.) I'd rather use online or portable email (I use both, for different purposes).

I'm also one of those people who generally wants different contact information in my phone vs. email (for instance, synching never seems to handle companies without people's names attached to them very well when the numbers reach the phone end), but I do want to synch my calendar (so I have it with with me when I'm offline, but it's available for others to see too).

I've been using GooSync to only synch my Google calendar, and it seems to work pretty well for me. I'm always on the lookout for other solutions though, so will investigate Mobical and Memotoo.

btw Steve, time you updated those "01734" numbers ;-)

Julie
(still waiting for my E90 :-( )

* In my case, the PC was almost always just a backup for my PPC, so the PPC should win. I used to have a perfectly good self-contained Psion you know. It's all been downhill since I stopped being able to use RMRBank ;-)
Unregistered
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
Set up the E90 using the Generic Settings but when I try to sync, go upto the following stage : Connecting -> Syncronizing and then all too suddenly "System Error!!"

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Krish
I changed the server version in connection settings to 1.1 - after that, my E90 synched with memotoo.

cya

Michael
dominicporter
Anyone know how to do this? The link above doesnae work. I am desperately trying not to use Outlook or OE. mobical helps a bit but only when I have an internet connection... and it doesnt do email.
moonshot
I downloaded and set up Mobical.

I had a problem synchronising notes and so I e-mailed Mobical.........5 times during last week and I have not received a single reply.

That to me is not good...............I no longer trust them..........and will stick with Outlook for now. :icon13:

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