Shedding Some Light

Quite a frustrating week with my new Treo 700 cell phone. As I noted in a prior post, ActiveSync is not doing its job when it comes to synchronizing tasks, contacts, and calendar entries. It is something I expected to be simple. Outlook, ActiveSync, and Windows Mobile 5.0 are all owned by Microsoft so I expected this to be a no-brainer. It has been more than a little frustrating, but the end of the story has a happy ending.

This week I spent too much time (which is a premium of late) researching error 85010014 on the Web and in some Windows Mobile forums. Lots of ideas, but most point to Exchange Server trouble or not running the latest ActiveSync (which I am). Not fun.

So I broke down and headed to my local Verizon to the tech support desk (the same desk who told me I was out of touch when it comes to technology last summer {g}). They asked me one question and handed me the phone number to the Verizon Data Tech Support line. I called them the next morning and after two simple questions they forwarded me to the Palm Tech Support line. Guess Verizon cannot keep up with technology {g}.

The guy at Palm was nice and promised to get this problem resolved. I provided the error code and he said, he had seen this before. Finally, a fix at hand.

We went through my entire system tray and stopped the apps he felt could conflict (strange how SQL Server and SnagIt could be trouble, but the Palm HotSync is not). No luck. Next he had me hard reset the phone. A bit harsh from my perspective, and it made no difference other than for me to lose all the settings I made setting this phone up. No problem, just another half hour of my time to reload the programs I have installed and the settings I made. Next step, Outlook must be broke. At least this time he had me back up my PST file before attempting to the Detect and Repair option. Still no luck. The next step suggested is to uninstall and reinstall Outlook. This is where I drew the line. No possible way am I taking this drastic step. Why not just recommend I reformat the drive? Sheesh. I rely on Outlook as much as I rely on Visual FoxPro to make a living.

This morning I decided to research alternative sync tools. I came across two: PocketMirror for Windows Mobile and Intellisync. I have been a big fan of PocketMirror with my PalmOS PDAs. It rocks and is exactly what I expect out of a sync tool. Simple decision. I checked out the Web site and it is only US$50. I called Chapura and unfortunately they have not released it yet and don’t have a beta program. It is expected to be released in a month. Too bad, because I cannot wait that long because the phone has to go back in 19 days if I cannot get this to work. I am a big fan of brand loyalty so this hurts.

I downloaded the trial of Intellisync and within 30 minutes I have all my contacts (nearly 500 of them which surprised me), all 800 calendar entries, and 200 tasks all synced to the phone. Oh, and it syncs subfolders! Swwweeeet! Subfolders is something ActiveSync does not have a clue about. Guess I have some new brand loyalty. Intellisync not only synchronizes Outlook, it syncs with a bunch of PIM apps. It also syncs to a PalmOS device. It seems like a great deal at US$70.

So I have 30 days to evaluate this software and I am planning to make a decision much sooner than the deadline. My advise to you if you are thinking about PocketPC is to skip ActiveSync for everything other than transferring files and loading software. Save yourself hours trying to solve this dumb problem.

By the way, I really like the phone and now that all my contacts are sync’d, life is good. Like I said, a happy ending.