Get in Sync
The best ways to connect your smart phone to the Mac
by Jeff Carlson, Glenn Fleishman, Macworld.com
Cell phones have certainly evolved. Once massive bricks that, with a bit of luck, allowed you to talk to distant people, they’re now intelligent devices that keep track of your contacts and calendars, display photos, play music, and work as wireless modems on-the-go—in addition to letting you make and receive phone calls. Some of these products are such multitaskers that they’ve earned the moniker smart phone.
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According to the technology-analysis firm Gartner, sales of smart phones increased by 75 percent in the past year (for a total of 37.4 million devices sold worldwide), and this trend shows no signs of slowing down.
In the United States, cell phone providers are most likely to offer phones that run Palm OS, Windows Mobile, or BlackBerry software. Unfortunately, most of these companies don’t have Mac users’ best interests in mind when they create their phones. But with the right smart phone and the right software, you can make your phone and your Mac talk, so you can keep your contacts and appointments up-to-date, synchronize your data, and a whole lot more.
- Get in Sync
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Get in Sync: Palm OS
Palm-based PDAs have always been the most Mac-friendly models out there. And with the Treo, Palm has done a nice job of melding its PDAs with a cell phone that Mac users can enjoy toting around and has showed the rest of the industry wha's smart about a smart phone.
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Get in Sync: Windows Mobile
If you use a Windows PC all day, a smart phone running Windows Mobile is instantly familiar. But that's not a whole lot of help to most Mac users, who have their reasons for avoiding Windows. Still, some people prefer Microsoft's smart phone approach.
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Get in Sync: BlackBerry
The e-mail–focused BlackBerry, by Research in Motion (RIM), inaugurated the smart-phone category and is still largely regarded as a must-have accessory in corporate and government realms. Its Mac support is fairly limited, but e-mail junkies can convince a BlackBerry to sync with their Macs.
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Symbian: Worldwide dominance, U.S. absence
You may have noticed that one smart phone platform is missing from the larger story: Symbian OS. Although Symbian runs roughly 70 percent of all smart phones worldwide, it has barely a toehold in the United States.
The best ways to connect your smart phone to the Mac
