Motorola Droid and its sync options

The Droid is arriving on Verizon’s network on November 6, 2009.  This will be the first phone running the Google Android 2.0 operating system. This device is much anticipated if for no other reason than their viral video that directly poked fun at the iPhone.

What features will the Droid include?

  • Exchange support
  • Ability to set up multiple accounts (i.e., Gmail and Exchange)
  • Voice-activated search powered by Google
  • GPS navigation service bundled in for free with the data plan
  • Turn-by-turn navigation with spoken directions
  • Ability to manually sync unprotected iTunes music or other MP3s

Navigation-related features seem to be big for the Droid.  Here’s a full overview.

What about PC sync?

With Exchange support, you don’t need any other software to sync your Exchange data to your phone.  If you use Outlook without an Exchange server, you will need CompanionLink to sync your Outlook contacts and calendar to your Google account, which then automatically syncs with the Droid’s address book and calendar.

If you’re using any other contact managers like ACT!, GoldMine, Lotus Notes, GroupWise, or Palm Desktop, you can use CompanionLink to sync them with your Google account as well.

CompanionLink is also working on a way to do a direct USB sync between your PC and the Droid.

Update 12/21/2009: This direct USB sync solution is now available here.

Two-way sync with Palm Pixie

Palm today announced the second Palm webOS based phone – the Palm Pixie.  The new phone will be availble during the 2009 holiday season in USA and will be priced lower than the Palm Pre’s $199 tag.  It will have a keyboard and touchscreen functionality.

CompanionLink will support two-way sync between Palm Pixie and PC software like Microsoft Outlook, Palm Desktop, Lotus Notes and ACT! from day one.

T-Mobile myTouch 3G

This second generation Google Android phone will be available on August 5 through T-Mobile.   Reviews show that this phone is a significant step forward for the Google Android mobile platform from the first phone – the G1.

However, complete compatibility with Microsoft Exchange seems to be crippled.

Here’s what BusinessWeek said about the phone’s Exchange support:

“You can send and receive Exchange e-mail, but unlike the iPhone or Palm Pre, there’s no direct access to Exchange’s contact and calendar features. Instead, the myTouch requires you to use Google’s Contact Sync and Calendar Sync to move data from Outlook to a Google server, and from there to the handset. It’s a clumsy and incomplete solution.”

CompanionLink for Google provides a robust solution to fit that puzzle by synchronizing Outlook contacts, calendar and tasks with Google.  It also supports sync of multiple Outlook calendars and multiple and shared Google calendars.

The new Palm Treo Pro

CompanionLink works with the Palm Treo Pro from day 1.  Since the phone is on a Windows Mobile platform (which CompanionLink supports), we work with it!  No need to update your CompanionLink software.

The Treo Pro boasts WiFi, GPS, and 3G speeds in a tiny package.  It’s currently available through the Sprint cellular network.

CompanionLink to support Palm webOS and Palm Pre

At CES 2009 in Las Vegas, Palm announced their new mobile operating system called Palm webOS.  They also unveiled the first smartphone based on that OS – Palm Pre.  You can read about it here.

CompanionLink will provide full two-way sync support for Palm webOS based devices, including the Palm Pre.  We’re committed to being the first to do so!

BlackBerry Storm Available on Nov 21 (Update)

It’s official.  The first BlackBerry with a touchscreen will release on November 21, 2008 through Verizon.

In case you missed all the buzz about what features and capabilities it has, here’s a quick refresher from Wired Magazine:

https://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/11/blackberry-st-1.html