Outlook Tasks sync to iPhone

I love the iphone concept, but I'll tell you I've finally given up waiting for apple to incorporate this basic functionality.

I bought the first iphone to learn of the missing notes / tasks sync with outlook. Additionaly, I never could find a way to do a global search. Even if I could get my notes / tasks into the iphone, there is no way to do a global search on an arbitrary string of text to retrieve these notes / tasks without remembering how I might have stored the entries. My old Treo 650 did this years ago - I have hundreds of notes that I've accumulated over about 10 years. I can't search for or even look at these notes on the iphone.

I returned the first iphone thinking the new 3g would have the fixes. No such luck. Waited a month to see if third party apps would solve the problem. Nothing there either. I finally returned the 3g phone.

The new HTC touch pro is days away from release. Check out this phone. It runs Windows mobile, so it is a given that this basic functionality will be there. And the web browser looks about as good as the iphone's. To me, that's the real selling point of the iphone.

I really wish Apple could have gotten their sh*&^%$^t together before losing me, but I've lost patience. Maybe more posts like this will encourage them to speed up their resonse to this basic lack of functionality.

I have been a Windows Mobile for years and the devices are quite capable. Yes WinMo Pro does sync Notes, but WinMo standard does not - so not all WinMo devices do this. As for Global search, i have never had a WinMo device that does this - there are add on apps, but nothing built in that I know of.

Rather then blame Apple for "losing you", you should blame yourself for not researching the product before buying it. No where does it claim to sync Notes or Tasks, where the WinMo devices clearly state that they do (depending on version). The user manual is available for download, and these forums have been around for a while - both are clear that tasks and notes don't sync.

The issue is not about what apple claims the phone should do in their specs. It is about what a phone of this caliber should do. What one would expect a phone like this to do. When I buy a car, I expect the thing to have brakes to stop without looking through the specs to make sure. A PDA phone like this should have basic PDA functionality.


I don't care about placing blame for apple "losing me". I just want an iphone that has basic PDA functionality. I wish they would respond - they have a great product with a lot of cool frills - but they need to address the PDA basics.

You are correct on the global search function - it is not included with Windows, but it was a simple inexpensive third party app that allowed this - think it was called "find hack". I would think something similar would have been out for the iphone by now, but I've seen nothing. I'm talking about doing a search of notes, tasks, contacts, calander, and email. Apple told me they had such a thing, but all it does is search the names field of the contacts database.

Totally agree with you. In Apple's rush to create some sort of a "superphone", they forgot the very basics that people need on a daily basis -- such as SYNCING NOTES!! Or COPY AND PASTE! Or on the Mac platform, syncing the COLORS of the users' calendars instead of randomly assigning calendar colors onto the iPhone. Or, the ability to have MULTIPLE SIGNATURES in the email program! Or the ability to have GLOBAL SEARCH across multiple apps (calendar, contacts, notes, etc.) -- not just contacts. So many other things, too... too many things to list here. There is sooo much work that Apple needs to do on the iPhone OS that it isn't even funny. The iPhone OS is truly not ready for prime time yet, and Apple seems in no hurry to fix its flaws.

In the meantime, I've heard that other people are using their Address Book as a note-taking area, since the address book does sync two-way between the iPhone and your computer. So, you could create different contacts that each are the name of a note, and type up your notes there. A clunky workaround to say the least, but at least it works.

I certainly won't be trading in my Palm Treo 755p anytime soon for an iPhone, though, until Apple fixes all of these and countless other problems.

Message was edited by: Scott Rose

Yes, Apple really left some things out if they ever want to see this phone as a "business" enterprise phone. And one of the biggest is lack of VOICE DIALING also. Most corporates now require hands free systems for employees. And the new car systems like Fords SYNC and GM bluetooth need Voice Dialing to work the best.

There is software that supplies this function but it is not in the System deep enough to interact with the car apps. It needs to interact and be seen by the car systems. Which none do. The new Say What works great but you still can not wake it by talking when paired to the car. You have to pick up the phone and activate the software.....

not good. It must be activated by voice from the cars mic when paired.

And the Task stuff you mention is part of any minimalist syncing system for goodness sake. Dont know what they were thinking on these basics. These are not things that should be provided by outside people, these are basic system wide apps needed for a PDA phone...period.