Some outlook appointments move by an hour

+Kjell_P wrote: "Come on Apple, if you dont fix this, the iPhone is not just more than a toy and I can give it to my kids"+

Some weeks ago I - and many of my workmates who travel between time zones frequently - stopped using the iPhone for work. I am using a cheap standard Blackberry and everything works fine now.

My iPhone I am only using for music, browsing the web and some nice apps.

It seems as if Apple does not care about this issue?

The way how Apple treats bug reports - they simply ignore them, even though they are very fundamental and make the iPhone useless for some business users (the iPhone randomly modifies some appointments in foreign timezones) - really disappoints me.

Still I am waiting for Apple´s feedback. In the meantime my two iPhones are "sleeping" in my drawer, because I cannot rely on them.

The New Zealand Time Zone bug has been around for ever. and has never been fix and it looks like it will never be fixed.

stupid how OSX, ical, mobileMe, iPhone. all have different ways to set a TimeZone. some even have different settings for the same TimeZone

MobileMe - UTC +12:00
iCal - GMT +13:00
OSX UTC + 13:00
iPhone - no idea

@jonohayes:

It really su.. that Apple does not care at all!

At least we can hope that with the new iPhone OS 4.0 some improvements will be made. However, I guess that - instead of fixing the very basic functions of the phone - Apple introduces some silly new game- or music-functions that no one needs.

Apple disappoints me a lot.

Congratulations, Apple!

Now we have the brand new iPad. However, still the calendar on the iPhone is useless for users with recurring appointments in different timezones. It simply su.., that the iPhone modifies some appointments without even asking the user.

I guess that the iPad will have the same issue.

It is so frustrating to see how Apple presents games and other gimmicks for the iPad but does not give a **** about bugs in the iPhone OS!

I'm also having the same issue with my iPhone 3gs and syncing with Outlook. I have a temporary work-around for the problem. I turned off the Calender on my iPhone and sync the calender ONLY via the cable on my main PC. I keep the connection with the Mobile Me Cloud on with all my pc's, this way they are all still syncing together and the iPhone syncs via the direct connection! I hope this helps the folks that through there iPhone in a drawer.

Balancekiwi, you have to understand, Apple´s priority No 1 on the iPhone is browsing the web, games and music. It is not, was never and also will never be business users or business users´s needs. Only if your business is either browsing the web, games or music, this company will take care of your problems! Who the f.. cares about appointments in other time-zones that randomly get modified by the iPhone? Why do you also need to travel to other countries? Stay at home, relax. The fact, that Apple sells iPhones SIM-locked, very impressively shows us, how they care about traveling customers - not at all!

However, why do you complain? Now the iPad is coming and you can watch movies, listen to music and browse the web. Come on, to **** with our work, to **** with our duties and to **** with our appointments. Just buy an iPad, sit on the couch and enjoy some new movies, websites or songs. To **** with anything else. Welcome to Apple´s lifestyle!

Pardon me, I forgot that this forum is hosted in prude USA. The word "h-e-l-l" cannot be shown in my posts. That´s so ridiculous.

I just thought about a brand new product- iLifeCalPro:

Are you still organising your appointments yourself? Now there is iLifeCalPro. You never again have to worry about your calendar. iLifeCalPro creates every day´s appointments without even asking for your feedback. How about going to the Dixie Chicks concert tonight, buying a brand new iPad on Wednesday and meeting Rachel on Saturday. You don´t know Rachel? Well, then it is time to meet her tomorrow night at Al Pacino´s - she has even 20 more iLifeCalPro-points than your wife. You don´t know Al Pacino´s? Then it is time to know this beatiful Italian restaurant in Venice. You are living in Brazil and have never been in Venice? That´s not a problem. iLifeCalPro has automatically booked the flight tickets for you.

Forget about your old friends, your work, your life and live the awesome iLifeCalPro-life.

Here my final conclusion about the iPhone 3G with the latest OS 3.1.2:

Pros ➕
Nice user experience when browsing the web, listening to music, playing games and watching movies

Cons ➖
Completely useless for any business user with appointments in different time zones. Appointments get modified without asking to do so. Worst experience compared to any other mobile phone brand such as Blackberry, Nokia or Samsung.

Conclusion
Useless toy, that actually does not even earn the name "smartphone", because it does NOT have a working calendar that can manage appointment in foreign time zones without randomly modifying the appointment´s scheduled time.

I still carry a 5 year old Garmin iQue 3600 (Palm 5 OS) that I use for my calendar.

Works across all time zones, in Canada, the US, throughout Europe and in Japan; all places I've been in for work in the past few months.

It syncs my calendar to Outlook, and yes, I do then sync that to the iPhone, but I don't trust the phone for calendar or alarm purposes (too quiet) when I'm travelling for work.

IMHO, it's a great media toy, but only a mediocre phone, and a poor business tool, alas.

coop

coop42, I can really understand you. What do you think, why I stopped using my iPhone and went back to my Blackberry? However, this is an embarrassing evidence of incapacity for the iPhone.

Concerning your conclusion: I almost couldn't have said it better. However, I´d rather call it "medieval" instead of "mediocre"! 😟

By the way, I have seen some IBM consultants also carrying around something similar to your Garmin iQue 3600.

If you export those meetings to CSV, what does it show for the timezone offset?

There is an issue with some versions of Outlook creating the wrong offset. Outlook/Exchange work around the bug instead of fixing it.

The iPhone takes the offset literally.

Dogan, unfortunately I cannot check this, because I stopped using my iPhones. Maybe someone else can help?

Furthermore, I doubt that a fully patched Outlook 2007 has problems with time zones. How do you mean "Outlook/Exchange" only work around? What do you think, how many people are using Outlook daily to manage appointments in different time zones? 100, 200 or more million people? I am doing IT for a long time and have never heard about any time zone Outlook/Exchange issue that couldn´t be fixed by a SP or update. What do you think how many people are using the iPhone in a professional environment to manage appointments in different time zones - and I am not talking about some Fanboys that love traveling. I guess it is hard to find 5000 people worldwide (Fanboys excluded). Of course I know that lots of traveling businessmen also use the iPhone - but most of them NOT for managing their international appointments.

To be honest, I trust Outlook and Exchange much much more when we talk about business functions and appointments in different timezones than I trust a consumer toy-phone. However, when we talk about games, music and other stuff like that, the iPhone would be my first choice.