iCloud and my 3G phone

I haven't been able to copy the full server address, because the URL Address field in the Advanced settings never appears. I only get the SSL toggle and the port field (currently set to 443). Anyone have a guess as to why this might be?

Another funky potential wrinkle: My contacts appears empty, of course. However, there is no "+" icon to allow me to add a contact. Even when I delete all the potential syncing accounts (i.e., no MobileMe, no iCloud, etc.), there is still no way to add a contact to my address book. Thoughts?

I've tried all that you suggested. I too am on 4.2.1

It all seems very flaky. For example whether I copy and paste or painfully insert the full server address into the account, it refuses to retain it.

Calendars and Contacts refuse point blank to work no matter which of all methods described here I attempt. I now have no contacts on my phone as MobileMe self-destructed when I looked at it, leaving me with only Find My iPhone as the single option available. Manual copying of contacts from iTunes fails every time (although Calendars did not) -weird.

I got Mail to work again of course, but the other two facilities is hair-tearing stuff.

Hmmm.

Double hard reset has no effect on contacts syncing. I went into my old text messages and found a series where I know who it was from. Added this person to my contacts. Now the "+" appears, allowing me to add more contacts. Very strange.

Contacts are definitely in iCloud--double checked on my laptop and via icloud.com. The plot thickens.

This wouldn't be a hassle except that now I have no idea who is calling or texting me. Remember the "olden days" when you actually had your friends and family's phone numbers memorized? :/

David,

The problem with synching with iCloud seems to be more complicated than initially thought. Some people get it working right away, some people like me must paste the full server address and some just can't get the contacts and calendars working at all.

As a temporary solution to your contact problem, you can sync via iTunes. The problems with iTunes syncing you have seem to stem from the fact that all of your contacts on your Mac are actually on iCloud. iTunes can only sync contacts that are "On Your Mac". To make the contacts synch you need to go to your Address Book, click on the red ribbon to see all groups, select all contacts and drag them to the "On My Mac" folder (where your newly created contact most likely already is).

Now with the contacts on your Mac you can sync with iTunes and get the contacts on your phone. The downside is that you have duplicates now in your Address Book. After syncing you can delete the On My Mac folder and wait until you get the iCloud sync directly with your iPhone, which will hopefully happen soon.

Thanks for all your assistance, mac13k. Things are indeed behaving strangely. I've run some additional tests this morning:

* Added a new calendar event via icloud.com. More than an hour later, it still isn't appearing on my iPhone, even though my initial sync with iCloud (yesterday) worked like a charm.

* Sent a test email to my @me.com address. The email was immediately available at both icloud.com and on my iPhone. Deleted the email on my iPhone, and it almost instantly disappears from the icloud.com inbox.

So, it appears some things are fine, but there are still wrinkles to be worked out. Hopefully, Apple will get all the bugs squashed so that my 3G remains useful. My iPhone is provided by my employer, and I doubt my boss will upgrade us any time soon.

I plan to sync my contacts over via iTunes as a temporary fix and rely on icloud.com for an up-to-date calendar until things are "back to the new normal."

Buy another iPhone 4s at $786 that is £500 in the UK 'cos that is what Apple want you to do! $786 dollars for 3 years Apple excutives can afford it so why can't you?

Why do Apple charge double in the UK to the USA $399 to $786

Don't trust big companies

I'm a little confused. Your numbers seem to be a little off. Are you comparing the correct plans?

£500 is what the unlocked iPhone sells in UK, but in US the price for the same model, without the contract is US$649. Where did you get the $399 from? If that's true I will definietly buy one or two when I visit States in November.

Besides, the prices in US are quoted without taxes and in UK there is a 20% VAT tax included in the price. $649 + 20% = $779. I think I could live with that.

If you look closely at your links you will notice that the US website requires an operator contract and the UK offers the phone without a contract.

For example here is the unlocked iPhone 4 for $599 on Apple US store

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC603LL/A

I doubt that Apple would sell 4s for less.

Here are two articles specifying that the cheapest unlocked iPhone 4s will be sold for $649 in US

http://newyork.ibtimes.com/articles/232625/20111017/unlocked-iphone-4-s-us-at-t- apple.htm

http://www.slashgear.com/iphone-4s-unlocked-option-november-in-us-07186043/

Ok I bow to your superior pricing knowledge

But Apple still want you to buy another iPhone at whatever price and I think it is lot to ask

By the way do you work for Apple in anyway?

No I don't work for Apple.

As for having to buy a new phone each year I agree that leaving iPhone 3G unable, in some cases, to do some simple stuff like syncing contacts and calendars is a little too much. I understand that some more advanced featires like HD video would make the CPU melt on my iPhone 3G but calendars and contacts? I hope this is just a temporary situation and the servers will settle down at some point.

Besides it is not only Apple that requires users to periodically upgrade. At least with Apple you still have iPhone 3Gs able to upgrade to iOS 5 on the day of release. How easy it is to upgrade Android OS? The sad truth is that with miniaturization, the upgrade cycle gets shorter and shorter. One can't just add more RAM to a mobile phone, regardless whether it's iPhone, Android or BB. The rate of innovation is too fast. I think that the frequency of needing to upgrade an iDevice is still reasonable.

thank you,

at my contacts it says p03-contacts.icloud.com when i inputed icloud.com/contacts

but for the calendar it does accept ;-(

best,

thank you

but on my iphone 3g it did not work

made a reset

all no contacts nor calendar

please help

Actually iOS 5 is available to 3GS.. and it works with iCloud.

Except that is not the model under discussion.