Motorola v3i and iCal?

All I can do is ask other users to fill out the feedback form and wait and hope Apple will adjust iSync.

G5 2x 2.5 Mac OS X (10.4.5) working with Macs since 1992

You're wrong... problem is with Motorola... there are always 2 players on a sync game... if one side can't provide technical access to some of its features, the other side won't be able ever access them, be it any Windows application or iSync on MacOS X.

iSync is trying hard to support as much as what features a phone presents to external "devices" (like a computer). If phone lacks one feature, iSync won't be able to use it and that's what he does. I know this is technical explanation and user should not have to worry, but at least user can be fair when complaining.

In Motorola's case, Motorola only manages phone numbers as basic entries, only thing external application can do is add, list or remove such entries.

So, yes, you are facing Motorola's limitations. Motorola phones like RAZR has the poorest Address Book application on the phone market (without even considering the User Interface quality, but just the database model), and had the poorest communication protocol to access the Address Book (no real sync, no access to some rich data like Contact pictures, etc.). If you want to complain, complain to Motorola or buy a better communication device like some of the Sony Ericsson phones.

I believe you. The V3i does support pictures with contacts though, so we should push Motorola to help Apple supporting it.

That's why I filled out their feedback form and wrote them this:


Please consider updating the V3i software so Apple OS X iSync can use it to synchronize names, numbers and not in the least: PICTURES.
A lot of Motorola / Apple users are very disappointed about not being able to use their brand new, super-hip V3i's, PBL's and SLVR's.
This is just one of the threads in Apple's Discussions about the V3i and the lack of software to synchronise it:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1917532#1917532

See http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=731&start=0 for dozens more (and counting).


Please do the same and contact them at https://www.motorola.com/feedback/0,,,00.html

G5 2x 2.5 Mac OS X (10.4.5) working with Macs since 1992

I completely disagree with you.

Companies are here to solve buyers problems. Motorola
sells mobile phones to allow you to have telephone
conversations whilst on the move. It does not sell
you a mobile phone so that you can integrate it with
a Mac.

I think you did not read what I wrote... I say that if Motorola does not provide anything to do contact sync'ing with contact pictures for anyone, even a PC, you can't say Apple is responsible if this is impossible. And even if Motorola provides one, it's likely to be using its own totally proprietary secret protocol.

The common factor here is that the phones are not
supported by iSync, not that the phones do not
support iSync. That is not their purpose. Apple
should also sell their products to solve problems. My
problem is that iSync (and Apple) does not support
one of the most popular phones on the market. Apple
should solve that problem. If the phone manufacturers
did not update their products just so that the
integration with Apple products worked then their
would be no technological advances. Do not assume
that Apple is always ahead of the game, even if it is
in this case.

So let's suppose you buy a phone that has no BT, no USB, no IR, and in facts, no way to talk with it, should we blame Apple not to support it???

Ask Motorola to propose their same software for the Mac, then. Apple has no obligation to freely add support to every device on the market. And in facts, it's impossible that Apple to do that.

I also affirm that Apple is very (very) ahead of Motorola in the sync game. Don't forget that iSync is able to sync a very large number of different phones, something nobody else really does right now (or with much much less quality and ease of use). On the other side, Motorola phones does not provide any real sync, no IRMC, no SyncML... they are very late compared to any other phone manufacturer.

Also note iSync is able to sync Contact pictures and lot of other stuff with other kind of phones so Apple knows how to do the logic and if it were possible to do that with Motorola phones in an accessible and reliable way, I'm pretty sure that Apple would already have included that feature.

Just to end on that subject, I understand that any "technical reason" is not a good reason for an end-user. But when you have 2 part involved, you can't only blame one. And in facts, if any RAZR phone has a problem on a Windows PC, users won't complain to Microsoft but will complain to Motorola.

Because I can't even exchange files between OS X and the V3i, I tried to install Motorola Mobile Phone Tools. For some reason this won't run though on my Windows XP PC. I tried reïnstalling it, updating XP, etc but nothing helps and the Motorola helpdesk can only tell me things I already know.

I was thinking about a complete re-install of XP, but using a PC just for file exchange with my phone, while I work all day behind a Mac is not my idea of efficiency.

So I figured: Why not use WinTel for this? http://openosx.com/

I mailed them and they say it won't be a problem..

So if I understand correctly, Motorola's own software does not work with your phone so you can't blame Apple for having problems with it 🙂

You say you can't exchange files with your phone on OS X? You mean over Bluetooth? (Note that this has nothing to do with iSync)

No, they provide a way to communicate with some features of some phones and provide an associated list of supported devices. Indeed, once Apple says it supports a precise feature of a precise phone, it is its responsibility to make it work. But if they don't say they support it, they have no responsibility. Apple never announced they provided "support for contact pictures synchronization for Motorola phones" and indeed they don't provide it.

How do we know that Apple have even asked for the API?

Well, I suppose it was the first thing they did... it costs nothing to ask and if successful, it saves a lot of money.

they shouldn't have a problem providing the connectivity

If the connectivity (the way you want it) is impossible to get, due to the phone's limitation, Apple can't do anything.

An other example: Apple provides "support for 3rd parties standard USB mouse". If some manufacturer comes with a Firewire mouse or a non-standard USB tablet, it's that manufacturer's responsibility to provide the driver.

It is, therefore, Apple's responsibility to try to get the unsupported phones to work with its products, because if they do not, nobody will

You're confusing: it is not Apple responsibility to do that, and yes, other people will do (and already do, take a look at Missing Sync). It's Apple interest, however, to provide as many built-in functionality as possible except it's Apple responsibility as a busyness to balance price to make the product and reward. For Motorola phone, price to do what you're expecting is often "infinite" (well, not infinite, Apple might just buy Motorola) as the phone DOESN'T SUPPORT THE FEATURES Apple wants to use!

That's what I meant: Apple has to balance between what it can afford to do and what user want.

However, in that precise case, if the user switches to Windows and keep the phone, he will very likely discover that Windows have the same limitations using provided Motorola software... because I insist: the limitation is (very generally) in the phone, not in iSync.