samsung sph-i550

Are you sure that your smartphone is actually a Samsung SPH-i550? That device was announced, but was cancelled and never released, as I understood it. Even the worldwide Samsung mobile handset-related sites offer no information about it.

Here is a list of all Palm OS-based Samsung smartphones, including their network technology and status:

• SPH-i300 [CDMA - now discontinued]
• SPH-i330 [CDMA - now discontinued]
• SPH-i500 CDMA - available from Sprint Wireless
• SGH-i530 GSM tri-band but without Bluetooth built-in
• SCH-i539 CDMA - available only to China Unicom subscribers
• SPH-i550 [unreleased and probably cancelled]

The Palm OS-based Samsung SPH-i500 is fully supported by all three applications: the Palm Desktop, iSync and the Missing Sync for Palm OS. Properly configured, any of these applications will synchronize iCal and the Address Book with your smartphone.

None of those smartphones—except the SPH-i500—is supported by the Missing Sync, though support for it is minimal compared to other Palm-OS based smartphones from vendors like Alphasmart, GSPDA, Garmin, Palm [including Handspring], SONY and Tapwave.

It should be easy in iSync: just make sure that the Palm Desktop 4.2.1 in installed, then add your device to iSync using the Enable Palm OS Syncing… option under the iSync File menu.

If you have already installed the Missing Sync, you will have to use the Uninstaller application provided by Mark/Space to restore both iSync and the HotSync Manager to working order. This function is only available with the Missing Sync for Palm OS version 5.1 or later. If you have an earlier version, you will likely have to reinstall both the Palm Desktop and iSync, in that order.

Using the Missing Sync for Palm OS is potentially more problematic, as it is not listed as explicitly supported. That may be simply because, from their point of view, the product was cancelled and never released.

To use your SPH-i550 with the Missing Sync, you will first need to synchronize it successfully with iSync, because your iCal and Address Book data files need to be up to date. This is because you are required to overwrite the contents of your smartphone with the information stored in iCal and the Address Book the first time you synchronize using the Mark/Space conduits. This really is an important requirement, and choosing to disregard it can cause serious data corruption on subsequent synchronizations.

After synchronizing one last time with iSync, be sure that you back up the data files from both using the built-in backup options available under the File menu of each application before proceeding with synchronization using the Missing Sync.

You should not uninstall iSync if there is any way to avoid doing so. You can reapply the Mac OS X 10.4.6 Combo update—not the smaller Delta update—to insure that iSync 2.2 is properly installed and up to date.

When you say that the Palm Desktop is not seeing your Palm device, what message exactly did you get when you tried to set up synchronizing it using the HotSync Manager?

You do not add a Palm device to iSync using the Add Device… option under the Devices menu. Rather, you must select Enable Palm OS Syncing… from beneath that same Devices menu.

You must follow the directions which appear in the dialog box when you enable Palm device synchronization. It is this process that 'installs' the built-in iSync Palm Conduit. After you have performed these steps, your Palm device should appear in the main window of iSync, represented by a Tungsten icon and your HotSync name. If it does not appear, launch the Palm Desktop and use the HotSync menu option in it to configure the iSync Palm Conduit, which appears in the HotSync configuration dialog simply as iSync Conduit.