Samsung SGH-X830.

You should be directing your comments at Samsung.

It is Samsung who have chosen not to implement the industry standard SyncML protocol in most of their phones, which stops them working with iSync.

Only the D600 and D900 are supported, and only since 10.4.9.

Apple cannot change the syncing protocols used in Samsung phones. All Apple can do is make sure iSync works with industry standards, which it does. It is then up to Samsung to use these industry standards in their phones.

Not only do Samsung use their own incompatible and proprietary syncing methods in most of their phones, they also choose not to produce Mac syncing software like they do for thier Windows customers.

So, you should be asking Samsung two things:

1) Why don't they use industry standards in their phones to allow iSync to work.
2) Or, why don't they provide alternative syncing software for Mac users

With the current release of OSX (10.4.9) and with all updates in place I have absolutely no problem syncing my Samsung SGH-D900 using iSync on either my Intel MacBookPro or my PPC G5 Quad.

The list provided by Apple here:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/isync/devices.html

..should clarify which phones are supported by the current iSync version.

And look 🙂
A couple of Samsung phones... :-D

Hope this helps 😉

If I'm not mistaken (and I might be) then it's actually Samsung who has kept the protocol for communication for themselves.

As far as I've read (somewhere - might be in this discussiongroup) someone mentioned that Samsung hasn't legalized the release to Apple - for whatever reason...

But it seems like the communication works as there are currently 2 supported Samsung phones. I own the D900 and it works great - all as promised by Apple. There might be features which can be obtained using PC-Studio on Windows that isn't available on Mac - but that's just something we Mac users has to live with... forever... 🙂

Just IMO.

Sounds good 🙂
Make sure to post their reply (if they actually send one) on the board. Would be interesting to know for a lot of Samsung/Apple fans 🙂

Great!

Now lets wait for a loooong time and see what they have to say about this... 🙂

The point is, that the Samsung D600 and D900 (the only ones that work with iSync) are the only Samsung phones that use the SyncML protocol.

SyncML is an industry standard for syncing data between computers and mobile devices.

Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Siemens, Panasonic all use it in their phones.

Up until the D600 and D900, Samsung chose to use their own proprietary, non-standard, and incompatible syncing protocol - not SyncML like everyone else.

Hopefully, the D600 and D900 are a sign that Samsung have finally realized the importance of using industry standards, and hopefully all their future phones will be iSync compatible as a result.

For Samsung's older phones, which do not support SyncML, there is nothing that can be done.

Sounds like a very good explanation to me... 🙂

Let's hope they keep it up (Samsung).

As for the older phones I believe you're right. I bought a X820 and the D900 the same day and quickly sold the X820 (even though I liked the phone better).

Just fresh out of luck these days...

In most of your statements I agree 🙂

I, too, think that it's a shame that the two companies can't find a solution - but then again, if Apple were to find a solution to every single hardware unit available, they would have no time to develop new awesome hardware for us consumers to spend our money at 🙂

That being said, I've heard (read) that the iPhone to be released should use some Samsung parts (not quite sure what and I have no way of confirming this) - However, this seems to disprove that the two companies can't work together - maybe it's a legal matter that has caused this incomparability or maybe it's something else - who knows?

I have no idea if it's possible to release a new firmware that utilizes the standard protocol for the Samsung phone (older than the D900 and D600) but, more likely, it's not gonna happen... It would be easier if someone could create a small program (or script) between the iSync application and the "older" Samsung non-standard protocol. It's done before and should be possible for someone clever to do it - that is IF the SDK for the phone's software is available the developers.

However, I agree that it's a pain in the a** that the two companies products doesn't work together - But I somehow (after writing in this thread) find it hard who to blame. I know for sure, that the next time I have to buy a new phone I'll check the list of supported phones and THEN select the one I find the best (for me). Should be "safe" to say that the iSync application will be backward compatible so as long as the phone is on the list I'll be home free.

You seem to be forgetting two very fundamental things.

From Samsungs perspective
1) The Macs total market-share of computers is less the 5%. Then, out of that 5% there's a very small number of Mac users who actually use Samsung phones (most choose Nokia or Sony Ericsson because they've always been well supported on the Mac).

So for Samsung, its not worth the financial outlay to spend $$$ developing custom syncing software for a such a small number of people.

Basically, Samsung don't really care if they lose a few hundred/thousand possible customers. Its not worth their time, effort or cost to develop solutions to keep them.

From Apple's perspective
2) Apple have already done the hard-work. They've implemented industry standards in iSync. There's the SyncServices framework in the OS. There's the PhonePlugins architecture to extend support for additional models.

Now, you want Apple to spend $$$$ and time reverse engineering Samsungs proprietary syncing protocols to support the tiny minority of people who didn't bother to check iSync compatibility before buying a new phone?

If Apple do that, where should they stop? Should they do the same for every other mobile phone manufacturer? It's impossible for Apple to support every non-standard syncing protocol out there. That's why industry standards exist.

Do you think USB would've been such a success if every printer, scanner or digital camera manufacturer decided to use their own proprietary connection method?

There are hundreds of iSync compatible phones. Over 60 from Sony Ericsson alone. You had a free choice of which phone to buy. You chose an unsupported Samsung model.

You're right, there is no thing as "can't be implemented". But you have to ask whether it is practically or financially viable to do it.

SyncML has been around for years (not just since you've had your X830). It was Samsungs choice to use their own proprietary syncing protocol, rather than the industry standard. That's not Apple's fault.

It was also your choice to buy a phone that isn't compatible.

It's not worth Apple pursuing syncing of older phones. Most people upgrade their phone every 12 months or so anyway.

And, finally, lets not forget, Apple now have a vested interest in pushing people towards buying an iPhone - the ultimate Mac compatible phone.

Some rather good points.

The best bet, so far, is that some developer (not Samsung or Apple) will develop an "in-between" application that can translate from the older protocol to the "newer" protocol (as seen with some of the later Sony Ericsson before the 10.4.9 update).

But then it relies on the fact that Samsung would release their SDK - otherwise (as far as I know) it's pretty difficult - if not impossible - to develop anything at all in that direction.

We, or the people having the need for this, should ask Samsung about the SDK. There's enough developers "out there" who are capable of developing an application to sit "in-between".