BlackBerry devices fill a special place in the pantheon of so - called smart earpiece . They ’ve been staggeringly popular in corporate lot for years and have helped expand the impudent earpiece market . With a recent push by the manufacturer , Research In Motion ( RIM ) , to add more multimedia - friendly features , these gimmick are also developing a consumer followers . Now , with The Missing Sync for BlackBerry 1.0.1 , good software in the end exists to synchronize the data point on your BlackBerry with your Mac .
The older adageyou get what you pay forseems particularly appropriate with regard to the software provide by RIM : BlackBerry exploiter get free Mac syncing software system , PocketMac for BlackBerry ( ) , which they can download from the RIM entanglement site . But it is n’t very good : It has problem with introductory synchroneity functions and is awkward to apply .
The Missing Sync for BlackBerry is produced by Mark / Space , and will be conversant to anyone who ’s used the ship’s company ’s other sync software . It features a clean user interface that presents a list of hype - Indiana , which offer seven canonical synchronization functions : calendar , contacts , leaflet sync , music , notes , photos , and task . Music and photo sync works only with multimedia - capable BlackBerries like the Pearl and 8800 , and leaflet sync is determine to those equipment that support memory expansion card .
The Missing Sync lets you createprofiles , which permit you to activate only sure hack - ins for a particular sync . This feature would be more utile to me if there were a way to automate switching between different profiles . For example , I ’d like to set up a routine that syncs calendar and contact information seven days per week , but only updates tasks or syncs folder once per week .
The software will automatically sync your BlackBerry as soon as it ’s connected to your Mac by USB ( that preference can be turned off if you require to practise manual control ) . There ’s no Bluetooth support yet , but Mark / Space says it is working on it .
The Missing Sync can also warn you that it ’s been a while since you ’ve synced data — a luger countenance you conform your monitor from every day to every other week . Other preferences enable you to synchronize the twist ’s clock with your Mac ’s , grow on sync for multiple computing machine , and specify a locating to download data file on your Mac .
The notes sync characteristic works in alignment with an program program call Mark / Space Notes , which is included with The Missing Sync software . It ’s a Mac program that lets you create textual matter notes and peg them to the categories you ’ve create in iCal and Address Book . There ’s no option to not use it or install it , unfortunately .
I do have a complaint about The Missing Sync for BlackBerry that I ’ve voiced for other Missing Sync products as well : I call back the error messages are too obscure . Outside of a dialog box pop up that tells you to check the log , there ’s no obvious augury that you might have a conflict or other problem with the data you ’re trying to synchronize . I wish that the software program were a bit more emphatic about reporting such issues .
One lineament available in the loose PocketMac software that ’s notably missing from The Missing Sync is e - mail synchronisation . That means in particular that there ’s no good way to get over atomic number 99 - ring mail you ’ve send using your BlackBerry , which can make e - mail communicating a mo tricky , at least if you depend on regular soda water and IMAP atomic number 99 - mail service instead of RIM ’s business - oriented Enterprise Server . I trust Mark / Space adds some kind of rapprochement feature article in the future .
The Missing Sync for BlackBerry does , however , patronage Apple ’s Sync Services . This is a framework that Apple go down up to simplify the telephone exchange of data between unlike applications and devices . The list of calendaring applications , personal information director , and other package that supports Sync Services seems to be growing day by day — among them Chronos ’ SOHO Organizer ( ) , Microsoft ’s Entourage 2004 ( ) , and MarketCircle ’s Daylite ( ) software .
Macworld’s buying advice
The Missing Sync for BlackBerry 1.0.1 sure as shooting has elbow room for improvement — it needs e - ring armor synchronization , Bluetooth support , and profile automation , to start with — but it ’s light years ahead of the gratuitous selection , and it ’s sure worth the $ 40 if you depend on your BlackBerry to get you through your sidereal day .
[ Peter Cohen is a senior editor in chief atMacworld . ]
