Contact-Addressbook Managers for iPad and iPhone

[jp91306]

Are there ANY Addressbook/Phonebook/Contact Managers (like Outlook)....EXCEPT Outlook, that will sync with iPhone and iPad from a PC.

I really don't like Outlook and use it ONLY to manage contacts and addresses from the PC to my iPhone and iPad. It doesn't do that, all that well, and the way the data moves from PC to the i-devices is sometimes unpredictable.

Hasn't anyone developed a better contact manager than the "Contacts" application, that will sync with a PC?

It doesn't have to be free....the two devices and the PC weren't free....so I don't have a problem buying software THAT WORKS.

Thanks for any ideas.

jp

 

[twerppoet]

Just about everything will sync with a Google account, though you may not get every feature you did with Outlook.

If you don't want to use Outlook on the computer just make sure the program(s) you do choose can sync with Google.

iCloud can also work, however the number of computer contact and calendar programs that will work through the iCloud control panel are more limited. Outlook will work, but I don't know what other programs will.

 

[jp91306]

Thanks for the reply...it is pretty much what I had heard..Google, Outlook, maybe iCloud. I find it amazing that in this environment of "networking" and "social media" that there really isn't a GOOD address/contact manager out there. Thanks again for the reply.

jp

 

[twerppoet]

You're welcome.

The problem is that there is no advanced contact syncing protocol that supports all the features you's want in a really good contact manager. At least not one that works for mobile. ActiveSync (Microsoft) comes a bit closer than CardDAV (open), but neither will sync more than the contents of each address. Advanced features such as groups, relationships, etc. get left behind.

That means only proprietary systems end up with a powerful feature set.

iCloud is nice when you are on all Apple products for this reason.

Microsoft is good when you are all Windows.

Cross platform can't compete with this, though Google probably could if they got their act together.

For some reason Google's support of contacts on mobile devices is terrible. At least for non-Android. I'm not sure how much support you get on an Android device. On the website they integrate contacts with GMail and it plays nicely. They let you add and edit contacts there.

For mobile all you get is the syncing. No mobile app, and very little support inside the GMail app. The best you can do is sync with Contacts or some other third party app.


Be aware that Google is phasing out support for ActiveSync (setting up your account as an Exchange account) for non-business users. After Jan 30 (if memory serves) you will no longer be able to add your account using the Exchange method. Existing accounts will continue to work. If you want to add contact syncing after that you will have to use Google's new CardDAV server in conjunction with the standard GMail (IMAP) setup available on iOS.

 

[jp91306]

Thank you for the time to put that info up. It explains a lot. Maybe someone will come up with a great cross-platform set of tools. Who knows, maybe it will be the next great "killer app".
Thanks again.

jp

 

[twerppoet]

Just in a chatty mood, but I'm glad you found it worth reading.

 

[grabbit97]

What is a cardDav server?

 

[twerppoet]

What is a cardDav server?

CardDAV is an open standard for syncing contact information. A CardDAV server is a dedicated computer that uses this protocol to sync your contacts; in this case Google.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CardDAV