When Google announced that it was adding a feature in its Gmail Contacts that would give me control over who gets (or doesn’t get) automatically added to my contacts list, I set off on a new quest to find a service that would allow me to synchronize my Google contacts with those already on my phone and Outlook. While I was pretty bummed initially, only finding a handful of one-way ‘sync’ (more like import/export) solutions, I remembered that GooSync had recently announced true syncing with Gmail Contacts, so I cruised on over to get the full scoop.
GooSync uses the built-in Sync application on your S60 phone (and others, if you swing that way) to synchronize the information in your handset to that in your Google account, including Calendar, and now Contacts. Brilliant use of the SyncML technology. You can use GooSync for free, but you only get to sync with a single Google Calendar, and you cannot sync your contacts. To get the extra features, they have a few subscription options, starting at GBP19.95 (USD$35) for a one-year subscription, or GBP39.95 (USD$70) for a one-time, lifelong subscription.
So, how does it work? Once you get things setup, it works fantastic. You can choose your settings, and then a configuration message is sent via SMS to your phone. However, I had issues receiving the configuration message, as apparently AT&T isn’t a huge fan of GooSync. Not to worry, the instructions to manually setup the Synchronization profile are easily found and entered (here). A few moments later, I’m up and running with three Google Calendars syncing, alongside all of my Google Contacts.
Calendars
I was slightly skeptical of how well the multiple calendar function would work. I have three that I use in Google: a personal one, the Symbian-Guru events calendar, and another calendar that we use at MobileBurn to keep track of things between us. However, GooSync has developed a really smart system where each Google Calendar gets its own unique 5-character tag, which is placed in the subject line of each event, in brackets. You can see this in action in the screenshots below:
While this method ensures that things don’t get all mixed up on my device, it also enables me to easily add an event to any of my shared calendars right on my device, by simply putting the appropriate tag, in brackets, in the subject line of the event. Completely brilliant, and a much simpler solution than I would ever have thought of. I can now sync my phone with MS Outlook, assured that when I sync my phone with GooSync again, items don’t accidentally get copied between my calendars.
Contacts
First, unless you’re just starting out with Google Mail, I would highly recommend you do a few things before syncing with GooSync. My first recommendation is that you first ensure that every contact you want to keep is safely stored on your phone. This will basically be your ‘master copy’. Next, open up Gmail, and click on the ‘Contacts’ link in the left hand sidebar. Now, once you do that, you should see a screen similar to this:
The checkbox that’s circled in red is where you’ll want to click to tell Google *NOT* to automatically add people to your contacts list anymore. Once you’ve told Google not to do this anymore, and you’ve made sure that any contacts you wish to keep are safely stored in your phone, you can simply click the ‘Select: All’ checkbox, and then the ‘Delete contacts’ box that appears to the far right. NOTE: THIS WILL ERASE ALL OF YOUR GOOGLE CONTACTS. There is no ‘undo’ for this, so be sure you’re backed up properly.
Once you’ve told Google not to automatically add people, and you’ve given yourself a clean slate to work with, you can safely initiate the GooSync synchronization through your phone. Magically, all of your phone’s contacts and information appear in your Google Contacts list. Awesome. What’s great is that this is a true 2-way sync. If you edit a contact’s information online and then sync from your phone, those changes will be copied to your phone, as well. Awesome.
While GooSync isn’t free, it has successfully solved 2 problems that I had been facing. The first was how could I manage 3 calendars on any given mobile device, and keep them separate. The second problem was how to ensure that the contacts I have in Gmail match those that I have stored in Outlook (and vice versa). Unfortunately, though, GooSync isn’t a complete solution, at least in my mind. The biggest sticking point is that there’s no way to automate the synchronization, or put it on a schedule or anything. While this is more of an issue with the Nokia Sync feature, it’s still really annoying. I would like to see GooSync come out with a small utility that could automate this process in the background periodically.
I’m still using the Nokia Email beta for my Gmail, as well, though you could also check out this post to see different ways to get your Gmail on your S60 phone. Is GooSync something you would find useful? What other solutions have you found that solve the problem of online synchronization?
