Skip to main content

Nuevasync Still Better Than Google Sync

For a while Nuevasync has been the best choice for over the air synchronization of calendars and contacts with Google (including Google Apps). As a bonus, it has supported multiple calendar syncing since last month. (For contacts I've been using the iTunes data sync to Google Apps contacts.) With the recent announcement of Google Sync I decided to give it a shot expecting it to have better support than any third party sync with Google.

Since the iPhone supports only a single Microsoft Exchange Sync, I had to delete the existing Nuevasync configuration (after a backup!) and switched over to Google Sync. I was immediately disappointed on multiple counts:

  1. Google Sync did not retain my contact photos. It replaced them with the Google Talk photos for my contacts. (This is documented.)
  2. Google Sync lost all my birthday settings for contacts (since it is not supported by Google Contacts. (This is kinda documented if you read between the lines.)
  3. Google Sync supported only my default calendar and did not show the multiple calendars that I use.

The only positive was that it did sync. For a moment, I thought I would have to reenter all my contacts' birthdays (at least the ones I could remember) and forget about contact photos and multiple calendars. I then decided that Nuevasync was much better and went back to it. I also re-enabled the contact sync from within iTunes and to my relief it restored my original contact data including birthdays and contact photos.

Moral of the story: Nuevasync is still better than Google Sync.

Comments

mukund said…
Thanks! I almost moved to Google sync. Will wait.
leonghw said…
Hi...
I know this is kind of late, but "is nuevasync still better than google sync" for the 3GS?
Thanks in advance.
Regards, --hon-wai
Unknown said…
@Hon-Wai: The comparison was between Nuevasync and Google Sync. It's kinda independent of the device itself. Any device with sync support could use either one of the services to sync.
leonghw said…
Hi Arun:

Thanks for the quick reply. I also wanted to know if at this moment, "nuevasync is still better than google sync". Some months? have passed since the review and pressumably both solutions have evolved.
Thanks anyway.
Regards, --hon-wai
Unknown said…
@Hon-Wai: Sorry, I haven't done a comparison since earlier this year. I'm really happy with Nuevasync and trying out Google Sync again will mean wiping out existing data. Even with a backup, it take a while :-)
Otto said…
I just got an iPhone and set up Google Sync. I think your review now falls short.

1. It still will replace your photos, agreed. However, it now syncs photos both ways properly, so if you just go put your photos back, they'll replace the photos in your Google Contacts.

2. Google Contacts does support birthdays, and recently they added the ability to make a calendar (in Google Calendars) with your contacts birthdays and anniversaries and such. More info here:
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/07/birthday-calendar-for-google-contacts.html

3. It does support multiple calendars. It's just not obvious on how to do that. More info here: http://google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=139206&ctx=sibling
Unknown said…
@Otto: Thanks for the update. Seems like I should give Google Sync a shot again.

Popular posts from this blog

FCC Aproves Sirius-XM Merger

This has been a long time coming but finally the FCC has finally approved the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio with XM Satellite Radio . The combined entity is pretty much a monopoly in the satellite radio space but they are still competing with terrestrial radio. Either way, their stocks, NASDAQ:SIRI and NASDAQ:XMSR should get a good boost on Monday. Yahoo! Finance Quote for SIRI Quote for XMSR

Migrating from Palm Calendar to Google Calendar and iPhone

Here are the free steps to migrate from Palm's date book (or Pimlico's DateBk6 ) calendar to Google calendar for full iPhone sync. First, sync Palm with Palm Desktop . Next, open Palm Desktop, select the Calendar view, navigate to File | Export, select Export Type as Date Book Archive, Range as All and provide a file name. This will export the calendar data as Date Book Archive (.dba). There's a paid tool called DBA2CSV that converts .dba files to .csv files. However this can be done for free using Yahoo Calendar. Login into Yahoo Calendar and via Settings/Import, import the .dba file. It helps to have an empty Yahoo Calendar. Via Settings/Export, export the calendar as .csv file. Login to Google Calendar (also works with Google Apps For Your Domain GAFYD Calendar) and import the .csv file into any of the calendars. It is a good idea to create a test calendar and test the import before importing into your real calendar. That way if anything goes wrong, you can delet

Lead Tide SIM Reader

I recently came across a cheap little device for reading SIM cards . It was available from Meritline for less than USD 5 with free shipping. Curious to see what it was like, I ordered one. The device came in a small package along with a mini CD containing drivers. The packaging advertised the device as the LEAD TIDE Sim reader . Like most things these days, it's made in China. The device has a USB 1.1 interface. There was no product code or number anywhere on the packaging. Installing the drivers for the device turned out to be harder than I expected. The mini CD's autorun installed some stuff but Microsoft Windows XP couldn't install any suitable driver for the device. The mini-CD had several top level directories with what appeared to be product codes but I couldn't match any to the device itself since it had no product code. Google searches revealed that I wasn't alone in my endeavors to get the device working . Further digging revealed pointers to some thir