David Forster

I got a new Sony Ericsson W880i this weekend and, although it’s not officially support by Apple’s iSync, I had gambled that, like other SE models, I would be able to hack the plugin files to get it working.

However, A few hours spent in front of the Mac on Sunday morning and I’ve managed to duplicate Apple’s W810 plugin and modify it so that the W880 works (over USB and Bluetooth)!

Once I’ve sorted out the minor bugs I hope to release this plugin as an installable PKG file and then expand the series to support other models that iSync doesn’t support out of the box.

For now though, I need a few Beta testers to use my plugin and report any results.

Install Instructions:
Download the tar.gz file below and double click to uncompress it. Place the uncompressed “SonyEricsson-W880.phoneplugin” folder into your:
“Macintosh HD::Users::yourusername::Library::PhonePlugins”
directory (create this if it does not exist) and restart iSync. Then just search for your phone and away you go!

You can also place the folder into the system Library folder but until I’ve ironed out any bugs I suggest that you stick to your personal folder to begin with.

Troubleshooting:
Some users have reported sync failures when pairing was initiated from the Mac. I’m not sure why this would be but I think it’s more a bluetooth problem than specifically to do with iSync as it seems to affect file transfers too. The solution seems to be re-pairing from the phone itself.

If you find this plugin useful, please consider making a small donation to help me make more!

Download the plugin for iSync 2.3 (Tiger 10.4.8) here.
Plugin for iSync 2.4 (Tiger 10.4.9) ALPHA here.
EXPERIMENTAL: Installable package for 10.4.9 and later here. Download, unzip, double-click. If this works for you, please let me know!

I also have instructions to get the Address Book app working with SMS and Call notification.

Update: 21/03/2007
Version 0.2 coming soon - Fixed 10.4.9 compatibility, modified support information.

Today my attention was brought (via Digg) to a Guardian Unlimited article by Charlie Brooker on the British “Get a Mac” Ads and why he hates Macs and Mac users.

Now, I am someone who’s been using, building and programming PCs for the last 14 years or so. Programming is my job and also to a certain degree my hobby. I used to harbour the same grudges against the Mac crowd as Mr. Brooker, always harping on about how Macs were only good for designer types who couldn’t understand real computers and could only use one mouse button. Then, 9 months ago, everything changed. After much deliberation (and convincing by my girlfriend), I bought one, and computing became fun again.

Here’s the truth: Nowadays, Macs and PCs are basically the same under the hood - you can even run Windows on them if you want to. When you buy a Mac you are also paying for OS X - and it’s this operating system that makes the difference. It will take a few weeks of getting used to, but eventually you will realise just how good it is, and why Mac users dub Windows as “Fisher Price” OS.

It’s difficult for me to list the ways in which OS X is better than Windows. Maybe because it’s so different that it’s genuinely hard to explain or perhaps it’s because sometimes I struggle to put my thoughts into words, or maybe it’s a little bit of both. Like I said, it will take you a couple of weeks of effort (In much the same way as it took a few weeks to get used to Windows 95 after using DOS for so many years) and it won’t be entirely painless, but it will be worth it if you can. Perhaps it’s time to for me to admit to myself that I have become a dreaded Apple ‘FanBoy’, that I am sleeping with the enemy. Well, I don’t care. Since buying my MacBook Pro I have converted my music library to iTunes, something that I always vowed I would never do, and also bought an iPod Nano. I would wholeheartedly recommend that anyone, be them a silver surfer or a ‘l33t h4xor’, wanting to buy a new PC think seriously about a Mac instead.