Syncing Your Email
From Microsoft Windows Vista & XP: Outlook and Windows Mail
Two options for Windows users, the ubiquitous Outlook and Windows Mail (which I believe is an “upgrade” to the horrible Outlook Express rather a desktop version of the far superior WIndows Live Mail — tsk tsk to both Apple and Microsoft).
From Apple OS X: Mail.app
Still only one choice from Apple OS X users, however: Apple’s default mail client, the eponymous Mail.app. Again, just one checkbox, to keep with the ultra simple groove. (Usability over options is a mantra).
From Everywhere Else: Google Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, Microsoft Live/Hotmail, etc.
Yahoo! Mail can be setup as an IMAP email account on your iPhone, which means your Yahoo! Mail folders on your iPhone will exactly match your folders on Yahoo!’s website and vice versa. Also, Yahoo! provides “push” email for the iPhone, meaning changes to one will be reflected automatically and near-instantly in the other, just like Exchange ActiveSync and MobileMe (but without the calendar and contacts sync).
You can also set up your Gmail account, including the new Gmail IMAP service which works like Yahoo! Mail — but without the “push” — keeping your web, local client (i.e. Outlook, Mail, etc.), and web-based views synchronized at user-definable intervals (manually, every 10 minutes, etc.).
Unfortunately, since they don’t (to the best of my knowledge) surface any open, standard protocols like IMAP or POP, Microsoft Live/Hotmail accounts can’t easily be synced with the iPhone. Your options include signing up for a Yahoo! or Gmail account and manually moving the messages over to your new, IMAP-happy account, or you can try this free solution and see if it works for you.
For any ISP mail, you can simply set up the iPhone as a POP (or IMAP if they offer it — much better!) client.
Syncing Your Bookmarks
From Microsoft Windows Vista & XP: Internet Explorer and Safari
iTunes supports syncing over all your bookmarks from Internet Explorer (hopefully the much more secure and standards friendly IE 7, right?) and Windows Safari (Apple’s own browser). Hierarchies will be preserved, so think about how you’ll use your booksmarks both on the desktop and the iPhone, and organize a good middle ground.
From Apple Mac OS X: Safari
No choices here. Check Safari and move along.
From Everywhere Else: Firefox, Opera, etc.
If you’re using Firefox, Opera, or another Firefox-like (Mozilla Gecko powered), or Safari-like (Apple WebKit powered) browser, is to try and import your bookmarks into Internet Explorer or Safari (export first via HTML if you have to).
If you want to keep using Firefox (or another browser) for desktop use, there’s no way to keep your bookmarks synced, unfortunately, but you can delete the IE or Safari bookmarks (since you’re not using them) and re-import a fresh, updated set whenever you like.
Syncing Your Photos
From Windows Vista & XP: Folder Sync
For Windows users, the procedure to sync photos to the iPhone is as simple as it is non-powerful. Put all the photos you want to sync in a folder (or hierarchy of folders if you want to separate them out, e.g., Family, Friends, Birthday, etc.) and then select that folder in iTunes.
From Apple Mac OS X: iPhoto and Folder Sync
For Mac users, in addition to the folder sync described above, you can also chose to sync from Apple’s iPhoto application, either your complete library, or from selected sub-libraries.
From Everywhere Else: Yahoo! Flickr, Facebook, Google Picasa, etc.
If you keep your photo collection online (i.e. Flickr, Facebook, Photoshop Express, Windows Live, etc.), you’re going to have to target a desktop backup, or download the photos you want on your iPhone to a local directory. Put all the photos you want to sync in one folder, and make sure you note down the location of that folder (e.g. iPhone Photos). This will be the folder you target inside iTunes as described above.
For Picasa, make sure you organize all the pictures you want on your iPhone into one folder, or a hierachy of folders, and then that will be the folder your target from inside iTunes, also as described above.
Wait! Help! My Data is Stuck On My Phone!
On the off chance that some of you don’t use a desktop, laptop, web service, or anything besides your mobile (smart)phone for your data, here’s a down and dirty guide to help you get started.
From the Original iPhone (iPhone 2G) to iPhone 3G
Apple provides excellent directions for upgrading to the iPhone 3G.
From RIM Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Palm Treo (Windows Mobile OS)
Blackberry’s are data monsters. Data — all of it, all now, all the time — is the only reason for a Blackberry. It’s why RIM invented the Blackberry. Windows Mobile, whether running on a Motorola, Samsung, HTC, Palm, or whatever device, is made to integrate with other Microsoft products like Exchange, ActiveSync, and Outlook/Entourage. (Note: Always make sure you have the latest/greatest firmware, patches, updates, etc. from your phone carrier and platform provider).
From a Blackberry or ActiveSync perspective, pretty much all business users will have an Exchange server of one kind or another available to them. Just use ActiveSync on your new iPhone 2.0 and you’re good to go. (Check with IT if you have to, especially for the settings information).
If you don’t have a business Exchange server but you do have access to a Windows computer with Microsoft Outlook on it, sync your Blackberry to Outlook, then Outlook to your iPhone.
For Mac users, check out Markspace, which provides a variety of phone-specific syncing solutions especially for the Mac. They’re not free, but the time and effort they’ll save you are well worth it. (I used to it get my data off a Palm OS Treo 680 into the default Apple apps and it worked seamlessly).
If you don’ have any of the above available to you, try a hosted Exchange service, even temporarily. Sync your Blackberry data to that, then ActiveSync it to your new iPhone, and cancel the hosted Exchange service.
From Palm OS Treo
Palm OS (Garnet) Treo’s can work similarly to the above if you have ActiveSync installed (or download it from Palm’s website – warning, direct file link!) and access to an Exchange server (business or hosted).
Similarly if you have access to Outlook. If you’re stuck in Palm Desktop, you’ll first have to find your Palm install CD and go through the setup again, choosing Outlook instead.
(Mac users, see Markspace, above).
From a Feature Phone
If you don’t have a smartphone, but are coming instead from a standard consumer feature phone (candybar or flip phone from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, etc.) and have data on there you really don’t want to retype, you can try looking for a data transfer kit that matches your phone. These vary widely in form, availability, and functionality, and will cost you money and time, but if you have both check out Howard Forums or even Google. Search and ask around. Be key word specific (i.e. “transfer data nokia model# outlook”. Best of luck, and please share what you find in case others are trying out the same.
Conclusion
Well, there they are, my tips and tricks for getting your data off the old and outdated just in time for your brand new iPhone 3G/2.0. But try as I might, I know our readers — the real data ninjas — have a whole host of sneaky black magic all their own.
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