Activesync, Public Folders and the Windows Mobile Phone

 

A client recently purchased a job lot of MDA Compact II Windows mobile phones from T-Mobile for their sales team. They wanted each phone to synchronise with their shared Exchange 2003 Public Folders - a calendar and contact list.

compact II

After a brief look at Activesync I realised that it still was as buggy as I remembered and even worse, still does not synchronise with Public folders. I have no idea why Microsoft still do not allow this simple task of Public Folder synchronisation.

A quick search found Chapura's PocketMirror Professional 2.1.4 product.

This looked like it did what was required and after downloading and installing the 7 day trial, each MDA was downloading multiple Public folders as well as the standard personal Calendar and Contacts. The only issue was the extra $50 cost per phone.

Activesync is still as buggy and the MDA phones are no angels but the client seems happy with the solution and I am running it in for the 7 day trial before actually purchasing it.

The actual users are not so happy with the phones (which we did not recommend) as like most smart phones, you either love them or hate them. While they like the functions it provides, the actual phone interface is not good enough for these road warriors.

All the users (myself included) I have ever met who have used them as phones, hate them. Except one.

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I'd be very interested in how they are finding that soloution a year or so on... KeniBarwick@[No Sp@m].gmail.com

They are still using it successfully, and have very few problems. We even support them remotely using Remote Display Control for Pocket PC

The main problem was actually with everyone synchronising with the same contact Public folder for all of their customers addresses. Two people had rights to add to it as it was useful for them in their job, and somehow the one-way sync turned to a two way (user changed it? settings reset themselves to default?) and they both ended up with all of their personal contacts into the Public folder.

This was easily fixed by ensuring that people synchronised in one direction and also only had rights to read the public folder. If they need to add to it they asked a secretary with the rights, but with an MDA.