Review: Missing Sync 5.1

[Magnus]

Palm has long been seen by many as the PDA platform that works best with Macs despite Palm dropping support for Mac in 2004. They still ship Palm Desktop which is now up to version 4.2.1 Rev D, but apart from some vital fixes it doesn't seem to have been significantly improved for years. If you have Microsoft Office for Mac, you can sync Entourage with a Palm device and it works well.

We tested Missing Sync for Palm OS version 5.1 together with a Treo 650 smartphone. Missing Sync works with a lot of different Palm OS devices as well as Windows Mobile and PSP devices.

New in 5.1

The main news in version 5.1, released in March 2006, is that it is now Universal Binary, meaning it runs natively on Intel Macs. Among the other news we find:

• Fixed numerous issues syncing PIM conduits

• Updated assistants to include information about Tungsten TX and LifeDrive

Even though the release notes doesn't say so directly, arguably another improvement in 5.1 is stability. I've not personally used Missing Sync before but after talking to some long-time users, it seems like 5.1 fixes some stability issues that have been present in recent 5.x versions. And using it for a number of weeks I've had no problems. On Versiontracker and Macupdate, Missing Sync 5.1 gets mixed reviews, ranging from "dangerous" to "fantastic". I wouldn't say that users' opinions posted on these sites should be taken too seriously but they can be an indication on the performance, functionality, and stability of a piece of software.

Conduits

Missing Sync comes with a lot of conduits for all kinds of documents formats and applications. In fact, there's a rather long list of supported conduits. A conduit is basically a piece of software needed for the sync software to be able to connect to and sync with another document format or software.

Installation and setup

What can I say? No problems at all. I downloaded Missing Sync (about 20Mb) and started the installer. When starting up Missing Sync it took me through a wizard that step-by-step asked questions about how I wanted the software configured for use with the Treo.

Pictures and music

Missing Sync comes with support for syncing iTunes and iPhoto with your Palm device. You pick albums in iPhoto and playlists in iTunes that you want to put on your device and Missing Sync transfers all the data for you. In Missing Sync you can choose where the photos and music should be stored, whether internally or on a storage card. A good idea is obviously to buy a large storage card to save the internal memory. One thing to remember if you're syncing over Bluetooth is to have patience. Music and photos are going to take time so don't expect a quick sync. Obviously that's not Missing Sync's fault, but it's something to keep in mind. Photos from iPhoto are automatically resized to a size appropriate for the Palm device. Since the screen on my Treo is 320x320 it doesn't make much sense to put 3000x2000 pixel photos on there.

Folder sync

A nice feature of Missing Sync is that you can select a folder on your hard drive which you can sync with your handheld device. Save or copy a file into that folder and on the next sync it's placed on the handheld as well. It's an easy way to transfer certain files to the mobile device.

Wrapping up

I found Missing Sync to be an excellent product. It installed without problems and I've run it for a few weeks now, syncing a few times per day without any issues. Music from iTunes and photos from iPhoto flow smoothly across to my Treo. Events from iCal and contacts from Addressbook sync without problems as well. But it's with mixed feelings I say that everything went so well because this is something that Palm should put in the box of any Palm-powered device they sell. This is not something that customers should have to pay extra for. That said, if you own a Palm device and a Mac and want to sync the two, there is simply nothing else around that compares to Missing Sync.

Missing Sync is available for purchased and download at www.markspace.com for $39.95. Mark/Space provided a copy of Missing Sync for our review.