Well, the new Google option to synchronize your calendar and contacts between Gmail account and your phone is very addictive. The issue of having a central repository of contacts and appointments (hopefully soon there would be tasks as well) is just too good. Now, the issue that raises naturally is keeping contacts in sync between all the different places – your online repository (Gmail), mobile device (phone/PDA), your home computer , your work computer, or any other location you could have. While Google made a sync tool available to synchronize between a phone and Gmail, one thing that is left out is your computer with Outlook. Since Outlook address book is my main contacts repository, I wish to keep it that way. And, while one could sync Gmail with phone, then phone with Outlook, that is not the best solution. I wish, just like there is Google Calendar Sync, that I could sync Outlook with Gmail and then, whenever and wherever I plug in my phone, I get the latest updated contact list synchronized.
Well, Google has a tool but it is available only for business customers and it is a paid service. Fortunately, there are others out there. While I was aware of similar services earlier, I did not use any of them. But now I’m up for it.
So, here are some. Haven’t tested or used them yet but the demo for some of them shows they are simple enough, very straightforward (and I highly appreciate both of these characteristics) and free. Let me know which solution works for you.
- Soocial - Seem to have issues with Outlook sync. Don’t want to risk contact duplication as it has already happened so often after my phone suffered a hard reset.
- Plaxo – Outlook sync is only free to try for 30 days. :S