Sussed And Synched
by VodaWorld Magazine2006-06-19 00:00:00 | Viewed 1373 times
Being connected - and staying connected - to your world is becoming increasingly important as more and more businesses require their employees to be available, no matter where they are, at any time - day or night.
Yet, despite being increasingly demanding, few employers are prepared to empower their staff with the tools they need to keep connected.
Few are willing to invest in advanced communication systems like the BlackBerry push e-mail and PIM (personal information management) service, while many are unaware that they already possess tools that can deliver some of this connectivity - right now.
BlackBerry remains the ultimate connectivity service, delivering e-mail to you in real time, and any changes to your calendar made in the office will be reflected on your BlackBerry-enabled device.
What is unknown to millions of cellphone users is that most cellphones possess applications that will allow them to connect to their e-mail remotely, while software will allow them to synchronise their cellphones with their computers' address books and calendars.
Most cellphones, including the majority of smartphones (Nokia Series 60 and Sony Ericsson UIQ or P-Series) and many ordinary cellphones, offer e-mail applications that, when correctly configured, will allow you to connect to your POP or IMAP e-mail account.
Some of these cellphones even have document viewing software that will allow you to open and read most Microsoft and Adobe PDF documents, while many smartphones are now shipped with software that will even allow you to edit such documents.
While the e-mail applications on these cellphones are not nearly as sophisticated as the BlackBerry push e-mail service, many of these applications can be set to periodically check for e-mail. These periods can be set for anything from five minutes to every hour.
These simple applications can also be set to download only the e-mail headers - the important part of the e-mail that tells you the subject, sender and e-mail size.
Downloading only the e-mail headers gives you sufficient information about an e-mail to decide if the e-mail is important enough to download, without costing you valuable GPRS data.
Another distinct advantage offered by services like the BlackBerry is that this is an active service that keeps your device's information synchronised with your company's Exchange Server, updating such information as changes are made either on the device or on the company's server.
Yet synchronising your cellphone's phonebook, to-do list and calendar with your computer's address book and calendar does not require elaborate network services. For most users, daily or even weekly synchronisation is sufficient to keep their cellphones synchronised with their PCs' information.
For this purpose, many cellphone manufacturers have included software that will allow you to connect your cellphone to your PC either via a supplied or accessory cable, or using a Bluetooth connection. This software is often included on a special CD that is supplied in the box with your new cellphone.
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