Copy Address Book contacts to a Nokia 6620

Nov 23, '04 09:48:00AM

Contributed by: Thom

I won my online auction for a Nokia 6620! Boy was I excited! Until five minutes after I got the phone. And it didn't show up in iSync. Okay. I was dumb and I didn't double-check to make sure that the new Nokia 6620 would be supported by iSync. From what I'd heard, the 6620 was just an upgraded version of the 6600 for the US market with more memory, a better screen, etc etc. Well, that much was true -- but with a newer OS version and SyncML support instead of mRouter support, it broke iSync compatibility in a big way.

It's not a simple case of 'adding another script' to sync this phone (and other new ones); the low-level syncing protocols used between iSync and the phones have changed as the industry standard (SyncML) has been adopted. I can't say I 100% understand it, but see this page for more info.)

I'm assured (by the folks who know) that Apple hired a Symbian guy to work on SyncML support in the new iSync for Tiger. But until that happens, I was told there was only one way to synchronize my contacts: by hand, and one at a time. I have over 450 contacts. There's no way I was going to do that! Read the rest of the hint to learn how I managed to get my contacts from the Address Book over to the 6620, in one fell swoop.

Here's what I did:

  1. Downloaded a program called SmartvCard from SymbianWare. Unzipped it and used Bluetooth File Exchange (BFE) to send the .SIS file to my 6620. Installed the program to the memory card, etc. I at first used a trial version of the program (it's a full version and good for 15 days), but later ended up paying for it since I was so happy that it 'just worked.' It cost $6.95 on my credit card. I think that's a fair deal: seven bucks versus a two-hour-plus-long thumb workout!

  2. Went into Address Book's preferences and (temporarily) chose vCard format 2.1 for export. Version 3.0 will not work. So, you don't get pictures (life's tough :) ).

  3. Selected all the cards I wanted and exported them all to one .vcf file, then used BFE to send that file. Mine had 462 cards in it, but was only 96k. The v3.0 version was 2+MB, FWIW. This is one easy way to make sure you picked the right format. And it sends a lot quicker!

  4. Once the '1 new message!' popped up in my phone's Inbox, I didn't view it. Instead, I chose Options... and said 'Move to folder.' I put it in the default one, 'My folders.'

  5. Launched SmartvCard. I picked 'Import' and then browsed to C:systemMail and found my .vcf file. It chugged on this for a minute, then brought up a bunch of contacts. I chose 'Options' and said 'Import all.'

    Now, since I have multiple vCards for myself and a few others in my Address Book (some of us wear a few different hats!), SmartvCard asked if I wanted to import those duplicate entries, and I said no. However, it seemed to run across a lot of 'blank' entries which I wasn't entirely sure about, so I told it to skip those, too. I'm sure it'll become apparent only after I'm somewhere without my laptop and my phone doesn't have a crucial piece of information -- that's Murphy's Law. If I do find out what that's all about, I'll put it in a comment here.

    It said something about "Do you want to preserve your groups?" and I do use groups in Address Book, so I was hoping it would create those. But, no such luck. Perhaps if I try creating them on the phone ahead of time, or something ... more on that later, too.
Once it had finished (and after a dramatic pause near the end where I was almost sure my phone had crashed), I just exited the program and went to my Contacts. Voila!

Hope this is of some use to anyone out there who is considering purchasing a 6620 or (like me) already got one. It's a great phone and sure beats the heck out of the round keypad and limited internal memory of the 3650 it replaced! Besides, with luck, the new Tiger / iSync will support the phone and make this hint obsolete any day now...

Comments (14)


Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20041122012737911