The next installment…

6. Tested

So contacts now in Google and calendar appointments syncing, I ran a few tests, making a few changes here and there to ensure the sync between Google, my laptop and work PC was working correctly, which it was!

Point to note, with my setup, my personal calendar populates ‘My Calendar’ in Google whilst my work calendar shows up as an ‘Other Calendar’ which means to actually view this on my phone (once connected) I have to visit a web page, not my device calendar. This is acceptable for me.

The web link – saved as a bookmark in my browser is http://www.google.com/calendar/m

I think there is a work around so it does all appear in one, but in an effort to keep work kind of separate, I like this setup!

7. Established the exchange server connection on the smartphone (HTC Snap)

I was now ready to set up the connection with my smartphone. I could have taken plenty of screen shots and showed you how to do this, but the Google help pages make a very good job of demonstrating this.

You can see their full help guide on the link below.

http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138636&topic=14299

1. Open the Active Sync application from within your device’s programmes menu.
2. Click the link Set up your device to sync with it.
3. Enter m.google.com as the server address.
4. Ensure that the SSL option is checked.

5. Click Next.
6. Enter your full Google Account email address as the User name.
7. Enter your Google Account password as the Password.
8. Leave the Domain field empty. If your device requires you to enter a domain name, enter google.
9. Click Next.
10. Check only Contacts and Calendar.
11. Click Finish.

12. Press the Sync softkey on the left to synchronize.

You’ve now set up Google Sync for your Windows Mobile device.

8. Tested

Having seen my contacts and calendar sync already, I made a few changes to the information and ensured the sync was working correctly. I checked it by going to my laptop or accessing the calendar/contacts through Google’s online portal.

9. Begun actively using an Exchange Server sync

Happy that everything was working, I continued to monitor it for a few days and within a week I had given up bothering syncing to my laptop using a cable and now had the benefit of viewing all my information, in the knowledge that it was up to date and backed up online.

One other thing that I did do, and I advise you do too, should you choose to copy me is set up a sync schedule.

If you go to Active sync on your device, select menu, then schedule, you can set how often and when it syncs.

I have selected every 60 minutes. This means that every 60 minutes the device backs up/syncs. Worst case scenario, should you loose your device, you have only lost any information you have input since the last sync.

You can set up more or less frequent sync schedules, it is up to you. It is all done quietly in the background.

Read part five tomorrow.