I want a mobile phone I can sync with my Mac and my Windows PC. I want to be able to backup data from the phone on both machines. I currently have a Motorola Razr and a Sony Ericsson 910i. Am I right in assuming my choice of phone will be determined by what will work with the Mac, because most phones work with any PC? Or should I just wait until the iPhone comes out in Hong Kong?
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DQ: Let's do the easy part first. Apple's iPhone has caused more excitement - hype, if you view it negatively - than most other gadget introductions in recent history. It could be a dreadful failure or become one of the greatest devices ever. In Asia, we won't know until sometime next year. So waiting for an iPhone means you will have to be patient.
As far as connecting to printers and other devices is concerned, Apple uses a software it created called Bonjour. This technology, used in all editions of the Mac OS X operating platform, looks for devices - such as printers and other computers - with an IP address (essentially the same thing as an internet address) and then connects to them. Mobile phones and personal digital assistants do not yet have IP addresses.
Now comes the hard part. The simple answer to your first question is an emphatic 'yes'. Find a phone you know works with your Mac and everything else will fall into place.
Spend some time on the internet searching for others facing the same issue. If you go to Google and type in the name of the phone you want and 'Mac', you should get some answers. Many of these are likely to entail the downloading of extra software to help you sync the phone with your Mac. Sometimes the software is not written by the most talented of programmers. It could also be a simple matter of the programmer getting little or no help from the phone manu-facturer. In any case, you should look very carefully at any sites mentioning the product and how well it performs.
