Wow, what a week.  Yes, it's taken that long to sort out how get the Mac working with the Motorola MPx220.  But I think I've got it mostly figured out, and if you're thinking about using a phone with a Windows Mobile Phone, hopefully you'll find the next few reviews helpful.

Specs for Motorola MPx220
	Bluetooth 1.1, does not work with Mac's native Bluetooth File Exchange, or loading files onto the transflash, but will work as wireless modem. Will work with 3rd Party Software.
	USB, for loading files onto the miniSD and as modem.
	Battery Performance: 2 out of 3
	Network: GSM, (Cingular, TMobile).  Antenna Strength: Good
	GPRS for modem connection over bluetooth or USB.
	MP3 and WMA capable, 3/32" stereo headphones, mono speakers, no iTunes support.
	Not iSync compatible w/out 3rd Party Software
	No Address Book functionality for SMS & Caller ID over Bluetooth
	No Address Book Photo Sync
	No Remote control via Bluetooth
	External Memory: Yes, MiniSD
	Camera: Yes. 1.3 Megapixel

Look and Feel

The Motorola MPx220 I've been testing (as you can see from the photos gallery) is the matte black version--well almost matte black.  If you look closely at it in the right light, it actually has a violet tinge.  The hard plastic body of the phone has a fine texture to it--making it feel more expensive than it probably is. Chromed Motorola insignias and top piece maintain that pricey feel as well.  It has a nice touch and a solid feel, and notable click every time you flip the phone open.

Before you flip open the top, there are buttons on the side--a volume toggle, power button, and a camera shutter button, and just below that is an infrared (IR) port.  After flipping open the top --CLICK!-- you find the traditional 12-button keypad in that textured plastic, right above it are the call and hangup buttons, and then a circle-ish direction pad with another four buttons in each quadrant and a big blue select button in the middle.  The top two quadrant buttons--right below the screen are the soft-buttons that represent the options on the screen.  The bottom two quadrant buttons are the Home and Back buttons.  It sounds complicated but it works.  

When you turn the phone on, if you've ever used any version Windows before, this interface will look familiar and if not, it's pretty easy to figure out.  The MPx220 I had started up in Spanish, but the interface was easy enough to navigate thru the options to change the language and regional settings.  I wouldn't necessarily say it was intuitive, but it is straight-forward.

When first starting the phone, you'll note that this phone means business.  The selector is focused on the icons lined up along the top of the screen.  From right to left are icons of the of the most recently used applications.  Just below that, you'll see the name of your network carrier along with the current time and date.  Below that you'll see the status of any messages--voice messages, SMS, MMS, Email, etc.  Below that is a listing of any upcoming appointments or tasks.  At a mere glance, you know what's going on and what's coming up--nice.

Setting Up with the Mac

Using the MPx220 this past week has made me feel like I was back in the Windows world--what a harsh reality.  The phone didn't "just work," even with the additional software.  The phone is just flat out not supported, and it should be noted that the 3rd party apps are by no means perfect.  However, that doesn't mean you can't get most if not all of them to work--it's just going to take some extra effort. Hopefully my pain is your gain.

You're going to want to get a copy of software that will enable syncing.  So far, I've found at least two companies offering syncing software: Mark/Space's Missing Sync for Windows Mobile v.2.0, and PocketMac Phone
Edition. This week I used Missing Sync, but I plan on comparing it to PocketMac in a later review.

Mark/Space's 2.0 Missing Sync product is an update for Tiger users, and because Tiger has a new syncing system, they've had to adapt--and there have been growing pains.  From reading the archived listserv messages, customers demanded an update for Tiger and the Mark/Space folks might have been too eager to deliver.  It's got bugs--or at least it did for me.  But Mark/Space is aware of the problems and a 2.0.1 update is apparently just around the corner.

First: Backup, Backup, Backup!  Although I did not lose any data, better to be safe than sorry.  So, a few places you'll want to backup are:

• your-user-folder/Library/Applications Support/AddressBook/
• your-user-folder/Library/Applications Support/iCal/
• your-user-folder/Library/Applications Support/SyncServices/Local/

Replace "your-user-folder" with your Mac user's "shortname." You can also easily backup your Address Book and iCal files within the applications themselves, in Tiger.

Now you can download and install href="http://markspace.com/missingsync_windowsmobile.php">Missing Sync.  It's $39.95, but if you've got a Windows Mobile Phone, 3rd party software is a must.  After installing, you'll have to restart.  I've gotten used to not having to restart for non-critical apps on the Mac, so I found this to be a bit of a pain.  Oh well.  After you've restarted, this is when you should pair the MPx220 with the Mac.  You'll have to start by putting the phone in bluetooth discover mode--the bluetooth settings are found in the "Settings" menu.  Otherwise, this process is just like before, only there are fewer options to select--you can only select the phone as a data modem (which I'll explain in Day Two).

After you've setup the phone with Bluetooth, on the phone find the ActiveSync, click options, and select "Connect via Bluetooth."  Automatically, your Mac should respond by displaying a shadowy system message showing the progress of the connection.  After it has connected, the Missing Sync application will launch, and run you through a simple setup process.  You can choose which applications you want the MPx220 to sync with--among Address Book, iCal, and Entourage.  After you set that, the application will ask you to register your copy of the Missing Sync, and finally (and hopefully) will play those familiar four notes--at least familiar if you've ever used ActiveSync in Windows before.

From here, you can pick and choose what information you want to sync--select specific contact groups in your Address Book, specific calendars in iCal, or both in Enourage.  An important note: for Missing Sync 2.0 and iCal users, make sure to uncheck any "read-only" calendars--like the "Birthday" calendar that iCal auto-generates from your Address Book. If you have a number  of groups and calendars, Missing Sync's interface for selecting individual groups or calendars isn't well thought out--there isn't an easy way to select/deselect all the information.  This may be because the application was rushed out the door--hopefully will be remedied in later versions. This isn't a big deal because the typical user will only have to set it once and forget it.  Unfortunately, I had to install/reinstall Missing Sync a number of times before I was able to get it to work smoothly.

Because the of the way Missing Sync works Tiger's internal syncing server, Mac OS X will pop up questions whether or not to allow Missing Sync to sync your information.  Choose to "allow" and all your apps should play nice with each other.  Again, do it once, and you won't be asked again.

If you run into problems with Missing Sync, here are some things to try:

• Restart both your Mac and Cell phone.
• Ditch bluetooth and connect via USB--this has the added benefit of charging the phone at the same time.
• Uncheck any read-only calendars.
• Try deleting these preference files: your-user-folder/Library/Preferences/MissingSync for Windows Mobile
  Prefs; your-user-folder/Library/Preferences/com.markspace.missingsyncwm.plist;  your-user-folder/Library/Preferences/com.markspace.mswm.timesync.plist.  You may have to register or reset some of your options, but it may get things working.
• Delete the contents of your-user-folder/Library/Applications Support/SyncServices/Local/ . If you do this, you'll notice messages from Tiger's syncing server that you'll have to "allow" syncing again--for .mac, and other devices.

After a week of digging around--that last one finally got things working for me.

More to Come...

Day Two of the test of the Motorola MPx220 will discuss more of my personal experiences and how to setup the phone as a bluetooth modem and Day Three will sum up my feelings about the phone.  If you'd like to see some additional shots of the phone, check out the image gallery.  If you have any questions about the MPx220 as I'm trying it out, click on the "Add Comment" button below or email me.  And please check back soon…