Getting Contacts onto the 808 Pureview

This may not sound like much of a task. "Just make a new Mailbox with Nokia's Exchange ActiveSync and use your Gmail contacts." Yes, tried that many times, but there is a problem somewhere causing EAS to repeat asking for my password, and getting nowhere. Grrrr!

As my new 808 is SIMless for the time being, but has Skype installed, I needed to get my 100 odd contacts onto the phone some way or other.

Tried three different ways of Exporting Google contacts from my SG Nexus, but they all resulted in either the syncing of a single contact, or nothing at all.

Finally today, I used the Android app Contacts Backup Pro, which allowed either all contacts in a single vcf file (thats what didn't work in the earlier apps) OR all contacts in a zip file! Yes.. that sounded hopeful..

And it was. I transferred the zip file to my iMac, dragged it off Android File Transfer, and copied it to Dropbox. Then on the Samsung PC I was able to use Nokia Suite to Import all of the expanded zip's vcf files in one fell swoop :)

YES, and then it synced automatically to the 808. Nokia Suite has come a long way since the bad old E61 days...

Final test was to see if these contacts showed up in Skype on the 808, and yes, they did. So, though SIMless I can communicate out of the 808. Must try Skype messaging next to see if that is two way..

MWC Eyecatchers

Two things caught my eye. One I plan to buy as soon as it becomes available here in Norway.. the Nokia 808 PureView running the latest Nokia Belle OS. The technology interests me, and first shots taken with early versions of the product are phenomenal.. it will be interesting to see if any other camera/phones turn up with a similar optics system in the not too distant.

The other item which strikes a chord with my current thinking is the ASUS Padfone, though what I really am waiting for are some smooth ways to connect my Galaxy S2 to simple HDMI devices with sound. I don't need a tablet, I just need a screen to have in my lap..

Will we see more in 2012? I hope so!