Further cell phone calendar stuff...

In a previous post I mentioned using my cell phone to carry calendar information. I just did this for a conference I was attending. It was, in fact "good enough" for carrying the schedule I intended to follow, and when I did follow it, it worked pretty well other than trying to read a smallish screen. However, when things changed such as a breakout session being cancelled, the UI of the phone wasn't the best for making updates. Possibly a Treo-like device with more of a keyboard-like interface would work better, if anyone reading this has experience in that vein, let me know in the comments.

Cell phone as organizer, again

Well, I was wrong. In a previous post, I said that you couldn't load calendar items to my phone.

Turns out, you can, but it's a convoluted process.

First, you have to have the items in Outlook - no other calendar program will do. Second, you have to, as with contact information, export the calendar items you want to a comma-separated values file. Third, when you export, you have to tell it to use the defaults so that all the default fields, whatever they are, are exported - if you try to use only the fields that the phone software can contain, you won't be able to import, because it will tell you it's not a valid Outlook file. Then fourth, with the phone connected to your PC and while running the desktop software from the phone manufacturer, import the calendar file.

And in a spectacularly brain-dead design, the calendar in the phone is replaced by the items you imported! There's no merging, the calendar is wiped out and re-written with what you just imported, so be sure to select all the items you want in the phone.

So, now I have to decide whether or not to start using Outlook for organization, just so I can get stuff to my phone.. more later.