How to sync a Sony Ericsson k618i with a Mac

Calendar, Tasks and Contacts
iSync is a pretty nifty programme that syncs the calendar, tasks and contacts on your mobile with iCal and Address Book. It ships with Mac OS X Tiger and resides in your Applications folder.



However, Apple has fallen back on providing support for the latest mobile phones and so the Sony Ericsson k618i is not compatible with iSync. To use iSync with your SE k68i, download this plugin, courtesy of faqintosh. Unzip and save the plugin in a folder labelled “PhonePlugins” inside the “Library” folder at the root level (create folder if it doesn’t exist already).

Pictures and File Transfer
Transfering of files and photos between phone and my MacBook is as easy as it was with my bluetooth dongle, just without the dongle. If your Mac comes with bluetooth enabled, click on the bluetooth icon on the top right of your menu bar (fourth from left).



Click "Set up bluetooth device". After your device is set up, just double click on your mobile phone to begin browsing.



However, you will not be able to access your SMS this way. To backup SMS or to use your computer to send an SMS via your phone, you need another application.

Send SMS via your computer
Mac OS X allows you to send an SMS to a contact in your Address Book with one simple click. First click on the bluetooth symbol to connect your phone.



Then all you've got to do is to right click the mobile number in your address book, choose "sms message", and send it off. You can also answer incoming calls, dial your phone, and send calls to voicemail with this feature.

However, please note that the sony ericsson k618i is not supported. To use the k618i, you will have to download a plugin called the Sony Ericsson Address Book Enabler . It costs US$2.90. I have yet to try it out.

Backup SMS
I backup my SMS usingt he demo version of PhoneAgent. I think PhoneAgent is much too resource-heavy to use just to backup my SMS, but I haven't found a better alternative. (If you are on Windows you can use FloAt's Mobile Agent).

Before you start using PhoneAgent you have to pair your phone with your computer (Bluetooth>Set up Bluetooth Device), and set the right port on the preferences pane on PhoneAgent. Click on SMS, then download (Phone>Download). Create a new folder (SMS>New Folder) and drag the SMS-es you would like to archive to your hard drive. If you want to move your sms-es to another computer, click SMS>Backup SMS to save a copy of your archived folder.



And that's about all I can think to do with my phone for now.