Suspected PayPal Hackers Seek Deal To Stay Out Of Prison
Did A Google Earth Mistake Cause A Couple's Brutal Murder?
Google sync issue for iPhone sends you to web dead end
How much does Google hate the iPhone? Well, I can count two ways. One is in the pisspoor shape of the Google Mobile app for iPhone. I begrudgingly use it because of the insta-local searches. Yeah, Google on Safari is supposed to work this way as well, but more often than not I have to add a click to get local results. But seriously, have you used the Google Mobile app lately? Gotta love that jump from previous searches to search bar, often causing a misfire when you really wanted to search for something recent again. Back in March there was a nasty push notification issue as well.
Then today I ran into a particularly nasty thing using Google Calendar. In theory you can sync more than one calendar with the iPhone using Google Sync. Of course, on the iPhone it isn't an app itself, so you go to m.google.com/sync in mobile Safari and set which calendars you wish to sync (by default only your "primary" calendar is included). So that's great except this particular page, for iPhone users and iPad users alike are being routed to the dead-end pages (see photo above). There's a link for "How to setup Google Sync on iPhone" which comically then refers you to go to m.google.com/sync. That, my friends, is what we call a loop or dead-end and is very, very bad web design. Not to mention it effectively breaks Google Calendar sync for anything but your primary calendar.
What makes me think this is a bug? Well, I don't have an Apps account, so I don't know how the other half lives, but in the "Setup" guide I get it refers to my device as "null." I realize Google has little love left for the iPhone, but has it really come to this craptacular performance? Must we mice be trampled as elephants joust? Pipe up in the comments if you see a fix or are having the same issues.
UPDATE: It's a frickin' documentation error. Google changed the URL but didn't document it. Here's the proper URL for adding calendars to sync with iPhone: https://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect
This still doesn't eliminate the loop I documented, but maybe their intern in charge of this will stop playing Pac-Man one day and fix it.
Comments
10
Subscribe to commentsatharvJul 7th 2010 3:59PM
Or it's just a bug, and this is a story out of nothing.
Let's be real here - Google's iPhone support is surprisingly comprehensive. They have push everything, Notes sync, and Google Earth as a native app. The only things they don't have are the things Apple blocked.
KellyJul 7th 2010 4:02PM
I don't know dude ... works totally fine for me. Make sure your Mobile Safari session is already authenticated/logged into your Google account before you hit the m.google.com/sync link.
I have my exchange email from work syncing to my phone and then I have 3 additional google calendars syncing to my phone -- all via the exchange protocol -- all syncing just fine for me.
cj3iiiJul 7th 2010 11:40PM
The m.google.com/sync works fine for me also. The https://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect does not work though.
bloomin feelingJul 7th 2010 6:58PM
Frickin? Craptacular? Seriously, for a first post, this is pretty bad. Especially that last sentence in the update. If anything is craptacular, its this post.
rcarmJul 7th 2010 7:19PM
What do you mean by 'first post'?
bloomin feelingJul 7th 2010 7:38PM
Well, apparently this writer is new. As it says on the left: Victor Agreda, Jr. Posts: 1
RomeshJul 7th 2010 8:40PM
Of course, if you'd clicked on his name, you would see that there are many, many articles by him...
Justin BrownJul 8th 2010 11:51AM
I can't believe this is a post.
- The "m.google.com/sync" is for is when you use the ActiceSync protocol (Microsoft Exchange) to sync calendars.
- The "https://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect" is for when you use CalDAV to sync.
Do a little research next time...
mastermind777Jul 13th 2010 4:18AM
Can you read English?
The screenshot on the right clearly states, "On you computer, go to the page below in your Web browser." Then why are you opening it from your iPhone, and still expecting it to magically work?
Going to m.google.com/sync on your computer leads you to http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/, and the sidebar contains clear links on instructions to set up Google Sync on several different types of phones.
bobJul 13th 2010 11:41AM
you sir, are a d-bag and should be an intern, not writing articles for a ...wait. this is AOL? nevermind, you're just about par for the course. continue on, sir.