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2.1 still missing mighty useful Activesync functionality

S

summiter

macrumors member
Original poster
Assuming the Iphone version of 2.1 is functionally the same as the Ipod version, the ability to send cal invites from the device is still missing. What? Bogus!

No calendar entry categories.

No contact categories.

No email message categories or flags.

No task syncing.

No cut-n-paste.

Contact loading and browsing finally does seem reasonably responsive and whatnot.
 
summiter said:
Assuming the Iphone version of 2.1 is functionally the same as the Ipod version, the ability to send cal invites from the device is still missing. What? Bogus!

No calendar entry categories.

No contact categories.

No email message categories or flags.

No task syncing.

No cut-n-paste.

Contact loading and browsing finally does seem reasonably responsive and whatnot.
Click to expand...

Did anyone promise you these features would become available? Was anyone even expecting these features to become available?
 
Yes, Steve himself spoke to me in a dream and promised these, and more. I also have this promise signed in the blood of Apple NOC engineers, notarized by Woz - laminated, framed, and delivered by armed guards. I keep it next to my all-entry pass to area 51.

Now that we've cleared that up.. Yes, pretty much every "enterprise" user I know who happens to use Exchange. From the looks of the enterprise support forum over at apple.com I think there's a good number of folks expecting this basic EAS functionality.

🙂

Me1000 said:
Did anyone promise you these features would become available? Was anyone even expecting these features to become available?
Click to expand...
 
I'm not surprised you received the response "were you promised this." The answer in my opinion is Yes. By virtue of the fact that Steve Jobs said this will be a useable phone for business users and have Microsoft Exchange it is completely reasonable to expect the same Exchange options as other devices.
 
I wish they would add cut and paste and MMS just because I am so darn tired of seeing people cry about it.
 
DamFu said:
I wish they would add cut and paste and MMS just because I am so darn tired of seeing people cry about it.
Click to expand...


I think there's a big difference between people crying about cut and paste/MMS and proper Exchange support.

Cut and Paste and MMS were never mentioned by Apple as coming, and have never been spoken about. Using the iPhone as a business device, and being able to take advantage of your company's exchange server were promised by Apple, but unfortunately it was for the most part window dressing.
 
pavvento said:
I think there's a big difference between people crying about cut and paste/MMS and proper Exchange support.

Cut and Paste and MMS were never mentioned by Apple as coming, and have never been spoken about. Using the iPhone as a business device, and being able to take advantage of your company's exchange server were promised by Apple, but unfortunately it was for the most part window dressing.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't call it window dressing, but as an Exchange Support Engineer I certainly would call it half-a$$ed! They did the bare minimum and said "See! just like we promised!" It doesn't even do as much as my Motorola Q! Lame.
 
Geckotek said:
I wouldn't call it window dressing, but as an Exchange Support Engineer I certainly would call it half-a$$ed! They did the bare minimum and said "See! just like we promised!" It doesn't even do as much as my Motorola Q! Lame.
Click to expand...

For me it is about business functionality so unless I can use this as a business device "real" exchange support, add attachments to emails and other functionality I need by next month... Goodbye iPhone... Back to WinMo and Hello Fuze... (OK Apple fanboys, let the flaming begin)
 
There are a lot of people on these boards that will tell you "it's not meant to be a power users device." I agree with that, but to me a power user's device is one that can create and edit word/excel/ppt on the phone, not someone who needs basic calendar functionality and email sorting etc.

I am hoping they fix it, but as of now it hasn't gotten in the way of doing my job, it just makes it a little more difficult (writing notes to myself and then typing them into outlook etc.)

I do hope that Apple fixes all of the bugs with this release, and then in early October adds some high quality Exchange features. This is new territory for Apple so I'm willing to be patient, but I'm also expecting fixes.
 
It would be nice if there is sub-folder push for Exchange ActiveSync on the iPhone, not just for the Inbox alone.

I have rules that move my mail to specific folders, and it would be a lot more useful if there are options to select which folders to sync or push.

... and Cut & Paste too 🙂
 
Reasonable

These are reasonable feature requests, like most I've seen.

Me1000, do you realize your sig already marks you as the ultimate Apple punter? I could make a down payment on a house in the country with what you've spent on recent Apple merchandise.

Putting down any and all criticism, particularly *useful* criticism (to Apple) like the original post, always says to me that maybe the speaker is identifying a little too strongly with The Corporation and Its Products. Not even an Apple engineer would go as far as you do in trying to silence criticism. You know the people at Apple must sometimes read these forums. Do you really not want them to hear about feature requests?

Moreover, with the amount of money Apple is making on this phone, it is reasonable for paying customers to expect continued basic enhancements in functionality, especially when these have already been implied by sweeping advertising slogans like "enterprise ready" and "Exchange compatible".

That said, I think ironing the bugs out was a worthy goal for 2.1.

I'm patient, as long as my 2G phone is not obsolete by the time they figure out how to enable the landscape keyboard for emails. 🙂
 
pavvento said:
I think there's a big difference between people crying about cut and paste/MMS and proper Exchange support.
Click to expand...
I long for more comprehensive Exchange support, too, though I remember reading somewhere that the limitation lies in the ActiveSync interface that Microsoft opens up. If that's the case there's not much Apple can do about it.
 
Let me just put this one to bed - the fine devs on the MS Exchange blog posted publicly that the entire EAS spec is Apple's to implement as they see fit. I had originally speculated that perhaps Apple had only licensed basic functionality (or MS would only allow).

I tore into the original 2.0 update and found references to task syncing, so I figured it was all still WIP.


daihard said:
I long for more comprehensive Exchange support, too, though I remember reading somewhere that the limitation lies in the ActiveSync interface that Microsoft opens up. If that's the case there's not much Apple can do about it.
Click to expand...
 
daihard said:
I long for more comprehensive Exchange support, too, though I remember reading somewhere that the limitation lies in the ActiveSync interface that Microsoft opens up. If that's the case there's not much Apple can do about it.
Click to expand...

Don't think that's entirely true - The Exchange ActiveSync Direct Push (to give it its full title!) interface supports calendar invites, server side searching, sub folders, tasks, scheduled syncing / fetching, etc etc on Windows Mobile phones. IMO, the responsibility is fairly and squarely on Apple's shoulders for any of these that the iPhone doesn't implement
 
I personally think Apple got way ahead of themselves in the spring/summer and that is why we have the software package we have today. Remember, Apple is fairly new at the phone game, and MobileMe was its first jump into the full webapp department as well as push and overall syncing. I could be (and probably am) wrong but I think this is the first time they've gotten in bed with Microsoft for Active Sync. At the very least it's the first time they've done it for their mobile platform.

If Apple left these features out because they were against a deadline and it was all they could implement at the time than I can accept that. It is my hope that as they iron out the bugs in 2.0.2 they begin looking at other areas of the software that might not be broken, but could be improved.

I for one feel they will get it right, I just hope it's not too long.
 
Phil A. said:
Don't think that's entirely true - The Exchange ActiveSync Direct Push (to give it its full title!) interface supports calendar invites, server side searching, sub folders, tasks, scheduled syncing / fetching, etc etc on Windows Mobile phones. IMO, the responsibility is fairly and squarely on Apple's shoulders for any of these that the iPhone doesn't implement
Click to expand...

Ouch... so it is really Apple who's to blame here. 😡

Thanks for the valuable information.
 
I agree on MMS. Who cares about a bunch of these other features. This is suppose to be the most advanced phone on the planet. The most basic phones out there do MMS. It's ridiculous that this phone can't do it. I'm still pissed that I get so many dropped calls and such low signals. I sure hope this update fixes this. This is the first time I've been unhappy with an Apple product.
 
CANEHDN said:
I agree on MMS. Who cares about a bunch of these other features. This is suppose to be the most advanced phone on the planet. The most basic phones out there do MMS. It's ridiculous that this phone can't do it. I'm still pissed that I get so many dropped calls and such low signals. I sure hope this update fixes this. This is the first time I've been unhappy with an Apple product.
Click to expand...

Apple added an internal speaker and physical volume controls to the iPod touch saying they were the most wanted features by the users. I'd imagine Apple would have added MMS to the iPhone if enough people had expressed interest in the feature. 😉
 
summiter said:
Assuming the Iphone version of 2.1 is functionally the same as the Ipod version, the ability to send cal invites from the device is still missing. What? Bogus!
Click to expand...

I simple workaround I've been using to send invites is via Safari and OMA. Instead of using the clunky Outlook Web Access UI, I just use the stripped down Outlook Mobile Access UI (OMA).

You can usually find it at...
http(s)://owaserver.domain.com/OMA
 
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