Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Mac Daniel's Advice

Getting iSync to Work with an Unsupported Cell Phone

Dan Knight - 2005.08.01

Popularity:

I added a bunch of new phone numbers to my Mac's Address Book over the weekend and ran into problems when I tried to upload them to my cell phone.

That had never happened before. iSync had worked with my old Motorola cell phone via USB, and also with the newer V262. Now iSync couldn't see the phone at all

What had changed?

Tiger. I'd upgraded to Mac OS X 10.4 shortly after it was released, and the new version of iSync couldn't see my phone at all.

Oddly enough, the computer could. To determine that the USB cable hadn't gone bad, I went to the Apple menu and selected About This Mac. Then I clicked on the More Info... button, selected USB in the box on the left, and then selected Motorola V26x - all the information about my cell phone showed up.

I did some Googling and discovered that the Motorola V265 was supported. That's the same phone, but with a camera. I couldn't see any reason for iSync not to work with my V262.

USB detail More research brought me to the data inside the iSync program itself. By left-clicking (command-clicking for those who still use one-button Apple mice), I was able to examine the contents of the iSync package. Going down several levels, I found the file I needed.

Contents / PlugIns / ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice / Contents / PlugIns / PhoneModelsSync.phoneplugin / Contents / Resources / MetaClasses.plist

I opened the MetaClasses.plist file in TextWrangler, found the section with data about the Motorola V265, and saw that the vendor ID and product ID were identical for the V265 and V262. Then copied the data, pasted in a second copy, and replaced the three instances of V265 with V262 in the first listing so it looked like this:

<key>com.motorola.V262</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Identification</key>
        <dict>
            <key>com.apple.gmi+gmm</key>
            <string>Motorola CE, Copyright 2000+Motorola V262 Phone</string>
        </dict>
        <key>InheritsFrom</key>
        <array>
            <string>com.motorola.usb.0x22B8/0x2A22</string>
        </array>
        <key>Services</key>
        <array>
            <dict>
                <key>ServiceName</key>
                <string>com.apple.model</string>
                <key>ServiceProperties</key>
                <dict>
                    <key>ModelName</key>
                    <string>V262</string>
                    <key>PhoneIcon</key>
                    <string>MOTV710.tiff</string>
                </dict>
            </dict>
        </array>
    </dict>

And then I could finally synchronize the phone numbers I'd added to Address Book with the ones stored in my cell phone.

If you have a cell phone that isn't officially supported by iSync (and you're far from alone if that's the case), you may be able to make it work. First, determine the vendor ID and product ID of your phone, and then do some research. Maybe there's already another phone in MetaClasses.plist with the same identifiers. If so, you can do what I did.

If not, you'll need to do some more research and identify cell phones that are nearly identical to yours. If it works, cool. If not, you're no further behind than when you started.

Happy hacking!

Not sure if you should upgrade your old Mac or replace it? Check the Mac Daniel index to see if we've already addressed your problem.

Recent Mac Daniel columns

WiFi Hardware Compatible with Desktop Macs Running OS X, MetaPhyzx, 03.11. USB, ethernet, PCI, and other wireless hardware compatible with Mac OS X.
WiFi CardBus Adapters Compatible with PowerBooks, MetaPhyzx, 03.11. CardBus hardware and drivers compatible with PowerBooks running Mac OS X.
WiFi PC Cards Compatible with PowerBooks Running OS X, MetaPhyzx, 03.11. PCMCIA/PC Card hardware and drivers compatible with PowerBooks running Mac OS X.
WiFi PC Cards for PowerBooks Running Mac OS 9, MetaPhyzx, 03.10. PCMCIA cards and drivers reported to be compatible with PowerBook running the Classic Mac OS.
More in the Mac Daniel index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 'WallStreet' PowerBook G3, May 1998 - WallStreet offered 3 screen sizes and CPU speeds from 233 to 292 MHz.
Group of the Day: Mac UK is for Mac users in the United Kingdom.
February 9 in LEM history: 00: Think choices - Promoting the Macintosh - 01: Apple vs. Mac clones - 05: Apple and the $100 laptop - Yojimbo - Core Duo vs. G5 - 07: The story behind After Dark - Microsoft Office 2007
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 02.02. Used 2 GHz, $700; 2.4, $999; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.8, $1,699; 3.06, $2,199; new 2.53, $1,610; 2.66, $1,839; 2.8, $2,109; 3.06, $2,550; more.
Best G3 iMac Deals, 02.02. 500 MHz CD-ROM, $40; 450 MHz DVD-ROM, $60; 600 MHz CD-ROM, $230 shipped; 700 MHz CD-RW, $300 shipped.
Best eMac Deals, 02.02. 1 GHz SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 Combo, $100; SD, $360; 1.42 GHz Combo, $299; SD, $439.
Best Mac mini Deals, 02.01. Used 1.25 GHz G4 Combo, $369; 1.5, $399; Core Solo, $399; 1.83 GHz Core Duo SD, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $759; Server, $985.
Best iBook G4 Deals, 02.01. 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $200; 1.33 GHz, $259; 14" 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $399.
Best Titanium PowerBook G4 Deals, 02.01. 800 MHz Combo, $285; 867 MHz SuperDrive, $400; 1 GHz Combo, $549.
Best 13" MacBook & MacBook Pro Deals, 01.29. Used 1.83 GHz, $570; 2.0, $599; 2.4 GHz, $800; 2.26 MB, $849; new, $925 after rebate; Pro, $1,108, 2.53, $1,399 a/r.
Best Power Mac G5 Deals, 01.29. 1.8 GHz single, $399; dual, $479; 2.0, $549; 2.5, $609; 2.7, $799; 2.3 GHz dual-core, $709; 2.5 GHz Quad, $939.
Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 Deals, 01.29. Mac OS X 10.0, $30; 10.1, $20; 10.2, $50; 10.3, $50; 10.3 Server, unlimited users, $130.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2010 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.