Having given the suggestions from GooSync a whirl, I can now say with certainty….meh. Both services perform exactly the way that they should as long as your device is natively supported. The problem comes into play with the fact that the Blackberry OS does not natively support SyncML. For this reason, the use of third party applications must be used in conjunction with the GooSync and ScheduleWorld services.

The recommended SyncML client for Blackberry is SyncJE. Not sure why they would waste their time recommending this option, as even GooSync themselves realize that it’s quite expensive and buggy. Don’t even give this option a shot, it simply won’t work correctly.

The best SyncML client for Blackberry that I’ve found so far is the Funambol Client. Best of all, it’s free. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be ready for prime time just yet. My Funambol installation was a little cumbersome (no OTA download option available at this time), and also had some issues once it got running. Most notably, it no longer allowed me to send e-mails from my phone. For some reason, it required e-mails to be synced with the goosync server every time I tried to send one out. I ensured that the “sync e-mail” option was unchecked, and yet it still wouldn’t send out the e-mails. Also, the calendar sync itself had considerable problems. Essentially, only 1 out of every 3 attempts to sync was successful, the rest either errored out or locked the phone up. Nevertheless, I’ll post a quick how-to for installing the funambol client, as some people have reported success and it may be worth a shot.

How To Install the Funambol Client on your Blackberry Device:

1. Go to the Funambol site and download the client. The direct link is: http://www.funambol.com/opensource/projects.php. Once on this page, select the Funambol Blackberry PIM Client. You can now answer the questions to contribute to the project, or simply select no thanks.
2. Extract the downloaded file, launch your Blackberry’s Desktop Manager, and connect the device to your computer
3. Launch the application loader and go through the first couple steps of the guide.
4. When you get to the screen that lists all the applications on your device, select add, and navigate to the location of your funambol folder. It’s a pretty obnoxious setup they have for the plugin, but I suppose it’s necessary if you’re using the entire funambol software option. Anyways, for our purposes you’re going to select the funambol_blackberry_plugin.alx file from Funambol->plugins->funambol blackberry plugin->bin.
5. Complete the application loader process to finalize the installation.

To complete your setup, follow the appropriate directions below for either GooSync of ScheduleWorld.

GooSync

This post will not be kept up to date with the most recent method of setting up GooSync on your Blackberry device. My method is valid as of November 17th, 2007. If you’d like to see the directions they have posted, please visit http://www.goosync.com/BlackBerryInstall.aspx Note however that their directions are for the SyncJE client, and therefore must be adapted for funambol.

1. Launch the Funambol client on your Blackberry device
2. press the Blackberry button, and select Configure
3. enter your Goosync login credentials into the User and Password fields.
4. enter http://sync.goosync.com into the server field
5. ensure that only the Calendar sync is enabled
6. This is where it gets tricky, the Remote calendar is not “scal” as is default in funambol. Change this to “calendar”.
7. you can now save your changes, press the blackberry button again, and select synchronize
8. Hope it works…

ScheduleWorld

setting up your ScheduleWorld account is pretty similar, but I won’t go into it in this guide.  The reason is because more up-to-date information will be e-mailed to you upon setting up your account with them.  Though ScheduleWorld is slightly easier to setup in this regard (less time spent finding out how to get it all working), you must also setup a sync between your ScheduleWorld calendar and your Google calendar.  This was not ideal for me as it really just complicates the entire process.  Nevertheless, as long as you can get the Funambol client functioning correctly, it should prove to be a viable solution.

So there you have it, GooSync and ScheduleWorld with the addition of a Funambol SyncML client.  I’m still not impressed, but it does work to some degree.  Be sure to keep an eye on your Blackberry after installing this software however, as I encountered several problems and was forced to remove the client.

We have a new logo here at StudentBerry, created exclusively for us by John over at Blog Logos. We’d like to thank him for his generous donation of both time and creativity. Thanks again!

Also, we were feeling pretty left out of the “large rss button” phenomenon, so we’ve decided to hop on the band wagon. It’s large, it’s obnoxious, and when you click on it you’ll be kept up-to-date with all of our progress here at StudentBerry. Who knows, you may get some useful Blackberry tips every now and then as well. Update: A Second special thank you to John for the new rss logo. It’s just as big, but not nearly as obnoxious. Let’s call it a compromise of sorts.

Some exciting news is coming just around the corner everyone. Oh yes, even more exciting than logos and big orange blue and black buttons. Keep an eye on StudentBerry or sign up for our e-mail notifications (or perhaps you’re in the mood to press a large button?), you won’t regret it!