I had been frustrated for years with the dire support for connecting mobile phones (cellphones..) on Linux.    Bluetooth support to phones was patchy, to say the least, and has been completely re-written for KDE, but still has very limited functionality..    I can (just about) connect to my Samsung Android phone, but can only transfer files to the phone, and cannot see all the content..     There is software, such as Wammu/Gammu, and BitPim, but these tend to support older phones, and in many cases, models that are only available in certain geographies..    If I want to transfer files properly, I have to resort to a good old USB cable, and see the phone as a disk drive..

As Android is based on Linux, one might suppose that communication would be easy, but – ironically – the phone support – even under Windows – tends to be less functional, for some reason..   I even tried some commercial software for Windows for this purpose, and most of the sync functions simply didn’t work reliably, or at all!    Most instructions for sync of contact info suggest using Google as an intermediary, and this seems to be faintly ludicrous, when I only want to sync two devices that are – at most – a couple of feet apart…    I am left with the impression that this may be by design, to not-so-gently promote more so-called ‘cloud’ based solutions, but I really don’t enjoy having to have all my calendar info resident on Google’s systems, just to sync to my phone on my desk..   This solution works well for multiple devices, and I suspect that this is seen as the sweet spot for this technology..   We are all assumed to have a phone, and tablet, and laptop…  etc..  etc..

Having said all that, I have now been forced to take the path of least resistance, and set up sync of calendar/appointment info from KOrganizer via Google to the phone, and it does – so far – appear to be working well..   I just don’t feel very happy, having to do it that way!

By the way, I have to apologise for using the ‘C’ word (CLOUD)…    It is classic – and annoying – marketing hype, and I remember the pre-internet days in the ’80s, when X.25 networks were shown as a ‘cloud’ on networking technology slide presentations, and I should know, as I produced – and presented – many of these myself..!