The Nexus One sucks for business

Julie got her Nexus One yesterday. It may well go back to Google next week.

As everyone else is saying, it's a beautiful phone with a superb screen and a snappy processor. Android supports Exchange server, and it only took a few minutes to get her email and contacts synced with our hosted Exchange provider. The problem is, the Nexus One won't sync with the Exchange calendar.

Here's how Exchange syncing works with the BlackBerry, the iPhone, and even hapless Windows Mobile:

Simple and sweet. Everything is stored in the cloud and all devices are always in sync.

The Nexus One works that way with email and contacts, but the Nexus One calendar app will only sync with Google's calendar. We can use Google calendar sync to sync events with Outlook on the PC. That produces this kludge:

Calendar sync uses a polling model, and won't update more often than every ten minutes. Julie will need to be careful not to turn the PC off after making changes in the calendar. The notebook won't participate unless I install calendar sync on it too. Changes made using Outlook Web Access won't sync until a PC or notebook with Google Calendar Sync does the job. This is the kind of mess decent modern software and devices haven't required for years.

There's an app called Touchdown that apparently does the job, but you have to use its interface to access your calendar. It also costs $20.

I can't believe Google shipped this phone with such a basic component missing. The Nexus One is not a business phone. Maybe we need to wait for Nexus Six.

Comments

[Ranjit Vadakkan]

Android's "Corporate Calendar" app syncs with Exchange - I use it all the time on my Droid. It's not great in that you cannot respond to meeting requests like on the iPhone, but it does sync automatically with the Exchange server.

[David]

How can I get the Corporate Calendar app on the Nexus One? it's not listed in the app market. Touchdown would work but I've read about issues, such as caller ID not working because the contacts are in Touchdown instead of the native app.

[Dave]

Corporate Calendar is a Motorola application, not part of Android. It is not and will not be available for the Nexus One.