When the names Blackberry and Mac get mushed into one sentence, you can expect someone to shudder. Mac and BlackBerry are just not meant for each other and finding the right Mac solution is a Holy Grail for BlackBerry users. You’ll find yourself wondering why your contact pictures haven’t transferred properly or why the Blackberry calendar shows duplicates of your appointments. In the end, we’re stuck fiddling with the problem and before we know it, it’s time for bed.
So I’ve decided to give a helping hand to my fellow Mac users here on Blackberry Cool, who, without a doubt, find themselves searching frantically on forums for help. As an avid BlackBerry and Mac user, I will be publishing a regular column to help Mac users better interact with their BlackBerry. For my first article, I’ve compiled a quick list of all the possible solutions to have your Blackberry interacting with your Mac. Click through to read BlackBerry and Mac solutions
It seems as though RIM has finally heard the cries of many Mac BlackBerry (MacBerry?) users. Earlier this week they released a ‘Preview’ build of BlackBerry Media Sync for Mac, and I had to give it a test run. In general, it works as advertised and syncing playlists is surprisingly fast. Unfortunately, you can’t just drag over iTunes albums as is, but have to make a playlist out of each.
Here’s some things to keep in mind:
This is a ‘preview’ build. RIM seems afraid of Mac development and has gone out of their way to tell users that their not legally responsible if Mac Media Sync roxXors yurz blakberreez. You have been warned. Mac Media Sync will not work with Pocket Mac or Missing Sync. Which would be fine if RIM had also released a Mac Desktop Manager, but one step at a time, I guess.
For Mac using BlackBerry owners, your life can often be a hellish nightmare of no support or faulty software. That’s why it’s great to hear that Mark/Space, makers of Missing Sync for BlackBerry, pretty much your only effective Mac-BlackBerry solution, have included support for the BlackBerry Bold. You can download the new version at the link below.
Syncing a BlackBerry with a Mac can be a pain. In the past, I’ve had issues with the device not being recognized by the Mac and installing software can sometimes be difficult. BGR got the first look at BlackBerry Media Sync for Mac. It’s a slick looking applications that is a great Mac port of the PC version. Now you’ll be able to sync your music, photos, videos, and even iTunes playlists to BlackBerry devices.
Mac users rejoice! Entourage 2008, designed to emulate much of Microsoft Office, can now support syncing for BlackBerrys released as of May through PocketMac. Devices running OS 4.5 reportedly work like a charm for getting contacts, tasks, and calendar items off your Mac and onto your BlackBerry via Entourage. iTunes support is also in there, although it’s kind of funny that PC users got the iTunes Media Sync first. This is pretty awesome for Mac users everywhere, considering the complete lack of love they tend to get from RIM. Hopefully this will keep enough of them from going with the iPhone instead… Hey, you can always make your BlackBerry look like an iPhone with themes like iBerry in Today, Icon and Zen styles. Head on over to the PocketMac site to download version 4.1.25.
The latest trick coming out of the new Plazmic developer’s kit is Flowberry. Pretty shiny, huh? Too bad they took out the bottom bar that earlier version was showing. Still, a pretty slick design for those Mac-users in the house who just can’t get enough of the coverflow-style interface. Not bad, but I think I’m going to stick with Crossbar. If Mac is your bag though, go ahead and get your Flowberry on, or if you miss that bottom bar, try out Finder.
Mac users rejoice! 
