JulianSchrader.de

Update: you don’t need a plugin to sync the K800i anymore—Apple added native support. See this post: Syncing mobile phones with your mac just got easier.

As I chose the Sony Ericsson K800i for my new phone, I took into account that Sony Ericsson mobiles usually work very well together with Mac OS X. So I was a little disappointed today, when iSync told me it didn’t support my shiny new K800i — Apple didn’t integrate the necessary code yet.

I did some research on the net because I knew of the magic PhonePlugins that worked well with my older Siemens S65. I found out how to get it working — this is a little roundup of what I did.

Preparation:

First of all, you have to prepare your environment for the small changes you are going to apply to your system.

Make sure your Mac OS X is the version 10.4.7 or higher — use software-update to check if there’s anything new for your system.
In case you added your K800i to your Mac’s list of Bluetooth devices before, delete it.
Deactivate Bluetooth support on both your Sony Ericsson K800i and your Mac.
Make sure to quit iSync before moving on.

That’s it already for preparation — well, you maybe want to create a backup of the original data of your devices to prevent data loss.

Execution:

Let’s get right to the meat, shall we?

Download and unzip 23-PhonePlugin-SE.zip from isync-hilfe.de.
Copy the folder PhonePlugins from the extracted zip-file to the Library folder directly on your harddisk.
Navigate to Macintosh HD > Library > PhonePlugins (the folder you just created/renewed) and delete everything except SEK800i.phoneplugin.

That’s it already — let’s go on with the usual procedure!

Activate Bluetooth support on both your Mac and your K800i.
Go to System-Preferences > Bluetooth > Devices > Configure new Device and configure your K800i — make sure to enable you mobile to be used as modem while you’re at it!
Open up iSync and add your K800i as a new device by pressing Command + N.
Done!

Happy syncing!

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Julia S said December 10, 2006, 11:39 am:

Hi there,

This is Julia from Hong Kong.
Thanks a lot of your instruction!!

Regards,

Julia
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Lisa Hart said December 22, 2006, 1:38 pm:

Dear Julian
I am having problems using my K8001i as a modem with my powerbook. Have you used your cellphone as a modem yet? and which modem scripts did you use if so?
I have found scripts that let me connect but not send or receive, and the scripts from Ross barkmans page are not working for some reason.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Regards
Lisa
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Julian Schrader said December 26, 2006, 9:33 pm:

@Julia: I’m pleased to hear that I could help you with this post.

@Lisa: I didn’t try it yet, because my K800i works with a prepaid contract and it’s everything but cheap to use UMTS/GPRS connections with it. I hopefully get a chance to try it out soon, since I’m very interested in this topic as well.

Regards
Julian
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Dan Pace said December 27, 2006, 6:27 pm:

Hey Julian

Just wondering if it’s possible to transfer files with the K800i to a mac? Got iSync working with a plug-in but I can never connect to my mac if im trying to transfer a file to the phone or from the phone to the mac. The transfer never starts then it just says no connection was found or connection failed on the phone. It used to work on my older Sony Ericsson without any plug-ins but can’t get any joy with the K800i. Can it actually be done or is my mac or phone being a pain?

Cheers

Dan
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Julian Schrader said December 28, 2006, 4:21 pm:

Hi Dan,

did you configure your K800i in the system preferences? Go here: System Preferences > Bluetooth > Devices

Transfering files from the K800i to the mac works as great as the other way around ��I’ve got no problems with it.

Regards,

Julian
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Ben said January 13, 2007, 10:06 pm:

Thank you! Another plugin I found elsewhere wasn’t working, but this works fantastically! Thanks!
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Julian Schrader said January 13, 2007, 10:48 pm:

I’m glad I could help.

While you’re at it, check out Sync Now! as well!
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Dave Taylor said January 20, 2007, 1:38 am:

Hi Julian,

I’ve been trying for hours to get my new K800i to work with isync and it’s just not working. I’ve followed all your instructions and don’t know what to do next. Can you help please?

Thanks,

Dave
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Julian Schrader said January 20, 2007, 1:09 pm:

Hi Dave,

did you delete any old entries about the K800i in your bluetooth preferences before starting with the changes?

Did you use the Library you find in your user’s folder? The Library you need to change is the one directly on your harddisk.

I don’t know what the problem might be if it isn’t working although you’ve followed the instructions�Ķ Sorry

Regards,

Julian
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Dave Taylor said January 20, 2007, 9:57 pm:

Hi Julian,

I’ve been scouting around the net and I’m thinking that my USB bluetooth adaptor is not compatible with the k800i.

I’ve been looking at this website

http://mobile.feisar.com/plugin_support.html

and realised that I am using this adaptor Belkin F8T012 (Bluetooth v2.0) which is listed as not being compatible.

I’m guessing this is the problem and am currently trying to source a different bluetooth adaptor.

Thanks,

Dave
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Julian Schrader said January 20, 2007, 10:00 pm:

Hi Dave,

allright then ��I also think this is the problem.

Thank you for pointing it out!

Julian
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Johan said January 21, 2007, 2:20 am:

I’ve just been comparing the hilfe.de K800i Plugin, with the one available from http://mobile.feisar.com/plugins.html and noticed some important differences:

The hilfe.de one:

- only syncs 1 email address from the Macs Address Book to the phone
- syncs the Work address into the Home address field on the phone(!)
- shows some nasty ‘Donate $10′ text in the isync window for the phone icon

The feisar one:

- syncs Home, Work & Other email addresses to the phone
- correctly syncs both Home & Work addresses into the correct fields on the phone
- shows a proper icon of the K800 in iSync!

I guess you get what you pay for!!
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kelly said February 27, 2007, 1:20 am:

hi there.
im thinkin of swappin my current phone for the k800i, mainly for its great camera. i use macs but neither my ibook or standard mac comp have bluetooth installed. do you think it would be possible after following your instructions above if i bought a bluetooth plug in that this would also work in transferin data from the phone to my mac? any ideas would be great? thanks.
kelly
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Julian Schrader said February 27, 2007, 6:41 am:

Hi,

the people over at feisar indicate that their plugins work with an internal bluetooth module as well as Apple supported hardware.

One USB bluetooth plug that is known to work is the D-Link DBT-120 USB Bluetooth Adapter:

If you use this adapter, it should work. Before I got my MacBook Pro with onboard bluetooth, I used this USB dongle (with another phone) and it worked perfectly.

Regards,
Julian
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adam said March 2, 2007, 8:58 pm:

Hi there! I bought k800i yesterday and thanks to your page I managed to sync it with my MBP without any problem:D
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Julian Schrader said March 4, 2007, 1:49 pm:

Glad to help you!
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Will said April 25, 2007, 11:32 am:

Hi Julian

I’ve recently (1 1/2 weeks ago) got a macbook and a sony ericsson K800i (yes, it was a big week for me!). The first time I connected the phone to my mac via bluetooth it syncd immediately and copied over all my phone numbers etc to Address Book, no worries. Needless to say, I was impressed!
But now I’m trying to use my K800i as a modem with the mac. I tried it for the first time last night and it was working fine, until I got a message that said the bluetooth network has disconnected unexpectedly. From then on it kept giving the same message about 30 secs after I connect the two up. File transfers work perfectly, but not the bluetooth network. So I figured I’ll just use the USB cable that came with the phone. So I plugged it in to the mac and selected Phone mode on the phone, but the mac didn’t pick anything up.
Do you have any idea 1) why the bluetooth keeps dropping 2) how to set up my phone as a modem on the mac, using the USB cable?
I’m new to Macs, so don’t really know where to look/what to do!

Thanks!!

W.
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Julian Schrader said April 25, 2007, 1:48 pm:
Hi Will,

the few times I tried to go online with my MacBook Pro and the K800i there wasn’t any problem at all��once the connection is established, it just works fine.

If you want to use your mobile as a modem you have to use bluetooth, USB isn’t supported.

I’d try the following now:
- Delete your K800i from the bluetooth preference pane in your system preferences
- Re-configure it
- Try again to establish a connection to the internet
I have no idea why your connection screwed up like this, but maybe it helps to undertake the steps mentioned above.

Julian
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Will said April 25, 2007, 2:58 pm:

Thanks for the quick reply Julian!

I’ve been searching around on the net some more and I found the following site:

http://www.taniwha.org.uk/

Ross Barkman has written modem scripts for various phones and you can download them there. Anyway, on the site he gives the following warning:

Warning for OS X and GPRS: one of OS X’s default settings causes problems with many GPRS networks. If you get disconnections after only a few seconds, turn off “Send PPP echo packets” in System Preferences:Network:PPP:PPP Options.

This sounds like the problem I’m having. I’ll check tonight at home whether it does the trick!

Thanks again

W.
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Julian Schrader said April 25, 2007, 7:05 pm:

Thanks for the hint! When I encounter this problem I now already know what I have to do

Let me know if it does the trick for you!

Julian
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Will said April 26, 2007, 12:19 pm:

I changed the PPP setting last night and the bluetooth worked perfectly for about 10mins and then it gave the same error (network unexpectedly disconnected). And once it has given it, it keeps giving the same error and I can’t connect to the net.

My next step is to download the modem script from the website I referenced above and see if that will help. I’ve brought my Mac to work today, so if I get a gap I’m gonna install the script and check it out.

Regards

W.
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Will said April 26, 2007, 2:14 pm:

The script seems to be doing the job!
Connection is much more stable! No lost connections yet… Well, think this is the beginning of the end for my phone bill!! Whoohoo!

W.
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Julian Schrader said April 26, 2007, 3:30 pm:

Glad to hear that it works now!

It’d be terribly expensive to use with my prepaid contract��I’m waiting for the iPhone, I’m going to upgrade then. Hopefully it supports being used as a modem

Julian
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Christoph Wilcke said May 18, 2007, 4:01 pm:

Hi there from Germany,

i used your plugin some months ago just to check if it works, and it did perfect, at least i had the K800i in isync, i didnt actually synced it, because of some other reason.

At this time i was using isync 2.3. My whole adressbook data was on a Power Book and i copied it today on my mac i��m writing on now…..

In between i updated my OS to 10.4.9 including icync 2.4. Today i was going to sync my mobile fon with your plugin the first time, but before isync really opened i got the message, that isync cannot run, because the plugin does not work with this version of isync. I can show the screenshot if someone likes….

Is there a newer version of your plugin available or am i doing something wrong? I was able to run it under isync 2.3….. It must be the version update.

I also read that there was some guy with a MBP who simple just made it…..

What can i do now? Any help 4 me?

Thanks in advance….

Christoph
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Julian Schrader said May 18, 2007, 4:59 pm:

Hi Christoph,

you don’t need a plugin to sync the K800i anymore��Apple added native support.

See this post: http://julianschrader.de/20070314-syncing-mobile-phones-with-your-mac-just-got-easier/

Regards��from Germany as well

Julian
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Christoph Wilcke said May 18, 2007, 5:31 pm:

Hi Julian,

thank you so much, sometimes the ones who can read have a clear advantage…..

I found just this site and did not even klick any other link on your page.
My sync has just finished and now i got all my contacts on the phone.

Kindest regards

Christoph
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Alex said November 9, 2007, 8:43 pm:

Thanks for the article- worked well.
Best wishes,

Alex

You should follow me on Twitter.

How to enable Apple’s iSync to work with your Sony Ericsson K800i

Preparation:

Execution:

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