MobileMe - Thoughts?

[bensparrow]

Hi Everyone..
After having a quick flick through the forums I thought Id post a consolidated thread on peoples opinions/uses of MobileMe?..
I gave it a go when it was launched this time last year but was quite unimpressed with its reliability etc.. I was wondering how many people used it? How impressed they are with the service and whether its ultimately worth shelling out for?.. As Im thinking of giving it another go but as Ive used my free trial allowance this would mean paying for it!
Post away!

 

[u49aa2]

I am going through the trial now, i like the sync thing so all my calenders are always up to date instantly. Also having a backup of project files and presentation over the net is pretty cool, just in case you forget your memory stick or it was inconvenient to bring your laptop. Beside all that the new feature where you can locate your iphone and erase data when required makes the service even more useful. All of this for small fee (i like to look at it as price similar to restocking from the supermarket).

in term of reliability, i think it is too early for me to judge (though up to now no problem). Anybody with longer time experience, can tell us more?

 

[paulsalter]

Having an iPhone it is great for keeping everything in sync, cant remember the last time I had sync issues.

If I didn't need the sync side of things I probably wouldn't bother (even though i use other parts of the service)

For me I would say its worth the money

Only downsides are

Awful name
Painfully slow bloated website (I avoid me.com as much as possible)

 

[wakka092]

I like MobileMe. Just started the trial. The integration between "the cloud" and iPhone/iPod touch is pretty cool. When I change contacts on my MacBook Pro, they are updated near-instantly on my iPod. You get push email too. The Find My iPhone feature is the killer app for MobileMe. Works great! But it sucks that you can disable it on the iPhone/iPod touch. No reliability problems.

Try the trial; that's the only way you can be sure if you like it in its current form.

 

[camperdown9]

Hi

I have only been using it for a few days and am still on the 60 day free trial.

So far it has good and bad points. I like having my iCal appointments up to date on my MacBook and iPhone with out having to sync. In my view email using @me works much better on my iPhone than other email clients that I have used in the past.

However don't expect your calender appointments to sync instantly, sometimes it takes a few mins for changes to show. The me website is crap. Sometimes my calender shows, sometimes it does not and I seam to get asked for my passport at least twice.

Will I pay £59 for a year, well no but if I get a new iPhone on Friday then I can buy it for £43 and I guess that i will.

Alex

 

[gibbz]

I have MobileMe since launch day. After the inital headaches, I have zero problems. It does a wonderful job keeping things synced between my 2 machines and iPhone. I occasionally use it to post photos from iPhoto.

 

[iphoneguy22]

I got a discount off mobileme when I got my iPhone 3G. So far I've had no problems with it unless you count the beginning of mobileme when the servers crashed a lot. Syncs mail, calendars, and contacts efficiently between my mac and my iPhone. But since I got it for a discount , I don't know if it is worth the 99$. Gmail does most of the same stuff.

 

[JBazz]

Just dont trust them with your credit card information. I tried to renew and it erroneously charged my credit card 4 times for a total of $444. That was last wednesday and the charges are still pending, meaning my credit limit is decreased. Went to buy tires yesterday and had to put them on a different card.

And any support issues have to be dealt with thru their "mobileme chat", zero phone support.

 

[BroadcastDoc]

Love it, love it, love it!

I have the Family Pack. Wife and kids all have sub accounts. We have three Macs and my iPhone - it keeps all of our data in sync between computers, plus there are nice little touches...for example I took some pictures of the kids at the park today, uploaded them to a MobileMe gallery and notified my parents that the pictures were there all from the same app!

That may not be a big deal for some people, but that functionality alone makes it worth it...then add iDisk and contact syncing and it becomes very valuable to me.

Now having said that, there are several ways to get most of the functionality of MobileMe for free, so the question is really how much is the convenience worth to you?

That's why I think all these "should I renew/should I buy" questions are kind of silly - only you know the answer. It's perfect for me, but probably worthless to someone else.

 

[u49aa2]

Just dont trust them with your credit card information. I tried to renew and it erroneously charged my credit card 4 times for a total of $444. That was last wednesday and the charges are still pending, meaning my credit limit is decreased. Went to buy tires yesterday and had to put them on a different card.

And any support issues have to be dealt with thru their "mobileme chat", zero phone support.

Just call your credit card company and they should block the transactions

 

[UngratefulNinja]

My 60 day trial is up very soon and I plan on subscribing. At first I thought it wouldn't be worth it, but for me, the push email and contacts and calendar sync is. Now, if gmail announced next week that it was starting to have push email, I might not subscribe to the MobileMe

 

[michaelb82]

I've been using it since August 08, only ever had 1 issue when email wouldn't sent, gave it a couple of hours and was fine again.

Being in Australia it works surprisingly fast compared to OS Exchange services I've used in the past.

Bookmarks syncing between my mini and macbook has to be the best part (for me), always hated previously bookmarking a site at home then going out and not having it with me.

Overall 9.9/10 for MobileMe.

 

[jav6454]

I've had MobileMe since launch day. I like it alot, keeps everything synced (2 laptops, 1 desktop and my iPhone)

Only feature I don't really use is the personal website/iWeb integration.

 

[VirtualRain]

MobileMe is simply awesome!

MobileMe is really an amazing solution to keeping multiple devices in sync. I have a Mac Pro, a Macbook Air, and an iPhone and they are always in sync with each other... not just calendars and mail, but documents (via iDisk), bookmarks, keychains, etc. Just wow!

Furthermore, the MobileMe web portal is one of the nicest web based solutions I've seen. Elegant and functional in true Apple form.

This is truly a differentiating service for Apple that Microsoft or anyone else simply cannot compete with. Period!

My only wish is that you could sync your itunes and iphoto libraries as well.

 

[jamin100]

MobileMe is simply rubbish!

Please fully use the trial before you decide to buy!

I brought my subscription back in October when I thought i loved the product. Turns out it really sucks!

The reliability of the mobileme servers are shocking! I've sent emails to people who never got them. there have been numerous times when I just cannot log into my mail account.

Idisk is really slow, no matter which way you look at it..

If you like the features then buy your own domain $15 a year and get a FREE google apps account for managing your account.

Use google calendar in your apps account for you cal
User dropbox, zumodrive or sugarsync for your online storage.

RESEARCH these things before you sign up for the year! i wish i had!

 

[mpsruo]

Here is my review of mobile me. I have had this service for over a year and I love using it.

What hardware I have:
- 24" iMac
- Macbook Air
- iPhone

Review:
I'm constantly on the run, switching from my desktop to laptop and running out the door. To me, perfect sync. is important and mobile me delivers. You forget to appreciate how much work this service does in the background. Sync is smooth and flawless and most times you don't realize it's happening.

If you're writing a draft email on, say..my iPhone and I get to my laptop and I open the laptop screen to resume from standby, the draft will be on the laptop as soon as my macbook catches the wifi. This ease of use saves me time. If I'm in a meeting, and someone gives me their contact info and I enter it on my phone, I can (within a few seconds) jump over to my laptop and shoot them an email since their contact is already on my laptop.

Because of mobile me, I NEVER lose contacts (it's hard to do that when you enter a contact and it's immediately on 2 other computers), emails, etc. Additionally, mobile me sync's passwords from your keychain, calendar, etc. Never again enter an appointment on your laptop, forget to sync, and miss the appointment because it wasn't on your phone and you thought you were free.

Do what you wish, but I highly recommend the service and I will be renewing in october. I'm not sure what you do for a living, but if you are not a professional who requires constant sync. and up-to-date data, then it's just a gimmick. The non-professional features such as picture hosting is nice, but is not worth $99 a year due to free alternatives.

 

[macgrl]

I really like mobile me. It is such a good way of sync'ing my contacts and I love the calendar

 

[audiofx]

Gmail would be perfect if it only did push email. its very frustrating that iphone won't use imap idle for gmail when many other phones push gmail just fine.

 

[camperdown9]

Hi

Just a thought I wonder does the experience you get with MobileMe differ depending on if you use a mac or a windows computer?

When I first tried MobileMe I had an old windows laptop and it was crap. However a year later and I am now using a MacBook and its much better.

Alex

 

[mpsruo]

Yes Camper, it is 100x better. Mobileme really wasnt originally designed for windows. Because the "mobile me" client-side software is native on a mac, it is seamless in integration .

 

[d21mike]

Mobileme really wasnt originally designed for windows.

Really no difference between Windows and the Mac. I have been using it since it was released on Windows. The first few months the product had problems on Windows and the Mac. However, after that is have been great on Windows (same as the Mac). On Windows it has always come with MobileMe Preferences for Syncing of Calendar, Contacts and Bookmarks and since the email is IMAP it works great in Outlook (and other mail clients).

 

[uberamd]

I was a bit put off by the $100 price point, but I was able to order Mobile ME off of Amazon.com last week for $60. It arrives today, and at $60/year its worth it.

 

[reubs]

I was a bit put off by the $100 price point, but I was able to order Mobile ME off of Amazon.com last week for $60. It arrives today, and at $60/year its worth it.

Exactly. At less than $5/mo, this is a sure thing simply for ease of use and convenience.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

I use MobileMe to sync contacts, calendars and bookmarks on a MacBook Air, iMac and iPhone. I use MobileMe email to interact with clients for my freelance business. I use MobileMe to host my freelance website (which, sadly, is still under construction because I don't have time for it right now) and the iDisk to transfer large files to clients.

Additionally, Back to My Mac is a revelation for me because it allows me to log in to my iMac at home from my Mac Pro at work (which I do not keep synced regularly) or my MBA when I'm on the road when I have the occasional need to give a client a file.

I would probably say it's worth it at $99 per year, but for ~$60 it's a no-brainer for me. The only caveat is that if I didn't have an iPhone I would likely use a different solution, but that extra bit of functionality (esp. with the new features being added tomorrow) pushes me over the top.

 

[SpaceKitty]

It's been one year since I started using MobileMe. I'll likely resub in September when my sub is over. They gave everyone three free months total last summer because of all the problems so my sub ends in September now instead of June.

I like the contacts syncing the best, worth every penny.