The most important synchronization option in iSync, to a Palm handheld, is the slowest and most awkward. I have yet to see a Mac- to-Palm iSync operation take less than five minutes, and it once dragged on for 45 minutes. Some Address Book fields -- alternative street addresses, Web sites, instant-messaging IDs -- aren't copied at all.

If you don't need to use Apple's Palm conduit, iSync runs much quicker. The other peripherals I tested -- an iPod connected with a FireWire cable and a Sony Ericsson T681 phone linked via Bluetooth wireless networking -- took only a minute or two to receive calendar and address updates.

The ability to put contacts and schedules on a cell phone will, however, be useless to most people until iSync can talk to more than six cell phones (all of which require Bluetooth capability on your Mac). Apple should also support USB connections to phones, just as some simpler, PC-based programs do.