answered
2015-06-21 16:45:35 +0200
Data syncing is a area of interest for me - I'll spare you the long version, but I've put a fair bit of thought into this over the years.
The most important thing is that the phone storage is a huge cache, and the servers (note: multiple) are the primary data stores. My plan for when I got around to this was to push all local messages/events into an IMAP server as specially-formatted items so the conversations et al would show up in normal threaded email clients as email-like messages, and ones that understood the format would be marked up as actual SMS/MMS/XMPP etc messages/conversations, etc. Think like PC Suite's Communications Manager, but in a standard mail client.
Alternatively, you invent "EventDAV" to replace IMAP ;)
That way syncing is easy, and your phone could in theory hand off the heavy searching to a server. You could then just keep the last year's worth of messages cached locally for efficiency, (i.e. faster "Immediate" searching). And all using standard protocols and servers so you can roll your own as you see fit.
I'm all for rsyncing photos, media et al, but I'd be tempted to use something Git-based instead, so you can recover accidentally lost files, not just sync up corrupted ones, etc. There will probably be people who will want to store things on services like Google drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc though, so I suspect it'll have to support all of those in some form as well, abet without the old versions functionality).
As for connectivity, whilst a internet-based option is great, there needs to be a locally-based option as well. I have a public-facing server, most don't. I used to love it when I would get in from work and PC Suite on my PC would sync up my N95 via Bluetooth without me having to do anything. My annoyance there was that it didn't have a Linux-based option for my server, so I was all syncing via my desktop (and via slow Bluetooth, not wifi), ...so lets not go too far the other way, even if that's just (as suggested above) locally-running server software and a zeroconf bit of name resolution to find it.
Once you're communicating with a set of standard servers, the client interface can be whatever you like, be it a web interface you connect to locally, (or publicly!), a Java application, a native application built in whatever you like, or even a set of separate standard applications.
I consider that a lightweight application (not web) for managing contacts, calender, backup/settings would be enough.
Copying pictures and music can be easily done from Windows/Linux.
lupastro ( 2014-02-07 10:39:56 +0200 )editActually before going to discuss different technical solutions, we should be clear about the requirements. Suggested above is basically only backup and restore (open for suggestions). @lupasto: What is to "manage contacts"? I would think it means to view and edit your contacts on the PC, like it was possible on Nokia's PC Suite. If this is the focus, the web interface could do it. In my view backup and sync to e.g. existing contact apps are more important. Today's UIs allow comfortable editing.
Stefanix ( 2014-02-07 10:54:20 +0200 )edit@Stefanix Yes, you are right. I meant the same behavior as in Nokia Suite. However, a very important feature for me is the calendar sync. I'd like to sync my Outlook Calender. And no, adding an Outlook/Exchange account does not help, since I am not allowed to do this in the enterprise network. Therefore I'd need an offline sync possibility.
lupastro ( 2014-02-07 10:58:58 +0200 )editIt is hard to satisfy everyone, but I still think it should be something that requires no install on PC side, as many people find that cumbersome. What do you think if we made some kind of hybrid "cloud" on jolla itself, which offers the web interface and could be linked to sync with a private ownCloud / 3rd party thingy? it could be managed through a web interface on the PC and through an app on your Jolla.
Acce ( 2014-02-07 14:18:55 +0200 )editI would prefer to install some software in my PC instead of having to put all the information of my phone in the cloud.
lupastro ( 2014-02-07 14:55:41 +0200 )edit