PIM "ecosystem" suggestions

answered 2015-06-14 11:09:41 +0200

edgar
333 ●6 ●13 ●16

updated 2017-09-23 11:15:46 +0200

update 2.7.17: have been using nextcloud box since end of last year and i'm really happy with it. so:

nextcloud (previously: owncloud) on a personal or hosted server will give you calendar (caldav), contacts (carddav) and file sync. the latter is useful as a dropbox replacement and backup solution, should you have enough personal storage.

a personal linux desktop is useful from a privacy perspective, added with thunderbird + lightning add-on, giving above mentioned calendar, contacts and file sync to the nextcloud instance.

at the moment the most reliable, open source friendly and privacy oriented mobile device compatible with the above, is in my opinion the nokia n9. i've had a jolla for more than a year, collecting dust waiting for caldav / nextcloud sync to work. it just doesn't, and that's a real shame, and i cannot believe how this is so low on jolla's priority.

edit: caldav and nextcloud seems to play nice with the latest version of sailfish, so the jolla phone is now also an alternative.

edit 23/9/17: have not been using jolla with nextcloud caldav for daily use, but there's some indication that perhaps the calendar duplication issue finally is resolved (?) at least judging from my own jolla (working only as wifi router these days). waiting for saiflish on xperia x, which i likely will give a try.

answered 2015-06-10 09:56:31 +0200

Alex-S
81 ●3 ●5 ●10

updated 2015-06-10 10:00:35 +0200

I'd suggest Mailbox.org's services for mail, contacts and calendars. They also have a XMPP chat server and cloud storage functions (though I find OwnCloud superior on that matter, and easier to integrate on various platforms including Sailfish OS).

This is a German provider with focus on privacy and security. Their services cost from 1€/month upwards, allowing one month of test drive. I'm very happy with it since last December.

They use Open-Xchange which is more or less compatible with MS Exchange, meaning you can use Jolla's Exchange support for mail, contacts and calendars!

Client-wise I use either the web frontend or Mozilla Thunderbird with the lightning add-on (on Windows and Linux alike) to sync calendars and tasks (you need another add-on for this, the SoGo connector).

Sadly Sailfish OS doesn't yet support CalDAV tasks at all (and no 3rd party app in sight) so that this is an important point missing on the PIM landscape (at least for me).

Also Sailfish OS still has major problems with CalDAV calendar syncing which is why I configured the sync of my five or so separate calendars with five separate CalDAV accounts on Jolla (each using the same Mailbox.org account, of course), so that Exchange sync only synchronizes mails and contacts.

answered 2015-08-19 14:02:49 +0200

jobe-m
1903 ●19 ●32 ●38

https://github.com/jobe-m

updated 2015-08-20 16:56:41 +0200

I am using Memotoo for calendar and contact sync by means of the memotoo account config on the Jolla phone. (I guess it's using CalDAV and CardDAV in the background.) It is working fine for both. Memotoo is a french small company and should also host their servers there. It costs 1 euro/month.

One good thing there is that it suits also one special case for me. I can use the email web interface of memotoo as an IMAP client. I have my own domain and there I also host my email account (hosteurope.de, Mail basic, costs 1 euro/month). But the email web interface of hosteurope is poor and cannot sync contacts to the jolla phone. So I never used it but was forwarding the emails to google in the past. Now with a working online email client which also syncs contacts with my phone it's almost perfect. I sync my emails directly with IMAP with the jolla phone.

The only concern is that the web interface of memotoo is not that funky fresh looking as gmail or others are. But it is working fine.

answered 2015-08-19 18:12:35 +0200

Herve5
431 ●3 ●8 ●8

updated 2015-08-19 18:20:39 +0200

Aside Owncloud that I warmly recommend (on controlled cooperative servers), I have a comment that's actually more of a question.

I have been using tablets for a couple of years now, starting with a Blackberry (to stay away from Google/Apple) then a Samsung with a reasonable handwriting recognition (where I definitely measured what pressure a non-rooted device can exert on your data).

I'm now waiting for my Jolla tablet in a move to recover control.

My main issue with PIMs similarly relates to personal data control -so don't expect me to comment on synchronizations with Google accounts, for instance.

I have been searching for a very precise function: the capacity to quickly take notes during a presentation (say, in a workshop), associating to these notes a variety of documents (not only photos on-the-fly but also pdfs and other editable documents), and, quite important, the possibility to export all of this into open formats that I could still read even once the original software and hardware disappear. Synchronizing is important too, but in this area an association with owncloud would be sufficient.

Given all that, I have found that very few note taking apps are indeed available. Starting within the meagre Blackberry ecosystem, I had very little choice (landing on Groovy Notes), but even on Android, where I was ready to try many alternatives, I didn't find really serious contenders.

At this moment I'm still with Groovy Notes, wich I don't expect to exist on Jolla (because it's a paying Google app), and am very interested into any advice for note takers that

• can associate photos and other docs
• can export everything to standard formats easily...

All advice welcome!

Hervé