Sync iPhone contacts not using iCloud

anyone know how to sync contacts on iphone without using iCloud?

You can't -- yet.

The feature was removed in iTunes 11, but it is restored in the latest beta (11.1.6) -- which will likely be released soon (by "soon" I probably mean within the next month or so, but I have no special insight into this).

While there is no issue whatsoever with storing contacts and calendar data in iCloud, some people have legit non-tinfoil-hat reasons for not wanting to store sensitive data remotely. They spoke, Apple listened, and the feature is on its way back.

Thanks

That is great news. My data is not really "sensitive" in the usual sense but I am strongly against giving such huge leverage to commercial enterprises by letting them have detailed insight into my personality. NSA etc frightens me less as at least we get to vote for governments from time to time!

I find that syncing between a single iOS device and a Mac computer works well with iTunes but when I tried syncing with several iOS devices, it completely messed up my contacts with deletions and duplications. I'd prefer not to use iCloud but would like to keep my contacts synced across my iMac, Macbook, iPhone and iPad.

Are there any quality applications out there that provide reliable syncing and control of sync direction etc for multiple iOS devices? I just tried one called SyncMate which claims to be able to do all this but I couldn't even get it to connect to my phone via USB...

To keep contacts synced across multiple devices, I'd suggest iCloud. It's free, it works really well across multiple devices (three here) and has given me no trouble at all. Important tip: for iCloud syncing to do its thing, you need to UNCHECK the boxes in iTunes that say "sync (contacts, calendars etc)" and turn ON those abilities in the iCloud preference panel. Then it works like a charm.

Thanks for the feedback. I discovered and used an iPhone app called "Contacts Backup - IS Contacts Kit" which backs up up your contacts from one device to Dropbox and from there can be restored on another device running the same app. You can perform a merge or delete all and restore all. It does restoring and merging very accurately and is a good alternative to iCloud.