How does iPhone handle a lot of contacts?

jsgreen · Mar 22, 2008

Title says it all - I have a Treo and about 9,000 contacts (mostly corporate sales contacts). I'm thinking of switching, does anyone have experience with a large address book?

mathogre · Mar 22, 2008

Ya know, you're probably one of the folks who should actually consider waiting until version 2 of the iPhone firmware is released this summer. It will have enterprise support, and will have to be capable of handling corporate size contact lists. Can it now? I don't know. My guess is that it probably can, but when it goes corporate it will have to do it.

You might try Google to find out. You might also look on the Apple website and look for a contact so that you can ask them directly.

Good luck!

sanity1082 · Mar 22, 2008

wow that is a lot of contacts. i have somewhere in the area of 500 and it handles them no problem.

Like mathogre I would say wait until you can see what programs will be offered through the SDK

oleviking · Mar 23, 2008

Does the Iphone sync with address book? What about Thunderbird? I had a lot of trouble when I got my Imac importing my contacts into the machine. Finally had to use Thunderbird to get them into the Imac. Only about 1,000 though.

mathogre · Mar 23, 2008

Therre were some syncing issues with the iPhone in the initial release of Leopard, but it works fine for me now. I have 122 contacts however. How well syncing scales to something like 9,000 I have no idea.

ibookmobile007 · Mar 23, 2008

jsgreen said:
Title says it all - I have a Treo and about 9,000 contacts (mostly corporate sales contacts). I'm thinking of switching, does anyone have experience with a large address book?

I have roughly 5,000 that are synced on a regular basis. The phone can handle as many contacts as you choose to put within the data base.It takes memory from your total storage capacity, so the limit of contacts is basically unlimited(Depending on what all you have on your iPhone).
When the SDK is released ,This will only make it more easier to get to a specific contact name (As of now its somewhat time consuming scrolling through the phone book to get to a certain contact). I read somewhere that a search function will be included in the new update with an appeal somewhat like finder. Only time will tell though.

jsgreen · Mar 23, 2008

ibookmobile007 said:
I have roughly 5,000 that are synced on a regular basis. The phone can handle as many contacts as you choose to put within the data base.It takes memory from your total storage capacity, so the limit of contacts is basically unlimited(Depending on what all you have on your iPhone).
When the SDK is released ,This will only make it more easier to get to a specific contact name (As of now its somewhat time consuming scrolling through the phone book to get to a certain contact). I read somewhere that a search function will be included in the new update with an appeal somewhat like finder. Only time will tell though.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. On the Treo I'm used to typing 3 letters (jsm to find John Smith). How long does it usually take to find a number - does the scroll speed up when you hold it?

You are probablly right that the SDK and the next release will address that issue. I have heard of a search.app on the installer - but I gues you would need a jailbroken phone to put it to use?

Kash · Mar 23, 2008

You flick the screen to scroll through the list, or you can drag your finger along the alphabet across the right side of the screen to go to a specific letter. I have a couple hundred contacts on my phone and it's very easy for me to scroll through my list.