Microsoft has launched the MyPhone service to the public. An earlier beta version was released in February, but not it was available to any Windows Mobile user who wants to try out the over the air back up service.
The service is compatible with any Windows Mobile 6.0 (or greater) phone and allows users to have 200MB of online storage space to back up any files they wish to access at anytime through your phone or computer. At this point the service is quite basic and the storage space is limited, but if you’re just looking to save your contacts and text messages 200MB should be more than enough to keep you covered.
Another useful feature is a restore function which will allow you to transfer data from your previous phone (whether you have it or not) to your new Windows mobile phone. So did you “lose” your HTC Touch Diamond and now just have to upgrade to the Diamond2? Well don’t worry your little fingers. You won’t have to be typing all of your contacts in again if you’ve already backed up your info to MyPhone.
The beta version is currently in development and other features which are expected to be added are GPS tracking to find lost or stolen phones and also remote data wipe which will let you delete all of your personal information off of a phone that has been stolen.
Right now we think the service is too simple to go nuts about, but it will be interesting to see how it develops in the lead up to Windows Mobile 6.5 and the hotly anticipated Windows Mobile 7.
You can check out the new service for your phone here.
Make your press release in 140 characters or less. Some intriguing messages have been left on the MSOffice 2010 twitter account which are sending the blogosphere into the stratosphere.
New product launch, that’s all I’m allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre.
and
June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers.
These posts showed up on the blog yesterday and it is speculated by most that these are mouth-waterers preparing us for the announcement of possibly the ZunePhone or maybe the Project Pink phone by Microsoft. Both of these have been receiving a lot of attention over the past few weeks.
So now we have to wait a few more weeks and presumably more rumors will be “leaking” out along the way and we’ll be getting more details.Whatever it turns out to be we’re sure Palm Pre is going to be sweating bullets, as they have a got a lot riding on their possible early June release. There is no indication that the is shaking in its boots as most of the buzz going around is dedicated to the upcoming iPhone 2009 announcement scheduled to take place, also in June.
Finally! Facebook on Windows Mobile. We’re not saying that they are coming in late, but if they would have waited a few more months they may have well been releasing a Friendster app.
But all kidding aside finally you can access your friends, send messages, post videos and pictures directly to your Facebook account from your Windows Mobile phone. We think this makes WinMo phones such as the HTC line much more attractive as social networking devices.
You can get more information and download the app here. Facebook is also running a promotion with a chance to with an HTC smartphone!
As they say “Easy come, easy go.” And it has never been truer as recently the upcoming Windows Marketplace was made available to mobile users with with modified Windows Mobile 6.5 ROMS. Users at the ppcgeeks forum report they were briefly able to access the store and download some applications. One user claims to have downloaded the Pandora radio program.
Until this event when users with the modded WinMo 6.5 ROM attempted to launch the Windows Marketplace icon nothing happened or they received a “Coming Soon” message which what it has reverted to now. It is speculated that Microsoft was perhaps testing out the store and working out the kinks. So now we have to continue to wait and see what happens next.
Microsoft has not made any official comments on the Marketplace’s brief appearance.
The Windows Marketplace is scheduled to launch with the upcoming Windows Mobile Professional 6.5 later this year and will be the newest player in the mobile phone app battle that Apple created and is currently dominating. So far there hasn’t been a lot of insight into what type of applications will be available and how it will be regulated, but it will definitely give a big boost to the value of Windows smartphones. We also imagine it will also be playing a large part in Microsoft’s long awaited “Project Pink” phone.
Microsoft is putting the finishing touches on Windows Mobile 6.5, which is due out later this year. The hotly anticipated OS is doing their best to keep the UI fresh and nice to look at. For us this can make or break a UI. Who cares about functionality if it makes you want to wretch every time you look at it?
Microsoft has had several different designers make wallpapers and themes for the WinMo 6.5 OS. It lets you add a little bit of personality to your mobile system. We like things like this because with everyone trying to get the latest smartphone we want to be able to personalize our phone to our needs.
So take a look at some of these themes that are being offered with the WinMo 6.5 OS. Going from top left to bottom right here are the designers Default theme, Ron Arad, Vera Wang, Rock and Republic, Classic, DVF, Isaac Misrahi.
What do you think of the themes? Any suggestions for designers you’d like to see?
A YouTube application specifically for Windows Mobile devices has been released and will let any WinMo user access their favorite viral and user made clips, anytime they want. This is a huge boost to users on the Windows Mobile OS and with YouTube’s quickly advancing technology, streaming videos to your mobile is going to be fantastically easy.
There is also talk of YouTube using the Silverlight technology as opposed to Flash. Silverlight is an alternate video streaming method developed by Microsoft that can stream high quality videos. Mobile browsers such as Skyfire are capable of handling Silverlight and if you YouTube could adapt to that system it would be a huge bonus for any mobile Microsoft fan.
If you want to check out the YouTube app and maybe load it up on your Samsung i900 Omnia or any great HTC device, follow this link: http://m.youtube.com/ (We highly recommend taking heed of their warning to keep an eye on your data plan when using YouTube)
Windows Mobile 7 is becoming more and more of a reality. With Windows Mobile 6.5 due out later this year, the next version of WinMo 7 is slated to be released sometime in 2010. This was confirmed by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in an anaylsts meeting at Microsoft.
The stated goal of the new OS is to get around the more technical nature of the previous Windows Mobile systems and optimize interfaces for a more media geared crowd. Also, they are looking to become a more competitive player in the bursting touch screen smart phone market.
Some of the announced features for Windows Mobile 7 that have caught our eye:
Excellent touch screen keyboard interface
Tabbed browsing using Internet Explorer
Shake control plays a major part in UI
Cool motion gestures for touch UI
With a major reliance on motion and touch gestures for the use of this system it is likely that this new OS will greatly change how we use our mobile phones. It will also give Windows Mobile the right stuff to get into the market and really compete with that touchscreen juggernaut the iPhone 3G.
I think the word Google now means ubiquity, because we’re seeing it pretty much everywhere. I can’t wait until my coffee becomes full Google integrated!
But in all seriousness they’re really wrecking shop when it comes to making our mobile phone usage easier. Now they’ve done so with our Windows Mobile devices with Google Mobile. This handy app lets you start Google searches from anywhere in your phone without waiting for a browser, lets you browse your own phone for files that you need quickly and gives you speedy access to all of Google’s other features such as maps.
This greatly improves the Windows Mobile Experience and proves further the point that the future of mobile phones is software and not hardware. So check out the video below and download the app. It will work great with any HTC Windows Mobile device and we’d strongly recommend it for any Samsung i900 Omnia users.
The Mozilla Project has been working on ‘Fennec’ for the past few months. Fennec is Mozilla’s first venture into mobile programs and the program has been announced to be compatible only for the HTC Touch Pro. (Although it appears the this initial version is able to run on many Windows Mobile VGA Phone) Just recently the first version of the Fennec has been released and is available to download. But can Fennec live up to Mozilla’s golden browsing child FireFox?
It appears not. While we have great faith in the brilliant people at Mozilla it appears that this pre-alpha release of Fennec doesn’t have much to offer. Or rather nothing to offer. Initial testings on Touch Pros and other devices have rendered practically no results. It appears that the rendering engine is not functioning and very little, if any, connectivity was available.
This is disappointing to say the least, but at this point we’re still going give Mozilla the benefit of the doubt. This by no means a complete release. And in the past they’ve made some great product, perhaps you’re using some of it right now. So our hope is that in the coming weeks the updates are going to flow in and hopefully a more official release will be available to mobile users out there.
Have you had any experiences with the program? Any successes or failures? Let us know what’s happening.
Those of us familiar with the MobileMe service are well acquainted with the frustrations and joys of working with that syncing service. At the moment it looks like Microsoft is trying to take advantage of some of the frustrated users who are looking for simple mobile/computer syncing services by releasing their service My Phone.
The My Phone service which is scheduled to launch later this year will come in two versions. One, being a free version with ads and then the other being premium service which one will have to subscribe to. The service is going to be designed to function with Windows Mobile devices such as the HTC line and will offer a number of syncing features. This includes the standard features such as contacts, calendar dates and so on. All features that are offered by Apple’s MobileMe, the choice service for all Apple iPhone 3G users. Where it differs is that it plans to offer over the air syncing for multimedia files as well. Allowing you to store images, MP3s and video clips to a My Phone server and then have the files sync either to your computer or to your phone. One of the disadvantages of this is that currently My Phone is only allowing for this syncing to be done over your regular data connection. There are currently no plans to allow it on Wi-Fi connections.
In addition to the syncing features, one of the main advantages of the My Phone service is the ability to sync up multiple phones to your one service. This means if you are in the middle of changing phones, transferring all of your personal information will only be a matter of signing in with your correct ID and automatically syncing your phone with your information on the My Phone server.
All of these features are lacking in MobileMe or are not accessible with such ease.
While it does excel in allowing one to do over the air syncing with multimedia files, My Phone is still a little bit behind the MobileMe service in e-mail. At the moment there are no plans for e-mail integration which would allow e-mail to be accessed by both your home computer and mobile device.
The service appears to be strong, but as we know we can’t judge these things until they’ve actually come into public use. But the prospect of using a free service for syncing as opposed to the subscription service of MobileMe is an attractive one.
What do you think? Is this going to affect your future mobile purchases?
