Microsoft Releases Windows Phone 7 Connector 2.0 for Mac

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://itunes.apple.com/app/windows-phone-7-connector/id415571499?mt=12' target='_blank'>http://itunes.apple.com/app/windows...415571499?mt=12</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Windows Phone 7 Connector is a simple, easy-to-use application designed to sync your favorite media files from your Mac, with your Windows Phone 7 or Zune HD. You can also sync photos and videos you captured on your phone with your Mac, and when needed, update your Windows Phone 7 software."</em></p><p><img height="270" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1314756677.usr2.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" width="600" /></p><p>Mac users, make your way to the App Store and grab <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/windows-phone-7-connector/id415571499?mt=12" target="_blank">today's update of Windows Phone 7 Connector</a>. Microsoft has tagged it with a version number of 2.0, and with it, there's full sync and import support for Aperture, drag-and-drop support, ringtone transfer and Windows Phone Marketplace support if your phone is running Windows Phone 7.5, as well as a bunch of other goodies ranging from backup and restore improvements to additional languages. And all for the good ol' price of free.</p>

[Fritzly]

Let's see if I got it correctly: if I use a MAC I am able to sync my WP7.5 phone to my desktop; if I use a Windows powered PC....... I cannot and I am stuck with "Cloud sync".......... am I correct?
If I am, and I am afraid I am, this is a further confirmation that some people in Redmond are really disconnected from the real World! Regardless of "MS metrics" a substantial percentage of people want desktop sync but MS say no...... unless you use a MAC.
Great, really great............

[peterawest]

Let's see if I got it correctly... if I use a Windows powered PC....... I cannot and I am stuck with "Cloud sync".......... am I correct?

No, that would be incorrect.

For a Windows machine, we have Zune. It too will allow you to synchronize your music, pictures and videos. And likely when we get to Windows Phone 7.5, it will allow for ringtones too. Neither product allows you to sync e-mail, contacts, etc.

Personally, I’m quite happy with getting my mail and instant messages "over the air" as it were. Since the design of the Windows Phone keeps the data specific to an App in a protected area associated with that App, there is no reasonable way that you could drag a file from one folder to another like you do on a PC.

[Fritzly]

No, that would be incorrect.

For a Windows machine, we have Zune. It too will allow you to synchronize your music, pictures and videos. And likely when we get to Windows Phone 7.5, it will allow for ringtones too. Neither product allows you to sync e-mail, contacts, etc.

Personally, I’m quite happy with getting my mail and instant messages "over the air" as it were. Since the design of the Windows Phone keeps the data specific to an App in a protected area associated with that App, there is no reasonable way that you could drag a file from one folder to another like you do on a PC.


Well I am glad that sync on the cloud "ONLY" works for you; unfortunately it des not fr me and many other people. And you are right that the design of WP7 does not allow you to move a file from a location to another and this is the one of the biggest issue I have with WP7.

I will give MS tiime untill W8 for smartphones will be released, if they will not correct the way the OS handles my data allowing me to move files where I want to keep them, allows sync with the desktop and, among other things, give me back the ability of backup SMS I will have to move to a different platform.
Very sad considering that I am a big fan of MS........

Btw just checked and it seems that the MAC connector will sync ringtones too; of course you will need the Mango update in order to be able to do it.

[peterawest]

Well I am glad that sync on the cloud "ONLY" works for you; unfortunately it des not fr me and many other people.

Not sure what you mean when you say it "only" works for me.

What is preventing it from working for you?

The Mail feature already supports the following:

Windows Live
Exchange and Outlook Web App
Yahoo! Mail
Google Mail

And other POP or IMAP based e-mail services.

[Fritzly]

Not sure what you mean when you say it "only" works for me.

What is preventing it from working for you?

The Mail feature already supports the following:

Windows Live
Exchange and Outlook Web App
Yahoo! Mail
Google Mail

And other POP or IMAP based e-mail services.

I did not mean that only works for you; I meant "Only" as the solely option to sync.

What I would like is "Options" to sync in the cloud and/or with a desktop.

One of the reason of "Windows" success was the fact that the OS was open and flexible; it seems to me that a lot of people that right now are trashing WM were not around or conveniently forget that until the iPhone appeared WM was the King of the market; regrettably nobody at MS remembered that the reason that made WM the most succesfull mobile OS dethroning Palm was that the latter, seating in top place, stopped innovating and failed. MS did the same thing: Ballmer described the iPhone as a joke and Wm development remained stagnant.
Now MS has decided to take an applesque approach but it is not working: I buy a MS product and not an Apple one because I want openess and flexibility, simple as that.

Getting back to the "Cloud only" approach there are a lot of people who do not feel comfortable to store their data "somewhere" and other entities that are even not allowed to do it by law.

I paid to have OneNote on my desktop, why in the hell I have to go to the cloud first in order to get my new pages to the desktop? I see no reasons......

I will give you a further example: I receive a PDF attachment in the email, I am abroad in a hotel and I want to print it. Using my WM powere smartphone I copy it in a folder called "data", go to the business center of the facility, connect the phone to the local computer by USB, the desktop sees the file and print it. Why do I have to use the hotel computer to connect to my Exchange portal and print the document from there?