Microsoft's My Phone Service

[Jason Dunn]

<p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//ppct/auto/1234770439.usr1.png" style="border: 0; float: left;" /></p><p>I posted about <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/news/show/92458/microsoft-my-phone-service-announced-early.html" target="_blank">My Phone</a> last week, but my understanding of it was incorrect - which is kind of funny given that I was part of a briefing about it at Mobius in late 2008. What can I tell you other than it's painful to try to keep track of all these Microsoft "sky-codename" services.</p><p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/myphone/myphone.aspx" target="_blank">My Phone</a> is, currently, strictly a backup program. It's not "Exchange for everyone else" like I thought, though clearly the team is thinking along those lines. At launch, My Phone is simply a way to keep your contacts, calendar, tasks, text messages, photos, videos, music, and documents backed up to Microsoft servers so, in case of phone loss or damage, your stuff will be protected. It's not a cloud sync tool like I first thought, but the pieces are certainly there to allow for that. It's not a substitute for a program such as <a href="http://software.pocketpcthoughts.com/product.asp?id=4898&amp;n=Spb-Backup" target="_blank">Spb Backup</a> [affiliate] for instance, because it won't keep an image of your device with all your programs installed.</p><p>Document types supported for sync are ppt, xls, doc, one, wks) as well as txt, rtf, pdf, html and xml. It's kind of curious that it wouldn't just allow you to specify a folder and take everything in it. It will work over WiFi, so if you have a limited data account you can use WiFi for your initial sync then use your data plan for updates beyond that.</p><p>At launch, Microsoft is offering 200 MB of storage, and the service is free. Right now it's advertising driven, but it's simple enough for Microsoft to add carrier branding and you'd have "Verizon My Phone" or something similar. It will work with any Windows Mobile 6.0 or 6.1 smartphone, both Standard and Professional devices. If your phone already has Exchange sync, that takes priority over your Contacts / Calendar / Tasks, which makes sense. Multiple phones are going to be supported - apparently it's going to be as many as you want. I suspect that 200 MB is per account though, not per phone, so if you have four phones you'll still have 200 MB total. Premium accounts with more storage is an option Microsoft is considering. After the break are some screen shots of My Phone. <MORE /></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/ppct/auto/1234770657.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/ppct/auto/1234770667.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//ppct/auto/1234770676.usr1.png" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/ppct/auto/1234770686.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/ppct/auto/1234770698.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/ppct/auto/1234770711.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/ppct/auto/1234770721.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p>

[the_rapture]

Jason,

Did MS give you any promotional codes to give out?

I also found this free site: http://dashwire.com/mobilin it allows you to backup all the same stuff and share content with sites like Twitter and Facebook. It's some what like ShoZu.com as well, but ShoZu is just for transporting your content to another site. I'm wondering if MS is looking to combine these types of sites all into one? I was really hoping it would be a mix of Apple's Me.com and a backup.

I've also found this free service: http://live.mail2web.com/ for a free Exchange hosted mail.

All of these together make up what I was hoping for in "My Phone". Is there a MS Blog for "My Phone"?

Thanks,
Dennis

[Rob Alexander]

Two days ago, I went to their page and tried to sign in with my Windows Live ID. It offered to put me on a waiting list and today they sent me an email that it was ready to go. So you really don't need an invitation; you can just sign up and they'll reply pretty quickly.

That said, the service is pretty underwhelming. It does back up your data files, but with all the caveats that Jason has already mentioned, it's not a real backup solution. It's unwillingness to back up from your data card is particularly disappointing. Or if they would backup an image of my entire phone that I could restore later after a crash (even without my data card), then I would be impressed.

As is, I'm left feeling somewhat like I've expressed in these forums about Carbonite backup for the PC. Something that only backs up some of your files is worth almost nothing. If you lose your phone, you'll want all of your files back, not just some of them.

[doogald]

As is, I'm left feeling somewhat like I've expressed in these forums about Carbonite backup for the PC. Something that only backs up some of your files is worth almost nothing. If you lose your phone, you'll want all of your files back, not just some of them.

I'm not really planning to use this service, but I can see one scenario where I might disagree. If I was on the road and lost my phone, I think I might appreciate a solution where I could get my contacts and calendars (and perhaps other critical files) back until I got back to my PC with a full backup.

[Rob Alexander]

Okay, so I just thought I'd report back on this since I've had some problems with My Phone and it seems worth letting people know.

After installing the client, My Phone started waking up and night. Because I charge it at night, and it's plugged in, it never turns off again. That's irritating since it has woken up my my wife and me. I wasn't 100% sure, at first, that this is what was doing it (even though it started immediately after the install) so I uninstalled the My Phone client. That solved that problem, but...

...uninstalling My Phone broke my Windows messaging. It just won't start up no matter how I try to start it. This also happened right after the uninstall, so I'm certain this is what did it. Reinstalling the app does not restore the function.

Anyway, we all know that these things happen with beta software, but I thought it was fair to mention it here in case anyone was thinking of trying it who might not be prepared to hard reset their phone when they remove the beta client.

[the_rapture]

I've noticed that my battery is not lasting as long after installing it but haven't been able to get the time to do some testing, i.e. Uninstall and now I'm not sure if I want to. I'll have to make sure I'm ready to hard rest. I'll just have to keep the charger in the car. :)

Thanks for the heads up!