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More information about Microsoft My Phone

Thanks to the inadvertent leak the other day, Microsoft has gone public about its plans for the My Phone service:

Coming soon...

Microsoft My Phone syncs information between your mobile phone and the web, enabling you to:

  • Back up and restore your phone's information to a password-protected web site
  • Access and update your contacts and appointments through your web account
  • Share photos on your phone with family and friends

Back up phone information to a password-protected web site

Microsoft My Phone syncs information on your mobile phone to a storage space on a web site hosted by Microsoft. If your phone is lost or stolen, or if you upgrade to a new phone, you can easily restore the contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and other information that you stored on My Phone to a compatible new or replacement phone. Most phones that run the Windows Mobile 6 operating system are compatible with My Phone service.

Access and update your contacts and appointments on the web

Microsoft My Phone enables you to view and manage phone information by using a web browser. In your web account, you can add, edit, and delete contacts and calendar appointments, and the changes will appear on your phone the next time that you sync.

Share photos with friends and family

Microsoft My Phone makes it easy to view photos on your computer that were taken with your camera phone. From your web account, you can save photos to your computer or can e-mail them to family and friends.

How much does the Microsoft My Phone service cost?

Microsoft does not charge a fee for the My Phone service at this time. But the data plan you have with your mobile operator may require you to pay data-transfer charges when you use the service. If you are unsure of your plan coverage, please contact your mobile operator.

What information can I back up on Microsoft My Phone?

The first time that you run the My Phone application on your mobile phone, you will be asked to accept or change the recommended settings. Recommended settings will synchronize contacts, calendar appointments, tasks, photos, videos, text messages, music, and documents between your phone and your My Phone web account. However:

  • If you have an active connection with Microsoft Exchange server (which is frequently used for corporate e-mail), My Phone will not synchronize your contacts, calendar appointments, or tasks.
  • If you have Windows Live installed on your phone, it will synchronize your Windows Live contacts with the Windows Live web site, and My Phone will synchronize your other contacts to your account on the My Phone web site.
  • If you have an external memory card and selected My Phone's recommended settings, information on the external memory card will not be synchronized.
  • If you store contacts on the SIM card provided by your mobile operator, My Phone will not synchronize these contacts.
  • If you have any documents stored outside the My Documents folder on your phone, My Phone will not synchronize these documents.

How much data can I back up?

Your Microsoft My Phone account gives you 200 MB of free storage on the Microsoft My Phone web site. If a synchronization would result in exceeding this limit, you will receive an error message on your phone and your account on the My Phone web site will only include information received prior to reaching this limit. Any files in excess of this limit will not be saved.

Does Microsoft My Phone back up my phone information automatically?

If you accept the recommended settings, Microsoft My Phone will automatically synchronize information between your mobile phone and your Microsoft My Phone web account once per day between 11:00 P.M. and 5:00 A.M., except when your phone cannot connect to your default data network - for example, when your phone is turned off, out of range, or roaming. You can also back up your data manually at any time by selecting Sync in the Microsoft My Phone application on your phone.

Will Microsoft My Phone work on my mobile phone?

Currently, Microsoft My Phone works only on phones that run the Windows Mobile 6+ operating system. This includes phones from many different manufacturers and mobile operators. To check which version of Windows Mobile your phone is using, click Start > Settings > About on your phone.

What if I've already lost my mobile phone?

If you lost your mobile phone before you began using the Microsoft My Phone service (for instance, if you installed the software but did not perform a sync operation), you cannot use Microsoft My Phone to restore the information that you lost. But if you used My Phone on your old mobile phone, download and install Microsoft My Phone on your new mobile phone and sign in to the Microsoft My Phone application on your phone using the same Windows Live ID that you previously used. Then, by synchronizing manually or waiting for the next automatic synchronization, all information that you backed up to your Microsoft My Phone web account will be restored to the new phone.

Comments

 

Cfischer83 said:

That phone in the icon sure looks like a Zune to me.... hmm...

February 7, 2009 2:52 PM
 

subzerohitman721 said:

I hate to be a downer on a new service. From what I've read thus far, it seems like its pretty restrictive for a syncing service. A lot of phones are now in the GB of storage and to be restricted to MB seems several years out of place. While WM has a good market presence, shutting out a lot of other big players such as RIM, Apple, and anyone not running RM doesn't make it a big splash.

February 7, 2009 3:33 PM
 

yert said:

Agreed, it should up to at least 1GB if not just link to Live SkyDrive and share with that.

February 7, 2009 3:51 PM
 

amabo said:

One more thing to make my Treo 800W WinMO 6.1 smart phone lockup.  

I wish my company would switch to ATT/iPhones.  

February 7, 2009 4:48 PM
 

kadarzsolt said:

This is just an obsolete service from the start:

- if you want true Windows Mobile power, you will get Exchange

- if you do not want to pay, combine Windows Live Hotmail (contact + email) with Live Mesh (folder sync) and you are ready.

- 200Mb is not enough. with 2/3 MP camera phones out there you will fill the space in a few days, or 2-3 weeks the most

-storage card backup missing? what's the point of the entire thing? Device storage is used mostly for apps (they run faster) and microSD cards hold the music, photos, documents, ebooks, audio books...

think they screwed up this one.

February 7, 2009 5:48 PM
 

robertsjoe said:

@subzerohitman721: You post from "ithreats" (a blog of yours) was pathetic. Those are trojans. NO viruses! ZERO! Nada! Nothing! Get back to your Windows anti-virus, make sure it's up to date against the THOUSANDS of viruses and worms attacking Windows. Good luck with that. Hope it doesn't slow your shitty OS too much.

BTW, Mac users do not need to run anti-virus software. Because there are NO viruses in the wild.

February 7, 2009 11:46 PM
 

Teromobile - A mobile world » Blog Archive » More information about Microsoft My Phone - SuperSite Blog said:

Pingback from  Teromobile - A mobile world  » Blog Archive   » More information about Microsoft My Phone - SuperSite Blog

February 7, 2009 11:57 PM
 

USArcher said:

This should never go beyond an invitation only Beta until it is integrated with and makes use of  Windows Live services.

February 8, 2009 12:12 AM
 

USArcher said:

...one more thing, unless there is something else it does that they are not telling us, they should totally underplay it at the upcoming mobile conference.

February 8, 2009 12:16 AM
 

AMD Talk » More information about Microsoft My Phone - SuperSite Blog said:

Pingback from  AMD Talk » More information about Microsoft My Phone - SuperSite Blog

February 8, 2009 1:18 AM
 

Ocean said:

Sunday morning interesting links:

Vote for your favorite vista/starbucks cartoon:

www.techflash.com/.../Cartoon_caption_contest_finalists_Vote_for_your_favorite39219337.html

Please, World, Like Subscription Music, Won’t You?

technologizer.com/.../please-world-like-subscription-music-wont-you

Rob Enderle at his best:

daringfireball.net/.../enderle-ruckus-itunes-claim-chowder

February 8, 2009 11:36 AM
 

Posts about Windows 7 as of February 8, 2009 | The Lessnau Lounge said:

Pingback from  Posts about Windows 7 as of February 8, 2009 | The Lessnau Lounge

February 8, 2009 11:43 AM
 

shark47 said:

Wow, this sounds pretty underwhelming. If this is all they've done in the consumer space in the last couple of years, good luck to them.

"Sunday morning interesting links:"

Oh dear! He's back.

February 8, 2009 12:46 PM
 

Links for February 7-8, 2009 « Steve Mullen’s Blog said:

Pingback from  Links for February 7-8, 2009 « Steve Mullen’s Blog

February 8, 2009 9:32 PM
 

Microsoft My Phone Beta Service und Windows Mobile 6.5 auf dem MWC angek??ndigt! « Joerg??s IT-Tech Blog said:

Pingback from  Microsoft My Phone Beta Service und Windows Mobile 6.5 auf dem MWC angek??ndigt! « Joerg??s IT-Tech Blog

February 18, 2009 3:14 AM
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