Microsoft has posted a detailed description of
their soon coming Skybox service for mobile phones. The service will
sync information between your mobile phone and the web.
----- 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.
How do I create a Microsoft My Phone account? You can download the Microsoft My Phone application by browsing to http://www.getskybox.com/install on
your mobile phone. When you browse to this site from select countries,
you will be asked for your phone number to receive a text message which
will contain the link for downloading the application. The first time
that you run the Microsoft My Phone application on your phone after
downloading it, you will be asked to sign in using your Windows Live™
ID (or sign up for a Windows Live ID if you do not already have one).
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 (as described in How do I create a Microsoft My Phone
account?) 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. -----