Microsoft Phone Data Manager Beta

Now, this looks interesting. It’s unclear what this is, sort of, as it’s apparently separate from all the Windows Live stuff going on right now. But still … could be important.

Microsoft Phone Data Manager Beta is an application that is designed to take away the worry of losing data on your phone - specifically contacts, music, pictures and videos. It does that by synchronizing your phone contacts with Microsoft's Windows Live Contacts store in the cloud, or by helping you download files from the phone to your local computer.

Contacts: Microsoft Phone Data Manager Beta synchronizes the contacts present in your phone with your contact store on Windows Live Contacts, which is the same store that your Hotmail contacts uses. This way, your phone contacts are always present on the internet, accessible via the contacts link on Hotmail. If you lose, or simply change your phone, all you need to do is to synchronize the contacts using Microsoft Phone Data Manager Beta, and all the contacts that you stored in your Windows Live Contacts store will be downloaded to your phone. You can synchronize your contacts as many times as you like so that the changes you make (edits, additions or deletions) on your phone, or on the computer on Windows Live Contacts are always reflected on both your phone and the Windows Live Contacts store.

Music, Pictures and Video: In its current form, Microsoft Phone Data Manager Beta will download the music, pictures and videos present in your phone to a local folder on the computer you are using this application on

Communication with your phone: Microsoft Phone Data Manager Beta can communicate with your phone via a wireless standard known as Bluetooth, or via a USB cable.

In order for you to synchronize contacts, you will need to have a Windows Live ID (any Hotmail ID is a valid Windows Live ID). If you do not have one, you will be prompted to create one while you use the application.

Thanks Rafael.

Discuss this Article 17

yert
on Sep 22, 2008
I heard about this a while ago, but I didn't think it was that important. If phones were to support automatic syncing, then maybe it is though.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 22, 2008
The key part, which is missing in this blurb, is that this works for a huge number of regular phones. For Windows Mobile it would be redundant but this works with Motorola and Nokia and Sony/Ericsson non-SmartPhones (StupidPhones?)... There's a list of phones they know work with it and a list they know won't published at http://specials.msn.co.in/sp08/msphonedatamanager/willmy_phone.asp
shark47
on Sep 22, 2008
Thanks Mike. I've got an old S/E phone whose display is screwed up. I hope this works with it. I'd like to download some of the stuff from that onto my new phone. OT: Have any of you used something like this to connect a laptop hard disk to a PC? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Edp...
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 22, 2008
btw: I mentioned this was redundant for Windows Mobile so I should probably give a link.. If you have a Windows Mobile phone, the link for Windows LIve for Mobile is: http://www.gowindowslive.com/Mobile/ This also works for some Nokia phones, to see which, go to that page and click the For Nokia link. The sync is part of
cgdams
on Sep 22, 2008
Folks, before you get too excited about it: Read the system requirements section. It's for Windows 32. And only 32. No 64 support yet. Sure, it's a beta, but come on, Microsoft, you can't be serious about that,
Waethorn
on Sep 23, 2008
"Have any of you used something like this to connect a laptop hard disk to a PC?" Yes, and they work. Mini-ITX builders are all too familiar with these. "Read the system requirements section. It's for Windows 32. And only 32. No 64 support yet." WOW! Beta test Microsoft applets long?! :P This is pretty common. Usually they clean up driver support and finalize WOW64 compatibility in an RC. As you say - it IS a beta after all. BTW: From all the Bluetooth support listed, I would say this probably uses OBEX transfer for most of the work.
Nickelgreen
on Sep 23, 2008
I wonder if this works with my "primitive" Samsung E250. I think not, however...
Nickelgreen
on Sep 23, 2008
I checked the list Mike kindly linked here. My crap-phone is not supported. lol But I'm planning to get an HTC soon for my business.
Mum
on Sep 23, 2008
With the rise of cloud computing it has become clear that syncing is definitely one of the next killer apps. Calendar and contact syncing between the phone and the computer is a key feature for me, I couldn't live (well, work) without it.
Waethorn
on Sep 23, 2008
OT: Has anybody noticed that Microsoft's newer UI conventions seem to favour more text-based interfaces as evidenced by the new Windows Live software, and the Windows Vista/7 Start Menu, instead of the icon-driven stuff of old? I know one thing about this tactic - it makes people actually read before blindly clicking. It takes a lot of innovation (there's that word again, losta) to get someone to use a text-labelled interface and actually enjoy it, so Microsoft has a pretty steep mountain to get over. All the power to 'em. I know several people who's kids had learned to read on the old Sierra AGI adventure games before they turned to a "click-n-grope" interface. Maybe people will just be a little smarter when using a computer.
shark47
on Sep 23, 2008
Thanks Wae. Nickel, it might still be supported. That list is just those phones which they know for sure are supported.
Waethorn
on Sep 23, 2008
It seems that this app is targetted to the home users, now that smartphones are being pushed out to consumers. Telus' latest ad campaign even features the theme of "smartphones for everyone".
tayme
on Sep 23, 2008
@Sharkey - I have used that very item many times to recover data off laptop hard drives when the lappy is messed up bad enough to re-image or if there are other hardware failures. Works great! --tayme
Waethorn
on Sep 23, 2008
BTW sharky: If it's a temporary fix, or for a custom SFF PC, then ya, that's a good idea. It also brings your power requirements down tremendously. A desktop drive will always be cheaper/GB, and usually has much faster seek times, and sometimes more buffer space too though.
shark47
on Sep 23, 2008
Thanks guys. I need it to recover data from my laptop drive. For some reason, the backups stopped after June.
Waethorn
on Sep 23, 2008
Sharky: if you find you need to access drives like this on a semi-regular basis, try this one instead: http://www.startech.com/item-specs/USB2SATAIDE-USB-20-to-IDE-or-SATA-Ada... It's not meant for day-to-day use as the SATA connection is slow over USB, but it works. If you want something with faster access over USB, but can do without IDE, I'd recommend Vantec's NexStar Hard Drive Dock. They also have a similar adapter to StarTech, but it's not as good, and more money.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 23, 2008
One thing to realize is that this is an app being done and promoted by MSN India and so the list of phones they've tested probably fits the Indian market more than the US market.

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