Published by: TechCrunch
Written by: Robin Wauters
Coinciding with the introduction of the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, Microsoft has upgraded and launched its free phone backup service My Phone – previously in beta – and added a couple of useful premium features to it.
Despite the fact that the official My Phone blog and Twitter account remain silent for the time being, users have definitely taken notice and started tweeting about it.
If you have a Windows Mobile 6 phone, you can use Microsoft My Phone to backup all your data, including your contacts, calendar, photos and more to a password-protected website. When you switch to a new Windows phone, or you lose (data on) your current one, you can head to the website to restore documents, contacts, music, and anything else you synced in just a few clicks.
The website also gives you an easy way to organize your phone photos, or to search your text messages and anything else you synced to the service. In addition, you get an easy starting point for redistributing media to your Windows Live account or other social networks, either from your phone or the web application. All in all, it’s a no-brainer to start using it if you carry a Windows phone. Most newer Windows phones come with the program pre-installed anyway, but you can also download it to your device on the fly right here.
Microsoft does not charge a fee for using My Phone, although it new boasts a couple of Premium Features which require a charge ($4.99). These features are:
– Ring Your Phone: remotely have your device ring (even if it is set to “silent” or “vibrate” mode) so it’s easier for you to retrieve in case you misplaced it
– Locate your phone: in case someone stole your phone and left it on, this feature will enable the GPS receiver on your device and show it on a map
– Lock your Phone: will lock your phone and display a message (e.g. your name and contact information) in case you have lost your phone and a good soul finds it
– Erase your phone: remotely wipe off all data from your phone
All these features are free to trial for 60 days.