[Review] Microsoft's MyPhone service - General Topics

Rundown: great service to store your contacts and SMS messages when ROM Switching/Upgrading, or when switching phones.
Full Review: Don't know where else to put this.. I'm reviewing the MyPhone service from Microsoft because I used it to synchronize my Contacts and my SMS messages prior to upgrading my Touch Pro 2 from Windows Mobile 6.1 to WM 6.5.
Here are the results:
Before upgrading my phone, I synchronized my contacts to Outlook 2007 on Vista over ActiveSync, and synchronized my SMS messages to Outlook 2007 on Vistsa using Jeyo's Outlook Extender... I thought I was ready to rock and roll until I realized Jeyo's program wasn't sending SMS messages back to my phone as it was supposed to.
Rather than fiddle with it longer than the 30 minutes I already had, I searched for an alternative method. Enter Microsoft's MyPhone service. I logged into the service using my existing hotmail e-mail address, sent a link to my phone, downloaded the software directly to my phone, and began synchronizing. The time to upload 511 contacts and about 3200 SMS messages took about 25-30 minutes over Sprint's 3G network.
After I verified everything I needed to back up was on Microsoft's MyPhone site, I began the upgrade of my phone.
Upgrade complete, took about 10 minutes... and during that time, I was reading about adding a new phone to the MyPhone service...
So I just installed WM 6.5... Right after the upgrade completed, I sent the MyPhone service's "Add new device" link to my same phone, which is now running WM 6.5 instead of WM 6.1
Link received on phone, downloaded, installed, it asked for a restart, so i did... and... here goes...
Phone's on again... Let's see...
*taps start*
*open "My Phone"*
*taps next*
*taps accept*
*enters hotmail info*
*taps next*
*uncheck photos, videos, music, documents* (because I don't want those synchronized)
*taps next*
automatic synchronization? sounds good.. I have unlimited data..
*taps finish*
and now it says "Synchronizing"... already at 80 of 510 contacts (I found one duplicate earlier while the upgrade was completing, thanks to the built in "Find Duplicates" button on the MyPhone site you access through your PC) ... by the time I finished that sentence, it's already downloaded 325 of my contacts... We shall soon see if it kept my contact pictures and such, which would be great, although not a complete necessity... I'm most concerned about my thousands of texts... and it just completed the contacts... now texts... already at 90 of 2832 (i cleaned those up quite a bit also) now at 175... it seems to be downloading about 133 messages per minute over Sprint's 3G connection...
I'll leave it...
It's done... total time to synchronize 510 contacts and 2832 text messages took approximately 25-30 minutes over Sprint's 3G connection. This is honestly pretty bad in comparison to USB synchronization, but considering it's over 3G and can occur whenever/wherever, and was easier and more convenient than installing outlook, configuring the synchronization settings (because this is only one of dozens of PC's with ActiveSync/Mobile Device Center I've plugged this phone into), trying to figure out if I wanted to keep it synched with another PC or not, yada yada... AND it will synchronize everyday automatically, I must say I've definitely got to recommend Microsoft's MyPhone ... now, did it keep my messages in order, are my contacts still with pictures? The answer is...
Yes!! Perfect air synchronization... it took a bit longer than I thought, but MyPhone essentially synchronized all my stuff with no hassle and I can access the data from anywhere! whoo-hoo!! not only that, but my messages are all in order, and the ones that were read are still marked as read, and the ones that were unread are still marked as unread!!! I LIKE IT!! A LOT!! I can't attest to MMS messages since I didn't have any at the time I did my sync, but I'm sure I'll get one later
So, Microsoft's MyPhone gets a double-thumbs-up from me for keeping my contacts and sweet SMS messages intact PERFECTLY during a phone update, making it nearly hassle-free and fool-proof, and not costing a single red cent.
Thanks, Microsoft. Did I just say that? I need coffee... it's 6:45 in the morning. Good luck, fellow gadget lovers!

yeah, dont forget to register on msn first to let this thing working.
and dont forget to share you private data by using MyPhone with MS

I think the thing about the MyPhone service that made me happiest is the hassle-free restoration of my text messages. PIMBackup, Jeyo, and the other ones I've used are a bit of a hassle to set up, and I didn't completely feel that they were 100% what I needed. Once I logged into the MyPhone service and saw my messages being backed up on my PC in a readable format, I felt assured. That's why I prefer the MyPhone service.

I find the Myphone serve great, plus i know if i ever lose my phone, i do not lose my contacts and sms's, i can just restore everythgin to a new phone.
I set mine to sync every day at 3am.
Btw you can also set it to sync your location, pictures, storage card etc, so you have everythign backed up online.
Another big plus, is if you log into the myphone service via a PC, you can search all your sms's and view any file you uploaded via any PC.

just to warn, there's an issue of duplicates that myphone creates. For example, it does not recognise a task as the same one if you change the title, or due date etc. It recreates a duplicate. Same for calendar etc. PIM backup is still king

heineken78 said:
yeah, dont forget to register on msn first to let this thing working.
and dont forget to share you private data by using MyPhone with MS
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Click to collapse
LOL...good point...unfortunately tho, lets be realistic, if someone wants that info bad enough they can still get it...especially if you back it up anywhere...

POKEYTSI said:
LOL...good point...unfortunately tho, lets be realistic, if someone wants that info bad enough they can still get it...especially if you back it up anywhere...
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Click to collapse
No actually they can't get that info nowhere if you only save it on your secure PC. What they are doing with this service is effectively creating a huge worldwide database with phone numbers+names+email addresses+home/work addresses whatever and I bet they'd sell access to it to the highest bidder. Also I'm sure that the US government agencies will have access to it anyhow. This database can and will be used in order to track anyone on the planet...considering your smartphone has also a gps included and myphone includes a "gps location" premium feature "in case it gets stolen". The feature is there although you can't use it unless you play for premium...they can activate it at will though.
Don't want to sound paranoid here but think about it for a moment. The only way I would even remotely consider using such a service would be if the client utilized strong encryption (eg high bit (elliptic curve or not) DSA) so that the only thing transmitted to M$ would be the encrypted package. And I say remotely consider because all encryption schemes can be cracked with adequate "cpu time". The people utilizing such a database though would have no issue to employ supercomputer cluster farms for their "forensic" needs...
Sorry but..NO...with capital letters.

Email addresses other than MS
So... It has the option to use your existing Windows Live ID, using a hotmail, msn, live, or other. So when you select other, and type in your email thinking you will get at domain prompt at some next step, you can't go to the next step. The sign in button won't activate. If you type in your full email address in the bar, it wil allow you to use the sign in button but still won't work. I'm currently on Windows Live right now, logged in to Windows live from Opera on my phone, all using my non-MS email address. Anyone have any idea why can't I use it to log in to this one service when they clearly give you the option to do so?
Using Energy ROM (9/29), Rhodium.

Related

Best FREE Push email solution for windows mobile?

I've been searching for a good push setup with gmail, but I cant find anything that is perfect
Free:
SEVEN-Similar to mobipush, supports html email, does not allow to acces other folders than inbox and has to install a separate program on the phone.
mail2web-
cannot change reply-to address, but syncs contacts/tasks also.. it also gives decent battery life. Adds a "sent by mail2web" signature
emoze(web server)-
does not mark read/unread messages, and it does not allow to access other folders than inbox. It also adds a "sent by emoze" signature
Mobipush- does not seem to support HTML messages, does not allow access to folders other than inbox
Windows Live Hotmail- good solution when using hotmail
Pay:
mail2web-
You forward all your current email to a @mail2web.com adress, and it syncs contacts/tasks/calendar/email, this is a really good choice if you decide to pay for push
PushEffect- sends a "hidden" text message to phone, telling it to send/recieve, good solution when not recieving lots of email.
flexmail-not free, interference very buggy, does not allow programs to integrate with built in pOutlook
VGSmail(emansio)- not free, from what I read, this makes the battery drain quick it is imap IDLE,
So could you guys help me create a list of all the solutions that we can use with gmail, and I will write a short review on all of them? (Then I can create a poll)
Now I am using a gmail imap with 15min intervals
I'd recommend MobiPush... I never really was a fan of Push Email, but MobiPush makes things effortless and easy. Try it out.
http://www.mobipush.com
Thanks mobipush seems great... but when I go to the email settings, plain text is selected and grayed out... any ideas?
I used to use VGSmail for my IMAP IDLE. Not sure if it still exists though, been a while. It might be the one to suit your bill
I will try it out tomorow, it looks interesting, it renamed to emansio, it is a pay software thou
What kind of battery life did you get with it?
Here's one you may not have considered. . .
Windows Live Hotmail. . .if you have Windows Live on your PPC, you can set it to have email pushed to your mobile. . .allows for all folders to be seen/accessed. . .real-time push. . .sync contacts with phone. . .full HTML. . .only downside is the text-based ads at the bottom, however, I was so impressed with what I was getting, I figured it was worth 19.95 a year. . .especially when you consider that you can use Windows Live Admin Center to have Hotmail host your domain, thus, all email sent from mobile and from website are the same. . .without the need for the hotmail domain and without the text-based ads at the bottom of every email. What's more the web interface is among the best I've ever used. GMail was way ahead for a long time, but Hotmail is now in the running and for me, the push email was the "push" I needed to make the switch. . .I've played with mail2web (only 4.95 per month for full, but only Exchange 2003. . .Exchange 2007 available, but for $10 more a month), IT Solutions. . .fantastic product, price pretty good at $10 per month, Exchange 2007, but again, why pay $120 a year when I can pay a one time a year fee of $20 and get virtually the same thing. . .FlexMail. . .way buggy and only ate my resources for lunch. . .Emansio/VGS Mail. . .okay, but a battery hog and WAYYYY expensive at approximately $50 for a two year license and it doesn't exactly play nice with WM6. . .MobiPush. . .does it right, but only for inbox and no HTML. . .eMoze. . .works, but you serve as their advertising agent. . .SEVEN. . .does everything right with no ads, but it is beta and subject to disappearing at anytime. . .plus, only allows for inbox and is not very configurable. . .
I said all of that to say this. . .most of the time, you get what you pay for. . .on the other hand, the Hotmail/Windows Live Admin Center/Windows Live For Mobile combo seems to be the best of all worlds at a ridiculously low price in the end. . .
It's all about PushEffect by QoreFunctions. I use it, and it works *perfectly* for me.
The app isn't free, but it is *great* at performing automatic POP logins to download your messages. It is basically a service which checks for an SMS sent by your provider which notifies you of a new e-mail to your phone. What you do is first have your mail server automatically forward your messages to your phone's e-mail account (usually ##yournumber##@your.provider.com). Your provider should then SMS you with a patterned message (i.e. same words used; sent from same service number) and PushEffect will pick this up and go trigger a "Send/Receive" from the accounts you setup in your Pocket Outlook.
If you cannot manipulate your mail server to auto-forward messages to your phone's e-mail, then just set your desktop client to auto-send/receive every 5-10mins and have a rule that FW's it to your phone's e-mail. If using G-Mail, like I believe you are, just go to SETTINGS --> Forwarding and POP/IMAP, and have it "Keep a copy in your G-Mail Inbox"
You can grab the program here:
PushEffect by QoreFunctions (Trial Download)
pcharouz said:
flexmail-not free, interference very buggy, does not allow programs to integrate with built in pOutlook
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Try FlexMail 4, it works really well IMHO, I moved away from Windows Live mail as T-Mobile/M$ started to block it. I now use FlexMail to my GMail apps account and I'm much happier than when I used Windows Live Mail.
http://www.pocketinformant.com/Forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=11593&view=findpost&p=69319
Forgot about. . .
PushEffect. . .awesome if you have unlimited texting or get very few emails a day. . .not so for me. . .in addition, I have a Treo 750 and have NEVER been able to get it to work. . .As for TMobile blocking Live, hadn't heard that before. . .what would they have to gain by doing that? I have AT&T and they removed LIVE from their WM6, but I've found a copy of it that works great!!!
Al66 said:
Try FlexMail 4, it works really well IMHO, I moved away from Windows Live mail as T-Mobile/M$ started to block it. I now use FlexMail to my GMail apps account and I'm much happier than when I used Windows Live Mail.
http://www.pocketinformant.com/Forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=11593&view=findpost&p=69319
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Click to collapse
I agree with this. FM4 is amazing. They really polished the application, it's not buggy at all. My only problem is it doesn't update the system mail counter, but because it supports it's own notification system (try it!) it's really not a problem, and may just be better! I find that FM function amazingly close to the mail features of Microsoft Outlook for PC, and is really worth the cost if you need Push Email.
Seven works great for me..
Hands down, Seven is the best I've used yet.
Clean, messages come in HTML, attachments aren't hit with data ceilings etc.
http://community.seven.com/forum/main.php
Thanks for all the input... I will test all of them soon, is there any other FREE alternatives? So far seven seems the best thou
I also fixed the title since nobody focused on gmail...
Seven Is Awesome, But. . .
As I had mentioned earlier, I think SEVEN is quite the fantastic program. My hesitation, however, is rooted in the fact that SEVEN is beta. . .not a reflection on the program's quality, but on its longevity as a "free" solution. In addition, it does have some issues which I haven't been able to get past. First, it's not a true IMAP solution. . .it's an advanced POP polling setup that runs through SEVEN's servers in order to achieve the push effect. . .you WILL get pretty darn fast notification of new email. You will NOT have emails that you delete on your phone deleted on the gmail server. You will also only have access on your phone to things that come into the "inbox". . .meaning that if you wish to move an item in your phone's inbox to another folder, it will not provide the reciprocal movement on the gmail side. The whole point with using gmail in tandem with my WM6 was the fact that it was now IMAP. . .changes made on my phone side were reflected on the gmail side. . .something that is negated when SEVEN is put into the mix.
Just something for you to consider. . . .
bryanbelt said:
As I had mentioned earlier, I think SEVEN is quite the fantastic program. My hesitation, however, is rooted in the fact that SEVEN is beta. . .not a reflection on the program's quality, but on its longevity as a "free" solution. In addition, it does have some issues which I haven't been able to get past. First, it's not a true IMAP solution. . .it's an advanced POP polling setup that runs through SEVEN's servers in order to achieve the push effect. . .you WILL get pretty darn fast notification of new email. You will NOT have emails that you delete on your phone deleted on the gmail server. You will also only have access on your phone to things that come into the "inbox". . .meaning that if you wish to move an item in your phone's inbox to another folder, it will not provide the reciprocal movement on the gmail side. The whole point with using gmail in tandem with my WM6 was the fact that it was now IMAP. . .changes made on my phone side were reflected on the gmail side. . .something that is negated when SEVEN is put into the mix.
Just something for you to consider. . . .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im pretty sure it deletes emails in my gmail inbox that I delete on the phone only..
I updated the first post with links and separated free/pay, I am using seven right now, and I like it so far.
if anybody has anything to add, or knows of any other solutions pleas speak up! I want to create a poll when I have more of them..
also, could someone please give me a link to windows live?
Edit:
sweet, check it out, this post made it to the first place on google...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...Z&q=best+free+push+email+solution&btnG=Search
I tried mobipush it seems good concept but doesnt seem to be too reliable.
using seven but it slows down the pda abit and opening of the pocket outlook. but its quite reliable and fast. am using it via wifi
so far, i like SEVEN the best, but sometimes i have trouble downloading attachements, anybody have the same problem?
I've tried them all and was going to stay with my mail2web solution (with gmail fowarded), but I was getting tired of not having my conversations threaded and having to go into my Gmail account on my pc to mark all the emails that I had already read or deleted. Seven was okay, but seemed to slow my Vogue to a standstill when selecting my email icon. Mobipush wasn't going to work, since it would not keep my contacts, appointments and tasks updated along with my gmail. I tried PushEffect as a last resort and so far it is working very well. I have my gmail set up with imap enabled on my phone and get messages just a few seconds slower than with the mail2web exchange server. The few seconds delay is worth it, as being able to keep my emails synced between my phone and desktop, while keeping my conversations threaded is exactly what I was looking for.
A bonus is that none of it is dependent on a server application like Seven or Mobipush.
This could be a great thread.
I still think it is a shame that the POutlook team didn't really implement more feature to IMAP in it (IDLE and folder mappings).

Deleted ALL Activesync data! Please help asap!!

Oh no... I don't know what I did but I did something wrong as I lost all my calendar entries, phone numbers and tasks etc.
I installed a new Windows XP version on my desktop and then Activesync, plugged my HTC TytnII to the USB-cable and pressed OK to everything (I know, I was too tired) and I think I accidentally DELETED the old partnership.
Now I'm searching for an old version of the Outlook.pst with RecoverMyFiles application, but is there a way to search the HTC TytnII for some remains of the data?
I simply depend on my contacts, calendar entries and tasks... lots of business related material in them Please help in any way you can.
I'm sorry men, My bother just did that, and had no backup..
"the most outrageous thing".. for the company to give with phone a Trial version of sync application(outlook), that stops wotking after 30, 60 days, and then you have USELESS device, that after any kind of malfunction DESTROYS LITERALLY Your Entire AGENDA, Contacts, calendar......
I'd like to Quote that sentence:
"That fact that it could be erased without any interaction from the user seems like programming incompetence that surpasses even Microsoft's ability to screw things up."
http://www.pocketpcmag.com/cms/forum/topic/29672
I Agree, Phone is supposed to be an APPLIANCE, Not WINDOWS pc braking up untill SP3 comes out!, No Automatic backup in a device??!! of the most vital data>?.. i have no will power to write about it now..
I Know some companies ARE Making up for M$ Mistakes, like HTC giving their own version of backup tool... Yet it should be hardcoded in system to make backups REGARDLESS of User interaction, kind of like system restore""
I Have also lost some important data, and found me a PIM Backup. works very well.
free, does the job MICROSOFT already TOOK Money from us to do and FAILED...miserably.
Unfortunately for MANY of "newcomers" that happens.. tired, late night, and ALL Your "life" essential data GONE!!, thanks to Activesync.. microsoft, and Bill G.
PARALYSED!!
Ech..
Seems, that nothing can be done AT ALL to get those back, unless you have copied or backed up your PIM.vol file by accident..
"NO, no system restore for PocketPC this time".. that SUCKS BIG TIME< .. Just like VISTA..
It's like selling a security box with only ONE KEY, so, when you'll brake it there will be NO WAY to recover contents of it..
"we" Have basically NO choice whatsoever to purchase alternative "security box", since like 60% or more(?) of mobile devices are WM devices..
I'm still trying to digg deeper into database structure to find any sort of way to reverse removal of records in database, or to find a log in which each operation done on database is being stored..
SLimmm chance?..
Worth taking to help The Brother out.. ;-)
Take care, and back up your PC, Microwave, fridge, "Ipod" and a car computer contents.. before it will get lost in a cyberspace "owned by M$"..
johniemi said:
Oh no... I don't know what I did but I did something wrong as I lost all my calendar entries, phone numbers and tasks etc.
I installed a new Windows XP version on my desktop and then Activesync, plugged my HTC TytnII to the USB-cable and pressed OK to everything (I know, I was too tired) and I think I accidentally DELETED the old partnership.
Now I'm searching for an old version of the Outlook.pst with RecoverMyFiles application, but is there a way to search the HTC TytnII for some remains of the data?
I simply depend on my contacts, calendar entries and tasks... lots of business related material in them Please help in any way you can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what you wrote it sounds like all you did was delete the partnership, right? What is on your phone currently?
Yes, I deleted the partnership and my phone is currently blank. No contacts, no calendar entries... nothing
Are you using Exchange Server to connect to, or just your Windows XP box that downloads something like POP3 mail ?
If you use exchange server, your data is not lost, all you gotta do is re-establish a partnership with your Exchange Server.
If you reinstalled XP without making a *.PST export of all your Outlook files, and your PDA is now empty, you are pretty much screwed, sorry.
What you might be able to do (if your mail is hosted somewhere and you download via POP/IMAP, is get your XP box to connect to the POP3 service, get your mail, and then sync it to the device. Still , your contacts, agenda, everything will be lost.
lucid said:
If you reinstalled XP without making a *.PST export of all your Outlook files, and your PDA is now empty, you are pretty much screwed, sorry.
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Click to collapse
OK, so live and learn... that's all I gotta say. Damn I hate Microsoft for not including a semiautomatic system restore/backup utility, but most of all I hate myself for not being more careful. I should've been more alert and backed up my data monthly or even weekly.
I'm off to buy a backup application asap :/

Microsoft MyPhone sync, your thoughts?

I synced for the first time last night. It went well. The myphone interface on the web is pretty basic and the limitation of pulling up only 15 contacts at a time is a bit low but whatever.
I like it!
Backs up SMS too, sweet.
I tried it and I liked it too, but the space available (200MB) was way too little. At least 2GB would be sweet.
I haven't been invited to join MyPhone yet.
Bowdowntozoltan said:
I haven't been invited to join MyPhone yet.
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Click to collapse
it should be open to everybody today, login to your myphone page and check.
Bowdowntozoltan said:
I haven't been invited to join MyPhone yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's an open beta...http://sn1-p3.myphone.microsoft.com/mkweb/Start.po
I like it because now I can download a ROM in Iris to my storage card, flash it, then sync from Myphone without figuring out how to backup to storage card.
If you like it just depends on if you like online backup or media backup.
i Like it but i prefer Funambol, as one its free and to it synchronises my TP with two PCs and my Kaiser. The only thing funambol doesnt do is the files part and text messages, which im finding pretty cool, you should try funambol though, it rocks!
Right after I posted that I hadn't been invited I realized it was open. I checked 2 days prior and it wasnt. It's kinda cool I guess, though I usually delete my text messages so thats just a waste of space. it took all the basic "pictures" from what came with the ROM, so that was useless, took boring "video" from rom, i wish it had access to the storage card.
I would have to recommend http://www.vufone.com
$20 for a year but it does everything that has been mentioned here.
It will backup contacts, SMS, emails, photos, files, storage card etc etc
If you just want a PIM backup solution, then My Phone is ok, and it works as advertised. I find My Phone marginally useful for three reasons:
- Does not backup any data on storage card. I store lots of user documents and photos on the storage card to save device memory, and My Phone is useless for those files. If My Phone is going to back up user documents, it needs to support storage cards as well as device memory.
- Does not sync with desktop Outlook. Ok, so My Phone is not advertised as a contact/calendar syncing solution. But wouldn't it be nice if Microsoft provided its own over the air sync for us users that are not on an Exchange server? All Microsoft would have to do is set up the sync between desktop Outlook and the My Phone web data. Essentially, My Phone would be replacing the Exchange server for syncing PIM data.
- Not enough storage. The marginal cost of storage is approaching zero for large numbers of users, so cost recovery for storage (or limited storage) is a limiting business model. I would be glad to tolerate a few advertisements for more storage (as long as the first two restrictions are fixed).
I like it... I'm one of those people that logs everything, and MyPhone gives me the ability to archive my text messages to the web (I had about 1800), which fixed my problem here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=516569.
With that said, it only allows 15 messages per page, so it took at least 20-30 minutes to back up all my text messages... maybe if I do it weekly it wouldn't be such a problem. This has been a suggestion for a long time though, so who knows.
I like it though. With some more optimizations I say it'd be great. Now if they merge it with Live and make this a solution where you set this up at the very beginning when you buy your phone (i.e. you'd run MyPhone Live where it would synchronize and setup your MSN Messenger, your Hotmail, and the MyPhone service based on your Live account), it would definitely be a possible market-breaking product. Of course, Apple would start some similar system I'm sure.
I use www.dashwire.com, much better and it's free..more features..try it!
Wow... just checked that out... does look pretty cool. Will try out and see if it holds its salt for nub users like myself.
Edit: Tried it out for the day... the Picture/Video stuff is pretty spiffy, the text messaging via browser is a bit odd (it doesn't copy the sent message to your phone, for instance, which is weird when you look at a one sided conversation on your phone later), Using IE8... the website was a bit buggy, the voicemail thing from CallWave was a pain to setup (since the phone instructions for setting up your voicemail aren't posted, and I had to search on the web to find a comment on a blog posted by their product rep explaining it), but in the end the voicemail thing is pretty damn awesome. Contact thing is cool...
With all that said... it doesn't serve my purposes of -backing up- my text messages, as there isn't an archive option like M$ MyPhone. Definitely better implementation than MyPhone though.

Synchronize call log with Outlook Journal

Hi all,
I have searched for this application for a long time and tried whole bunch of them, but I am still looking for SOLID, SIMPLE, and STRAIGHTFORWARD application to save Call log entries into Outlook Journal.
My setup:
Windows 7 32-bit
Outlook 2007 SP2
HD2 with latest T-Mo ROM and Cookie Home Tab installed.
Applications I tried:
Maniac's SmartJournal - so far the best solution and worked flawlessly on the XP. Since I switched to Windows 7 it shows that the SmartJournal reads from the device, the notification disappears and nothing happens. Maniac's website is down, so I cannot find out what is going on.
Pocket Informant Outlook Extension - since it is now free as Informant stopped supporting Windows Mobile, I tried it, it seems that it works and does some synchronizing according to the log, but no entry shows up the Journal.
Jeyo Outlook Extension - they used to support Outlook Journal in their version for Symbian, but in their Windows Mobile they only synchronize SMS.
MobiTNT - I tried that software as well, but I am not able to enable the software on the computer.
I know that there is also some app for syncing call log into calendar but it seems way too akward.
I know that there are many threads about this all over the Xda, but they seem to be old for one and do not end up with comprehensive solution afterall.
I would like to this post to become comprehensive and one stop solution for somebody who is looking for the solution like me.
Any ideas are welcome.
Nobody? Really? Really?
I Feel your pain
I used to use Calls to Journal from Chapura with my windows handheld. Strangely it is now discontinued.
It was slick, and perfect. Dumped all calls to Outlook journal and tagged the outlook contacts (so that they showed up in activites). Was perfect in my business when someone denied that you called them.
I can't find anything that compares. Not even close. The other ones like "missing sync" try to do too much and do not include this very simple functionality.
Have you had any luck?
Well, I finally managed to make the Maniac's Smartjournal work and it works great. It transfers the calls into Journal and tags for the known Contacts so it shows in Activities.
If you would like to try it, I have the .exe files since the website is no longer active. The files are really small and the program is no memory hog by any means. I tried Jeyo and it just crashes Outlook.
Let me know.
Another one
I wish i could be more helpful but there is one applicatoin which i have used in the past but have since forgotten the name whichvery simply adds an appointment into outlook which lasts for the duration of the call, with the title of whoever the conversation was with.
this might be the one i was thinking of. I'm gonna check it now.
kolibrik said:
Well, I finally managed to make the Maniac's Smartjournal work and it works great. It transfers the calls into Journal and tags for the known Contacts so it shows in Activities.
If you would like to try it, I have the .exe files since the website is no longer active. The files are really small and the program is no memory hog by any means. I tried Jeyo and it just crashes Outlook.
Let me know.
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Click to collapse
post the files please & details you have on them & any special instructions on getting it working.
One of the biggest mistakes MS made was not having WM & its PC software linking together with complete harmony & user control.
Really are a clueless bunch at redmond HQ ...
I am attaching the rar file. There are two files. One is SmartJournal.exe and the other is SmartJournal Beta.exe Try first the SmartJournal.exe run as admin and compatibility with XP SP2. Sometimes it shows the error that the CallLog.csv cannot be dumped. If that is the case, uninstall the SmartJournal and install the Beta (again as administrator and compatibility mode XP SP2). Maniac had a great forum unfortunatelly that website is no longer active.
Let me know if you have any trouble.
Take 2
I just realised my previous post was totally useless since I never included the link. I've been using Call Calendar for the past few days which works really well, recording the time, duration, who the call was with and who called who silently into outlook, which will then obviously sync over activesync or exchange. you can get it here:
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-call-calendar.html
then again while searching for that link i found this program, Phonelog- it's newer and seems to have additional features like recording incoming SMS. I think you can customise what is recorded too, it might be worth a shot:
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-phonelog.html
I've never used Outlook journal, so I don't know how much functionality you lose as a result of these being purely appointments. Hope it oculd be useful though.
Thanks for the post and link. I prefere not to use the calendar for syncing, because than the entries eat up the screen when I view my calendar appointments. Also, I always felt siunce the Journal has a Phone log category it is more obvious to use it rather than calendar. Also, I make LOT of calls on given days and then my calendar looks like mess between the actual appointments and the phone call. Also, I checked the review section on freeware.com and lot of people complain about the SMS not working (which would be the only feature why I would consider this software). But great addition to the post and thanks for the links.
Karel
You can try MobileArchiver (mobilearchiving.com) - for me works perfectly and puts all call history in journal every sync.
kolibrik said:
I am attaching the rar file. There are two files. One is SmartJournal.exe and the other is SmartJournal Beta.exe Try first the SmartJournal.exe run as admin and compatibility with XP SP2. Sometimes it shows the error that the CallLog.csv cannot be dumped. If that is the case, uninstall the SmartJournal and install the Beta (again as administrator and compatibility mode XP SP2). Maniac had a great forum unfortunatelly that website is no longer active.
Let me know if you have any trouble.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the call history is full, I mean 300 items, there is a great chance that the PC app tries to read the calllogdump.csv on the pda while it is already accessed by the pda (it is written) and therefore paralell reading fails.
Solution: backup call log, and after that, delete some 50-100 entries manually. Sync works then nicely...
Regards, G.
gforg_xda said:
If the call history is full, I mean 300 items, there is a great chance that the PC app tries to read the calllogdump.csv on the pda while it is already accessed by the pda (it is written) and therefore paralell reading fails.
Solution: backup call log, and after that, delete some 50-100 entries manually. Sync works then nicely...
Regards, G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another possible solution is to run Smartjournal.exe on pc, it copies the dump exe to Device\Temp, and runs, and this creates the csv. Navigate to this folder (My Device\Temp) and make the csv read only.
Running the pc side returns an error on the PDA, but the log will be read and data transferred.
Now remove read only from csv, move to pc, leave only the last entry, delete all the rest, save, move back to PDA.
Run pc side, all should be good now. You will have a lastsync.txt created in the PC folder of Smartsync. Sync finished.
Update:
--------------------------------------
Mobitnt PocketExport does the job for some days, no errors, I think I keep using this app
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[Q] Does WP7 synchronizes all my contacts, as soon as I add my Live account?

Hi,
just to be sure I got it right, does WP7 puts every contact on my phone to Live as soon as I add my Live account details to my phone? And there is no way preventing my phone from uploading every of my contact to a Microsoft cloud? Do I get it right, or am I missing something?
Regards,
m00h
Under People, Settings, Filter My Contacts you can choose to hide contacts from a certain account or all of them. I believe you have to have at least one selected or you can't save contacts.
Sent from my HTC Arrive using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Filtering contacts does not stop them from being saved to Live. Contacts must have a source, be it Windows Live, Exchange, Google, etc but they can't just reside on the phone.
Entegy is (mostly) correct. However, the important point here is that contacts which are already *from* another source - such as Facebook friends or Gmail contacts - will not get copied to Windows Live. However, if you import SIM contacts, those will get synced to your primary Windows Live account (assuming you've set one up, since it's necessary for much of the phone's functionality).
Yeah, that's a good distinction to make. While contacts require a source, they won't get merged into one account (say, everything auto-copied to your Windows Live account)
GoodDayToDie said:
However, if you import SIM contacts, those will get synced to your primary Windows Live account (assuming you've set one up, since it's necessary for much of the phone's functionality).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the answer I needed, in that case, my Omnia 7 is as good as sold. That's a horrifying thing if your phone forces you to sync all the sensitive, confidential data with an american cloud. How can you people be ok with that?
Before I bought a WP7 phone, I read a lot of stuff about it, either on forums or on reviews, and not a single review mentioned that I will be forced to give my data away, that's even more horrifying.
Either way, thanks for the answers.
Regards,
m00h
Well, an awfully large number of millions of people use Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo mail, or any of a handful of other webmail providers, many of which are hosted in America (or <other place you dislike goes here>) and all of which contain far more private info than just contacts.
For that matter, a truly stupendous number of people use Facebook, which not only stores vastly more "private" info than simply contacts, it also has somewhat poor security and a terrible privacy record. Oh, it's based in the USA too.
Next to all that, a list of contacts names and email addresses being stored in a Microsoft-controlled server that generally has quite good security and is not accessible to anybody except yourself, not even MS employees, unless those employees want to face immediate loss of their jobs, truly massive lawsuits, and quite possibly criminal charges... this is "a horrifying thing"?? I mean I don't care for this "cloud" BS either, but contact info is way, way down on the list of things I'm worried about getting out - I'm pretty sure I'd be more annoyed to lose access to my contacts than to have them leak.
You're welcome to your own opinion, of course. If you either run your own mail server or use a different mail account for each contact (so no corporation can build a contact list for you by checking their email logs), and have no information on any social networks, it's even consistent with the way you live your life. Or is it just the "American" aspect that is so uncomfortable to you? If so, I must in good conscience warn you that XDA-Developers is registered through a US company and WHOIS gives a registrant address in Arizona.
m00h said:
That's the answer I needed, in that case, my Omnia 7 is as good as sold. That's a horrifying thing if your phone forces you to sync all the sensitive, confidential data with an american cloud. How can you people be ok with that?
Before I bought a WP7 phone, I read a lot of stuff about it, either on forums or on reviews, and not a single review mentioned that I will be forced to give my data away, that's even more horrifying.
Either way, thanks for the answers.
Regards,
m00h
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most modern smartphones sync your contacts now......
GoodDayToDie said:
Well, an awfully large number of millions of people use Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo mail, or any of a handful of other webmail providers, many of which are hosted in America (or <other place you dislike goes here>) and all of which contain far more private info than just contacts.
For that matter, a truly stupendous number of people use Facebook, which not only stores vastly more "private" info than simply contacts, it also has somewhat poor security and a terrible privacy record. Oh, it's based in the USA too.
Next to all that, a list of contacts names and email addresses being stored in a Microsoft-controlled server that generally has quite good security and is not accessible to anybody except yourself, not even MS employees, unless those employees want to face immediate loss of their jobs, truly massive lawsuits, and quite possibly criminal charges... this is "a horrifying thing"?? I mean I don't care for this "cloud" BS either, but contact info is way, way down on the list of things I'm worried about getting out - I'm pretty sure I'd be more annoyed to lose access to my contacts than to have them leak.
You're welcome to your own opinion, of course. If you either run your own mail server or use a different mail account for each contact (so no corporation can build a contact list for you by checking their email logs), and have no information on any social networks, it's even consistent with the way you live your life. Or is it just the "American" aspect that is so uncomfortable to you? If so, I must in good conscience warn you that XDA-Developers is registered through a US company and WHOIS gives a registrant address in Arizona.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't get me wrong, it's in no way about the USA or any other country, I'm just not comfortable with the idea, that one big corporation, in one big country is to decide for me how to store my data.
It's like Microsoft would say, that every document on my PC has to be stored on their Live cloud, and you, as a functional member of the tech-society are dependant on their OS. Even Apple is not that barefaced to force me to store my mothers cell phone number on their sync service. It's all about the choise, you know?
Btw., for those who use Android, is it the same way there? Am I forced to sync my contacts with something? I want to go safe this time
Regards,
m00h
m00h said:
Don't get me wrong, it's in no way about the USA or any other country, I'm just not comfortable with the idea, that one big corporation, in one big country is to decide for me how to store my data.
It's like Microsoft would say, that every document on my PC has to be stored on their Live cloud, and you, as a functional member of the tech-society are dependant on their OS. Even Apple is not that barefaced to force me to store my mothers cell phone number on their sync service. It's all about the choise, you know?
Btw., for those who use Android, is it the same way there? Am I forced to sync my contacts with something? I want to go safe this time
Regards,
m00h
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
android syncs your contacts with your google account, unless you turn off auto sync.
I don't see the issue though, you're just being overly paranoid now. If you have an email account I'm sure there is much more personal things in it
scoobysnacks said:
android syncs your contacts with your google account, unless you turn off auto sync.
I don't see the issue though, you're just being overly paranoid now. If you have an email account I'm sure there is much more personal things in it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think I'm paranoid, I'm just not in common with the idea. But thanks for the answer with the Android, good to know that I can turn the auto-sync off.
Regards
Eh, all of my contacts from all of my accounts put together still constitute less private info than some single documents on my PC (tax returns come to mind, or letters to certain people). That said, so long as I can keep local copies of my docs too, I *am* generally OK with storing them on SkyDrive. If there was anything particularly sensitive I'd encrypt it first, but short of the aforementioned tax records I can't think of any such thing.
Of course, I'm still not sure how your attitude works with email. I mean, you obviously ahve an email account, or you couldn't be on this site. That account goes to a server somewhere. 99% chance that server is owned by a corporation. That corporation is possibly logging the server's Internet traffic. They're almost certainly making backups of your mailbox automatically all the time, so that if something goes wrong they can restore your mail. They have admins who can access your mailbox whenever they feel like it, with nothing stopping them except employment contracts and/or local laws.
That mailbox is a treasure trove of personal info. It hs your contacts (in the form of people who you've exchanged mail with), it has your purchase history (at least, for things bought online or shipped by freight services that send email), it probably has a list of every site that you visit which requires an email address to log in, it has the full transcriptions of any privte conversations you've had with friends or loved ones via email, it quite possibly has pictures of you and/or your family, it probably has your home address and phone number (because you sent them to somebody at least once), it even contains informtion on the hours you keep from the timestamps. If it's Gmail, they (Google) probably also have your IM conversations and possibly your calendar too.
Next to all that, you're worried about a huge corproration, one which is under constant surveillance and would be subject to immense lawsuits if it ever misused customer data, posessing a copy of your contacts list. Honestly, I'm just confused.
GoodDayToDie said:
Eh, all of my contacts from all of my accounts put together still constitute less private info than some single documents on my PC (tax returns come to mind, or letters to certain people). That said, so long as I can keep local copies of my docs too, I *am* generally OK with storing them on SkyDrive. If there was anything particularly sensitive I'd encrypt it first, but short of the aforementioned tax records I can't think of any such thing.
Of course, I'm still not sure how your attitude works with email. I mean, you obviously ahve an email account, or you couldn't be on this site. That account goes to a server somewhere. 99% chance that server is owned by a corporation. That corporation is possibly logging the server's Internet traffic. They're almost certainly making backups of your mailbox automatically all the time, so that if something goes wrong they can restore your mail. They have admins who can access your mailbox whenever they feel like it, with nothing stopping them except employment contracts and/or local laws.
That mailbox is a treasure trove of personal info. It hs your contacts (in the form of people who you've exchanged mail with), it has your purchase history (at least, for things bought online or shipped by freight services that send email), it probably has a list of every site that you visit which requires an email address to log in, it has the full transcriptions of any privte conversations you've had with friends or loved ones via email, it quite possibly has pictures of you and/or your family, it probably has your home address and phone number (because you sent them to somebody at least once), it even contains informtion on the hours you keep from the timestamps. If it's Gmail, they (Google) probably also have your IM conversations and possibly your calendar too.
Next to all that, you're worried about a huge corproration, one which is under constant surveillance and would be subject to immense lawsuits if it ever misused customer data, posessing a copy of your contacts list. Honestly, I'm just confused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, confused is the right word, I'm very confused about your attitude having your privat stuff somewhere, on someones server without even having a choise not to store it there.
As for the part with the mail-server, no, I host my own mail-server because I take privacy a little bit more serious, and I surely wouldn't like to be on the list of your contacts if you deal so careless with your privacy. I'm in high dudgeon because I'm not given the choise here, that's what it is all about.
If you mention that you would encrypt your documents first, in case they would include some sensitive information, then you are talking about the choise even to encypt them, or not. The choise which I as a WP7 user obviously don't have, that's the point.
Maybe I'm a little bit old-fashioned, but for me it's very frightening that everyone around seems to be OK with that.
Anyway, since my question is answered, the is no point to continue this discussion, so, thanks for the answer.
Best regards,
m00h

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