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I hate to sound like a 13 year old girl, but I want to start writing a diary. Here are some features I am looking for in diary software:
Access from both PC and PPC
Text entry and voice recording
Data saved on the memory card
It would be nice if it integrated with Outlook Calendar
Any of you power-users out there know of any software that can be used to accomplished this? I have tried TodayNotez and though it seems to have what I need, it is slow and buggy.
Good Mobile Diary??
larsuck said:
I hate to sound like a 13 year old girl, but I want to start writing a diary. Here are some features I am looking for in diary software:
Access from both PC and PPC
Text entry and voice recording
Data saved on the memory card
It would be nice if it integrated with Outlook Calendar
Any of you power-users out there know of any software that can be used to accomplished this? I have tried TodayNotez and though it seems to have what I need, it is slow and buggy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, I have been looking for this same thing, haven't found anything I like - same experience with TodayNotez.
On my PC I use iDailyDiary Professional (there is a free basic version) which is awesome. AFAIK they don't have a Windows Mobile version.
For voice notes on my Tilt, I use Vito AudioNotes - like it a lot. Basically now I use it to make notes to myself, then play them back while I'm at my PC and put personal thoughts into iDailyDiary.
Noticed your signature line "Is it just me, or do we all spend so much time flashing and tweaking the perfect phone that, once we finish, we have no one left willing to call us." - yeah, seems like many of us spend a lot of time tweaking and flashing - would like to see more interest and attention devoted to actually using the phone - good basic useful apps - how to use them to their max potential, ways to use the pocket pc to improve our daily lives, etc.
Check this
http://www.pocketkai.net/asp/
Multimedia Tagebuch
The only thing is I don´t know if it will support english. I am german and it does everything you´ve been looking for.
Good Mobile Diary??
mannheimguitar said:
http://www.pocketkai.net/asp/
Multimedia Tagebuch
The only thing is I don´t know if it will support english. I am german and it does everything you´ve been looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lot of cool stuff at that site. I don't see any program that is actually a diary, however. Maybe I overlooked it. Seems like a very friendly site - takes requests/suggestions so I put one in.
Did you consdier maybe some sort of Online Program like Twitter?
What about Microsoft Onenote. PC and PPC side, have a button in Outlook on pc and also on IE, can take recordings, pictures, etc...
Thanks for the great suggestions everybody! But keep 'em coming'!
BTW, that Kai fellow really makes a lot of software, doesn't he? He must have a hundred programs for sale on that site of his. His diary software looks good, but it doesn't seem to be able to record directly from the program itself. A picky thing I know.
Twitter and blogs of all sorts are unfortunately blocked by my school's proxy.
One Note sounds promising, but US$99 is a bit more than I was willing to part with. Perhaps my school has a copy somewhere...
Has anyone out there tried Alpha Journal and Alpha Pocket Journal? Seems a bit old, but sometimes that isn't such a bad thing.
Confidential Notes and Private Notes
I just found 2 programs, Confidential Notes and Private Notes, here
They both have password protection, and both allow combo notes with audio and pictures. Haven't purchased either yet; trial available for Confidential Notes but not for Private Notes.
Found these by searching for "password protected notes for windows mobile" which took me to this review of Confidential Notes at clintonfitch.com. Following that I found that the developer says it has been discontinued, but as you can see above, it is still for sale at PocketGear.
I think it might work well as kind of a free-form diary. I can insert time and date with Resco keyboard for any new entry.
Check out evernote. They have a tech preview of the winmobile version that just rocks!
I use my sd card in my pda and then use the same database from my pda for my desktop installer version. It is by far the best journaling program I have ever found.
www.evernote.com
As the OP, I felt a responsibility to follow up with my thoughts about all the different great suggestions everyone made.
TodayNotez: As mentioned before, this has everything I was looking for, but was sloooow to open even when the database was in the main memory. I have a feeling .NET is to blame here, and if the makers could program this in another language to improve speed then they would have a real winner on their hands.
Kai's multimedia diary: Interesting software. Instead of allowing one to take pictures or record memos as part of a diary, this software allows pre-recorded media to be attached to diary entries.
Online programs like Twitter (or any blog/social software): Would work great if my situation allowed access to social websites. Also, for the most part these sites require a active connection to the internet to add and edit posts, which could get expensive if using a mobile data connection.
OneNote: This would probably work great if I could get my hands on a copy of the PC software for a reasonable price. Ahem.
Confiential Notes and Private Notes (et.al.): These kinds of software were good for what they were, but their strengths were in encryption and password protection. Confidential Notes didn't even have an option to turn off password protection. It had two settings: Secure and Paranoid. Neither of these had desktop sync as far as I could tell.
What I finally settled on was a Outlook Journal editing/syncronizing software called Retroactive. It is a little slow, is kind of touchy, isn't free, but has a lot going for it. If you are familiary with the Journal aspect of Outlook then you know that it is like the blank sheet of paper in a DayPlanner. You can write about how the events of that day went.
Journal entries created in Outlook or Retroactive can be linked to other Outlook items such as appointments, tasks, contacts or notes. Also, it is possible to record and add voice notes and pictures directly from the app. Lastly, the best part is the sync capabilities. Everything is synced with the PCs version of Outlook, including linked Outlook items, voice memos and pictures. Attached files that exceed a user-defined size can be automatically removed from the PPC after syncronization to keep memory space free. Lastly, there is an option to have all content uploaded to your Blogger account using your PC's internet connection. This is what I settled on.
I hope this thread helps someone else out someday.
Thanks for good info. but i need help
larsuck said:
As the OP, I felt a responsibility to follow up with my thoughts about all the different great suggestions everyone made.
TodayNotez: As mentioned before, this has everything I was looking for, but was sloooow to open even when the database was in the main memory. I have a feeling .NET is to blame here, and if the makers could program this in another language to improve speed then they would have a real winner on their hands.
Kai's multimedia diary: Interesting software. Instead of allowing one to take pictures or record memos as part of a diary, this software allows pre-recorded media to be attached to diary entries.
Online programs like Twitter (or any blog/social software): Would work great if my situation allowed access to social websites. Also, for the most part these sites require a active connection to the internet to add and edit posts, which could get expensive if using a mobile data connection.
OneNote: This would probably work great if I could get my hands on a copy of the PC software for a reasonable price. Ahem.
Confiential Notes and Private Notes (et.al.): These kinds of software were good for what they were, but their strengths were in encryption and password protection. Confidential Notes didn't even have an option to turn off password protection. It had two settings: Secure and Paranoid. Neither of these had desktop sync as far as I could tell.
What I finally settled on was a Outlook Journal editing/syncronizing software called Retroactive. It is a little slow, is kind of touchy, isn't free, but has a lot going for it. If you are familiary with the Journal aspect of Outlook then you know that it is like the blank sheet of paper in a DayPlanner. You can write about how the events of that day went.
Journal entries created in Outlook or Retroactive can be linked to other Outlook items such as appointments, tasks, contacts or notes. Also, it is possible to record and add voice notes and pictures directly from the app. Lastly, the best part is the sync capabilities. Everything is synced with the PCs version of Outlook, including linked Outlook items, voice memos and pictures. Attached files that exceed a user-defined size can be automatically removed from the PPC after syncronization to keep memory space free. Lastly, there is an option to have all content uploaded to your Blogger account using your PC's internet connection. This is what I settled on.
I hope this thread helps someone else out someday.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is not retroactive free?
HOEROFOREVERINTHESUN said:
Why is not retroactive free?
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Click to collapse
Probably because that software is the only one that can do what it does. It is good software, and probably wasn't too easy to make.
Thanks Kururu that was a great find, I've been looking for a decent journal software program, I just needed something that could take entries and sort them properly by date without having a ton of text files lying around my docs folder. I.e. -- something like Outlook's journal function.
I tried everything and screwed up a lot but Retroactive fit the bill almost perfectly. The only drawback is it takes forever to loadup.
Guys, guys... Unless you want to be seen as a 12 year old girl, it's a memoire, not a diary.
I've been trying to find an app to manage my checking account. I currently don't even use the paper check register. I just try to keep a good buffer of money in my account so I don't need to keep track. This hasn't worked well and I need to start managing my money better.
Since MS Money is out of the picture, I was going to start using Quicken, but I don't see any current apps out there that will sync from a WM phone. I'd love to be able to enter a purchase on my phone and have it sync up, but I've searched and come up empty.
Here's a few apps I've looked into, all outdated:
- Pocket Quicken
- Pocket Money
- SPB Finance
Of the three, I can't even figure out if they sync with a desktop installation.
Has anyone found a comfortable, usable solution for something like this? If not, I'll just go back to the paper check register or Quicken alone.
I generally try not to post notifications about my software in other forums, but if anyone is interested, I've created a new todo/project manager for Android 1.5 and later.
If you're interested, please look here:
http://forum.lakeridgesoftware.com/showthread.php?t=16270
Thanks!
looks very nice and GTDish.
but if it doesn't sync to an online service it is pretty worthless for a lot of people.
I for example use toodledo, because I can access it from my Mac at home and from my PC at work...
good luck, anyways, it looks promising.
What if it syncs to a desktop client? Is that worth anything?
of course that helps, but it would still not solve the problem if you can not install apps on your office PC. Thats a problem a lot of folks have due to managed workplaces
So, I've been thinking about this. If I were to set up a ToodleDo sync, some of the extra fields would have to go into the task's notes. Would that be an acceptable alternative?
Very beautiful and promising. I second the need for Toodledo sync, or it will be unusable to a lot of people.
I really liked the looks of it.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
chmckay said:
So, I've been thinking about this. If I were to set up a ToodleDo sync, some of the extra fields would have to go into the task's notes. Would that be an acceptable alternative?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sure. use Toodledoo fields as far as possible, everything else goes into notes.
but what would you save in the notesfield, for example?
I think about developing a GTD app for webOS and am wondering how to do it well myself
Well, after the data is pulled out of the notes field, the remaining text would just be notes. So, those would be placed appropriately (this is when pulling from ToodleDo). When adding to ToodleDo, I would just place the notes after the extra data.
This gets to be a little complex as I have a few options for contexts which have not been added yet (though the fields exist in my database) and ToodleDo doesn't support contexts as anything other than a text string.
Then there's projects vs goals. I would probably go that route as I don't want to make anyone purchase a pro account on ToodleDo.
After doing all this research, I'm still considering using a WebDAV server sync method with a desktop client as I could guarantee that everything would sync properly.
chmckay said:
Well, after the data is pulled out of the notes field, the remaining text would just be notes. So, those would be placed appropriately (this is when pulling from ToodleDo). When adding to ToodleDo, I would just place the notes after the extra data.
This gets to be a little complex as I have a few options for contexts which have not been added yet (though the fields exist in my database) and ToodleDo doesn't support contexts as anything other than a text string.
Then there's projects vs goals. I would probably go that route as I don't want to make anyone purchase a pro account on ToodleDo.
After doing all this research, I'm still considering using a WebDAV server sync method with a desktop client as I could guarantee that everything would sync properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The software expires today right? Any news on the paid version?
arg! I want to try it.
The biggest thing for me in an app like this is,
Hierarchy: ability to make sub-projects/subtasks (why I love todoist.com)
Widget/cal sync: needs to sync to Pure Calendar or Google Cal
Personally I would not want it to sync to ToodleDo unless the sub-project functionality this seems to have (again can't try it, beta's up) is maintained without needing a pro account of ToodleDo (which supports subtasks)
The beta expired at midnight this morning, so I'm quickly finishing a few things.
What I'm doing right now is adding a few things that make sense with the ToodleDo sync. And, I'm making a few underlying database changes that you shouldn't see if you were using a previous version. Again, this is in anticipation of the ToodleDo sync. The sync won't be available until I release it for the market.
@Hepæstus:
TaskIt has projects and subprojects. Each project and subproject can have an unlimited number of tasks. In the Today view, though, you will only see the tasks. So, when a project comes due, all of its tasks will be added to the Today view (including any subproject's tasks). When you complete the last task, it will mark the project as complete.
As for the syncing, I don't want to make people get a ToodleDo pro account, so I'm setting things up a little differently. The ToodleDo sync will be more of a hack in that the tasks will sync, but any fields unsupported by ToodleDo will be added to the notes field. Projects will be synced with ToodleDo's goals. I know it's not perfect, but I originally designed this app to be synced with a forthcoming desktop client, not an existing web service, so I have a few features that are not supported by either Remember the Milk or ToodleDo.
I forgot to mention that yes, there is a widget. Also, the update will be available later today.
Version 0.9.5 is now up. You can check it out here:
http://forum.lakeridgesoftware.com/showthread.php?t=16286
Hey chmckay, can you see the possibility of syncing with http://my.gtdify.com/ as well? I like the idea of a desktop client, but if I can access my stuff anywhere, that would be even more awesome. I'm eagerly anticipating a paid version.
I'll take a look at that site and see if they have any syncing capabilities.
Instead of using one of those thausands of webservice that offer a gtd-like project/todo-management I would really prefer a sync to my own webspace.
Combined with a simple webinterface, like the one from "Tracks" (which is the base for my.gtdify.com) or MonkeyGTD/mGSD (Tiddlywiki, a dynamic html-File mgsd.tiddlyspot.com).
That would really be great!
@spaboleo:
That was the basis of my wanting to sync to a desktop client: so that you own your data.
However, because very few people are interested in that, I'm looking into ToodleDo and Tracks. Tracks is interesting because you can host it yourself, so that's a plus.
When the desktop client is ready, TaskIt will also have WebDAV syncing so you can sync to your own server and be in full control of your own data.
Ah, ok
I thought that by "desktop client" you ment something like an installable piece of software...which in case would be okay if there is a webclient/webserver-version.
Maybe the installation could be obsolete too by using a portable client.
anyway...thank you for your effort!
sounds really promising!
Actually, I do intend to create an installable desktop client. The WebDAV sync is so that your data doesn't sync via someone else's servers.
The Tracks/GTDify and ToodleDo sync are for those who want web only.
Of course I can only speak for myself, but 70% the software I use is portable and placed on my thumbdrive (even browsers, mail-clients, IM-Tools etc.).
The other 30% include exclusivly larger suites like Office, Graphic-Programs or CAD-Tools.
Mostly an installtion is not really required if you include saved userfiles directly into the programmfolder.
For the less experienced users you could offer a installable version.
But, I would appreciate a ziped version that I can carry around on my thumbdrive, without the need to "make it portable by myself" ;D
I think I'm not the only that prefers portable software.
Best wishes
Hi I have a HTC Mozart, this is my 1st phone that is more than a phone.
I have come from using a Psion 3a and a standard phone.
What I miss on all the new generations of phones is the database feature of the Psion
I know that in my Win 7 Phone I have contacts but in my Psion I have a database which was for personal contacts, but I have other database for useful stuff, like Plumbers, Shops, Tyre Centres etc.
I also had a database for keeping track of things I bought, i.e. Name, Model No, Serial No, Date of purchase, warranty period etc
.
Does anything like this exist for these new so called smart phones?
I am sure ex Psion users will know what I am referring too.
Re Dave
DaveTiffTaylor said:
Hi I have a HTC Mozart, this is my 1st phone that is more than a phone.
I have come from using a Psion 3a and a standard phone.
What I miss on all the new generations of phones is the database feature of the Psion
I know that in my Win 7 Phone I have contacts but in my Psion I have a database which was for personal contacts, but I have other database for useful stuff, like Plumbers, Shops, Tyre Centres etc.
I also had a database for keeping track of things I bought, i.e. Name, Model No, Serial No, Date of purchase, warranty period etc
.
Does anything like this exist for these new so called smart phones?
I am sure ex Psion users will know what I am referring too.
Re Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aren't Psions like portable computers? WP isn't a portable computer. It's obviously a smart phone. A phone that does more than a phone.
It comes with Office in built. So if you wanted you could create the required databases in Excel.
You could use the 'search' button on the bottom right to find plumbers, shops and tyre centres around you.
For barcode scanning - you can use bing vision or bar code scanner apps.
EDIT: If you had Psion with WinMo OS on it then this might be a step forward, but if you used any other Psions portable computer or those PDA like devices then you might not find your answers to be straight forward.
Hi Dave,
Welcome to Windows Phone! I don’t know what a Psion is, but the new WP devices all come with an “MS Office Suite”. Included in this is a program called “Notes”.
What you can do with Notes is completely up to you, and is limited only by your imagination. I have a file for all of my expensive stuff like vehicles. The first item in each file (one per vehicle) is always the VIN. This saves a trip or a call at the parts window. Other entries include mileage on 01 Jan. This helps with taxes. I travel. I have a file for all of my cities by airport code. If I find a restaurant I like, it’s in there.
Obviously there is no such word a “tyre” (International jab) but for plumbers or tires, you have a couple of different options. If you have multiple plumbers and tire shops, I would again recommend Notes. If you have only one of each, you can add them into contacts and make their name “plumber” or “tires”.
Additionally, like your contacts, you can get your notes to sync to the cloud so they are always automatically backed-up, and can be shared so they are useable from other computers.
Hint: Don’t forget to give your notes a title (First line).
I think you’ll find these devices do everything you need except talk on Skype, and it looks like this will be fixed soon.
Good luck,
Dave
For contacts in windows phone you can create groups. Like one for companies and put plummers, electricians, ect in it
Hit plus when you are in the people hub. Choose new group instead of new contact. I have one also for family so i can have all my familys facebook in front of me at once. There is a limit however. 20 contacts to each group. For my coworkers i had to make 2 cuz they wouldn't all fit. Cool stuff though. Is that what you meant?
Thanks for the replies
For those that don’t know, a PSION was a PDA (not a computer as such) with 1M of memory and ran off 2AA batteries for 5 months
It had a Diary (WP Calendar)
Could sync diary with Outlook via cable (WP only via Live)
Alarm Clock (WP Alarms),
Word Processor (WP Word in Office)
Spreadsheet (WP Excel in Office)
A few games (WP Apps)
World Clock (WP Apps)
Voice Recorder (WP Apps)
Spellchecker (WP Apps or Word)
Programming language called OPL (maybe Apollo with C++)
Database (WP nothing)
The database was very simple you could create your own labels for fields and each record would have those fields
You could have many databases on for Contacts, one for CD collection etc.
One of the biggest advantages of the Psion database, contacts or calendar was that you could search on any field.
Excel would be the only thing to use but its not really that practical, you only need 5 to 10 fields per record.
I would write one for myself but I believe you can’t install your own apps? You could with the PSION
I bought my PSION 16 Years ago and keep it going just for the database function I would love to junk it and keep my data in my phone, I am just amazed that there is nothing around, I think Android & iPhone are the same.
Picture here
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesion_Series_3a.jpg
The 2nd Icon from the left are the databases
DaveTiffTaylor said:
Thanks for the replies
For those that don’t know, a PSION was a PDA (not a computer as such) with 1M of memory and ran off 2AA batteries for 5 months
It had a Diary (WP Calendar)
Could sync diary with Outlook via cable (WP only via Live)
Alarm Clock (WP Alarms),
Word Processor (WP Word in Office)
Spreadsheet (WP Excel in Office)
A few games (WP Apps)
World Clock (WP Apps)
Voice Recorder (WP Apps)
Spellchecker (WP Apps or Word)
Programming language called OPL (maybe Apollo with C++)
Database (WP nothing)
The database was very simple you could create your own labels for fields and each record would have those fields
You could have many databases on for Contacts, one for CD collection etc.
One of the biggest advantages of the Psion database, contacts or calendar was that you could search on any field.
Excel would be the only thing to use but its not really that practical, you only need 5 to 10 fields per record.
I would write one for myself but I believe you can’t install your own apps? You could with the PSION
I bought my PSION 16 Years ago and keep it going just for the database function I would love to junk it and keep my data in my phone, I am just amazed that there is nothing around, I think Android & iPhone are the same.
Picture here
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesion_Series_3a.jpg
The 2nd Icon from the left are the databases
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, you need MS Access then? That's the closest match to a database and I don't think they have in mobile office.
http://mobile.dzone.com/articles/how-windows-phone-and-sql
SQL lite is built in, but you have to create an app.
Access seems so over the top, the APP from the marketplace called "Database" looks interesting but no import
Re Dave
I have come from using a Psion 3a and a standard phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Greetings stranger and welcome. How was your time travel?
PS. I had a Casiopea 12 yrs ago. The darn 2AAA never got me for more than 3 days.
DaveTiffTaylor said:
Access seems so over the top, the APP from the marketplace called "Database" looks interesting but no import
Re Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unclear fi you receive this years after your post, but with the Psion emulator, the Psion lives forever And you can, of course, work with it!
Gentlemen and ladies,
I am coming back to Windows (used to have an Imagio) after being on Android the last two years. So need some personal opinions and advice.
What are the must have apps for thw 8X? I will already be downloading and installing Crackle, tuneIn, Skype, Flixster, iMDB, and Adobe Reader. Anything else?
And along that vein, no way to side load apps?
Also, music. Coming from the Thunderbolt and a 32G card, dropping to 16G (actually, 11?) how does one manage all thier music? I found I have over 16G of music and would like to know best how to manage that.
And syncing to my wifes desktop. Outlook is her life, contacts and calender. i want to be sure that the connection isn't too complicated and that the phone will not change anything, in other words, the phone should only accept all calender and contact data, without modifying or altering anything.
Am excited to use this bad boy, should have it by Friday! Great way to start the new year!
Thanks for all the information everyone!
jerrya said:
Gentlemen and ladies,
I am coming back to Windows (used to have an Imagio) after being on Android the last two years. So need some personal opinions and advice.
What are the must have apps for thw 8X? I will already be downloading and installing Crackle, tuneIn, Skype, Flixster, iMDB, and Adobe Reader. Anything else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Metrotube definitely. The Windows phone web app store also has a list of "essential" apps.
jerrya said:
And along that vein, no way to side load apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Developer account.
jerrya said:
Also, music. Coming from the Thunderbolt and a 32G card, dropping to 16G (actually, 11?) how does one manage all thier music? I found I have over 16G of music and would like to know best how to manage that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Downgrade the quality, if you are using loseless files. You can try google music also.
jerrya said:
And syncing to my wifes desktop. Outlook is her life, contacts and calender. i want to be sure that the connection isn't too complicated and that the phone will not change anything, in other words, the phone should only accept all calender and contact data, without modifying or altering anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't plug in your phone and sync. Online sync only.
matthew5025 said:
Metrotube definitely. The Windows phone web app store also has a list of "essential" apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I will give that a go!
matthew5025 said:
Developer account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whats this? Never heard of it.
matthew5025 said:
Downgrade the quality, if you are using loseless files. You can try google music also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have heard of dbPowerAmp that converts from mp3 to wma, supposed to cut files in half. So will test that on a few songs, I really don't want to loose alot of quality for storage. And since I am going with a 2G plan (already miss my unlimited!), want to really reduce my data usage, so will google music download to my phone, or only play whats on the cloud?
matthew5025 said:
You can't plug in your phone and sync. Online sync only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Crazy! I am doing something like that now, except contacts don't sync wirelessly, in fact, they don't wired either! Have to save contact file, then upload to phone, and load into google. Hopefully my Windows phone and Windows Outlook will really enjoy working together!
Music - For $9.99 a month you can enjoy an Xbox Music Pass, allowing unlimited streaming and downloading of over 30 million songs. It's integrated directly into the Music+Video hub. You can grab whatever you like, it's pretty awesome. And if you like Pandora-like functionality, you can use the Smart DJ feature to create a playlist of music similiar to an artist or song that you like. If you have Windows 8, you can use the Music app on there to add music to your "Cloud Collection." Music in your cloud collection will appear on your phone as if you had synced it there, but will stream when you play it. You can tap+hold to download it to your phone if you like. I will note that the Music app on Windows 8 leaves a lot to be desired. Zune was way more useful and awesome, but Xbox Music will improve over time.
Side-loading - You don't do this on Windows Phone. Apps are approved by Microsoft and installed via the Store only, to ensure quality and safety. This is similiar to Apple, but Microsoft is less restrictive on what they allow (Apple tends to block things they find morally offensive or that encroach on their own products). If you are a registered Windows Phone developer, you can developer-unlock your phone and side-load apps to it, if you have the source-code for said apps. There aren't many available, and this is not the intended purpose of the dev account.
Outlook/Email - Email on WP8 is tied to online accounts (gmail, outlook, yahoo, custom). And since you sign into the phone with a Microsoft account, you already have an account on Outlook.com if you want to use it. You can set it up to check an existing email account with another service provider, or create aliases (other email addresses) that go directly to your Microsoft account email. If you want to connect the Outlook desktop program on your PC to your Outlook.com online email, you can download a program called the Microsoft Office Outlook Hotmail Connector, which does exactly what you are trying to do.
You can sync the phone with your desktop to transfer music, videos, and photos back and forth, in one of three ways: On Windows 8, use the "Windows Phone" app from the integrated Windows Store, or download the Windows Phone desktop sync program, or just drag and drop files using Windows Explorer. When you plug your phone into your PC, you will see it under My Computer. There are folders for Music, Videos, Photos, and Ringtones.
Another awesome thing is the SkyDrive integration. Go to skydrive.com on your PC using your Microsoft account (or jump to it from Outlook.com using the menu at the top left). You can store files there. 7 GB for free. Photos automatically show up in your phone's Photos hub. Documents automatically show up on your phone's Office hub. There is a SkyDrive app in the Windows Phone Store that will let you do even more with your SkyDrive.
Enjoy your phone. It's actually very awesome.
Music - For $9.99 a month you can enjoy an Xbox Music Pass, allowing unlimited streaming and downloading of over 30 million songs.
Yea, I have thought of that, but cant find a reasonable excuse to use it. I may listen to hours of music a day, but I am very specific regarding sound and styles. And I get the latest from my friends and listening to the radio from time to time. If I hear of a band from friends or on the radio, I look for more and see if I like it. If I do, I purchase the albums. Of course, my favorite band is an atuomatic purchase and doesn't count. Since 2010, I have only purchased three albums from bands I have learned about, so 10 bucks a month just isn't justified.
Side-loading - You don't do this on Windows Phone. Apps are approved by Microsoft and installed via the Store only, to ensure quality and safety. This is similiar to Apple, but Microsoft is less restrictive on what they allow (Apple tends to block things they find morally offensive or that encroach on their own products). If you are a registered Windows Phone developer, you can developer-unlock your phone and side-load apps to it, if you have the source-code for said apps. There aren't many available, and this is not the intended purpose of the dev account.
I am looking into trying to write my own apps. I have gotten a ton of information and where to look, so hope to start doing that soon. There is (I think) a simple app that is the only one I really miss, so going to see if I can make it!
Outlook/Email
I got that figured out. My wife loves how I get updates wirelessly, instead of having to sync every weeked.
You can sync the phone with your desktop to transfer music, videos, and photos back and forth.
Did the transfer method. But gonna look into that desktop sync thing, might make music transfers easier.
SkyDrive integration.
That just rocks! Its crazy that I can capture a vid or picture, and the family can watch them from my xbox almost instantly when I am still out in the field! I haven't yet fully utilized it, but getting there! Just need to figure out office and I will be a mobile fool!
Enjoy your phone. It's actually very awesome.
It is really awesome! Even my wife loves it! Maybe I can get her to come back from the dark side of apple! This phone really is above and beyond what I though it would be, The style is great and the OS just rocks! Really impressed with Windows. I think I can call myself a fanboy now!
My name is Jerry, and this is my windows phone!