Windows Experience Blog : Windows Mobile

State of the Blog – A Little Update on Where We Are Today

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:03:59 GMT

We are in an exciting time for Windows. We’re about to launch our best version of Windows yet – Windows 7. In between all the Windows 7 awesomeness, I wanted to take a moment to talk about The Windows Blog and where we are today with the site.

We’ve come a long way since 2006 when we launched as the Windows Vista Team Blog. This last fall we re-launched the site as The Windows Blog. When we re-launched, the focus of the site was to be the ultimate resource for Windows through the use of blogging – and to grow.

In the site’s design, we put an emphasis of multiple blogs existing under The Windows Blog “umbrella” that would cater to different audiences. Our original blog, Windows Vista Team Blog, became one of several blogs under that “umbrella” and we also launched the Windows 7 Team Blog which is where you will find all the latest Windows 7 news and announcements. Also in the fall, we launched the Windows Security Blog featuring blog posts focusing on Windows security from Paul Cooke. Paul blogged live from RSA earlier this year.

And in the last few months, we’ve grown quite a bit to cover a broader array of audiences with several other new blogs joining our site:

Windows for your Business Blog: Launched in February by Gavriella Schuster, this blog focuses on our commercial customers for Windows. Most recently, Rich Reynolds who is a GM on the Windows Commercial Marketing Team posted a blog about how our business customers provided early feedback for Windows 7.

Windows 7 for Developers Blog: At the end of March, we launched the Windows 7 for Developers. This blog is run by Yochay Kiriaty from the Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) Team here at Microsoft. Yochay blogs about all the really cool things developers can do with their applications to take advantage of Windows 7 features like the new Windows Taskbar. If you’re a developer – this blog is a must read.

Springboard Series Blog: This blog launched in early June and is run by Senior Community Manager Stephen Rose. The Springboard Series is a TechNet portal and is the ultimate Windows resource for IT Professionals. The Springboard Series Blog focuses on calling out those resources for IT Pros. Just recently, a Virtual Roundtable (VRT) discussion was help with Mark Russinovich on Application Compatibility – check it out here!

Soon, my friends over on Windows Mobile will be blogging on The Windows Blog too! Their blog can be found here.

And of course I continue to focus on my Windows experiences on the Windows Experience Blog as well.

What’s great about growing the blogs under The Windows Blog “umbrella” is that we have blog posts talking about a variety of Windows topics relevant to a broad set of audiences.

However what if some of the content being blogged about isn’t relevant to me?

All blog posts from all blogs automatically appear in our main RSS feed. Some people want to see and read everything. This is likely how they are doing so or going to our frontpage. But if you only care about content from a specific blog, you can subscribe to the individual RSS feed for that blog. Here are the RSS feeds for each of the blogs here on The Windows Blog:

Tags we use for blog posts also have their own RSS feeds. If all you care about is our announcements, you can subscribe to the RSS feed for the Announcements tag.

If RSS isn’t your thing, you can also follow The Windows Blog on Twitter and get all our latest blog posts too.

So what’s coming up for The Windows Blog? Well – lots more awesome Windows 7 blog posts of course. We’re also going to be introducing a new menu system in the coming weeks and introducing more new blogs – including some localized blogs in a variety of different languages.

I’m very proud of the community of Windows blogs we’ve built up here on The Windows Blog. Thank you to the millions of visitors who read our posts each month and continue to be excited for Windows!

New Version of Windows Live for Windows Mobile Available

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:12:00 GMT

Today the Windows Live for Windows Mobile Team posted that new bits are now available for everyone to download for their Windows Mobile phones.

Wait no more! The latest bits for Windows Live Client for your Windows Mobile are available for download. To get yours now, point your mobile browser to http://wl.windowsmobile.com

If you have Windows Live already installed on your device, you will need to uninstall it first. To do that, go to Settings->Remove Programs, select Windows Live entry from the list (if any) and click Remove. If you don’t find Windows Live on the list, then you are good to go.

With Windows Live client you will be able to:

Synchronize Live contacts with your contacts on the device
Synchronize your Live email (msn, hotmail, live)
View graphics, web links and contact photos in emails
Respond to emails with voice recordings
Upload photos to your Windows Live Spaces

Go ahead, give it a try and let us know what you think!

As soon as I heard, I installed it quickly on my Samsung Blackjack 2. I simply cannot live without Windows Live for Windows Mobile on my phone. Windows Live for Windows Mobile allows me to sync (and when I say "sync" I really do mean *sync*) my Windows Live Hotmail mailbox to my phone as well as all my Windows Live Contacts. I can read a message on my desktop PC at home using Windows Live Mail and that same exact message I just read syncs to Windows Live Hotmail and then to my phone using Windows Live for Windows Mobile - including the fact it is now marked read as I had read it on my PC. I have the same email experience (emails read or unread, emails filtered into certain folders, etc) across multiple PCs using Windows Live Mail, on my phone with Windows Live for Windows Mobile, and on the web with Windows Live Hotmail.

I previously blogged about Windows Live for Windows Mobile (in a little bit more detail) a few weeks ago when the first set of bits went live.

ALSO: if you're interested, try out the Beta of the new Windows Live Mobile Homepage at mhome.live.com on your mobile device! I've got this page set up as my Home Page in Internet Explorer on my Blackjack 2.

Put Windows Live on your Windows Mobile phone

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:02:00 GMT

Windows Live for Windows Mobile is now available to download for your Windows Mobile phone. Windows Live for Windows Mobile lets Windows Mobile users sync their email from Windows Live Hotmail as well as their Windows Live Contacts.

To download, just head on over to this URL on your Windows Mobile phone:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/mobile/wl/download-en-us.mspx

UPDATE: Folks wanting a shorter URL to access Windows Live for Windows Mobile can go to the following URL - http://wl.windowsmobile.com/

Just download the .cab file for the version of Windows Mobile you are running (Standard or Professional). Windows Live for Windows Mobile works on phones running both Windows Mobile and Windows Mobile 6 (and 6.1).

Let me explain how I use Windows Live for Windows Mobile today on my BlackJack II. Because Windows Live for Windows Mobile syncs up my Windows Live Contacts - I encourage many of my contacts to edit their profiles and make sure their email addresses and phone numbers are correct. When their Windows Live Contact is synced to my phone - their name appears under my Contacts on my Windows Mobile phone (Windows Mobile has a centralized "contact directory"). Information my Windows Live Contacts fill out in their profiles appear on my phone. Users can have multiple phone numbers entered into their profiles for a variety of locations such as Mobile, Home, or Work. When I choose to call a Windows Live Contact - I choose any of the numbers they provided to me that is in their profile. Of course I can also edit their contact information either in Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Mail or via the web in Windows Live Hotmail.

Speaking of Windows Live Hotmail - Windows Live for Windows Mobile also lets my sync my email to my Windows Mobile phone as well. With Push-Email - you can get your email from Windows Live Hotmail account as it comes in. The sync features for email in Windows Live for Windows Mobile let me view the same unread/read email messages on my Windows Mobile phone, desktop PC with Windows Live Mail, or via the web with Windows Live Hotmail. If I read an unread message on my phone, it not only becomes unread on my phone but also becomes unread in Windows Live Mail and on the web in Windows Live Hotmail.

Windows Live for Windows Mobile however does not come with a Windows Live Messenger client for your Windows Mobile phone. We've chosen to do this to support carrier's plans for IM services for their phones. If there is no IM client on your phone, you can try our browser based version of Windows Live Messenger to chat with friends or ask your carrier about IM options for your phone.

For me - Windows Live for Windows Mobile has become a huge asset for me in staying connected with Windows Live and is essential for my Windows Mobile device.

For more information on Windows Live for Windows Mobile - check out the Windows Live for Windows Mobile Team's new blog!

Experiencing the goodness that is Windows Mobile 6.1

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:58:00 GMT

Yesterday, our friends on the Windows Mobile Team have announced Windows Mobile 6.1 at CTIA Wireless 2008 in Las Vegas. Windows Mobile Program Manager Mel Sampat made the announcement on the Windows Mobile Team Blog which also includes information on devices and carriers that will get upgrades to Windows Mobile 6.1. Keep your eyes on their blog for more Windows Mobile 6.1 information in the near future. You can also watch Microsoft President of Entertainment and Devices Division Robbie Bach's CTIA Keynote from CTIA Wireless 2008 by clicking here!

I've had the pleasure of running around with Windows Mobile 6.1 on my Samsung BlackJack II for the last few weeks and would like to share some notable improvements and new features I've taken notice of with you.

The first thing I took notice of with Windows Mobile 6.1 was the new Home Screen. The Home Screen has been redesigned to accommodate easier navigation with "tiles". This is pretty much my most favorite feature and improvement in Windows Mobile 6.1.

Windows Mobile 6.1 Home Screen Demo

By default, I had tiles for my clock, communications (missed calls, emails, etc), Appointments, and Settings. I can scroll up or down on my BlackJack II to access different tiles and when I'm on a specific tile - I can then navigate left or right to access different parts of that tile.

As you see in the above screenshots - I can navigate to both my Hotmail and Outlook email in the same tile. I'm calling the tile my communications tile because it essentially handles all my communications like missed calls, voicemails, text messages and email - not an official name by any means. When this tile isn't selected, the UI is designed to display everything in a single line. That means at quick glance I can always see how many emails, voicemails and text messages I have.

The Settings tile allowed me to quickly change my ringtone or background as well as quickly access Wireless Manager. It also showcases the brand new Task Manager in Windows Mobile 6.1.

The new Task Manager allows me to quickly stop apps I have running on my phone to clear up some memory. The new Task Manager is slick but honestly - I've not used it much.

However I can tell you about another feature I do use quite a bit: threaded SMS messaging.

This is awesome especially when sending text messages back and forth to the same person.

So what else is there? I've experienced improved performance and battery life after going to Windows Mobile 6.1. I could definitely feel a performance change after going from Windows Mobile 6 to 6.1 which is great.

Windows Mobile 6.1 also comes with improved Windows Live for Windows Mobile integration. Matter a fact, as you saw in the video above - there is a specific tile for Windows Live. This tile displays your Messenger display picture and personal status message. Your Hotmail isn't the only thing that gets synced - your Windows Live Contacts are synced to your phone as well. I rely on the close Windows Live integration extensively. I'm going to talk about Windows Live on Windows Mobile and syncing my Windows Live stuff to my Windows Mobile phone more in-depth in a later post.

Overall, I find Windows Mobile 6.1 an exciting release. It has certainly improved my mobile device experience. Windows Mobile 6.1 devices should work just fine with Windows Mobile Device Center. I use Windows Mobile Device Center quite a bit to get photos of my Windows Mobile phone into Windows Live Photo Gallery or to throw a song or two on to my phone. You can download Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 for Windows Vista here.

Another announcement that happened at CTIA Wireless 2008 is that a new version of Live Search for Windows Mobile is on its way. Phil Holden, a Director here at Microsoft that works on the marketing group responsible for the Live Services on Windows Mobile (such as Live Search), has a detailed blog post explaining the new things we can expect in the upcoming new release of Live Search for Windows Mobile. Some of the new features coming in the new release is the ability to map your contacts using Live Search Maps, access your Live Search Maps Collections, and Weather. I use the current version of Live Search Maps for Windows Mobile on my phone today and love it. It helps me quite a bit - especially in regards to traveling and tracking traffic with Live Search Maps.

Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 now available!

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 01:12:00 GMT

The Windows Mobile Device Center Team just forwarded this to me:

The Windows Mobile Device Center Team is excited to announce the release of Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1. This release contains key improvements and new features to support Windows Mobile 6 devices.

Key updates in Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 include:

Windows Mobile 6 feature support

Information Rights Management activation - Automatically configure the Windows Mobile 6 device to open IRM-protected documents and files
HTML mail - Set up your Windows Mobile 6 device to sync HTML-formatted mail
Certificate Enrollment - Acquire certificates through the PC the Windows Mobile 6 device is currently connected to
Allow data connections on the Windows Mobile 6 device when connected to the PC
File synchronization for smartphones - Synchronize files with your Windows Mobile 6 devices, including both touch screen and non-touch screen devices

Automatic device authentication - Connect the Windows Mobile device to the PC without the need to enter the device-lock PIN every time upon connect
Product Registration - Register your Windows Mobile device and get connected to information and offers available for your device

Install Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/devicecenter.mspx.

Please post questions or comments to http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/list/en-us/default.aspx under the newsgroup microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync.