Microsoft My Phone beta coming soon

The Microsoft My Phone Beta which we already know about as it was originally called SkyBox is showing up online now just as a coming soon page with a little more information. Basically its Microsoft’s answer to backing up your data into the Cloud and nothing much more really and with a tiny storage limit of 200 Mb. My Phone syncs information on your mobile phone to a storage space on a web site hosted by Microsoft. If your phone is lost or stolen, or if you upgrade to a new phone, you can easily restore the contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and other information that you stored on My Phone to a compatible new or replacement phone. Most phones that run the Windows Mobile 6 operating system are compatible with My Phone service. More details after the break.

More information about Microsoft® My Phone

• Back up phone information to a password-protected web site Microsoft My Phone syncs information on your mobile phone to a storage space on a web site hosted by Microsoft. If your phone is lost or stolen, or if you upgrade to a new phone, you can easily restore the contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and other information that you stored on My Phone to a compatible new or replacement phone. Most phones that run the Windows Mobile 6 operating system are compatible with My Phone service.
• Access and update your contacts and appointments on the web Microsoft My Phone enables you to view and manage phone information by using a web browser. In your web account, you can add, edit, and delete contacts and calendar appointments, and the changes will appear on your phone the next time that you sync.
• Share photos with friends and family Microsoft My Phone makes it easy to view photos on your computer that were taken with your camera phone. From your web account, you can save photos to your computer or can e-mail them to family and friends.

• How much does the Microsoft My Phone service cost? Microsoft does not charge a fee for the My Phone service at this time. But the data plan you have with your mobile operator may require you to pay data-transfer charges when you use the service. If you are unsure of your plan coverage, please contact your mobile operator.
• What information can I back up on Microsoft My Phone? The first time that you run the My Phone application on your mobile phone, you will be asked to accept or change the recommended settings. Recommended settings will synchronize contacts, calendar appointments, tasks, photos, videos, text messages, music, and documents between your phone and your My Phone web account. However:
  • If you have an active connection with Microsoft Exchange server (which is frequently used for corporate e-mail), My Phone will not synchronize your contacts, calendar appointments, or tasks.
  • If you have Windows Live installed on your phone, it will synchronize your Windows Live contacts with the Windows Live web site, and My Phone will synchronize your other contacts to your account on the My Phone web site.
  • If you have an external memory card and selected My Phone’s recommended settings, information on the external memory card will not be synchronized.
  • If you store contacts on the SIM card provided by your mobile operator, My Phone will not synchronize these contacts.
  • If you have any documents stored outside the My Documents folder on your phone, My Phone will not synchronize these documents.
• How much data can I back up? Your Microsoft My Phone account gives you 200 MB of free storage on the Microsoft My Phone web site. If a synchronization would result in exceeding this limit, you will receive an error message on your phone and your account on the My Phone web site will only include information received prior to reaching this limit. Any files in excess of this limit will not be saved.
• Does Microsoft My Phone back up my phone information automatically? If you accept the recommended settings, Microsoft My Phone will automatically synchronize information between your mobile phone and your Microsoft My Phone web account once per day between 11:00 P.M. and 5:00 A.M., except when your phone cannot connect to your default data network – for example, when your phone is turned off, out of range, or roaming. You can also back up your data manually at any time by selecting Sync in the Microsoft My Phone application on your phone.
• Will Microsoft My Phone work on my mobile phone? Currently, Microsoft My Phone works only on phones that run the Windows Mobile 6+ operating system. This includes phones from many different manufacturers and mobile operators. To check which version of Windows Mobile your phone is using, click Start > Settings > About on your phone.
• What if I’ve already lost my mobile phone? If you lost your mobile phone before you began using the Microsoft My Phone service (for instance, if you installed the software but did not perform a sync operation), you cannot use Microsoft My Phone to restore the information that you lost. But if you used My Phone on your old mobile phone, download and install Microsoft My Phone on your new mobile phone and sign in to the Microsoft My Phone application on your phone using the same Windows Live ID that you previously used. Then, by synchronizing manually or waiting for the next automatic synchronization, all information that you backed up to your Microsoft My Phone web account will be restored to the new phone.

Disclaimer: Use of Microsoft My Phone is subject to the terms of use provided with the service, including limitations on liability and no guarantee of error free operation. Although this web page is intended to provide additional general information about the service, Microsoft expressly disclaims provision of any additional user right or Microsoft obligation. A copy of the Terms of Use can be found here.

You can visit the Microsoft My Phone page here.