My Phone: Freemium Backup Solution With 4 New Features

Video above: pocketnow.com walk-through of the beta of MyPhone

The good news is that Microsoft wants everyone to sign up for its My Phone service, a program that comes pre-bundled with Windows Mobile 6.5 and is a free download for earlier editions of the mobile OS. Many of the features that users have enjoyed in the beta of My Phone will continue to be free of charge, and Microsoft is also adding in four new premium services for a one-time charge of $4.99—much cheaper than the competing MobileMe subscription based $99 per year charge. Read on to find out more.

My Phone is a backup utility that backs up your text messages, contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and media file over the air and runs in the background on your Windows phone. Unlike Apple’s Mobile Me service, Microsoft really does want every Windows phone owner to make use of this important and valuable backup utility, offering all the backup and OTA media transfer features free. Unlike MobileMe, My Phone is not a subscription service, and includes all the backup and sync capabilities of the former, including a location feature of the phone at the time of the user’s last automatic of forced synchronization for free.

Since the beta service was launched at Mobile World Congress, over 200,000 users have signed up in more than 200 countries, backing up a total of 32 million contacts, 112 million text messages, and synchronizing over 14 million pictures! All those backups will continue to be free through My Phone. However, for users who need more advanced capabilities, Microsoft will be launching its premium portal (free to trial at launch and good for 60 calendar days), which features four new services for a flat $4.99 charge after the trial:

1. Ring your phone
2. Current location
3. Lock
4. Erase

Ring Your Phone
Ring your phone is a cool feature for many of us who have misplaced our phones in our homes. If your phone is on silent or vibrate, you can go to your PC and log into your My Phone portal and initiate the Ring Your Phone feature, which will turn on the ringer on your Windows phone. Then, you can call your Windows phone from another number and your Windows phone, like the Pied Piper, will lead you to it by the musical charm of your ringtone.

Current Location
The second feature, current location, will be useful for those who have had their phones stolen. My Phone will enable the GPS in your Windows phone and display the location of your phone on a map.

Lock Phone
Third, the lock feature, will tell your phone to lock and can display a message so that hopeful finders of your phone can contact you about returning your phone. The message can show your name and contact information. This way, if someone finds the phone, they will know whom to call to return the phone.

Erase: Remote Wipe for Everyone
Erase, the last premium My Phone feature, will perform a remote wipe of your phone. Microsoft is really bringing the remote wipe feature of Exchange to the masses with this last feature. Best of all, rather than pay for a costly Exchange account, users who do not need Exchange can enjoy this and the other premium features for a low $4.99 flat fee.

Pricing and Availability
The premium features of My Phone will be available in 19 markets at launch on October 6, 2009. The best part of the news is that after the 60-day trial, you can still get one additional use of the premium feature to “trial” for free before having to purchase it. That means on day 61, if you happen to misplace your phone, you can use the Ring Your Phone feature for free for one last time.

We applaud Microsoft for making the premium version of My Phone accessible and competitively priced. For all other users, the free version of My Phone for backing contacts, text messages, and photos will continue to remain free.

To register for My Phone, go to MyPhone.Microsoft.com.