high tech roadshow

While Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 operating system might be the youngest of the major mobile operating systems, Microsoft has gone to great lengths to make backups available to Windows Phone users effortlessly.

Unlike the backup systems of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, there is no physical backup method for Windows Phone. Instead, the operating system relies on Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud service to back up Windows Phone settings. Every Windows Phone user creates a Microsoft Account the moment they create an account on Windows Phone.

Here’s how to turn on these settings and back up most of the contents stored on your device to SkyDrive automatically. This way, all the information you want to keep is still there when you need it.
Backing Up Apps and Settings

Tap Settings.

Scroll down to ‘Backup’ under Settings.

Tap ‘app list + settings’. Tap the ‘on’ switch on the right hand side of the screen. From this moment on, your Windows Phone will automatically back up your Internet Explorer favorites, applications that are installed.

Tap the ‘back up now’ button to immediately back up all that information right now.
Backing Up Text Messages

Tap Settings.

Scroll down to ‘Backup’ under Settings.

Tap ‘text messages’. Tap the ‘on’ switches for text message backup and chat back up on the right.
Backing Up Photos & Videos

Tap Settings.

Scroll down to ‘Backup’ under Settings.

Tap ‘photos’. Under photos choose between ‘Best quality (needs Wi-Fi) or ‘Good quality (may use data plan)’. Tap either option to enable photo backup.

If you’d like to automatically back up videos and settings, choose either ‘Good quality (needs Wi-Fi)’ or ‘Best quality (needs Wi-Fi)’.

Open your web browser. To find all of your messages and pictures, login to Microsoft’sSkyDrive cloud back up service using the Microsoft Account and password that you used to set up your device.

From this moment on the Windows Phone device will automatically check SkyDrive for the latest text messages, app lists and photos on SkyDrive whenever it’s reset. It’s important to note that your contacts are automatically backed up by the operating system.

keep up with the newest technologies and contemplate about how these will be used in the future. On this blog I'll share my thoughts about the future of technology, based on the high Tech RoadShow inventions of today. Enhanced by Zemanta

Windows 8.1 (Photo credit: Javier Domínguez Ferreiro)

Microsoft might not have used its BUILD 2013 event to showcase much in the way of updates and features coming to the next version of Windows Phone, but some conclusions on the mobile operating system can be drawn from what Microsoft did talk about in great detail: Windows 8.1. Of course, these aren’t hardcore feature sets, nor are they official but it’s clear that Windows 8.1 (Photo credit: Javier Domínguez Ferreiro)
icrosoft is likely taking a unified stances on its products.Personalization

With the Metro design language coming of age, it’s now clear that Microsoft seems to have realized that some of its initial implementations of Metro lack a big bullet point with users: personalization. In Windows 8.1 the company has started over and is allowing users to change their Start Screen backgrounds and added an almost dizzying array of color options.

Microsoft bringing over the customization options in Windows 8.1 seems is inevitable.

It’s almost inconceivable that Microsoft’s Windows Phone team wouldn’t add those features and take these lessons into consideration when creating their next major release. After all, even the company’s new television ads push the idea of Windows being available everywhere. If the company hopes to convince users of that, they’ll at least need to share fundamental design elements and customization features.
Integration

Testers of the Windows 8.1 Preview will find that Microsoft’s Bing search engine is built into the operating system’s Search Charm. With it, users can search Bing from almost anywhere in the operating system. Likewise, SkyDrive is now an operating system level feature. Instead of relying on applications that need to be installed, the cloud service’s syncing options are built into the control panel. In fact, users can even manage and view the amount of SkyDrive storage they have right out of the box.

SkyDrive Integration in Windows 8.1

Microsoft’s dedication to finally using technology and features across the company’s platforms isn’t necessarily new. However, it is something that is finally beginning to show results. Microsoft has already said that the next version of Windows Phone will enable users to share Internet Explorer tabs between Windows devices. It’s also known that the underlying operating system on Windows Phone 8 is actually Windows 8′s core.

There’s no reason to think that these same SkyDrive syncing features and large integration push won’t make it to the next version of Windows Phone. It’s actually the Windows Phone Team that started the trend first with integrated Bing searching and automatic photo backups to SkyDrive first.
Decentralization

Most will agree that Microsoft’s approach to Windows Phone telegraphed the coming of many of the new concepts that have now become staples of operating systems. Its People Hub and seamless integration with social networks in order to make the lives of users easier is now something that can be found almost on all mobile operating systems.

Like Windows 8 applications, Windows Phone applications might likely finally be able to update independently.

Unfortunately one of the things Windows Phone has gotten wrong since Day One is the way it approaches development of applications on the platform. With Windows, and again in Windows 8.1, Microsoft has decoupled the applications that are central to the user experience from the operating system. This approach allows teams inside Microsoft to release updates for their Windows apps independently of an operating system update. As Windows Phone and Windows 8 have a shared core, it’s likely that the next version of Windows Phone will do the same.

Microsoft isn’t yet acknowledging the existence of a significant Windows Phone 8 update beyond commenting that the Internet Explorer in Windows 8.1 will require a “future version.” Sources with knowledge of the company’s plans have indicated that the next version of Windows Phone — what’s know as Windows Phone “Blue” — will make its way to users early next year. When it does, it’s likely that many of the changes will look awfully familiar.

keep up with the newest technologies and contemplate about how these will be used in the future. On this blog I'll share my thoughts about the future of technology, based on the high Tech RoadShow inventions of today. Enhanced by Zemanta

Related articles