The mail says:

Microsoft will be discontinuing the Windows Marketplace for Mobile web site at http://marketplace.windowsphone.com starting on July 15, 2011 and My Phone http://www.microsoft.com/myphone to Be Discontinued on August 7, 2011 beginning which the My Phone service will stop saving content from phones to the My Phone service.

After July 15, 2011, Windows Mobile users will no longer be able to browse, buy or download applications for Windows Mobile 6.x phones via the Windows Marketplace for Mobile web site. However, the Windows Marketplace for Mobile service will continue to be available on phone.

Microsoft will begin moving My Phone content to Windows Live SkyDrive from August 7, 2011. Contacts, calendar entries, text messages and photos will be moved to SkyDrive and can be accessed by logging into SkyDrive using the Windows Live ID used for the My Phone service. Other content types, including videos, music, documents and favorites will not be moved from My Phone to SkyDrive and must be saved to local PC.

On October 6, 2011, the My Phone web site at http://www.microsoft.com/myphone will no longer be available. From this date, users will no longer be able to log in to the My Phone service to access their content stored to the My Phone service. Microsoft will continue to store My Phone content for one (1) year. They are even offering physical copies of My Phone content to be shipped to you upon request until October 5, 2012.

As per Microsoft the reasons behind killing these services,

Microsoft continues to invest in Windows Live as the principal and centralized cloud service for various Microsoft products. As is often the case, improved products and technology allow us to move in a forward direction, bringing fresh products and updated capabilities to customers.

I was a fan of My Phone service and am a current user on my win Mo 6.X series since over 18 months. I hope Microsoft gets an alternative for users for this application before killing it.

More Details here : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2557520

                          

MyPhone application from Microsoft is one of the best applications to backup windows mobile phone data. However, the data is uploaded over the web and to check data and upload/download you need to have a stable internet connection. In such scenarios, an application to backup the Windows Phone offline is much more desired.

The PIM backup application is such a tool that allows to backup/restore personal information stored on windows mobile based pocket devices like contacts, appointments, tasks, messages, calls etc.
The backup is totally independent of the version of Windows Mobile running on the device and independent of the device itself. The backup is also independent of the language used on the device. You can easily backup on a Chinese device and restore in a German one.

There are two kinds of backups. The binary based backup has been implemented in order to have a backup/restore process which is fast and more reliable, the disadvantage being that the backup contents cannot be easily modified or viewed. This backup is better in terms of privacy as well as security too. The text based backup has been implemented in order to see/edit the contents on a pc for instance.

Requirements:
- Pocket PC 2003
- Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC
- WM6/6.1/6.5 Professional devices

Downloads:

Download PIM backup v2.8 for WM5 & WM6

Download PIM backup v2.8 for WM2003SE

User manual:  Pim Backup quick user guide

To use the application, the exe contained in the zip file, should be copied and launched on the pocket pc, and not on a pc.

It took me less than two minutes to download, copy to phone, install and take backup on my Windows Mobile Phone. Have you tried any such application? Do comment here to let us all know.

                          

At PDC 2010, It was not only Release of IE9 PP 6 but also announcement about release of an ebook by Charles Petzold for the Windows Phone 7 ,Programming Windows Phone 7 created the buzz.

This book is a gift from the Windows Phone 7 team at Microsoft to the programming community, and within the pages that follow, the book show you the basics of writing applications for Windows Phone 7 using the C# programming language with the Silverlight and XNA 2D frameworks.

Programming Windows Phone 7 is truly a free download, but for those readers who still love paper this book will also be available (for sale) divided into two fully-indexed print editions: Microsoft Silverlight Programming for Windows Phone 7 and Microsoft XNA Framework Programming for Windows Phone 7.

This book is divided into three parts. The first part discusses basic concepts of Windows Phone 7 programming using example programs that target both Silverlight and the XNA framework. The second part of this book focuses entirely on Silverlight, and the third part on XNA 2D. For your convenience, the chapters in each part build upon previous knowledge in a progressive tutorial narrative, and hence are intended to be read sequentially.

To use this book properly you’ll need to download and install the Windows Phone Developer Tools, which includes Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, XNA Game Studio 4.0, and an on-screen Windows Phone Emulator to test your programs in the absence of an actual device. Get the latest information and downloads at http://developer.windowsphone.com.

You can install these tools on top of Visual Studio 2010, in effect enhancing Visual Studio 2010 for phone development. That’s the configuration I used.

You can download a PDF here (38.6 MB).

And you can download the ebook’s sample code here (5.03 MB)

                          

Windows Phone Developer Tools are powerful and easy to use Visual Studio integrated developer environment (IDE) handles developing Windows Phone 7 phone applications. It includes Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, the Windows Phone Emulator, Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone, and XNA Game Studio 4.0.

Windows Phone Developer Tools have been released to web and available for free. This release is available in only English, however Microsoft will be releasing the French, Italian, German and Spanish language versions in the next couple of weeks.

Now you can earn some money easily by developing apps and games for Windows Phone 7 and then setting them for sale @ Windows phone marketplace. It is recommended and advised to re-built or re-compile WP applications that built with a previous beta version of the tools; to avoid failure of application certification in the Marketplace.

The final Windows Phone Developer Tools are compatible with Visual Studio 2010 RTM  only.

Download: Windows Phone Developer Tools

                          

Opera mini 5, web browser specially designed for Mobile devices, if i would have to describe it in a single word it would be ‘AWESOME’.

An awesome, fast and better than all its previous version of Opera Mini series . I have been using opera mini since its version 3 i.e opera mini 3 and i must say that Opera mini don’t disappoint me after releasing of its each new version. But before going to tell you about its pros and cons let me discuss first its features and will see why Opera mini 5 has become the world fastest mobile browser in the world (according to me).

Followings are the some of the additional features from its previous version:

1) Fast Mobile Browser Ever Seen: This Opera Mini 5 is remarkably faster than its all previous versions. You can simply feel the speed while browsing the different sites.

2) One click Access to Web through Speed Dial: You can access to your favourite site directly through speed dial. This facility was also there in Opera Mini’s previous version but number of speed dials was only 9 in its previous versions. Now you can add up to 30 web sites as a speed dial.

3) Data Compression: Unlike its previous versions, Opera Mini 5 compresses webpages up to 90% which directly reduces the data cost and save your money on phone bill.

4) Multiple TABs : Undoubtedly one of the best feature in Opera mini 5.Now you have a facility to open more than one window at a time, which save your time drastically .Now you don’t have to wait for opening of one site. In the mean time, you can also open as many site as you want by using this multiple TABs facility. It really feels like that you are browsing through your desktop or notebook PC.

Apart from this, its others features like auto completion of URL, scroll and zooming facility to read large web page, finding something in web page ,bookmark, downloads etc are almost the same as in its previous versions with some improvisation in performance.

Cons:

1) While opening of any web page, Opera Mini 5 doesn’t give any information of data usage unlike its previous version. You don’t get any information that how much data transaction is taking place while opening of any web page.

One more point, which i felt a there is scope of improvisation. In this version, you have to do lots of navigation for Exiting from its application. There was less navigation for the same in case of its previous version.

Opera mini also helps to access secure sites and rich sites using Java content and other multimedia content. As many of sites use the secure connection, and earlier Opera Mini’s series wasn’t able to open it. But Opera Mini 5 overcomes this problem and successfully opening such websites. However a limited Read only functionality would be there for a few sites like IBM Lotus Notes which is a Mail Server used in corporates also user credentials for secure sites are not saved for secure sites unlike BOLT browser.

There are lot many things to try, so if you guys get any result of this, then please share your outcome.

Download Opera mini 5 Free on your mobile:

http://www.opera.com/mobile/ or m.opera.com.

Guest Post Written by Manish Sharma, a Tech enthusiast and an IT Guy.

Post Edited &Modified by Vasu Jain.

                          

Skyfire is a 3rd party browser for Windows Mobile that has grown in its popularity due mostly to its support of flash. This browser truly provides a full Internet experience on the go with its easy to use interface and full Internet pages (also includes the option of running pages in a mobile view). Maneuvering web pages is made easy with touch screen support and kinetic scrolling. Full pages on any size screen are very functional thanks to excellent zoom controls with the addition of a zoom box. The zoom box can be used to see the actual extents of the area about to be zoomed in on. The browser seems to be a little sluggish when compared to others but overall provides a complete web experience without too much limitation. This is a must have free browser for any Windows Mobile user.

Download : http://get.skyfire.com/dl_winmo.php

                          

Scan 2D-barcodes with your device camera ! QuickMark is a 2-D barcode system designed for mobility electronic devices with camera module (such as camera phones, PDA, smart phones, Webcams, scanners, decoders and etc.) The system provide encode, make code, decode tools and application service. It’s a light, quick and easy to use application. QuickMark can simplify the original tedious operate process on cell phones. With low gap, only 3 hundred thousand pixel cameras are required, any user can download the decode software free from QuickMark website. Just point over the barcode and you will catch all the information !

• Requirements:
Windows Mobile device with camera

NOTE ! You should register at the QuickMark web site to be able to download !

Download : Quickmark-v3-3-barcode-reader

                          

Here is an interesting game for Windows Mobile devices. The objective is to take out the green vehicle by moving the other vehicle to free the exit. Using the least possible movement. The game has around 44 levels. A nice way to enjoy during light hours in your journey , office or college.

Download : http://amigapocket.free.fr/fichiers/Amigaquin.CAB

Source : 1800pocketpc

                          

Want to make your Pocket PC Today screen look exactly like iPhone? Try this utility developed by XDA – dev forum members  to give a iPhone –ish feel to your WinMo.

Features:
- Multiples screens (With animates transactions)
- Notification on icons for calls, sms, etc
- Is a Today (No problems when we push the home button, no problems with incoming calls, …)
- Compatibility with others todays (By example: Date Today and iPhoneToday after), today height configurable
- QVGA, VGA, WVGA… (The user define the icon size and height screen)
- UI for Icons managings
- UI for configuration
- Very low memory
- FAST!

Download : http://iphonetoday.googlecode.com/files/iPhoneToday-1.5.2-wm.cab

Discuss at: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=633618

FAQ’s at :  http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=542727

Watch a video demonstration at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG-T2Fv1onE

Submit and vote suggestions at: http://www.google.com/moderator/#16/e=4fa9

                          

Download : http://cid-acaa9a3b4d2792fe.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/ILWP%5E_Wallpapers/ILWP7.zip

This contains a zip file ILWP7.zip having Windows Phone Wallpapers in different sizes- 1024 X 768, 1280 X 1024, 1920 X 1200 , 1920 X 1080

Will be adding sizes on request. Now added 1920 X 1080 .

Source : http://vasudevg.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-love-windows-phone-wallpapers.html