How To

No doubt, one of the coolest features of Windows Phone 7 and the companion Zune Desktop software is the ability to sync wirelessly. For years we've had to endure tethering our devices to our computers, loose USB wires everywhere, etc. (Even more ironic if you remember wireless syncing in ActiveSync before they removed it).

Consider this more of a walk-through/what to expect than a true "setup guide" only because Microsoft made it so easy that you really should have no problem figuring it out. Still, we'll show a couple screen shots of the process as well as tell you what you can expect. In short, it's a great feature and once you have your GBs of music loaded, you'll want to use everyday.

Read more after the break!

We've made mention that one way to prepare for Windows Phone 7 is to establish a Windows Live ID. If you times slipped by and you haven't created a Windows Live ID, don't worry. During the initial set-up of your Windows Phone 7 device, you're given the option to sign in with an existing Live ID, skip the step all together or create a Windows Live ID from your phone.

While some may opt to choose "not now" and skip the Windows Live ID all together, to make the most of Windows Phone 7 you really need the ID. As the screen shot mentions,

"To get apps, play games, use a Zune Pass, automatically sync Windows Live information to the web, and more, you need a Windows Live ID."

In establishing a Windows Live ID doesn't mean you can't use Google, Yahoo, or another Exchange Server for your email, contacts and calendar.  It simply opens more doors for your Windows Phone to access.

Windows Live will be a major component for Windows Phone 7 and if you're not familiar with Live, some of the terminology can be a little confusing. You have Windows Live, Windows Live Mail, Hotmail, Live mail, Hotmail calendar and contacts as well as Live calendar and contacts.  Here's a simple glossary that may help shed some light on Windows Live.

Windows Live: The online portal to Hotmail, Office Documents, Messenger, Photos, Skydrive, and other "cloud" services from Microsoft.

Hotmail: Microsoft's email, calendar and contacts component to Windows Live. You'll access windowslive.com with your hotmail address and password.

Windows Live mail: The same as Hotmail and includes email, calendar and contacts. On a side note, a hotmail address can end in @hotmail.com or @live.com.

Windows Live Mail: This is a component of Windows Live Essentials that runs from your computer. Just as Microsoft Outlook is a component of Microsoft Office.  Windows Live Mail, again just as Outlook, has a email, calendar and contacts component. Windows Live Mail can access your hotmail and other email services (Google, Yahoo, etc.) plus you can sign into Windows Live through Live Mail and access your online contacts and calendar.

It would have been nice if Microsoft could have come up with more distinctive terminology but as we all get used to the Windows Phone 7 and Windows Live environments, it will all become second nature.

Just a follow up on that Hotmail with Exchange Activesync support--word is, it is now Active Live err...working.

The settings are pretty straight forward if you are familiar with setting up an Exchange account on your device. Simply enter this info and you should be good to go:

Server / URL: m.hotmail.com

Username: Enter full email address, for example: someone@example.com

Domain: Leave this blank

SSL: Enable this

Certificate: Accept the SSL certificate when prompted

Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks: All can be enabled

[via LiveSide.net]

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If you already skinned your Windows desktop to look like Metro using Rainmeter, might as well complete the look and skin Firefox now too.

Although 'Metro 1.0' adds a little WP7 flare to your browser, don't expect anything drastic as skinning is sort of minimal. Still, it adds that little extra touch to the whole Metro themed PC and it's free, so why not?

We suppose copying is the highest form of flattery, so seeing as many in the design world want to emulate Metro's look is a good thing (remember all the iPhone skins years ago?).

Now if we can just get a skin for Chrome...

[via Download Squad]

Back in the day, we had an app on Windows Mobile called CityID (Flashback: 2006!). It recently reared its dormant head on the Verizon Imagio (see full review). The app was basically an area code database that compared that was compared to an incoming phone call, resulting in a City, State caller ID.

Very useful stuff.

Turns out that many HTC devices, likewise, have a database that stores states, but not necessarily anything else. Saumaun, who is quite well known in various Windows Mobile communities, managed to whip up a detailed registry change to give us back that function. He basically included all the major metropolitan areas and referenced them via area codes, giving a pretty decent shot at city accuracy.

The best part of his "hack" is that there is no running programs or increased resources--it simply uses the device's registry to enhance caller ID. ROM chefs are encouraged to incorporate it into their builds and end-users can just download and install the simple and tiny .cab file, found in this thread.

Brilliant!

For the few of those with the hard-to-find LG eXpo (more on that later), there are three interesting applications hidden within \Windows that may be of interest:

• GPSViewer
• wifiEngMenu
• TascalRegEdit

GPSViewer/GPS Utility is a simple app that shows you the number of satellites found and their strength, all in a nice graph form. (Of note is excellent GPS reception and accuracy on the eXpo).  It also gives your current speed, albeit in km/h.  Still, not a bad diagnostic tool.

"WifiEngMenu" is an advanced WiFi diagnostic tool that gives a ton of information related to your current network, including transmission rate test, WWM PS test, signal strength, etc.

Finally there is Tascal Registry Editor, a common (and ancient) freeware registry application. While nothing special, it's nice to have it readily available.

To access these apps, the first two (GPS Viewer, WifiEngMenu) require you to find them under \Windows and create a shortcut to the Start Menu. To make that easier for folks, we'll include the shortcuts for you to download directly: just unzip to \Windows\Start Menu and you should be all set.  For the Registry editor, find "TascalRegEdit.cab" under \Windows and simply run and install. A shortcut will be created for you to use directly.

Download to your device here.

It's pretty well known that the HTC HD2 (Leo) had a wee camera problem with some odd colors showing up in the center.

That has been addressed via a patch, which is available now.

Of course, what would be the fun of having a patch for one device and not trying it out on another?  Not very much.

Turns out if you apply the .cab'd version to the Verizon Imagio (see review) it greatly speeds up the auto-focus -- as in cuts the time in half as well as just general quickness of the camera app. Image quality is said to be the same and no one is reporting any negatives, so if you've done a fresh backup give it a go.

And for the record, we did try this on our Sprint Touch Pro 2 and saw no difference ;-)

Download the .cab here.