Great news today when I heard that Microsoft was finally offering an over-the-air complete sync service for their phones. The new service entitled My Phone is a concept that has been out in the wild for years now already, but it seems Microsoft is finally getting on the bandwagon.
What is strange is that they completely bypass Activesync and require you to install yet another piece of software. Yeah, why would you use the default Microsoft based over-the-air syncing application when you can just make a new one?
In my usage of the system, it seems quite limited (it does not sync contact categories for example), but it makes my entire phone data avaliable and searchable online. Even though you can do a similar thing through Google sync, it is more through in that it syncs documents, photos and even SMSes, a first for any sync program I have encountered. Heck, even a direct Outlook Mobile to Outlook desktop sync does not even do this without a unstable 3rd party addon.
This seems to have great potential as an online backup solution. Say you lose your phone, just reinstall the app, and your phone is restored magically, without the need to be by your computer. Could be good, but we will have to see what develops.