Dashwire updated and switches to open Beta!

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

[teaser]

Dashwire, the very nifty application we first covered in October 2007 that takes content off your device and into your browser, has just been updated and has also just switched from a private to a public Beta! Hurrah! :D

In their own words...

What is Dashwire?

Dashwire automatically mirrors the content on your phone to the web, helping you access, manage, and share your mobile experiences

How does it work?

Once you sign-up for your FREE account, you’ll be prompted to install a small application on your phone that will keep your phone constantly connected and in-sync with your private, web-based Dashwire account.

What you do on the phone will instantly update on the web, what you do on the web will update your on phone.

No cables or effort required. Easy.

What does Dashwire bring to the web?

• Contacts
  
• Text Messages (SMS)
  
• Photos
  
• Videos
  
• Call logs
  
• Voicemail
  
• Phone settings - Ringtones, Web Bookmarks, Speed Dials
  

Dashwire has always been uber cool (let's face it, how many of us actually back up those pictures, videos and other content from our device as often as we should?) and it's awesome that a few of the little niggles I originally had with the app seem to have been fixed plus it's now accessible to everyone :(

For existing users, here's a breakdown of what's new in this version:

PHOTO SHARING

• Easy sharing of photos captured on your phone to friends via SMS, E-Mail or Social networks (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Bebo)
  
  INSTANT STATUS UPDATES
  • Update your Facebook and Twitter status from Dashwire.com or (coming soon) the Dashwire Mobile client on your phone.
    
    INSTANT MESSAGING-STYLE THREADED SMS ON THE WEB
    • Improved SMS experience through conversation threading by contact
      
      PHONE-TO-PHONE TRANSFER
      • Automatic transfer of contacts and phone settings (bookmarks, speed dials) when Dashwire Mobile is added to your new phone
        
      • Currently only supports transfers from one Windows Mobile phone to another, but will enable WM to S60 transfers when we launch our Symbian client.
        
        IMPROVED PHOTO VIEWING
        • Easier and faster to browse and title photos on Dashwire.com
          

        OVERALL PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENTS

        [*]Load time and usability improvements on the web and mobile client

        [*]IE7 usability improvements

        IMPROVED NAVIGATION AND ACCESS TO FEATURES

        [*]Context specific menus when hovering over messages, calls, or contacts, allowing actions like reply via SMS, call via Skype, or share photo

        CONTENT SEARCH

        [*]Spotlight-style account search

        [*]Improved tile search

        VISUAL VOICEMAIL

        [*]Visual voicemail and voice to text transcription via CallWave iFrame (for US Customers only). Exploring additional voicemail solutions for customer choice and global coverage.

        MOBILE CLIENT IMPROVEMENTS –build 299 on http://m.dashwire.com

        [*]Added progress bar

        [*]Added sync on/off for roaming

        [*]Added ability to select items that are synced

        [*]Support of phone-to-phone transfer

        [*]Manual or automatic sync, though manual sync doesn’t currently support sending SMS from Dashwire.com

        [*]Improved sync messaging

        [*]Faster performance

        If you don't yet have a Dashwire account, head on over to http://www.dashwire.com to sign up for FREE, or if you're an existing user, point your device at http://m.dashwire.com to get the latest client. Dashwire supports Windows Mobile 5 and 6 both in Standard (Smartphone) and Professional (Pocket PC) guises. Post your feedback here too - i'm going to be having a good play with the new updated version throughout the day, and will let you know how I get on. Initial impressions = GOOD :(

        Finally, i've embedded Dashwire's excellent video tour below (after the jump for news page readers!)

        P[/teaser]

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Full Press Release follows!

P

DASHWIRE OPENS ACCESS TO BETA SERVICE, ANNOUNCES ENHANCEMENTS THAT HELP BRIDGE MOBILE AND WEB WORLDS

Free service automatically mirrors the content on your mobile phone to the web, making it significantly easier to access and share mobile experiences – no cables required.

SEATTLE, Washington — March 28, 2008 — Dashwire, Inc. today announced it is opening the doors to its innovative service, providing supported smartphone users around the world with powerful new ways to simplify day-to-day phone usage and to seamlessly share mobile experiences with friends and the social sites they use to stay connected with them.

“The most interesting stuff doesn’t happen when you’re sitting in front of a computer,” said Ford Davidson, founder and CEO of Dashwire, “but that still doesn’t mean that you don’t want to easily access and share those experiences with your social circle when you’re back in front your computer. Dashwire is placing a premium on the information you want to access wherever you are by helping to facilitate the intersection between your mobile, web, and social worlds.”

Within minutes of signing up for Dashwire’s free service, all phone content — contacts, text messages, calls, photos, videos, and phone settings — automatically uploads and is safely backed-up on your web-based Dashwire account. Your phone is constantly connected to the web, where Dashwire makes it easy to search, interact with, and to share the memories captured on your phone with friends and your favorite sites.

In opening access to its free service, Dashwire is also introducing:

Single Click Media Sharing to Social Networks

Users have already invested enough time building out their online social networking presences – they don’t want to spend any more figuring out how to connect their mobile phones to all of them. Dashwire instantly uploads the photos from your phone to the web, allowing you to share those memories in a single click with friends on sites like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and Bebo.

Remote Status Updates

Updating your friends on the latest in your life shouldn’t require a trip to the computer. Dashwire lets you instantly update your Facebook and Twitter status from your phone, helping you stay connected to your friends wherever you are.

Threaded SMS Conversations

Text messaging doesn’t stop when you’re in front of your computer, but picking up your phone to send and receive them might. Dashwire not only enables you to read, reply, compose, and search text messages from the comfort of a computer keyboard, but it also provides you with a threaded view of your conversations by contact. “We’re bringing an instant messaging-like experience to SMS via Dashwire,” said Davidson.

Automatic Phone-to-Phone Transfer

For some users, connecting their mobile and social worlds is the least of their concerns. “People have enough challenges with managing the complexity of what their phones can already do,” said Davidson. “Many users are reluctant to upgrade to a new phone for fear of losing their content or out of a general desire to avoid the hassle.” Dashwire not only helps these users back-up and configure their phones online, but when ready to change phones, it also automatically transfers address book contacts and device settings from one phone to the next.

To start using Dashwire’s free beta service, simply visit www.dashwire.com on your computer web browser to sign-up for immediate access. Dashwire is currently available for Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6-powered phones like the HTC Touch, Samsung BlackJack I & II, Sprint Mogul, Motorola Q series, AT&T Tilt, T-Mobile Shadow, and Pantech Duo.

To see a video demonstration of Dashwire and a preview of the upcoming Dashwire Mobile experience, visit www.dashwire.com/tour.

[Guest johnwin]

wow! but how long does the first sync take? I'm at 30 mins and still going strong

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Depends how much you have on there :(

I did mine overnight with WiFi turned on :D

P

[Guest jimbouk]

Neat piece of kit! (I reckon I will run it in manual though to save battery and avoid slowing device down etc).

[Guest sicone]

one not so good change is that you can't access the dashboard (my.dashwire.com) from PIE anymore as it no longer supports IE6 :D

Edited March 28, 2008 by sicone

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

That's a shame!

P

[Guest johnwin]

one not so good change is that you can't access the dashboard (my.dashwire.com) from PIE anymore as it no longer supports IE6 :D

I'm not sure why you would need to do this though? Use a web interface on your phone to view and control data on the same phone?

[Guest johnwin]

has anyone in the uk managed to send a sms via the web interface? I'm in T-Mo and when i try to send a sms it shows up on the dashboard as sent but with a yellow triangle next to it and it has not been sent.

I tried altering my profile as under carrier it says 'not specified' - but there is no way to specify it!!

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Just sent a text on T-Mo UK fine.

P

[Guest johnwin]

Just sent a text on T-Mo UK fine.

P

mmm - I tried using the international number format as well as 07........ but no joy.

Tell me Paul - on your Settings > Phone page does it specify your carrier? Mine does not but I see no way of changing this?

It's strange because my previously sent and received texts have synced from the phone to the dashboard ok :D

Edited March 28, 2008 by johnwin

[Guest Mr_Gee]

Does anyone know if there is a actual "config" option?

I have a 6GB memory card, and I have a lot of stuff on there

- Friends Episodes (located in "my documents" folder

- Photo shoot (resized to show people when I'm on the road)

etc..

Most of that stuff doesn't need to be synced, but it looks like it does :D

Is it possible to specify what folders to sync?

[Guest johnwin]

Does anyone know if there is a actual "config" option?

I have a 6GB memory card, and I have a lot of stuff on there

- Friends Episodes (located in "my documents" folder

- Photo shoot (resized to show people when I'm on the road)

etc..

Most of that stuff doesn't need to be synced, but it looks like it does :D

Is it possible to specify what folders to sync?

I don't think there is that level of control - as Paul says maybe do your first sync via wifi or cable? Subsequent syncs should not take too long after that

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

mmm - I tried using the international number format as well as 07........ but no joy.

Tell me Paul - on your Settings > Phone page does it specify your carrier? Mine does not but I see no way of changing this?

It's strange because my previously sent and received texts have synced from the phone to the dashboard ok :D

'Not Specified'...

I sent in the +44 format (to myself) :(

P

[Guest johnwin]

'Not Specified'...

I sent in the +44 format (to myself) :(

P

Won't work for me :D - how frustrating!

[Guest MECX]

Im trying it on a Treo 750v.

Everything works apart from the Text message upload, I presume this is down to the threaded text message application on the 750v.

Also one small bug is that while using safari you cant view contacts details (works on firefox).

Anyone know where you can submit bugs/requests?

Cool program, will us it if they fix text message upload from the 750v.

[Guest johnwin]

Anyone know where you can submit bugs/requests?

There is a feedback button that lets you send a basic message to them and you get a 'thanks for the feedback' popup. Then nothing.

They need a user forum or something!

[Guest johnwin]

For some reason now i'm at home the txt function is working!

Same laptop, same phone - the only difference is I have done a FULL sync via wifi & the phone is connected to the net via wifi

Strange!

[Guest WinDoze9t8]

Looks kinda cool. Though I already use Missing Sync (to backup all and more)

[Guest sicone]

I'm not sure why you would need to do this though? Use a web interface on your phone to view and control data on the same phone?

Although it's not the end of the world, I sometimes want to back up pictures when I've just taken but don't want them to be public, so I need to log on via my mobile to make them private.

[Guest MECX]

Although it's not the end of the world, I sometimes want to back up pictures when I've just taken but don't want them to be public, so I need to log on via my mobile to make them private.

Im sure you can make them not public by default in the settings......

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

By default nothing is on your public page iirc.

P

[Guest MECX]

im having issues sending texts now, I have a friend with a Trinity and it seems to work much better than on my Treo 750v--- must be those palm tweaks messing things up.

Still this is a brilliant idea and once they iron out the bugs I can see it taking off big time------- linking in to the GPS on some phones and displaying a google map on the page with you and your friends locations would be fantastic.

I wish they had a support forum.... (hint hint :-P)

[Guest frottage]

I just installed on my vox - and its working perfectly. Very impressed, so much so that I rang Orange and asked them about my options for more data. When i renewed my account last August, they gave me their special secret unlimited data package "sunrise" I think it was codenamed. Oranges definition of unlimited data at this time, however, was subject to a 30Mb acceptable usage policy for £7 a month. I complained bitterly that this did not compete with the T-mobile Web and Walk which was £7 for 1000Mb of data, but living in a rural area orange provides the only decent coverage - so I was stuck. Today I was advised that Orange now have a £6+vat 250MB a month package which whilst not perfect is far more realistic - so they have upgraded me AND slightly reduced my monthly costs.

This is probably old news on this forum - but I didnt know till just now and im a lot happier now that I do :D

[Guest Happy Dave]

mm, just installed and really like it. One small problem though is that I store all my videos and images on the storage card. I cant find a way to make it look on the storage card for these items, nor to ignore folders in my main memory to avoid it uploading all the SPB avatars, etc.

Is it possible or am I just 'not getting it' ? :D

Edit: sorry just read the previous post about it not being possible! Surely though it should pick the stuff up on the storage card? Also it hasn't got my speed dials?

Edited April 4, 2008 by Happy Dave