Windows phones and devices help deliver highly advanced mobile capabilities while maximizing technology investments and improving both mobile worker and IT productivity. Built on the powerful Windows Mobile operating system and produced by top original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) around the world, Windows phones provide a rich, flexible, cost-effective platform for increased productivity and improved mobile solutions.

To use Exchange Online and SharePoint Online with a Windows phone, the phone must have Windows Mobile 6.0, Windows Mobile 6.1, or Windows Mobile 6.5 installed.

About Windows Mobile 6.5

Windows Mobile 6.5—the latest version of Windows phone software—includes a new touch-screen gesture interface, Today and Lock screen improvements, customized designer themes, e-mail conversation view, reply/forward indication, and nickname cache to speed up addressing e-mails. Unified messaging enhancements allow you to listen to your Exchange-delivered voice mail. 

Your Internet experience is greatly enhanced with Windows Mobile 6.5 through the new Internet Explorer Mobile 6 browser. Searching the Web is simpler and quicker through direct address bar entry and auto-complete of words or even whole sites. A mobile or desktop view can be selected depending on your immediate viewing needs, and includes zoom, scroll, and pan. New MSN® Widgets provide real-time information about news and stocks, while Newsbreak Lite provides an RSS reader to stay up to date on your favorite sites. 

With the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, you can expand your phone’s horizons by finding and downloading the newest applications. Use the new My Phone service to sync your personal data to the Web so it is backed up and accessible online. The Facebook Mobile and My Space Mobile apps let you manage your social network accounts and add content while you’re on the go. Access multimedia Web sites as they were meant to be, using the improved Windows Media® Player Mobile and Adobe Flash Lite plug-in.

Messaging Capabilities

Windows phones and Microsoft Online Services give your business "anywhere access" to the powerful productivity capabilities of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, the messaging system that drives Exchange Online. You can provide your employees with mobile access to push e-mail, calendars, tasks, and contacts—all while helping to protect against malware and spam. A powerful yet simple remote Web-based console helps you securely administer Exchange Online to deliver simplified, seamless access to communications to and from Windows phones.

Windows Mobile 6.0, Windows Mobile 6.1, and Windows Mobile 6.5 have built-in compatibility with Exchange ActiveSync. With this data synchronization program, Exchange Online users can take advantage of these Windows phone features:

Direct Push: Microsoft Office Outlook® e-mail, calendar, tasks, and contacts are synchronized without delay to mobile devices via Exchange Online.

Remote device wipe: If a mobile device is lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised, users can log on to their mailboxes through Outlook Web Access (OWA) and remotely erase all personal data from the device, resetting the device to factory default settings.  

With a Windows phone, you get the data access, productivity tools, and messaging flexibility you rely on.

A broad list of Windows phone messaging and security features are described in Table 2 and Table 3. 

Table 2. Messaging Features of the Windows Phone

Feature	Description
Attachments	View large attached files and images.
Follow-up flags	Users can flag messages for later follow-up directly from the mobile device. After a message is flagged, it also shows as flagged in Office Outlook on the desktop.
E-mail conversation threads	Gather multiple e-mails into a single threaded view for easier reading.
Reply/forward indication	Icons identify which e-mails have been forwarded and replied to.
Text messages	Users can send text messages by using short message service (SMS) and multimedia messaging service (MMS).
Threaded text messages	Messages are threaded together into single conversation, similar to instant messaging.
Microsoft Office files	Users can view, edit, or access Microsoft Office files and use links to documents that are stored on a server or attached to an e-mail message.
Over-the-air server search	Users can search for information by querying the local device and the user’s entire mailbox on the server that is running Exchange Online.
Pictures and videos	User can share pictures and videos immediately after taking the picture or shooting the video.
HTML mail support	Users can read HTML e-mail without fidelity loss and in legible font sizes.

 

Table 3. Security Features of the Windows Phone

Feature	Description
User-enforced device lock	Users have the option of setting up PIN locks for their devices.
Administrator device wipe	Over-the-air wireless IT policies and commands to lock down a device or wipe data from a lost or stolen device help users protect sensitive information. For Exchange Online or SharePoint Online, administrators can perform device wipe via a call to the support desk.
Self-service device wipe	Over-the-air wireless IT policies and commands to lock down a device or wipe data from a lost or stolen devices help users protect sensitive information. For Exchange Online and SharePoint Online, users can enable device wipe via Outlook Web Access (OWA).
Encryption services	Users can encrypt data stored on external storage cards.
Administrator PIN recovery	Administrators can reset the PIN via call to the support desk.
Self-service PIN recovery	User can reset their PIN via Outlook Web Access.
Data transfer security *	Security can be used to transfer data from the phone to Exchange Server and from Exchange Server to the phone. For a Windows phone, the standard protocol is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

 

*The user subscription license for Exchange Online Standard includes access to Exchange Online data with an Exchange ActiveSync device at no additional charge. Access is not available for users subscribed under the Deskless Worker license.

Collaboration Capabilities

Using SharePoint Online, mobile employees can efficiently collaborate with team members via on-the-go access to organizational resources. Employees can search an intranet site, manage content and workflow, and capitalize on business insight to make better-informed decisions.

At this time, Windows phones and devices require a third-party browser (such as Opera) to access SharePoint Online Standard. Without a browser, you can directly access documents from a SharePoint Server site on your mobile device via a SharePoint link embedded in Exchange Online e-mail messages. At Cloud Hypermarket, we can help you with this.