WP7 Primer?

[bikehere]

Hi,

I just picked up a WP7 (HTC HD7) and looking forward to using the new phone. Before it arrives, I had a few questions. Apologies if this is redundant, if so please point me to the relevant information. So here goes:

-Do I need to log in with my Hotmail account? I understand that it becomes my default account and overwrites contacts. I want my "Contact list" to be based on my Gmail. How should I set this up (dummy hotmail account with no contacts)?
-I don't use XBox so not concerned about Xbox integration
-My contacts and calender are with Gmail. Is there a way to sync my calenders between gmail and hotmail so I can see multiple calenders? Would I have to wait for Mango to see multiple calenders?
-How is content backed up (contacts, apps, etc.)? iOS has iTunes...is there a Zune-type equivalent or does it happen automatically over the web? I will be using a Mac, so will install the Mac Zune Adapter (I forget the actual name of the program)

Lastly, does WP7 have these apps (or recommended substitutes)?:
-Pulse (Android, iOS have it) which is a content aggregator of sorts
-Chase Bank
-Google Voice (GoVoice I think?)
-LinkedIn

Has anyone seen Paul Thurrots book on WP7? Is it worth buying?

Thanks in advance. I realize some of these questions may have been answered before, so apologies! Looking forward to using this phone, especially when 7.5 gets widely deployed

MikeJ

 

[enahs555]

A windows live/hotmail account is required to use the phone, but you are not required to use it as your actual email, and contacts, etc.

I use my gmail as email, and contacts. It has a built in thing to automatically configure it for gmail.

Your contacts can be synched to hotmail as backup if you like, or just use the regular gmail synching and such.


With your Windows Live account, you get 25 gigs of web storage from Microsoft, called a skydrive, which you can sync all kinds of content (word/excel files) or use it for backup of files manually.


As far as real backup is concerned, there is not really a good option right now. Hopefully in the next Zune it will be.

Look into Zune Pass for sure.

Pulse is not available to my knowledge yet, but there are similar.
No Chase app yet.
No GoogleVoice yet, but that might be as soon as next week if this Google+ app does come out.
There are some unofficial linkedin apps I believe, not sure if official is ready.

 

[UpTownDC]

The GoVoice app is in the Marketplace. I'm using the free version. It's not bad.

 

[gerrymad]

You can have your contacts come from multiple accounts. I have them from Hotmail and from an Exchange server. You'll have no problem using multiple mail accounts along with the associated contacts. That's also true of calendars. You can have a calendar in Hotmail as well as your Google ones.

I use GoVoice for Google Voice and it works well.

I haven't seen Paul Thurrot's book, but as much as I like him I'm not sure if it is necessary. This phone really works quite easily right out of the box.

 

[bikehere]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I will play around with the phone - best way to learn. If there are any issues, I can always do a hard reset and start all over again

I suspect some of my concerns will be alleviated once 7.5 is rolled out.

 

[bikehere]

Has anyone used the Mac connector to move music/movies/photos from iTunes to WP7? Have you run into any issues?