Your smartphone comes with some applications preinstalled, like Outlook Mobile Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks—and Windows Media Player. But there are many, many more applications available that can help you get even more from your smartphone. When you go to download an application, you’ll have a choice of downloading it to the device itself or to a storage card. It’s always best to download to a storage card. Your smartphone has about 30 MB free, while a storage card typically has at least 512 MB of space. By downloading to a storage card, you’ll make sure the application won’t tie up your system resources. And you’ll still have the application icon on your smartphone, so you can easily access applications stored on the card. Best of all, because your smartphone has persistent storage, you won’t lose any applications you download—even if you run your battery down.

To get started, try some of the free applications from Windows Mobile. There are also hundreds of applications available for purchase through the Certified Software Catalog.

Two Ways to Download and Install Applications

The two primary methods for downloading and installing applications on your smartphone are:

You can also download applications from the Web over the air. You enter your mobile phone number and then receive a text message with the download link. When you click on the link, it will automatically download the application. Be sure you have a data plan in place before attempting to connect to the Internet. Check with your wireless service provider to find out about available data plans.

Install from your PC

With this method, the file that installs the application on your smartphone runs on the PC. The steps are:

More information is available in the Install, Find, and Remove Your Apps article.

Install from a .CAB File

When you install a program from a .CAB file, the entire .CAB file is transferred to your smartphone and the installation program runs there, rather than on your PC. The steps are:

• Navigate to the application you want to download (which could be on your PC or on the Web).
• Open ActiveSync on your PC.
• Click Explore.
• Copy the file to \Storage\Windows\Start Menu\Accessories on your device.
• On your smartphone, click Start > Accessories and scroll to the .CAB file.If you don’t see the file in Accessories, use File Manager to find and open the file.
• Open the .CAB file.

That’s all you have to do. The application will automatically install itself on your device.

Applies to: Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone

Microsoft Windows Media Player Mobile for Smartphone is software that lets you play music and videos on your Windows Mobile powered Smartphone.

You can use Windows Media Player Mobile for Smartphone to play digital audio and video files that are stored on your phone or on the Web.

By default, Windows Media Player Mobile can play the following types of files:

• Windows Media Audio (WMA)
• Windows Media Video (WMV)
• Motion Picture Experts Group-2 Audio Layer-3 (MP3)

This includes files with .asf, .wma, .wmv, and .mp3 file name extensions. If the manufacturer of your phone has installed additional components, your version of Windows Media Player Mobile might be capable of playing additional file types.

In this documentation, the version of Windows Media Player for Windows powered desktop or notebook computers is called the desktop Player and the version for Smartphone is called the Smartphone Player.

Listen to Music and Watch Videos

Copy music and video files to your phone

Use the Sync feature in the desktop version of Windows Media Player to synchronize (copy) digital media files from your computer to your phone. Using Sync ensures that protected files and album art are copied to your device correctly.

To synchronize content to your device automatically, do the following:

Because your smartphone comes with Microsoft Windows Media Player Mobile for Smartphone, you can use it to play music and videos. By default, Windows Media Player Mobile can play the following types of files:

• Windows Media Audio (WMA)
• Windows Media Video (WMV)
• Motion Picture Experts Group-2 Audio Layer-3 (MP3)

These include files with .asf, .wma, .wmv, and .mp3 file name extensions. Some smartphone manufacturers install additional components on their phones that enable them to play additional file types. Check the manual that came with your phone—or check with the manufacturer—for more information.

To Download Music and Videos

The easiest way to get music and videos onto your smartphone is to use the Sync feature in the desktop version of Windows Media Player to copy the files from your PC to your phone. This approach ensures that protected files and album art will be copied to your smartphone correctly. To synchronize music or video content to your smartphone automatically, take these steps:

Windows Media Player will now begin copying the files you selected to your smartphone. The next time you connect your smartphone to your PC while the desktop version of Windows Media Player is running, synchronization will start automatically.

To Play Music and Videos

You can use the Library function on your smartphone to find and play songs, videos, and playlists, whether they are stored on your phone or on a removable storage card. Or you can connect to the Internet and play songs or videos directly from the Internet.

To use the Library:

To play a file stored on your smartphone that is not in a library, go to the Library screen and click Menu > Open File. Click and hold the item that you want to play (such as a file or a folder), and then click Play or Queue Up.

To play an item on the Internet:

You can use text messaging to send quick messages to your family, friends, and co-workers whenever you have a data connection. Text messaging is especially handy for situations where a voice call might be disruptive, such as when you’re in a restaurant or other public place. Most wireless service plans charge for sending and receiving text messages. You may want to check with your service provider to find out what their policy is before sending a text message.

Create a Text Message

Sending a text message is easy. Here are the steps:

Tips

Be Notified When a Text Message Is Delivered

To receive notification when your text message is delivered, take these steps before you send the message:

Want to know more? Text messaging advanced topics and tips covers how to store and insert predefined text into a message, delete all text messages in a folder, and enter or change your text message phone number.

There are two ways to access your AOL Mail account from your smartphone:

Access AOL using IMAP

Unlike many other ISPs, which use the POP3 method, AOL uses the IMAP method. Usually, you can easily auto-configure AOL Mail from your mobile device. The steps are: