Dashwire
Dashwire is an innovative application that syncs/backs-up the contents of your Smartphone to Dashwire.com’s centralized servers. Dashwire will back up your:
- Photos/Videos (Will not sync back to your phone)
- Contacts
- Call History
- Text Message History (Will not sync back to your phone)
- Ringtones
- Bookmarks
- Voice mails
All this information is accessible and manageable (add/edit/delete) via Dashwire.com’s dashboard.
When I first heard about this product a month or two ago, I was indifferent — thinking it was an interesting idea, but more of a gimmick than anything else. I have to admit though, the online dashboard is very nice and lets me manage many aspects of my phone quickly and efficiently (the full size qwerty on my Blackjack2 is great, but its got nothing on a full-size computer keyboard, and navigating Dashwire.com’s dashboard is much faster than navigating a Smartphone).
Update: I decided to create Outlook Contacts for all my SIM Contacts, so I logged into Dashwire.com, created new Outlook Contacts using the web interface (entering all that data with a REAL keyboard is soooo nice), and bingo-bango! I had over 20 new Outlook contacts in less than 10 mins! It would have taken me forever to do that on my phone.
Dashwire requires a free online registration, and you must download the client to your Smartphone.
Note: The first time you run the Dashwire client on your Smartphone, it may take a while to sync all the information to Dashwire’s servers.
Thanks to Cyclefreak for suggesting I give Dashwire a chance!
May 11th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Thanks for the review! The Dashwire concept is more of an unrecognized need than anything. We don’t offer anything you can’t already do on your phone, but we do make things a lot easier. Once people try it, the value sinks in.
Initial upload does take time though. Recommend new users connect via Wi-Fi or USB before starting the initial sync process (if you have a lot of media). Once initial sync is done, things are pretty fast.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I have set it up, syncs well. The functionality on the site could be improved however. Not supported in IE, which is ok, but in Firefox 2.0 login box appears broken, not sure why. Then again it looks fine in Firefox Beta 3.x. Overall I recommend it, it’s a great alternative to syncing to outlook.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Supported in IE 7, but not 6. Removed support for 6 since it didn’t jive well with our javascript heavy web app. Considering adding it again, but definitely recommend Firefox 3.x, Safari, or IE 7.
June 8th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Recently started using this. Great service that is par none to anything. Currently initially uploading and taking awhile, but its worth the wait.
July 7th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Is this supposed to be done through my BJ2;s internet or on my computer.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
SEIB,
Dashwire is run on your Blackjack 2 … You are then able to access the dashwire web front end from your computer (where you can manage the backed up data)
July 9th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
great tool, only thing is that I wish there was support to sync calendar information!
July 17th, 2008 at 11:42 am
I am so interested in this program, but I dont have a data plan at all its just to expensive for me. So my question is can it be used ONLY with the USB to the computer instead of using a data plan???
August 6th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
ya you can i had to do it. i went into the wireless manager and turned my phone off then just connected the phone to my computer with the usb and everything worked perfect. its an awesome app!
August 24th, 2008 at 7:25 am
I’ve got a Canadian data plan, which, as I’m sure you may know, . And that’s not unlimited data, and kidney surgery hurts.
What I’d like to know is, can I specify what information on my BJII will be synced? Or, as Ladynite asked, and spudman01 affirmed, how can I force the connection over USB only. Is it a configurable option on the BJII DashWire interface. Because I can’t see anywhere, on my account setting online where to do that. If not, I’m stuck with syncing through outlook (which I avoid like the plague).
P.S. First post on myblackjack2.com, love this site. Have it as a quick bookmark (hoping for updates).
Cheers,
Keep up the great work.
August 24th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Greenkufi,
Thanks for the kind words! I’m not sure about syncing Dashwire. I suggest installing the MoDaCo No Data app (Application > Utilities) and then trying to get Dashwire to sync using USB. It might be worth sending Dashwire support and e-mail and get their thoughts on the matter.
August 26th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
For those of you without unlimited data plans, simply disable your Wireless, enable Bluetooth, connect via ActiveSync/WMDC, then open up the Dashwire webpage and application on your BJII and select “Sync Now”, and it will Sync up without using Data. It -DOES- take a very long time, so if the Sync bar isn’t moving at first, don’t worry.
August 27th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Thanks a lot guys.
I tried DashWire anyway, since I have some data (300 MB - $30 and unlimited e-mail with attachments galore) and I thought “even if it starts syncing over my 3G, I could either incur the cost to my data, or kill the app mid run”. So I braved it.
For anyone else who is reluctant to start this app, deathly afraid of Canadian data charges, here’s how it works:
First of all, you can sync manually (avoids the app syncing behind your back three times a day at 50 MB - exaggeration).
Also, as jaedric said, once you connect it via USB (or Bluetooth - haven’t tried it) it will sync through ActiveSync.
Thirdly, you can also “choose information to sync” under Menu>Options. This way, if say you DO want to sync over your data plan, you can specify that it only sync things like your contacts, Speed Dial, Bookmarks, and avoid syncing data heavy information like Photos, Videos, Ringtones, etc.
Finally, and this is where I was really happy, syncing your text messages is done over your texting plan. Basically, DashWire will send the text messages stored on your phone as text messages from your phone to its server, NOT over your data. You’ll want to make sure your text plan is at least double the messages on your phone. Since it will count towards your sent messages.
I liked this because my plan comes with 2500 text messages and 1000 video and picture messages and I’ve always found that to be overkill. But now I’ll actually be making use of those 2500 text messages.
Cheers,
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
[...] sure you backup your Blackjack II before installing this update. Use either PIMBackup or Dashwire (quick Dashwire instructions available here, users withOUT unlimited data read [...]
September 14th, 2008 at 10:54 am
So far so good installing this app.
One question: Some said it takes a long time to sync this over USB. What are we talking, 2hrs? 4hrs? all day?
My bj2 says “syncing: updating your data.” I don’t see any indication that it is actually doing anything. It’s been gong for more than an hour now.
Any helpfull advice would be much appreciated.
Scott
September 15th, 2008 at 8:17 am
scottjacob - id say it could take 30-40 mins to sync depending on how much data. I did a full sync after upgrading (over my phones data connection) and it took 30-4 mins. I think it hung at some point in the process though. if you think it froze, feel free to goto the task manager (hold down the Home button for 2-3 seconds) and end the Dashwire process, and start over. Dashwire will pick up where it left off.
Hope this helps.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
David,
Thanks. I finally got it to work. Thanks for the reply.
September 30th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I have no Idea how to put the information on Dashwire Back on my phone. I just updated to WM6.1. Can someone help please?
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:01 am
Has anyone else had a problem with syncing? Everything was in sync when I first used Dashwire and since then text msgs, photos, calls, etc have synced fine, but not Contacts. I was initially syncing only manually, but read in the FAQs that there is known bug and to set to auto sync to fix. However, I made a few changes to a few Contacts on the Dashwire web and a few others on my phone and have set to auto sync for the last 10 days, but the Contacts still don’t sync! Any fixes? Thx.
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
trinidon,
I believe all you have to do is install the Dashwire client and log in - it should sync everything for you. Dashwire does not sync Photos, video or SMS messages back to your phone though. .. hopefully it will in future releases but the current release doesnt have that functionality.
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
[...] is like if DashWire and ClamWin (or whatever your favorite anti-virus program may be) had a child. Flexilis is an [...]
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:04 pm
so i got dashwire today, used it to backup stuff, hard reset my phone, reinstalled it, fine.. fine…. then suddenly it gave me some error, and i thought maybe something happened installing my other apps back on (tcpmp, etc.)
so i uninstalled it, and now every time i download it and it opens the install bar it immediately says install unsuccessful. doesnt give a reason or anything… ive tried downloading both versions from the site, and downloading via this site, download.com, etc. all do the same thing via phone and via activesync.
why =(
i even reinstalled the modaco unlocker/gps hack to see if the phone would let me install ANY files, and it installed no problem, so its just this that wont install…
hints?
November 23rd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
ok i hard reset my phone a second time and everything installed A-OK. im now running dashwire and flexilis both. cant decide if i should stick to one or both! im wondering about how each effects battery life…
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
anyone have problems with flexilis blocking dashwire sync?
I had to disable everything on flexilis and it seems like my dashwire in now sync. Is that the only way to do it?
January 4th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
spacecandy, I think flexilis can do everything Dashwire can do — is there particular functionality that Dashwire provides that Flexilis doesn’t? Can you only use Flexilis?