Smartphone Thoughts: Sprite Backup 6.0: New Version is Compatible with Windows Mobile 6 Storage Card Encryption

"Sprite Software Ltd. today announced the launch of Sprite Backup 6.0, the newest edition of the award winning Microsoft Windows Mobile backup and recovery software. Sprite Backup 6.0 adds significant new functionality to its already powerful feature-set and is the first solution of its kind to fully support Windows Mobile 6 storage card encryption. It addresses an oversight in the design by Microsoft which rendered encrypted data inaccessible after a device hard-reset. It also offers additional off-device content protection with its remote backup capability which allows backups to be sent over-the-air. Sprite Backup 6.0 also now provides smartphone owners a way to move their entire phone content to a replacement handset. Sprite Backup is designed to create a backup image of your mobile device, including contacts, calendars, data, applications, configuration and settings. This image can be quickly and easily restored to your device if ever you need to do a hard-reset, effectively allowing you to be back up and running within minutes, not hours."

If you have encryption turned on and want to backup your data then Sprite Backup 6.0 is the answer. What I like the most about the new version announcement is that it comes in two flavours - Sprite Backup for $29.95 and Sprite Backup Lite for $19.95. The Lite has all the features of the regular version except for the desktop based backup and remote restore functionality. Those are features I never used; I always trigger the backup on the phone itself and leave the backup file on the storage card. Overall Lite makes backing-up affordable. I think it is a smart move by the folks over at Sprite Software. The latest Windows Mobile version is now very stable compared to the earlier versions, and Exchange over-the-air ActiveSync ensures that your critical PIM information is always backed up to the Exchange server. I find that I am relying less on Sprite, but it like the health/car/home insurance is a necessary evil. You can check out the software details, and purchase or download the trial version from here.

Update: We received word that Sprite Software is giving Thoughts readers a $5 coupon code. Use the code "thoughts" at the Sprite Software store. Hurry though, it expires August 17th.