The Nokia Lumia 710, Lumia 800 and Lumia 900 of course run Windows Phone, but that doesn’t mean you need a Windows computer to unlock cool functionality if you’re a Mac user.
What’s the key to updating your Lumia and pushing your iTunes music collection on to your phone, while using your Mac? It’s a great tool called Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac.
Let’s dig in to the functionality of this companion app that links your Mac with your Lumia phone.
Keep your phone up to date
The most used way to put Windows Phone 7 Connector to work is for keeping your phone up to date. That’s right – there’s no reason to find a Windows computer and the Zune application to update your Lumia, if you’re a Mac owner.
To get started, head to the App Store on your Mac and install the application. Please note that you’ll need a Mac running OS X 10.6.6 or higher to make use of Windows Phone connector.
Then, connect your Lumia phone to your Mac via USB cable. To check on updates for your Lumia 900, click on Device Options and then “Check for Updates”. Need more explanation? Here’s a video explaining it more fully.
Copy your photos and videos off your Lumia
I shoot a lot of videos and photos as I’m constantly chasing my kids around trying to capture their precious moments. In order to get my photos and videos into iPhoto and iMovie, respectively, I use Windows Phone Connector. To do this, click Browse Device on the left hand menu in the application.
In the app, you’ll see a list of all videos and photos on your Lumia phone. You can preview each file, copy the files off to your computer and delete them off the phone if you desire to do so.
As a tip – I like to delete videos off my phone once they’re copied onto my computer to save space. All those HD videos captured with my Lumia 900 start to take up space!
Sync your media from iTunes
Not only can Windows Phone Connector help you manage media captured on your phone, it will help you use your Lumia phone as a way of consuming media that you use in iTunes. That’s right, using the application will let you sync your music, movies and TV shows, podcasts and even ringtones with your Lumia phone.
Microsoft built Windows Phone Connector to allow you to control these categories of content separately:
- Music
- Photos and Videos
- Movies & TV Shows
- Podcasts
- Ringtones
This way you can control which podcasts, what music tracks and what specific TV shows you’d like to push for viewing on your phone. Personally, I have all my podcasts pushed onto my Lumia 900 but I don’t want any videos pushed from iTunes onto my Lumia. You can tailor your configuration according to your individual preferences.
Do you use Windows Phone Connector with your Lumia? What’s your favorite way to make use of the app?
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