Vufone online storage service

Mobile phones may not quite be disposable yet, but they do have to be replaced now and again. Vufone, which promises to store and synchronise your phone data online, therefore seems to be a useful service.

Vufone is a subscription service costing £10 a year. It gives users a 250MB of password-protected online storage that synchronises automatically with their mobile phones using a downloadable application.

Most major handsets and all networks are supported, including those from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung and LG models (a full list is on Vufone's website), though there is currently no Apple iPhone support.

The service stores phone numbers, text messages, calendar events, pictures, video and music and can be used to remotely delete personal information from your phone, which could be handy if it is stolen.

Vufone can also be used to send text messages – a potential money-saver – and synchronise information with Google’s Calendar and Contacts applications.

There are online players for stored music and videos that support major file formats, as well as a function to upload photos to Facebook, Flickr and Picasa automatically. There is also a cute tool called Mypersona that makes an image of your choice appear on friends’ mobile phones when you call them.

It was easy to install and automatic in use but there were drawbacks. You really need to have unlimited data included in your talk plan, as all the transfers are made over the mobile network.

If you don't have this, you’ll get a nasty shock when the phone bill arrives. (Vufone does make this clear in the terms and conditions).

And the 50MB storage limits for video and music are not really enough in this day and age.

The music player’s controls weren’t very responsive when we used it in the Internet Explorer or Safari browsers, while video uploads of large files took so long, even from a fast broadband connection, that we gave up. A few other glitches while using it made the experience annoying.

Most modern phones can be synchronised with a PC or Mac, while some mobile phone contracts even include online backup of your data. The ability to wipe the phone if it is stolen might justify the subscription charge, though.

A larger amount of storage and fewer glitches would have made Vufone more attractive.