Debug with Windows Phone without using Zune

In the past the Zune software was needed to deploy your apps to your Windows Phone 7

Writing apps got pretty exiting. Since I am developing my third app for the new Windows Phone 7 I got plenty of errors regarding to the fact that my Zune software was not launched. It is fine that you use Zune to synchronize your media files with Zune but actually it is very annoying if you get an error that Zune ist not launched if you just forgot to set the emulator as the default deployment destination or forgot to lanch Zune itself.

But already since October you can get an update which allows you to use your device and deploy your apps without having Zune even installed.

But the good side effect of this is, that you can now use and test the media APIs such as the Choosers and Launchers which access your media files. Because of the Zune software you couldn’t access it without if your Phone was connected to the computer. So just download the update. And get started.

Btw: The update also comes with:

Windows Phone Capability Detection Tool – Detects the phone capabilities used by your application. When you submit your application to Windows Phone Marketplace , Microsoft performs a code analysis to detect the phone capabilities required by your application and then replaces the list of capabilities in the application manifest with the result of this detection process. This tool performs the same detection process and allows you to test your application using the same list of phone capabilities generated during the certification process. For more information, see How to: Use the Capability Detection Tool.

Updated Bing Maps Silverlight Control – Includes improvements to gesture performance when using Bing™ Maps Silverlight® Control.

So have fun using it!