Phone Backup Woes

[SB_Pete]

So my LG Quantum recently started acting up. I called AT&T and a warranty replacement was promptly sent my way. So far, so good - Thank you AT&T. Then I discovered that the WP7 operating system was actually written by evil gremlins.

Seriously Microsoft? It was bad enough that you won't allow for folders, the very GUI feature that made you famous and successful in the first place. Then you wouldn't allow changing of icon names to at least create some form of categorization in our app lists. Now I discover the icing on the cake. Not only do you not allow local backups, your cloud backups only take effect during OS updates. Fine, there's a workaround available to trick the system into applying a fake update and making a backup, EXCEPT.... Zune won't apply that backup to my replacement phone. Different IMEI # = no b/u for you, muchacho.

All I can say is, WTF? Seriously Microsoft, WHAT THE F*@K WERE YOU THINKING? Did you seriously make an operating system that has zero, ABSOLUTELY ZERO, provision for the possibility that a user may break, damage, lose, or have their phone stolen? What could possibly make you think it's okay to create a "smart" phone system that is incapable of applying a backup to a replacement phone. The AT&T store can't even clone to the new phone using their equipment.

News flash retards, the Nokia 8210 I had back in 2000 had software available to do local backups. I could backup my phone, apply the backup to my new replacement phone and everything would still be there - down to the high score in that b&w snake game.

Windows phone seems so nice, everything is seamlessly integrated, it auto syncs over wifi, the interwebs run relatively well, podcasts are the best I have ever used, but then you leave us with an interface that's impossible to organize and no backup ability? I'm speechless.

In my next post, I will try to document just how much crap I have to manually re-enter in order to get a REPLACEMENT phone up and running because of this idiocy.

Needless to say, my next phone will not likely contain an operating system from Redmond. Perhaps the software team over there can set some new targets, or at least take the sights off their own feet...

 

[dtboos]

Easy tiger. The only things you really lose are saved games, application settings and text messages.

Email, cloud.
Contacts, cloud.
Onenote/skydrive items, cloud.
History of purchases, cloud.

Yah its not perfect, and they should have had backups from the get go, but its not really THAT big of an issue. Full backups are being implemented in Apollo and they are getting rid of Zune syncing altogether I believe. It will be a much welcome change.

 

[SB_Pete]

OK, so here goes:
1. insert SIM, sync to ZUNE.
nothing happens. create new name for replacement phone and attempt to sync. Nothing happens.

2. Go into phone, manually re-set up all email accounts and associated settings.
once Windows Live is reconfigured, it now uploads my contacts and allows me to use the marketplace.

3. Manually go into marketplace and re-install every single app - in my case, there are 107 of them. This will take a while. Even over WiFi.

4. Reconfigure settings on all 107 of those apps (well, ok, some of them don't really need configuring).

5. Re-create live tile menu.

6. Reconfigure and reinstall mp3s - manually

7. Re-figure out how to do ringtones, and re-install and reconfigure those.

8. Manually re-download all pics to new phone through zune.

9. Search in vain for a way to carry text messages and MMS's over to new phone or to at least back them up.

10. Update replacement phone to mango

more to come...

 

[SB_Pete]

Easy tiger. The only things you really lose are saved games, application settings and text messages.

Email, cloud.
Contacts, cloud.
Onenote/skydrive items, cloud.
History of purchases, cloud.

Email, contacts, and onenote are in the cloud. Yes, that's true. I don't use skydrive so n/a.

HISTORY of purchases - yes. Does it auto install them? No. I need to manually re-install every single app (107 of them in my case), then re-configure them where applicable. True, I don't have to re-purchase them, but, so what? The only thing that would be remarkable there is if I did.

That's like dropping a child's ice cream bar into the playground sand pit, picking it up and handing it back to them, then saying, "hey kid, at least I didn't poop on it, right?"

 

[dtboos]

Yes I realize its annoying, but to swear off the platform when its bringing exactly you want a few months down the road? Seems a bit rash. Its one thing if you just dont like the platform, but if you do, why not just look forward to this not being an issue soon?

I moved to a different phone and I had lots of apps. Took me one hour to get everything setup including all app settings ect.

Most people it would take about 10-15 minutes to setup accounts and download a few things. And yes, I am very happy this will no longer be an issue with Apollo.

 

[SB_Pete]

Yes I realize its annoying, but to swear off the platform when its bringing exactly you want a few months down the road? Seems a bit rash. Its one thing if you just dont like the platform, but if you do, why not just look forward to this not being an issue soon?

I moved to a different phone and I had lots of apps. Took me one hour to get everything setup including all app settings ect.

Most people it would take about 10-15 minutes to setup accounts and download a few things. And yes, I am very happy this will no longer be an issue with Apollo.

Yeah, I realize, I have far more apps and such than most people, but still, this has already taken me two hours not counting the many hours I spent over the last 3 weeks trying to figure out how to make a real backup to no avail.

Also, I actually really like the zune software. The only thing I hate about it is not having a local backup ability. Integrate the kind of simple, user-friendly backup ability that Symbian had, and I would be a happy man. Unfortunately, I just don't see MS doing that. They seem to be going happily full speed down the "dumb the crap out of the user experience" road ? la Apple.

Maybe I'll come back to it. I really do like a lot of parts of WP7, and I love Nokia hardware (assuming they continue to make devices with physical keyboards and swappable batteries, anyways). But, if I were buying a new phone tomorrow, I think I'll try Android....

 

[psiu_glen]

Just got a new phone myself, same model. One difference is I had the old one to compare against. However it did go pretty smooth, took a lot less time than it ever did with Android. Longest part was upgrading to Mango...wtf is taking so long there!?! =P

Ringtones were still on my laptop from last time, music, photos etc. Combined a couple different batches of photos off my old phone and synced them all to the camera roll on this one. Tbh, it was pretty easy, some sort of account level backup would be nice--I get that maybe an image wouldn't work with the security as it is but saving more settings and tweaks etc would be good (like contact list filtering and tweaking).

Interested to see what Apollo brings.

 

[HeyCori]

6. Reconfigure and reinstall mp3s - manually

8. Manually re-download all pics to new phone through zune.

Manually? Learn to auto sync. Putting my music/pics on my new Titan was as simply as plugging the phone into my computer.

And if you already have auto sync setup then why are you complaining about it? Seems more like you're looking for ways to pad out your list of complaints.

 

[PG2G]

To get by having to manually select music to sync to the new phone, I started doing what I did in iTunes. Create a playlist for all of the music on my phone and just sync that. That way if u get a new phone you can just sync that playlist.

This backup crap is supposed to be addressed in Windows Phone 8 though, we'll see

 

[HeyCori]

To get by having to manually select music to sync to the new phone, I started doing what I did in iTunes. Create a playlist for all of the music on my phone and just sync that. That way if u get a new phone you can just sync that playlist.

This backup crap is supposed to be addressed in Windows Phone 8 though, we'll see

You can configure Zune to automatically not sync songs you don't like. That would eliminate the need to constantly create new playlists.

 

[naydencho]

Just a quick note to someone facing the same troubles and needing help - regarding the app reinstallation problem, there is an app that restores them all - Reinstaller

Good luck.

 

[jimski]

That's why I only use data intense apps that provide a SkyDrive/Dropbox backup. Most other apps don't require much or any setup, aside from configuring links to the aforementioned backup solutions. I have a folder in OneNote listing everything on my phone, Start Screen layout, current apps list, favorite, links, etc., etc. With nearly 200 apps/games, it takes me about 5-6 hours to get everything back after a hard reset. Loading apps is definitely the longest chore, so looking forward to using Reinstaller next time. But overall, still about half the time of a complete rebuild of my WinMo devices.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[Rocket_Girl]

I feel your pain, SB_Pete. I went from MS with several resets and replacements and do-over setups, to iOs. Never expected to USE iOs, let alone like it. Exchanged iPhone devices about a week in (for more memory), and was able to restore full backup from iCloud while I was still in the Apple store. I went with iOs (reluctantly) for travel ... before I knew how easy it would be to restore backup from nearly anywhere on the planet.

I do hope WP gets there soon - I love the UI, but the deal-breaking WP woes for me were travel- related. Mix of OEM and carrier and MS problems adds up to still a bit rough for international prime time.