Due to my battery issues (see this thread
http://forums.windowscentral.com/lumia-920/201096.htm) I will be restoring my phone and can report back my findings. Question though, to restore, is the only option to reset your phone (under About Phone in settings) or is there a way to actually re-install the OS?
EDIT:
Ok, I did the restore after making sure everything was backed up.
Couple things to point out first:
- Your phone will get hot from all the downloading it will be doing
- Make sure it is plugged in and charging as to not drain your battery
The Restore was straight forward. Go to Settings -> about -> reset your phone
Some gears will appear on your screen for 5-10 minutes (depending on how much stuff is on your phone). Once it's finished the setup process begins. You are prompted to log in with your Microsoft account, and once you do you can either select to use a previous restore (it shows the time/date/phone model) or set up as a new phone. Once you select your restore it starts downloading your data. A progress bar appears on the screen and once finished, it prompts you to input the passwords for the accounts on your phone (Facebook, email, etc.) then the home screen appears and the phone starts downloading all your previously installed apps. I connected to wifi to speed up the process.
So, what gets backed up?
- Text messages
- Accounts (though you are prompted to input passwords before you get to the home screen)
- Sounds settings and selections (not the ringtone though)
- Phone history
- Theme colour
- Lock screen picture and settings
- Pictures/Music saved on your SkyDrive
- Internet Explorer favourites
That's it. Yup, that's everything of mine that it restored.
So, what doesn't it backup?
- Wifi networks
- Account passwords
- Brightness settings
- Keyboard settings
- Background Tasks settings
- Home screen tile layout
- Wallet
-Camera Roll (it is saved to your SkyDrive, but it does not populate the Camera Roll on your phone)
I've also yet to encounter an app that saves settings on SkyDrive, so here is a list of apps that I needed to configure all over again
- Accuweather (and Microsoft Weather, I'm sure all weather apps are like this)
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Foursquare
- Internet Explorer (it also put the stock favourites in with my own, ugh)
- SkyDrive (yes, Microsoft's own SkyDrive app)
- Flickr
- Photos tile/background picture
- Stock apps with updates do not get updated automatically when you app list is downloaded
I'm still looking through my phone so I'll update my post if I find anything new. If you have any questions, specific things you'd like me to check, or if I left something, let me know.