Moving from one Windows Phone to another

[leonkehoe]

How seamless is it? For example, I take my new Windows Phone out of the box, turn it on and log into my Microsoft account, which of the following will be restored (automatically or with prompting from the operating system)?

• System settings
• My apps
• My apps' settings
• My apps' data for Microsoft (eg messages, call history, browsing history etc.) and third party apps (eg my progress in games)
• My START screen tiles, their arrangement and size
• My other linked accounts, eg GMAIL, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (a prompt requesting my password for each perhaps?)

I think that covers it. In short I'd expect my phone to be exactly like my previous phone, ie like I hadn't switched phones at all, in as short a time as possible - that's the dream anyway. So... how close are we to it where Windows Phone is concerned?

 

[lippidp]

I think you're in for a big shock. None of this will happen.

 

[wawilkinson]

Take a look here, you'll need to use the Backup feature;

Backing up your stuff | Windows Phone How-to (United Kingdom)

Does most things - but not the start screen layout as far as I'm aware - which is a bit of a pain...

You'll have to add-in your e-mail, Facebook and twitter passwords too (which makes sense).

 

[wawilkinson]

Not sure if WP 7 has the backup feature though??

 

[leonkehoe]

Thanks wawilkinson. I hope they expand this feature to cover some, if not all, of the things I list above.

backing up your stuff
when you sign in with your microsoft account on your windows phone, you can turn on the service that lets you automatically save things to the cloud so you'll have a backup if something happens to your phone.
to learn more about restoring a backup, see restoring a backup to your phone.

what gets saved
you can manage how you save your phone settings, text messages, and photo and videos. In the app list, just go to settings > backup.

app list + settings
one of the toughest things about replacing a lost phone or upgrading is getting your accounts and settings just the way you like them on your new phone. We can create a backup of all sorts of things to make the transition easier, including:

• the list of apps you've installed on your phone.
• your call history.
• your theme colour.
• the accounts you've set up on your phone.
• your internet explorer favourites.
• settings from around your phone, including photos, messaging, email and accounts, location, internet explorer, lock screen, speech and more.

notes
your phone will wait for a wifi connection to automatically save backups. If you don't connect to wifi for a week, any changes to your app list and settings will be saved using a mobile data connection.

• backup saves the apps on your phone, but it doesn't save any data associated with the apps.
• start will reset to its default set of pinned tiles when you restore.

 

[James8561]

your save games and program settings will be lost forever.