Restore backup functionality is a joke

Dave Blake

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You all get it that the initial setup is just for phone settings like 1mb max. It sets up your email, WIFI networks with passwords, puts in your text message history. After you enter all your passwords then your on the main screen free to turn on your pre configured password entered WIFI network. All you have to do is go to WIFI and pick the network. From that second on all your apps download over WIFI.
 

PB_H

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I'm just surprised that so many don't familiarize themselves with how a
Windows phone "works" before they reset to factory settings or download updates.
 
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OzRob

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I'm just surprised that so many don't familiarize themselves with how a
Windows phone "works" before they reset to factory settings or download updates.

It's not an issue of familiarization. It's an issue of some people in the world having to pay a lot for mobile data. While it may not use much data the way it works now, it does use data. For some people data=money. Why should we spend ANY money just to reset our phones if we have a useable wifi connection available which doesn't cost ANY extra money to use. The only thing stopping this from happening is the fact that Windows Phone 8 doesn't allow you to do it. Conclusion - Windows Phone needs to be fixed. Please stop making excuses for poorly thought out programming choices.
 

PB_H

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It's not an issue of familiarization. It's an issue of some people in the world having to pay a lot for mobile data. While it may not use much data the way it works now, it does use data. For some people data=money. Why should we spend ANY money just to reset our phones if we have a useable wifi connection available which doesn't cost ANY extra money to use. The only thing stopping this from happening is the fact that Windows Phone 8 doesn't allow you to do it. Conclusion - Windows Phone needs to be fixed. Please stop making excuses for poorly thought out programming choices.
It's only 1-2MB if that.
 

worldspy99

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I lost all of my app data on Android as well when I did a factory reset in order to root the phone. So in that regard WP is no different than Android :)
 

mmcpher

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Blackberry proprietary backup options are pretty bad also. They have a desktop app called Blackberry Link that mostly hangs whatever desktops it's installed on. There are a few 3rd party apps that work well, but not completely.

I'm not the type to leave well enough alone so imperfect backups are part of the price of experimentation. As these devices have become more powerful and flexible it has become more complicated to restore them.
 

Huime

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I do not see the issue. You were provided a prompt to restore and YOU CHOSE to ignore it. Someone even provided a suggestion and you ignored that as well. Issue here isn't the phone or the backup process.

I know right? Now he is just arguing for the sake or arguing.
Why not just admit that he does not know about the app is beyond me.
 

Jackalneck

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Well, as far as not being able to restore backups over wi-fi only... it's been fixed, unfortunately most people don't have the updated version of the OS that allows you to connect the phone to wi-fi during the initial setup before choosing to restore from a backup. The 1520 I just set up worked this way out of the box, and I was able to set up a 920 and 1020 this way, after updating via developer preview. You can restore your backup without an active SIM in the phone. Hopefully, we'll all have the update soon.

As far as app data goes, yeah it's not fun losing app data, but I'm not sure how much worse Windows Phone 8 is when compared to iOS or Android, been a while since I've used an iPhone.
 

WPmunkey

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As far as app data goes, yeah it's not fun losing app data, but I'm not sure how much worse Windows Phone 8 is when compared to iOS or Android, been a while since I've used an iPhone.

iOS backs up app data with both iCloud and iTunes. And on iOS you can better manage your backup so it's not a roulette wheel spun by Microsoft when you restore your backup. You actually know how up to date your backup data is instead of 'sometime in the last couple months'
 

poiman

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Backups are a joke these days on WP8! You lose all your app data when you do it!
I mean, iOS backups ALL your system flawlessly! How come Microsoft can't do the same?
 

Mavee Shah

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Backups are a joke these days on WP8! You lose all your app data when you do it!
I mean, iOS backups ALL your system flawlessly! How come Microsoft can't do the same?

yup... You are right... Intact my last Nokia asha's backup system was much more better than Lumia... I miss that
 

TLRtheory

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Android actually does backup app data now. It's been doing so since the revolution in Google Play Services... when my Lumia 1020 started experiencing mic issues, I had it swapped out for another and did the backup/restore option thinking "Awesome, I did this so I won't have to start all my games over from scratch!" ... hella wrong.

What's even more infuriating is that they give you this backup method of installing .XAP files when installing from the store fails... but then they limit it to only work on the small handful of Windows Phones that have an external SD slot. I like Windows Phone... but there's a lot of things they didn't think through.
 

tgp

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I understand the OP's frustration, and I agree with him 100%. WP's backup & restore is very poorly designed. There is no option to connect to WiFi before the restore option, so the only way to do it is with mobile data. Even then, if you are using a prepaid SIM card, you will likely have to manually edit the APN in order to get data. This leaves you with absolutely no option to use the Restore feature.

Android does not have a very good backup system either, although it is improving. But at least you can connect to WiFi during setup. Android does have some excellent 3rd party backups that do the job extremely well. One of them called Titanium Backup will create a backup file that can be flashed on a reset or different device that restores pretty much everything.

In my opinion nothing comes close to Apple's backup. iCloud will back everything up OTA. The absolute best backup system of any mobile device anywhere is iTunes (well, maybe if you're not counting the desktop client itself!). It puts everything back exactly like it was. I loved that feature when I would get a different iPhone. Back up the old one, restore to the new one, and the icons were restored to the same place and the settings were restored as well. Brilliant!
 

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