Database Users

[Q] Is it better to save contacts to phone or google?

Just wanted to know which was better and why. I have a samsung I9000
Thanks

well if you save to google, and then you get a new android phone your contacts are always there when you login to your google account from your phone. i always save to google

save it on google. If anything happens to your phone, you will not need to worry about losing your contacts. It'll always be there and it's easier to edit contact on Google anyways. This is also helpful if you switch roms a lot. You wont have to copy out your contact and copy it back in everytime.

With applications like Google Sync, I was able to take my contacts and import them into my old Blackberry. When switching to my Android phone the import of contacts was automagical.
Save it to Google, and then export from there into a csv file an additonal backup.

My only issue with saving to Google is you can't assign custom ringtones to non-phone based contacts =/
Anyone know if this is fixed in 2.2?

I've lost my iPhone couple weeks ago and thanks gods all my contacts were in clouds!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

RadAway said:
My only issue with saving to Google is you can't assign custom ringtones to non-phone based contacts =/
Anyone know if this is fixed in 2.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you want the ringtone for if it's not from a phone?
Another reason to like google vs phone ... It's damn convenient to add a contact on the web page as needed, especially if someone emails you the information and you can just copy&paste it.

I've used Google for mine ever since I bought the G1 when it came out. Come to think of it if I wouldn't have I'd probably not have all of my numbers.
Good stuff.

One question
I synced my contact to my Google account, and since it is syncing, if I accidentally deleted all my contact in the phone, it will probably delete the contact in my Google account too, right?
Or it can restore the backup?

tjhart85 said:
What do you want the ringtone for if it's not from a phone?
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Click to collapse
Uh...I think the OP was referring to the difference between the Google contacts and the phone contacts. Meaning that you cannot set ringtones for Google (non-phone) contacts, not contacts without phone numbers.
Although, if there is one thing I really miss from when I initially switched from a Blackberry to the G1, two years ago, was being able to basically setup "filters" for incoming calls, emails and SMS, a customize how each filter was handled.

Emama said:
One question
I synced my contact to my Google account, and since it is syncing, if I accidentally deleted all my contact in the phone, it will probably delete the contact in my Google account too, right?
Or it can restore the backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on the definition of "deleted"...
I don't think it is even possible to accidentally delete all of your contacts. They could be erased by some external means or memory failure, but the sync algorithm does not see that as a delete. A delete is selecting a contact and selecting "delete contact" from the context menu.

devcurious said:
Depends on the definition of "deleted"...
I don't think it is even possible to accidentally delete all of your contacts. They could be erased by some external means or memory failure, but the sync algorithm does not see that as a delete. A delete is selecting a contact and selecting "delete contact" from the context menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Accidentally Delete means someone press delete all on the phone..

The sync will not remove contact from google if you delete from phone. As for ring tone, we'll just need some dev to port stock android contact over. In stock android contact you can set ring tone for individual contact without having the contact on the phone.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Sounds like google is the way to go but how do I get my numbers in "groups" if its linked to google, such as doctors, freinds, family, work? I see that the google ones are a group themselves

Emama said:
One question
I synced my contact to my Google account, and since it is syncing, if I accidentally deleted all my contact in the phone, it will probably delete the contact in my Google account too, right?
Or it can restore the backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use backupify,com to backup your google contacts at certain intervals.
That's a nice option to have if you ever accidentally delete your contacts.

If you delete a google contact from your phone it WILL be deleted off of your account. It is a two way sync.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Does anybody know how to sync contacts that are saved on the phone to google?

mrsbelpit said:
Does anybody know how to sync contacts that are saved on the phone to google?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not directly.
There is no way to sync a phone contact to your Google contacts. You will have to create a separate Google contact.
I think a previous commenter gave the best advice to just use a ROM that has the vanilla android contact app. I think the TWIZ hybrid ROM has the vanilla contacts app.
I have the same complaint. I trying to hold off until there is a vanilla FroYo before using a custom ROM.

Does this mean that none of you are saving your contacts to your sim card?

DanRo80 said:
Does this mean that none of you are saving your contacts to your sim card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the least advanced way to save a contact because you can only have a name and number, that is all.
I use to save all contacts to sim with my old phones. As soon as I started using my google account I stopped saving to the sim. Mind you I've been with t-mobile for five years with the same sim.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Master reset Hd2 android

Just gave my wife my Hd2 running the hdone build. Wanna master reset the Android side so she can put her own gmail on there and take mine off. Tried doing it through the menus the normal way and it just reboots the phone and all my settings are there. Want her to be able to customize the phone her way. Also I believe master resetting the Windows side won't fix the prob as it will not reset the Android stuff that's on the SD card. Or am I mistaken about that?. Thanks for any help.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

Just delete the "data.img" file in the HD2One folder. Once you boot the second time it will create a new data.img which should set everything back to factory setting in Android.

Why not just add another mail account? Then delete yours.
Go to the gmail account, hit the start key on the hd2 go to accountas then hit add account at the bottom, then simply log out of your own mail account and dont log back in, wont remove it but its an easier way to go about it.

norodaigh said:
Why not just add another mail account? Then delete yours.
Go to the gmail account, hit the start key on the hd2 go to accountas then hit add account at the bottom, then simply log out of your own mail account and dont log back in, wont remove it but its an easier way to go about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This doesn't work.
Sent from my HD2 using XDA App

CP_Finest said:
Just delete the "data.img" file in the HD2One folder. Once you boot the second time it will create a new data.img which should set everything back to factory setting in Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This ^^^

jose makalolot said:
This doesn't work.
Sent from my HD2 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Really? I thought it might have, I know you can add two accounts onto G-Mail I just "thought" if you logged out of one then it would have been ok, still some things to learn

norodaigh said:
Really? I thought it might have, I know you can add two accounts onto G-Mail I just "thought" if you logged out of one then it would have been ok, still some things to learn
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive not tried it myself, but AFAIK once you associate a google account with the phone, that's it. You need a "hard reset" of Android to get rid of it.
I suppose it's not an issue for a real Android phone, as you would just do a hard reset. I guess not everyone gets how to do the same thing with Android on our HD2s.

johncmolyneux said:
Ive not tried it myself, but AFAIK once you associate a google account with the phone, that's it. You need a "hard reset" of Android to get rid of it.
I suppose it's not an issue for a real Android phone, as you would just do a hard reset. I guess not everyone gets how to do the same thing with Android on our HD2s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea it dosn't un-register the e-mail, but using the idea I posted then you can just keep one e-mail logged in and the other one out at all times, instead of having to change anything on the OS system.

norodaigh said:
Yea it dosn't un-register the e-mail, but using the idea I posted then you can just keep one e-mail logged in and the other one out at all times, instead of having to change anything on the OS system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but the phone itself is registered to a google account, for contacts and calendar, not just emails.

where do i find the hd2one folder??

If you didn't rename the folder, it could simply be the Android folder on the root of your SD card.

joshk1025 said:
If you didn't rename the folder, it could simply be the Android folder on the root of your SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried it; no dice. Anything else I can try? I'm open to suggestions.

thanks or all informations

Question on the How To's of changing phones

I got my first Android phone last year, and I've loved it. Obviously, hanging out in here, I'm looking at getting the Atrix. OK, I'm committed to it, damnit.
Anyway, question is this: When I pick up the Atrix...how do I get all my crap from my N1 to it? Apps, texts that I want to keep, game data, etc. Is this where we just run something like Titanium (which I *think* requires root) and just restore from that? I'm sure this is really simple and basic...but I've never had to change Android phones before.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
ETA: Are there options that don't require root? Assuming it could take a week or so for the Atrix to be rooted.

Requiring root. You can titanium backup your messages and game data to your sd card. When you get the atrix, put your sd card in it and restore the data using titanium.
Your apps/contacts/games will download automatically as soon as you log into the phone, assuming you have a google account and have everything set to sync automatically on your current phone.
As for a non-root method, I haven't looked into it.

Mike's Aria said:
Requiring root. You can titanium backup your messages and game data to your sd card. When you get the atrix, put your sd card in it and restore the data using titanium.
Your apps/contacts/games will download automatically as soon as you log into the phone, assuming you have a google account and have everything set to sync automatically on your current phone.
As for a non-root method, I haven't looked into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sure the apps and everything will download? The GF lost her Captivate, so I got her a new one, logged in, contacts downloaded...and that was it. Maybe I just haven't checked the setting to back up the apps as well? If not, I probably need to do that on my N1, though I've got that thing backed up ten ways from Sunday lol.
ETA: Appreciate the help, Mike.

App backup, if I recall correctly is enabled by default, but only available on 2.2+ builds. So that would be why the Captivate didn't come back. As for texts, SMS Backup & Restore works perfectly for me, and it doesn't require root.

dorsai3d said:
App backup, if I recall correctly is enabled by default, but only available on 2.2+ builds. So that would be why the Captivate didn't come back. As for texts, SMS Backup & Restore works perfectly for me, and it doesn't require root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Appreciate that
Sent from my Sexy Nexy, courtesy of the fine developers of Tapatalk

If you use a messaging program like handcent, you can back up your SMS and MMS to be reloaded onto your new phone too. Save all your numbers to your google account too, and also consider moving all your apps and files to your external sd card.

ApplCobbler said:
If you use a messaging program like handcent, you can back up your SMS and MMS to be reloaded onto your new phone too. Save all your numbers to your google account too, and also consider moving all your apps and files to your external sd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Contacts and SMS aren't too big of a deal. I've got those covered a few different ways. I'm worried more about apps, app data, and various settings. If an app doesn't natively support being on the SD card, then one must run Apps2SD, which is cool. Except it's not, since we have no idea when the Atrix will be rooted. And then there's the issue of apps that AT&T *may* not allow. I'm not sure how those would be installed from the SD card, as per your recommendation, if AT&T elects to block non-market APK installs.
In short, I appreciate the reply and discussion. I could have thought through my initial question much better, as your reply has cause me to rethink a bit. Thanks mate.

Funny, I'm gonna go from an N1 to an Atrix as well. I know as far as contacts go, el goog will have them for me already. But I was wondering if using a csv(?) contact backup would be better? My google contacts aren't all right, my online gmail is missing some contacts that are on my phone. My main concern is getting all the extra stuff in contacts; email address, street address, birthdays, etc... Just wondering which would be better at transferring all that?

im in the original winmo boat. First time going to android. What if I sync with outlook, will android synch with outlook? Anybody?

sdlopez83 said:
im in the original winmo boat. First time going to android. What if I sync with outlook, will android synch with outlook? Anybody?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using an Exchange account with Outlook? Android will sync mail, calendar, and contacts with Exchange much more easily that trying to sync directly with Outlook.

stoli412 said:
Are you using an Exchange account with Outlook? Android will sync mail, calendar, and contacts with Exchange much more easily that trying to sync directly with Outlook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using Outlook without Exchange on my home PC. Still checking different ways to sync phone and android. I have >5000 contacts from several associations I am in, and I am not sure if Gmail can handle those plus the supplemental info (spouses, birthdates, etc.).

[Q] AHH what did I do??!!

Ok so a few hours ago, my phone is working perfectly fine. Then all I did was change to LauncherPro to check it out, clicked the contacts app and it somehow sent me to the dialer, I then checked the contacts tab in the dialer and there were NO contacts. So, I went back to my usual ADW and my contacts are gone there too!!
Yes, I made sure it was "all contacts" and I treid resetting my phone several times but with no results. Another interesting thing I noticed, my MotoBlur account is GONE from my accounts. So, when I take my sim card out and turn my phone back on, the phone does not ask for me to put in my motoblur account (good thing?).
Could the lack of a motoblur account somehow deleted my contacts (I have no idea how I got rid of the motoblur account). I have made no backups of my contacts (sadly) so my only option that I know of is to manually add them back, but hopefully maybe someone can shed some light on this situation. TIA
Edit: losing contacts not a huge problem, can manually put them back, but still want to know how i got rid of motoblur account.

Thats very odd indeed, your blur account got deleted... have your tried simply adding it back I think this would also bring back your contacts and when you said you went back to standard launcher did you uninstall it? I installed launcherpro once but that never happened to me.

drock212 said:
Thats very odd indeed, your blur account got deleted... have your tried simply adding it back I think this would also bring back your contacts and when you said you went back to standard launcher did you uninstall it? I installed launcherpro once but that never happened to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried adding it through "add account" but all it showed was accounts for facebook, myspace, last.fm etc. no motoblur adding
Also, i logged into my motoblur account through motoblur website, and it still has my phone information

Do.you have a custom rom flashed?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

dmappdev said:
Do.you have a custom rom flashed?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope, just launchers

wait youre running multiple launchers? try uninstalling them and see...
Also does anyone know where blur account info is house? Im in root explorer trying to find it with no luck, the only think I can imagine is (which I dont know how it would have happened) that one of your launchers did something to the root of where that information is house deleting the blur account but again I've never heard of this happening before
Edit: well this situation now makes two of us lmao while trying to solve your problem I seem to have replicated it. So now I just need to find out how to log back into blur... hey if anyone can it it would be greatly appreciated. So brief summery, I seem to have reset blur on my phone so that I am no longer logged into it I still have all my other emails and FB synced up but blur has disappeared and I cant find a way back in.

drock212 said:
wait youre running multiple launchers? try uninstalling them and see...
Also does anyone know where blur account info is house? Im in root explorer trying to find it with no luck, the only think I can imagine is (which I dont know how it would have happened) that one of your launchers did something to the root of where that information is house deleting the blur account but again I've never heard of this happening before
Edit: well this situation now makes two of us lmao while trying to solve your problem I seem to have replicated it. So now I just need to find out how to log back into blur... hey if anyone can it it would be greatly appreciated. So brief summery, I seem to have reset blur on my phone so that I am no longer logged into it I still have all my other emails and FB synced up but blur has disappeared and I cant find a way back in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL how did you replicate it?
and do you still have your contacts?

nope no contacts lol, no anything and the way I did it was using root explorer I went into system/framework/ and in there is a file called blur-res.apk I ran it to see what it would do and it wiped my blur lol I also noticed that my social networking app or whatever it maybe called is no longer functioning when I try to use it it states that i need to create an account but when I try it doesnt go anywhere. does your social networking app still work?

drock212 said:
nope no contacts lol, no anything and the way I did it was using root explorer I went into system/framework/ and in there is a file called blur-res.apk I ran it to see what it would do and it wiped my blur lol I also noticed that my social networking app or whatever it maybe called is no longer functioning when I try to use it it states that i need to create an account but when I try it doesnt go anywhere. does your social networking app still work?
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Click to collapse
does not work, same problem as you, but i usually have it frozen anyways

Supish said:
does not work, same problem as you, but i usually have it frozen anyways
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah it seems that one of your launchers may have ran this apk then causeing this issue lol Im going to titan back up then reset, I cant seem to find a solution to get that social network app working again

drock212 said:
yeah it seems that one of your launchers may have ran this apk then causeing this issue lol Im going to titan back up then reset, I cant seem to find a solution to get that social network app working again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah whatever, i dont need motoblur account

Supish said:
yeah whatever, i dont need motoblur account
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
funny enough I forgot I had backed up all my contacts via vcards to my sdcard so I just imported them lol

[Q] contacts lost due to system software update HELP plz. :(

I have a problem... i recently received an ota and decided to install it, but had forgotten to export my contacts that were stored on my phone to my sd card, but from personal experience, i've never lost any contacts due to an update. and unfortunately, i didnt upload my contacts to tmobile or gmail. is there any way i can restore my contacts from the phone memory somehow? is there some sort of program or anything i can do? i figured the contacts were probably stored in some sort of temp area on the phone and could still be accessed and restored before it's lost forever. please guys and girls, i need your expertise!!!

I don't think so, & I am just curious. Surely you have synced your contacts on gmail or tmobile at some point in the last month or so? I know u said u didn't b4 the update but haven't you ever?
Sent from my HTC GLACIER using xda premium

The contacts save to Gmail automatically. So simply just signing in to Gmail should bring everything back. Unless you chose to save them to the phone. Which you might still be able to retrieve them by going to the T-Mobile website, logging in and going to manage account then contacts.

coupetastic-droid said:
The contacts save to Gmail automatically. So simply just signing in to Gmail should bring everything back. Unless you chose to save them to the phone. Which you might still be able to retrieve them by going to the T-Mobile website, logging in and going to manage account then contacts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I was thinking. The only way they wouldn't, is if you disabled auto-sync.
Sent from my HTC GLACIER using xda premium

i forgot to mention, i didn't back up to gmail or tmobile because the phone was out of the states using a sim card that did not have internet service nor was it connected to wifi for it to have backed up to either... am i really screwed? plz somebody save mee!!!! ((((( i thought it would be a similar concept to how you can technically restore music from a wiped ipod just because it's saved to some sort of temp thing... no software out there that can be used to dig in to the phone and restore that which had been deleted? the saddest part is that i didn't even delete the numbers myself. that stupid software update ruined everything.

vesutiiji said:
i forgot to mention, i didn't back up to gmail or tmobile because the phone was out of the states using a sim card that did not have internet service nor was it connected to wifi for it to have backed up to either... am i really screwed? plz somebody save mee!!!! ((((( i thought it would be a similar concept to how you can technically restore music from a wiped ipod just because it's saved to some sort of temp thing... no software out there that can be used to dig in to the phone and restore that which had been deleted? the saddest part is that i didn't even delete the numbers myself. that stupid software update ruined everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, if there was no back up of any kind then you're royally screwed. You have no way to get any of them numbers back.
But just in case, go into your contacts app and press menu. You will see where it says import/export. Click on it and import from phone. If you're lucky, when you click on import from phone, you will see numbers. If no numbers show up then, like I said, sorry but you're screwed.