• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help Backup and reset feature. What's the point?

G

garion1

Lurker
I recently updated my Galaxy S2 OS to ICS. For months now I have had the "Back up my data" and "Automatic restore" features switched on and syncing to my Google account.

In addition to the above feature, I also backed up as much as I could in Kies.

I originally updated the firmware without clearing the device and found that battery performance had been severely degraded. It was suggested that I "Factory data reset" the device and set up the device from scratch again. This helped enormously and there has been a significant improvement in my battery life. It could have been an app or two causing the problem I guess.

The description under "Automatic restore" is:
"When reinstalling an app, restore backed up settings and data"

After restoring all my contacts, mailboxes and OS settings from Google and Kies, I began reinstalling apps and games I have used frequently in the past.

What I noticed is that when reinstalling these apps, absolutely none of my settings and data (game progress, custom app settings) were restored. Even with "Back up my data" and "Automatic restore" features switched on and syncing again after the update.

So, what exactly does "When reinstalling an app, restore backed up settings and data" mean? It appears to be a completely useless feature to me. Kies does not do this either.

On another note, It irritates me so much that I have to redownload all the apps and additional data for games because there is no unrooted full backup solution for Android users (Like iTunes). I am downloading Gigs of data again!
 
I believe that app creators can incorporate this functionality into their apps but I assume it's a fairly new feature of Android, because as you've discovered hardly any apps seem to support it.

I've just had my phone replaced as it had water damage and it's a royal pain in the backside getting everything set up again. The only thing I've been able to restore from Kies is the SMS history.
 
Certain apps do have the backup of their settings directly in their app.

Lets just say you do a factory reset before firmware update and you also intend to wipe the USB storage area, you have to find that backup file and then copy to your PC. After your firmware upgrade, you install the relevant app, place back the backup file and you can restore your settings. Although with ICS being a very different animal to GB, the restore might not work.

Also, if you are worried by having to redownload all the apps, get an app from app store that can change your app into an APK file. Lots of those around. Even ES explorer or Astro can do it. Also, if you know where your game data is (like inside the gameloft folder), then you can just copy it out, and place it back in after. That way you don't have to use up so much data downloading all those MBs again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom