how to back up apps?

[silentmango]

Hello,

I just have a few quick questions. I have had a samsung nexus s for a year now> It doesnt have an SD card (i bough it in Paris and apparently over here we don't have SD cards??) and had to completely wipe my hard drive a few times for repairs, reboots, apps not working, etc..

My question is, is there a way to save all ur apps and then data stored on ur apps? I don't buy apps often but i have a few ones i paid for now as well as quite a bit of info i need in different applications i use regularly. I have my contacts backed up on my google mail account but can I save my apps somehwere so i can just re-install them if i wipe my phone?

My second question is what is the significance of the usb storage? I noticed that in the settings some apps are on the usb and others on the phone, and i can choose where to install the apps. Is this a way of backing up apps? What else is the usb storage used for??

Any help is welcome!

oh yer, and lastly, what's with this ice cream update thing? Should i just wait for it to install itself on my phone automatically OTA?

 

[chanchan05]

1. If I remember correctly, Nexus devices don't support SD cards at all.

2. You have to be rooted to save app data. Otherwise nothing will be saved

3. Purchased apps can be redownloaded from Market easily. They will be labeled as "purchased" if you log in using the same Google account you bought them with.

4. USB storage is the mass storage. Basically there are two drives on your phone (Like C and D on Windows): the system drive which is phone storage and the USB storage. Apps tend to work better on phone storage, but some apps need too much space. USB storage is also the part of the memory you can access when you connect to your PC

5. Your phone will not update automatically. You have to go to menu>settings>about phone>check for updates for it to update. ICS is basically Android 4.0, the newest version of Android. Comes with new features and performance enhancements.