Of course there are some great options out there for better, all encompassing back ups and I don't think otherwise. I just wanted to throw these ideas out there in case they were not considered/part of the common knowledge. Seems like I see many folks looking to third party solutions before considering the great (simple/specific) back up tools shipped with the phone.
You can always use MyBackup from the Play Store to backup your device settings, etc.EDIT: This apparently isn't working on JB.
There's also this:
[link]
but I don't know if it works with JellyBean.
SMS can be backed up to Google or the SD card using any number of apps from the Play Store. If you can mount the internal SD card while in JB, you should be able to back that up to a computer.
SMS can be backed up and restored easily and efficiently, to the MicroSD card or e-mail, within the Stock HTC Messages application. No extra applications needed. This awesome feature was added with Sense 4.
Open messages -> Menu -> Backup/Restore SMS -> Back up -> (follow the prompts)
(won't back up MMS, but that content can easily be saved and moved to the MicroSD manually)
I used MyBackup Pro before I did a factory reset a week or so ago. It worked for me, restored SMS/MMS and a few other things. Didn't restore settings, did that myself. Kind of a pain but figured it would be safer that way. All my pics/music/etc are on the SD card.
The real pain for me doing the factory resets is contacts. I have most everything in Exchange but somehow a few get put into Gmail and the phone. Must not be paying close attention when I create them on the phone. Wish there was an easy way to sync/de-dupe all contacts across all accounts. Basically, make all accounts have all the contacts so I would[n't] have multiple "backups" in multiple locations. Then if I make a change to one contact in one account have it update all.
Contacts can be imported and exported (backed up and restored) easily and efficiently, to the MicroSD card or email, within the Stock HTC People application. No extra applications needed. This feature has been a part of Sense for a while.
Open People -> Menu -> Manage contacts -> Import/Export contacts -> (follow the prompts)
People application can even have multiple phonebooks, so you could have a phonebook for phone contacts, one for Outlook/Exchange contacts, and one for anything else neatly backed up to MicroSD.
And then there is the ubiquitous Google account, I think most people use this as their master contacts list. As it syncs with the phone and
outlook/other contacts can be imported into it relatively easily.
I know what you mean though about wanting to have a universal sync. Especially when contacts are sometimes added in haste or if there is personal/business cross over and specific contacts don't always get a good follow up or manual add to all sources.