Mac program for syncing/backing up?

[MrMister]

I'm about the change from my iPhone 4 to a HTC Sensation or Sammy S2.

Obviously at moment I use iTunes for syncing with my iPhone, backing up, app management, music, video etc etc.

So how are Android phones done for all the above on Macs? Do the phones come with a Mac compatible program? What do people use for Macs?

I think Androids once connected just come up as a connected USB drive so can drag music, movies on like this? But what about apps, contacts, photos etc.

Sorry for the basic question but I've never used Android yet, and people might moan about iTunes, I like it, but it's great as an all in one, keeps everything tidy.

So you buy apps just via the actual phone? Then what happens when you do a backup?

Cheers

 

[chanchan05]

Apps are tied to your Google account. If you buy a new phone and log in to your Google Account, apps will automatically be downloaded and installed. However the problem with this is that game saves are not included. You can save these if you are rooted though using a backup app whose data you can store on a personal cloud.

You can sync to iTunes music via iSyncer

Contacts and Calendar are saved to your Google Calendar and Gmail Contacts automatically. Music and Video are managed as you would on any PC by treating them as files, or if there is a compatible program (Kies, PC Companion, HTC Sync) for Mac.

 

[MrMister]

Still a little confused sorry I'm coming from
iPhone world and iTunes doing it all!

So I make a Google account, but are the apps backed up to a computer? I'm happy to just drag and drop my movies and music over, but I don't want numerous different program's for different things for syncing.

What about a total phone backup? eg (again sorry) on iPhone, iTunes backs up, you can then get a different iPhone and restore from iTunes to the new iPhone and everything is there, messages, settings etc. does Android have anything like this Mac or PC?

basically I like the way iTunes backs up on iOS, I know Google/Android won't be exactly the same but wouldn't mind it similiar if possible?

Cheers

 

[!on]

Your app market is linked to your google account. So would be app brain, if you install it (it takes you to the market). Music vids & pics I would drag & drop.

You can choose apps in market (& app brain) on your comp or in your phone. Just download them in your phone over 3g or wifi.

There is this thing called fast web installer which will enable the market to push the apps to your phone (actually it works with app brain... maybe they should unify app brain / fast web installer / market into one app in future?).

You can use titanium backup to, backup. Or if rooted you can use clockwork mod recovery. Back up to card.

 

[chanchan05]

Titanium backup can essentially backup everything including save data, but you need to be rooted for that. Another is a Nandroid backup, which AFAIK backs up considerably more than Titanium but also needs to be rooted. These are the total phone backups you are looking for.

If you arent rooted, you arent exactly using a different app. Just set your phone tom import all your previous contacts as gmail contacts, or use some app for syncing your old iPhone contacts to Gmail. Once you log in to your new Android phone, it will automatically download your Gmail contacts. Its sort of copying it. And if you add a new contact, it also sends it to Gmail. Same concept for calendar. there is no app for this. The phones just does this automatically. This is also the same for apps. Once you download, your Google account knows what apps you have downloaded.

Its not in the computer, its in your Google account. For example, I am in a store and bought a new Android phone, and i left my laptop at home. I log in to my Google account right then and there in the store, and head home, leaving my phone sitting on the seat beside me turned on and connected to internet. By the time I reach home about 15min later, all my contacts and calendar will have already been downloaded on my phone, which would probably be in the process of downloading and installing my apps. You dont need a computer to transfer most of your data. No separate apps for backup.

The main problems actually are SMS and savegames/app data. For these things, Google does not have a native backup, because unlike Symbian and iOS, Android does not require a PC, nor does it have a PC client (Manufacturers do give PC clients with limitations). You need a specific app for backing up SMS, or an SMS client which provides backup services. Most experienced Android users actually dont use the stock SMS app (Handcent and Go SMS are the most popular replacements). App data can only be backed up using rooted apps, otherwise for every phone transfer you'd have to start your games from scratch again.

The closest thing to iTunes I think for Android is Kies which Samsung provides for their phones. Note however that if you use Kies to sync and backup to PC, you wont be able to use the Google backup services for contacts and calendar. It does backup messages though.