Migrating to Android 4.0

[Bilbo]

Hi All,

I'm going to give a bit of context to my questions, sorry this is probably a lot of waffle but maybe others have similar experiences or tips they can share?

I've had an Android phone for a couple of years now, starting with an HTC Desire and last year I upgraded to a Galaxy Nexus at launch as I was very keen to get a phone which would get the latest updates as they were released.

Anyway, I've actually been running both the Desire and the Nexus for about 3 months now because the task of migrating seemed to painful! Yes I was able to reinstall apps on the new phone that was easy enough, but actually it was all the other stuff like SMS, contacts (I'll come back to this) and some app data that was the bind.

Contacts - I finally thought enough is enough and spend several hours trying to get all my contacts across - the Desire had some snazzy way it merged contacts and linked all your social accounts like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter to the one contact, brilliant! Until you move phones, OMG I had hundreds of blank contacts with only a name and nothing else! So I spent hours on the Nexus deleting them, trying to link them.

SMS - so I next decided to do the SMS, after a bit of hunting I just opted to get an app that backed them up to my gmail like emails in a particular folder. That's fine as I don't need them often and if I ever do I can search my gmail.

App data - so I pretty much gave up here and just manually copied and pasted bits of info I needed across the phones.

Messaging - OK so this is the bit that's broken me and made me decide to finally share my troubles, but I need to tell almost all my contacts that I've got a new phone number but why can't I find an option to send a message on mass without typing the name of every contact... I want to select them from a list. This isn't just useful now I'm moving phone I want to say happy new year to 100 people at once for example.

So finally to the questions:

1. Why doesn't Android help with migration, after all I bet we're all going to stick with Android phones for the next few years and this sort of stuff will really put my of upgrading again anytime soon?

2. Is there a way to do a permanent contact merge and get one good contact per person you know rather than lots of linked rubbish?

3. Do Android 4.0 contacts support social feeds like the Desire did, if not, why not!?

4. Can I send a message to lots of people at once without typing each ones name... just selecting from a list?

Any help gratefully received!

Thanks.

 

[twdawson]

I can on my galaxy by selecting new message and the from contacts, that gives me the contacts app with tick boxes to select but it might be different on the nexus. You could try go SMS products but I can't remember if it does that though.

That might not be of much help as I have never used a nexus phone.

 

[chanchan05]

1. Because all your contacts on your old Desire contains only a name and nothing else. Everything in them (pictures, numbers, emails etc) came from the linked social accounts. Basically this means, on your old phone, if you unlink your Facebook and Twitter, all your accounts will become empty as well. If you link your Facebook account and etc to your new phone, then the details will be repopulated. This issue isn't really Google's fault, but rather that you chose to not migrate or copy the details from Facebook to your Google account.

2. Yes, on your old phone, you simply export the contacts to your SD card, and then reimport them as Google contacts. Since you are using an HTC device, I don't know the exact step by step, but I know that your phone should have that feature. Once they are imported as Google Contacts, all data from the linked accounts will also be in your Google copies.

3. Yes it does. It added more features, not removed.

4. Yes, as far as I know it's also available on your old phone. Just simply press on the (+) icon beside the entry field for the recepient. Although this depends on what SMS app you use. Some apps you press on "contacts"

 

[GrenW]

Wierd. I went from a desire to a Nexus and my contacts were the least problematic. They all appeared with their pictures and then my LinkedIn contacts synces once the app was installed. All in 1 contact per person and no blanks. I didn't have to do a thing just let Google do its thing when I logged in. They do need to be 'Google' not 'Phone' contacts though.

All the apps I installed from scratch - although the market auto-downloaded most of them as I wanted to make sure of a clean install. Any app data that was vital (game saves etc) could be restored using Ti Backup once I'd rooted.

 

[Bilbo]

Thanks all for your replies. I must be being a bit of a div because it doesn't seem that straight forward at all to me!

Chanchan05 if I can quiz you a little further:

1. Because all your contacts on your old Desire contains only a name and nothing else. Everything in them (pictures, numbers, emails etc) came from the linked social accounts. Basically this means, on your old phone, if you unlink your Facebook and Twitter, all your accounts will become empty as well. If you link your Facebook account and etc to your new phone, then the details will be repopulated. This issue isn't really Google's fault, but rather that you chose to not migrate or copy the details from Facebook to your Google account.

I must be missing something here - I've set up my Facebook account on the Nexus but it hasn't appended the details of those friends with FB to my contacts. I haven't set up Flickr at all yet but a lot of my contacts have Flickr accounts - on the Desire again these automatically were linked to the contacts. Interestingly, in the notes section of the contacts on the Nexus I see "<HTCData><Flickr>id:..." but the Nexus doesn't do anything with this. I'd really like to sort this as having all the different accounts all under one contact is definitely the best way to go.

2. Yes, on your old phone, you simply export the contacts to your SD card, and then reimport them as Google contacts. Since you are using an HTC device, I don't know the exact step by step, but I know that your phone should have that feature. Once they are imported as Google Contacts, all data from the linked accounts will also be in your Google copies.

I think this is basically how I got them across in the end - not sure now it was late one night last week and desperation had set in!

4. Yes, as far as I know it's also available on your old phone. Just simply press on the (+) icon beside the entry field for the recepient. Although this depends on what SMS app you use. Some apps you press on "contacts"

Yes on the Desire I could start and SMS using Messages, then click a face icon next to "To:" and could then see all my contacts with a simple tick to add them to this message. But on the Nexus using Messaging (green speech bubble with a smiley face) I start a new message and where it says "To" I can only type names. After a couple of letters it suggests who I'm typing, but I don't see any icon like a "+" you describe to let me see a list of contacts... am I missing something here?

Thanks!

 

[jerofld]

I must be missing something here - I've set up my Facebook account on the Nexus but it hasn't appended the details of those friends with FB to my contacts. I haven't set up Flickr at all yet but a lot of my contacts have Flickr accounts - on the Desire again these automatically were linked to the contacts. Interestingly, in the notes section of the contacts on the Nexus I see "<HTCData><Flickr>id:..." but the Nexus doesn't do anything with this. I'd really like to sort this as having all the different accounts all under one contact is definitely the best way to go.

Try going to Settings > Accounts > Add account and add a Facebook account. Then set it to sync to contacts. That should straighten that out.

I think this is basically how I got them across in the end - not sure now it was late one night last week and desperation had set in!

So you're all set up on this front or do you need alternative suggestions?

Yes on the Desire I could start and SMS using Messages, then click a face icon next to "To:" and could then see all my contacts with a simple tick to add them to this message. But on the Nexus using Messaging (green speech bubble with a smiley face) I start a new message and where it says "To" I can only type names. After a couple of letters it suggests who I'm typing, but I don't see any icon like a "+" you describe to let me see a list of contacts... am I missing something here?

Thanks!

Is there any other type of icon next to the "To" input field? On my messaging app, it shows a silhouette of a person there that I could tap on to pull up my contact list. But this is a Gingerbread Messenger app, not the ICS one.

 

[Bilbo]

Hi Jerofld

That's really interesting, I'd not thought about the Settings > Accounts page, I'd just thought having the Facebook App and signing into it would handle it all. So trying what you've suggested, choosing Add Account and clicking on Facebook (and there is no Flickr BTW) just drops me back to the previous menu. Tried it a few times, does the same each time with no questions about the account. I notice that I do already have a Skype account on the list, but Syncing is turned off and won't turn on or offer me any options. Is it broken, locked or something else?!

Regarding contacts, I think I'll be OK thanks - I have copied them all over and I deleted about 100+ name only accounts. I think it's just going to take time for me to tidy it all up again and I'm hoping I can get one final good list of contacts out of it that merges all my googlemail contacts (of which I have two accounts) exchange contacts (which is work and a lot of personal contacts) all into one list ideally on my gmail.

Finally for the mass SMS - no there is no other icon apart from a paper clip (for attachments), more options (for add subject, insert smiley, discard, settings) and the send icon. Weird hey?!

Thanks!

 

[jerofld]

That's really interesting, I'd not thought about the Settings > Accounts page, I'd just thought having the Facebook App and signing into it would handle it all. So trying what you've suggested, choosing Add Account and clicking on Facebook (and there is no Flickr BTW) just drops me back to the previous menu. Tried it a few times, does the same each time with no questions about the account. I notice that I do already have a Skype account on the list, but Syncing is turned off and won't turn on or offer me any options. Is it broken, locked or something else?!

It should, but doesn't always do it. Now that you have an account in Settings > Accounts, try loading up the app again and going to settings > sync contacts. That should do it. And do you have the official Flickr app installed on your phone? It's available in the Play Market.

Regarding contacts, I think I'll be OK thanks - I have copied them all over and I deleted about 100+ name only accounts. I think it's just going to take time for me to tidy it all up again and I'm hoping I can get one final good list of contacts out of it that merges all my googlemail contacts (of which I have two accounts) exchange contacts (which is work and a lot of personal contacts) all into one list ideally on my gmail.

You can log into your Gmail account and export the contact list to a spread sheet file and use Excel (or similar program) to edit them there, then import it back in to clear out all those names. I think you can even import that file into your phone's contact list to make things simpler.

Finally for the mass SMS - no there is no other icon apart from a paper clip (for attachments), more options (for add subject, insert smiley, discard, settings) and the send icon. Weird hey?!

Yes, weird...I'd suggest you try Handcent or Go SMS as an alternative to the stock SMS app.

 

[chanchan05]

It seems most of the problems being that you are now using a Nexus, basically bare bones Android. HTC puts Sense UI on top of Android which basically automates some stuff.like Facebook syncing of contacts (Same for Samsung TouchWiz UI). Basically, you have to manually do stuff on your Nexus, or get apps that will do the said stuff for you.

For example, on the Facebook accounts, you need to enable sync inside the FB app for the contact details to appear in your contacts. Then in your contact app, you may need to manually merge the Facebook contact and the empty Google contact. This is automated on manufacturer some skinned phones ( like Samsung and HTC), but not on a Nexus AFAIK.

For contact management, I actually use outlook, sync it up to Google, which then syncs down to my phone.

 

[Bilbo]

Thanks both for your responses - back at work now so the perfect time to have another look

Jerofld you said

It should, but doesn't always do it. Now that you have an account in Settings > Accounts, try loading up the app again and going to settings > sync contacts. That should do it. And do you have the official Flickr app installed on your phone? It's available in the Play Market.

but sadly I don't have the account, clicking Add Account and selecting Facebook from the menu just dumps me back in the Accounts & sync menu with no new accounts listed. I've also looked at the Facebook app Settings and there is no Sync Contacts in the app itself so I assume you mean settings I should be able to see if it would add to this list?

So I've just installed the Flickr app as I type this - but unfortunately it has not added to the list in Accounts & sync > Add Account and it doesn't appear to have an option in it's settings either to Sync Contacts. The only small victory is that Skype did have this setting and I have now turned it on in the app which appears to be working.

You can log into your Gmail account and export the contact list to a spread sheet file and use Excel (or similar program) to edit them there, then import it back in to clear out all those names. I think you can even import that file into your phone's contact list to make things simpler.

OK I think I'll do this - it has to be better than sitting for hours doing it with the phone, thanks for the tip!

I will also look at the alternative SMS products you mentioned thanks.

chanchan05

It seems most of the problems being that you are now using a Nexus, basically bare bones Android. HTC puts Sense UI on top of Android which basically automates some stuff.like Facebook syncing of contacts (Same for Samsung TouchWiz UI). Basically, you have to manually do stuff on your Nexus, or get apps that will do the said stuff for you.

Yes I think you are right! I've been spoilt by HTC to a degree but didn't realise the Nexus would be missing what I'd consider some pretty rudimentary stuff. Disappointing but there you go!

Thanks again to you both.