Transfer settings from Lollipop to Android phone?

[web1b]

We need to transfer photos, texts and call logs from a Galaxy Grand Prime to a Nexus 6.
There are very few apps installed, so it is mostly the personal data that's important to transfer. Contacts and email are already in Google.

I thought of using the built-in Tap & Go app since both phones have NFC, but it appears that it requires wifi.
Will this work if the new phone simply connects to the wifi hotspot from the old phone?
Does the Tap and Go app transfer texts, MMS, photos and call logs? If not, what does without needing separate wifi, root, PC or SD card?

 

[hallux]

Samsung Smart Switch? Why not swing by someplace that has free WiFi and connect both devices to it to do the transfer?

BTW, Lollipop IS Android. Semantics I guess....

 

[web1b]

I don't know what Samsung Smart Switch is, but most likely it is something designed for switching TO a Samsung phone or moving between 2 different Samsung phones. She is switching away from the Samsung to the Nexus.
The phone is not for me and I will be helping her on the phone (I will call her landline phone) unless we can get the people at the T-Mobile store to help her moving that personal data over, but I doubt they will do much more than insert the SIM card and make sure the phone is activated and make a test call especially since it is not a phone purchased from them.
If she leaves home to find someplace with free wifi, I won't have a landline phone number to call. It needs to be a simple as possible. She is not tech savvy.
Can the built-in hotspot not work for this?

 

[Rukbat]

Using the built in hotspot for this is like lifting yourself up by your bootstraps - it doesn't work.

There are file transfer programs - I use WiFi File Transfer and it'll work anywhere both phones can connect to the same wifi signal (like a public hotspot or at home), and at least one device has a web browser (and all smartphones do).

You can transfer texts using SMS Backup & Restore on the Grand Prime, then transferring tht backup file to the Nexus and running the same app there. Phoptos are easy - they're files, so just transfer them over.

Call logs? I've never used Call Logs Backup & Restore, but it might work. Same thing - back up on the Samsung, copy the backup to the nexus, restore (using the same app) on the Nexus.

 

[Spot Mobile]

If 'personal data' implies media, Google Drive is the key (or just Google Photos, depending on what the media is).
Otherwise, the rest mostly is in Google.
Check into the "Accounts" section of the phone, then "Google" so you can see everything that is synced =)

 

[web1b]

How fo you "copy the backup to the Nexus?"

 

[web1b]

If 'personal data' implies media, Google Drive is the key (or just Google Photos, depending on what the media is).
Otherwise, the rest mostly is in Google.
Check into the "Accounts" section of the phone, then "Google" so you can see everything that is synced =)

There are only a few photos she took plus more MMS photos she was sent by others that are still in her Messages logs.
Most of what she needs to move to the new phone are call logs plus her MMS and text messages.

 

[web1b]

Why couldn't you connect the new phone to the hotspot of the first phone since the new phone only needs Internet access?
Why wouldn't this work?

1. Turn on NFC on Samsung phone.
2. Enable Google Photos to backup local pictures.
3. Install SMS Backup and Restore and the Add-on for clould storage on the Samsung phone.
4. Configure SMS Backup and Restore to access Google Drive,
5. Backup call logs with SMSBR
6 Back up SMS + MMS with SMSBR and verify files saved in Google Drive.
7. Turn on new Nexus phone and go through the setup wizard and select the option to restore from another device
8. Tap phones and follow wizard to transfer data (This doesn't include restoring call logs or mms. Seems to only transfer the Google account, apps and wireless networks).
9. Run Play Store updates on Nexus phone.
10. Install SMSBR on Nexus phone and open it to accept the EULA
11. Go to Google Drive on the Nexus and click the call log files to import.
12. Go to Google Drive again and click the SMS files to import and check the box to restore MMS
13. Go to T-Mobile store for SIM card installation and set up. I think the SIM from the Samsung is a micro sim and the SIM from the Nexus is a nano sim. So, they will either need to cut it down for her or replace it.

This should work, but it would require a lot hand holding step by step over the phone since she is not tech savvy,
I wonder if the T-Mobile store employees have any training and authorization to help users transfer call data and SMS/MMS between phones?
When I got a phone from them, they didn't help me with that, but I didn't need their help, so it didn't matter.

 

[hallux]

Why couldn't you connect the new phone to the hotspot of the first phone since the new phone only needs Internet access?
Why wouldn't this work?

I don't think this will work. The first phone still gets its network connection from the cellular radio. The hotspot is a "passthrough", I don't believe it will allow the device connected on the hotspot to connect to the "host" for the purposes of transferring a file or data onto the storage of the "host" device. If it could, it would open up the host device to security issues when using the hotspot to help friends out.

 

[web1b]

I don't think this will work. The first phone still gets its network connection from the cellular radio. The hotspot is a "passthrough", I don't believe it will allow the device connected on the hotspot to connect to the "host" for the purposes of transferring a file or data onto the storage of the "host" device. If it could, it would open up the host device to security issues when using the hotspot to help friends out.

I don't think it is transferring the files directly between the phones over wifi. Isn't it either transferring over NFC or uploading the files up to Google and then down again over the Internet.
Even if it was, you are explicitly permitting it for that specific session by using the Tao and Go app. You have to approve it and enter your PIN on the phone for it to work.

 

[web1b]

I don't think this will work. The first phone still gets its network connection from the cellular radio. The hotspot is a "passthrough", I don't believe it will allow the device connected on the hotspot to connect to the "host" for the purposes of transferring a file or data onto the storage of the "host" device. If it could, it would open up the host device to security issues when using the hotspot to help friends out.

It doesn't open your device to everyone connected to the hotspot. You use NFC and the Tap and Go app and approve the file transfer on both devices and have to enter your PIN to start it.
It may be transferring the files over NFC or else up to Google and from one and then down from Google on the other.

 

[web1b]

One thing that's unclear about Tap and Go is whether it is really transferring new live data directly from your old phone to the new phone or restoring backed up data from your account stored on Google's servers.
I also wonder if it will also end up transferring Samsung bloatware apps to the Nexus.

 

[hallux]

It doesn't open your device to everyone connected to the hotspot. You use NFC and the Tap and Go app and approve the file transfer on both devices and have to enter your PIN to start it.
It may be transferring the files over NFC or else up to Google and from one and then down from Google on the other.

I'm not saying THIS task opens your phone to security concerns. I'm saying that allowing devices connected to the WiFi hotspot of your phone to transfer files directly TO your phone would open it to security risk.

I doubt the devices are transferring the data up to Google then back. I used the NFC transfer (Android Beam, built directly into the OS) when I set up my 6P, coming from a Moto X. I didn't set up a packet trace app to see what route the data took, or if it even went over the WiFi network in my home rather than being direct through NFC. I DO seem to recall having to keep the devices in VERY close proximity for the duration of the transfer so it may be going direct through NFC.

I just tested (happened to have my Moto X nearby), I had the devices as far apart as I could without moving myself, the transfer continued, I do not know what technology was used for the transfer once I separated the devices. My test also confirmed my first statement, with my 30/5 internet connection, a 2MB file would have taken less than than the 30 seconds it took to transfer.

 

[web1b]

I just tried factory resetting my Nexus 7 tablet and connecting to the hotspot on the Nexus 6 phone and I was able to use the hotspot connection to restore the tablet.
It didn't prompt for Tap and Go to transfer the account. Instead it asked me to type "set up my device" in the Google app and then prompted to restore from backup.