Need help figuring out how Google did this...

[rwdogs]

My poor nexus 4 smoked out...wouldn't charge and smoky smell coming from charging port. This was Tuesday night and google had a replacement for me by Friday eve. Meanwhile I was so traumatized I bought a new nexus 5 from google play wed am...also arrived fri pm.
So I popped my SIM card into the n4, booted it up. It updated from 4.3 to 4.4 to 4.4.2.
I booted up the new n5 (wifi only no sim) and it proceeded to download all the apps that had been on the old n4. Knew which apps were on my nexus7 and not on the phone, didn't download those. Meanwhile the n4 didn't do that, I had to manually download the apps from the play store.
Now, I just got up to our weekend cabin...the n5 automatically signed in to the home wifi, how did it know the password?? And I manually entered the password for the n4.
Both now have 4.4.2 so that wouldn't seem to be the explanation for why the n5 seems to be a bit more "knowing" than the n4.
Impressive....and a bit scary.....
If anyone knows how/why please illuminate, thx!

 

[B. Diddy]

Go to Settings/Backup & Reset on both phones. Is "Automatic Restore" checked on both of them, or only one? It may be that the N5 had it checked while the N4 didn't. Automatic Restore will restore Wi-Fi passwords if you also selected the "Back up my data" option on your previous device.

Posted via Android Central App.
Please excuse any typos or autocorrect derps.

 

[rwdogs]

Just checked... Both phones have automatic restore checked and back up my data checked. I must have had back up my data checked on the old phone... It's on its way back to Google now. So it sounds like maybe the n4 didn't do what it was supposed to?

 

[B. Diddy]

Not sure why the discrepancy. I wonder if the presence or absence of SIM card affected it, but not sure why it would.

 

[rwdogs]

And the Sim card was in the 4 not the 5!
Maybe because I was setting up both phones simultaneously? Thanks for your input... The smoked out Nexus 4 was my first smartphone so all this is quite new to me. I was very impressed at how the n5 replicated everything so effortlessly.

 

[bleached]

It doesn't always restore properly from what I have experienced. It is hit or miss for who knows what reason. You can batch install apps though, which is nice if you don't want all your apps reinstalled.

 

[rwdogs]

The n5 restored very well except it left out Facebook. The n4 updated to 4.4.2, then got tired and quit. Thx for the replies... Newbie here.