Going from Gnex to Nexus4 -- any advice on how to transfer apps and settings?

[dlsmd45]

So the Galaxy Nexus has been my first Android phone. I had iPhones before that and whenever I upgraded it was pretty easy to transfer for my apps and settings from the old phone to the new phone through iTunes.

The Nexus 4 looks great and I can't wait for it to go on sale. So I am wondering if there is a comparably easy way to move apps and settings from one Android phone to another? I'm not worried about Google services (mail, calendar, contacts, etc.) -- I know that just needs a sign-in with my Google ID. But what about all the apps I have and the settings within apps? Some of them have taken a lot of fine tuning and fiddling to get them just the way I want (like Nova launcher, and other utility-type apps). My phone is stock and not rooted if that makes a difference. Will I have to start from scratch and manually download the apps I want and reset them up? Any easier way?

Thanks for any advice!

--David

 

[AllBlaxx]

I don't know about settings but when I first got my Galaxy Nexus and signed in with my Google account, it started downloading all of my installed apps that were on my previous phone from the Play Store automatically. This takes care of half the battle for you

 

[anon(847090)]

I made almost everything cloud based. for example pictures/Videos taken on my phone is auto uploaded to G+

All music on google music. I started doing this when i started formatting my phone and install factory image.

the only negative is arranging my screen. titanium make that easy too.. you have to be rooted though

 

[dlsmd45]

It is much more painful than with an iThingie (a glaring hole in Android IMHO), but signing in with the same Google account with give you access to your synced data and apps, but apps will need to be reinstalled, and many clients (Email, and most non-Google apps) will need to be re-setup.

It is a time consuming process... all your widgets, folders, shortcuts all need to be re-setup as well.

I suspected as much. Many thanks for the replies.

This really reminds me of that Samsung commercial where the guy is saving a spot in the iPhone purchase line for his parents. My mom and step-dad have iPhones and everything is really easy for them. I personally have grown to love Android more -- especially all the customization and tweaking you can do really personalizes the phone -- but boy would it be a pain for my parents to figure out how to set up new Android phones if they used them. And a pain for me because they would be calling me all the time for tech support!

Google should really have some kind of cloud backup for Android apps and settings. Hope it's on their to-do list!

 

[anon(847090)]

I suspected as much. Many thanks for the replies.

This really reminds me of that Samsung commercial where the guy is saving a spot in the iPhone purchase line for his parents. My mom and step-dad have iPhones and everything is really easy for them. I personally have grown to love Android more -- especially all the customization and tweaking you can do really personalizes the phone -- but boy would it be a pain for my parents to figure out how to set up new Android phones if they used them. And a pain for me because they would be calling me all the time for tech support!

Google should really have some kind of cloud backup for Android apps and settings. Hope it's on their to-do list!

I hope so.. thats the only thing Android is lagging behind. its not like they cant pull it out something because google backup service is running in all android. they could improve it.

but one thing you should understand is Iphone is just mainly 3 phones and Android is thousands. compatibility is an issue.

 

[ChromeJob]

Look for backup and restore features in all your apps. I know Nova Launcher has one, that's how someone told me to create multiple "themes."

Or... Root it, and backup with Titanium Backup. I'm told its bulletproof.

 

[dancing-bass]

Free app, (ad supported) called "app backup and restore" works well enough for me

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums