How do I transfer contents of Galaxy Note 4 to Huawei P10?

[AC Question]

A few months ago, my Galaxy Note 4 started experiencing the same problem that many, many other people have reported worldwide in several forums (inc. androidcentral) about the phone sporadically shutting down and rebooting, but the reboot fails with "mmc_read failed" message. I determined not to renew with another Samsung (probably permanently). Instead, I've gone for a Huawei P10. However, I now have a problem transferring everything from the Note 4 to the P10. I have a reasonably up-to-date backup of the Note 4 using SmartSwitch, but the app doesn't recognise the P10 when I plug it in. Samsung Support say there's an "incompatibility issue" between SmartSwitch and the P10 - I suspect they mean that there's a decision not to support any non-Samsung device as a restore target. So here's the real questions I would like answered:

(1) is there any other way (apart from SmartSwitch itself) to restore a SmartSwitch backup to a non-Samsung device?

(2) the Note 4 does on rare occasions spring back to life for about an hour or so. I therefore looked at third-party apps to do a new backup and then a restore to the P10. What would do this satisfactorily? I tried "Wondershare" but this seems to fail on two counts: first, it doesn't backup all my txt messages from the Note 4; secondly, for the stuff which is backed up OK (e.g. contacts, photos, etc...) Wondershare seems to have restored them to the P10 but nothing appears on the P10, so I'm wondering (no pun intended) whether Wondershare cannot successfully support the P10 (Android 7).

If you've read this far, thanks for staying with me. I'm in a reasonably desperate situation needing to get everything over to the P10.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Smart Switch won't work on other non-Samsung phones, because a lot of what it's backing up and restoring is for Samsung-specific software. You might be better off doing things piecemeal:

1. Google apps are easy -- they should be synced to your Google account in the cloud, so any of that data will automatically sync to your new phone. Just make sure that the sync or backup functions are on (e.g., with Google Photos, make sure the Backup & Sync is turned on).

2. For app data, try using Helium.

3. For SMS, try SMS Backup & Restore.

4. Data associated with Samsung apps can be difficult to transfer (like S Note or S Memo). That's why I usually recommend against using preinstalled manufacturer note-taking and similar apps. It's one way they try to lock you into their ecosystem.

 

[splinternet]

Thanks B.Diddy. What about contacts - which I think are stored on the phone and backed up (only) by Smart Switch. My wife changed Samsung phones a few months ago and despite having Google backup switched on, this didn't restore txt msgs or contacts. I had to do a quick Smart Switch backup of her old phone and then a restore to the new one and all was well.

Regarding Wondershare, do you know if it is fully ported to the Android 7 platform? Any reason why the restored items don't appear?

 

[B. Diddy]

Contacts transfer can be a bit of a pain if you're not using Google, or Smart Switch (when transferring to another Samsung phone, of course). On the Note 4, open Contacts, tap Menu, and look for an Export Contacts option. Export all contacts to a CSV or VCF file, then copy that file to your computer (either by uploading to Google Drive or via USB connection). Then import that contact file into your Google Contacts via the website: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1069522?hl=en. Once they're imported to your Google Contacts, they'll sync automatically with the new phone.