Transferring to new phone: Google vs. Verizon Cloud vs. Samsung Smart Switch?

[mfidelman]

I have a brand new Note 8 (!) and getting ready to transfer everything from my current Note 5 - ideally with as little re-arranging of the home screen & resetting configuration as possible. (New toy, 2 days of setup, arrgh!).

Which leads me to wonder which combination of Google Restore, Verizon Cloud Restore, Samsung restore, and Samsung Smart Switch might be most effective; and in what order to apply them.

Any thoughts/experience to share?

Thanks!

 

[kj11]

In all honestly it's not all that difficult to just set it up fresh without that stuff. Gave me a chance to leave behind a bunch of apps I really had no need for

 

[j_hansen]

To be honest, because of the big leap the Note 8 is from most other devices ( I'm Note 4 ) I personally think that the vast majority of us will get a lot more out of our new device if we commit to the slower process of a clean new setup instead of just copy over what we had on our old device.

 

[JoshDunc]

I set up fresh every time. It helps alleviate any issues.

 

[mfidelman]

Enough with the "from scratch" comments - been there, done that, I kind of like the applications and config that I have on my Note 5, and I want to copy all my application data. Does anybody have any comments re. the various backup/restore options available, and how to use them in combination?

 

[Cappaccinodagreat]

I used Smart Switch and was happy with it.

 

[kj11]

Enough with the "from scratch" comments - been there, done that, I kind of like the applications and config that I have on my Note 5, and I want to copy all my application data. Does anybody have any comments re. the various backup/restore options available, and how to use them in combination?

Suit yourself. Don't blame the "from scratch" crowd when you have issues down the road.

 

[mfidelman]

A followup question, then. Did you transfer your Google stuff first, afterwards, or not at all?

 

[strikeIII]

I typically do Google and Samsung.

 

[mfidelman]

Strikelll - so they don't overwrite each other? And, one question: I notice that Google seems to take a looooong time - with a blank screen & no progress indicator (started and restarted several times). Is that normal (i.e. a symptom of low bandwidth), or am I hosed? Thanks!

 

[kj11]

A followup question, then. Did you transfer your Google stuff first, afterwards, or not at all?

Nah. No more questions from you. You didn't want help from the "from scratch" crowd.



Yes, Google stuff first. I signed in to my Google account during the initial set up.

 

[mfidelman]

kj11



Did you use the full "transfer from your old phone first" option, then Samsung?

 

[buckifvr]

I used Smart Switch to move from N5 to N8 and it worked great. Super easy to use.

 

[kj11]

kj11



Did you use the full "transfer from your old phone first" option, then Samsung?

Honestly...I don't recall. I went through the initial set up wizard and signed in to Google when promoted. Nothing from my Note 5 carried over, which was fine with me, I didn't want it too.

Most app data is cloud or account linked anyway these days. If you play games and use your Google play games account you could make sure current cloud save is available from your Note 5 before you log into the game on your Note 8 and you should be good to go

 

[j_hansen]

I typically do Google and Samsung.

Keep us posted a bit on it anyway as the Google/Samsung way I just don't think you'll find a one size fits everything solution

 

[mfidelman]

Well, turns out that Google just would not restore stuff. Got to the step in the new phone initialization where google asks for a username/password, then puts up a list of devices to restore from, and selected my previous phone. Expected the next screen to be "what do you want to restore." Instead, the phone goes to never never land (blank screen, infinite hang). Tried a few times more (factory reset, restart from scratch, etc.)

Folks at Verizon passed me on to Samsung support who passed me on to Google. It sure would be nice if they had some diagnostics (like Verizon does when a phone won't pick up its EIN). But no... no logs, no diagnostics, no nothing.

Finally reached Samsung Level 2 tech support, who said go to the nearest Best Buy, with a "Samsung Experience" section, have the Samsung Tech reflash the PROM. Did so, but... the techs don't yet have the software!

Then went to Verizon, swapped phones - the new phone also wouldn't load.

Ultimately, I used Samsung Smart Switch to transfer everything, which actually does a better job than Google did when I got my last phone (stuff in the right place on the home screen, settings, etc.). Not complete though. Some app data had to be restored from the Verizon cloud backup, and some more (photos, calendar) came in from Google, automagically, after the apps were installed by Smart Switch. Still busily reinstalling some more obscure apps (good thing I took a screen shot of all my apps!).

Subsequently, someone on the Samsung community forums posted that they are having the exact same problem.

Very odd. Particularly that the phone is shipping like this, the lack of diagnostics & support, etc. (Note: Verizon is very good at support - including escalating to vendors - but they can't do very much when it's a vendor problem, and the vendor support sucks.)

 

[kj11]

Well, turns out that Google just would not restore stuff. Got to the step in the new phone initialization where google asks for a username/password, then puts up a list of devices to restore from, and selected my previous phone. Expected the next screen to be "what do you want to restore." Instead, the phone goes to never never land (blank screen, infinite hang). Tried a few times more (factory reset, restart from scratch, etc.)

Folks at Verizon passed me on to Samsung support who passed me on to Google. It sure would be nice if they had some diagnostics (like Verizon does when a phone won't pick up its EIN). But no... no logs, no diagnostics, no nothing.

Finally reached Samsung Level 2 tech support, who said go to the nearest Best Buy, with a "Samsung Experience" section, have the Samsung Tech reflash the PROM. Did so, but... the techs don't yet have the software!

Then went to Verizon, swapped phones - the new phone also wouldn't load.

Ultimately, I used Samsung Smart Switch to transfer everything, which actually does a better job than Google did when I got my last phone (stuff in the right place on the home screen, settings, etc.). Not complete though. Some app data had to be restored from the Verizon cloud backup, and some more (photos, calendar) came in from Google, automagically, after the apps were installed by Smart Switch. Still busily reinstalling some more obscure apps (good thing I took a screen shot of all my apps!).

Subsequently, someone on the Samsung community forums posted that they are having the exact same problem.

Very odd. Particularly that the phone is shipping like this, the lack of diagnostics & support, etc. (Note: Verizon is very good at support - including escalating to vendors - but they can't do very much when it's a vendor problem, and the vendor support sucks.)

What a colossal waste of time. You could have done three phones from scratch in half the time.

 

[mfidelman]

Well, the attempts to get Google to restore things were certainly a waste. The ultimate resolution was not.

And no, starting from scratch would not have taken half the time. I have no interest in manually re-entering a myriad of accounts & passwords, calendar entries, contacts, wi-fi passwords, preferences, individual applications & their layout on the screen & settings, and losing lots of personal data.

Even with Smart Switch taking care of 80% of the above. I now still face having to restore a bunch of more obscure applications that did NOT make the transition, tweaking preferences for the new environment, and finding work arounds for things that the Note 8 does differently than the Note 5 (e.g., Samsung Notes is crippled compared to the earlier S-Note - which I relied on heavily).

There's still a couple of days of work to get it all right - even though a lot of stuff was accomplished automagically.

(Now maybe I could have waited on ordering the phone, and let other people find out that Google restore doesn't work right. This way, I suffered the pain and hopefully others will benefit from my reporting.)