***UNIVERSAL BACKUP for ENTIRE ANDROID****

[GregMargie]

All the transaction took place @ the best buy store..I handed in my old Samsung phone, and walked out with the Note 4. Even though there was a Samsung area set up @ the store, I don't exactly remember if a Samsung employee was there..and honestly, those Samsung technicians @ best buy are not the most knowledgeable in my experience. I know more than them at times when I have walked in for help. Samsung lacks terribly in tech support. I highly doubt even if a tech was present there he would have recommended me about the app transfer!

Wow, that's really a shame, I find the Samsung techs at my local Best Buy to be very good and very well trained. Now calling Samsung direct, that I have found not helpful at all.

 

[PlanetPluto7]

App Backup and Restore works well to backup the apps on one phone and restore them on another. You can't completely get around the Play Store only downloading one app at a time though. Nova will backup your Homescreens with the current apps on then having a placeholder "icon".

 

[wesyates]

First off, everyone should know that **any backup solution is not 100% effective. That is to say, unless you make an image of your device, you will lose information and when you restore from any 'backup', you will have to clean up afterwards (add accounts, apps, etc.)

That said, IMHO, there is no single backup solution that works but a combination of Google account sync, your carrier's backup solution (YMMV), and a physical copy of the data on the device if possible is what I suggest. I do tech support for phones and when I have to initiate a FDR, I always propose a complete backup in at least 2 different ways; one of which is Google sync and the other is hard backup to a computer.

As for iPhones, if I never see an iPhone again it would be one second too soon. However, backing up via iTunes is a nice thing. If Google came up with an app like iTunes where a user can connect to a computer via the cable, have the backup app start on the computer and do a backup, then that would be the shizzle. I think hamsterwheel mentioned that BB had an app that went on your computer and synced/backed up your device. That's what I'm talking about. Kies is great I'm sure, but its Samsung (if I read correctly).

We need something that will see the device itself and make an image of the device with the option to include external storage.

 

[wesyates]

There is Literally NO app out there that can back up SMS, pics, app data, contacts, call logs, etc etc by just push of a button..

I disagree. There are plenty of apps out that do just that. I use GoSMS Pro as my SMS/MMS user app and it has the ability to backup SMS/MMS to local SD, a 'cloud', or DropBox. As well, many carriers will provide a solution for backing up phone contacts, SMS/MMS, call logs, documents, videos, photos, music, etc. as needed (YMMV). My carrier is Verizon and their Verizon Cloud is *very useful for backing up messages and call logs. HOWEVER, it does not find all the media files as the app only knows to look in pre-defined locations. See my previous post here for my suggestion on what and how to backup. Look on Play Store for apps that will backup your messages.

 

[Android D]

I disagree. There are plenty of apps out that do just that. I use GoSMS Pro as my SMS/MMS user app and it has the ability to backup SMS/MMS to local SD, a 'cloud', or DropBox. As well, many carriers will provide a solution for backing up phone contacts, SMS/MMS, call logs, documents, videos, photos, music, etc. as needed (YMMV). My carrier is Verizon and their Verizon Cloud is *very useful for backing up messages and call logs. HOWEVER, it does not find all the media files as the app only knows to look in pre-defined locations. See my previous post here for my suggestion on what and how to backup. Look on Play Store for apps that will backup your messages.

I see what you are trying to say. I tried helium app premium version, but for some reason I can't get their website to work from where I can download the desktop tool needed for that app.

By now this topic has been beaten to death, but I just wanted a general opinion of every one out there. General consensus is it's a little complicated for Android the whole back up process, so I will have to use multiple apps/tools to achieve my goal!

Thanks every 1 for their input!

 

[Android D]

I disagree. There are plenty of apps out that do just that. I use GoSMS Pro as my SMS/MMS user app and it has the ability to backup SMS/MMS to local SD, a 'cloud', or DropBox. As well, many carriers will provide a solution for backing up phone contacts, SMS/MMS, call logs, documents, videos, photos, music, etc. as needed (YMMV). My carrier is Verizon and their Verizon Cloud is *very useful for backing up messages and call logs. HOWEVER, it does not find all the media files as the app only knows to look in pre-defined locations. See my previous post here for my suggestion on what and how to backup. Look on Play Store for apps that will backup your messages.

I am also on verizon...I see that we can back up on verizon, but what if we switch to another provider ? can we still have verizon app on let's say a At&T phone to restore out stuff from verizon cloud ??

 

[wesyates]

I am also on verizon...I see that we can back up on verizon, but what if we switch to another provider ? can we still have verizon app on let's say a At&T phone to restore out stuff from verizon cloud ??

Good question. I doubt it. In fact, once the account is deactivated, access to your verizon wireless account is also deactivated. That's really why I would push for a great vendor-neutral backup solution. Not just one by the carrier.

 

[Android D]

Good question. I doubt it. In fact, once the account is deactivated, access to your verizon wireless account is also deactivated. That's really why I would push for a great vendor-neutral backup solution. Not just one by the carrier.

Exactly...Samsung should come with it @ least for their phones! They go after Apple on a lot of things (lol) why haven't they come up with a icloud like solution for their devices ?

 

[Bosbouer]

Here is some more information on the Android handles backups;

HTG Explains: What Android Data is Backed Up Automatically?

Specifically the very last section fro creating an offline PC backup

 

[Bosbouer]

The ADB backup works but is not incremental... but as it only takes space up on a PC not really an issue. One needs to name to backup or you wont see it on the PC

I noted that the backup screen from ADB is similar to Helium screen and found this:
Carbon: the way Google should be doing backup on Android | Android Central