[zantarous]

Having previously lived in the iOS and Windows Phone World which both had great back up and restore features I am a bit confused on how to do this on a Android device. I have just sold my S4 and awaiting my Note 3 to arrive and was wondering when I sign in with my gmail account do all my settings, apps and data just come across automatically?

Having gppgled it it looks like most posts refer to making back up of your device which I find astonishing when the other players in the market make it really simple. All photos get backed up to Dropbox so that is okay, and email and contacts are done via gmail.

I guess I will lose all my text messages?

[chenks]

in theory, yes
in practice, probably not.

i used google backup and when i moved to another android device i was left with a partial restore - from reading various anecdotal stories, the whole android backup/restore facility is hit and miss at best. iOS backup/restore is certainly more reliable.

for txt messages, use an app called "SMS Backup and restore".

[gavo360]

Android backup has never really worked for me. Best thing to do is all your important apps see if they have there own cloud backup. Lots of games backup to Facebook or Google+. I use nova launcher and let's you create a backup file of your desktop and certain settings.

[Anika Hanson]

If you back up to your Samsung account you shouldn't lose your text messages. I back up to both my Google and Samsung accounts and when I switched from my original note to the S4 and then from the S4 to the note 3, all my texts messages, contacts, wallpapers, bookmarks etc were restored. Your apps should automatically download but in my experience not all of the data gets restored. It's hit and miss as the poster above said.

[lettice]

Android backup and restore is a very different beast to an ios backup.

A good article that sums up what is basically backed up here

There are plenty of apps and services in google play that will help you backup too.
One of the more popular for rooted phones/tablets and well featured is Titanium Backup here

[Anika Hanson]

This is what gets backed up via your Samsung account


http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/s...7-11-15-54.png

[zantarous]

Thanks everyone, looks like Samsung are finely get me to create a Samsung account.

[zantarous]

Oh and what about the SD card I have apps on that, do I need to reformat that as I guess it will get very confused once apps try to download on the new phone?

[Anika Hanson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zantarous

Oh and what about the SD card I have apps on that, do I need to reformat that as I guess it will get very confused once apps try to download on the new phone?

I reformatted the SD card when going from the original note to the S4. I'm not sure what would happen if you just switched it over.