Database Develop

What's the problem Android has with SIM contacts?

I know this isn't specific about the P970, but that's the Android I have, and that's where I'm experiencing this very annoying thing with Android and SIM.
All other phones I've had, all of them, always gave me the option to store both my SMS's and my contacts to the SIM card instead to the phone, and to transfer both SMS/contacts from/to the phone to the SIM and vice-versa. And it's a feature I found extremely useful, not only for keeping my privacy, but mostly for keeping my contacts and my messages always with me, no matter of which phone I'm using: mine, my brother's, my girlfriend's, or my mother's. (Even very useful when flashing different ROMs, trying CM7, going back to nova, or to stock, etc.)
All other phones I've ever had could do this, except Android.
With Froyo it was already not possible (or at least I never found how) to use the SIM for messages. Only I could use the phone. But still contacts could be saved to the SIM.
But now, with Gingerbread, it's even worse: the SIM is totally ignored (except, of course, exclusively for importing its contacts).
What's the f...g problem Google has with SIMs? Why this "discrimination". Why Google doesn't like SIMs?
I have a theory

Don't really know what you're talking about man, I have LG OB [that's why I'm here of course] and when I save new contact theres this option that clearlly say "save contact to: phone, SDcard, SIM"... even if is an existing contact you can move it or copy it to the SIM... before posting I checked so I'm pretty sure theres something you didn't notice or something

I guess google wants you to maximize the cloud feature on android so SIM is not used anymore as contact storage.
But i agree with you, user has the right to choose, not significant for most of us but by providing this option maybe useful for some users like you.
Sent from my LG-P970 using Tapatalk

In LG's froyo you could save and import contacts/sms to the phone from your simcard.
But now as I'm using CM7 I don't see an option to create a contact for my simcard.
Not a big deal for me since I like this whole cloud thing. Perhaps there's an app in the market that will let you backup your stuff to your sim card?
Sent from my LG-P970 using XDA App

Felsar said:
Don't really know what you're talking about man, I have LG OB [that's why I'm here of course] and when I save new contact theres this option that clearlly say "save contact to: phone, SDcard, SIM"... even if is an existing contact you can move it or copy it to the SIM... before posting I checked so I'm pretty sure theres something you didn't notice or something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi. Don't know if you read well my post.
I say: in Froyo, you can manage contacts in your SIM, though you don't have setting for "store messages in SIM" card. You have to do it one by one.
But in Gingerbread, you can't any longer use your SIM, either for storing contacts or messages.
lesp4ul said:
I guess google wants you to maximize the cloud feature on android so SIM is not used anymore as contact storage.
But i agree with you, user has the right to choose, not significant for most of us but by providing this option maybe useful for some users like you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I mean. There are still users who prefer (or who even need) to store contacts and messages in SIM. For this, Google didn't need to implement a new feature: it would have been enough with leaving the feature which was already there. There are some "hidden corners" in the Gingerbread settings where -I bet- not more than 0,01 % of the users ever get to, but still they're there! How come they've totally disregarded the "store to SIM" idea?
yeomond said:
In LG's froyo you could save and import contacts/sms to the phone from your simcard.
But now as I'm using CM7 I don't see an option to create a contact for my simcard.
Not a big deal for me since I like this whole cloud thing. Perhaps there's an app in the market that will let you backup your stuff to your sim card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, there are a couple of apps that let you do it. But they're not very efficient, they're useful only for contacts (not for messages), and it's quite annoying and time consuming to use them. I liked much better the Froyo approach.

zogoibi said:
Hi. Don't know if you read well my post.
I say: in Froyo, you can manage contacts in your SIM, though you don't have setting for "store messages in SIM" card. You have to do it one by one.
But in Gingerbread, you can't any longer use your SIM, either for storing contacts or messages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hehe... my mistake, you right I didn't take a good read at your post, and you're right can't seem to move/copy sms to SIM... I don't use that feature, but I do with contacts as backup, now you say you can't in GB, what about import/export to SDcard?? at least for contacts you can do that to SDcard

Yes, you can do that, save to SD. But it's not the same, there's not the same flexibility as with Froyo. And, after all, if you save to SD, you're still "bound" to the "Android universe", you can't escape: what's the use of having your contacts in your SD, Android format, unless you put that same SD to another Android phone? But imagine you want to migrate to Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry... whatever.
Maybe I'm too "nasty-minded", but I'm convinced that Google is not playing fair game here...

zogoibi said:
Hi. Don't know if you read well my post.
I say: in Froyo, you can manage contacts in your SIM, though you don't have setting for "store messages in SIM" card. You have to do it one by one.
But in Gingerbread, you can't any longer use your SIM, either for storing contacts or messages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WTF!? i just upgraded my moms phone and accidentally uninstalled the PC suite back up program that had ll the programs cause the uninstall button is RIGHT next to the pc suite button. now your saying i can't use the sim contacts? i am stating for the record i can't get Froyo back.
EDIT: you can import sim contacts from the sim.

cdoublejj said:
EDIT: you can import sim contacts from the sim.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, and that's about what you can do with your SIM thanks to Google-the-Good-Guys. But think of this: in an ideal Android-Google world, a few months or couple years from now, nobody will have a single contact in their SIM because everyone had been using Android long enough; therefore, the "import for SIM" feature will be perfectly useless, and I can predict: it will be removed from future Android versions.

[Q] Various questions

Hello everyone, I'm new to XDA, and also new to Android, I've got my note since a few weeks.
I got some questions/problems, and I hope that we can solve them.
1. Skype
1a When video chatting over Skype, I only see myself just for a few seconds, and then the screen (Not the actual screen, but the small window that shows you) goes black. Is this normal? Or is there a way to fix this.
1b When video chatting with someone, the person can't hear me, is this normal(No the mic. isn't on mute) or do I need to use the/a headset. That would be weird since the phone has his own mic.
2. Wifi
When connected to a wireless network you can still see that the phone is scanning for wireless networks, I find that quite useless, since you're already connected to one. Is there a way to turn it off(the searching) I think that it might actually save some battery.
(What I'm talking about happens at: Settings > Wireless and Network > Wifi settings> In the "Wifi networks" bar it says scanning every second or so.
3. Poweramp(purchased)
3a I purchased a 32 GB SDHC card class 10 card from Samsung and I used it for some days, until I found out that we can also use a 64GB card, so I bought that one. But now the thing is that when I browse my music through Poweramp I still see the files that were on my 32GB card.(But of course they won't play.) When I create a playlist, these "Ghost" files are also included, and when a "ghost" file is about to play Poweramp gives me an error that the folder can't be found and then Poweramp stops playing.
3b Sometimes a song plays and suddenly Poweramp skips to another song without the previous song reaching it's end. This ALSO happens when the screen is OFF. Anyone else got this issue?
I got some other minor problems but I can live with those, so I won't mention them.
Thanks for the help.
Some additional info:
Rooted: Yes
Android version: 4.0.3
Kernel version: 3.0.15-N7000XXLPY-CL474507 [email protected] #3
Build number: IML74K.XXLPY
Edit 1:
4. Ringtones
Is there a way to get custom ringtones per contact without installing additional programs?
At the moment I got RingoLite, but sometimes it just resets the contacts ringtone to default.
I'd prefer to set custom ringtones without additional programs of course.
I did look on Google for an answer, but I only found a way to do it at older Android versions.
Contacts > select the specific contact, then options, but there is no such thing anymore. Unless I'm just blind...
Edit 2:
5. Customizing
Since yesterday I got ICS stock, I was able to get it with the help of Check Fus.
Now that I have ICS I decided to root my phone. I used this topic to root:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1647148
Now I want to do some more customizations, like change the battery indicator in the status bar. I found out that I can do that and many other thing with
UOT Kitchen. But I'm a bit stuck using UOT Kitchen. I have chosen all the mods at the Kitchen website, but at "File upload", I don't know what files I should upload, since it only says what files to upload when you have
Froyo/Gingerbread. So now that I have ICS will this even work? And if it does. What files do I have to upload?
The other question is: at some mods you have to choose screen size, which one do I have to choose for the Note?
At "File upload" (Kitchen website) I have chosen/left the "flashing folders for system files" on /system/framework and /system/app (For framework-res.apk and SystemUI.apk) are these paths still correct for ICS?
@ Status bar mod, what screen size do I have to choose and does the transparency work in ICS (Even though it says Gingerbread only) .
I guess that's for it now, I will edit if I forgot a question.

1. skype
it sounds like you have either limited bandwidth or struggling to maintain a connection... yes you should see your cam and yes folks should hear you without the use of headsets.
2. wifi
I am not sure how you are verifying your statement?. If you are looking at settings>wireless>wifi settings, the Note will obviously scan while it is on this page.. I suspect that it does not do so otherwise while a connection is active.
3. Poweramp.
I do not have poweramp, but you should be able to go into settings>applications>running services and clear the data/cache for poweramp.

just open your contact and theres an option to assign a ringtone

Rfresh the library in power amp.. This should solve the problem.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

Xalies said:
just open your contact and theres an option to assign a ringtone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhm I really don't see it.
When I select a contact, and I go to the options, I see: Edit, Delete, send name card edd to reject list, print name card.
I was able to fix the Ghost files issue in Poweramp by removing the sd card. And then deleting the Ghost files.
It surprised me that I never thought of that before.

contact>contact name>ringtone> select from default, ringtone or my files.
remember to hit thanks for post that help you out..
Dsteppa said:
Uhm I really don't see it.
When I select a contact, and I go to the options, I see: Edit, Delete, send name card edd to reject list, print name card.
I was able to fix the Ghost files issue in Poweramp by removing the sd card. And then deleting the Ghost files.
It surprised me that I never thought of that before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Mystic38 said:
contact>contact name>ringtone> select from default, ringtone or my files.
remember to hit thanks for post that help you out..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aaah now I see...
Now I know why I didn't saw it. The options only show up for some reason if the person also have Skype.
The contacts that I want to give another ringtone, don't have Skype, so those options don't show up.

Bump, added another question in the first post.

And bump once again

Optimus Black - One crappy mobile phone?

Hey All,
It is almost 10 months I am using this LG-P970 phone, but until now I've seen nothing but a headache, does anyone else agree?
My main problem (besides the bad performance) is the incident of losing my contacts.
It has happened to me 4 times until now under Froyo, Gingerbread and even Zeus 7 (the most recent incident 2 days ago).
Simply it happens when I open the contacts list, I see that all my contacts are erased in addition to the call log, and I am very aware it is not a matter of contacts display setting as some people might suggest.
The first time this happened to me my contacts were not even synced with Google because I didn't know the contact type should be "Google Contact" in order for it to be synced, and every time I want to create a new contact I have to change its contact type before saving it (I know how to convert existing contacts but please tell me if there is another method to automate the process for new contacts).
I don't know what you think of this phone, but I am pretty sure that my new mobile phone won't be related to the LG family.
Cheers all!

i've never experienced data loss with any of the ROMs

recl said:
i've never experienced data loss with any of the ROMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too...
Inviato dal mio LG-P970 con Zeus V6.39

All of the described below seems more than an user problem than your phone, btw, I never lose contacts or data

ErnuB said:
All of the described below seems more than an user problem than your phone, btw, I never lose contacts or data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You seem to have a good control of your P970, can you expert explain to us how data loss can be a user problem?

Well the best solution is to NOT sync your contacts with Google.
It can either delete new contacts when you restore, or it restores deleted contacts, personally it's crap lol.
Just save them all on your SIM!!! If ever you lose Sim contacts like that. then it's your SIM which is damaged.
I NEVER experienced such problem.
And just to say, Optimus Black is not a crappy phone at all! Mind the way you define it.... Not because you are having contacts problems that it's a crappy phone... It may be an app causing this problem, your SIM card which is damaged, or whatever else.

Yes it's a user problem, we don't know what are your settings after a full wipe and whatever you do wrong or what applications you install that wipes the contact list.
From the first android phone that i had years ago, g1, copied the sim numbers to phone and after adding the google account, google synced it automaticaly and saved all my contacts to google account.
Since then i've added/deleted several contacts, changed several phones (at least 10 with android), and every time i added in the google account to it the contacts where synced.
I think i flashed over 100 different roms, never bricked a phone, even though i used several methods to root and flash recovery, hardest method was on g1 and i think it was the most inteligent one, if any of you had one
Now i'm on zeus 7, so it must be your fault
Sent from my LG-P970 using Tapatalk 2

no need of google syncing or SIM backup.
contacts -> import/export ->export to sd card.
now u have a [email protected] card. just back it up on your computer or online storage and restore as many times u want. no tension.
in case of newer saves, just delete the old vcf and redo the process or just save normally. (the vcf's will be named progressively, 000,001,002...)
hope i helped.
regards,
achyut.

If your coming from somewhere else where you don't have contacts backuped on sd and only on sim.
Sent from my LG-P970 using Tapatalk 2

The contacts should be stored on your google acc.
Sent from my Phone with ultrasound

yaz87 said:
You seem to have a good control of your P970, can you expert explain to us how data loss can be a user problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need for sarcasm, I just don't find that annoying chosing google when creating a contact, a small fee for the great service i get in return

Thank you all for your participation .
Maybe "crappy" is not the right word to describe a P970 here as I have seen it has many fans (I did not mean to be offensive), and maybe you have a point if you never had any bad experiences with your devices, but what happened with me was annoying!
I would like to assume that I did something wrong with the phone the first three times I lost my contacts (it also happened when it was brand new - no flashes done or ROMs installed), but do you think the following is too wrong?
1. installed a clean Zeus 7 after multiple wipes/restore factory settings and cache wipes (using cwm in a patched V20B software version)
2. the ONLY apps that I installed were :whatsapp, viber, facebook, google translate, french language pack for the keyboard, and google maps
3. randomly I unlocked the phone once to see that my contacts were lost
As simple as that.

My OB sometimes clean my sms box... but i think it's related to OC and UV... when i set for example: [email protected] and [email protected], after some time my smss are gone, and it's almost as plain as the nose on your face (in my case).
I use titanium backup to save them and restore after loosing them, but after seting my cpu to stable config, sms are where they should be.

i've had a small problem with the p970 but that was a google problem.
i had my contacts stored on my google account, but wenever i made a new contact it wasn't stored in google.. so when i flashed a new rom the latest additions to my contacts were gone.
but as most of the people allready said, do not sync your contacts but export them to your sd card. works flawless..
but i never experienced the problems you have, performance is realy good with the great custom roms we have here at xda.
i have my p970 for 6 months or so and i'm very happy with it.

You need to sync your contacts to.
Not just save the on your phone.
Sent from my Phone with ultrasound

When we save a contact name with 2 mobile nos. (mobile contact and home contact).
When trying to save to SIM those contact.....saving is done only mobile contact.....the remaining is not saving...any solution..
I know about saving in vcf file...But I just want to know saving in SIM multiple nos with a single contact like vcf file..

sekhar13515 said:
When we save a contact name with 2 mobile nos. (mobile contact and home contact).
When trying to save to SIM those contact.....saving is done only mobile contact.....the remaining is not saving...any solution..
I know about saving in vcf file...But I just want to know saving in SIM multiple nos with a single contact like vcf file..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S
SIM cards have relatively limited storage capabilities. They can store a contact and a number in each memory slot (I don't know if there is another piece of information that can be stored) but definitely it can't store two numbers for the same contact name that's why you see "X (home)" and "X(mobile)" for example as two separate entities.

I have the same problems with op - it has erased my contacts randomly 3-4 times in my 16 months of using it. Unrooted - official roms (2.2 and 2.3, various firmwares).
And a couple times sd card was 'destroyed' - losing everything stored there. Of course after reformatting sd card was fine....
I understand it is not a common issue - else more noise would be made around this issue, but something must be wrong with some batches.
A real disappointiment this phone.

sekhar13515 said:
I know about saving in vcf file...But I just want to know saving in SIM multiple nos with a single contact like vcf file..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is simply not possible. The form of storing contacts data on SIM is rather ancient but it is industrial standard.

All I can say is the hardware is not at fault for the problems OP has listed in his post, it's a software thing.
Let's say it is possible to switch to a non-Google ROM. say Windows Phone 8 which doesn't sync with Google for its contact, the contacts will likely stay intact.
edit - Of course before anyone start jumping over Windows Phone 8 on our phones, no it's not happening and I'm using an easier example of switching OS to demonstrate that the hardware has nothing to do with software issues.

Painfully slow for a while... problem or time to upgrade?

Hi,
I did check other threads but I couldn't find anything directly related to this. I run my Galaxy S on an official firmware and don't have any mod installed. Well, aside from having it rooted.Firmware version is 2.3.6 xxjw4.
For a few months now, I feel the phone is getting slower and slower but now is becoming ridiculous. I mean, too many times it might take up to 5 seconds just to unlock the screen or get into the contact list. I have very few apps installed and I think I make a light use of it... basically, I use it as a phone, I use the calendar for appointments and I browse the internet. That's pretty much it. I use the full Opera browser though, and that's a heavy one. I also know about the need to sometimes unmount the SD card.
So anyway, my question is this... might it be the case that this phone is getting old and its hardware can't cope like it used to with its software? Or could it be some other problem that I don't even know how to ask about or check?
Cheers!

Maybe its time for you to flash a custom ics/jb rom? For ics , i recommend SlimIcs: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1488096

Mongopusher42 said:
Maybe its time for you to flash a custom ics/jb rom? For ics , i recommend SlimIcs: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1488096
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the beginning when I started to have this phone, I was using stock rom, I could not cope either with the tendency of this phone to micro-freeze and developpers brought a tweak called "lagfix" it saved the world for this phone... no more freeze due to non efficient memory management.
Now it's standard on any custom rom, so yes... go for a custom rom.

Badzoo said:
At the beginning when I started to have this phone, I was using stock rom, I could not cope either with the tendency of this phone to micro-freeze and developpers brought a tweak called "lagfix" it saved the world for this phone... no more freeze due to non efficient memory management.
Now it's standard on any custom rom, so yes... go for a custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thas wassup

Thanks guys and I'm sorry to acknowledged your answers so late... I thought I had set it to instant notification but I apparently didn't!
Yes, I remember the lag-fix thing, it did wonders for this phone.
I'll try the custom rom because this is just getting insane... just today it took me a good full minute to go from checking emails to get out of there to get into my contact list and return a missing call. I would go with a Galaxy III but the thing is a bit huge and second it's still at a novelty price. I'm sure I can get one much cheaper in a couple of months.
Well, thanks so much once more and I'll let you know how it goes! :good:

Done, much, much faster!! But the interface looks ... Nothing is familiar anymore, have to go through it all over again :laugh:

Kutusov said:
Done, much, much faster!! But the interface looks ... Nothing is familiar anymore, have to go through it all over again :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try this MIUI v4 the interface is much easy.

Samtan4326 said:
try this MIUI v4 the interface is much easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, currently I had to revert to a xxjw4 as somehow all my contacts wouldn't be backed up. Strange thing really as it started by showing up the right names on my contact log but they would be replaced by just the numbers. I made several attempts to restore those via Titanium Backup Pro but they wouldn't stick. Couldn't find any reference to this anywhere except a single post on a forum by someone complaining about the same problem and the answer was that those with be retrieved by Google sync. Not in my case...
I haven't given up yet but for now I do need those for work so I had to go back. Funny thing is that it's no longer lagging as it was, maybe because of all the wiping data and system and cache I had to go through.

Kutusov said:
Well, currently I had to revert to a xxjw4 as somehow all my contacts wouldn't be backed up. Strange thing really as it started by showing up the right names on my contact log but they would be replaced by just the numbers. I made several attempts to restore those via Titanium Backup Pro but they wouldn't stick. Couldn't find any reference to this anywhere except a single post on a forum by someone complaining about the same problem and the answer was that those with be retrieved by Google sync. Not in my case...
I haven't given up yet but for now I do need those for work so I had to go back. Funny thing is that it's no longer lagging as it was, maybe because of all the wiping data and system and cache I had to go through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you backup your contacts try using file explorer to restore back by click on the xxx.vcf file, the contacts will restore back after you select the vcf file , good luck.

Samtan4326 said:
if you backup your contacts try using file explorer to restore back by click on the xxx.vcf file, the contacts will restore back after you select the vcf file , good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, so that's the file, thanks!! It kept asking me for a vcard on the SD card which didn't made much sense I'll have to try it during the weekend, even after rolling back I've spent the day with all those little problems you forget about fixing, like trying to take calls while driving and the phone not recognizing the bluetooth earpiece...

Moving to custom rom
I too had 2.3.6 xxjw4 on my SGS GT-I9000. Changing to a custom rom has given my phone a new lease of life! I moved to RemICS-UX, which is an ICS rom (perhaps not suitable for yourself as bluetooth not functional and development has moved on to Remics-JB, a jelly bean rom).
Beware of moving directly from stock to jelly bean custom rom. Many have run into trouble doing this. The wisdom from above is to move from stock to ICS before moving to a JB rom.
As for contacts, I previously set my phone to back up and sync my contacts to my Google account (Setting->Accounts & sync). Then, when the phone reboots after rom installation, Google syncs all my contacts back to my phone. Of course, I do nandroid, Titanium, and MyBackup backups - belt and braces!
Also don't forget to back up your efs folder with its imei details in it. Some people have lost their imei details when flashing, and this may save you the trouble of reflashing xxjw4 to recover it.

My phone is supposed to synch with my Google account and does it more often than I would wish! I feel it noticeably slows everything down when it's synhcing away. Even so, it was unable to get my contacts back. I'm really not sure what happened because when it booted up after recovery, I did had most of the right names on my contact log but a then they were replaced by the numbers only. Contact folder was always empty too...
BTW, where is the xxx.vcf located? Can't find it anywhere....

vcf backup
Kutusov said:
...snip...
BTW, where is the xxx.vcf located? Can't find it anywhere....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You create the vcf file prior to flashing. Go to Contacts->touch menu button->choose 'import/export'->choose 'export to storage'. You will be told the name of the vcf file and its location (in my own case 'mnt/sdcard/00001.vcf'. You can open the vcf file with a text editor and even make a backup on external card. To restore after flashing, go to Contacts->import/export->import from storage.

Oct-Al said:
You create the vcf file prior to flashing. Go to Contacts->touch menu button->choose 'import/export'->choose 'export to storage'. You will be told the name of the vcf file and its location (in my own case 'mnt/sdcard/00001.vcf'. You can open the vcf file with a text editor and even make a backup on external card. To restore after flashing, go to Contacts->import/export->import from storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right! :good: Just shows how much I know about this stuff
Quick update... re-read everything that was posted here and few other guides and tried to upgrade the ROM all over again during the weekend. I paid special attention to what you (Oct-Al) said about upgrading first to ICS from stock. I don't know the name of ROM but I've used the one that has a ICS333-2.0.1 and a gapps file. All went smoothly but, again, no contacts. The synch thing with Google doesn't work for me also. Synched everything to my account but nothing stays there. I probably have a lot of settings turned off as I tend to opt for maximum privacy and I even disabled that chat thing on my gmail acc.
But now that I know how to create the Vcard I'll give it another try. If all fails I guess I'll just have to fork up some money and get me the SIII although I think that phone is too big. Handled one the other day and it's great with youtube, browsing the internet, etc but carting that thing all day on your trousers' pocket shouldn't be all that nice...

Backup contacts database
Kutusov said:
Right! :good: Just shows how much I know about this stuff
Quick update... re-read everything that was posted here and few other guides and tried to upgrade the ROM all over again during the weekend. I paid special attention to what you (Oct-Al) said about upgrading first to ICS from stock. I don't know the name of ROM but I've used the one that has a ICS333-2.0.1 and a gapps file. All went smoothly but, again, no contacts. The synch thing with Google doesn't work for me also. Synched everything to my account but nothing stays there. I probably have a lot of settings turned off as I tend to opt for maximum privacy and I even disabled that chat thing on my gmail acc.
But now that I know how to create the Vcard I'll give it another try. If all fails I guess I'll just have to fork up some money and get me the SIII although I think that phone is too big. Handled one the other day and it's great with youtube, browsing the internet, etc but carting that thing all day on your trousers' pocket shouldn't be all that nice...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is another option! How confident are you with SQLite databases?
If you look in data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases you will find a database called 'contacts2.db' together with some other stuff. If you use Root Explorer (available from Play store - but not free) you can inspect the database with the internal SQLite viewer and confirm this is the database you want. Back up the folder and its contents before flashing.

Oct-Al said:
There is another option! How confident are you with SQLite databases?
If you look in data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases you will find a database called 'contacts2.db' together with some other stuff. If you use Root Explorer (available from Play store - but not free) you can inspect the database with the internal SQLite viewer and confirm this is the database you want. Back up the folder and its contents before flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny that posted this just now I was loggin in to give an update. :laugh:
So I've tried a couple more times and ended up with some problem with the external SD card that wouldn't mount and, stupid me, that's where I had the Vcard file.
Anyway, as I have all the files downloaded I'm pretty fast as trying different things now and I've just realized that all hell brakes lose AFTER I try to recover apps + data with Titanium Backup. Flashed CM9 as a pre-requisite to Slim Bean and everything was fine. I could even retrieve my contacts. But after running TB and rebooting I end up with a never ending sequence of failing processes like gmail, media, android something (they are so many and they pop up so fast I can't even read some of them).
So I'm now fairly confident I can do the upgrade but I'll have to do it in the old fashion (to me) way. I'll have to flash the ROM and then download apps by hand, one at a time.
I'm liking so much the looks and ways of Android 4.xx that there is no way I'm going to give up now :silly:

Well, all done now!!! Running Slim Bean 2.3.0 perfectly, with all the contacts. Everything seems fine, except for my calendar that I can't retrieve (there's always something). Not a big deal aside from the birthdays...
So thanks a lot to you all!! :good:

...well, final update...
I started to have a lot of stuff force closing after restoring a back-up from Titanium Backup. Stock Rom settings and data aparently don't go well with the custom Rom.
Anyway, now sorted... ordered myself an HTC One X :victory:

Info from sdcard to Nexus 6

So during the long eons between ordering my 64gb Midnight blue Nexus 6 and its actual delivery I am in pondering mode:
Best way to transfer the info & files from my GS4 sdcard to Nexus 6?
1. Connect GS4 to PC, drag 'n drop to pc file. Connect Nexus 6 to PC & reverse d&d?
2. Remove sdcard from GS4 & put into card reader connected to PC & do the d&d thing.
3. Card Reader for micro usb plugged into Nexus 6 & move the files into internal memory.
4. Is there a direct phone to phone method that won't take forever? If so, what?

wtherrell said:
So during the long eons between ordering my 64gb Midnight blue Nexus 6 and its actual delivery I am in pondering mode:
Best way to transfer the info & files from my GS4 sdcard to Nexus 6?
1. Connect GS4 to PC, drag 'n drop to pc file. Connect Nexus 6 to PC & reverse d&d?
2. Remove sdcard from GS4 & put into card reader connected to PC & do the d&d thing.
3. Card Reader for micro usb plugged into Nexus 6 & move the files into internal memory.
4. Is there a direct phone to phone method that won't take forever? If so, what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lolipop apparently has a new system to move content from your old phone to your new one via tapping them together (NFC). Not sure how it actually works, though - probably sets up a P2P share via WiFi and moves things that way.
In my opinion, the best way is the simplest: tether old phone to a PC then back up, tether new phone to PC and restore. You will not be able to get everything that way (texts, for example, aren't easy to move unless you are using something like Hangouts as your SMS app), but it will work for most things. And, of course, keeping as much stuff on the cloud to begin with is a good way to start; photos/music/docs, etc can just be pulled down from GDrive/OneDrive/DropBox/etc as needed.

I plan on using my < $1 OTG cable and an SD card reader.

Illrigger said:
Lolipop apparently has a new system to move content from your old phone to your new one via tapping them together (NFC). Not sure how it actually works, though - probably sets up a P2P share via WiFi and moves things that way.
In my opinion, the best way is the simplest: tether old phone to a PC then back up, tether new phone to PC and restore. You will not be able to get everything that way (texts, for example, aren't easy to move unless you are using something like Hangouts as your SMS app), but it will work for most things. And, of course, keeping as much stuff on the cloud to begin with is a good way to start; photos/music/docs, etc can just be pulled down from GDrive/OneDrive/DropBox/etc as needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure the new transfer thing is lollipop to lollipop only.

Thanks for the info, guys.
Wifi direct and NFC are in kit kat, pretty sure. Someone mentioned an app called Super beam that is supposed to organize & facilitate the process.
In my experience wired communication has been faster than a wireless one. But the PC method takes two transfers. ...to pc & then back to the other phone. So the wifi direct method could be just as fast.
The otg cable & card reader sounds as if it might be the fastest since only a single, wired transfer is involved.
That said, I guess priority should be given to ease of use. Preserving the file / folder structure and being able to set up the whole thing as a batch operation would be paramount.

joshua.justice said:
Pretty sure the new transfer thing is lollipop to lollipop only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope ... It utilizes your google account to go and grab apps and setup from previous devices, plus if you use NFC it will use that to read the other phone. There have been several reviews and videos on it already.

ES File Explorer let's you transfer files phone to phone via WiFi. I'd imagine that putting it in a micro USB reader like the meenova would be faster though.

I backup all my stuff on OneDrive and Google Drive. All the app will be download when I activate the phone so no need to worry on that.

polke45 said:
I backup all my stuff on OneDrive and Google Drive. All the app will be download when I activate the phone so no need to worry on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hadn't really thought about these.
_MetalHead_ said:
ES File Explorer let's you transfer files phone to phone via WiFi. I'd imagine that putting it in a micro USB reader like the meenova would be faster though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

polke45 said:
I backup all my stuff on OneDrive and Google Drive. All the app will be download when I activate the phone so no need to worry on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what backup app do you use for this.
I know that Titanium doesn't back up personal data like pictures, music, documents etc

wtherrell said:
So what backup app do you use for this.
I know that Titanium doesn't back up personal data like pictures, music, documents etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For personal data, I backup my photo on the cloud drive same with document. I usually load my music from my computer using iSyncr so no need to worry about personal data
I rarely put any important stuff on my phone only because I'm screw if i lost my phone
One way i get my stuff backup is set the directory on the cloud drive to backup. Not sure if Google Drive does it but I'm using OneDrive to backup all my photo directory
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Free mobile app

I backup texts using SMS Backup & Restore.

If you want to keep using the card as well, you can always do something like this.
https://shopmeenova.appspot.com/st/order.html

rkennison said:
If you want to keep using the card as well, you can always do something like this.
https://shopmeenova.appspot.com/st/order.html
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Click to collapse
Ah, yes. For every thing else there's Meenova. Thanks. I have one on order.