samsung Galaxy S3 Mini - help with syncing contacts and calendar

Citygirl1

Hi, I have just upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini, I do love this phone and am getting on with it. However, I have found out that if you save your contacts to your sim only you can only enter one telephone number per contact so I have had to save my contacts to the actual phone to be able to input a few entries within one contact. I feel this is going to pose problems when I eventually change my phone again, the contacts won't be on the sim card and they will be lost. How can I back them up?

Also I have just input all birthdays into the calendar to be repeated every year but what about when I change the phone, does this mean I have to input them all again into a new phone, is there any way of backing up the calendar details so they can just be transferred to another phone.

I generally feel that using the phone calendar is less time consuming than a paper one but will this be so if I have to renter everything whenever I upgrade my phone.

Guys_Dad

It's an Android and works best with a Gmail account where you store your contacts and calendar. So when you change handsets, they are still held on your Gmail account.

Sim contacts are always 1 number only.

DUTR

As per post #2
I have just purchased a new handset, didn't have to do anything about the contacts, the 200 contacts and email address's etc were all on the new phone as if like magic.

Citygirl1

Thanks for your replies. I do have a Google account but can't seem to sync anything. Also, my main email account is with Yahoo so I have my email addresses there, I don't really want to change my main email account. If you use the Google calendar and contacts, how does this work when you use another email address, ie do you have contacts all over the place? I am usually OK with working out technology but I have tried syncing my calendar and nothing is happening.

DUTR

Citygirl1 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. I do have a Google account but can't seem to sync anything. Also, my main email account is with Yahoo so I have my email addresses there, I don't really want to change my main email account. If you use the Google calendar and contacts, how does this work when you use another email address, ie do you have contacts all over the place? I am usually OK with working out technology but I have tried syncing my calendar and nothing is happening.

What phone did you have before?
My main use android was after having a Satio, the PC companion suite made it easy to transfer the contacts from the Satio (symbian) to the android, perhaps KIES will do similar?
I'm not sure about the yahoo calendar and android, I know I have sync the yahoo calendar with my ipod touch, but I don't really sue that calendar .

Citygirl1

I had a Blackberry phone before. Is Kies a system that manages contacts for Androids?

DUTR

Citygirl1 wrote: »

I had a Blackberry phone before. Is Kies a system that manages contacts for Androids?

KIES is the Samsung PC suite software sort of like itunes for samsung phones.

Guys_Dad

See http://email.about.com/od/gmailtips/qt/Import_Your_Yahoo_Mail_Messages_and_Contacts_Into_Gmail.htm
That tells you how to import contacts from Yahoo.

You don't need to use gmail for anything other than saving contacts. But you have been saving your contacts on your phone and also Yahoo.. Not used Yahoo mail but seen it and prefer gmail.

The point is that if you use android handset and possibly a tablet latest, then life is easier if you embrace the whole Google world. Gradually switch to Gmail as your main email but keep YAHOO alive in the meantime.

boundy

Did you create a Google accout when you first turned on the phone?

If you did go to - contacts>menu>import/export>import from sim card.
This will save any sim contacts on the phone.

Then goto - contacts>menu>merge with google.
This will copy all of you contact to you google account.

You may now find you have 3 of every contact in your address book, so you can either delete the dublicates or hide them. To hise them goto - contacts>menu>contacts to display>YourGmail account from the list.

All your contacts are now synced with your google account and will be in the cloud, so if you ever need to change phones, just sign in with your account and all of your contacts will come with you.


When you save a new contact it will give you the choice of where to save it, just select your google account every time.

You will now be able to log on to google.com, click gmail, sign in and edited all your contacts on the PC, they will auto sync by default unless you turned syncing off.

If you dont have a google account just create one and follow the steps above. It will give you a Gmail email address but you don't have to use it.

I also you Yahoo on my phone with the app for email and if you add email address for your contacts you can have yahoo as your default email client. when you click the email address it will pop up asking you how you would like to complete, if you highlight Always and then select Yahoo the phone will launch yahoo straight from the address book. You do need the yahoo app insalled from the Play Store.

I have recently set up a few phones for my family, so if you need any more advice just post in this thread

Citygirl1

Hi thanks for this, my phone seems to have got two different calendars now, a Yahoo one and a Facebook one. How do you know which ones to synch?

Also with Google docs, can you synch notes there, like I have a password keeper app and a notes app with information in it, could I save these to Google docs so as they will go onto any other phone I have in the future.

Pigster104

I had trouble transferring my calendar.
Eventually sorted it thus:
1. Back up your old phone using Kies (mine was a Galaxy Ace)
2. Back up your new phone.
3. With the new phone connected, restore - you will get the option to restore from either - pick the old one's calendar.
Your calendar entries will now have gone across