Android (Samsung Galaxy range) - backups

JustAnotherSaver

I'm thinking maybe for the next phone, which will be whenever my iPhone 6S dies so hopefully not for a good while yet, i may move to android. I say Samsung Galaxy in the title but it may be another type of android who knows but let's roll with the Galaxy range for now.

One of the reasons is iTunes. It's so bloody fiddly, or at least i find it to be that way. One thing i do like about it though is the backup is pretty much an image of your phone. I've backed up my iPhone 4S before & then when i bought my 6S i simply restored & it was pretty much just like my phone with only minor things left to set up. Images still there, texts still there, apps still there all automatically.

I've also had the negative side of an iTunes restore where i've had to try 101 times to restore before the restore will finally go through (& i'm talking about a NON-jailbroken phone, one that has never been jailbroken ever). This is why i often make a couple of backups when i do backup in case one of them really does go corrupt & it's not just a false error message saying corrupt.

Anyway enough waffling ...

How detailed is the Samsung/Android backup?

If i'm ever in a position where i need to erase the phone for example, can i restore from a backup and it will restore it exactly as it was - all apps, all images, all texts, all everything put back on, or is it not so detailed?

I remember when my wife had a Galaxy S3 & we tried backing it up & if memory serves it wasn't really that detailed. That was obviously a while ago so hopefully either my memory doesn't serve or things have come a long way since then.

Browntoa

you can do everything apart from text messages from android but there are apps that will carry out the function


if you swap android phones it automatically downloads everything you had on the old android phone , your contacts are saved online and you can set auto backup for everything else


use your google (android) account to back up , not the phone manufacturers


as a plus , in emergency you can access your phone book via a PC or another phone and access your phone numbers (lost phone for example) and you can lock or erase your phone remotely if its stolen

System

Browntoa wrote: »

you can do everything apart from text messages from android but there are apps that will carry out the function


if you swap android phones it automatically downloads everything you had on the old android phone , your contacts are saved online and you can set auto backup for everything else


use your google (android) account to back up , not the phone manufacturers


as a plus , in emergency you can access your phone book via a PC or another phone and access your phone numbers (lost phone for example) and you can lock or erase your phone remotely if its stolen

Just curious can you back up your android phone to a computer easily?

Reading the OP post they seem to be not using icloud backup which to be honest is a great way to back up your phone. I have used it since 2012 and never had a problem.

Browntoa

android uses google drive/photos etc to do the back up from the phone direct (can be set to do it on wifi only) continuously


I've never considered backing it up to a PC as don't consider it a necessity


I can access all my documents and photos easily on any device . I have backed up all my old photos from my PC to my google account for safekeeping and as a bonus can access them from both my Moto G and my Ipad

System

Browntoa wrote: »

android uses google drive/photos etc to do the back up from the phone direct (can be set to do it on wifi only) continuously


I've never considered backing it up to a PC as don't consider it a necessity


I can access all my documents and photos easily on any device . I have backed up all my old photos from my PC to my google account for safekeeping and as a bonus can access them from both my Moto G and my Ipad

Thanks!

Totally agree its very much the old way of doing things. The first time I seen the benefit of cloud back up was when my partner at the time drop her iPhone in the toilet :rotfl: when she got her replacement phone and set up phone from a icloud backup her pure delight of having all her stuff just appear on her phone was great to see.

System

It may be the old way of doing things but it is still the most reliable and fastest.

JustAnotherSaver

john22 wrote: »

Reading the OP post they seem to be not using icloud backup

This is correct. I back up to my PC not to any clouds.

Don't Apple give you some measly capacity that you may just about be able to back up 1 video or something? I've been getting constant messages saying about i haven't backed up my phone in i think we're at 48 weeks now.

Well i'm not paying to back my phone up when i can back it up to my PC for free.


Drifting a bit off topic, i also don't update my apps OTA (over-the-air) because i did that once and regretted it when the update was terrible and i had no way back. So now i update via iTunes, pull the old apps out of the Recycle Bin and if i don't like the update i can put the old file back on there no problem.


So can you back up the Android to the PC and also do something similar like i do with the app updates?

Johnmcl7

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

How detailed is the Samsung/Android backup?

If i'm ever in a position where i need to erase the phone for example, can i restore from a backup and it will restore it exactly as it was - all apps, all images, all texts, all everything put back on, or is it not so detailed?

The Samsung backup software will back up images, videos, texts and other files stored on the phone and it will backup what applications you have installed. On a restore, it will only reinstall the applications from scratch and not their configuration so they'll need set up again as well as setting other options like configuring BT pairing again. Wifi settings and contacts can be automatically saved through Google.

The layout of the main screens is not saved either although if you're using a custom launcher, they may offer that option.

DoaM

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

So can you back up the Android to the PC and also do something similar like i do with the app updates?

There are (PC-based) applications that will let you make full Android backups. Here's a few guides:

Digital Trends
Computer World
Techni Pages

JustAnotherSaver

Good good. That's positive then, thanks.

I did try an android a while ago. I forget what it was, it was a Samsung something but it was more a 'budget' phone.

We didn't get along and within the week it was returned. I found the keyboard while texting to be incredibly laggy.

I am hoping that it was because it was on the budget side of things. I use the term budget fairly loosely as it was still close to £200 IIRC but comparing it to an iPhone is maybe a bit unfair. I hope the responsiveness of a Galaxy S# as far as texting/typing goes would be much better. I'm quite a quick texter although i'm not lightning fast like some of these kids. The iPhone can keep up with me no bother but the android i bought just couldn't at all.

Browntoa

Look for 2-3 GB ram on the phone plus at least 32GB storage , more Ram = less lag