How to Transfer Your Contacts list on Smartphones ...

Transfer Your Contacts on Smartphones

The GigaOM website estimates that people with cell-service contracts replace their phones every 18 to 24 months, but manually entering your contacts with each upgrade is both tedious and time-consuming. If you've synchronized your smartphone and other devices to an account such as Microsoft Exchange Server, you can relax:

Your contacts will migrate to your new phone when you connect. Another option, if both phones have the right hardware, is to use the SIM card holding your old phone's data to transfer your contacts. Some phone vendors also offer transfer software, such as Verizon's Backup Assistant app, but even if none of these methods applies to your situation, you still have alternatives to typing in every single name and number.

Instructions

1.   iOS

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Download iTunes if you don't already have it on your computer. Click to open the program.

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Connect your old iPhone to its USB cable, then plug in the cable to your computer. After iTunes recognizes the phone's presence, you'll see a "Devices" tab on the left side of the iTunes window, with your phone acknowledged underneath it.

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Click on your phone's symbol, and then click on the "Info" tab that comes up at the top of the window. For Windows, click on "Sync Contacts with"; on a Mac, click on "Sync Address Book Contacts." This will transfer your contacts into the computer's address book.

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Detach your old phone from your computer, and plug in your new iPhone to the USB cable. Click on your phone's symbol in iTunes, then click "Apply" in the bottom right corner to sync the contacts you just transferred to your computer with your new iPhone.

Android

• 5

Create a Gmail account, if you don't have one. Android phones usually have a Gmail app already installed, so there's no setup required. If your smartphone doesn't have that option, use its browser create an account at Gmail.com.

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Click on your app icon to open Gmail, then sign in. Gmail automatically imports all the information from your phone's contact list.

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Activate your new Android phone and log into Gmail, which automatically syncs your email account's Contacts list with your new smartphone. It will continue to sync to update any changes made to your list of contacts at a later date.

BlackBerry

• 8

Download and install the free BlackBerry Desktop Software on your computer. Connect your BlackBerry to the computer via a USB cable.

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Open the BlackBerry Desktop Software and double-click on "Backup and Restore." The software will back up the contacts on your smartphone to your computer. BlackBerry provides both Windows and Mac versions of its software.

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Disconnect your old phone and connect your new BlackBerry. Use "Backup and Restore" to transfer your contact data from your computer to your new phone.

WebOS

• 11

Open your phone's Virtual Business Card app. Tap the green "CelleBrite Export" button and follow the instructions for exporting files.

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Connect your smartphone to your computer with a USB cable. Tap on "USB Drive Notification" on the phone to access the drive.

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Set your computer's File Manager to show hidden files and folders. Open your phone's ".Temp" folder, look for a file called "PmMigration.vcf" and copy the file to your computer.

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Create a Yahoo account if you don't already have one. Use Yahoo's Contact Import tool to transfer the VCF contacts file to Yahoo, following the website's instructions.

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Open "Accounts" on your new phone's "HP Synergy" app. Tap "Add Accounts" and tell it to add your Yahoo account. HP Synergy will then add the contacts data to your smartphone.

Windows Phone OS7

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Remove the battery cover from the back of your old phone and look for a SIM card. If you're not sure what it looks like, Microsoft has an image of the card online (see "Microsoft: Import Contacts From My Old Phone" in Resources). If your old phone has a card, swap it out with the SIM card in your new smartphone.

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Tap "Start" on your phone, then tap "People." In order, tap "More," "Settings" and "Import SIM contacts." Follow the instructions for transferring your contacts.

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Remove the old SIM card after you've transferred the data to your new phone, and replace it with the new SIM card.

Tips & Warnings

• The location of the SIM card and the exact command sequence varies depending on the phones. Some devices, such as iPhones and Motorola Droids, don't save data to SIM cards, though an iPhone accepts contacts from other phones' cards. Even if you didn't buy your smartphone from a brick-and-mortar store, the staff will know if SIM transfer is an option.
  
  
• If you set up a Google or Yahoo email account and import your contacts, your new smartphone can synchronize data with the account, even if the two phones are different brands. Syncing has added advantages, PCWorld says: By syncing all your devices to the same online account, your calendar, contacts and other information will stay consistent between your smartphone, laptop and any other computing platforms you use.
  
  
• Some phones require special procedures. For example, with Motorola's Droid smartphones, you must save your contact list as a Comma Separated Values file -- CSV -- before using Gmail or Verizon's Backup Assistant to transfer contacts that aren't already synced to Gmail.
  
  
• Microsoft states that if your old phone doesn't have a SIM card, you have to talk to your cellular provider about methods for transferring contacts.
  
  
• Once you've imported your contacts, confirm that all of them actually transferred over before you dispose of your old phone or erase any data.
  
  
• Ask your smartphone retailer to identify any specific problems that would disrupt a transfer, such as sending files in a format or using a method your new phone won't accept. For example, if you break down your contacts into subgroups -- "Customers," "Friends" and "Family" for instance -- iTunes won't sync them properly with your new smartphone because it only transfers names in "My Contacts."

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