[shabbs]

Listen up folks, we are not all geeks. Some of us don't even know what The Cloud is.

And some of us don't want all that info in The Cloud... like me.

[Blades1002]

Use bluetooth to bluetooth from one phone to the next for transferring contacts. Works like a charm over 2000 contacts in one quick transfer from 9900 to z10. Still working on password keeper and calendar sync issue. Love the phone!

[mcmolineux]

Is this CompanionLink trustworthy? If I wanted to use a 3rd party solution, I would just use Google Sync.

[jonty12]

Use bluetooth to bluetooth from one phone to the next for transferring contacts. Works like a charm over 2000 contacts in one quick transfer from 9900 to z10. Still working on password keeper and calendar sync issue. Love the phone!

How does one do that? Looking at my contacts in my 9810 I only have the option to send one at a time over bluetooth. How do you send the entire list in one transfer?

[shabbs]

How does one do that? Looking at my contacts in my 9810 I only have the option to send one at a time over bluetooth. How do you send the entire list in one transfer?

You need to do it form the bluetooth menu on your BB. You should have an option to xfer contacts to the Z10. I had to do this as well.

[kyleheney]

Is this CompanionLink trustworthy? If I wanted to use a 3rd party solution, I would just use Google Sync.

They claim to be a secure method and just says it works similarly to how BB Desktop Manager worked. The difference between using Google Sync is that it gets linked to a gmail address. CompanionLink doesn't require you to create a new email address or anything like that. It's just a syncing tool.

[djrupey]

Regarding my earlier post, I have tried all the methods suggested by helpful Crackberries -Bluetooth from phone to phone, copying contacts from SIM card to device memory, etc. Nothing works. I thought maybe it was just me, or my ancient Storm phone until I read that many others were having the same sort of problem. Fortunately I do use Outlook to sync all my contacts, calendar etc, and thought OK, if Link doesn't work, if Bluetooth doesn't work, all I have to do is sync to Outlook.

Except that I can't.

Like I said, I don't care what the technical issues are, or what the latest gee-whiz solution is, I am just an avergage consumner who uses a PC, a mobile phone, and who was forced to start looking for solutions to Storm problems by going online. Most people, eg my sister, haven't the nous to do even that. So she won't be buying a Z10, you can be sure of that. She will buy an iPhone, because she has heard from all her friends that iPhones "just work", or maybe a Samsung Galaxy, because if her friends haven't got an iPhone, there's a high probability that they have a Galaxy. The minute she picks up on the grapevine that there's a problem with transferring addresses and phone numbers on the new BlackBerry, any interest she might have had will evaporate. My brother is even less tech savvy than me, but he runs an engineering company, a Torch and a PlayBook. I try to keep him up to speed but even he hasn't started syncing his phone with Outlook, never mind the Cloud. I've been telling him he will want a Z10, but I know that the minute I tell him there might be a problem with transferring his Contacts, his interest will evaporate too.
Life is too short to spend ages looking for workarounds. He and millions like him just want things to be dead simple and just work.

Like I said, this is a marketing issue. I am sure the boffins at BB can figure out a solution, but they'd better do it quick before the word gets around.

[KodyShadow]

I agree 100% with djrupey. I love BB and was so excited to get the new Z10, but all the problems I have had are really discouraging. I am not a techie and I can't figure out all these "workarounds" either, I just want the thing to work. I am returning my z10 to Bell today, and I will watch the forums over the coming months to see if these issues get resolved, before perhaps trying again. Otherwise, my trusty 9900 on os7 is still efficient and effective, and pulling my battery every 10 days is far less hassle than all this messing around with the z10.

[shabbs]

I agree 100% with djrupey. I love BB and was so excited to get the new Z10, but all the problems I have had are really discouraging. I am not a techie and I can't figure out all these "workarounds" either, I just want the thing to work. I am returning my z10 to Bell today, and I will watch the forums over the coming months to see if these issues get resolved, before perhaps trying again. Otherwise, my trusty 9900 on os7 is still efficient and effective, and pulling my battery every 10 days is far less hassle than all this messing around with the z10.

This is a massive change for BlackBerry and early adoption will have it's painful points for sure. Lack of apps and support for how things were done on OS7 is gonna be an issue for some. It will come, I have no doubt about it.

[primusd]

If that's the case then BlackBerry should offer a cloud solution of their own to do this. Why would they drive us to use services from competitors like Google and Microsoft?

What I don't understand is that BB did have this... it was called BB Protect and was intended as a backup and also a way to switch devices. I cannot understand why they wouldn't keep this functional and indeed promote is as the primary way to switch people onto z10?? Bad call I'm afraid.

[shabbs]

What I don't understand is that BB did have this... it was called BB Protect and was intended as a backup and also a way to switch devices. I cannot understand why they wouldn't keep this functional and indeed promote is as the primary way to switch people onto z10?? Bad call I'm afraid.

Because of the move away from BIS, BB Protect could not be used to do this for a migration to BB10. We're limited to using the BB Link software to do a device switch, which has it's limitations on what can be moved across depending on your config. Or using the Device Switch via SD card method for OS7 devices. A major architectural change will unfortunately introduce these limitations.

[kyleheney]

You have to remember that BB10 is completely different from previous BBOS. Not a single line of code was copied over. Even though a feature used to exist on BB's, it doesn't mean that it's a simple copy and paste over to BB10 for BB developers. It involves creating a new process using new software. This is starting to remind me of the first few months of PlayBook's existence.

[m1a1mg]

Is this CompanionLink trustworthy? If I wanted to use a 3rd party solution, I would just use Google Sync.

Google Sync is going away for many platforms.

[CanuckBB]

When developing software, a company has to decide where to allocate resources. Since the majority of customers are using either work email or one of the large free email providers, that's where the development $$$ goes. Even the larger ISPs are using third party email providers. i.e.Rogers, in Canada, was using Yahoo!. BB may not have felt that the ROI to write sofware to sync to a PST was there. Especially since MS has a tendency to change the PST structure with very version.

[primusd]

Because of the move away from BIS, BB Protect could not be used to do this for a migration to BB10. We're limited to using the BB Link software to do a device switch, which has it's limitations on what can be moved across depending on your config. Or using the Device Switch via SD card method for OS7 devices. A major architectural change will unfortunately introduce these limitations.

I do totally get that bb10 is completely new... no shared code, totally different backend, etc. But it does seem to me that, at least when it comes to the device migration, BB had some tools at its disposal to make this all easier. I don't know the technical side... but even without BIS, couldn't for example they have advised everyone with older BBOS to run a final backup over Protect and then, using your BBID (with the Protect sync) and Link, used that for the migration? Hardwiring that to make sure it worked could have saved lots of headache (and the eventual bad PR they bring).

[shabbs]

I do totally get that bb10 is completely new... no shared code, totally different backend, etc. But it does seem to me that, at least when it comes to the device migration, BB had some tools at its disposal to make this all easier. I don't know the technical side... but even without BIS, couldn't for example they have advised everyone with older BBOS to run a final backup over Protect and then, using your BBID (with the Protect sync) and Link, used that for the migration? Hardwiring that to make sure it worked could have saved lots of headache (and the eventual bad PR they bring).

The issue is that BB Protect on BB10 is not compatible with BB Protect on previous OS's. It's almost like there's an impenetrable wall between the "BIS world" and the "BB10 world" with regards to stuff that lived in the BIS. I have no doubt if it could have been done, they would have done it.

[ppeters914]

I'm another one who uses Outlook for my personal email and don't use cloud services. BlackBerry Destop Manager, including the latest update, has its own issues (deleting some Contacts, duplicating others), but it works. Not being able to do this natively......sheesh. At least Palm bundled a light version Pocket Mirror with the Palm Desktop software.

OTOH, $50 for CompanionLink may be worth it to -NOT- have a gmail account.

[chi-town311]

Just wondering, can you connect an iPhone to outlook via USB and transfer your contacts?

[njblackberry]

You use iTunes as the intermediate step. But, without any additional cost or new software, you can do it.

[djrupey]

Hello everyone. An amazing thing thing has just happened. I had not set up my Z10 for my Gmail email account. I had only done my (POP3?) freeserve/orange email account which I've had for years, and the Outlook.com account that I created a couple of days ago. I decided to add the gmail account as it was still on my "to do" list of Z10 setup jobs. To my amazement, after a few seconds my Contacts list became populated. I don't understand why this has happened (remember, I am not very IT literate) maybe it is related to me using the Gmail account on my Storm and my Playbook. Whatever, I am now a very happy bunny. All is forgiven. BlackBerry rules and the Z10 is absolutely awesome. H*e*l*l*, when I was manually typing in a contact just now it even "knew" the surname of the person concerned, even though I had never typed it in before. I just flicked it up from the keyboard after a couple of keystrokes. Amazing

I typed this in bold so that those who have followed my travails with my Contact list on this thread and others will get the message, and I hope it is of use to other Z10 newbies.

[Jermanicus]

The core functionality of Blackberries is and always has been email. Hitherto RIM Blackberry had excelled in this. Now, with the Z10, RIM Blackberry has taken away syncing with Outlook and the main functionality of Blackberry Bridge on the Playbook.

Yes, I think Blackberry has lost its way.

[bizarrejustin]

people still plug it in? what mail service do you use. should link direct to them via exchange/imap and not have any issues.. what good is hooking it up to your desktop when your on the go? i have never hooked any BB to the computer (first bb was 8703e). bis and exchange worked perfectly and when i was on bes it was heavenly.

[cgk]

Hello everyone. An amazing thing thing has just happened. I had not set up my Z10 for my Gmail email account. I had only done my (POP3?) freeserve/orange email account which I've had for years, and the Outlook.com account that I created a couple of days ago. I decided to add the gmail account as it was still on my "to do" list of Z10 setup jobs. To my amazement, after a few seconds my Contacts list became populated. I don't understand why this has happened (remember, I am not very IT literate) maybe it is related to me using the Gmail account on my Storm and my Playbook. Whatever, I am now a very happy bunny. All is forgiven. BlackBerry rules and the Z10 is absolutely awesome. H*e*l*l*, when I was manually typing in a contact just now it even "knew" the surname of the person concerned, even though I had never typed it in before. I just flicked it up from the keyboard after a couple of keystrokes. Amazing

I typed this in bold so that those who have followed my travails with my Contact list on this thread and others will get the message, and I hope it is of use to other Z10 newbies.

it sounds like you synced your contact list to gmail at some stage and it is now pulling from that.

[njblackberry]

No more BIS. Exchange and BES (or Active Sync) work fine. Believe it or not, people have e-mail with their ISP/Cable company or even (GASP) AOL. And they must have a way of syncing to the PIM data on their PC.

[shabbs]

No more BIS. Exchange and BES (or Active Sync) work fine. Believe it or not, people have e-mail with their ISP/Cable company or even (GASP) AOL. And they must have a way of syncing to the PIM data on their PC.

How many people have a personal BB hooked up to a BES/Exchange server for their personal PIM management?