[codiak]

Having just got an HTC android phone for one of the directors in the office, I was looking for the best way to switch him from a Nokia 6110 Navigator.

I need not have bothered, during the HTC setup I was asked to I want to transfer stuff from another phone. So I said yes, it asked what I wanted to transfer, then asked me to choose a brand, then the model, which again was listed. It then told me what to do on the old phone to enable bluetooth and get paired up, put in a code etc. It then proceeded to pull everything across, reminding me to press yes when necessary.

Now I think this has set the bar, and BB10 needs to be just as good if not better. I also think they need to market the out of it, I did NOT know HTC could do this and its a good way to bring feature phone users to their first smartphone. Obviously bringing users from Android and iPhone would be mandatory.

Thoughts?

[raino]

I agree this would be a great feature to have. I don't have the exact technical know-how, but for this to happen, wouldn't BB10 Desktop Manager need to read other devices/formats they create their backups in? For example, currently, BB backups are saved as .ipd files. When you look for a backup through DM, you look for .ipd files. RIM would need to design DM to read all other platforms' equivalents of the .ipd file.

Btw, the phone options that HTC setup gave you: were they all Android?

[codiak]

I have never seen it before on other android handsets, so must be unique to HTC, it was effortless. Bluetooth is the common link between the devices, I have used Google sync in the past where another device supports it.

I think the whole thing should stay free of a computer, so bluetooth and NFC I say!

[hootyhoo]

It must be an HTC feature as I haven't seen this on my Motorola or Samsung.

[hpjrt]

Isn't this NFC? You know the thing that IS on BB10 afaik, and the thing a bunch were concerned was "dead" ...

[codiak]

It must be an HTC feature as I haven't seen this on my Motorola or Samsung.

it was part of the setup process after unboxing and going through the usual routine of google setup etc. I would say if you have a non-techie who wants a first smart phone and has a bluetooth enabled feature phone, this transfer is ideal for them. To me this sets the bar of unboxing a phone and switching over to it, contacts, sms, email, calendar etc - done.

[hootyhoo]

Isn't this NFC? You know the thing that IS on BB10 afaik, and the thing a bunch were concerned was "dead" ...

No. The op stated that bluetooth was used for the transfer. I'm sure that NFC could be used, but for now, most phones do not have that capability.

[cgk]

NFC would pair and then use Bluetooth for transfer - that is the normal usage model.

As for Bb10 desktop - have they actually said there is a desktop client?

Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express

[raino]

It must be an HTC feature as I haven't seen this on my Motorola or Samsung.

I have never seen it before on other android handsets, so must be unique to HTC, it was effortless. Bluetooth is the common link between the devices, I have used Google sync in the past where another device supports it.

So it possibly goes back to the file format issue. If it isn't (can't?) being done across Android devices, it might be hard for a wholly different OS with a different desktop manager to be able to pull and sync files.

[hootyhoo]

NFC would pair and then use Bluetooth for transfer - that is the normal usage model.

As for Bb10 desktop - have they actually said there is a desktop client?

Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express

Ah, thanks. Obviously I had no idea how NFC makes the transfer, but the op did say that they used BT.

[Alex_Hong]

I think its a nice feature definitely, but not one that I would use. Transferring text messages would of course be a huge plus, other than that most of my stuffs are on google. I like to try different devices and having google sync everything makes it a whole lot easier. But surprisingly, most people still prefer to have local contacts, calendars, etc. If not, they have no idea they can just use google to sync everything. So having an easy device transfer is definitely nice.

I do know that Nokia Lumia has a contacts transfer app that works great too using bluetooth. But as far as i know, no way to transfer messages.

[raino]

^^I think the OP was suggesting this feature for those looking for a long-term/permanent device swap. This could help bring people who are on the fence about switching devices out of the legitimate concern that they might lose their data.

[cgk]

I think its a nice feature definitely, but not one that I would use. Transferring text messages would of course be a huge plus, other than that most of my stuffs are on google. I like to try different devices and having google sync everything makes it a whole lot easier. But surprisingly, most people still prefer to have local contacts, calendars, etc. If not, they have no idea they can just use google to sync everything. So having an easy device transfer is definitely nice.

I do know that Nokia Lumia has a contacts transfer app that works great too using bluetooth. But as far as i know, no way to transfer messages.

That is true but isn't it an assumption that BB10 will support that (if it's not, someone let me know) - the move with most of the OSes has to be to push the users to move their data into the cloud (so you can sell more value added services and lock them into your ecosystem and increase the switching costs) and deprecate desktop clients.

Anyone got any information either way?

[LuvULongTime]

Having just got an HTC android phone for one of the directors in the office, I was looking for the best way to switch him from a Nokia 6110 Navigator.

I need not have bothered, during the HTC setup I was asked to I want to transfer stuff from another phone. So I said yes, it asked what I wanted to transfer, then asked me to choose a brand, then the model, which again was listed. It then told me what to do on the old phone to enable bluetooth and get paired up, put in a code etc. It then proceeded to pull everything across, reminding me to press yes when necessary.

Now I think this has set the bar, and BB10 needs to be just as good if not better. I also think they need to market the out of it, I did NOT know HTC could do this and its a good way to bring feature phone users to their first smartphone. Obviously bringing users from Android and iPhone would be mandatory.

Thoughts?

That's a very nice feature. What specifically did you transfer over?

I recently connected my 9780 to my Nokia E71 via BT and transferred my contacts over to my 9780. I used my Nokia to send them to the 9780 as a vCard, and the 9780 accepted them. Not as slick but the ability does exist today to a certain extent.

[codiak]

That's a very nice feature. What specifically did you transfer over?

I recently connected my 9780 to my Nokia E71 via BT and transferred my contacts over to my 9780. I used my Nokia to send them to the 9780 as a vCard, and the 9780 accepted them. Not as slick but the ability does exist today to a certain extent.

Transferred phone (not sim) contacts, sms messages, calendar. I'm not saying it's for everyone as some are already all in Google etc. I'm looking at from the point of those who are taking on a first smartphone or those who want a zero fuss migration from one phone to another. Hours on and I still think it's a great feature.

[ffejrobins30]

Blackberry has something like that for OS5-7 in DM. When I got my 9700 I did the setup using DM and it pulled all of my contacts, calendar, and sms messages from my T-Mobile Dash(AKA HTC Excalibur). It was awesome! I'm sure they'll have something VERY similar with BB10.