Google Android catch-all

I googled android and came up with commander data being the best one.

Okay, I will be doing my first Android > Android upgrade on Wednesday. Specifically S8 >S10 both unlocked on Verizon. Googling tells me to use Samsung Smart Switch which I guess is an app on the Playstore.

1. Is smart Switch the way to go?
2. Can I just move my memory card over with all mp3/photo data intact?
3. Do I move my SIM over or use the new SIM that comes with the S10?
4. Will I need to do anything special for google voice / voicemail?

Any tips are appreciated.

I've never used any app to transfer from phone to phone. Been through a bunch of Samsung phones. I just take my memory card out of one and put it in the new one. Last time I just swapped the sim card myself and it worked fine. Previously I had the service provider activate the new sim card and I was done. Once I logged in to my various accounts, Google being the primary, everything was activated. There was a few minutes of updating emails and settings etc... But that was it.

EvilDead wrote:

Okay, I will be doing my first Android > Android upgrade on Wednesday. Specifically S8 >S10 both unlocked on Verizon. Googling tells me to use Samsung Smart Switch which I guess is an app on the Playstore.

1. Is smart Switch the way to go?

Meh. My wife did it that way last time, and it doesn't move that much more than what google's backup will do for your apps. I always store my contacts on my google account, so that comes automatically as well. You might lose old texts I guess. Not sure what would happen now that I'm using Google Messages for texts.

So I just make sure I've got my apps backing up to Google, and they mostly just automatically reinstall with a lot of their data. It's way better than it used to be, even without using something like the Samsung program.

2. Can I just move my memory card over with all mp3/photo data intact?

Depends on if you've encrypted the card or not I think.

3. Do I move my SIM over or use the new SIM that comes with the S10?

Probably depends on the carrier and type of SIM you had last time. I'd just ask the carrier. Some are even starting to use eSIMs I think I read.

4. Will I need to do anything special for google voice / voicemail?

Don't think so.

I've just migrated 4 phones for us to another carrier - flashing 3 with the carrier's firmware. On all I used Smart Switch.

Just like Google cloud backup, Smart Switch will move over texts, call records, apps, etc.

However, here's what Smart Switch does that Google Cloud doesn't:

- You can put the backup on the SD card, which you can then move over to the new phone and restore from. This saves a ton of time and won't use data on your plan.
- The contents of Samsung Apps like Memo/S Note will be backed up. Google Cloud doesn't get those!
- Your home screen (and other screens) will be moved over as it was, though some third party widgets may not be present (maybe).

I highly recommend it for at least those 3 reasons.

Okay, thanks guys. Memory card is not encrypted so I'm guessing that will be fine.

LouZiffer, did you do a combo of Google Cloud and Smart Switch or just only Smart Switch?

EvilDead wrote:

Okay, thanks guys. Memory card is not encrypted so I'm guessing that will be fine.

LouZiffer, did you do a combo of Google Cloud and Smart Switch or just only Smart Switch?

Only Smart Switch. I brought over my phone (Galaxy S7) a couple of weeks before their phones and tried Google Cloud, Samsung Cloud, and Samsung Smart Switch. The latter worked the best all on its own. To get it to back up/restore using an SD card, ignore the selections on the main screen and touch the little SD card icon in the upper right corner of the app.

What I was doing was moving us from Sprint to T-Mobile. Since the S7 pre-dates the time when Sprint stopped forcing phones on to their LTE bands only, I had to flash the T-Mobile firmware (including modem) which meant erasing all data other than the SD card. Switching carriers plus erasing data meant I was the guinea pig.

Since you're only going between two phones it's far easier! At worst there will be an app or two that saves its own data somewhere weird and that won't go over. It'd be missed by any of these solutions, but you'll still have the old phone to get it from. Try out everything after the migration to make sure it's alright.

Awesome, thanks! Looking forward to trying out the S10 tomorrow.

EvilDead wrote:

Awesome, thanks! Looking forward to trying out the S10 tomorrow.

Tomorrow? I thought the release date was the 8th?

Their website said it would ship by the 8th and it shipped Monday. Maybe the store release date is the 8th?


I had the same notice, but no ship date.
Well, tell us how you like it!

Will do. I ordered the morning the pre-orders were available so I imagine I was probably one of the first in queue.

Received and in the process of restoring. It feels pretty similar in size to my S8 but there is more screen space. While my S8 wasn't feeling slow this is definitely snappier. Pretty slick so far.

One thing that I have no idea about is Samsung didn't provide any instructions / label for the return of my trade in. Not really sure how that works so I'm going to have to do some investigating.

Edit: Also, I now know why the only offered the white buds as free with pre-orders. They kinda look like big hearing aids . I don't care as long as they sound decent and don't cut out when I'm running.

I should get mine tomorrow.
I assume yours shipped with FedEx? Did you have to sign for it?

Yes, someone had to sign for it. I had it shipped to work for that reason. Also, it was normal FedEx and not home meaning it would be delivered before 4:30 PM.

I used the buds for working out last night and I didn't have either earpiece cut out once which is amazing compared to the cheapy pair I have used up to this point. These sound significantly better too. The real test will be when I take them for an outdoor run though. That will require significantly less snow and the temp to be above 20.

Yeah, I'm looking at my tracking number and it's all saying the same thing.
Maybe I can WFH tomorrow... or since I live about 15 minutes walk from work, I could just pop back and be there around when they get close.

Quick question. If I do the factory reset from Settings > General Management > Reset > Factory Data Reset that should be enough right? I saw there is a way to do it from the firmware level as well. I just want to make sure that I get rid of all my stuff before sending it back.

Edit: I ended up just doing both to be sure.

EvilDead wrote:

One thing that I have no idea about is Samsung didn't provide any instructions / label for the return of my trade in. Not really sure how that works so I'm going to have to do some investigating.

With my S7 it was the carrier (in my case Sprint) that sent a return box, and it did come later on without any input from me, automatically. I'm not sure if Verizon does the same though.

d4m0 wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

One thing that I have no idea about is Samsung didn't provide any instructions / label for the return of my trade in. Not really sure how that works so I'm going to have to do some investigating.

With my S7 it was the carrier (in my case Sprint) that sent a return box, and it did come later on without any input from me, automatically. I'm not sure if Verizon does the same though.

Oh, I should have mentioned I bought directly through Samsung. They sent me email this morning with a return label.

Replacing my old Lenovo tablet with a Galaxy Tab S4. Don't care about the "desktop mode" stuff, mostly care about the high quality, higher resolution display.

Loving the Android feature where if you tilt the display with rotation locked you get a little button that pops up that let's you rotate without going into settings. I usually disable rotation but I sometimes have to show baby pics.

lol @ Edwins original post in this thread.

TheGameguru wrote:

lol @ Edwins original post in this thread.

The poor Palm Pre. Great little hardware on that guy.

I've got a Pixel3 arriving today and I'm considering just selling it. I've had a Nexus 5 since it launched and I like it but I've thought about going back to a non-smartphone (if you can even get one anymore) for a while. But now I don't even think I want that. I pretty much want to be unreachable when I'm away from work.

I think I'm getting old.

Wow. Can't believe your phone is still alive. That's an oooooold phone now.

Always connected can be exhausting. It's why I don't have work email on my phone.

billt721 wrote:

I've got a Pixel3 arriving today and I'm considering just selling it. I've had a Nexus 5 since it launched and I like it but I've thought about going back to a non-smartphone (if you can even get one anymore) for a while. But now I don't even think I want that. I pretty much want to be unreachable when I'm away from work.

I think I'm getting old.

Phones have do not disturb modes. When it is on, your phone will not ring, chirp or vibrate meaning you can still have a smartphone without being reachable. If you change your number and even forget it then nobody can call you anyway. And don't log into your gmail account on your phone (create a dummy one) and you will never get a text message, hangout message, whats app message etc...

I only say this because not having a cell phone when you need it most is a problem. When I got my first car, my father got me a cell phone (old school Motorola flip phone) specifically for those unexpected scenarios where it can save my or other lives.

Plus a nice feature of the Pixel 3 is Digital Wellbeing, which let's you configure various setting for Do Not Disturb.

Gah! I'm completely frustrated with the USB-C port on my Pixel 2. It seems incredibly loose. Both the USB-C adapter on my headphones and the USB-C cord in my car (for Android Auto) are constantly becoming disconnected. I've poked around in there for lint or dust that might be keeping it from making a full connection but nothing.

Is there something I'm missing? It feels like it should be a pretty solid connection.

(Slightly related - does anyone have a pair of bluetooth "truly wireless" ear buds they recommend? Seems like that might be a short-term solution.)

Trashie wrote:

Gah! I'm completely frustrated with the USB-C port on my Pixel 2. It seems incredibly loose. Both the USB-C adapter on my headphones and the USB-C cord in my car (for Android Auto) are constantly becoming disconnected. I've poked around in there for lint or dust that might be keeping it from making a full connection but nothing.

Is there something I'm missing? It feels like it should be a pretty solid connection.

(Slightly related - does anyone have a pair of bluetooth "truly wireless" ear buds they recommend? Seems like that might be a short-term solution.)

I've only ever had a problem like that when there is lint packed in it. Wooden toothpicks work very well for clearing that out.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
Trashie wrote:

Gah! I'm completely frustrated with the USB-C port on my Pixel 2. It seems incredibly loose. Both the USB-C adapter on my headphones and the USB-C cord in my car (for Android Auto) are constantly becoming disconnected. I've poked around in there for lint or dust that might be keeping it from making a full connection but nothing.

Is there something I'm missing? It feels like it should be a pretty solid connection.

(Slightly related - does anyone have a pair of bluetooth "truly wireless" ear buds they recommend? Seems like that might be a short-term solution.)

I've only ever had a problem like that when there is lint packed in it. Wooden toothpicks work very well for clearing that out.

Well, I'm an idiot. I thought I had cleaned out all the lint but using a bent staple (vs. the paperclip I was using before) resulted in a surprising amount of crud being removed. Let's see how it works now!