Gadgets to Help You Back Up Cell Phone Data
Tue May 30, 2006 6:15PM EDT
See Comments (5)
Reader Fcruiser 49 wants to know: Is there hardware or software you can buy at electronic stores to save your address book?
In my last post I talked about U.S. carriers who offer data backup services that keep an updated online backup of your cell phone address book on their server, in case you lose or replace your mobile phone. These services may work well for business types who don't have time to do this themselves or who have important contacts they want to keep safe on a server. If they ever lose their cell phone while traveling, they could easily load their old phone's data into a new phone literally from anywhere in the world.
We all agree that the problem with this type of service is the monthly charge, but at the moment this seems to be the only way carriers will help you create a backup.
Eliminate monthly fees by by looking for devices that save a local backup of your mobile's data. This alternative is private and a lot cheaper, which is something most readers were concerned about.
Here are a few hardware devices under $40 to help you transfer data from your mobile to your PC:
- Cell Phone Backup Drive: This device works with Motorola, LG, or Samsung phones. Allows you to back up, transfer, and edit cell phone data. Plugs right into your phone and transfers data via USB to your computer.
- Backup Pal: This device looks like a mini Roomba, and connects to your phone via infrared or USB to create a backup on the device. Price and availability haven't been announced yet, but it's estimated to be under $40.
- Universal USB SIM Card Reader and Writer: This gadget allows you to read, back up, and modify information on any SIM card. Plug the SIM card in on one end, and the USB plugs into your computer to read the data.
- USB Phone Book Flasher: Works with some Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung phones. Pressing one button saves your cell phone's phone book.
There are too many devices to list here, but if you've had a good experience using a different gadget to sync up your contacts, share it in the comments below.
There's another option available to back up your data. Third-party data synchonization software will be covered on the next post.
Comments on Gadgets to Help You Back Up Cell Phone Data
Post a Comment
Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.
-
2 Posted by n_t_kathy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:43PM EDT Report Abuse
Is there a gadget that can save text messages and phone numbers that's on my PHONE AS WELL as on the SIMS card ... cuz for some reason.. the Nokia phone I have saved some on the sims card but some it saved on the phone and I don't know how that happened? I thought everything get saved on the Sims card... but apparently it did something there and I have too little time and too many numbers on the phone and the SIMS card to find out which is which? My IM is moonsiren80 if anyone has answers or suggestions.
-
3 Posted by bevyow on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:06PM EDT Report Abuse
anyone suggest a gadget that can save to LG enV v9900 phone book?
-
4 Posted by amit_megotia on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:53PM EDT Report Abuse
how to keep a back uo online for my motorola V3i phone book
-
5 Posted by musmanbajwa on Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:57AM EST Report Abuse
contect saving gadget,mobile phone contect back up. you won’t ever have to worry about permanently losing numbers http://www.gadgetforecast.com/index/2009/11/cellphone-contect-backup-device-save-your-contects/
1 Posted by onewithiam on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:45PM EDT Report Abuse
I have a Sony Ericsson Z500a phone and use a generic USB DCU_11 cable (like the one at http://shopwireless.sonyericsson.com/shop/1/model/230501/accessory/183461) along with the open source software floAt's Mobile Agent (http://fma.sourceforge.net/index2.htm) to connect to the phone. I can download/upload songs, videos, text messages, contacts, recently called lists, etc...pretty much any info that the phone is capable of holding (temperature, battery charge, signal to noise & connection strength, etc.) I can make my own ringtones and upload them to the phones and make backups of the SIMs. I paid roughly $20 for the cable and the software is free. Considering Cingular's "service" doesn't give you nearly that much freedom *and* costs $5/month, this solution paid for itself in the 1st two months (we have 2 phones). An added bonus of the software is that the phone can be controlled from the PC and vice versa. E.g., I can control winamp on the PC with the cell phone. Oh, and if you want a USB SIM card reader, don't spend $30 on the one Gine mentioned. Do some research. You can get one for about 8 bucks from geek.com (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=SIM-650)*. Enjoy! David Gunnells *I'm not affiliated w/ geek.com in any way...