One of the many, many perils of cellphone ownership lies locked in the handset's memory: data loss. Nothing ruins an otherwise pleasant day worse than sending that
Samsung t629 for a dunk in the pool (at least, that's your story on the insurance report, though we all really know you dropped it in the loo) -- or, even more catastrophically, running it over with a 5,000-pound SUV. Of course, the loss of the phone itself sucks enough, but the real challenge is resurrecting those contacts. T-Mobile's bringing a solid solution to the table with wireless synchronization of contact lists to its server,
a la Sidekick. The service is initially launching with the aforementioned t629, along with Nokia's 6600 (how's that for an S60 throwback?) and 3220. Finally we're able to flush our phones down the toilet with wild abandon.
[Thanks, The Fish]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jeremy @ Feb 13th 2007 5:04PM
Verizon has had this service for almost all of their recent phones for a few months now...its even free if you pay your bill online.
egloskerry @ Feb 13th 2007 5:08PM
Talk about POS phones for the launch. The Samsung isn't bad, but they dug deep in the trash barrel for the two Nokias. Not that they're bad phones, but when you release a new service, you should release it on, you know...phones that people actually WANT.
motoq35 @ Feb 13th 2007 6:02PM
Hey I dont want to spil the party but Verizon has had this feture since i could remmber witch is not that long, lol. I think they charge 2 buck for that service. It also let you move your contacts to a new phone its all done with a remote server. Iphone rocks.
r0fl @ Feb 13th 2007 6:33PM
Sprint has had this service since May of last year
Brandon @ Feb 13th 2007 6:54PM
The service from T-Mobile is free though. The contacts are all managed through My T-Mobile, but you are not required to pay your bill online or anything. The service is not live yet, but scheduled to come online in the first part of March. The Nokia 6133 supports this feature also.
T-Will @ Feb 13th 2007 6:57PM
I
T-Will @ Feb 13th 2007 6:58PM
Windows Mobile with Exchange/Outlook sync FTW! :-)
UnseenLlama @ Feb 13th 2007 7:04PM
I have been using http://www.mobical.net for almost a year now. Provides contacts, calendar, tasks, notes backup over the air with SyncML. Whenever I get a new phone, I'll just point to mobical and my phone is all set. Pretty much all Nokia's, Motorola's, and Sony Ericssons support SyncML. I prefer Sony Ericssons because of the ability to set interval backups (15mins, 1hr, 4hr, etc) automatically.
mike1981x @ Feb 13th 2007 7:09PM
verizon's backup assistant is free as well. you don't actually have to pay your bill online. you would just need to register your account online, which is free, of course. you can choose to continue to receive paper bills during registration.
mroach @ Feb 13th 2007 7:51PM
Yeah, anyone that has ever heard of SyncML has been able to do this for years and years. My T68i even supports it. I just sync with iSync all the time anyways. No need for OTA sync really. Though, I certainly wouldn't mind if .Mac setup a SyncML interface to my address book there.
Patrick @ Feb 14th 2007 9:44AM
Who cares? I have backed up my contacts to my PC on a regular basis for years.
Richard @ Feb 14th 2007 12:34PM
Wow! T-Mob MUST be hurting to bring something this archaic to the promotional fore.
There's always SyncML, Mighty-Phone and Plaxo Mobile.
frank @ Feb 16th 2007 11:53AM
Yes, alternatives have existed for a while but it's important for carriers to take ownership of this issue. GSM carriers have always had the SIM card to fall back on as a means of backups but (up until recently), CDMA folks have been left in the dark. They practically laughed my mom out of the Verizon store when she bought a new phone last year and asked how to transfer her contacts. It's good to see this becoming a trend.