Contacts Saga

[motherdubber]

Hi there,
I've had my G1 for a week or so now and have been exploring its many functions while i wait for my PAK code to arrive so i can transfer my number from Orange.

In short I need to get my ~700 contacts from my old Sony Ericsson Wi? onto my G1 in a legible and accurate form.

Ok what have i tried thus far? Please correct me if any of this is misinformed...

1. Bluetooth address book from Sony Ericsson UNSUCCESSFUL - I was informed in the tmobile shop that G1 will not recognise other handsets due to security issues.
2. Use my Sony Ericsson's SD card to transfer my backed up phonebook to G1 UNSUCCESSFUL - My Ericsson has a large size SD, the G1 only accepts micro SDs
3. Transfer my backed up phone book file (.vcf) from my Ericsson onto my computer and somehow get this onto the G1 UNSUCCESSFUL - There is no obvious directory into which to place the .vcf file in the G1, looks hopeless.
4. Use my SIM card to transfer 200 numbers at a time from Ericsson to G1 PARTIAL SUCCESS - A seemingly random selection of my address book is transferred to the SIM from my Ericsson, when this is imported into the G1 the names appear mashed up and out of order! For me to complete the transfer of 700 contacts this way would require me to go through my Ericsson address book deleting the numbers that have already been transferred and then copying the remaining ones to SIM again etc.
5. Convert the back up file (.vcf) from my Ericson into a .csv file and import this into googlemail and sync the contacts UNSUCCESSFUL - contacts appear jumbled and inaccurate in googlemail and subsequently on phone!
6. Go to a t-mobile store and ask them to use the machine they have to cary out the operation UNSUCCESSFUL - T-mobile have not yet issued the required software for the in store machine to recognise a G1!!

Im running out of ideas and having to put off using my loveley G1 whilst paying two bloody contracts!! Any ideas?!

Many thanks,
Barney.

 

[dkaufman1]

Welcome. And to answer you...I am still struggling with the same saga and have gone all over the web looking for tools, tricks and conversion. I have spent hours and honestly I think I might just import and fix the "bad" entries at this point as the time I am wasting is piling up.

Elegant - no
Functional - yes

 

[Camarones]

Have you looking into Funambol as a method to transport your contacts from the old device to the new one?

Funambol uses the SyncML "standard" to perform PIM sync between dissimilar devices. It is a server-based system so you either need to set up your own (free) Funambol server OR you can use their free hosted service at my.funambol.com. Then you download a SyncML client to each mobile device and sync them with the server and therefore each other.

In the past I've used Funambol servers (and various SyncML clients) to keep Outlook contacts synced with various mobile devices, including Palm OS Treo's, Blackberries, and now my G1. The current Funambol client for G1 only supports contacts but seems to cover your needs.

 

[dkaufman1]

I have tried this option and the vcf, csv I have would not import nicely into the my.funabmol.com account.

 

[Camarones]

I have tried this option and the vcf, csv I have would not import nicely into the my.funabmol.com account.

I have not tried the my.funambol site because I set up an internal Funambol server for some of my employees. However what I was suggesting was that the original poster try a SyncML client on both the G1 and the Sony Erricson device. The device/handheld OS specific client should have a better chance of keep things straight as opposed to exporting to csv, etc.

I did have some minor problems after the sync but it was due to the way gmail handles contacts, not the Funambol process.

 

[dkaufman1]

I did have some minor problems after the sync but it was due to the way gmail handles contacts, not the Funambol process.

I suspect most of my issues surround gmail's poor handling of things which was a big surprise as Google is usually so decent with their data management and manipulation solutions.

 

[motherdubber]

Thanks for replies so far...

I've visited the Funambol site, registered, and attempted to download the client to my G1 however i get the (all to frequent) message of 'content being downloaded is not supported by phone'. Haven't attempted the same for my Sony Ericsson but assuming there's not much point.

The idea of importing bad entries and then correcting them is pretty grim, and for the vast amounts of money i'm shelling out i'd expect more from the G1. No handset to handset bluetooth capabilities? A micro SD card? How is any 'non google mail' user expected to transfer phone contacts over to their G1!? Even importing from SIM cards causes problems. As this was an issue I wanted to make sure DIDNT occur, i raised it when buying the phone in the shop, the salesman informed me he would be able to use the machine they have in store...now T-mobile are slacking on the release of the software.

I agree, i expected a lot more dynamism from a google branded phone, at the moment its appearing rather clunky and gimmicky.

Can anyone help with this contact saga?!

Barney.

 

[Camarones]

Thanks for replies so far...

I've visited the Funambol site, registered, and attempted to download the client to my G1 however i get the (all to frequent) message of 'content being downloaded is not supported by phone'. Haven't attempted the same for my Sony Ericsson but assuming there's not much point.

The idea of importing bad entries and then correcting them is pretty grim, and for the vast amounts of money i'm shelling out i'd expect more from the G1. No handset to handset bluetooth capabilities? A micro SD card? How is any 'non google mail' user expected to transfer phone contacts over to their G1!? Even importing from SIM cards causes problems. As this was an issue I wanted to make sure DIDNT occur, i raised it when buying the phone in the shop, the salesman informed me he would be able to use the machine they have in store...now T-mobile are slacking on the release of the software.

I agree, i expected a lot more dynamism from a google branded phone, at the moment its appearing rather clunky and gimmicky.

Can anyone help with this contact saga?!

Barney.

Did you try the Funambol client from the Android Market? Thats where I got mine...

 

[motherdubber]

Amazing! all contacts now on G1, 100% intact and functional...

Method:

1. Backup phonebook to SD card on old phone
2. convert .vcf to .ldif file at http://labs.brotherli.ch/vcfconvert/
3. install thunderbird
4. install zindus
5. import .ldif file into thunderbird, copy imported contacts to 'personal address book'
6. use zindus to syncronise thunderbird contacts with googlemail
7. syncronise googlemail contacts with G1 contacts

<happy G1 user>

 

[SirFenwick]

700 Contacts? Now thats a lot.

 

[RevWillie]

I had all my contacts in a yahoo address book. the export went fine, but the import to google contacts dropped all the mailing addresses. I only had about 100 so I manually updated google contacts from our desktop and laptop computers. It took a week or so doing a few each night. But now, I can manage contacts easily from the G1 or any place with web access.

 

[motherdubber]

Yeh I think once you get your contacts onto gmail management of them is excellent, just a little bit of faf to get them on there in the first place! Previous to using a G1, I was always someone that had a seperate set of phone and email contacts- I guess google have given me the incentive to change that, which is only a good thing.

 

[deedend]

Bluetooth address book from Sony Ericsson UNSUCCESSFUL - I was informed in the tmobile shop that G1 will not recognise other handsets due to security issues.

What??? This is terrible... No file transfer between G1 and other bluetooth devices???

 

[chicago]

little off subject.. but does anyone know how to tranfer all the contact number to a cars address book... ls460... problem is you cannot select all contacts and ask to transfer.. can only transfer one at a time..

i will search other forums for answers,, and post back someone else has the same issue

 

[Benny]

Amazing! all contacts now on G1, 100% intact and functional...

Method:

1. Backup phonebook to SD card on old phone
2. convert .vcf to .ldif file at http://labs.brotherli.ch/vcfconvert/
3. install thunderbird
4. install zindus
5. import .ldif file into thunderbird, copy imported contacts to 'personal address book'
6. use zindus to syncronise thunderbird contacts with googlemail
7. syncronise googlemail contacts with G1 contacts

<happy G1 user>

tried it. zindus doesn't truly sync mailing/physical address information. it puts xml in google's address field. this is hardly ideal.

 

[deedend]

Ok, now I have my G1 and it works well, I have synchronized all my gmail contacts, and I have added some new contacts ON THE PHONE... Now, if i will synchronize the phone with gmail account (I have disabled all the auto synch options) I will lost this new contacts or they will be put into the gmail.com list? And if i modify a contact on the phone, it will be modified at the next sync? In substance, which is the order of importance between phone and internet gmail account?

Thank you

 

[SK.]

None, It's a combination Sync. One doesn't seem to take priority over the other in my experience so you should be fine

 

[GODMODE]

I had a sidekick and iphone before the G1. When tranferring my sidekick contacts to the iphone - I simply exported them using the sync tool from Danger. Then, imported them into the iphone.

Going back to the sidekick for a time, was a no brainer, so I wont get into it.

Going from the sidekick to the G1 - I updated my export from the Danger software into my Outlook, then exported it, and imported them into the Gmail app using the instructions.

It wasnt perfect, that is for sure, but I got everyone in there, and tied it all together in gmail manually - took about 30 mins total.

 

[dkaufman1]

I had a sidekick and iphone before the G1. When tranferring my sidekick contacts to the iphone - I simply exported them using the sync tool from Danger. Then, imported them into the iphone.

Going back to the sidekick for a time, was a no brainer, so I wont get into it.

Going from the sidekick to the G1 - I updated my export from the Danger software into my Outlook, then exported it, and imported them into the Gmail app using the instructions.

It wasnt perfect, that is for sure, but I got everyone in there, and tied it all together in gmail manually - took about 30 mins total.

Sadly I did not have your luck.

 

[derkk]

little off subject.. but does anyone know how to tranfer all the contact number to a cars address book... ls460... problem is you cannot select all contacts and ask to transfer.. can only transfer one at a time..

i will search other forums for answers,, and post back someone else has the same issue

The contacts from G1 won't sync to a cars address book at the moment b/c it's all done via bluetooth and that type of bluetooth isn't supported yet.