Root How do I give my Eris to my wife?

[Chopstick2U]

I've got my eye on the new Thunderbolt, and we've already decided that my wife is going to inherit my lovingly-rooted Froyo Eris. So how do I put her phone number on there? Do I have to go through Verizon staff? I guess I probably need to go through them if only to transfer her dumb phone contacts. Will they react harshly and cancel my insurance when they see the custom ROM?

 

[DDustiNN]

After you get your new phone, just dial *228 from the Eris, press 1 to activate, enter 10-digit phone number, enter 4-digit account password, wait a few seconds, done. It only takes a minute or two.

As for the contacts, yes they can import them at the store... It would be easiest if you could find a way to export her contacts to .csv file or something, then you can import them into Google and let them sync with her phone.

If Verizon imports them, I believe they will be "Phone" contacts rather than "Google" contacts... I'm not 100% sure about that though.

 

[Chopstick2U]

No, they transferred my contacts from her current phone (a Nokia Twist) to my Eris back in the day and they were proper Google contacts before I knew what that meant. I suppose it depends on the skill of the particular vzw employee.

That's really helpful information! So can I just call them and say my wife is on a smartphone plan and expect them to make everything right without asking too many questions?

 

[scotty85]

if she is not on a smartphone plan now,youll have to do that before you can dial *228. you can change her data plan online.

if you get her contacts info into a google account,you should be able to change the plan,activate the phone,and sync the contacts all without ever talking to a vzw employee

 

[Podivin]

It should be quick and painless, and they should be able to do it all at the store when you buy your new phone.

Just in case there is a hassle at the store because the Eris is rooted, do this first (now, even). Online at MyVerizon.com there is a way to save contacts from a feature phone as a csv file - do that for your wife's phone. Now you've got a backup of her contacts.
If I'm not mistaken the phone has to be active for this to work, so do it while her current phone is still in use, once it's been replaced it's too late (or at least it was a few years ago when I tried to do that with an inactive phone).

Have both current phones with you and make sure they have a decent charge when you go to the store to get your new phone.
Tell them you want to add a data plan to your wife's number, to move her number to the Eris, and to put your number on the new phone.
Your new phone will get your current Google contacts just by virtue of you logging in with your Google ID.

A factory reset on the Eris will get rid of your contacts (BTW, is this really an issue? It sounds like you at least started out with the same contacts, you mentioned that your contacts were copied from her phone - can she just delete the ones that she's not interested in?). Once the phone is reset they should be able to port the contacts from her old phone to the Eris.

If they give you any flack about the rooted ROM, or if you don't want to have everything wiped from the phone via a factory reset, then just don't have them transfer her contacts - you've got her contacts backed up already. Go home, delete all contacts from the Eris (if I'm not mistaken there is a really easy way to do that in People). Then import the csv file from her old phone into the Eris and she's on her way.

 

[scotty85]

Oops,hit submit too soon. Move along

 

[scotty85]

If you import the .cvs file into the eris,does that set them as phone contacts? If so,it would prolly be better import it into google. That way it will sync them automatically on any android phone she uses from now on.

 

[Podivin]

Scotty makes a good point, you'll (or at least *I* would) want them to be Google contacts in your new phone.

 

[doogald]

If you are at all concerned about Verizon not working on the rooted Eris, just flash the Flashback21 ROM, which will unroot the phone and install stock Eris 2.1. You can then root the phone again using the 1-click or Universal Root for Dummies methods.

Here's Flashback21: [ROM][10/20/2010]FlashBack21 v1 -Return to Factory Stock - UPDATED - xda-developers (I would flash the one without the radio myself.)

If they do transfer the contacts as phone contacts, there is a free app on the market UiA Backup Contacts which can back them up as .csv files to the SD card on the Eris, and which can then be imported to your wife's Google account, which will then be Google contacts. However, I do agree that you may be able to save the hassle by using the Verizon Backup Assistant app for feature phones (one of the "GetItNow" apps) to back up her contacts online, if it is possible to import them to Google. It's been a long time since I have used Backup Assistant myself. IIRC, Backup Assistant is not free, but they credit back the charge if you set up an account for yourself on verizonwireless.com.

 

[erisuser1]

If they do transfer the contacts as phone contacts, there is a free app on the market UiA Backup Contacts which can back them up as .csv files to the SD card on the Eris, and which can then be imported to your wife's Google account, which will then be Google contacts. However, I do agree that you may be able to save the hassle by using the Verizon Backup Assistant app for feature phones (one of the "GetItNow" apps) to back up her contacts online, if it is possible to import them to Google. It's been a long time since I have used Backup Assistant myself. IIRC, Backup Assistant is not free, but they credit back the charge if you set up an account for yourself on verizonwireless.com.

I used Backup Assistant in a similar fashion:

-Installed Backup Assistant (on old feature phone) and made backup
-Went to my myverizon account (or whatever it is called) on the web and downloaded a CSV to my PC
-Used the PC version of Gmail to import the contact (CSV) file (to the Gmail account intended to be used on the Eris)

The one thing that I didn't do when I completed this was to remove the Backup Assistant app from the old phone before I did a factory reset on it and donated the thing. This had the effect that my new phone continued to receive occasional BREW text messages from Verizon for several months afterward. (Part of Qualcomm's BREW technology uses specially formatted SMS messages for communications - they get snarfed up by a phone that does BREW, and the user never sees them; but newer smartphones don't use BREW, and so the messages show up along with normal texts.) I tried calling Verizon to see if they could turn it off, but the CS rep that I got had no idea what I was talking about.

Not a huge deal, but it could have been avoided if I had simply uninstalled the app off the feature phone before service was transferred to the Eris.

 

[Chopstick2U]

A factory reset on the Eris will get rid of your contacts (BTW, is this really an issue? It sounds like you at least started out with the same contacts, you mentioned that your contacts were copied from her phone - can she just delete the ones that she's not interested in?). Once the phone is reset they should be able to port the contacts from her old phone to the Eris.

Allow me to clarify. My wife is perfectly content to ride on my technological coattails... for now, anyway. Her Nokia was once my Nokia, and my Eris will one day be her Eris. When her contract expires in July, I might even abandon the Thunderbolt for whatever new hotness is around... then we'll BOTH have awesome phones.

I know I'm a lucky man... I actually used her NE2 credit to purchase the Eris in the first place.