Help Moving My Data From Old Android Phone To New Android Phone?

[NewbAndroidUser]

Hi all,

I just want to move my data from an old Android phone to a new Android phone.

I want to move over my Contacts List/Notes/SMS Messages/Photos and so on.

I've got an 8GB microSD Card in the old phone.

What are my options?

This is my current 2013 Huawei phone that's running Android 4.1:
http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_g510-5250.php

This is the new phone I've bought and want to move my data over to. It's running Android R Go:
https://www.optus.com.au/prepaid/phones/optus/x-start-3

Thanks for any help!!!

 

[ocnbrze]

photos:
use google photos, just make sure that you are signed in to google and that the account is sync'd. now you can then access your photos on your new phone when you sign in. the photos are not physically on the new device, but as long as you have a cellular connection or the phone is connected to wifi, you can see your photos.

sms:
use sms backup to backup and restore your conversations

contacts:
as long as your contacts are saved as google contacts and your account is sync'd your contacts will automatically get imported to the new phone when you sign in to google

notes:
that will depend on how the notes were made. if the notes app has a save or backup function, then you should be able to restore them on the new phone.

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

photos:
use google photos, just make sure that you are signed in to google and that the account is sync'd. now you can then access your photos on your new phone when you sign in. the photos are not physically on the new device, but as long as you have a cellular connection or the phone is connected to wifi, you can see your photos.

sms:
use sms backup to backup and restore your conversations

contacts:
as long as your contacts are saved as google contacts and your account is sync'd your contacts will automatically get imported to the new phone when you sign in to google

notes:
that will depend on how the notes were made. if the notes app has a save or backup function, then you should be able to restore them on the new phone.

Thanks!

Could I just move all of my data via the microSD Card?

I'm mostly worried about preserving notes I've made in the Android 'Notes' App. Would I be able to access these on the new phone when the new phone's OS is 8 years newer???

 

[ocnbrze]

Thanks!

Could I just move all of my data via the microSD Card?

I'm mostly worried about preserving notes I've made in the Android 'Notes' App. Would I be able to access these on the new phone when the new phone's OS is 8 years newer???

there is no android notes app. the notes app might be one that comes pre-installed with your phone......i do not have either of your phones so i do not know. i have owned samsung note devices for almost a decade and samsung's utility program, smartswitch, can backup samsung notes to new samsung devices.

so....it will depend on your phones and the notes app. if the note app can save the note as a file and you can find where it resides on the phone, then you should be able just copy and paste onto the card.

 

[svim]

Since your Huawei phone running Jelly Bean only has 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage, are you even able to install something like the Google Photos app?.
Also given the also limited specs of your Optus phone running a version of Android Go, you're most likely not going to be able to use too many third-party data transfer apps or services since both phones are quite dated and unsupported for several years now.
You're probably going to need to just use manual methods to transfer your data over, and even that will be something of a challenge. Even now it's still something of a mix of maybe it works, maybe not with transferring user account data from one phone to another (i.e. Samsung's Smart Switch utility works really well for some phone models but it's not even close to being universally usable for all Android devices). So copy as much of your files and things just using drag-and-drop into that 8GB microSD card, and depending on how much accumulated data you have don't be surprise if this involves multiple transfers to get everything. Use whatever Export options are in whatever apps you can on your Huawei (might be buried in the app's Settings or Options menu). That Notes app will hopefully have some kind of export menu but if not, you might have to resort to just opening up each 'note' you've saved, and if there's an option to save the file to something like a universally usable txt file use that. Or copy-and-paste the text content into some other app on your Huawei that does allow you to save text files (i.e. is there a text editor app or some word processor app on your phone?).

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

there is no android notes app. the notes app might be one that comes pre-installed with your phone......i do not have either of your phones so i do not know. i have owned samsung note devices for almost a decade and samsung's utility program, smartswitch, can backup samsung notes to new samsung devices.

so....it will depend on your phones and the notes app. if the note app can save the note as a file and you can find where it resides on the phone, then you should be able just copy and paste onto the card.

Thanks!

Since your Huawei phone running Jelly Bean only has 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage, are you even able to install something like the Google Photos app?.
Also given the also limited specs of your Optus phone running a version of Android Go, you're most likely not going to be able to use too many third-party data transfer apps or services since both phones are quite dated and unsupported for several years now.
You're probably going to need to just use manual methods to transfer your data over, and even that will be something of a challenge. Even now it's still something of a mix of maybe it works, maybe not with transferring user account data from one phone to another (i.e. Samsung's Smart Switch utility works really well for some phone models but it's not even close to being universally usable for all Android devices). So copy as much of your files and things just using drag-and-drop into that 8GB microSD card, and depending on how much accumulated data you have don't be surprise if this involves multiple transfers to get everything. Use whatever Export options are in whatever apps you can on your Huawei (might be buried in the app's Settings or Options menu). That Notes app will hopefully have some kind of export menu but if not, you might have to resort to just opening up each 'note' you've saved, and if there's an option to save the file to something like a universally usable txt file use that. Or copy-and-paste the text content into some other app on your Huawei that does allow you to save text files (i.e. is there a text editor app or some word processor app on your phone?).

Thanks!

I thought the 'Notes App' came with every Android OS... I'm worried about losing my notes and I can't copy and paste each one because I have hundreds of notes...

The other problem is the sim card. The sim card from the Huawei is too big for the new phone...

EDIT:
You're 100% correct about me being unable to install Apps because of the 512mbRAM and 4gb of storage space, but the main App I use is Chrome and this allows me to email etc. I can't even install the dedicated Gmail App because I don't have enough space...

 

[mikedt]

Thanks!


Thanks!

I thought the 'Notes App' came with every Android OS... I'm worried about losing my notes and I can't copy and paste each one because I have hundreds of notes...

I'm sure that "Notes App" is proprietary to Huawei devices running EMUI or HarmonyOS only.
But apparently they can be exported.
https://consumer.huawei.com/en/support/content/en-us15789966/

• Handwritten notes cannot be exported, and other types of notes can be exported into TXT or HTML files. You can search for saved notes in Files.
  
• To share multiple notes, access the All notes screen, touch and hold a note, and select the ones you want to share. Then touch and share them as prompted.

I've never used the stock Notes app that comes with Huawei devices myself. And have always used OneNote, and that syncs to any phone, and computers as well.

The other problem is the sim card. The sim card from the Huawei is too big for the new phone...

You might be able to punch it out to the smaller nano-SIM size. But if in doubt obtain a new SIM from your carrier.

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

I'm sure that "Notes App" is proprietary to Huawei devices running EMUI or HarmonyOS only.
But apparently they can be exported.
https://consumer.huawei.com/en/support/content/en-us15789966/

• Handwritten notes cannot be exported, and other types of notes can be exported into TXT or HTML files. You can search for saved notes in Files.
  
• To share multiple notes, access the All notes screen, touch and hold a note, and select the ones you want to share. Then touch and share them as prompted.

I've never used the stock Notes app that comes with Huawei devices myself. And have always used OneNote, and that syncs to any phone, and computers as well.



You might be able to punch it out to the smaller nano-SIM size. But if in doubt obtain a new SIM from your carrier.

Thanks!

There is a backup app that came with my Huawei and in 'Settings' it says the backup app is version 6.2.36.

I regularly use the backup app to backup my contacts, SMS messages, Notes etc to the microSD card, but I just don't know if I'll able to restore these files to the new phone.

The 1GB of RAM in the new phone should be fine for me because I mainly need Chrome.

 

[mikedt]

Thanks!

There is a backup app that came with my Huawei and in 'Settings' it says the backup app is version 6.2.36.

Not sure if I can guide you much. I have a Huawei phone here, a Mate 10, but it's a Chinese variant running HarmonyOS. And the Backup service on this device only backups to Huawei Cloud(which I think is China only), or to HiSuite running on a PC or Mac.

I regularly use the backup app to backup my contacts, SMS messages, Notes etc to the microSD card, but I just don't know if I'll able to restore these files to the new phone.

Your new phone is an Optus X Start 3? I don't know anything about that device. But I think it's a Chinese phone(possibly made by TCL), that's badged and customised for Optus. It may have an import feature, to import contacts, SMS, photos, etc. But that Notes is proprietary to Huawei, and their Notepad app is not available separately. But if it can export to TXT or HTML, you maybe able to import it to OneNote, EverNote, Google Keep, etc.

FWIW last year I changed my main phone from Huawei Mate10 to Samsung Note20 Ultra, used Smart Switch, and that did pretty much everything. But I kept the Huawei as a secondary phone.

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

I'm sure that "Notes App" is proprietary to Huawei devices running EMUI or HarmonyOS only.
But apparently they can be exported.
https://consumer.huawei.com/en/support/content/en-us15789966/

• Handwritten notes cannot be exported, and other types of notes can be exported into TXT or HTML files. You can search for saved notes in Files.
  
• To share multiple notes, access the All notes screen, touch and hold a note, and select the ones you want to share. Then touch and share them as prompted.

I've never used the stock Notes app that comes with Huawei devices myself. And have always used OneNote, and that syncs to any phone, and computers as well.



You might be able to punch it out to the smaller nano-SIM size. But if in doubt obtain a new SIM from your carrier.

Thanks!

This is the phone here with full specs to help you see what I have: https://www.optus.com.au/prepaid/phones/optus/x-start-3

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

Not sure if I can guide you much. I have a Huawei phone here, a Mate 10, but it's a Chinese variant running HarmonyOS. And the Backup service on this device only backups to Huawei Cloud(which I think is China only), or to HiSuite running on a PC or Mac.



Your new phone is an Optus X Start 3? I don't know anything about that device. But I think it's a Chinese phone(possibly made by TCL), that's badged and customised for Optus. It may have an import feature, to import contacts, SMS, photos, etc. But that Notes is proprietary to Huawei, and their Notepad app is not available separately. But if it can export to TXT or HTML, you maybe able to import it to OneNote, EverNote, Google Keep, etc.

FWIW last year I changed my main phone from Huawei Mate10 to Samsung Note20 Ultra, used Smart Switch, and that did pretty much everything. But I kept the Huawei as a secondary phone.

I just checked and it's made by ZTE: https://ztemobiles.com.au/optus-x-start-3/

To make it easier for people to see, this is the list of my new phone's specs:

SIM Card Nano SIM card
Operating System Android R GO Edition
Processor Quad-Core (1.4GHz*4)
Memory 1GB RAM; 32GB (about 24GB available to the user); MicroSD card up to 256GB
Display 5” FWVGA+ 480×960 pixels Display
Camera Main Cameras – 5MP Rear Camera with Flash; Front camera – 2MP

 

[svim]

Half your problem you need to consider is your old Huawei phone, that's the source that you're trying to extract your data off of. That Optus model also being so dated with be an issue too but it's your files and data you're trying to transfer over that you need to focus on. That's the initial problem, the phone you're using on the receiving end is a secondary task.

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

Half your problem you need to consider is your old Huawei phone, that's the source that you're trying to extract your data off of. That Optus model also being so dated with be an issue too but it's your files and data you're trying to transfer over that you need to focus on. That's the initial problem, the phone you're using on the receiving end is a secondary task.

Thanks!

I'm looking to try to copy off my contacts list and SMS messages to my Google Drive or another cloud storage App somehow.

I just looked up Files By Google and it's not supported on my current Huawei phone...

 

[svim]

Thanks!

I'm looking to try to copy off my contacts list and SMS messages to my Google Drive or another cloud storage App somehow.

I just looked up Files By Google and it's not supported on my current Huawei phone...

I never even suggested you'd even be able to install any modern utility app to transfer data. Your Huawei phone simply is too dated to support such things. Again, you'll need to resort to a more piecemeal task of manually copy-and-pasting what you can and then to transfer over files in batches using that 8GB microSD card. I'd stop wasting time trying to find automated shortcuts and just start trying to manually migrate what data you can save. You're working with two below-spec phones so reset your expectations down accordingly.

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

I never even suggested you'd even be able to install any modern utility app to transfer data. Your Huawei phone simply is too dated to support such things. Again, you'll need to resort to a more piecemeal task of manually copy-and-pasting what you can and then to transfer over files in batches using that 8GB microSD card. I'd stop wasting time trying to find automated shortcuts and just start trying to manually migrate what data you can save. You're working with two below-spec phones so reset your expectations down accordingly.

Thanks!

I'm working on what you said now. I now understand that I need to focus on exporting as much data as I can.

My last problem is regarding the SIM card: the SIM card in the Huawei is too big so I can't use it on the new Optus Start 3 phone. What can I do about this???

By the way, svim, I tried leaving a compliment on your user profile, but it says I'm unable to view your user profile.

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

Is it possible for me to simply backup all of the old phones data to my Gmail account? I have a 100GB Google account.

My Google account says that my Huawei data is backed up and I've spent the past 90minutes trying to view the backed up Huawei data, but I still don't know how to view this...

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

Okay I just tried installing the "Google Drive" App from the Google Play Store onto the old Huawei, it keeps saying there isn't enough storage space(4GB) internal memory and that's even after I deleted a bunch of things like "Clear cache"...

The only Apps I have downloaded on this Huawei is Google Chrome, Google Maps and the Google Play Store App.

It looks like you're Svim, I'm going to need to use the microSD card...

 

[svim]

Just to repeat, your Huawei is a really dated model so you can continue wasting time and effort trying to find some kind of quick and easy solution to transferring your data off of it, or you can start to move on and go through the more arduous project of manually copy-and-pasting data in batches to that 8GB microSD card.

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

Just to repeat, your Huawei is a really dated model so you can continue wasting time and effort trying to find some kind of quick and easy solution to transferring your data off of it, or you can start to move on and go through the more arduous project of manually copy-and-pasting data in batches to that 8GB microSD card.

Thanks!

I'll keep trying to install Google Drive because I think I can move over a lot of my Huawei's data to my Google Drive account in the cloud and then transfer it to the new phone.

What should I do about the old SIM card not fitting into the new phone?

 

[svim]

SIM cards come in three different sizes so if your current SIM card is smaller and you need a larger one for your new phone than you need to contact your carrier for a new SIM card that does fit. Hopefully their default SIM card size matches up with your new phone.
If your current SIM card is larger and you need a smaller card for your new phone than if you have have a steady hand trim the card down to its appropriate size, or buy a trimmer device. Or just contact your carrier for a new SIM card.
https://oneandroid.net/how-to-cut-a-sim-card-to-the-size-of-a-nano-sim-or-micro-sim-2/

 

[kate]

I regularly use the backup app to backup my contacts, SMS messages, Notes etc to the microSD card, but I just don't know if I'll able to restore these files to the new phone.

This is the newest version of SMS Backup & Restore that says it works with Android 4:
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/synct...s-backup-restore-9-75-1-android-apk-download/

It's only 6MB so you should be able to install it.

Don't know if this will work, but you could install that on your old phone to back up your texts, then install the latest version of SMS Backup & Restore on your new phone to restore all your texts.

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

SIM cards come in three different sizes so if your current SIM card is smaller and you need a larger one for your new phone than you need to contact your carrier for a new SIM card that does fit. Hopefully their default SIM card size matches up with your new phone.
If your current SIM card is larger and you need a smaller card for your new phone than if you have have a steady hand trim the card down to its appropriate size, or buy a trimmer device. Or just contact your carrier for a new SIM card.
https://oneandroid.net/how-to-cut-a-sim-card-to-the-size-of-a-nano-sim-or-micro-sim-2/

Thanks!

I just checked the specifications of my old phone and the new phone I want to move my data over to and it says:

Huawei old phone: Single SIM (Mini-SIM)

New phone: Nano SIM

I tried accessing your link but I keep getting "Database error"?

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

This is the newest version of SMS Backup & Restore that says it works with Android 4:
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/synct...s-backup-restore-9-75-1-android-apk-download/

It's only 6MB so you should be able to install it.

Don't know if this will work, but you could install that on your old phone to back up your texts, then install the latest version of SMS Backup & Restore on your new phone to restore all your texts.

Thanks!

I've never tried installing an app that's not directly from the Google Play Store so I'm really nervous about installing the App you linked to...

I just deleted some files on my old Huawei phone and I was able to install the Google Drive App from the Google Play Store. What data like SMS Messages, phone contacts etc can I copy from the Huawei old phone and put into Google Drive so I can access my data on the new phone?

Edit: I'm looking through the Google Drive App now but it's not giving me the option to upload my SMS Messages/phone contacts etc from the Huawei...

What's the best Google made App I can install for transferring my SMS Messages/phone contacts etc???

 

[NewbAndroidUser]

Okay I just created a backup of all the SMS messages, phone contacts and other data on the Huawei phone using the "Built in backup App" that came with the Huawei phone and copied them to an micro SD card.

I inserted the micro SD card into my PC and the there are files called "Notes.DB" and "Contacts.DB" etc and I'm happy to see that these seemed to have been backed up!

However, I'm unsure what App I need to use to open these ".DB" files???

 

[svim]

Thanks!
I've never tried installing an app that's not directly from the Google Play Store so I'm really nervous about installing the App you linked to...
.....

The APKMirror site is likely to be safer or at least just as than Google's Play Store. APKMirror is much, much smaller in scale than the Play Store so it can check and verify each APK it hosts (On the other hand, the Play Store receives literally tens of thousands of app submissions each day worldwide so it would be a much more involved process to apply the same level of vetting each app individually. There simply are too many posts with bad intentions to screen out all of them.)
https://www.apkmirror.com/faq/#Safety_and_Security

Regarding those db files, those are the actual database files that apps use to store your data. Use the corresponding backup app to import those db files or if there is an Import option in the Notes app and the Contacts app on your new Optus phone try that.