Make new phone think it is my old phone?

[alanhatcher]

I got a smokin' deal on two used 6700's earlier this year thinking "Hey, ya never know...I might break one." Well guess what?

Just like bread always lands butter-side down, a tree branch wrenched open my hard case and the 6700 went flying, landing face down on the edge of a pointy rock. Phone still works, screen is toast.

Rather than swapping screens, can I swap some guts (memory?) and make the new phone appear to be the old phone? Like, I know I could transfer a hard drive out of a fried computer into a 2nd, identical computer and it would still look and act the same (same windows desktop etc.).

I just want the simplest way to get my phone back just like it was: contacts, screen settings, game high scores...everything. I don't think Active Sync is the answer, but maybe I'm wrong. The 6700 I've been using is a bit worse for wear on the outside (besides the screen); this is why I'd rather switch over to the back up phone (and be a lot more careful with it in the future), rather than putting a new(er) screen on the more used phone.

BTW I tried searching for this with no luck. I didn't really know what key words to search for.

[darren.wlsn1]

sync it over. get a backup app also. spb works great. link http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/backup/

[alanhatcher]

Both phones are WM6. Active Sync will save EVERYTHING about the broken phone, then let me make the new phone look/act IDENTICAL to the old phone? Home screen settings, apps, alarm settings, wireless settings, bluetooth settings, game high scores, contacts...EVERYTHING?

I don't use Active Sync. I would have to install it on my PC. No big deal if it really will do what I'm wanting.

The back up app would be AFTER I get a working phone with a viewable screen, correct?

[PDAPhoneJunkie]

You can take apart the phone and just replace the screen.

[alanhatcher]

Originally Posted by PDAPhoneJunkie

You can take apart the phone and just replace the screen.

Yes I know; I'm looking for alternatives. I'll go through Active Sync if it will do what I want (which is basically transfer the entire contents of the brain and nervous system from one phone to another of identical make and model).

[Keir333]

Originally Posted by alanhatcher

The back up app would be AFTER I get a working phone with a viewable screen, correct?

The back up app, if you're referring to SPB Backup wouldn't be able to do you much good if the screen is completely shot and you can't see what programs you're running.

I would highly recommend that program to use after you find a solution to your problem though. SPB Backup will restore everything to exactly the way you had it before...including file folder structures you have in your menus(I like to organize my Programs folder into different folders instead of one really long list)...it will also back up any short cuts to programs you have assigned to hardware keys, including whether the program is assigned to a long or short press of the key.

Active Sync will only back up your Outlook contacts and your Outlook calendar. I don't use Active Sync for back up purposes at all, and I'm pretty sure that most of the people here don't bother with it either. There are so many easier to use and far more effective ways to back up the information on your phone.

But as far as a complete back up application, I haven't found one better than SPB Backup. It is a pay program, but I believe they offer a free trial now.

Maybe you could try replacing the screen from the broken one with the new one, and make a back up. Then if the old one suffered from any other unseen damage besides the screen, you could swap the screen back to the new one and restore the new one with all the programs/settings of the old one. I know that sounds like a lot of work, but it's a thought.

-Keir-

[Keir333]

Originally Posted by alanhatcher

Yes I know; I'm looking for alternatives. I'll go through Active Sync if it will do what I want (which is basically transfer the entire contents of the brain and nervous system from one phone to another of identical make and model).

Active Sync won't do this, but like I said in my previous post, SPB Backup will.

I haven't used this method, but I think there is a way to connect to your phone with SPB Backup through a computer and create a back up file that way, so it wouldn't matter if you can see what's on the screen of the broken phone or not. Like I said, not 100% sure on that, but it'd be worth checking out.

-Keir-

[alanhatcher]

Originally Posted by Keir333

Active Sync won't do this, but like I said in my previous post, SPB Backup will.

I haven't used this method, but I think there is a way to connect to your phone with SPB Backup through a computer and create a back up file that way, so it wouldn't matter if you can see what's on the screen of the broken phone or not. Like I said, not 100% sure on that, but it'd be worth checking out.

-Keir-

I guess I know what my extra-curricular activity will be this week. I'm muddling through with phone #2 sans contact info for now. First and most important thing I need is contact info, so I'm going to play with Active Sync today and see if I can at least get those transfered. I'm barely familiar with the app; better than trying to download, install, learn new software (SPB Backup) while trying to be a semi-productive worker bee.

I found several links on the screen change operation but, since my ultimate goal would involve doing this twice (increasing the odds of screwing something up), I'm saving that one for my very last resort. I suspect if SPB Backup won't do the job [due to broken screen] I will probably just do a little pouting and settle for salvaging all of my contacts.

Thanks for the help folks. Additional ideas still welcome. I will add trial and error reports as I step through this -- surely I'm not the only gadget geek that bought two identical PPC phones when he only needed one.

I was certain someone was going to offer, "Yes, undo four screws and pull this card and that card and swap them out." Maybe I'm the one that needs to go into the wounded phone and experiment AFTER I get #2 as "cloned" as possible.

[alanhatcher]

Dangit!

After using Active Sync to do a backup (and remembering that I don't have Outlook installed because I don't like it) I'm now using mymobiler to see what's goin inside the busted screen 6700 and all my contacts appear to be gone! There is nothing there; zero contacts. Surely my contacts and NOTHING ELSE would have been lost due to a hard drop of the phone?? Saving contacts was the #1 reason for installing Active Sync. All game high scores are there; home screen is exactly as it should be.

May mymobiler can't do phone operations, including looking at contacts?

[gambatte]

Ouch...AS is kind of a dangerous program now and has been seriously crippled from what it used to do. You used to be able to completely backup the device and do this over WIFI. The conflict management was alot better too during syncing. I believe what has happened is that you have now synced your device to "data" that was on your PC, e.g. nothing. Usually it happens when you have an empty Outlook profile (a new PC) and syncing to the device. Erases contacts/calendar/tasks, etc. from the device. You probably have "replace items on device with PC" checked in AS. No warning. I know, pretty stupid. I didn't know that that would happen if you didn't have Outlook installed. I know that this is no comfort to you and after the fact but PIMbackup is invaluable in these cases:
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-...ckup-v2-8.html

I seriously doubt that the rock was smart enough to delete your contacts. LOL. Or the drop.