How easy/difficult to set up if bought online?

[Crockett]

My wife and I have a Verizon plan called "Nationwide 65 plus 450" that we got a little over 2 years ago. My wife went online and said we were eligible for an upgrade. My wife and I each have an original Droid with different phone numbers. I assume you'd call it a family plan.

I’m leaning on getting 2 Droid Bionics.

At the stores I’ve checked, the Bionic has been priced at $149. On the Verizon web site it’s priced at $99. I assume the extra $50 each is the price we’d pay for the retail store setting the phones up for us.

My questions –
1 - If we buy online, how difficult/easy is it to set up the phones ourselves?
2 – Is it difficult to keep our old telephone numbers?
3 – How do we transfer address books, pictures etc. over to the new phones?
4 – How do we wipe the data from our old phones?

Thanks for any help,
Crockett

 

[FunN4Lo]

I had the original Droid. I bought my Bionic on line. Set up is as easy as turning on and following prompts. When you enter your Gmail address all of your contacts will automatically down load.

 

[Crockett]

My gmail address???

I rely on AOL for my e-mail address on my desktop computer but I would assume since it's an android OS on the phone, I've got agmail address on it -- and my AOL mail is automatically sent to it on my phone.

So -- do I need to know what my gmail address is on my phone? Since I don't know that, how do I find out what it is?

Crockett

 

[Caren4u2]

Crockett,

Please excuse my response if it seems elementary. Wants to explain it so it is understood.
My understanding of the cellphone world is that any phone that you buy that is considered a "Droid" is run by an operating system that was written by the folks with Google. In order to set up the phone right out of the box, you need to enter a. Gmail account. Unless you saved your contacts to that Gmail account...no need to worry. Create a new one. (Free email account)
One thing I want to mention is.....there is POWER when intergrating everything. You will be able to do LOTS more with your Droid if you use a Gmail account. Even though you have AOL you should have the ability to "export" your aol contact list and then "inport" it into your gmail.
Even though Verizon has Back Up Assistant, I find it SO more convenient to save my contacts in Gmail instead of on my ph.

Not to worry.....on losing your AOL email account.
By the way.....I have a Bionic and LOVE it! There are 3 other Bionics in my family.

Regarding email......after you get your phone up and running.....there is a REALLY cool FREE app called K-9 Email which allows you to have more than one account. I have 6 myself.....which includes Yahoo, several Gmail, Comcast, and a corporate email account. K-9 allows you one place for all of them.
With a Gmail account you also have a calendar included. I save all of my calendar events to my Google calendar instead of just saving to the phone. If I ever happen to break or lose my Ph, I still have access to my calendar which can be reloaded to a new one.
With Gmail, you also have access to share your calendar with another gmail user. Because of this feature, my husband and I have access to each other's schedule. Now we no longer over commit ourselves because of what the spouse planned without me knowing it. VERY cool.

My hubby is a VZW employee. We order our new phones online all the time. If you are an existing VZW customer.....very simple. Just follow the instructions on the paperwork that comes with your Fedex package. After the phone is charged you should be up and running in a few minutes. If you are afraid that you are going to mess up something, bring your phone to the store.....and say you need help. (Bring your new gmail account with you)

Price: Yep, price has been around $149 lately. Before Christmas they were well over $200.00 We snagged it at $149 on VZW site around New Year's. Here's a golden nugget for you hang on to: Don't be afraid of buying a "certified like new" phone. Although these are not BRAND new phones.....you could say they are. When someone returns a phone to VZW, they are shipped back to the manufacturer who then disassembles it, gives it new parts of necessary and puts it back together. They look brand new when you get it. As a buyer of C.L.N. phones, you have the same exact 1 yr manufacturer's warranty as BRAND new. You also get the same 14 option to return it if not happy. You just have to know that the 14 days start once it's been bought, Brand new or Certified Like New. My SIL found Certified Like New Bionics.....two weeks ago for $29.99!

Here's another point for you. There's NO absolute guarranty that buying one brand new and paying more for it....that it's going to work perfectly. I had a phone I spent good money on had hindsight 20/20 was defective from day one. I kept passing it off as my ignorance not knowing how to use a smartphone.....until it started acting irradic and got very hot. Even though it had problems at the start, I waited too long to get another brand new one. Because of that when I shipped the old unit back (to the manufacturer) my replacement was a Certified like new (not a scratch or blemish on it)

Anyway......sorry so long. Hope this helps you.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[Caren4u2]

One more thing.. if York old phone has a micro SD card, transfer everything to the card...or email them as attachments to an email account. When you get the email sent up on-the-new phone.....download your old pics to the new phone. Volia!
To remove old data off of your old phone.....you should be able to do a "factory reset". That reverts to original settings.....and cleans out your old stuff.

You may want to keep your old phones as a back up in case one gets run over by the car or something. If you've got a back up plan.....check to see if Craigslist gives you any value to sell them to recoup the expense of the new phones.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[Crockett]

Thanks -- all good answers.

Thanks for the help -- looks like we'll buy online.

Crockett