Backup assistant Rom enemy #1?

[Nickchapa]

Why do all the roms remove backup assistant? And Is there a way to get it back?

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App

 

[MrKleen]

What do you need it for? All of your apps come back automatically when you flash a new rom.

 

[sephtin]

Why do all the roms remove backup assistant? And Is there a way to get it back?

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App

My understanding as to why it is removed from ROMs, is because the MotoBLUR way of having contacts in a "phone" category is just that, MotoBLUR only.
(As in, I don't think AOSP (etc. etc.) handles this very well).

Easy fix for you though!
Migrating contacts from "Phone" (BackUp Assistant), to Google Contacts

Just save yourself the headache, and migrate them to Google Contacts. You'll always have your contacts that way, no dealing with VZW's BUA...

 

[MrKleen]

I've never understood why it was even there since Google backs the important stuff up anyway.

My contacts and apps follow me everywhere I go.

I think they put it there only because people don't know they don’t need it. Just like VZ Navigator, people will pay for it because they don’t know they have google navigation for free.

 

[doomgazer]

Personally, I use Backup Assistant and Gmail as separate contact lists. My BA contacts are those with phone numbers only. The Gmail ones are users with email.

I sync my Gmail address book with multiple devices and don't like weeding through a bunch of phone-only contacts to send an email. I suppose a person could just sync to an additional Gmail account, but saying it doesn't serve a purpose is incorrect - and for the record it's a free service.

 

[sephtin]

Personally, I use Backup Assistant and Gmail as separate contact lists. My BA contacts are those with phone numbers only. The Gmail ones are users with email.

I sync my Gmail address book with multiple devices and don't like weeding through a bunch of phone-only contacts to send an email. I suppose a person could just sync to an additional Gmail account, but saying it doesn't serve a purpose is incorrect - and for the record it's a free service.

Don't need to use sep. gmail account. Just create a different group in google contacts, and don't include that group on other phones....

Not sure how it is on Blur (I know it can be done).. but the steps on AOSP to include other groups:
Open contacts, Menu> Display options> (your google contacts email address)> Check the boxes of the contact groups you want to sync.

So.. Still zero need EVER to have BUA on the phone. Get rid of the dependency of another service syncing, and another complication...

 

[doomgazer]

Not sure how it is on Blur (I know it can be done).. but the steps on AOSP to include other groups:
Open contacts, Menu> Display options> (your google contacts email address)> Check the boxes of the contact groups you want to sync.

So.. Still zero need EVER to have BUA on the phone. Get rid of the dependency of another service syncing, and another complication...

Except I'm not talking about syncing to other phones - I sync to other devices in general - computers, Windows Mobile PDAs, etc. The sync solutions for all these unfortunately do not support Gmail labels (or do in a very limited fashion). I like the fact that my phone contacts are completely separate. If I decided to switch to a dumbphone again or some other non-droid device, I can happily resync my contacts at any time using BUA rather than messing around with other methods or relying on VZW to do it for me at the store. In any event it's personal preference. Some people find a use for it while others deem it completely useless.

Ideally, it should be a completely separate and all-inclusive apk that could be installed/uninstalled at will by the user, much like the facebook, twitter, and other apps available (not including blur or other vendor-forced garbage).

 

[sephtin]

Not sure how it is on Blur (I know it can be done).. but the steps on AOSP to include other groups:
Open contacts, Menu> Display options> (your google contacts email address)> Check the boxes of the contact groups you want to sync.

So.. Still zero need EVER to have BUA on the phone. Get rid of the dependency of another service syncing, and another complication...

Except I'm not talking about syncing to other phones - I sync to other devices in general - computers, Windows Mobile PDAs, etc. The sync solutions for all these unfortunately do not support Gmail labels (or do in a very limited fashion). I like the fact that my phone contacts are completely separate. If I decided to switch to a dumbphone again or some other non-droid device, I can happily resync my contacts at any time using BUA rather than messing around with other methods or relying on VZW to do it for me at the store. In any event it's personal preference. Some people find a use for it while others deem it completely useless.

Ideally, it should be a completely separate and all-inclusive apk that could be installed/uninstalled at will by the user, much like the facebook, twitter, and other apps available (not including blur or other vendor-forced garbage).

I still think you mis understand.

Almost all sync solutions with Google Contacts ONLY sync the "My Contacts" group on Google Contacts. I don't believe there is a single one out there that syncs to the "All Contacts" group (that contains all of the other contacts).

I don't believe these are labels... and please correct me if I'm wrong (It happens!))...

Edit: And in the event that you Do switch to a dumb phone, you could always export your contacts from Google Contacts, and Import them to My Verizon.. so it's still a moot point...

 

[doomgazer]

I don't believe these are labels... and please correct me if I'm wrong (It happens!))...

I'm not sure what google calls them, but yeah I know what you're talking about. I'd have to play around with it but last time I tried I had a mess when trying to sync other groups/labels.

I could just as easily import my address book on my other gmail account since I have two of them set up on my phone, but I'm just trying to explain that there is a case where BUA has a use. The blackberry my phone replaced had a little bit of a water accident and I couldn't get it to sync to a PC anymore and BUA is what saved my address book without having to re-enter every contact.

 

[Incredibilly]

I don't believe these are labels... and please correct me if I'm wrong (It happens!))...

I'm not sure what google calls them, but yeah I know what you're talking about. I'd have to play around with it but last time I tried I had a mess when trying to sync other groups/labels.

I could just as easily import my address book on my other gmail account since I have two of them set up on my phone, but I'm just trying to explain that there is a case where BUA has a use. The blackberry my phone replaced had a little bit of a water accident and I couldn't get it to sync to a PC anymore and BUA is what saved my address book without having to re-enter every contact.

Just export your contacts to your SD, then use the contacts app in your newly flashed ROM to import the csv from your SD. You can sync your gmail contacts when you login, and still keep your local contacts local. I do the same, there's no reason to keep the more volatile contacts in my gmail.... plus, I prefer to keep social contacts separate from corporate ones.