Tech Tip: Smartphone contacts and calendar syncing

One of the more daunting task of getting a new cellphone is having to transfer all your contact information from your old one to your new phone. The contact info can be stored and transfered  in several ways; on a SIM card (For GSM phones), or it can be stored on your provider’s server, or have it backed up on a computer. For those smartphone users out there, there is a much easier and more efficient way of transferring your contact information or even your calendar entries to your new phone. You’ll only need one thing; get a Google Gmail account.

If you already have one then you’re set. In your Gmail account you’ll need to have or add all your contact information. If you have only a few contacts you can manually enter them in, but if you’re like me with over 300 contacts I recommend exporting your contacts from your phone then import them into your Gmail account. One way of exporting your contacts is to sync your info with Microsoft Outlook or any email client that your phone supports. Then use that email client to export the contact info into a CSV file. From there, you can import that CSV file into your Gmail account.

Smartphones today such as the iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and Nokia have the ability to sync their contacts directly with Google. Some phones can even sync with other services such as Yahoo or Hotmail. Setting up Google Sync is easy as downloading an App or change some settings on your phone.

Having your contact info sync with services like Google is great because it’s free. And if you ever lose your phone or get a new one you can easily restore your info without needing to tether it to a computer.