As we all learned from the recent Sidekick debacle, it’s up to you — yes, you — to back up the data on your smartphone. Otherwise you’re risking disaster, whether from a spastic server or simply loss, theft, or damage.
Over at Gizmodo there’s a simple, straightforward guide to backing up smartphones. The author covers the basics for all six major platforms: Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. Here’s an excerpt:
Cellphone backup isn’t just a matter of keeping copies of data that you consciously archive every day, like contacts, photos and notes — it’s about keeping copies of information that you didn’t even know you wanted. How many times have you needed to dig through an old text message conversation? Referred back to your received call list to recover a number you didn’t save? In a lot of ways, your smartphone is more closely tied to your personal identity than your computer is.
So true, so true. Having recently suffered through some iPhone backup shenanigans of my own, I can attest to the importance of keeping your data archived (and to the crummy way iTunes makes this happen).
In some respects, your smartphone is itself a backup of the data that resides on your PC. But as more and more devices take the PC out of the equation (I’m looking at you, Palm Pre), it’s increasingly crucial that you make the effort to make backups. Of all your data. End of sermon.
