iphone - importing contacts / starting a new backup file

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Hey guys,

I currently have an original iphone, and will be upgrading to the 3GS this weekend. However, my current iphone has gone through hacking, unhacking, and multiple exchanges (this is the 4th physical phone) while running off the same backup file, which indeed transferred all the problems from phone to phone. The phone does not allow me to change my background, and generally seems to be unresponsive to backups and syncing (will get stuck in backing up certain programs and won't even get to the music part of the sync).

I'm somewhat frustrated with this backup file and want to basically start with a clean slate for my 3GS. If I can get the phone to sync up my pictures and contacts, I wouldn't ever look back at the old backup file.

Any ideas on how to get the pictures/contacts off my current iphone and import ONLY those settings into the new phone?

Thanks in advance,

Oleg
 
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Getting the pictures off should be easy:
If iPhoto is not recognizing your phone, plug it into any Windows PC and the camera connection wizard should pop right up. If it does not, you may have to have iTunes installed on the PC.

The contacts could be a bit tricky. If I read your post right I am going to assume that they are not currently syncing with the address book on your computer. If that is the case, you can export individual contacts by opening up the entry and clicking the "Share this contact" button at the bottom. This will allow you to email yourself a v-card of the contact to import into any contact manager of your choosing.
I wish I could help you more with the contacts, but without having access to your device, It's hard to guess at what might or might not work. So all I can do is wish you the best of luck!
 
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Getting the pictures off should be easy:
If iPhoto is not recognizing your phone, plug it into any Windows PC and the camera connection wizard should pop right up. If it does not, you may have to have iTunes installed on the PC.

The contacts could be a bit tricky. If I read your post right I am going to assume that they are not currently syncing with the address book on your computer. If that is the case, you can export individual contacts by opening up the entry and clicking the "Share this contact" button at the bottom. This will allow you to email yourself a v-card of the contact to import into any contact manager of your choosing.
I wish I could help you more with the contacts, but without having access to your device, It's hard to guess at what might or might not work. So all I can do is wish you the best of luck!

Right, I'm having a hard time getting my Mac to sync with the phone and figured there has to be a third-party application that can bypass iTunes to sync only the contact portion of the data.

I DID update the iPhone to 3.0, and the phone shows up in my iTunes just fine but when it goes through the backup stage, it seems to freeze up during the transfer/copying of my apps. Maybe I will uncheck sync apps and try it again later tonight and see if it updates my contacts.

Regardless, IF I do get the phone to sync the contacts, is there a way to sync them back to the new phone without syncing the rest of the junk with them? It's been a while since I started a new backup file, so I don't remember if it asks you to import contacts from the Apple contact application.

Oleg
 
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Regardless, IF I do get the phone to sync the contacts, is there a way to sync them back to the new phone without syncing the rest of the junk with them? It's been a while since I started a new backup file, so I don't remember if it asks you to import contacts from the Apple contact application.

If you get your contacts to sync back onto your Mac, you are golden. Just plug in your new phone, activate it, and when it asks if you wish to restore from a backup, just say no. From there you can set up your new phone as if it were, well, a new phone. It can be set up to sync with your Mac's built in apps with little work on your part and it will be smooth sailing from there.
 
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If you get your contacts to sync back onto your Mac, you are golden. Just plug in your new phone, activate it, and when it asks if you wish to restore from a backup, just say no. From there you can set up your new phone as if it were, well, a new phone. It can be set up to sync with your Mac's built in apps with little work on your part and it will be smooth sailing from there.

Thanks a lot! I will try this tonight and will post back the results.
 
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I know this involves a cost... but have you considered MobileMe?
 

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