Learn how to backup your Android smartphone

There are only a few years cell phones were basic appliances capable of little more than make and receive calls. But today these devices are so important when a desktop or notebook, and are full of valuable e-mail, contact lists, videos, photos and documents.

People depend on their smartphones every day, and losing the data stored on them can be as disastrous as suffering a crash of HD home PC. This is why doing a regular backup of information on your smartphone is as important as backing up your PC.

Most smartphones have an option to back up information on a computer or the Internet. In case of an accident - in the case of smartphones may mean a fall from the table or diving into a swimming pool - the information can be easily restored after the device being repaired, or transferred to a new device. Here are some tips to keep your Android smartphone INFORMATION IN safe.

Let Google back up your configuration

Android is able to save information in a transparent way as your preferred wireless networks, bookmarks and custom entries in the dictionary on Google's servers. To enable this feature go to Settings / Privacyand select the options Data Backup and Restore Automatic . Now go to Settings / Accounts and select your Google account. Check all the options shown on the screen, so that all data is synchronized.

The exact procedure may vary slightly from device to device. The above steps were testaddos on a Motorola Atrix with Android 2.3

Backup extra

Google does not backup the SMS / MMS, playlists and alarms, but for that you can use third party software. A popular choice is the MyBackup Pro, which allows secure storage of backups on remote servers or your own memory card, with optional automatic scheduling.

The app is not free (costs $ 4.99 in the Android Market) but can be tried for free for a period of 30 days.

Back up photos and videos

To save your photos and videos, an option is to backup manually on a computer. Plug your smartphone to your PC using a USB cable and it should appear as if it were an external hard drive. Go to the DCIM folder, that's where you took the photos and videos you recorded with your camera phone. Select the files you want to copy and drag them to a folder on your computer.

If you think the somewhat cumbersome manual backup, can use software to automate the process. A popular option is the DoubleTwist, an app that, besides functioning as a great media player, synchronizes data between your computer (either Mac or PC) and your smartphone, similar to iTunes. The program is free and can transfer data between your smartphone and PC using a USB cable or a wireless connection using the AirSync add-on, which costs about $ 9.00 in the Android Market.