Importing contacts from old phone to a new kin
stvw
Newbie

I just received my new kin twom. So far I love it. As I have read before it is not easy to get your contacts from your old phone to the new kins. Well I went to the local Verizon store and was told by not only a salesmen but also the manager that they received an e-mail earlier in the day that an update to their software will be released new week that will allow the stores to get you contacts from an old phone to the new kins. I just wanted to let you all know. I'm in Ohio but have seen other state already have gotten the software update. I will try again this weekend at the store to see if they got the update.

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Re: Importing contacts from old phone to a new kin
mcdietz
Enthusiast - Level 3

Ok, so this isn't necessarily the perfect fix that everybody is looking for, but it does speed up the process of transferring contacts.

 

-  Follow the steps in this KIN walkthrough provided by Verizon all the way to the end.

-  Then you will need to open the browser on your KIN ONEm or TWOm.

-  Go to live.com and sign in to the account to which you imported the contacts.

-  Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and then click contacts.

-  You will now see a screen with all of the contacts that you imported into the account.

-  You can click on the phone number and will have the option to call, text, or add to contacts.

-  Choose add to contacts and then type in the name for that contact and save it.

-  Hit the back button and repeat for all of the contacts on your list.

 

So I realize this isn't a complete fix, but it does save some time since you don't have to import the numbers for everybody in your contacts, only the names.  Hope this can help somebody.

 

Also, if your curious, I believe the machine that the VZW stores use to transfer contacts is called a Cellebrite UME-36.  Found out that you could even buy one on ebay for $800+.  Haha, not that this is of any real value, though.

 

 

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Re: Importing contacts from old phone to a new kin
fisharefriends
Contributor - Level 3

That is good news. I actually bought a kin twom in-store on thursday. Over thanksgiving, i went in and asked them about it, seeing if i could have them ship the phone (cause it was presumably online-only) to the store, and i pick it up there. I did this because i wanted the local store support rather than only being able to go over the phone.  What they told me, was that they were going to be sold in stores by Dec. 8, with live demos out, etc. So, i went in on thursday (dec 9), but they didn't have hte kin out on the demo floor, they had to go back to the stock room and charge their demo set for me to play around with it. My guess initially was because they couldn't get backup assist working, they were delaying it. Also, i asked how many they had in stock, and he said 4 of 5, that came in about a month before.  So..i bought it, and was half hoping they would be able to wire-connect my old device (old razr v3m) and transfer them, but after about an hour, i just gave up and took the phone.

 

Sidenote..to answer some other questions i've seen asked, yes, this phone is in-stores. You just have to talk to them like you know what is going on. And yes, the sales reps probably won't know what you are talking about, unless you ask specifically and then they can go ask the manager/call supervisors. There are a lot of people here complaining about salesmen, but its just how business works, you have different levels of employees that know different amounts of knowledge (now, if only verizon realized how much better for business it would be in the long run if they ensured all their employees knew their product details..but nothing you can do about that). I am not sure if all their stores (which i doubt) have the kin twom in stores, the one i went to was a full-fledged verizon store, not a mall cart or best-buy reseller, etc.

 

Back on topic, So far, i haven't had much time to transfer contacts (got to C's...), but i probably will go back to the store soon and see if they have that update. That will save me loads of time, thanks for the heads up! And for all of you are letting no backup assist deter you from getting this phone...remember it is a 1 time thing! that is the one thing that made me not really care too much if it worked or not. I am very satisfied with the phone, i'm not sure if that is because i am coming from a dinosaur phone, but remember, it is a feature phone, not a smart phone. yes, there are little quirks that bother me about it (most have been stated in other posts), but like everyone else here...i got it for the 8 mp cam, 720p vid, and wifi. I will post a further review in a new post later (with a more detailed explanation about data blocking too..)

 

My guess is, verizon is trying to clear warehouses (not surprisingly), but also, they are hoping that the phone will sell like  hotcakes. Whether they are just going for ridding inventory, or if they have plans for more production if it is successful, i don't know. I am hoping for the latter though, because i know loads of people that would jump on a feature phone with that quality camera and wifi.  Verizon's problem: they aren't marketing this phone at all. The only things you hear, are people shooting it down because it failed the first time through. It is like they are commiting no marketing to the phone at all. It is a great phone, and best-case scenario, verizon and microsoft see that feature phones like this are in big demand (for the reasons listed above..which no other feature phones have, on any service plan for that matter..but ironically somehting simple as an iTouch has wifi..). With high sales, they reinitiate support for the phone, and bring software updates.  They are really simple fixes...would take 1 software engineer a week to do..if they had the commitment to do it.

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Re: Importing contacts from old phone to a new kin
michaelslw
Enthusiast - Level 3

went to my verizon store today and got hands on with a real kin twom. funny thing is, all the employees there think it's just the original coming back. so i opened a little lesson to them about this new "feature phone."

 

hopefully there will be more updates soon in the next few days as it seems like verizon is finally getting ready to sell some feature phones.

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Re: Importing contacts from old phone to a new kin
hb2010
Newbie

Thanks for the great news. I just had a quick question.

 

Has anyone tried transferring contacts in the store and had it work? I really want my contacts transferred, but I don't want waste my time going to the store if it is not working yet. Any updates would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

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Re: Importing contacts from old phone to a new kin
KenH
Newbie

Yes, The local Verizon store (Chandler,AZ) read both my Moto KRZR and my son's Treo and transfered the contacts to our new Kin two m's.

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Re: Importing contacts from old phone to a new kin
fisharefriends
Contributor - Level 3

Thanks for the update. I bought the Kin twom last week (thursday), and they were not able to transfer the contacts after an hour, so i just told them it was ok and took it without them. I started entering them slowly (haven't had much time..its finals week), but gave up after C because i read verizon's systems were getting updates. I think i will go in over the weekend and hope my local branch has recieved the update, so i save myself a few hours. I am upgrading from an old free razr, so it should have identical formats as the krzr you said you updated from.

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Re: Importing contacts from old phone to a new kin
mcdietz
Enthusiast - Level 3

Ok, so this isn't necessarily the perfect fix that everybody is looking for, but it does speed up the process of transferring contacts.

 

-  Follow the steps in this KIN walkthrough provided by Verizon all the way to the end.

-  Then you will need to open the browser on your KIN ONEm or TWOm.

-  Go to live.com and sign in to the account to which you imported the contacts.

-  Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and then click contacts.

-  You will now see a screen with all of the contacts that you imported into the account.

-  You can click on the phone number and will have the option to call, text, or add to contacts.

-  Choose add to contacts and then type in the name for that contact and save it.

-  Hit the back button and repeat for all of the contacts on your list.

 

So I realize this isn't a complete fix, but it does save some time since you don't have to import the numbers for everybody in your contacts, only the names.  Hope this can help somebody.

 

Also, if your curious, I believe the machine that the VZW stores use to transfer contacts is called a Cellebrite UME-36.  Found out that you could even buy one on ebay for $800+.  Haha, not that this is of any real value, though.

 

 

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Re: Importing contacts from old phone to a new kin
mcdietz
Enthusiast - Level 3

Turns out after doing a little more research that this solution was already offered on another thread.

 

Here is what jcr said http://community.vzw.com/t5/KIN/kin-ONEm-uploading-contacts-from-backup-assistant/m-p/342190/highlig...

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Re: Importing contacts from old phone to a new kin
fisharefriends
Contributor - Level 3

Just an update, was successfully able to transfer my contacts from my old phone In-store.

I purchased my Kin twom last week, but they were unable to transfer my contacts after an hour of trying. After reading that they were recieving system updates, i went in today again and asked to transfer my contacts. I went into an actual verizon store, not a reseller, and was specific about what i wanted, and the details of the situation. I don't think verizon has updated their employees about this phone, so make sure you let them know it has no backup assist, and that you know that some stores recently recieved system updates (i told them that last week someone recieved the update, and their rep said that most stores should have the update in a week, or today), so then they know it is possible to transfer contacts. Then all they need to do is contact the right person with the right information to get it to work. Overall, it took me about 40 minutes (including drive time..so really 30 min in-store) to get the contacts transferred, saved me a great deal of time not having to enter contacts in. Hope this helps.

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Re: Importing contacts from old phone to a new kin
mcdietz
Enthusiast - Level 3

I have done some more searching and thanks to a couple other forums I have a couple of ideas about how we might eventually be able to find a way to import contacts.

 

First off I modified a couple of values in the registry.  (Warning!! always be cautious modifying the registry, it can crash your computer.)

-- I selected the following key:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USB.

-- I then searched for PortableDeviceNameSpaceExcludeFromShell

-- I modified the following 3 values

--EnableLegacySupport from 0 to 1

--PortableDeviceNameSpaceExcludeFromShell  from 1 to 0

--ShowInShell  from 0 to 1

--I plugged in my phone using the USB cable, Zune started and then I exited out of zune.

--I opened up My Computer and the phone is now listed in along with the other hard drives, cd drives, etc.

--I was able to view all of the files that I had imported onto the phone.

--I could even move them from folder to folder, but was only able to copy them to the desktop or even open them.

 

I then did a little more searching in the service menu on the phone, which can be accessed by dialing ##77647266488 and pressing call.  Then type in 000000.

Once in the service menu I selected Contacts was not able to select import because it was greyed out, but was able to select export.  I then was able to see that the file existed by opening up My Computer, but again was denied access to the file.

So I went back into the service menu I selected other.  I then swiped my finger across the screen to the right.

3 different USB modes are available.

Your computer will try to find different drivers depending on which mode is turned on when you plug the phone into your computer using the USB cable.

With all 3 modes turned off the USB mode is labeled as MTPClientDrvUSB and this driver is found using the ZUNE software.

With PPro turned on it is labeled "USBDebug" and tries to find a "pmx usb debug" driver and cannot find one.

With USB Pass-Through turned on it is labeled "Serial_Class" and tries to find a "Pink CDMA Diagnostics" driver but cannot find one.

With both PPro and USB Pass-Through turned on it is labeled "CompositeFN" and cannot find a driver.

With USB Vid Stream turned on it doesn't seem to make a difference.

 

 

All this to say perhaps if we could find a driver for one of these other modes we might be able to gain access to the files on the phone.  Hopefully somebody else will be able to find something.

 

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