WebOS 2.1 backs up your text messages and call logs 29
Worry not, marathon texters and motor mouths, all that thumb work you did compiling 500 text messages in one day and the ten friends you called in ten minutes will not be lost again. At least for those of you already running the webOS 2.1 update, Backup now backs up your call and text history.
Per the 2.1 change log:
Information backed up to your Palm profile now includes call history entries, text messages, and instant messages. Note that multimedia messages are not backed up.
Even if you are on a 2.1 device, it is still a good idea to save any important messages to somewhere else. Copy and paste the text into Evernote, Notes, or other such cloud synced note system. It will be a lot easier to find your buddy’s embarrassing drunk text or that new girl’s phone number by searching with keywords rather than skimming through countless messages on your device.
If you’re still on a 1.4.5 device, you can have your texts and calls backed up online if you strictly use your Google Voice number and Voogle. That of course is not always practical, and neither is hacking 2.1 onto your non-German Pre or Pre Plus. So unless you can find a third party solution, for now you will just have to have a good memory. Or you could look at the glass as half full and consider it a bonus to cheating housewives and teens sneaking out of the house since they can still erase their entire incriminating history in one fell swoop.
Source: Palm; Thanks to Shadowhawk for the tip!
29 Comments
does this actually work on meta-doctored legacy devices? My palm profile is still showing i'm running 1.4.5 & I have unmasq'd.. It would make sense to me that this information wouldn't be backed up unless palm knows you're running 2.1, but of course I could be wrong. Has anyone tested this on a legacy device?
Yes, it goes.
My Sprint Pre- is running 2.1 and I had to re-meta-doctor it last night (my phone didn't like bumping up to the SR71 1.2gHz overclocking kernel) and all my call logs and texts (except multi-media messages) are still there.
As far as hacking 2.1 onto your legacy device not being practical... I can't disagree more. I'm no computer whiz and I was able to do it easily. Just make sure you use uberkernel (but I'd say that even if you're running 1.4.5).
oh cool, thanks for clearing that up =]
& I totally agree re:2.1, it's totally worth it.
should i like this? ofc i have my messages backed up. but then again, big brother is watching me... :-/
IIRC, there was a homebrew solution to locally saving that data. So what if you...
1) Make a local back up while on 1.4.5.
2) Do FrankenPre or official upgrade.
3) Restore all official profile data once on 2.1.
4) Merge back in your locally backed up data.
5) Perform Palm Backup and hope it collates the texts into the cloud data.
Would this work to merge old texts with the 2.1'd profile, or is stuff not compatible?
the information is no longer stored in the single 'PalmDatabase.db3' file, so no, restoring old text/call logs is currently not possible, however it may be in the future if some method of conversion can be worked out (but I wouldn't hold yer breath ;])
That's cruel to use a Verizon screen shot. Obviously a doctored Pre Plus since 2.1.0 still isn't available for the "flagship" Pre 2.
sure it is, the update dropped 3 days ago
http://www.precentral.net/webos-2-1-released-pre-2-exhibition-mode-tow
The update is not available for the VZW Pre 2.
The last thing i want is my text messages saved where anyone can read them. i'm sure the phone company is storing it anyways but i can't say this is a positive. Makes me feel like i'm being wire tapped.
it's not like there's a web-portal where you can read them, in fact it's not even being stored in a format readable to anything but the phone (& on top of that there is no way to download that file to anything but a phone being restored with your profile info)
TEST ASSIST SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST THING THEY ADDED....
Learn to spell.
His spelling is fine. I think you mean "learn to grammar." :)
GET YOUR STORY STRAIGHT.... I saw the commercials!! It was SOCCER MOMS who use the Pre.... not Cheating house wives!!!!
SOCCER MOMS!!!
can you hear me now?
sheesh what is this world comming to...
I wish i could jump onto 2.1 on my sprint pre. But without A legit option for sprint nav. I cant. Is it early summer yet? Antsy in my pantsy for webos freshness.
Hey, soccer mom's are hot -I should know - I married one!
and now I think I may metadoctor my Sprint Pre...
I'm a bit confused, are verizon pre plus phones getting 2.1 or no? If O2 Pre Plus's are I don't see why my pre plus on verizon wouldn't? What am I missing here?
http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/WebOS_2_Upgrade
among the 3 us carriers, the Verizon Pre+ upgrades to 2.1.0 the best due to the 2.0.1 compatible apps lifted from the Verizon Pre2 2.0.1 webos image. Sprint Pre's lose sprintnav and can't update the phone's PRL, while AT&T Pre+'s don't get any carrier apps and still have to make do with a 1.4.5 palm profile.
I understand that I can manually hack 2.1 onto my device, but since O2 has an official doctor for a palm pre plus, when will verizon get an official doctor?
there may or may not be an official VZW 2.1.0 update, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Honestly though, the meta-doctor 2.1 upgrade is nearly equivalent. Since it uses the VZW packages from the official Pre2 installer, the differences between it and an "official" upgrade are pretty much nil. Calling this particular upgrade a 'manual hack' is an insult to how graceful and complete the upgrade is.
Yeah, the first time I upgraded it did feel like a hack - no VZW apps, still had a SIM Tools app and phantom SIM address book, palm profile said v 1.4.5 so no 2.x-only apps, etc. Now all the VZW apps are here, SIM stuff is gone, palm profile is 2.1.0, it's all good. I can't imagine what would be different with an "official" VZW upgrade.
edit: and by the way, when (if?) the official Pre2 2.1.0 upgrade is released on Verizon, you can likely expect a new version of the meta-verizon-preplus-2.1.0 script that will build the upgrade using the official VZW 2.1.0 apps out of the new webos image. The differences will be slight, but will make the meta-upgrade even more perfect.
Thanks for the info, I hear 2.1 solves many of the GPS issues Pre's on Verizon have faced, I should have known the homebrew community would be forced to fix something so basic to a smartphone platform that Palm/HP couldn't deliver it.
what about pictures and videos on my USB partition and that cloud storage?
One word:
"Yay!"
Weve only been asking for this since day of of the riginal Pre launch!
Just one VERY IMPORTANT caveat here. The restored SMS thread is NOT linked to your contacts so it is simply a static record. So it really isn't useful like we would hope yet.
Can others confirm this?
I thought I just had a strange coincidence when this happen, like 2.x stored txts in usb or some doctor-safe dir, but this makes more sense.
interesting! it'd be nice to have the say wrt what gets backed up and what doesn't on an item-by-item basis rather than all-or-nothing.
This is what they're spending their efforts on?
friggin waste of time
So useful, I could have used this when I had to replace my Sprint Pre a few times.