[Discuss] Syncing Android phones directly

[Richard Pieri]

MBR wrote:
> Admittedly this isn't the same as synching with an application on the
> computer, but at least my data is archived on my own computer without
> having been transmitted through Google's or anyone else's.

It also likely won't restore everything properly to anything but an
identical device running the same or newer version of Android. This is
based on my own experience with Titanium Backup and three different
Android devices running different versions of Cyanogen Mod.

Fact is, Android isn't a standalone device. It's not a PDA like Palm.
It's an appliance for Google's storage system. Everything that resides
on an Android device is a replica of what's stored in the Google account
associated with that profile. That's how Android and all of the
Google-branded applications are designed to operate. Google encourages
third party application developers to follow suit.

By design. For all that Android is open source it's still 100% vendor
lock in. You can switch between various Android devices but you can't
leave the ecosystem without a great deal of effort.

If you're not ready to hand over copies of your data to Google then you
shouldn't go anywhere near Android. Or at least don't use it for
anything that you consider to be sensitive. Get a second hand Palm Treo
instead.

-- 
Rich P.