Order of the Bath

These notes apply in particular to the ancient Nokia 6210, probably apply in general to most Nokia phones and may also apply to others with a little adaptation. It probably won’t be relevant or accurate for the newer all singing and dancing 3G phones.

The basic phone book on a mobile consists of a simple list of numbers against names. This list can be held either in the phone memory itself or on the SIM card. This is the small data card that your service provider gives you to identify your phone number and network and which is inserted in the back of your phone. It may also hold text messages and some other configuration information.

• Using the SIM card memory allows you to change handsets if, for example, the phone breaks or the battery is flat.
• Using the internal phone memory allows you to change service provider with a different SIM e.g. for travel abroad.

SIM cards are usually capable of holding between 50 and 250 name-number pairs. The phone memory may be larger or smaller and offer additional information such as multiple numbers, addresses and pictures. The 6210 can hold 500 names and additional information.

• Using both memories for the same numbers offers a limited backup; but not against losing the phone. You also need to be careful to synchronise them for any changes.
• Using both memories for different numbers gives you more space but makes what I am suggesting later very complicated.

To select which memory to use, use the menu path Names—Options—Memory in use.

To copy/move numbers from one memory to another, use the menu path Names—Copy. You are then given the option of direction, all or single numbers and whether to keep or erase the original. Only the basic name and number will be copied as that is all the SIM supports.

If you have sufficient internal memory and 250 or fewer entries in your phone book (depending on SIM card size) you can use this technique (with care) to transfer numbers from one handset or SIM card to another. It doesn’t do any harm to move SIM cards from one handset to another. Even if the SIM is incompatible with the handset because it is locked to one provider, you can still read and write it to transfer numbers. Pick a quiet time of day when you are unlikely to receive calls.

Backing up your phone book SIM to SIM

One way you can back up your numbers is to use an old or un-activated SIM card. We occasionally get these sent to us unsolicited and, though not usable until signed up, they can still store numbers. The recent ones we had from orange were 200 sized. Use the copy technique above to save a backup copy, then label it and keep it safe. Alternatively there are special devices to save the contents of a SIM or SIM reader/writers to plug into your PC which also allow you to edit them or interface with your other address books. Nether of these are any use if your phone book overspills the SIM onto the internal memory.

Infra-red or Bluetooth

My 6210 has infra-red communication so, with a suitably equipped computer (normally a laptop) this can be used to save the all the memory contents.

I would be wary of online backup schemes unless you trust the company as they could be using your phone numbers for making cold sales calls.

This entry was posted on 10 Mar 2008 at 20:57 by Rick and is filed under Technical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.