Ricky Says

Question: I recently bought a new iPhone 3G and want to copy all my contacts from my old phone to the new phone. I have quite a few and don't want to have to type them each into the iPhone as it would take forever. Is there a faster way to do this?

Answer: Yes, there's a much faster way to do this by using your iPhone's ability to sync with your Outlook contacts. If you can download your old phone's contacts into Outlook, then you'll be able to sync them to your new iPhone using iTunes.

Here's what you'll need:

1. iTunes loaded on your computer (free from Apple).
2. USB data cable to connect your old phone to your computer.
3. Software to transfer contacts from your old phone to Outlook or Outlook Express, which iTunes can then import into your iPhone.

Here's how to do it:

First, connect your old phone to your computer with the USB data cable.

Next, download and install a copy of DataPilot to transfer the contacts from your phone to your computer using a USB data cable (download here). You'll spend a little upfront for the software, but you won't spend any money on phone carrier fees each time you transfer contacts so it'll quickly pay for itself (and if you use coupon code S0707CJ during checkout it'll apply an instant 20% discount).

Run DataPilot and click the Read All button to load all of your phone's contacts.

Next, open Microsoft Outlook and create a new My iPhone folder in your Contacts. This will also work in Outlook Express.

In the DataPilot Phonebook Manager application, go to the File -- Export Address Book menu and choose Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express.

The Export to Outlook screen will show up. Choose the My iPhone contacts folder as the destination (created previously), and click OK.

Now your addresses will all be in Outlook and the last step will be to sync them with your iPhone.

Plug your iPhone into your computer and wait for iTunes to automatically launch. Go to the iTunes Info tab. Click the checkboxes to sync your contacts and choose Outlook as the application to sync with. Click Apply, then click Sync.

DataPilot gets your contacts from your old phone into Outlook or Outlook Express, and then iTunes can import these contacts into your iPhone.

You can also use DataPilot to transfer photos, videos, and ring tones from your old phone to your iPhone the same way - by transferring them to your computer and then importing them from your computer to your iPhone.

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