My father’s favorite phrase is “People don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan.” I’m quite sure a very expletive laden version of this concept was bandied around Microsoft after the Sidekick backup debacle. So I posed the question to the Gear Diary Team: How do you back up your smartphone data?
Personally, I’ve used SPB Backup on Windows Mobile and it rocks. I can’t say the same for Nokia’s PC Suite though!
Larry Greenberg: iTunes Sync
Joel McLaughlin: Since I have a G1 (a GOOGLE experience Android), I just sync to Google and that gets contacts and calendar. Plus there are apps in the
Android Marketplace that let you export your contacts to a CSV file on
the sd card. I CAN back up my apk’s but it’s really not necessary
since you can just reinstall from the marketplace. It’s not as easy
as the new Windows Mobile marketplace but…One semi frustrating thing with the G1 (most smartphones really) is I can’t write numbers to the SIM. I wish I could so that if I switch to a dumb phone, I can have all of my contacts.
Dan Cohen: I export my google calendar once in a while and then have a file to backup. I also choose iPhone apps that autobackup somewhere- if i have to consciously think about it it will not happen
Judie Lipsett: iTunes Sync; I love that right out of the box the iPhone came with a very good “on-location” backup solution. 
Jason Reese: iPhone – iTunes. BB = Backup to BB Desktop Manager to make sure I have a local backup of everything (also use GoogleSync for some things, and trying out “Nice Office” app).
Clinton Fitch: I too use SPB Backup on my Windows Phone. I have found it to be the most reliable and lightest weight backup application out there on that platform. Sprite Backup is good as well but it is a much more involved backup/restore process. As for iPhone, I’m still fairly new but I think that my phone is backed up each time I sync my phone with iTunes on my PC (correct me if I’m wrong here people).
This is a good time to remind you that any backups you make should be just one level of defense. If you are backing up to Google, then back up Google to your hard drive. If you are backing up to your hard drive, invest in some sort of external system as double insurance against hard drive and phone failure. And try not to drink beer near sensitive computer equipment, a lesson in backing up (and replacing keyboards) that I learned the hard way in college!
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