Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo are collaborating to make setting up a new Android phone easier when you switch brands. Phones from these brands will support migrating “system data” like “photos and contacts” and – more importantly – third-party app data between one another.
This collab was announced by Xiaomi on Weibo (H/T @AndroidPolice), so it’s unclear if this will apply to each company’s respective global software versions. Still, setting up a new Android phone can be a pain, especially when you’re switching brands, so this is a welcome change.
When you buy a new phone from the same brand that made your old one, chances are that the brand’s proprietary data transfer tool will move almost everything over. That’s not the case when switching brands, as only a limited set of data (usually excluding 3P app data) is transferred.
Full data backups and restores are something Android has lacked for a LONG time, but it’s not that Android can’t do it (GMS certainly could, and Titanium Backup has existed forever)…it’s ironing out the complications that arise when it is done.
Lots of apps make certain assumptions/have certain configs that apply to certain kinds of devices/devices from specific brands. Or there’s a specific per-device token that needs to be reissued (just look up threads on broken push notifications after restoring data using Titanium Backup.)
