Android: sync tablet and smartphone

The coexistence of tablet and smartphone requires that data is exchanged and synchronized between the Android devices. Since Android is not a closed system, it turns out to be more difficult than expected. We'll show you how you can keep data and files up to date across devices.

How to sync contacts, calendar, SMS and more on smartphone and tablet

The cloud is the best solution for synchronization. It has the advantage that the data is stored independently of devices and is therefore available on every device. Even with contacts and SMS, everything can be kept "up to date":

• Contacts and calendar entries can best be synchronized via Google: With the Google account, which you already need to operate your Android devices, there is usually a phone book and calendar in the cloud. So you have the same contacts and entries on every device on which you are logged in with the corresponding Google account.
• SMS are only saved locally on the smartphone. The "mysms" app, for example, can help here: It stores sent and received short messages on a server using a user account. So they are available everywhere. With the right app for the tablet, you can also read the SMS from your smartphone on your tablet - and even send messages from your tablet via your mobile phone.
• Google is once again ahead of the game when it comes to bookmarks: If you use the good Android version of the Chrome browser, you also create a bookmark memory, which is then synchronized between Chrome on the PC, the tablet and the smartphone.
• The popular news service "WhatsApp" is unfortunately left out. There is still no adequate solution to display the messages from the smartphone on the tablet.

Music and Pictures - How to keep media files up to date

Contacts and data hardly take up any storage space - but what about personal music or picture collection? How to synchronize them between the individual Android devices:

• What iCloud is for Apple is Android for Google Play Music. Here you can upload up to 25, 000 songs from your music library to the cloud free of charge so you can listen to them on any device linked to your Google account via the Play Music app - both online and offline. It works pretty well and is amazingly easy.
• When it comes to images, Google's solution competes with other cloud providers: Google's photo service Picasa shines above all with a synchronization of the image collection on the home PC. The competitor Dropbox even offers an automatic photo upload in its Android app. So you have your latest snapshots immediately in the cloud and thus also on your tablet. The Dropbox app must of course also be installed there.
• Dropbox works with all kinds of files. You can also receive documents such as PDFs on your smartphone and view or edit them on your tablet immediately after they have been moved to the Dropbox.

For advanced users: This is how you also compare scores and app data on your Android devices

Did you play a game on the tram on your way home and would you like to continue playing it on your tablet at home? What sounds so simple is not intended by Android and cannot be implemented without in-depth knowledge of the system.

• You need root rights on your devices for these operations. This is the only way apps can access the game scores and app information. Rooting can damage your devices and void the warranty. Be aware of that.
• Resourceful developers have developed apps like DataSync. With the help of this and the granted root rights, the data of apps can be easily synchronized between smartphone and tablet. In the meantime, the app has also become very chic and clear, so that in-depth specialist knowledge is no longer required.