PC World - USA (2020-01)

134 PCWorld JANUARY 2020

HERE’S HOW WINDOWS 10 MOBILE IS DEAD

to open that CSV file within Google and import

your contacts. They’ll sync to your phone.

Exporting SMS text messages from

Windows to Android is a bit trickier. When

I migrated my wife’s Windows Phone to an

Android phone, I used WP Message

Backup (go.pcworld.com/wpmb), which is

a “freemium” app that allows you to export

SMS texts, pictures, group messages, and

the like to an XML file. Unfortunately, the

free version exports only 100 messages at

a time, which can get old fast. That XML

file can be uploaded to the cloud and then

downloaded to an Android phone, or

transferred wirelessly or via USB. You’ll

then need to restore the SMS files to your

Android phone via one of a number of

Android SMS restore apps in the Google

Play Store.

If you’d like, you can even go full

Microsoft and install the Microsoft Launcher

app, which can sync with Bing’s image of the

day and serve as a gateway to other

Microsoft apps and services available on

your Android phone.

Remember, even though Microsoft has

announced a new Microsoft phone—the

Surface Duo (go.pcworld.com/srfd)—it will

only run Android. Because the Duo is

scheduled to ship a year from now, in

holiday 2020, you have a future opportunity

to buy a Microsoft phone. But as for

Windows Mobile? It’s as dead as the Ghost

of Christmas Past.

Don’t use the

barebones WP

Message Backup

app for actually

sending and

receiving SMS

text messages—

it’s good for

transferring files.