Cell Phone Contacts as XML

I’ll soon be in the market for a new cell phone, having dropped my previous phone for the hundredth time, sending the battery flying in the opposite direction of the phone. I’m pretty sure I’ve dropped my phone so many times not because of clumsiness, but because the cell phone companies manufacture these phones out of a special type of material that is repelled by human skin. Regardless, I need a new phone.

I’ve had the same cell phone for about three and a half years now, partly because of the cost (I just have other things I would rather spend the money on), and partly because my conscience, or as I like to call her my wife, kept telling me the phone I had was perfectly good for what I use it on most: calling people. The main reason I was so loyal to my elderly phone is that I hate re-typing all of my contacts into the new phone with that impossibly small keypad.

And really, does it have to be this way? Isn’t this the type of thing XML was created for? I don’t see why this data couldn’t be stored on the phone in a non-proprietary format such as XML, adhering to standards designed and published by the various phone manufacturers, allowing a user through Bluetooth or the web or whatever to easily export their contacts from one phone to another or even from their phone to Outlook or Thunderbird or whatever email software they choose. I guess having these companies coordinate what they are doing for the good of the consumer is too much to ask.

I could pay to have my contacts moved for me, or I could try one of the hacks from the ‘Net, but the point is I really shouldn’t have to. More than that, I really don’t see my parents or anyone else that doesn’t have the time to surf the web looking for solutions to be able to hack their phone. They, and I should be able to press a button labeled “Move Contacts”, and boom there they are on the new phone. Instead they will either spend a day typing their data into their new phone or pay some company to transfer their contacts.

I guess my point is that my data shouldn’t be held hostage by the device it was entered on. As I get older I grow less and less fond of duplication of work, especially mundane tasks such as entering phone contacts. Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. I would be interested to hear of any such efforts to make to transfer of phone contacts easier and of course less costly, so feel free to leave any ideas in the comments of this post. In the meantime I will be researching some type of glove that allows me to hold onto my phone without it careening out of my hands and smashing into a million pieces.