Switching contacts from Windows Phone to Android

Question

I have been trying to figure how too switch my contacts over to my Galaxy S III. I had a Nokia Lumia 520 and I really don't want to manually put my contacts in, but I don't see where they were saved.

Answer 1

Easy.

1. Sync your Microsoft account with your Windows Phone.
2. Sign in to your Microsoft account on your PC (you can do this at people.live.com), then press the dropdown next to Outlook, and select People.
3. Select Manage and choose "Export for Outlook.com and other services".
4. Now press "Save" to store the exported contacts file "OutlookContacts.csv" on your computer (e.g. on your Desktop).

Now you have to transfer your Windows Live (Hotmail) contacts to your Google Account. To do that:

1. Sign-in to your Gmail account using a desktop computer.
2. In the main Gmail window, click the "Mail" or "GMail" drop-down arrow on the top left of the screen, and choose "Contacts".
3. In Contacts page, press "More" menu and select "Import".
4. Now press the "Choose File" button.
5. Navigate to the location where you saved the Windows Live Contacts file (OutlookContacts.csv) in the previous step and "Open" it.
6. Finally, press the "Import" button and wait until the import process is completed.

And finally to your phone.

1. On the Android phone, go to "Settings" > "Accounts and Sync" or "Settings" > "Accounts".
2. Under "Manage Accounts", select (or "Add") the Google account you used to import WLM contacts.
3. Finally press "Sync Contacts".

You're done!

Answer 2

An alternative seems to be offered directly from the device:

Using Bluetooth

The Windows Phone 7.5 operating system makes it easy to transfer contacts. Tap the arrow to go to the second page menu. On here you’ll find a simple Contacts Transfer app, tap it and make sure Bluetooth is switched on in your Nokia Lumia

This should (hopefully) be valid for your Lumia as well, even if the Windows version does not match.

Once it’s switched on you’ll find any devices in your area that are using Bluetooth and visible. Select your old Nokia phone and accept the pairing. One linked you’ll find that contacts are sent over automatically.

This should work with all Bluetooth-capable phones on the "other end". You might have to approve adding the contacts on the "receiving end", though – but you need not to involve any third-party cloud services for that.

Using VCards

Certainly, your Lumia will be able to export its contacts as "VCards" in one or the other way (if not directly, for this step the first part of Solver's answer can be used). Once you've got the *.vcf file on your computer, transfer it to your Android device. There, start the "contacts" (or "people") app, tap the "menu button" (or, if there is none, the "overflow menu" which looks like 3 dots stapled: "|"), chose "Export/Import", then "Import from SD card", and select the .vcf file – your contacts should be there.