Mobile phone contacts backup query

[snerkler]

I've got an iphone 4 and backup my contacts to Microsoft Outlook on the PC (as well as icloud). I've just ordered a Macbook Pro so will be ordering a new copy of Microsoft Office for Mac, but as I never use outlook except to back up my contacts I thought I'd save myself £70 ($110) and get the Office version without outlook.

Obviously at the moment contact backup won't be a problem as I have it on icloud, but this is no good if one day I decide to upgrade my phone to something other than an iphone. When I've swapped phones in the past it's always been easy to transfer contacts as I just sync whatever phone I have to outlook. Is there a way on Macs (other than icloud), or some free/cheap software, that I can back up my contacts to my computer that I can then access with any phone? Or am I best to just pay the extra £70 to get office with outlook?

 

[iMacDragon]

Just sync your macbook to icloud, and they'll be in address book there, you can export them as vcards/own format archive backup file from there if needbe.

 

[snerkler]

Just sync your macbook to icloud, and they'll be in address book there, you can export them as vcards/own format archive backup file from there if needbe.

Thanks. I'm not overly familiar with vcards. I've just tried exporting them from icloud and when I click on the vcard it opens in Microsoft Outlook. Also, if I select all and export the vcard says it has all my contacts, but if I open it it only shows the first one, how do I get it to display all, or move onto the next contact? If you don't have outlook how do you get the vcard onto a phone?

Sorry for all the questions

 

[iMacDragon]

Thanks. I'm not overly familiar with vcards. I've just tried exporting them from icloud and when I click on the vcard it opens in Microsoft Outlook. Also, if I select all and export the vcard says it has all my contacts, but if I open it it only shows the first one, how do I get it to display all, or move onto the next contact? If you don't have outlook how do you get the vcard onto a phone?

Sorry for all the questions

I can't spek for outlook, but the vcard file if all contacts were selected, will contain them all, can examine it in a text editor.

Most phones should be able to open a vcard file emailed to it their email client and add it to contacts, I'm sure there are other ways too.

 

[snerkler]

I can't spek for outlook, but the vcard file if all contacts were selected, will contain them all, can examine it in a text editor.

Most phones should be able to open a vcard file emailed to it their email client and add it to contacts, I'm sure there are other ways too.

Thanks