Best way to move contacts and apps to new phone?

[Joe Droid]

I'm about to upgrade my Droid 2 to a new phone and have a couple questions about moving contacts and apps. I'm aware that it's pretty much impossible to store the apps somewhere and then reinstall on the new phone. It is a stock phone, not rooted.

I've downloaded App List Backup and copied the "icons" to my SD card. So, downloading the same app to the new phone and putting the SD card in the new phone should at least solve the problem of which apps I have installed. Is this thinking going to work?

Contacts: I have 122 contacts on the phone. The Verizon Backup shows 35 successfully backed up. Going to the Verizon backup online confirms this. Google is a little better: 52. How do I ensure that all 122 are backed up and then restored on the new phone? I found a way to "move" them to the SD card ... is this the way to go? Then put the SD card in the new phone and "move" them back?

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated ... Thanks in advance!

 

[takeshi]

What type(s) of contacts are they? I recommend storing your contacts in an account that syncs with your phone (Google, Exchange, etc). If you do so you don't need to worry about transferring them. Just sync up with your account.

Can you not just install the apps on the new device?