Ok... now you are venturing into two areas I know very little about... smartphones and anything Apple. So the following is based on Android phones which I must assume are / have used similar cards.
Thanks for responding, Rd, it's appreciated.
I think in the end I'm deciding its not worth the hassle, my main concerns about recovering were pictures and sound files. Which of course wouldn't be on the SIM. So a lot of contacts I can just look up, or remember (though, truth be told there's a few in there I'm kinda glad to forget).
As far as the Mother Mode, you're absolutely right. I should have had all that backed up. I do on the iPad, and I use the Cloud too, but back then on the first phones, sadly no.
Oh well, live and learn, right?
Thanks for taking the time to think about it and answer.