Yes they are the exact same process, I've just offered up some of my own backups made using a throwaway google account(I also added a few instructions and other small changes). Unfortunately, with either method the market and talk apps will be limited to the account that was used to log into the backed up programs(when I tried to back up the programs without an account first it would never work). So even if you used a friends phone you would be limited to using his account, unless he re-flashed his phone and used your gmail account before backing up. Hopefully we can get a fix soon.