A method for obtaining contact information includes obtaining a contact name entered by a user through a dialing interface and searching a local database according to the contact name to determine whether basic contact information corresponding to the contact name is stored in the local database. If stored, the basic contact information stored in the local database is obtained. If the basic contact information is not stored in the local database, searching a database server on a network is performed to determine whether the basic contact information is stored in the database server, the basic contact information is obtained from the database server when the basic contact information is stored in the database server, and the obtained basic contact information is stored in the local database. The method also includes establishing a communication connection with a contact corresponding to the contact name by using the obtained basic contact information.