Cell phone picture help

[okiedog]

My wife gave me a USB cable for my cell phone this morning, so I could get the pictures onto the computer. For the life of me I can't figure it out. Usually when I plug in a USB cable it will come up "NEW HARDWARE FOUND". I'am sure there is a function I have to set on the phone, but I don't know what.

Anyone doing this?

[muggs]

Re: Cell phone picture help

Is the phone powered on?

[okiedog]

Re: Cell phone picture help

yep its on. I just did a little searching and I'am thinking I need a software disc.

[M00N]

Re: Cell phone picture help

Ah the dreaded issues of USB transfers of photos from a cellphone to a computer! Here's an interesting quote from a write up on CNET about these kinds of issues with cellphones. Most companies these days lock their phones requiring you to buy special software for them to use USB, Memory Card Readers, or Bluetooth. Sometimes they even prevent the use of those features completely (mostly when dealing with the Bluetooth or Memory Card Readers) on their phones. They do this because they'd rather you use your provider's service on your phone to send the photos to yourself, than software or even a free transfer. On most service plan this costs a fee to do everytime you send photos through their service, unless you have a nice service plan that eliminates or lowers that fee to a reasonable level. This is why a lot of people think about the USB, Media Card Reader, or Bluetooth route and find out it's blocked. Here's the quote from CNET below:

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How you are able to get photos off of your phone and into your computer without paying your service provider depends on the phone you purchase. Some camera phones have no way to connect directly to a computer. That means you'll have to either transfer images via your service provider or purchase syncing software that comes with a cable that connects to your phone's charging port. You might find the one-time cost of the latter option most economical.

If your phone has a USB port, you can purchase a USB cable and connect it to your computer. Not all USB connectors are the same, so make sure that you buy a cable with connectors that will fit into the ports on both your phone and your computer. If you're not sure which kind of connector to buy, take your phone to a store and find the one that fits instead of buying one online. You will probably also need software from the phone manufacturer to download photos via USB. This may come with the phone, or you may have to purchase or download it separately.

Some phones can transfer photos to a computer wirelessly, via Bluetooth or infrared, and in the future, we can expect to see phones that support 802.11b and 802.11g Wi-Fi standards. Unfortunately, many phones that are equipped with Bluetooth cannot transfer photos with that technology because the function has been blocked. In addition, if you're using a Mac, the software that facilitates wireless photo transfer may not be available to you.

One of the most straightforward and economical options may be to buy a phone that stores photos on a memory card. Just make sure that the ability to download from your phone's card hasn't been blocked on the model you're buying--yes, some companies do that, too. Assuming you have full functionality, you can simply remove the card and transfer photos to your computer with a USB card reader. Most phones with removable memory use formats that are miniaturized versions of the larger cards used in cameras, so you'll probably need an adapter to put your phone media in a standard card reader. It's likely to come with the card, but you can purchase one separately if it doesn't. There are also dedicated mobile media format readers, such as SanDisk's MobileMate. Just make sure that the format of the card reader matches the format of the card or the card adapter that you're using.

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