One of the phones in my household is a Sanyo Katana phone. Although it is not a smartphone, it does have Bluetooth, a camera, and the usual applications that phones have these days. Originally, I paid for web service and photo uploads. But, since those features were rarely used, I moved the phone back to basic voice service. We still wanted to get photos off of the phone now and then though. So, I went in search of something cheaper than $15/month to do that. This weekend I found the…
Datapilot Cell Phone Data Transfer Suite Universal
…at my local Costco and bought it. The box contained a bunch of cables for various phone models as well as a USB Bluetooth dongle. I installed the suite’s software and tried Bluetooth first. The Windows XP PC and the phone seemed to pair ok. And, it looked like contacts information could be synced. But, there didn’t seem to be a way to copy the photos off of the phone.
I tried the USB cable next. Getting that to work was an exercise in frustration. But, I eventually managed to get it working (don’t ask me how) and was able to move the photos over. I can understand how the average review of the 39 reviewers on Amazon gave it 2 out of 5 stars. It gave me a bit more appreciation for ActiveSync (but not that much :-). On the other hand, if we use this Datapilot Suite for more than 3 months, it will have paid for itself.
At least you were finally able to move the photos. My Verizon Wireless phone, even with the correct cable, won’t provide access to its photos. Verizon Wireless got Motorola to lock that out in the firmware so they could charge $0.25 per email or sell a data package while I email them. One. At. A. Time.
Unacceptable. I told them so. They could care less.
I haven’t tried using an xD memory card to move them that way yet, but that’s probably my only option left.