Motorola RAZR v3i

[arch0nmyc0n]

A customer brought in a motorola RAZR v3i and for some reason I can't figure out how to get windows xp to access his pictures store in the memory on the phone. Most phones I've dealt with it just picks it up as a mass usb storage device or what not. This doesn't seem to be happening here, anyone else got this model that could shed some light on how to get access to the pictures on a computer with this phone?

[slgrieb]

Not familiar with this specific phone, (so when did that ever stop me?) but Motorolas in general are pretty proprietary and usually want you to cough up money for their software to get things working. Nokia for instance generally offers free downloadable connectivity and management software, but I don't think I've seen any from Moto.

[arch0nmyc0n]

Well the odd thing was he was using a computer at the local library to access it, but that system is out of service now. I assume someone else must have had a phone similar and used that machine. It's just very odd. I might get the guy to call motorola and see what they say.

[slgrieb]

Well, it appears that the Moto does ship with some management and communications software. Their website has somewhat Spartan support info, and you need to know things like the carrier for the phone service, etc. to retrieve relevant info. Still, I'd check it out before I contacted the customer.

[NooNoo]

Did you select the connection on the phone first?

[arch0nmyc0n]

Well we're in Canada and he's using Rogers. And no I didn't check that Noo, thanks for pointing that out. I suppose thinking about it I've had a few digital cameras that you had to do something similar like that... I'll try that out next time he's in.

[Percy]

Another thing to check is Disk Management. I've had machines that wouldn't recognize a thumb drive because the drive letter was already in use and XP wouldn't switch them (mapped network drives). The thumb drive would show up in Disk Management, I just changed the drive letter and viola.

[arch0nmyc0n]

yeah I thought about that and checked there. The two machines I tried it on only had a few drives and no network drives. Nothing reported in Disk Management either. I'm hazarding a guess it'll end up being what Noo suggested cause the machines evidently pick up the RAZR USB modem so it was obviously detecting the device but it didn't get the memory drive request or what not.

[HMIBarryLSalter]

I took the easy out route, I bought software and cables from a company called Susteen. Their package is called DataPilot and included cables and software for about 9 different configurations including blue tooth. I bought my package at Fry's Electronics here in Phoenix at $90 for the complete kit.

The companies web site is www.susteen.com

One more note: my phone is a V3C and in the list of configurations in this software, it listed two carriers (neither was the one I use) and I tried both, one worked and one did not with my phone.

(V3c, worst $302 I've ever spent, it's pretty and drops signal like a crap phone plus call waiting ID doesn't save in the call list. crap phone!)

Barry,

[slgrieb]

Data Pilot's range includes some packages that are fairly specific in the phones they support but are down around $35 or so. Definitely a good alternative to some of the products OEMS want to sell you. I've seen some phones where the manufacturer's USB cable cost more that most of Susteen's stuff.

[HMIBarryLSalter]

I got the whole enchilada for $90, the limited single cable kits where like $50 at Fry's.. The one i got, dealing with several manufacturers also charges the phones it supports (excluding the blue tooth of course)

Barry,

[arch0nmyc0n]

Thanks for that info, I'll pass it along but I don't think he's looking to spend money on it. Why should he have to? It's retarded and personally I'm not going to bother ever getting a phone like that now... ANYWAYS I'll pass on the info but he's saving for a Mac laptop so I doubt he'll want to do that.

[HMIBarryLSalter]

I thought about buying just a cable kit myself when i bought this datapilot set. My reasoning for blowing the money was that I didn't want to blow my time trying to find a solution to connecting to my phone, my daughter's phone, my wife's phone, my other daughters phone, my old phone or any phone I might want to buy in the future. So when you look at the time that using someone else's solution has saved me, it was worth $90. Remember, the kit I bought, works on Moto's samsung, LG ect. lots of phones. moves contacts and pictures easily.

if that solved you question, then please mark the post as solved or ask again..

Barry,

[NooNoo]

I got the last data cable for 1 penny on ebay....

[slgrieb]

Arch, I definitely agree that cell phones should work with all their features implemented right out the box. Unfortunately, we're dealing with an industry that's even more price-driven than computer hardware. I also have a suspicion that a pretty large percentage of buyers get these phones more as status symbols than tools. Case in point I have a friend who has had a phone with a camera for over two years. I asked him once if he used the camera much, and he replied that he had hit the camera button by accident a few times. Asked him why he had a camera phone at all, and he said, "Well, it's cool".

So, while the implementation of lots of phone features may suck, the products are certainly selling. Lucky me, I just want a cell phone to talk on.