cell phone experts???

[pmanton]

My wife and I recently had to purchase new cell phones. Up to now we hadonly used our phones for talking.

These new phones have cameras, music, texting, all kinds of goodies. It would appear that to use any of these new features we will have to pay Verizon lots of bucks and use lots of minutes.

Since the phones have a slot for a micro SD card can we load music on the memory chip and access it from the phone without paying Verizon bucks for their software and down loads?

The same goes for pictures. How do we get them out of the phone without using data air time?

Is there a primer like "Cell Phones for Dummies" available?

Thanks

Paul
N1431A
KSDM
2AZ1

 

[mikea]

No. Verizon doesn't let you work around their toll gates.

 

[gismo]

My wife and I recently had to purchase new cell phones. Up to now we hadonly used our phones for talking.

These new phones have cameras, music, texting, all kinds of goodies. It would appear that to use any of these new features we will have to pay Verizon lots of bucks and use lots of minutes.

Since the phones have a slot for a micro SD card can we load music on the memory chip and access it from the phone without paying Verizon bucks for their software and down loads?

The same goes for pictures. How do we get them out of the phone without using data air time?

Is there a primer like "Cell Phones for Dummies" available?

Thanks

Paul
N1431A
KSDM
2AZ1

With all the phones I've seen that have a SD card can put pictures and music on the card while the card's in a computer and have them show up on the phone (and vice versa for pix taken by the phone). If the phone has bluetooth, you should also be able to transfer images and music that way and most contemporary phones allow for a USB connection as well but that probably requires a proprietary cable.

 

[mikea]

With all the phones I've seen that have a SD card can put pictures and music on the card while the card's in a computer and have them show up on the phone (and vice versa for pix taken by the phone). If the phone has bluetooth, you should also be able to transfer images and music that way and most contemporary phones allow for a USB connection as well but that probably requires a proprietary cable.

Moving the card might work but Verizon disables syncing by Bluetooth and USB.

Bill or somebody should know the current situ.

 

[jtheune]

I just bought a LG Chocolate3 from Verizon and was able to use the USB cable that came with it to download music to the 2GB MicroSD card in it. I used Windows Media Player from Vista to download the music. I have a bluetooth stereo headset to listen to the music with. I have not tried transferring pictures off the phone becuase I have not had the need

 

[gprellwitz]

I've got Verizon and just pull the card out of the phone, put it into the adapter and then into the computer and can read/write both pictures and MP3s. Don't know about ringtones, though. Mike is right that Verizon likes disabling a lot of functionality on their phones, so Bluetooth may or may not work for transfers. I'm actually a little surprised that the stereo headsets and USB that John mentioned work, but that's good to know!

 

[wsuffa]

With all the phones I've seen that have a SD card can put pictures and music on the card while the card's in a computer and have them show up on the phone (and vice versa for pix taken by the phone). If the phone has bluetooth, you should also be able to transfer images and music that way and most contemporary phones allow for a USB connection as well but that probably requires a proprietary cable.

Moving the card might work but Verizon disables syncing by Bluetooth and USB.

Bill or somebody should know the current situ.

Mike is correct. VZ has disabled syncing on many of their phones. I *think* a removable SD card will allow for transfer of pictures/media stored to it, but I'm not certain. I am fairly certain that you can't load ringtones via the SD card.

Most of the GSM (non-Verizon/Sprint) phones are open.

 

[gprellwitz]

Mike is correct. VZ has disabled syncing on many of their phones. I *think* a removable SD card will allow for transfer of pictures/media stored to it, but I'm not certain.

You can. I've done it on two LG phones with Verizon.

I am fairly certain that you can't load ringtones via the SD card.

I don't know that one either.

 

[silver-eagle]

It really depends on the phone. My XV6700 (Verizon) could be sync'd with Windows Media. I could store the pix on the SD and access them using "Active Sync". The phone used a standard USB cable.
Current phone is a Blackberry Storm. It's even easier. Just plug the thing in via USB and I can access it thru standard windows Explorer.
Previous phones used a collection of cables and software including stuff only available from Verizon so with the newer tech, it has become easier.
Tell us what you have and maybe one of us can come up with a simple way without airtime.

 

[Matthew]

We have Verizon - you can remove the SD card, put it into your PC and copy pictures, video, and music (many of their phones can be used as MP3 players.) As others have said, some of their phones can use a USB cable for the transfer.

Copying pictures, videos, and music from one phone to another usually means going through the PC as an intermediary. Otherwise you'd have to transmit a picture message from one phone to another and pay for the airtime charges.

Ringtones are a different story. Verizon has their proprietary operating system in their phones - they want you to pay them for ringtones. I'm pretty sure there are some ways to hack around that limitation, but you really have to know what you're doing.

Matt

 

[flyingcheesehead]

My wife and I recently had to purchase new cell phones. Up to now we hadonly used our phones for talking.

These new phones have cameras, music, texting, all kinds of goodies. It would appear that to use any of these new features we will have to pay Verizon lots of bucks and use lots of minutes.

Since the phones have a slot for a micro SD card can we load music on the memory chip and access it from the phone without paying Verizon bucks for their software and down loads?

And now you've discovered why I switched from Verizon to AT&T. A few months later, Apple made the same choice for the iPhone.

VZ still doesn't get it. (Of course, now it appears AT&T doesn't quite get it either...)

 

[wsuffa]

And now you've discovered why I switched from Verizon to AT&T. A few months later, Apple made the same choice for the iPhone.

VZ still doesn't get it. (Of course, now it appears AT&T doesn't quite get it either...)

ANd part of the reason that T-Mo is my primary carrier at the moment, despite deficient coverage in a lot of areas is because VZ and ATT don't get it in terms of international service for a Blackberry. T-MO does a flat international rate, VZ and ATT charge per kB.

 

[ClimbnSink]

No problem pulling the card and transferring pics from my VZ Motorola. Plugging the phone into the computer via a usb cable couldn't get anything done without using pay VZ software. Haven't tried loading music.