Transfer from a Cell Phone

Remember the classic Star Trek series? Do you remember the communicators they used? Remember how those used to seem fantastic and unrealistic? Cell phone technology has evolved to significantly higher levels of complexity and function than those "science fiction" writers ever dreamed of. Now our cell phones are able to communicate instantly with anywhere in the world through a wide variety of different mediums.

Camera Phone

One of the funnest features of modern cell phones is the ability to easily take and share digital photographs using only the camera phone itself. Increasingly we carry our cell phones everywhere and when the moment comes to snap a photo we often have access to our cell phones built in camera. This convenience is amazing but many people struggle with how to transfer their photos off of their cell phone.

There are several different ways to transfer images from a cell phone to a computer or other device. This article is intended as a general guide. Please keep in mind that the specifics of how this can be done may vary from cell phone to cell phone depending on a variety of factors including the device manufacturer or the usage plan.

Transfer using Email

Emailing from your phone to computer is often the easiest way to transfer photos. You should confirm with your cellular service provider to make sure that your data plans allows you to send image attachments on SMS messages and mails. If your plan does not allow this it is recommended that you change your plan or use on of the other methods to transfer photos.

When you want to email a picture from your cell phone there are generally two ways to go about it.

When you take a picture and immediately decide you want to send it you can usually click "Send" even before you have saved the image to your phone. This will take you to a picture message form. Fill out the form just the same as an SMS message. When you fill in the To: field you should enter your own personal email address or whoever you want to send it to. If you have a ZooFoo account and you want to share directly to ZooFoo this is where you should enter your secret email address. Once you have filled out the mail form click "Send" and the message will be sent out to whatever email addresses you specified. If you sent it to your ZooFoo account it will immediately be posted and added to your default album.
If you have already saved an image to your phone but would like to send it by email you have to create a picture message first. In your messaging menu choose "New Message" and then choose "Picture Message" or whatever seems the closest. This should bring you to the same form as above except now you have the option to browse through your stored photos and select the image you want. Fill in the rest of the form the same way as before. If you send it to your secret ZooFoo email address the photo will be posted directly to your ZooFoo account.

Data Kit

If you want to move a large batch of files from your cell phone it may be easier to send them as a batch using a data kit. Data kits can be purchased from many different cell phone websites and also from the manufacturers directly at their outlet stores. If you don't know exactly what you are looking for a good place to start is Wireless Emporium. Look up your phone by model and see what different types of data kits are available. Usually it is a specialized type of cable that fits the phone on one end and has a USB adapter on the other. Hook your phone to your computer using this cable and follow the onscreen instructions. You may have to install drivers so that your computer and cell phone can communicate but if this is the case the data kit or the phone itself will usually include an installation disc containing the appropriate files.

Removable Memory Cards

Removable Memory Card

Even easier to use than a data kit is a removable memory card. Many high tech phones include a card reader for SD, Micro SD and occasionally other card formats. Start by saving your pictures to your memory card on the phone. Next open the card slot and pop the card out. You will need a card reader which is either a USB device you can purchase or computer may include a built in card reader. Insert the card into the reader and then access the files in the same way you would access any disc.

Transfer using Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a wireless method for transferring data between devices over short distances. Many cell phones have built in Bluetooth support and increasingly so do laptops or netbooks. If your computer doesn't have Bluetooth support you can buy USB Bluetooth adapters from many major computer stores and online.

Bluetooth

Once you have established that both your phone and your cell are Bluetooth enabled the next step is to get them talking to each other. This can be tricky the first time because every cell phone and every laptop interface has a slightly different way of making a Bluetooth connection. If your cell phone came with a CD when you purchased it that is probably a good place to start. As with any Bluetooth devices the trick is getting the devices to see each other meaning both devices need to search for other devices at the same time. Once they have established a connection it will be easier to reconnect in the future. You can use the Bluetooth connection to transfer the photos to your computer and from there it should be easy to move them wherever you nee them, including uploading them to ZooFoo.

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