Thursday, February 11, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Hacking your cell phone (for techies)
Dude (or dudette) where's my pictures?
Some cell phones don't give you access to your pictures, videos etc., other than to run up data charges by sending them. If you want to get access to them, there are tricks you can use. This is for the fairly techie user, so it is just an example. My laptop is running Vista,and my cell phone is a cheap LG VX5500 but the principles should work on other systems.
Obviously if you have a smart phone, you probably don't need to do all this. But if you are smart and your phone is dumb, or if you are just a general mad scientist type, read on.
1. Assuming you have a mini-USB port on your phone, get a cable for it. If this doesn't work, it will at least let you charge your cell phone from your computer.
2. Plug the mini-USB cable into the computer and the cell phone and turn each on.
3. In Vista, it should auto detect and install a device driver for you. If that doesn't work, you can Google for the driver for your phone and install it yourself.
4. Ho hum. OK you are set? you should go into Device Manager (or equivalent) and confirm that it sees the device. You will not see it in the file system (e.g. Computer, My Computer etc.).
5. Go to www.bitpim.com and download BitPim. It supports:
Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7
Linux RPM
MacOS X 10.3+ (Universal)
6. If you are the type that likes to ask for directions or use manuals, you may want to read the online help first. (Nah.)
7. Figure out what model of phone you have. Set up BitPim accordingly. You don't really need to know what port you are on, you can choose autodetect.
7. You can select an advanced option to access the cell phone's file system. You should be safe as long as you are only doing downloads and don't muck with the files on the phone itself. (If something bad happens, don't blame me, go back to the store and say "it just stopped working".)
8. On most of the Verizon LG phones, the user media files are in subfolders of the brew folder, you just have to explore around a bit and find them (buncha files ending in .JPG!).
9. Right button click and select the option to make a zip file backup. You can also find things like your calendar, text messages and address book and back them up as well. Here's what I see on BitPim on my phone:
Here is my cellphone's filesystem in BitPim!
The picture folder (directory) is highlighted.
Right button click on a directory and it offers to make a zip file on your local file system.
If you double click on any file it will bring it up in a HEX editor.
Here is my cellphone's filesystem in BitPim!
The picture folder (directory) is highlighted.
Right button click on a directory and it offers to make a zip file on your local file system.
If you double click on any file it will bring it up in a HEX editor.
Here's a guide that gives you some information about the common locations for many VERIZON cell phones. I can't vouch for it, as I don't own every damn phone listed. But if can give you some good ideas where the goodies are, even if you have a different model.
http://mark.cdmaforums.com/FileLocs.htm
10. Unzip the files and do what you want.
As I side note, I actually took, and downloaded a pixelated photograph from my cell phone, and blew it up and it was actually accepted in a juried photography show. (The image quality gave it a somewhat impressionist quality.
Note: this is for informational purposes only, and I take no responsibility for the accuracy of this information.
Some cell phones don't give you access to your pictures, videos etc., other than to run up data charges by sending them. If you want to get access to them, there are tricks you can use. This is for the fairly techie user, so it is just an example. My laptop is running Vista,and my cell phone is a cheap LG VX5500 but the principles should work on other systems.
Obviously if you have a smart phone, you probably don't need to do all this. But if you are smart and your phone is dumb, or if you are just a general mad scientist type, read on.
1. Assuming you have a mini-USB port on your phone, get a cable for it. If this doesn't work, it will at least let you charge your cell phone from your computer.
2. Plug the mini-USB cable into the computer and the cell phone and turn each on.
3. In Vista, it should auto detect and install a device driver for you. If that doesn't work, you can Google for the driver for your phone and install it yourself.
4. Ho hum. OK you are set? you should go into Device Manager (or equivalent) and confirm that it sees the device. You will not see it in the file system (e.g. Computer, My Computer etc.).
5. Go to www.bitpim.com and download BitPim. It supports:
Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7
Linux RPM
MacOS X 10.3+ (Universal)
6. If you are the type that likes to ask for directions or use manuals, you may want to read the online help first. (Nah.)
7. Figure out what model of phone you have. Set up BitPim accordingly. You don't really need to know what port you are on, you can choose autodetect.
7. You can select an advanced option to access the cell phone's file system. You should be safe as long as you are only doing downloads and don't muck with the files on the phone itself. (If something bad happens, don't blame me, go back to the store and say "it just stopped working".)
8. On most of the Verizon LG phones, the user media files are in subfolders of the brew folder, you just have to explore around a bit and find them (buncha files ending in .JPG!).
9. Right button click and select the option to make a zip file backup. You can also find things like your calendar, text messages and address book and back them up as well. Here's what I see on BitPim on my phone:
Here is my cellphone's filesystem in BitPim!
The picture folder (directory) is highlighted.
Right button click on a directory and it offers to make a zip file on your local file system.
If you double click on any file it will bring it up in a HEX editor.
Here is my cellphone's filesystem in BitPim!
The picture folder (directory) is highlighted.
Right button click on a directory and it offers to make a zip file on your local file system.
If you double click on any file it will bring it up in a HEX editor.
Here's a guide that gives you some information about the common locations for many VERIZON cell phones. I can't vouch for it, as I don't own every damn phone listed. But if can give you some good ideas where the goodies are, even if you have a different model.
http://mark.cdmaforums.com/FileLocs.htm
10. Unzip the files and do what you want.
As I side note, I actually took, and downloaded a pixelated photograph from my cell phone, and blew it up and it was actually accepted in a juried photography show. (The image quality gave it a somewhat impressionist quality.
Note: this is for informational purposes only, and I take no responsibility for the accuracy of this information.
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