How to go about trying to access files stored on mobile phone (via USB)?

Question

I'd like to transfer files (photos and audio mainly) from my phone, to my Ubuntu PC. Unfortunately upon plugging it in (through Micro USB) nothing is automatically mounted. If I insert a memory card into the phone, then that is automatically mounted.

There is software I can run on Windows XP that allows me to transfer files (although it does not make the phone show up as a volume in Windows Explorer).

The phone is a 3 Skypephone S2 (manufactured by Amoi). Everything I find on the internet suggests it should have a mass storage mode. When connnecting the phone to the computer a "PC Suite" mode can be enabled, however this does not seem to make a difference.

I tried to install the Windows Software through Wine, however this didn't work. (Probably unsurprising that Wine doesn't help with hardware related problems.)

I looked at this page but was unable to get "1614:0407", although I doubt that it would have helped if I had been able to.

Running udisks --mount /dev/sr2 gives me a 'CD' with some Windows driver files. If I run sudo usb_modeswitch --default-vendor 0x1614 --default-product 0x1000 then this goes 'CD' away, but I do not get access to the phone's memory.

Below are the new entries in dmesg when the phone is connected. Entering PC Suite mode does not cause any more messages.

[  683.140030] usb 7-1: new full-speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
[  683.312734] scsi8 : usb-storage 7-1:1.0
[  684.317071] scsi 8:0:0:0: CD-ROM            S2       Driver CDROM     2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[  684.331067] sr2: scsi3-mmc drive: 0x/0x caddy
[  684.331241] sr 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr2
[  684.331799] sr 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg9 type 5

When plugging in, I get the following extra entries in /dev:

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root           3 Feb 29 18:22 cdrom2 -> sr2
crw-rw----+ 1 root cdrom    21,   9 Feb 29 18:22 sg9
brw-rw----+ 1 root cdrom    11,   2 Feb 29 18:22 sr2

Below is the output from lsusb:

Bus 007 Device 003: ID 1614:1000 Amoi Electronics 
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               1.10
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x1614 Amoi Electronics
  idProduct          0x1000 
  bcdDevice            0.00
  iManufacturer           1 
  iProduct                2 
  iSerial                 3 
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           32
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0xa0
      (Bus Powered)
      Remote Wakeup
    MaxPower              500mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage
      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI
      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk (Zip)
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x84  EP 4 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x05  EP 5 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
cannot read device status, Operation not permitted (1)

Answer 1

I am taking path of least resistance, try this:

After connecting the phone to the PC via the USB cable (the one from the charger), pull down the white bar at the top of the screen, tap the "USB connection", then tap "USB Mass Storage". Then tap OK. The device should mount automatically on most systems and be visible via your PC system file manager.

Answer 2

Assuming that this is a multi-mode USB device, which is common these days. You will probably have to create a new UDEV rule that filters that device and then runs usb_modeswitch, which if successful, will present the secondary mass storage device. At which point UDEV will just work and the desktop will have what it needs to automount it like everything else.

The first step is troubleshooting usb_modeswitch and verifying which switches actually present the flash device you're looking for. After that, the UDEV rules are basically boilerplate changes and you're done. lsscsi is a helpful tool that consolidates the listing of all low level storage devices on your system and is easier than constantly checking dmesg for a new drive being detected.

Answer 3

I am not sure if the device is using MTP mode or not... if it is you can try this:

sudo apt-get install mtpfs

Create a UDEV rule file. Use your editor of choice, mine is nano.

sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/51-skyephone.rules

add one line to it:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="1614", MODE="0666"

create a mount point and make yourself the owner:

sudo mkdir /media/skyephone

sudo chown user:user /media/skyephone

then you can test to see if mounting works:

sudo mtpfs -o allow_other /media/skyphone/

If you can access files now this worked.

to unmount:

sudo umount mtpfs

---

You can also try mounting the CD device (I know it is not really a CD device)

udisks --mount /dev/sr1

or if your computer has no internal CD/DVD-ROM

udisks --mount /dev/sr0

Answer 4

It looks like they are using that silly trick where the device pretends to be a cdrom to get windows to autorun a program to install their software ( since windows foolishly won't autorun from usb mass storage ).

You might look at the usb-modeswitch package and see if it can flip the device into mass storage mode.

Further information from the authors web-site.

Answer 5

Okay first off, use apt-get in terminal to get a virtual box if you don't have one already and install a windows XP OS .iso on it. If you don't have the .iso, you know where to get one ;). Once it is install, install the extensions pack for it and you should be able to install the program for your phone in the virtual machine and access your phone through it as well after you select it in on the 'devices' > 'usb' drop-down menu. If you have issues after doing this, let me know.