Nelson wrote:
> How can you access a cell phone from a PC to transfer pictures taken
> with and stored in the cell phone?
>
> The phone is an LG VX5500. Carrier is Verizon. PC runs Windows
> XP-SP2.
>
That explains it. Verizon Wireless likes to cripple their phones. If
you are forced to send your photographs over the air rather than through
a USB cable, VZW makes money from each photo you send!

> This phone has no external memory card (or slot for one). So the data
> can't be transferred via memory card.
>
> I bought a USB data cable for the phone, got the driver, and installed
> it ok. Upon connection, Windows recognizes the phone. The phone is
> not registered in Windows as a disk drive, but it does appear in
> Device Manager as a modem.
>
> It would seem that some specialized software is needed to access the
> phone from the computer. Is that right? If so, which do you
> recommend?
>

For Motorola phones there is "Motorola Phone Tools". I haven't a clue
what an "LG" phone needs to do this. If there IS a tool to do this,
it's probably LG specific and an LG specific newsgroup, if there is one,
would be a good place to ask.

A possible solution is to use a real camera instead of a phone to take
pictures with! Real cameras have nice features for taking pictures;
e.g. flash. They also are not crippled! Many have USB capability
and/or a removable memory card/stick.

It's also sometimes possible to hack the phone to re-enable features
that VZW has disabled. Doing so will void your warranty but some people
will do it anyway.