Getting photos from phone to computer/hard copy

aloiseb

Hi everyone,
I've recently bought a mobile phone with a camera in. I've taken quite a few pictures of the kids etc. and now want to download them onto my computer, so I can print them out, send and store them. I assumed this would be easy but no! - it seems I now have to pay £24.99 for a Bluetooth thingumajig to plug into the phone's socket (which is not a USB-compatible socket) The phone is an Orange TR1. I asked the shop for a cable, but they said there isn't one,yet, and when there is it will probably be £24.99 too.

Supasnaps tried to send the pictures to their instore computers, to print them out, but they wouldn't recognise the signal, (apparetnly there has to be an agreement in place witht the mobile company) so that was no good. They pointed out a memory card slot in the back of my phone and suggested I buy a memory card to save the pictures. Problem is, I don't know anything about memory cards:

Will they be readable on my computer? - it's very old, and has slots for CDs and 3/12inch disks.

Alternatively, can I obtain a memory card reader to print them off myself? On another thread on this forum, someone says that memory card readers are quite cheap, but a) are they that cheap, and b) will they do what I want?
Or should I bite the bullet and paying out the £25 for the bluetooth widget which may (or may not!) enable my ancient computer to upload the pictures?

Thanks in advance for any advice / help (I think I may end up signing up for a digital photography course at the local college next term....!)

JamesUK_3

Technically you can send your files to any device that has bluetooth capabilities, so if you do have any other phone that can connect to the pc and has bluetooth then you could send to that and then onto the pc.

If worse comes to worse, you can buy a bluetooth device for the pc for about ten pounds, there isnt any need to pay the 25 that orange want to charge for their device. That would just allow you to connect to the pc and download via that.

The card your phone takes is a MicroSD card, you can get cards for anywhere between £3 and £30 depending on the size of card you want. Although you WOULD need a card reader for the pc (eg: http://www.burn-media.co.uk/product.php?productid=91280162 )

If you print them off, don't go thinking you will get the largest picture available. Mobile photos arent the best quality in the world so you may have to go for smaller printouts in order to get quality.

Donnie

http://www.fly-phone.com/phones/sl500i/

So the pictures are stored on the internal 60MB of memory.

Out of interest, which Operating System is installed on your computer?

mascherano

http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/com/CA3003.htm
makes your computer bluetooth-enabled for £2.59 (its USB). Thats what I use.
I'm always surprised how blurred/shaky images look when you view them on the PC monitor but they look fine on the phone's tiny screen

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

From what I can see, your phone has bluetooth, so all you need it a cheap bluetooth dongle for the PC as per mascherano's post.

Install it, pair it with your phone and transfer the files.

Ashok_2

Your phone should have a cable to connect it to the computer.. If you tell me the phone model I'll try and find a cheap cable.. shouldn't cost more than £2/£3

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

As mentioned in initial post, Orange TR1.

Ashok_2

Best thing to do is spend under £5 and by a bluetooth dongle...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-100M-BLUETOOTH-DONGLE-WIRELESS-ADAPTER-PDA-PC-C17_W0QQitemZ160137460973QQihZ006QQcategoryZ42393QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

aloiseb

Thanks very much, all...so, it looks likemy cheapest option is to buy a bluetooth dongle which will plug into my computer's USB port and (somehow) allow me to send my pictures from the phone to the computer? How does it do it - is it a wireless transmission, i.e. the phone sending a radio message to the computer?

Sorry for numptiness - I wish these things were easier to find out about without being buried in jargon/blinded by salestalk...the Orange sales people aren't bad, but they still give me incredulous looks when I ask them what I think are quite sensible questions.

By the way my computer is operating on Windows ME but has Office XP installed....I don't use it where possible, as I dread the Blue Screen of Death I've read about with regard to Windows ME! The computer was v. cheap (second hand) and works fine as long as you don't ask too much of it, eg downloading games or audio files. Much to the childrens' disgust, but they did blow up the last one with Cartoon Network!

mascherano

Thats exactly right, the pictures will be sent using radio communication between the phone and the bluetooth dongle. Its fast and easy to do- the bluetooth dongle comes with the required software.

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

With the software that came with my bluetooth dongle, you simply open up the program, search for devices in range and then you pair it with the phone just as you would when you pair your phone with another one.

Once it's paired you can browse through the folders in the phone and transfer music & photo files just by copy and pasting.

The software you get with your dongle will do something along the same lines.