sony ericsson k530i; drivers?

Question

sony ericsson k530i; drivers?

a few questions:

1. i need to find drivers for my sony ericsson phone; i can't retrieve the photos i've taken from it. the website only has drivers for pc, and my computer doesn't have bluetooth.

2. this phone was bought in the states, but is apparently intended for europe... (the plug inside was the european type) that's all well and good, seeing as i live in italy, BUT the phone will not connect to the internet no matter how hard i try. (i've fiddled with all the internal internet options on the phone. my carrier is called '3', and they're a bit particular.) the language options on the phone are english and chinese, so i have a feeling the phone was intended for the british market. is there a way for me to reinstall the operating system on the phone without taking it to a customer service center?

it's a bummer that i can't connect to the internet or retrieve my pics, seeing as the phone cost more than $200...

here's my phone:

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/support/products/software/k530i/sonyericssonpcsu ite320700en?cc=gb&lc=en

ibook g4, Mac OS X (10.4.4), audacity user

Posted on May 6, 2008 2:00 PM

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Answer 1

May 6, 2008 2:24 PM in response to rabbitholedaily

it's a bummer that i can't connect to the internet or retrieve my pics, seeing as the phone cost more than $200...

What does the cost of the phone have to do with it? If your computer doesn't have Bluetooth (one of the main ways the phone communicates) you're going to be limited in what you can do with it. That's not the phones fault!

However, you can both connect to the internet and retrieve your pictures without any additional software or 'drivers', although both would be considerably easier if you had Bluetooth in your computer or were running Mac OS X 10.5.

Having Bluetooth would also allow you to use iSync to sync your Contacts and Calendars from Address Book and iCal, using an iSync Plugin from here.

To copy pictures, music etc. to and from the phone, simply connect it to the Mac with the USB cable, and when prompted choose "File Transfer" mode from the menu that appears on the phone's screen. This will mount the phones memory on the desktop as a drive which you can copy to and from.

See the page below for details on how you can connect to the internet via your phone, although as already mentioned, this would be a lot easier if you had Bluetooth.

http://www.feisar.com/connections.html

You can easily and cheaply add Bluetooth functionality to your Mac by purchasing a compatible USB Bluetooth dongle - the only one officially supported and recommended by Apple is the *D-Link DBT-120*, however the *Edimax EB-DGC1* also reportedly works with iSync.

The Operating System of the phone is the same, regardless of where the phone was purchased, or which market it was intended for. However, it is possible to reflash the firmware of the phone and add different language packs for the interface and T9 predictive text dictionaries, using third-party tools. (An official Sony Ericsson Service Centre won't change languages for you, they'll just update the OS to the latest version).

(If the phone has Chinese language on it, then it must've been destined for the Chinese market. All phones have English installed, but ones destined for the UK, also have other Western European languages installed, such as French, German etc.)

You will need access to a Windows PC to do this though, and the process is likely to void your warranty. If you decide to proceed have a look at the web-sites linked below:

http://www.wotanserver.com/
http://www.davinciteam.com/

Julian

Aluminium 20" iMac 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Apple Required Disclaimer: "I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link."

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Answer 2

May 6, 2008 2:51 PM in response to Julian Wright

ok.. that was a lot of info, thanks!

i'll try getting a bluetooth dongle... it may take a few months as i've got to order stuff from the internet and have it shipped here.

i DO have the usb cable that came with the phone, but when i attach it there is NO sign on the desktop that it is attached... i.e., the phone knows that it's attached to the computer, but not vice versa. it does NOT show up as my pen drive would, for example.

i checked out the link to the site you sent me... feisar... but ith seems the software only helps with ical and isynch. (neither of which i need or use. i'm mainly concerned about my photos.)

and i don't want to connect to the internet via the phone, i just want the phone to connect to the internet itself. ex: i can't email a picture directly from the phone to my parents, for example. i can't get rss feeds, etc. i've taken it to the service center here, and have said they don't know what the problem is, but it must be the os... (it didn't suprise me they were clueless, this phone doesn't exist here in italy.)

another thing: (you seem to have a lot of info on cell phones, so this is the last piece...) my carrier is called 'three'. the company uses only the umts format, i.e., i believe the phones on thier network must have a frequency of 2100... (i've included the wikipedia page below, because i'm really not an expert, obviously.) they're trying to move us into the world where large packets of data can be transferred- where everyone is making video calls with each other rather than voice calls. anyway,that forces 3 customers to buy state-of-the-art phones, which i did... only to find i can't take advantage of any of the benefits due to some glitch. anyway, if you're interested in three (they're the phone mafia) there's info below. this hasn't hit the states as hard yet, where i believe the networks are called gprs...?

http://www.three.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_%28telecommunications%29

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Answer 3

May 6, 2008 2:55 PM in response to rabbitholedaily

p.s. it's late here, so i may have forgot to mention in my previous post that the phone in question is physically stamped with the 'three' logo, as is the box. it is a 'three' phone, so some of the problems i'm having may be specific to my carrier and not the phone itself. tough call.

last note: i am now running leopard as an os on my mac.

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Answer 4

May 6, 2008 4:05 PM in response to rabbitholedaily

i DO have the usb cable that came with the phone, but when i attach it there is NO sign on the desktop that it is attached...

Do you get a menu on the phone's screen asking you to choose between "Phone Mode" and "File Transfer". If so, you must choose "File Transfer" to mount the phone on the desktop.

If not, it's possible that 3 have disabled this feature from the phones firmware. Some network operators like to do that!

and i don't want to connect to the internet via the phone, i just want the phone to connect to the internet itself.

Ah.. sorry! Misunderstood your original post! You should be able to get the correct internet settings sent directly to your phone from the Sony Ericsson web-site here:

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/support/phonesetup?cc=gb&lc=en

Choose your phone model, country and provider and they'll send the details by text message.

I'm based in the UK, so I am familiar with 3 as they operate here too, although I haven't used them.

Does your phone have the 3 customised firmware on it, or is it generic Sony Ericsson firmware? (i.e. Do the menu screens have 3 links and icons on them, or are they the standard Sony Ericsson icons you see in the image below)

!http://www.wotanserver.com/pictures/K530.jpg!

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Answer 5

May 7, 2008 11:07 AM in response to Julian Wright

sorry for taking so long to respond, was at work. you're a superstar for giving me so much info!

yes, i've set the phone to 'file transfer mode; but still see nothing on the desktop. the phone waits after i select 'file transfer', then the phone screen says 'do not disconnect'-- BUT there's no sign of the phone on either the desktop or in finder.

thanks for the other note too... it DOES have 'three' firmware on it, the screen boots to the 3 logo and the icons are NOT the same as the pic you attached...

b.

p.s. : i noticed there's a great program in the apple downloads section for sony ericsson phones called 'phone agent'. it works for other models, and looks FANTASTIC... but my model's been excluded.... is there some small hope that there's something similar on this planet?? thanks again...

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Answer 6

May 7, 2008 11:14 AM in response to rabbitholedaily

I'm not sure why your phone would not be appearing on the desktop. Does it have a memory card in it, or just the internal memory? Have you tried connecting it to a different Mac?

It may be an issue with the 3 customised firmware. If you have access to a Windows PC, try running the Sony Ericsson Update Service to make sure you've got the latest firmware on there.

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/support/products/updateservice/k530i?cc=gb&lc=en

PhoneAgent is pretty good, and should work (at least partially) with the K530i, according to their web-site. It does, however, require a Bluetooth connection, like most cool programs for SE phones.

Did the settings download from the SE web-site help?

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Answer 7

May 7, 2008 12:52 PM in response to Julian Wright

you ARE a golden god!

the SE website was super... who could've imagined they could've changed the settings from the inside without you having to do anything? yes... i think now i can send photos via email... the RSS feeds seems to be working..

that's really nice because as you know i'm not in the english-speaking world, and i miss my english news and would like to send my mum little pics using the camera phone. (i can't always call 'cause she's usually at work or sleeping, with the time change and all...)

SO, you're a SUPERSTAR.

yes, i select 'file transfer' but nothing shows up. i've tried both usb ports and i've tried rebooting the computer... nothing. for what it's worth, the computer DOES make a noise, as if it's trying to hook up with the phone... but then- nothing. poof.

i think that's almost all that can be accomplished here... i'll try getting a usb dongle asap to see if that changes something. (i sure hope so)

i'll leave this post open for the next day or so, then mark it 'answered'. if you think of anything else, let me know!

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