How To Download Pictures from the LG Dare to Your Computer

This is probably one of the first questions you'll have once you get further acquainted with your LG Dare, and after seeing the USB cable that comes with it. The sad reality is that you can't: well, you can, but it's not documented in the LG Dare's manual! Read more about it in this section about using the provided USB cable to download pictures off the LG Dare.

There is a lot of hope though: Bitpim -- a free 3rd party program that allows you to sync, view and download (or upload!) files to and from your LG Dare.

A warning: Using the method described below, you'll be using a free 3rd party program to access your phone's software. When used incorrectly, you could potentially delete your images, or worse. Be sure not to use any of the advanced features of this program.

Let it be known that I, personally, have never been able to use the free software listed below to extract pictures from my LG Dare on a computer using Windows Vista - only Windows XP!

It is entirely possible to simply send the images from your LG Dare to your e-mail address. However, there is one major downfall to this (besides the fact that you can only send 8 images at a time) -- the images will be downsampled significantly. Every time you use your LG Dare to send a picture message, it immediately shows a "Resizing..." screen. It's actually downsampling and resizing the image before sending it out, resulting in a lesser quality image. Here's proof -- you can even try it out for yourself!

Pop in the CD that came with your LG Dare and choose the 3rd option that says "Only install USB drivers for LG." Once the driver installs, you're done (this isn't actually a software install, and you won't see any menu additions or desktop icons).

Bitpim is free software that allows you to browse all of the files on your LG Dare. It's available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Simply connect your LG Dare to your computer with the USB cable that it came with, run Bitpim, sync it, and you'll be able to take a look at what's on the phone. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though!

If you don't trust yourself with technology, it's probably best that you don't attempt to tap into your cell phone at all. By following the directions below, you'll be able to download pictures from your LG Dare. It's highly recommended that you don't stray away from these directions by poking around elsewhere within your phone's data!

Download Bitpim here

Make sure your LG Dare is connected to your computer via USB cable and powered on. Start Bitpim, and look for the magnifying lens icon as seen above, entitled "Find phone." Bitpim will find your phone after a brief pause (otherwise, it will open a manual phone info form for you to fill out).



Once you're connected to your LG Dare, select the icon shown above, which is entitled "Get phone data." An additional box will pop up with various options that you can choose, such as Phonebook, Calendar, Wallpaper, Ringtone, etc. Select all of the checkboxes next to these options, and leave the radio buttons on the right as is.

Once you make these selections and click "OK," Bitpim will start searching through your LG Dare and gathering information from it. It will show a progress bar at the bottom of the window (it usually takes quite awhile to finish, depending on how much is on your phone; including videos, pictures, ringtones and music):



Once Bitpim finishes, expand the "Media" icon on the left hand menu. Sift through the images folder(s) until you've found the one that has your images. You'll know when you get there, as it will display thumbnails of all of the images on your LG Dare. You can then download them one by one, by right-clicking the thumbnail and choosing "Save." Simply save it to a location on your computer:



This same process can also be used to download video clips and music from your LG Dare, as well! Simply look for the folders that contain those objects.

Turns out that you can, in fact, use nothing but your included USB cable to download pics from your LG Dare, as a USB mass storage device. Simply plug in your phone, but make sure the phone is turned off. When (hopefully, if) your computer recognizes your LG Dare, navigate through the menus to the phone settings and click "USB Mass Storage."
(Thanks to Brian L. for the tip!)

Here's another tip posted by a visitor:

• "The "Ask on Plug" is set at default in the USB Auto Detection section in Settings and Tools, so the Dare screen only gives the option to select either music or data and connect.
• Select "neither" and close the screen so it only shows that it is charging.
• Go back to Settings and Tools, select Tools, scroll down to the last one which is USB Mass Storage, and select it
• This will give you a connection, but this time in Windows Explorer you'll see folders "mypics," "mymusic," & "myflix." You can now open the folder and cut and paste or copy as many as you like

(Thanks to Squidoo user "psany" for the tip!)

Personally, I have never gotten the LG Dare to download pictures to my PC via the USB cable - the computer simply doesn't recognize a new device when I try. I'm using Windows Vista Ultimate.

If, for whatever reason, you can't get pictures from your LG Dare to download to your computer, or, if Bitpim won't install, or if anything else strange is happening - make sure you are using the correct version of Bitpim. If the newest version isn't working, try one of the older versions from their website.

Personally, I have never gotten Bitpim to work on Windows Vista - it simply refuses to even start. It works great on XP, though. I have never been able to download pictures from the LG Dare using the supplied USB cable on either XP nor Vista.