Stored on phone

[1chance1]

I have an broken straight talk Samsung galaxy s iii. The sim card is missing. What kind of info can I still get off the phone. So far as drafted unsent mms/sms, call logs, text logs. where is that stuff stored and how doesn it work with the tower. I had another phone that was dormant for 7 months when I fired it back up no call or text log/ contacts where gone. wassup?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Is this your phone? I'm not sure how your SIM card can be missing if it's your phone, unless someone else took it out, or unless it got seriously damaged and it got dislodged somehow.

 

[1chance1]

what is where

I have an broken straight talk Samsung Galaxy S3. The sim card is missing. What kind of info can I still get off the phone. So far as drafted unsent mms/sms, call logs, text logs. where is that stuff stored and how doesn it work with the tower. I had another phone that was dormant for 7 months when I fired it back up no call or text log/ contacts where gone. wassup? that s3 the screen is also black. Must access thru laptop.

 

[SpookDroid]

Re: what is where

If the phone is still working internally and it's just the screen that is broken, you can connect your phone via USB to your computer and back things up via Samsung Kies. BUT backing up with Kies requires your phone to be unlocked (as in no lockscreen visible). If your phone had a PIN or password for a lockscreen and your screen is broken, you might not be able to unlock it so that Kies can connect to it.

 

[1chance1]

It is a long story. That is just the situation.

 

[1chance1]

Re: what is where

Kies is that a program I can download? Thanks. I tried connecting usb using windows explorer. No luck. when I look at my devices via pc it sees it but says the driver has issues. I tried to downloaded a new driver via Samsung. Its website said my driver was good. I will check out Kies.

 

[SpookDroid]

Re: what is where

Kies is the iTunes equivalent of Samsung, and it contains the drivers needed for your phone, too. You should be able to download it from Samsung's webpage.

 

[B. Diddy]

These days, contacts are rarely stored on the SIM--they're usually in an SQLite database located in a system directory, that is read by the Contacts app. SMS messages might be stored on a SIM, but even with the SIM out, the past SMS conversations should still be visible in the Messaging app.

 

[B. Diddy]

Threads merged.

 

[1chance1]

Hey that kies program worked. I was able to back up my messages to my laptop.. It is a messages.sme file. What would be the best way to open that?

 

[1chance1]

Tried file viewer pro....a virus. Has any one tried abylon reader??

 

[SpookDroid]

Not sure you can just -open- those files (you can try just dropping them onto Excel and see if the contents aren't encrypted). I think Kies just backs them up and can restore them to the phone, but not certain it lets you view the actual contents.

 

[1chance1]

Thanks for your help. SMEstands for Samsung Message Encryption. And kies doesn't read it. I think I am going to try a cheap Samsung phone. Any advice there on what type of phone. $ is an issue.

 

[1chance1]

BTW I tried Open office spreadsheet. no luck.

 

[SpookDroid]

Ah, so it is encrypted. Then yeah, you can only back up and restore to a phone using Kies, but not read the messages. Bummer.

Problem with the back up is, I'm not sure you can just restore to any phone... If I recall correctly, Kies will try to restore to the same phone.

 

[1chance1]

That was my next question. Wow u r like the swammie. The digitizer pad and the sim card are missing on the old phone. I guess I will get a hold of Samsung. Unless someone has a better idea. Or has a friend in the National Security Counsel. LOL

 

[1chance1]

I just talked to Samsung they said I need a phone with android 4.1 or higher. I will let you know how it worked out.

 

[SpookDroid]

If the digitizer is kaput but you can still see the contents of the screen (even if you don't have a SIM card it should work) you could pair a BT mouse to use as 'your finger' and then just plug into Kies for restoration.

However, for this to work, your phone needs to have had that BT mouse already paired and the BT radio turned on... But fear not, there's an alternative! You can use an OTG cable and just plug in a USB mouse into your phone. You can unlock using this as well if you have a secure lockscreen since it will allow you to input the password/PIN/pattern.

IF you can do this, then I'd install a 3rd party SMS back up app that does let you export the messages to a 'readable' format and then just transfer that via Bluetooth or into Cloud storage.

 

[1chance1]

can't see the content. but thanks.

 

[SpookDroid]

If it still responds to touch you can view your screen on a TV with an MHL cable (or if you are nice to the people on a service center, they might even let you use their repair terminals to use a 'spare' display). But, if like you say, the digitizer is gone, then yeah...that won't work either other than being able to look at the contents of the screen. Problem with this is that the MHL cable uses your USB port, so you can't use the USB mouse for input, only a BT one if you had it paired before and BT is already on.