Samsung Stratosphere - Phone Works, Screen Dead, Need to retrieve SMS's - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello
My girlfriend has a Samsung Stratosphere (Verizon) and it was recently dropped from a 2nd story apartment. The screen is completely cracked (doesn't even turn on). The phone, however, still works (can receive calls, as long as the keyboard is slided out). I assume it could make calls as well if I could see the screen.
I'm trying to retrieve SMS's on the phone. To the best of my knowledge, it was not rooted, and usb debugging was not enabled. Is there any way I can retrieve the messages?
When I plug the phone into my computer, I can't even access it as a USB drive (since I can't see/touch the screen to tell it to mount as a disk drive)
Any and all help will be much appreciated

Related

[Q] getting messages off an S3 with broken screen

Hi all,
I broke my beloved Galaxy S3 while replacing a shattered screen, and the LCD is not even showing when the phone turns on. I can get my photos etc off, but there is a particular text message I really need to get. I've been trying to sell an expensive item for ages, and I have to arrange a meeting with the buyer on Friday. Is there a way of getting to my text messages?
Ways I've thought of -
Using MHL and a usb mouse at the same time somehow to read the messages so I can write down his number
Opening Airdroid somehow remotely and connecting to it
Using ADB (I'm not even sure if it's on) to pull the text messages off the phone
Any help would be greatly appreciated. If it helps, I'm on Foxhound 1.7 and Siyah 1.8.6
EDIT: ADB doesn't seem to be on, trying to figure out a way of getting it on

[Q] Recovering data from a Galaxy S3 with damaged screen?

Yesterday I dropped my Galaxy S3 GT-I9300 softly on the floor, but immediately I noticed that there was a problem with the screen: the glass was not broken, but colours were abnormally green, with a horizontal white line at the top of the screen, and a little circular dead zone in the upper left corner. I could still use it. But a few hours later, the light intensity of the screen had progressively and drastically decreased, and the phone could no longer be used. Today, the screen is totally black…
All data was saved on the external card, and I thought that Gmail synchronization would have saved my agenda. So initially, it did not seem like a too big problem, except for the cost of screen replacement, but when I realized that my calendar synchronization had not been not properly configured, the problem suddenly became more serious! My main problem is now data, not screen!
When the phone is on, and connected to my PC via an USB cable, I can only access two folders on the phone: “Card” and “Phone” (the external card is still in the phone). I have the original ROM, the phone is not rooted.
Do you think that my calendar data is there somewhere? I don’t know where to find it.
I’m afraid that all data will be lost if I send back my phone to the reseller's after sales service.
Alternatively, is there a mean, with an HDMI adapter and an external screen, to use the phone anyway: only the display does not work, the rest of the phone seems OK. The touch screen still worked fine yesterday, when I could still see something. Will I see anything on the TV when touching the phone screen? It would be wonderful if I could just reconfigure my synchronization, in spite of that black screen, and thus recover my agenda data via my Gmail account, before sending the phone to the after sales service.
Any suggestions are welcome.
Search exact same question been asked before and i believe a workaround was found .
jje
You can use ADB to make a backup of all your apps + data. However USB Debugging must be enabled for this to work. Is it enabled on your device?
If yes, there are a lot of guides on how to backup your phone`s content such as Apps + Data.
One such guide is this: http://www.thesuperusersguide.com/adb-backup--restore.html
No, I had not activated "ADB debugging" and without screen, it seems a little bit difficult to do it now, thus precluding "ADB" use. That's why I was wondering if there was a possibility to use the phone with an external screen via a MHL-HDMI adapter, assuming the touch screen still works… Any idea?
yes, just do that. you can also access adb from recovery without having to enable anything
I am now pretty sure that touch screen is OK. Even if I don't see anything, swiping the screen to unlock it produces the usual sound. So I won’t do anything until I get a MHL HDMI adapter. I think it is the simplest way, if that works… I keep you informed in a few days. Many thanks

help recovering SMS's from s3 with broken screen

Hi guys,
I recently managed to launch my phone from my pocket at over 100ft on a fun fair ride - clever. It now boots up, makes the noises when booting and has the blue LED light as expected but the screen is dead.
I think I received a good few text messages while the screen was dead but it was on, and now I have my sim in another old phone (HTC wildfire S) I expected I would see all these unread texts but I do not. I am guessing these texts went to the s3 phone storage?
So I have a few questions:
]Do SMS back up to google accounts automatically? If so how can I recover them to the new phone?
Is there any way of me seeing the unread texts from my s3 through a USB connection to a PC? as it still connects to a computer and I can view the data.
I looked into controlling the screen of the broken s3 from a PC and it seems you need USB debugging turned on and I couldn't figure a way of doing that without the screen being on - anyone know if that is possible?
I also looked at getting a micro USB to HDMI adapter to try contol the screen from a computer, something like this - would that work? Micro USB MHL to HDMI Cable adapter HDTV Samsung Galaxy S3 S III i9300 S4 I9500 | eBay Is that something that could work?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers
Dan
I have managed to back up my messages using 'samsung Kies 3' which creates a 'Message.sme' file, any ideas if there is a way I could view this .sme file on a computer? I have done some research with no luck so far...
Cheers
Dan
danstar10 said:
I have managed to back up my messages using 'samsung Kies 3' which creates a 'Message.sme' file, any ideas if there is a way I could view this .sme file on a computer? I have done some research with no luck so far...
Cheers
Dan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problem, but with my S4. I've since replaced it with a nexus 5, but have important info stored on sms on my old phone that I need access to.

Unlock Galaxy Note III with broken display (visual and touch broken)

Hi everyone
This morning my Galaxy Note III fell on the floor and ever since its display seems completely broken (its not split or anything, but it remains black after restart and its impossible to unlock it as the touch screen doesn't respond anymore). I already have a new phone but the problem is that I want to save all data like pictures and whatsapp histories not being on the SD card. I tried to connect with ADB but it keeps saying that the device is not authorized. Usually one needs to confirm on the Galaxy when connecting with ADB. But know, as the touchscreen seems dead, thats not an option anymore :-/
The phone seems still perfectly operable otherwise.
Is the any chance to access the phone??
Best regards
Samuel
I already tried to connect an external mice using USB OTG. It seems to work, at least the lights beam up, when I move the mouse around.
Unfortunately, I do not get any feedback on whether the phone is unlocked or not and of course, I don't see the curser as the screen is black :-/

Galaxy S3 i-9300 Cracked screen + touch screen. Need to view call history or SMS.

I dropped my s3 and now it has a very thin crack on it. First I was able to see some colours but now it is only black - touch screen gave no response aswell. I was also lucky enough to get the battery out on the initial drop so now all I can do is turn the phone on with or without simcard and let it connect to Wi-Fi. There were no SD Cards aswell.
The phone is not rooted, it is just "stock" in every way.
Getting it repaired costs more than what I paid for it while buying it from a friend years ago so I'm not even considering to get it repaired, I will buy a new smart phone, probably a Galaxy Note 4 or 5. (I'm not sure but this info might be useful. My smart phone knowledge is not much but may be there is a way to fix my issue(that I am explaining below) with the use of a Galaxy Note - without disintegrating the new Note)
My problem is that I need to retrieve a phone number that I didn't have the chance to save yet at the time of the drop. The number is probably one of the latest 5 in Call History and there was also an SMS that came from that number - that specific SMS was saved on the phone, not the simcard.
Absolutely nothing happens on computer side(Windows 7 Ultimate) when I plug it via USB. Can't see the content of the phone in File Explorer or anything else. I updated drivers. The phone starts charging, though.
Samsung Kies does not work as it does not recognize the phone when connected via USB and I need to scan the QR Code to connect it via Wi-Fi which is impossible since I can not give any commands to the phone nor see anything but a black screen.
I have this Samsung Link program. It recognizes the phone through Wi-Fi and I can browse files in the phone from my computer. I checked all files, there is nothing SMS or Call History related. On my web searches, I found out that SMS messages are stored in "/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databeses/mmssms.db" but there are no such folders that start with "com.android.providers".
I did not have debugging or other things active at the time and I can not turn anything on or off. It only has Wi-Fi enabled.
I can't even turn the phone off except for pulling the battery out since I need to touch the shut down option that comes in the menu when you hold the power button on the side.
Is there a way to view my Call History or SMS messages from my computer? Please bear in mind that I can not install any apps or give any commands at all to my phone by the use of its screen and it is not recognized by the computer when it is connected via USB.
Most success I've had is the program called Samsung Link that allows my computer to connect to the phone by Wi-Fi and browse files, pictures, videos and such. (Also I did another check for both USB and Wi-Fi connections while typing these. USB still does not work)
I do not have access to another phone to swap screens-motherboards-whatnot.
Kind regards.
angred said:
I dropped my s3 and now it has a very thin crack on it. First I was able to see some colours but now it is only black - touch screen gave no response aswell. I was also lucky enough to get the battery out on the initial drop so now all I can do is turn the phone on with or without simcard and let it connect to Wi-Fi. There were no SD Cards aswell.
The phone is not rooted, it is just "stock" in every way.
Getting it repaired costs more than what I paid for it while buying it from a friend years ago so I'm not even considering to get it repaired, I will buy a new smart phone, probably a Galaxy Note 4 or 5. (I'm not sure but this info might be useful. My smart phone knowledge is not much but may be there is a way to fix my issue(that I am explaining below) with the use of a Galaxy Note - without disintegrating the new Note)
My problem is that I need to retrieve a phone number that I didn't have the chance to save yet at the time of the drop. The number is probably one of the latest 5 in Call History and there was also an SMS that came from that number - that specific SMS was saved on the phone, not the simcard.
Absolutely nothing happens on computer side(Windows 7 Ultimate) when I plug it via USB. Can't see the content of the phone in File Explorer or anything else. I updated drivers. The phone starts charging, though.
Samsung Kies does not work as it does not recognize the phone when connected via USB and I need to scan the QR Code to connect it via Wi-Fi which is impossible since I can not give any commands to the phone nor see anything but a black screen.
I have this Samsung Link program. It recognizes the phone through Wi-Fi and I can browse files in the phone from my computer. I checked all files, there is nothing SMS or Call History related. On my web searches, I found out that SMS messages are stored in "/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databeses/mmssms.db" but there are no such folders that start with "com.android.providers".
I did not have debugging or other things active at the time and I can not turn anything on or off. It only has Wi-Fi enabled.
I can't even turn the phone off except for pulling the battery out since I need to touch the shut down option that comes in the menu when you hold the power button on the side.
Is there a way to view my Call History or SMS messages from my computer? Please bear in mind that I can not install any apps or give any commands at all to my phone by the use of its screen and it is not recognized by the computer when it is connected via USB.
Most success I've had is the program called Samsung Link that allows my computer to connect to the phone by Wi-Fi and browse files, pictures, videos and such. (Also I did another check for both USB and Wi-Fi connections while typing these. USB still does not work)
I do not have access to another phone to swap screens-motherboards-whatnot.
Kind regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You won't be able to view the stuff you're looking for with a file manager on PC, Windows can only view the MTP portion of your sdcard, it cant access or view your system partition which is where mmssms.db is located. You will need to have the device rooted in order to retrieve the files you're after.
You can connect a USB mouse to your device and make selections using the mouse instead of touch, the tricky part is knowing where things are on the display to select them, you can use screenshots of the needed screens from another device like yours. If you can get it to connect to PC via VLC you can share the screen to your PC and navigate that way(you'll need root to access the folder you're after), if you can get it to screencast you can navigate that way also.
Regardless of whether you repair the screen or not, you will have to root the device to do what you're doing.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
angred said:
I dropped my s3 and now it has a very thin crack on it. First I was able to see some colours but now it is only black - touch screen gave no response aswell. I was also lucky enough to get the battery out on the initial drop so now all I can do is turn the phone on with or without simcard and let it connect to Wi-Fi. There were no SD Cards aswell.
The phone is not rooted, it is just "stock" in every way.
Getting it repaired costs more than what I paid for it while buying it from a friend years ago so I'm not even considering to get it repaired, I will buy a new smart phone, probably a Galaxy Note 4 or 5. (I'm not sure but this info might be useful. My smart phone knowledge is not much but may be there is a way to fix my issue(that I am explaining below) with the use of a Galaxy Note - without disintegrating the new Note)
My problem is that I need to retrieve a phone number that I didn't have the chance to save yet at the time of the drop. The number is probably one of the latest 5 in Call History and there was also an SMS that came from that number - that specific SMS was saved on the phone, not the simcard.
Absolutely nothing happens on computer side(Windows 7 Ultimate) when I plug it via USB. Can't see the content of the phone in File Explorer or anything else. I updated drivers. The phone starts charging, though.
Samsung Kies does not work as it does not recognize the phone when connected via USB and I need to scan the QR Code to connect it via Wi-Fi which is impossible since I can not give any commands to the phone nor see anything but a black screen.
I have this Samsung Link program. It recognizes the phone through Wi-Fi and I can browse files in the phone from my computer. I checked all files, there is nothing SMS or Call History related. On my web searches, I found out that SMS messages are stored in "/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databeses/mmssms.db" but there are no such folders that start with "com.android.providers".
I did not have debugging or other things active at the time and I can not turn anything on or off. It only has Wi-Fi enabled.
I can't even turn the phone off except for pulling the battery out since I need to touch the shut down option that comes in the menu when you hold the power button on the side.
Is there a way to view my Call History or SMS messages from my computer? Please bear in mind that I can not install any apps or give any commands at all to my phone by the use of its screen and it is not recognized by the computer when it is connected via USB.
Most success I've had is the program called Samsung Link that allows my computer to connect to the phone by Wi-Fi and browse files, pictures, videos and such. (Also I did another check for both USB and Wi-Fi connections while typing these. USB still does not work)
I do not have access to another phone to swap screens-motherboards-whatnot.
Kind regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can also try flashing a custom recovery(CWM if you can get it, what I'm talking about might not work with TWRP and if it did it would still be tricky). CWM can be used by the hardware keys to make selections where TWRP is touch which wouldn't work for you. With a CWM custom recovery you could make a backup of the device then copy the backup over to PC then extract everything you need. You could even root and flash TWRP then boot to TWRP and connect to adb and use adb to create a backup, there are instructions that are easy to find for creating backups with adb, just make sure you understand the instructions so that you're sure you're retrieving everything you need. Then extract what you need from the adb backup.
Maybe easier but more time consuming, contact your service provider and have them send you a copy of your call history, it should all the numbers you've called during the period of time that you ask them for.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

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