There are various method available for transferring information from one cell phone to another. These include using a “drag and drop” method, software which has been installed on a computer or one of many “cloud” services available for smart phones. Before we had these options however things were a bit more complicated. Often when a customer was changing from one handset to another it was necessary to somehow link the two phones together to achieve the desired transfer of phone numbers, contact information, photos, videos, music, etc. For this reason a few third party manufacturers designed machines which could be equipped to make these transfers. The Cellebrite Corporation is the better known of these companies and considered the best in the industry. One of their most common machines, the UME 36 Pro, has been used for years by wireless carriers, law enforcement agencies and repair centers to recover and transfer data from cell phone handsets.

This machine allows you to connect two cell phones and move data from one to the other. Copy would be a better term as it does not delete anything from the source handset. It also gives you the option to store saved data to an SD or USB drive so that it can be saved for later. The transfer is made possible through a physical connection with cables which are supplied by Cellebrite and can also be performed using the phones bluetooth or infra red connection. These last two options are only available for certain phones so you must check the connection options in the machines menu.

The machine has the capability to read and write data from one handset to another assuming that they are supported by the installed software. As new phones are released, software updates provided by the manufacturer allow the customer to stay updated and capable of working with late model cell phones. Software updates to require a subscription based membership which typically costs $250 per year. If the subscription expires the machine will continue to operate but will not be capable of installing new updates. Last year Cellebrite announced that it will not issue software updates for the UME 36 Pro after October 31st, 2014. Fortunately most phones currently being produced do not require third party hardware in order to perform data back ups. For those who want the latest Cellebrite machine, you can expect to invest a significant amount of money in one of the newer Cellebrite Touch machines.