Ade Malsasa Akbar contact
Senior author, Open Source enthusiast.
Sunday, October 4, 2015 at 17:29

I've got a new handheld device Sony Ericsson Xperia ST25i with Android operating system recently. This device has internal storage only, it has no external storage. I tried to connect it in my Ubuntu 12.04 but my file manager (Dolphin) could only read and could not write into its storage. And you know, Sony PC Companion program (tool for transferring files into Xperia) is not available for Linux until today. So, I try Ubuntu 15.04 today. You may do it from LiveCD. Out of the box, Ubuntu detects my Xperia easily and I can read or write any files (create folder, copy MP3, copy images, etc.) into my Xperia. You don't need to install anything. By using this, you don't need Sony PC Companion again. I want to share it here.

Connecting Device to PC

 

Connect your Xperia into USB port in PC with USB cable.

Ubuntu Will Detect It

 

In my Ubuntu 15.05, a new icon appears on the left Launcher. Its label is SEMC HSUSB Device. Yes, this is my Xperia device internal storage icon.




Open Device in File Manager

 

Click that icon on Launcher, Nautilus file manager will open. You should see an icon for internal storage. Open that icon. Now you see all folders from your Xperia appears inside Nautilus. This means your Ubuntu mounts Xperia device.



Transfer Files

 

You can now transfer files from PC to Xperia or from Xperia to PC. Yes, in both directions. You can delete file inside Xperia, you can make folder inside it, you can search file you want inside.



Unmount Device

 

After doing all you needs, you must unmount Xperia. To do it, click on Eject icon on Nautilus. Do this always in you want to take Xperia out from PC. Do this to avoid any power failure that can be happened anytime. Enjoy.


Technical Information

 

Why Ubuntu 15.04 can detect MTP device (Sony Ericcson Xperia ST25i) out of the box? The reason is because it has libmtp and some other related tools built-in. Just use dpkg -l | grep mtp to see this information.