Retrieving stolen droid background pic

[gmb49all]

So some punk stole my droid - long story. Anyhow, the new phone arrives, I turn it on, and low and behold! My background / wallpaper is a picture of the punk that stole my phone! My guess is the idiot took a picture of himself and google backed it up to their server and than downloaded onto the new phone. So now I want to catch this little punk...

So, here's my question - how do I retrieve this picture off of the phone? Here's what I have tried thusfar:

1. Looked in the "Gallery" - no picture.
2. Downloaded Astro and did extensive root system file searches (from "/") for files with the names: jpg, *.jpg, png, *.png, wallpaper, background - no pictures found.
3. Obviously I hooked it up to the computer but that only lets you view the SD card and there's nothing on that since it's a "brand new" phone.

Was thinking of trying root access next, but thought I'd ask the forum for any suggestions. Any suggestion is appreciated, no matter how silly!

 

[mcapozzi]

Ummm, odd that an Android phone would load a custom wallpaper as soon as you set it up.

I would go to Verizon and explain the situation, this just sounds too freaking weird to me.

You might want to see if you now have a Picasa account (Google's online image stoarge/sharing site) or a Flickr account.

-Mike

 

[gary2]

you need to be root, but here ya go:

/data/data/com.android.settings/files/wallpaper and it's in jpg format

 

[kpiskin]

Oh man, please keep us posted!

 

[mcapozzi]

How the hell would that pic get on there on a "new" phone???

Something is definitely rotten in Denmark???

-Mike

 

[baniels]

Post the picture as soon as you get it.

 

[kpiskin]

Shouldn't Verizon be able to track the phone down once it connects with the network?

 

[will.anaya]

How the hell would that pic get on there on a "new" phone???

Something is definitely rotten in Denmark???

-Mike

little off topic but the same happened to mine.

phone destroyed, but before it was had a custom wallpaper. started new droid and custom wallpaper was on my new phone, freaked me out

and yes keep us posted, would love to hear what happened to the punk.

maybe a new Droid commercial in the making......

 

[FuzzyBeard]

How do you know it's the guy that stole your phone? Kinda sounds like you are getting refurbished phones with cutom wallpaper left on it.

 

[Shadez]

Sorry man I didnt know that was your phone...

 

[jimnutt]

The wallpaper is one of the things that is backed up to your google account. It gets refreshed after a factory reset. Sounds to me like the "genius" who stole the phone didn't reset the account on the phone and then set the wall paper. I'd recommend changing your google account passwords ASAP as well.

 

[kook]

You're going to have a difficult time proving HE'S the one that took your phone. But good luck.

 

[gmb49all]

Thanks for all the info! I will be rooting the phone tonight and hopefully retrieving the picture. Once I get the picture I plan on pulling the metadata out of the picture. With any luck, there will be a time, date, and GPS coordinates embedded in it.

I know it's the guy because I was trying to help this punk with his newspaper subscription. Yes, insert the "I'm an idiot" comments HERE. He walked out with my phone so I know exactly what he looks like.

Yes, might be difficult to prove he stole it, and I don't expect charges to be pressed and him to be captured, but in the meantime, scaring the absolute crap out of him (and everyone he called - yes, I pulled my call logs and I plan on calling each person on the list) is almost as satisfactory as catching him.

 

[kook]

Yes, might be difficult to prove he stole it, and I don't expect charges to be pressed and him to be captured, but in the meantime, scaring the absolute crap out of him (and everyone he called - yes, I pulled my call logs and I plan on calling each person on the list) is almost as satisfactory as catching him.

This....to me....would be much more satisfying.

 

[jntdroid]

part of what google backs up must be your wallpaper occasionally, b/c i can't tell you how many times i've wiped clean, reflashed to stock, and it loads up with a wallpaper i had two roms ago