msharman@laptop-msharman:~$ sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
N56VM.214
08/28/2012

Thanks, for some reason it didn't occur to me to check for out dated BIOS. I've updated the BIOS to the 214 version which indeed has made a significant change. Ubuntu now attachs to the phone with the file manager when it is plugged in. Add if I eject the phone (to avoid the device can not be claimed error in Shotwell) then Shotwell is now able to read the previews of the photos and import the photos - which is much better.

However, it isn't stable, I gave the mtp-detect process above a go after a reboot and the result is better but there were some errors I've attached the output as the file "mtp-detect-out.txt" and also there are still errors in the dmesg I've attached the complete dmesg output as "dmesg-out.txt"

Interestingly after repeating the above mtp-detect hangs as it attempts to reset the device:

msharman@laptop-msharman:~$ killall gvfs-mtp-volume-monitor
msharman@laptop-msharman:~$ killall gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor
msharman@laptop-msharman:~$ mtp-detect

(output attached as mtp-detect-out.txt)

dmesg output:

[   51.197549] usb 1-4: USB disconnect, device number 3
[   54.520400] usb 1-4: new high-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[   54.649665] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=04e8, idProduct=6860
[   54.649672] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[   54.649676] usb 1-4: Product: SAMSUNG_Android
[   54.649679] usb 1-4: Manufacturer: SAMSUNG
[   54.649682] usb 1-4: SerialNumber: 2410ba56
[  131.389969] usb 1-4: usbfs: process 2263 (pool) did not claim interface 0 before use
[  131.501544] usb 1-4: reset high-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[  131.630174] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep ffff88022409da48
[  131.630180] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep ffff88022409da00
[  131.630184] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep ffff88022409da90
[  131.630628] usb 1-4: usbfs: process 2263 (pool) did not claim interface 0 before use
[  131.630712] usb 1-4: usbfs: process 2209 (mtp-detect) did not claim interface 0 before use
[  131.630828] usb 1-4: usbfs: process 2209 (mtp-detect) did not claim interface 0 before use
[  131.630841] usb 1-4: usbfs: process 2209 (mtp-detect) did not claim interface 0 before use
[  131.630856] usb 1-4: usbfs: process 2209 (mtp-detect) did not claim interface 0 before use
[  131.630872] usb 1-4: usbfs: process 2209 (mtp-detect) did not claim interface 0 before use
[  131.630900] usb 1-4: usbfs: process 2209 (mtp-detect) did not claim interface 0 before use
[  131.631012] usb 1-4: usbfs: process 2263 (pool) did not claim interface 0 before use


msharman@laptop-msharman:~$ mtp-detect
Unable to open ~/.mtpz-data for reading, MTPZ disabled.
libmtp version: 1.1.8

Listing raw device(s)
Device 0 (VID=04e8 and PID=6860) is a Samsung Galaxy models (MTP).
   Found 1 device(s):
   Samsung: Galaxy models (MTP) (04e8:6860) @ bus 1, dev 10
Attempting to connect device(s)

Seems to hang here.

For reference my list of steps is now:

1. Plug in device

2. Click "Eject" when notification about device attached appears (otherwise will get an error about device being claimed).

3. Kill gvfs processes because they stop mtp-detect from working.
msharman@laptop-msharman:~$ killall gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor
msharman@laptop-msharman:~$ killall gvfs-mtp-volume-monitor 

5. Make sure phone is unlocked and then run mtp-detect
 
Works but has errors.

5. Make sure phone is unlocked and then run mtp-detect a second time.

This time it hangs.

As before I tried updating to the most recent mainline kernel 4.1rc7 but the same symptoms were present the dmesg output was different again (I've attached this as dmesg-out-41.rc7.txt)