USB transfer speed ridiculously slow
This is a common problem with Android and Ubuntu. I got around this by using ADB to transfer the data.
Turn ADB on in your phones settings and make sure you have downloaded the ADB package on your computer (http://www.webupd8.org/2012/08/install-adb-and-fastboot-android-tools.html). Then run in terminal:
adb devices

to check that your device is recognized. Once you have done that you can transfer files using:
adb pull /sdcard/place_on_phone ~/place_on_computer

and
adb push ~/place_on_computer /sdcard/place_on_phone