VC’s Techie CockTail

With many cellphones even at the 80-100$ range coming with mp3 playback capability but with limited memory might be a source of frustration for some. So here is a easy and FREE way to fit some mp3’s into your phone even with limited memory like Nokia 2600 Classic, Sony Ericsson K510i etc. So the first step is to download Audacity - A free Audio Editor.

Then in audacity, Edit menu -> under ‘Preferences’ ->under ‘File Formats’ tab -> Set the MP3 Export setup bit rate as 48 from the drop down menu (as illustrated in the screenshot below)

Then File-> Open  -> “Select a mp3 file” and then File->Export as MP3 -> Save it. Viola !!! a mp3 file with size say 5 MB will be compressed to about 2MB (approx). Then upload it to your phone and enjoy.

And here is a way to cut a small portion of the mp3 file to make a mp3 ringtone. Use this MP3 splitter (’Right click and Select Save Target’ as to download)to select a source mp3 file and a destination to save the result. And then you have three choice to split by size, seconds and selection. By the end of it you will have small mp3 ringtones of your favourite tunes to rock your cell phone. Enjoy

written by Vignesh \\ tags: Mobile, ringtones

For people who want something more than calls / sms from their phone without breaking their bank, here is a colorful alternative from Nokia called 2600 Classic. I was primarily interested in this phone because i thought it would make a nice Mother’s Day gift. But when I came across this phone from my friend , my views on it was somewhat skeptical.

• For starters, the phone was slightly larger than my K550i in terms of height, making it look somewhat ungainly but the slimness and weight was OK.
• The 128 x 160 pixel 65000 color TFT screen was not that bright but OK for a phone costing 3200/- (80$)
• The phone was a extremely slow coach, which my friend told me was the case of this phone from the first day. To even open a empty folder took time. (Might be a firmware upgrade will do the trick)
• Other than these slight niggles, the sound quality was nice and the 10MB memory will hold some mp3’s (if you can shrink it small enough like I do ), pictures, themes etc.
• The VGA camera was also quite good
• The connectivity department is also excellent for this class of phone with gprs/edge, usb, bluetooth
• Extras like FM radio, java games, an extra color panel makes it a value buy

For people who want a more professional looking phone with capabilities to use as a gprs/edge modem you can try Nokia 2630

written by Vignesh \\ tags: Nokia