Bag Of Tricks
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday October 18, 2003
There's an almost unlimited variety of fun add-ons for your phone, writes Helen Bradley.
Remember when phones were black, they had rotary dials, they plugged into the wall and they made a pleasant "brrring brrring" sound? Today it seems like you're not in unless your phone has its own screensaver and logo, unless you're playing games on it as you wait for your next call and, when that call comes, unless it plays the 1812 Overture or the latest top-10 hit to alert you to the fact.
To make sure you can find what you need to keep up with the Joneses, we've investigated what is hot in ring tones, screensavers and other downloadable digital clutter for your phone.
However, one word of caution before we begin. What you can download and add to your phone depends a lot on the model phone you're using. For example, older phones may not be able to download ring tones or, if they do, they may only store a limited range. Some may not be able to download or use much at all of anything and other newer phones may let you download the equivalent of a Royal Easter Show bag of goodies.
So before you start looking for fun add-ons, check the manual that came with your phone to see what you can do with it. If you can't find the manual, check at the manufacturer's website, which is likely to list details about the phones it makes and what's available to add to them. They also provide free downloads of many of these items. In fact your phone manufacturer's website is a great place to start looking for all these items. Another handy way to get the information you need is to visit GoMo (www.gomo.com.au/handsets.asp) click your handset manufacturer's logo and choose your phone model to read about its capabilities.
Plain old ringtones have been around for a long time but the new trend is towards polyphonic tones, which are multiple tones playing simultaneously so that the ring sounds more like music than an ordinary phone ringing. Many phones provide support for downloadable games and screensavers much like those you use on your PC, although sized to the phone's minuscule screen. You can also find pictures to send with your SMS messages and screen logos to replace the one installed by the manufacturer. Once you've exhausted your phone manufacturer's site, visit the site for your phone service. Optus (www.optus.com.au), Vodafone (www.vodafone.com.au), Virgin (www.virginmobile.com.au) and the like have a range of free and for-a-fee downloadable items you can add to your grab bag.
If you're bemoaning the end of the AFL season and want to get a head start on next year, head to the AFL's site (afl.com.au/?pg=mobile) for wallpapers, audio messages (including highlights such as "It's Dipper calling!") and even footy games you can play whenever you need a "footy fix". Also, a cool site for downloading games is Java Games (www.java-games.com.au).
If you get sick of playing games and talking to others, consider joining an SMS chat - just log into a chatroom, get a nickname and start punching out your messages on your cell-phone keypad. But be warned - at about 25 cents for each outgoing message, chatting up someone in a chatroom can be expensive.
Textual revolution
What do you do if all this talk of SMS is going over the top of your head because you're still using that black phone with the rotary dial? Are you totally left out of the SMS revolution? Not at all. From a service such as Net2Mobile.com you can buy credits for sending SMS messages to all your friends' phones from the comfort of your desk. After all, if you're sitting at the computer, its keyboard is going to be much easier to use than the one they're struggling with on their mobile phones - right? Visit Net2Mobile (www.net2mobile.com.au) to see the pricing and to choose your sending options.
Free and easy
If you're an ICQ member you can send free SMS messages via ICQ. Visit web.icq.com/sms and log in with your ICQ number and password. Click the link to see what networks in which countries are supported (these are Vodafone and Optus for Australia). You then choose the country and type the mobile phone number and then your message. If the recipient doesn't have your number, include it in your message so he or she can call to say hi when they receive your message.
The word
If you receive an SMS message that looks like hieroglyphics, try a site such as the
SMS Dictionary at Ringtones for Phones (rowringtones.purplepuma-tones.net
/smsdictionary.asp). It has translations for everything from WTG to TTFN and heaps of emoticons, including the somewhat confusing translation of : =) as "two noses". If you need to impress someone with your mastery of the language, check transl8it (www.transl8it.com/cgi-win/index.pl). There you can type a SMS message and have it translated into TXT lingo (or in reverse) before punching it into your phone.
© 2003 Sydney Morning Herald
