Working with Mobile Devices

Send your 3gp file to your mobile

Use either bluetooth or your mobile's computer cable.

If your computer does not have bluetooth, you can buy dongles relatively cheaply. The first time you use the dongle, you will need to install the software driver that came with it.

Right click on 3GP file, choose Send To > Bluetooth device.

Either click on the name of the mobile you wish to send your file to or if you do not see it listed click on Other.

If you clicked directly on the name of the mobile you wish to send your .3gp file to it will commence sending the file but at some stage in the process it will ask you for a passkey. Make this 1 and ask the person you are sending the file to, to do the same.

Make sure the person you are sending the file to accepts the file you are sending otherwise the file transfer will not be successful.

Remember that once you have the file on the mobile phone, you can Bluetooth it between mobiles and see what it looks like on different models. It always varies slightly.

Once you have the animation on your phone you can save it as your wallpaper. This process will differ from mobile to mobile.

Things to consider

There is a very wide range of mobile devices, and they all have different screen sizes or shapes.

Small screen

Mobile devices can only display a few lines of text at a time.
Images need to have limited complexity
Images need good contrast.
Qvga (Quarter VGA) = 320x240 is common for PDAs or high end phones. Will display about 16 rows of 24 chars of text.

Limited Keyboards

Phones usually only have numeric keypads and a few special keys.

User Distraction

When people use a computer, they are usually sitting down somewhere ready to work. When a person is using a mobile device, they usually have a lot more things going on around them distracting their attention.
Content should be designed so that it is quick and easy to read, hear or see, and also make it easy for the user to revisit it if they do get distracted.

Formats

Most mobile phones use 3gp format for video. You can convert your existing files to this format using SuperC free software.

Classrooom Ideas for Mobiles

Create artworks for wallpapers
Use mobiles as exhibition spaces for art works
Send and receive short narratives
Write and share moku (mobile haiku)
Create mobile videos to support a cause and share at a rally (eg save the whales, save the forests etc)
Create mobile videos to teach a skill (eg multiplication tables)

Playing Video Animations on iPods

iPod can play the following video formats:

H.264
File formats: .m4v, .mp4, and .mov
Video: Up to 768 kbits/sec, 320 x 240, 30 frames per second (fps), Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3.
Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 kbits/sec, 48 Khz, and stereo audio.

MPEG-4
File formats: .m4v, .mp4, and .mov
Video: Up to 2.5 Mbits/sec, 480 x 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile.
Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 kbits/sec, 48 Khz, stereo audio.

Both the PSP and iPod can both only play H.264/MPEG-4 encoded videos with AAC audio tracks and not much else. Within that, there are limits to the resolution and bit rate of the video files you can use on each device.

H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320x240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats.

MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480x480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats

The most important bits to notice are that for playing video directly on your iPod, you're limited to a resolution of 320x240 @ 768 Kbps on H.264 and 480x480 @ 2.5Mbps, and an AAC audio bit rate up to 160 Kbps @ 48 Khz.