Steelers Ringtones for Treo 700w

You can download many of the famous Steeler fight songs as MP3s or WMAs from http://steelergridiron.com/fanzone/songs.html.  The Treo 700w can use WMA format for ringtones, so any MP3s will need to be converted first (see below).  Some the the songs are right-click-and-save-as, some you need to un-zip afrer you download. 

You can download the “Puhlahmahlu” song as an MP3 from http://www.flidop.com/flidop/detailband.php?BID=184 (scroll down—link under the letter).  Since this is a full-length song, you should probably edit it down to your favorite parts before turning the whole thing into a ringtone.  You really only need 30 seconds of a ringtone, since your voicemail will pick up after that.

To convert MP3s to WMAs, and edit the songs as needed, I use the free .  This is extrememly easy to use, and I think I’ll be creating ringtone monsters by pointing this out.

To get the ringtones on your Treo, you can copy them to an SD card, or put them in your file sync folder and sync your device (advanced users can navigate directly to the Rings directory on their device).  Then, navigate to the files using the File Explorer, tap and hold on the song, and choose “set as ringtone” from the pop-up menu.  This will copy the song to the ringtones directory.

Then, go to Start >> Settings >> Phone, and click the “set ringtones” link.  On the tones screen, choose the Phone event (known caller, unknown caller, etc) and then select the ringtone.

If you want to really go crazy, you can set different ringtones for each person in your contacts.  Once you get your tones in the Rings directory, open up your contacts, and find the person you want to set the ringtone for.  Scroll down in their contact entry, and you’ll see a “Ringtone” entry partway down the contact information (just under where you enter the mobile phone number).  This is a dropdown list containing everything in your Rings directory.

Just remember to turn of those phones when you’re in a movie, restaurant or at the symphony.  Please!

For more information on creating rongtones for your Treo 700w, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/mobile/pocketpc/makeringtone.mspx

<update 2006–02–03>

If you don’t have a Treo 700w, no big deal.  Any SmartPhone or will work like this.  If you have a normal cellphone, you can probably still make your own ringtones.  All you need is a USB data cable to connect your phone to your computer (these are often available at the store where you got your phone, and almost always available online, just Google for the model of phone you have and you’ll find one), and the freeware BitPim to transfer the song to your phone.  There is a list of phones you can use with BitPim at http://www.bitpim.org/help/, and links to cables for the phones.  Make sure the data cable includes the USB drivers for your phone.  Use Audacity to cut out about a 30 second chunk of your favorite song, connect your phone to your computer using the data cable, and transfer the song chunk using BitPim.  BitPim will automatically put the ringtone into the proper folder, all you have to do is choose it.  I used to do this with my old LG-VX4500 and it worked like a charm.  Most phones can use MP3 or MID files as their ringtones, but if you’re having problems, just Google for your phone type and you should find some additional information.

.NET Powering Web 2.0 Apps

I found two new ‘moblog’ apps for my new Treo 700w, both powered by .NET: and .  Each app allows you to post photos from your cameraphone to an account on the respective app’s site.  Both apps are available for a number of devices, and each app’s site is developed in .NET.  Picoblogger looks a lot like Community Server, SplashBlog uses a different but simple interface.

SplashBlog can post to Blogger or TypePad; Picoblogger claims it can post to any blog service that uses the Blogger API (such as dasBlog), but I couldn’t find the configuration on the server, and the client app crashed when I tried to use it.

Not to get into a comparison of the two here, but I think it’s pretty cool that .NET is powering two new Web 2.0 apps.

Treo 650 vs Treo 700w Camera Resolution

One of the big ironies of the Treo 650 vs. Treo 700w decision is that the Treo 700w has a higher resolution camera (1.3 MP vs. 0.3 MP), but a lower resolution screen on which to view the captured photos.

Bob and I pulled out the gadgets again, shooting almost identical images of a classic work of art (almost identical because it’s difficult for us to pull out the gadgets without exposing ourselves to considerable harassment).  On the left is a shot with my Treo 700w; on the right with Bob’s Treo 650.  The color separation on the 650 is a little stronger than on the 700w (which looks a little washed out), but the image from the 700w is a little crisper and considerably larger.  You can almost read where the fries are from in the photo taken by my 700w.  Clicking on the thumbnails will open the unmodified original images for comparison.

This one’s a toss-up.  Color processing is better on the 650, but image resolution is better on the 700w.

Photo with Treo 700wTreo 650 Image

 

Now playing: The BabysBack on My Feet Again

Blogging From Treo 700w

Off to the Scoble-fest here in Pittsburgh tonight in a few, but I’m testing Opera 8.5. Hat tip to Stefano Paschal, Opera is less CSS compliant than Pocket IE, but the dasBlog admin interface does operate using Opera (albeit a little limited).

First Treo 700w Bugs

The first “bug” I’ve found is actually on Page 2 of the manual.  If this were a coing, it would be a serious collector’s item.  Any takers on a manual?

Second bug is when using Mobile MSN Messenger.  If you type your password in wrong, the error message comes back that the server is not responding.  I’m not sure if that’s a true bug, or just a crappy error message.  The server seems to respond just fine when you enter your password correctly.

Third bug is when changing your ringtones to an audio file stored outside of the Rings folder.  The 700w can use WAV files as ringtones, and you can set the ringtone by tapping and holding on the file name in File Explorer, then choosing “Set as ringtone” from the menu.  You get a message back that the file has been copied to the Rings folder and has been set as the ringtone.  The file does get copied to the Rings folder, but isn’t set as the ringtone, despite whayt the little message says.  You need to set the ringtone manually.

Now playing: The CallLet the Day Begin

Treo 700w vs. 650 Resolution and Download Speed

My coworker Bob has a Treo 650, which has a 320 x 320 screen.  The Treo 700w has a 240 x 240 screen.  When we compared them side-by-side, images were markedly better on the 650 thanon the 700.  In some cases, the images were pretty close.  However, in images that contained wording (like on the front page of MSN), the words were crisp and readable on the 650, and unreadable blobs of white on my 700w.  Not even a comparison–his 650 won hands down.

However, the 700w supports Verizon’s EV-DO network, and the 650 doesn’t.  My 700w smoked his 650 when downloading web content.  Not even close.  My connection speed was clocked at 445 kbps in a bandwidth test.

Below is a side-by-side comparison of the Treo 700w (left) and the Treo 650 (right) viewing the same image on the MSN homepage.  You’ll see the words are clearly readable on the 650, but almost unintelligable on the 700w.  Click the image for a larger view.

650_700_res_big

Now playing: SugarlandSomething More

 

Just Arrived: Treo 700w

Wifey has just become a gadget widow (again).  I couldn’t wait to get mine set up, but once she saw how much these things were going for on eBay, she thinks she may make a few bucks and buy another one later.

Other things I like so far:

  • The OK button, which ‘clicks’ the icon in the upper right corner (either Close or OK, usually)
  • The start menu button
  • Broadband speed Internet.  Sweet!
  • The keyboard is surprisingly easy to use—the buttons are slightly domed, and very easy to hit squarely.  Hy hands are kind of large, and the Treo is kind of not, and my hand started to cramp when typing a long e-mail. 

One of the toughest challenges going to be finding replacements for the software I liked on my Axim.  Handango has a lot of software available already for Windows Mobile 5, but some of my favorites haven’t been released yet.  Fortunately, my password keeper (FlexWallet) is available for Windows Mobile 5.0, and that was a major concern.  Unfortunately, Pocket Breeze (a Today screen plug-in) hasn’t been ported yet.

Something I totally hate:

  • There’s no colon on the keyboard.  WTF?  That’s kind of useful when typing in URLs into some programs.  It’s the first choice in the Alt keys, so it’s not a total loss.  But still…

A few things I’ll miss:

  • Monet backgrounds on the Today screen
  • Pocket Breeze
  • Program Switcher, because I could close programs without navigating a menu
  • ADB Weather
  • Pocket RSS
  • Jawbreaker (addictive game)

I’m trying to get DopplerMobile to work as my RSS reader, but it keeps crashing.

Here is the Treo 700w compared to my old Axim X5.  The screen isn’t scratched—thats one of those scrren protectors that I didn’t do a great job of applying.
The Treo 700w is small in my hands.  My hand started cramping when using the little keyboard in a long e-mail.  My Axim’s thumboard was about 1/3 again as wide, and a little more comfortable to use.

 <update 2006–01–13>

The Treo ships with a game called Bubble Breaker, which is the same as Jawbreaker.  And I can get my weather information on demand with MSN Mobile or Mobile Yahoo, so I don’tneed a desktop module for that. Still looking for a good RSS reader and blogging app.

Now playing: WeezerBeverly Hills