The Artesea

Following on from my rather successful guides in getting Blackberry and TomTom on your P990i, I’ve decided to write my next guide on getting good videos onto your phone.

UPDATED (Wed 13th Dec 13:54)
Step 1: Download M3
Step 2: If you don’t have it download .NET Framework
Step 3: Run the software with the P990i profile
Step 4: Copy the MP4 file to your memory card.

It’s that easy!!! If you want to do it the hard way follow the instructions below.

The orignal post
After spending days sifting through all those Google links, trying to avoid software which sliced the files, was expensive or contained spyware / viral software I was finally pointed towards SUPER © (keep looking for the download links).
It’s free and as far as I can see has no spyware or anything else nasty (please let me know if you do spot something).
Installing is simple and when you finally get it running you should see this screen with tons of settings.

You should either find the file you want converting and drag-and-drop it, or right-click and selected Add Multimedia File(s).
Now you can do what you want, but as your reading this, I’m guessing you want my opinion. So:
Output Container – mp4 (MPEG-4);
Video Codec – MPEG-4;
Audio Codec – AAC;
Use Direct Show – Ticked;
Video Scale Size – 320×240;
Aspect – 4:3;

The next one seems to be debated a lot, the phone will cope with 30 frames per second, however I always recommend using the same as the source file. There is no point setting it to 30 when the original was only 23.98. As each file is different always check this one. To investigate double click on the files name in the big grey box towards the bottom. This should open a window like that on the right and look for the line with FrameRate/String, for this file it’s 23.976 so I’ve used 23.98 in SUPER ©.

Bitrate kbps – 768;
Hi Quality – Ticked;
Stretch It – Un-ticked;
Audio Sampling Freq – 24000 (if you can really tell the difference then set it to 48000, but I don’t think it’s worth it);
Channels – 2;
Bitrate kbps – 64;

Now all your settings are complete, you just need to hit the Encode button and wait.
Two things to point out, firstly the status bar is pointless, it gets to what looks like 100% pretty quickly, before returning to zero. It will do this lots. Secondly for large files (+300mb) it seems to always say that the conversion failed. With these settings your files should be reduced by around a third, so if it’s only 50-100mb you may need to try again. If it’s 200mb it’s most likely worked.

The last step is copying the file to your phone or memory stick which is easy, then opening Media Player, Video and selecting the file. (Warning, don’t worry that it can take up to 30 seconds for the file to start and that you’ll phone will just jam, it will play eventually!)

Finally two small short cuts:
Right-click on SUPER © and you should see an option called Specify The Output Folder Destination, it’s worth setting this to something within My Documents, otherwise you’ll spend ages hunting for your converted file.
Also if you right-click another option is called Import (Load) An External SUPER © Profile and in the file name box enter http://blog.artesea.co.uk/images/P990i.spf and all the settings will be set to those above.

Further to my post from last year pointing out how to get Blackberry on a P910i (which is one of the most read posts), after a month of running Blackberry on my P990i I thought I would share the tips in getting it to work.

As before a few disclaimers THIS IS NOT OFFICIALLY SUPPORTED! I have it working with a Vodafone SIM with blackberry.net APN enabled and a Vodafone P990i using the Web Client Software.

First get the SIS file and install it onto your P990i.
Once the install is complete, you may be asked if you want to start any of the applications, just select cancel.
Now reboot your phone.
Once it’s restarted in Tools, you’ll have a Blackberry application, open it up. The first prompt will be to set it up. BlackBerry Internet is the choice which I’ve used (you can try BlackBerry Enterprise, but I can’t help out much).
Next you’ll need to get a PIN generated, to do this click on the word BlackBerry at the top and then Register now. You should get a Registration Message Sent box appear on your screen.
Again reboot the phone.
Hopefully by now if you go back into the BlackBerry application and click on the green i icon it’ll show your PIN and IMEI number.
Now on the internet with your computer visit http://mobileemail.vodafone.net/ (this is for Vodafone, for other networks you should try Google or calling customer service), then setup a new account, or if you already have a Blackberry account login and find the change handheld option.
After a while you should get a Service Book sent down to your phone, and after this you should be able to send and receive emails.

Points to note
You need Blackberry enabled on your account / SIM.
You need the firmware version R7A001 (visit Sony Ericsson to download the Update Service)
You may find that when entering your PIN into the Vodafone site that you get an error message asking you to call 191. If this happens you will need to ask Vodafone very nicely to see if they can help. However more than likely you’ll be told that it’s not supported.

Updates
25 Feb 07 – Upgraded to the latest firmware? Try this link direct on the Sony Ericsson website for the new version which works on the P990 and should work on the M600 and W950.
12 Apr 07 – Got R5A17? Latest version of Blackberry 3.5 available here
29 Jun 07 – Got R6D26? Newest version of Blackberry 3.55 available here

My Holux GPS receiver arrived yesterday from nav4all, which finally let me try TomTom Navigator 6 on my P990i. Whilst it’s still not officially supported by TomTom, if you buy the software it comes with an option to install on a UIQ3 phone.
The install process is really easy. Just put your memory card in to your computer and run the install DVD. You’ll then need to put the memory card in to your phone, which will start the phone installer.
After selecting maps, languages and my new GPS receiver, TomTom found me in my house.
With favourites and points of interest this morning I was able to get to David’s and be warned that there was a 30 mph speed camera (thanks PocketGPS World). However en route to work I was informed that the A46 between Lincoln and Newark is 30 in some places, yet it’s 70 the whole way.
Otherwise it’s all great.
If anyone is looking at running GPS via their phone, grab a Holux 236 from nav4all whilst there are still €70s as it’s worth every penny. The image on the right was the coverage inside my office, and it actually got better finding 8 satellites, minutes later.

The BBC are reporting that 3 is making the web easier on your mobile.

Mobile firm 3 has agreed a tie-up with top internet firms in a move it claims will make the mobile internet work properly for the first time.
…
It is launching a partnership with internet firms including Skype, Google and eBay.

I may be wrong but Google already spots when I use my mobile on any network and reformats the web for me, and eBay has been available for years at ebaymobile.co.uk.

Heather and I went to Borat on Sunday. Whilst I laughed most of the way through it, I left the cinema feeling half entertained.
People criticise the film for portraying the Kazakhs as rapist and anti-semitic, however it’s obvious they are not. The film is partly sold on how stupid Americans are, however unlike Ali G the interviews are cut very short in a way that it seems that after 30 minutes of filming only 2 minutes could be used to make a point. Everyone seemed quite innocent, and only the frat students and the guy at the rodeo come across bad but I know people in the UK who hold similar views.
You’re never too sure which people were in on the joke or were actors, the hooker? And in those final scenes, if they weren’t in on it, surely he would have been shot at in the car park of the Virgin Megastore?
However there were funny bits, the ice cream van, the bear, and that fight scene.
If you’ve got nothing else to see and you’re going to the cinema, it’s worth watching, but you may just want to wait for the DVD. 6 out of 10.

Finished this book off last week, but only now have got around to writing this review.
The book was picked up at the Lincoln Book Festival, when John Harvey and Mark Billingham did a crime novel talk. I’ve not read any Johns books before and he’s written quite a few, so wasn’t too sure of what to expect. I also don’t know what I’ve missed out on from not reading the previous novel.
However I was surprised to realise how much of the description of Nottingham I was able to recognise. I’ve been several times for various different reasons (although mainly drinking) yet I could picture most of the book. The plot is good and leaves you guessing , and when I finally started reading it I almost lost a Sunday. 7/10

I decided after seeing the advert for the Breakfast Takeaway Vidcast to give it a go on my P990i. I was expecting the quality to be pretty poor, and wasn’t expecting many stories. However it’s 10 minutes of the mornings news in quality which is better than that off an analogue TV.
If you are one of these people who rushes out of the house without getting to catch the news, but then have a 10min+ train/bus/tube journey, give it a try.
The only shame was that it didn’t have the Borat story, where Sacha Baron Cohen kept calling the short BBC interviewer as small girl.

The season 6 trailer went live at 8pm (BST). Ooh can’t wait, only some two months to go before Fox start showing it again.

Having purchased this book by it’s cover some time ago, I’ve finally got around to reading and finishing The Manuscript and whilst it had some geeky Usenet and Grepping, it let me down on the blackberries (as featured on the cover) and a plot line that was just too unbelievable. I couldn’t workout where in the 2000′s the events were taking place as I’m sure they were mixing technologies. The story had too many organisations, too many escaping shootouts and not enough geek. 6/10

After 11 months of waiting, I’ve finally got myself a P990i.
I’ve been watching the stock levels everyday for a month and when I saw that Vodafone had got their first shipment of 700 yesterday morning I was on the phone straight away.
So far so good, just need to get Blackberry Connect downloaded and installed.