Quick Guide to Mobile Phone Tools

If you have a Motorola cell phone, then you'll probably want to get the program known as Mobile Phone Tools. This quick guide to MPT, as it has come to be affectionately known, is the ultimate software package needed for any Motorola cell phone owner, so that he or she can upload new cell phone ringtones, wallpapers, and other mobile content.

This quick guide to Mobile Phone Tools for Motorolas is far from exhaustive, but it highlights many of its most popular features and how to use them.

Most Motorola cell phones released within the last four years (or more) are compatible with Mobile Phone Tools, a computer application that is available from a variety of websites. Like any other software package, there are several versions of Mobile Phone Tools out there, each improving on the version that preceded it. Snoop around for the latest edition.

Before you get started, you will need at least three items:

• Your Motorola handset (e.g., V600, V635, RAZR V3i, etc.)
• A serial or (preferably) USB data cable, specifically for your model cell phone
• An adequately equipped Windows 95/ME/XP computer

After downloading the latest version of MPT, follow these steps. Bear in mind that you should not plug in your phone to the USB cable until told to do so.

1. Unzip the software package
2. Look for and execute the setup.exe file
3. Select your synching preferences (Outlook calendar or BVRP)
4. Turn "off" the "Automatically run Mobile Phone Tools" option
5. Run any updates that may be necessary
6. Double click the Mobile Phone Tools icon on your desktop
7. Select USB Cable from the Setup Wizard
8. Connect your phone to the USB cable when prompted
9. Wait for Windows to install all drivers
10. Wait for the "Initializing" process to complete
11. Enjoy Mobile Phone Tools

If your Motorola cell phone is capable of playing MP3 ringtones, you can save yourself some money and instead of buying individual ringtones from your favorite provider, you can actually make your own! Of course, you have to have the original song (or other audio file) on your computer already in MP3 format before you can begin.

Go to the Media Gallery section of Mobile Phone Tools. If you are properly connected, you will see two sets of files: the ones on your computer and the ones on your phone. From here, you can select any MP3 file on your computer and allow it to play. Highlight the section of the song that you want from the meter near the bottom (most ringtones need not be longer than 15-30 seconds). You can also choose to down-sample the file to 64kbps to make the file size smaller.

When you are ready, you do one of two things: save the truncated MP3 file to your computer, or -- probably what you want -- send it to your phone. Press the appropriate buttons in the window to do so.

From the Media Gallery section of Mobile Phone Tools, you can also access photographs, pictures, and wallpapers. As the size of your cell phone screen is fairly small, it is usually a good idea to shrink the size of the photo or picture before sending it your phone. After all, you won't be able to enjoy a 5 megapixel, 2 megapixel, or even VGA (640 x 480 pixel) picture on your handset's diminutive display in all its glory anyways.

Just as before, you can grab the photos taken by your camera phone and put them on your computer hard drive (so that you can put them up on your website or blog, email them to friends and family, or use them as online avatars for instant messaging programs, etc). In much the same way, you can use pictures that you found on the internet or took yourself as a cell phone wallpaper. Just make sure the dimensions are correct.

This guide was designed to just get you started, particularly with the two most popular uses for Mobile Phone Tools: custom ringtones and custom wallpapers. These basic features are the easiest to use, but MPT is known to have glitches and problems from time to time. For times like those, it is helpful to check the many cell phone enthusiast forums on the internet for guidance. Howard Forums comes highly recommended.

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