Motorola W270 / W230 Explained

People seem to have a hard time figuring out how to add music to their W270 phone - its not that tough.Also, this phone does not have that many bugs/issues as one might think when initially using it. For those switching over from Nokia to Motorola, one has to learn some new ways to do the tasks.

Q. I cant find the driver for Motorola W270, Not able to add music to W270.
A. A driver is not really required if all you want to do is add mp3 music files & pics.
Open the flap & connect the cable to PC. To the question on mobile screen 'Connect as storage device?' click yes. Now the phone will be connected in storage mode & will show up in windows explorer as a removable drive - just like any other usb flash drive. Mp3 files can be added to the Music folder in the phone drive & pics to the Photos folder. After you are done use 'safely remove hardware'. This should work for W230 too.

Q. I am able to play only one song even with shuffle & 'auto repeat all' selected. How to continuously play all songs in play list.
A. If a song is selected directly only that song is played. If all songs in a play list are to be played, hit play on Music Library -> All songs

Q. How to silence the phone when the phone rings for incoming call without cutting the call?
A. This ones a little tricky. Press Up/down button on phone's side to silence the mobile.

In addition to volume adjustment,upon pressing continuously the side buttons can perform the additional function of jumping to Previous/Next song.

Q. Where is 'Reminder' / Is there 'Reminder' function at all!?
A. Yes it is there - neatly hidden! Extras -> Calendar -> Select date -> New -> Title

Q. Isn't there missed calls view?
A. Missed & received calls are both shown combined in the received calls view - the received calls marked by the adjacent tick mark & the missed calls by the absence of the tick.

Reduce MP3 file size for use with mp3 players like ipod

If you need to fit more songs in to your ipod or creative zen or whatever mp3 player, mp3 file size can be reduced by reducing the bitrate of the song. After all what is the use of large > 10 MB song files encoded at 320 Kbps CBR that you are going to listen only in portable mp3 players that too at noisy places? In these players it is hard top make out much difference between 128 Kbps & 320 Kbps file.

By converting your existing mp3's to a lower bitrate - which is re-encoding additional sngs can be added. While there are a lot of free mp3 bitrate reducing softwares available on internet most make you suspicious about spyware/malware.

A good option is WINLAME which is a open source project & its free too.
Simply select the input file, select target bitrate & convert!

Recent tamil songs that are good

Not been blogging much...so thought I'll at least post a list of recent Tamil songs that are good..Its a easy list since they are so few..

1 .Anbe En Anbe (Dhaam Dhoom - Harris Jeyaraj)
Begins with a melody on flute - song sounds like yuvan shankar rajas 'Enthan vanamum neethan' at first hearing - but after a few listens, I feel this song has its own merits...

2. Sakiye (Dhaam Dhoom - Harris Jeyaraj)
Another one of those Harris - Bombay jayshree combination songs but this is different too - the inro male chorus is good

3. Ka Karuppanukkum (Dasavatharam - Himesh Reshammiya)
A fast racy song sung by Shalini - you could say the style (not the tune) is akin to 'Maramkothiye'..

4. Mukundha Mukundha (Dasavatharam - Himesh Reshammiya)
A sweet melody from Sadhana sargam - (sounds like so many other songs for short durations - overall nice one)

5. Oh Ho Sanam Remix (Dasavatharam - Himesh Reshammiya)
The typical Himesh song from bollywood in tamil - enjoyable - just that figuring out the lyrics is a game :)

6. Ulaga Nayagan (Dasavatharam - Himesh Reshammiya)
Fast thumpy song - Singer Vinth has done well on this one - fresh voice.

Update on 15/5/2008

1. Thaen Thaen (Kuruvi - Vidyasagar)

2. Oru Naalukul (Yaradi nee mohini - Yuvan Shankar Raja)