Cellphone Uploading

January 3, 2006 1:18 PM

I'm looking for a way to upload information (photos, ringtones, wallpapers) to my phone from my computer.

I'm using a Nextel / Motorola i850 phone & carrier. Motorola has a program that allows you to download your cameraphone photos, etc. to your computer, but it doesn't work in reverse. I have some cool photos that I've taken with my digital camera that I would like to use for wallpaper, but I can't find a program to allow me to do this.

I have the data cable and downloading works with the Motorola IDEN program, but I can't figure out how to upload. Anyone have suggestions or answers? (Both Motorola and Nextel say it can't be done, but I don't really believe them.)

posted by Mrs. Smith to technology (7 comments total)

Don't, in fact, believe them.

It's not *supported*; if you break your phone you get to keep both pieces... and there are lots of scriptkiddie types in that environment so you might want to do it on a spare PC...

but the thing you're looking for is called WebJAL.

You'll need a version new enough for your phone, if there is one.
posted by baylink at 1:41 PM on January 3, 2006

Nextpimp is pretty much THE place to go for Nextel ringtones, wallpapers, loaders, etc.
posted by mmdei at 2:10 PM on January 3, 2006

Does your phone have web access? On my Motorola v220 (from Cingular) it's under "Media Net". So what I do when I want a new ringtone is upload a short MP3 file to the web somewhere, get the URL, and then use my phone to go to that URL. (You might have to play with your phone a bit to find the screen that lets you enter a URL.) Once the phone connects it will download the file and then ask if I want to save it. I can then assign the MP3 as a ringtone the way I would normally. I imagine this would work for wallpaper images too.
posted by MsMolly at 3:36 PM on January 3, 2006

So, MsMolly, I have a Cingular phone (Samsung X497), and I have an MP3 I would like to use as a ringtone. I throttled it down to a sample rate of 32000, bitrate of 32kbps, and mono, making the file size 237kb. When I try to download the file through media net, it tells me the file is too large to download.

What am I missing?
posted by Lokheed at 5:30 PM on January 3, 2006

...aaaand never mind. I did a little more creative editing, a little nip and tuck, and got the file size down to 92k. Now it works like a charm.

I am now a seriously happy geek, with the Dr. Who theme as my ringtone. Yay!
posted by Lokheed at 6:22 PM on January 3, 2006

Awesome! The problem might have been that you had too much other media stored on your phone and there just wasn't room. I know I had to delete a couple of things before I could download the Muppet Show ringtone that my boyfriend made for me.
posted by MsMolly at 7:25 PM on January 3, 2006

I looked at the WebJAL and it seemed really confusing...first download this, then do that, then this...etc. Isn't there a simple one-step download? (I saw something like this on Nextpimp, but it was $20 and I'm concerned about possible spyware.)

My plan doesn't have "web access" outside of the Nextel network. Is it possible to text or email ringtones & wallpaper to my phone...maybe as an attachment?
posted by Mrs. Smith at 4:44 AM on January 4, 2006