One really dissatisfied mobile PDA Skype user has posted her "review" of the service. We can only guess at what her verdict is: it's horrible.

Her opinion on Skype? It has "call quality that's only slightly worse than talking into a tin can at the bottom of a well, relayed via satellite from Iraq." Obviously, she's not very thrilled with the service, and according to her, there were echoes, slowdown and static during the calls. This review was for the Pocket PC version.
 
It's common knowledge that the Skype Mobile service doesn't support Bluetooth yet, and let's admit it - has a lot of bugs. On the other hand, it's just a beta version, and the program's free for download.

Skype to landline connections have often been poor but that can be fixed soon (keeping fingers crossed). Skype to Skype calling though is the true attraction of the service. Unfortunately, so few people use it that they never get to experience the good call quality the service has to offer. On the bright side, the PC version of Skype has gotten many good reviews for it's high quality and ease of use. Perhaps this will be translated into the Pocket PC versions soon. In any case, Skype is FREE! No one can deny the cost effectiveness of paying nothing. And as a free service, updates and fixes can take a while, so keep your head up and hopefully we'll see some more improvements soon!

The Nokia 8801 is a nice phone. Buzzirk Mobile decided to make it even better by triple plating it in 24-karat gold. This years Emmy nominees get one of these babies, no charge. If you're looking for one, then you'll have to pre-order it and shell out a smooth $950. If that's out of your range, you could pick up the original for about $649.99.  The phone does have some great features. Pricey, but great.

It's triband and GSM compliant. 256k colors, QCIF/SVGA video and photo, at 600x800 pixels, EDGE and GPRS, 64 MB internal storage, and Bluetooth.

A nice handset, but is it worth it? Who knows! It must be, though, if the only affordable way to get one is to win an Emmy.

If you're in the market for a new mouse and you like little cute Japanese things, we got a hit for you. O Sakana Mouse POI is a mouse from Elecom that will meet your needs. Its got a retractable cable and it's optical. Pretty good stuff. If you're anything like me, then you don't get a new mouse till yours is totally destroyed. If they had these at Wal Mart I might break that tradtition and grab me one. As it were, they aren't at Wal Mart. You'll have to order one from Elecoms unintelligibly Japanese, flash heavy website. Good luck.

  
 

TiVo owners have been able to play their recorded videos on their gadgets for a long time now. So what makes this new update which was released by TiVo themselves, any different? Here's what we've all been waiting for.

Now it allows you to upload your videos and convert them at the same time - no need for third party software! Video conversion with free programs can be tedious at best and this update, which will cost TiVo subscribers an extra $25, allows you to directly move your TiVo'd videos straight from your unit to your TiVo Desktop and convert them to be played on the PSP, Treo, and iPod in one straight step.

The update, version 2.3, will also feature 'TiVoToGo' which will allow users to schedule TiVo to PC transfers. Now get out there and get your favorite episodes of Gilmore Girls Ultimate Fighting Championship on your gadget of choice!

Okay, our first mod today is going to be to change your camera phone's video encoder from 3GP to MP4. MP4 videos can be thrown onto an iPod directly through the iTunes client, and can be played simply and easily on a Sony PSP with just a little renaming, and of course you'll have to place it in the correct folder. Details on that can be found at the QJ forums, here. Anyway, if you are ready to turn your phone into a MP4 recorder, follow the next part.

Make sure your phone is installed properly, according to the guidelines in the first tutorial. Open the program P2K Advanced Editor. Connect your phone and click on 'Connect in P2K Mode'. Once your phone is connected, go to 'Phone Services' and then 'Video', just like the video length tutorial. This time, click 'Read From Phone' and then you need to click the bubble next to the word 'MP4'. Close the dialog box and hit the restart button near the top. When your phone comes back on, make sure the changes were made by navigating to your video camera. Once the camera is initialized, record a short video. Go to your list of videos, select your new video, and go to 'Details'. If the Type label says MP4 rather than 3GP, you're set. If not, retry this part, or ask for help in the help thread.

Alright, now you can capture PSP- or iPod-ready videos with ease. The next bit of this tutorial will cover watching videos of any time (movies, music videos, TV shows) on your phone. It is recommended that you use a phone with expandable memory, otherwise you won't be able to fit anything worth anything on your phone. First thing you need to do is figure out the resolution of your phone. You can do that by looking here, and don't forget that if you can't find your phone there, change the filters at the top. Pick your phone out, and click on it. Look in the box that says 'Display' and find 'Size'. That number will be in pixels. Keep that in mind, and remember the number. Open up the installation file for Xgp and install it. Once you can run the program, do so. Whatever videos you want to convert for playback should be dragged into the dialog box. Name it whatever you want, change whatever settings, but the main thing is this: select your video and select the video size option in the box to the right. Change it to your screen size and ensure it is in pixels, and encode. Once you've got the file, connect your phone with P2K Tools and navigate to your phones media folder, and then to video. For more help on this, go to the original guide. Anyway, drag and drop your video, reset your phone, and your set.

Congratulations on your two coolest phone mods. If you need any more help, don't forget the help thread. And your feedback is always appreciated, and I'll even take requests. Stay tuned for the next guide, making your own custom MP3 ringtones from any song!

Download: [QJ Motorola Mods Pack 2]

Today we have part four of our QJ exclusive Motorola modding tutorial. This one will explain the file structure of a phone, and show you how to get rid of those annoying and impossible to delete ringtones, alerts, pictures, and MMS templates. I mean, seriously, who would use 37 different emoticons, all of which are too hard to see, and could be used for TWELVE SECONDS OF MORE VIDEO! Or, alternatively, forty seconds of ringtones (which we will cover in another tutorial soon). Today we'll get rid of that junk and get to know our phone a bit better. Can't wait? Neither can I.

Read the tutorial after the jump!

Alright, here we go: time to turn that beautiful little Motorola phone into a full fledged camcorder. The first thing we have to do is backup the seem that we will be editing. The process for backing up and restoring seems has been covered in the last tutorial, here. The seem that you'll need to back up is 004e_0001. Back it up, as described previously, then continue.

Connect your phone, and load up P2K Advanced Editor. Click 'Connect in P2K Mode' and wait till your phone is 100% connected. Once everything is set, click on Phone services and find Video. Click it. A new dialog box will appear with a few settings and options. Dont mess around too much. Click 'read from phone' to get your phones default settings. Click on the arrow to the right and change it's box to 'MB'. Click inside the dialog box with numbers in it to the left of where we just were, and change it to 32. This will set your phones maximum video length to 32 MB. That's a lot of video. Now, at this point I must say this setting is different for various phones. For the SLVR, ROKR, and RAZR, it works perfectly. For other phones, you may need to adjust it to 9 or 10. Trial and error is required. Click 'Write to phone', then close, then reset.

Now, to test the changes. With your phone on, navigate to the camcorder, and start it. Press the menu button on your phone and find 'Video Settings'. Under 'Length', change it to 'Maximum' if it isn't there already. Now take some video and see how it goes. Make sure your phone records some movement in light, otherwise the results will be inaccurate. If everything is good, and it records for as long as you want it to (or till your memory is full) then you're finished. If it doesn't work, then you must return to the previous step and try again with different numbers. Give it time.

Here's a little troubleshooter I put together, because this is a tricky mod, and requires a lot of try-try-again.

Problem: Camcorder won't start period.
Solution: Re-upload the backup seem you made. You have set a video length that is incompatible with our phone.

Problem: Phone records same length no matter what the settings are.
Solutions: You have a couple. Your phone could be out of memory, in which case you need to delete some stuff (or wait for part four, which discusses clearing out a phones useless files to make more room). Another solution? Change the 'MB' mentioned above to 'KB' and try some new numbers, in increments of 128. That would mean 128, 256, 512, etc. 1024 works very well on most phones, but isn't too great as far as length goes.

Problem: Phone freezes while storing video.
Solution: Re-upload back-up seem. You have unplugged or agitated the phone while the changes were being saved.

Problem: No sound in video.
Solution: Turn phone off and back on again. If the problem persists, re-do the process, starting at the beginning. Restore your backup seem first, however.

If anyone has any more problems, don't forget the Help and Release thread here. Ask and you will receive! I will continue to make tutorials on Motorola modding, and all I ask in return is this: Tell your friends about the Cellular blog, and please post comments and suggestions for future tutorials! Your feedback is appreciated, and will help me to do more for the community. Stay tuned for my next tutorial, which will allow you to remove those ridiculous built in ringtones, alerts, pictures, and MMS templates that take up so much space on your phone.

Modding Motorola phones can be rewarding - your phone will be unique, more functional, and easier to use. The 'moto-modding' community is large. In order for anyone to begin modding their Motorola phone, they must meet some certain criteria.

1. You have to be patient and careful. Back up your work.
2. You must be able to devote some time to learning - mistakes can be deadly.
   
3. A GSM phone is recommended (with a SIM card).
4. Ethics must be taken into consideration (I'm not here to teach you how to pirate mobile games).
5. A simple knowledge of computers is necessary.
6. Your phone MUST have a USB interface for the purposes of this tutorial!
7. A computer is required.

If you can stand up to all that, you're ready for the big leagues. First off: What type of Motorola do you have? The Vxxx series is very common (the v180, v190, v265, RAZR V3, etc.). The L series is also widely available (L2, SLVR L6, L7). If your phone is an uncommon type, other sources can be used to modify your phone, but this tutorial will focus on the most popular styles.

Next: Getting everything you need. You'll need a USB cable, type B. A computer, as mentioned before, will be required. And lastly, you need a set of programs. Before you can get started, you must download the 'QJ Motorola Mods Pack'. It contains tools, drivers, and necessary files. Get it below. None of these programs were written or released at QJ, so credit should be given to those names found in the various readmes.

Now, as they say, you're playing with power. Once you've got the pack downloaded, the first thing you need to do is install the drivers for your Motorola. Depending on what type of phone you have, this could take some time. It is a tedious trial and error process, but I'll provide the basics in this part of the tutorial.

To install these drivers, extract the QJ Motorola Mods Pack. Inside the pack, open up the folder called Driver Tool. Connect your phone to your PC via USB, and run the included program, Driver Tool. If you get any 'New Hardware Found' messages, then you'll need to manually install the drivers. Once the wizard pops up, install from source (advanced). Browse to the folder called Manual Basic Install Drivers, and then into P2K_Drivers. Allow the wizard to install your phone (you may be prompted to do this for more than one device). Once that's done, you should be set!

If the Manual Basic Install Drivers folder doesn't work, try the Manual Advanced Install Drivers folder. Messing around with those three options ought to install your phone. If not, ask for help in our help thread. If so, you're ready for part two, your first mods!

Keep an eye out for more tutorials, as they will be released shortly!

Download: [QJ Motorola Mods Pack]

So, you've read part one of our Motorola Tips, Tricks, and Mods tutorial. You've got your phone installed. You've been patiently awaiting the next installment. Well, here it is. Now, first off, DO NOT go any further unless you've made sure your phone is installed properly (it doesn't say 'Found New Hardware' when you plug it in). If you're good so far, and you have the QJ Motorola Mods Pack, you're all set. If not, go back and read the first part. Don't forget, the help thread is available for all users, and I'll do my best to answer any questions. Get there by clicking here.

Read part two of the tutorial after the jump!

Motorola will be releasing the new version of the RAZR on June 4th. Think of it as a V3i with a microSD slot (up to 1GB). The handset is already on its way to stores everywhere, courtesy of Verizon. Speaking of Verizon, they'll be offering a music download service, as well as the same onboard music player from the V3i. Pricing is steep - $329.99 for retail! Cheaper if you go through the carrier. If you haven't got that kind of money to toss around, I'm sure you'll be able to find an unlocked one on eBay very soon.

Hopefully this newest edition will address some of the chief concerns of RAZR users, such as dust sticking under the screen, weak hinges, shorting speakerphone, and various others. Motorola is a fine cellular company and I have no doubt it will be a great phone, but it seems a little too close to the V3i to warrant another $129.99. If anyone has managed to get one of the few that are out at Best Buy, let us know how they handle.