Text, Picture & Video Messaging Tips
Read these 10 Text, Picture & Video Messaging Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Cellphone tips and hundreds of other topics.
Text to Voice Messaging
Picture messaging and video messaging aren't the only innovations on your cell phone. Some cell phone service providers offer text-to-speech services that let you send a message to any ordinary telephone number. One company's instructions for this service are quite simple:
1. Type the text message as usual
2. Enter the telephone number with area code
3. Press "send"
The cell phone text message is automatically converted into speech and sent to the number. This service is excellent for messaging people who are visually impaired, temporarily without cell phone service, or who prefer a "land line" phone to cell phones. Depending on your carrier, an additional charge may apply for successful delivery of your voice message. Check your calling plan for cell phone text messaging charges connected to this innovative feature.
Text Messaging To Email
Email to text message features are well known features of some cell phone services, but did you know many vendors also support sending text messages from your cell phone to an email address? Instead of typing in a cell phone number into your text message "To" field, try entering an email address to send the message.
Test it out by sending a text message to your own email address and check to see if you receive text messages from yourself. If this works you can also try the same technique for picture messaging and video messaging. If your cell phone provider supports these functions you may be able to send a wide variety of messages from your phone to email, which is very handy for your friends who are out of minutes, don't have phones, or are charging the cell phones when you send your messages.
How To Send Better Video Messaging
Ever notice that your cell phone video messaging is too shaky or blurry? If you want better results when capturing video for video messaging, the best way to start is to shoot video with your phone closer to your body. Holding your arm fully extended makes it hard to steady the phone to capture video. At the very least, make sure your arm is bent enough to feel comfortable.
If your cell phone has a zoom function, try to avoid using it. When zoomed in, your images get shaky. The closer you zoom, the shakier the image becomes, and unless you mount your phone on a tripod somehow, you can't avoid the shake. There's a saying video pros use: "Zoom with your feet". Try getting closer to your subject instead of using a digital zoom feature.
Last but not least, try supporting your camera hand with your free hand to make the image even more stable. These tricks definitely help people take better video messaging shots, you'll be pleased at how much better your video messaging looks.
Taking Better Picture Messaging Pictures
Ever think you've got a great picture messaging shot all lined up, only to find it's blurry or too washed out? The key to good cell phone picture messaging photos is not shooting directly into a light source, and holding still long enough to take a good pic.
Just like a regular camera, the lens of your cell pone camera needs to be steady enough to get the shot. Angle the lens down so that overhead lights are out of the shot, and when outdoors take those shots with your back to the sun. You'll be shocked at how much better your cell phone picture messaging looks by paying attention to these simple details.
Can't Send a Picture Message?
If you are having trouble with the picture messaging features on your cell phone, first turn your phone completely off and back on again. If you can't send a picture message after doing this, check your signal strength. If you are having poor reception you may have to wait to send a picture message until you get into a better reception area.
It's a good idea to double check the picture messaging settings on your phone to make sure they haven't been accidentally changed, then try to send a picture message to yourself. If you still can't use picture messaging, call your customer support number and tell them about the problem, and be sure to mention the make and model of your phone, and when you were last able to send a picture message.
If you have never sent a picture message, chances are you have overlooked a setting in your phone's menu. The customer service rep can tell you how to send phone picture messages by talking you through the phone's settings.
Can I Keep Copies of my Video or Picture Messages?
The simplest way to keep copies of video messaging you send to your friends is to copy yourself in the e-mail, the same way you would when sending files from your computer. This also works for picture messaging. Remember to download the media to a more permanent storage solution before your cell phone memory card gets too full.
Some wireless providers place a limit on the size of the video messaging file sent. If you send a file too large, you may receive any text message connected with the file, but no video. If you are trying to send a long video messaging file to another network but the video is missing on the receiving end, the culprit could be the large file size.
Can I Get IM Messages from My Computer to My Cell Phone?
Cell phone messaging isn't limited to picture messaging or getting cell phone text messages. Did you know you can set up your cell phone to receive instant messages? Many cell phone providers let you configure your phone to get instant messages from Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messaging or MSN Messenger communities.
Go to your cell phone's messaging menu and activate the Mobile IM feature. There may be a menu called "Get New Mobile", select that and select IM from the options list. Now you will receive text messages from the IM network of your choice. Be sure you understand your cell phone provider's policy on phone text messages and whether IM is charged in the same way as text messages.
Can I Get a Virus From Video Messaging?
A quick search of sites such as CNet.com and ABCnews.com reveals the names of two mobile phone viruses. CommWarrior and Cabir are not spread specifically by video messaging or picture messaging.
These two mobile phone viruses are spread by infected e-mails, and when it comes to picture messaging the standard rule of thumb for e-mail should also apply to mobile picture messages sent to your phone. If you don't recognize the sender of mobile picture messages, it's best not to open the files.
Cell phone viruses are not considered to be a serious threat, and the CommWarrior and Cabir viruses affect phones with the Sybian operating system. If you are concerned about your cell phone and unwanted picture messaging, simply delete the messages and remain secure.
Do I Need a Cell Phone to Send a Text Message?
You don't need to own a cell phone to send cell phone text messages. You can use your e-mail service to send a cell phone text message to the cell phone owner, if you know the email address the cell phone is registered under.
Using technology known as SMS or Short Message Service, you can send very short messages (about 160 characters long) via email to a cell phone if the cellular service provider allows SMS messaging. Most of the major cell phone providers offer SMS. One (sometimes) overlooked option is at the cell phone company website. Many vendors offer the ability to send a text message to subscribers direct from the cell phone company's website. All you need is the cell phone number or user name of the person you need to contact. Unfortunately, you aren't allowed to use this service to send video messaging or picture messaging files, only SMS text is allowed in most cases.
Cell Phone Video Editing Tools
Video messaging is more sophisticated than ever thanks to some computer-based tools such as Movavi VideoSuite, which lets you download your video messaging footage, edit it, and send it back from the computer to the phone in any format you choose.
Do you have too much video on your cell phone and not enough memory? Use one of these handy programs to download and save the footage you want to keep, using the video editor to ditch the rest. Some programs help you create video postcards you can upload back to your cell phone for a custom-made video message for your friends.
You can find these programs at free download websites such as freedownloadscenter.com. The best shareware programs let you try a full version of the video messaging editing software for a limited time, so you can check out all the features before buying.
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