With the addition of Bluetooth technology in many mobile phone handsets, we are now able to create small networks in which we can pass around notes and files from one phone or computer to another.

While there are not really many practical reasons for doing this, it is free, easy, and fun to play with.

I think about a school classroom, where teenagers are texting each other messages in class, each time clocking up 15c on their phone bill. As they are in close range to each other, there is no need for this to cost money. If both their phones are fitted with Bluetooth, they are able to use this technology to send the notes for free.

This article will show you how to send messages and files from one phone to another over a short range for free, using Bluetooth technology. We can also send files such as ring tones, images and other audio files to one another using the same method. No additional software is required to make this work.

This article will show:

• A message/file sent from a Nokia N70 to a Windows Vista PC running Outlook 2007.
• A message/file sent from a Nokia N70 to a HP Ipaq rw6828
• A message/file sent from a HP Ipaq rw6828 to a Nokia N70

This should be possible on just about any Bluetooth enabled phone. The menus will be different, but the idea will be the same.

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One of the first things you will want to do when you receive your phone is changing the ring tone. While the standard Nokia ring tone isn’t all that bad, it is not as good as your own personalised ring tone.

To change it.

Press the application button

Open up tools

Select profiles

You are able to have a different ring tone for each profile. Open the profile that you would like to change the tone of. In this case we will use the “General” profile.

Select general and select personalised.

Select “Ringing Tone, line 1”

Here you will see a list of ring tones on your phone. Select whichever one you would like to use.

If you would like to use your own ring tone, use your Nokia PC suite to copy your favourite song onto either the internal memory or the memory card. Place it in the “Sound Clips\Tones” folder and your phone will recognise the new file, making it selectable when you want to change your tone. There are a whole heap of supported formats including mp3, so play around and get it just as you would like.

Do you receive many emails with PDF files attached to them? These are viewable on a a number of phones and gadgets with the right software.

Adobe has made their Adobe reader software available for free to Symbian, Windows Mobile and Palm devices.

This will let you view PDF files anywhere and anytime. You are even able to fill out forms and return them to the sender on the run.

If you don’t view a lot of PDF files, this is still worth putting on your device as a “Just in case” application. You never know when you might need it.

There are a number of other free PDF readers available, a couple that can even create PDF files from your device. I have not tested these out but Adobe is where the PDF started so I use this and trust it, it does the job.

It is nice and easy to install. Simply run the installer and follow the prompts.

Get it from Adobe.

Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine (SCUMMVM) 0.10.0 has just been released and lets us play some older PC games created for this system, on just about any computer system, including Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile Devices.

Many of Sierra’s adventure games and LucasFilm games were designed with this system, meaning they can be played using SCUMMVM. All we need to do is copy the relevant data files across to our device and SCUMMVM will decode and run it, just like you would see on a desktop computer.

After the “Abandonware: What’s all that about?” article I put up on the site a few days ago, I got thinking that I could legally download some of these games, for free, and run them on my Windows Mobile Device.

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With the release of Opera Mini 4 Beta today, I was inspired to look into browsers on my phones. Opera has been around for a long time, offering us great browsers for both the desktop and Pocket PCs.

I downloaded and installed Opera Mini on my Nokia N70. It was a great improvement over the built in web browser that came with the phone. I was amazed at how many phones were supported. This is a must have if you search the web on you phone.

I then delved into upgrading the browser on my HP Ipaq 6828. For Windows Mobile 5 devices, you will want to install Opera Mobile.

Opera Mobile loads a standard site and formats it so that it will look good on a tiny screen. It does not by default load up the mobile version of a page.

You can see how Inspect My Gadget shows up in the screenshot to the right. Pages are quite readable as both text and images are shown at a reasonable size.

There are many more functions available over IE mobile, such as full screen view and multiple windows.

I noticed that the latest beta of Opera Mobile 8.65 Beta is only valid until October 1^st. I hope this means that we get a full fledged version on that day.

Download Opera Mini or Opera Mobile from the Opera Website and follow the links. This is a freebie.