The spate of YouTube players for Symbian and Windows Mobile as well as the new official Java client may leave owners of older, less capable mobiles feeling a bit left out.
ByWiFi.com is a mobile web service that will convert YouTube and MetaCafe videos into the widely-used 3GP format. 3GP is playable by most 3G phones, and is optimised for download size and speed.
You can either browse to the site directly using your phone’s browser (it’s text-only, so it shouldn’t tax even the stingiest data tariffs) and download directly to your phone, or use a desktop PC or Mac and copy the files manually.
There may be some teething troubles - I wasn’t able to get any converted files to retain their soundtrack - but this is still a useful trick to get bigger video clips onto your handset. Even smartphone owners can take advantage of the faster download speed, providing they don’t mind the drop in picture quality.
ByWiFi.com is a mobile web service that will convert YouTube and MetaCafe videos into the widely-used 3GP format. 3GP is playable by most 3G phones, and is optimised for download size and speed.
You can either browse to the site directly using your phone’s browser (it’s text-only, so it shouldn’t tax even the stingiest data tariffs) and download directly to your phone, or use a desktop PC or Mac and copy the files manually.
There may be some teething troubles - I wasn’t able to get any converted files to retain their soundtrack - but this is still a useful trick to get bigger video clips onto your handset. Even smartphone owners can take advantage of the faster download speed, providing they don’t mind the drop in picture quality.