How to Download Videos To Your Phone Using Short Code

If you already use the text messaging feature on your cell phone, than you will have no difficulty using “short code.” A short code is simply a number that you can send a message to that is a lot shorter than regular 10 digit phone numbers. It can be used for a variety of purposes, but here I will describe how it is used to retrieve a mobile video file from a remote server to your phone.

An example is a video that Pocketcine produced for Genome BC, the government-funded research organization in the area of genomics. This 400K viral video sits on the Mobile Muse server maintained by Jim Udall, technology director of Mobile Muse. The video features Floyd the Fruit Fly and his attempt to define the term “mitosis.” It is a downloadable viral ad that drives traffic to Genome BC’s education website, www.gened.ca.

We are going to use Jim's video downloading service to get the video onto your phone.

Of course your phone should have a video player in order to play the video.

We’ll use the phony (pardon the pun) text message number “687xxx” where “xxx” is three numerical digits. (If you want to test the service, please write to me. My username is pshaddock and my URL is pocketcine.com.) In order to download the video to your phone:

1. Access the Text Messaging services on your phone to create a new text message. Messaging is usually among the applications on your phone.
2. Select the option that allows you to create a new text message.
3. In the To: (recipient) field enter the short code (687xxx) where “xxx” is three numerical digits.
4. In the body of the message enter the message. In this case the message is a numeric value (25) that identifies the video to be downloaded. On my Nokia the default is to enter alphabetical letters only. I can switch it to numeric node. However it might be easier for you to tap the 2 key quickly in succession until the letters cycle through to the number "2" and tap the 5 key in quick session until it shows "5".
5. Send the message. There will be a pause while the message is sent. It can last for seconds or as long as minutes in some cases.
6. You should receive a message that contains the URL (website address) of the video to download. Click on that URL. This tells your phone where to go to fetch the video. Note that how you click on the URL will vary depending on what cell phone you have. On my Nokia 6620, when I get the message back with the URL, I have to go to "Options," select the "Find" menu option, and select the "Find Web Address" option. Yech. It will probably be a lot easier on your phone.
7. The phone will probably warn that you are about to access the Internet. There will be data charges plus air time charges incurred in downloading the video. Accept to continue. The file is 400K in size so the charge will be modest.
8. The video will begin to download. When it is finished downloading, save the video file to the video folder on your phone. Sometimes if you try to play it right away the phone will complain, so this step may be necessary.
9. Play the video.

If you have saved the video to your video folder, you will be able to play it whenever you like in the future.

Jim Udall’s software automatically resizes the video file to the screen resolution of your phone, although if your phone is brand new to the market, it may not know your new phone.

Short codes are country specific. The Floyd video downloads to Canadian mobile phones only.