Best Video Player for Mobile Phones

As a certified video lover and cellphone enthusiast, CorePlayer is really the best video player for mobile phones. I already tried a lot of video players for mobile phones, but only CorePlayer was able to deliver what a video lover like me want to see and experience in watching video clips and movies.

CorePlayer can open almost all known formats for videos, audios and photos. This is the first reason why I fall in love with this player. Default video player of most phones usually can only play 3GP and MP4 videos. And this feature of CorePlayer is really a big help for me. I don't have to convert my favorite FLV youtube videos or my favorite AVI movies anymore. I can watch them already straight to my phone anytime and anywhere. Its (CorePlayer) latest version, CorePlayer 1.3.6, can also HD videos and movies. CorePlayer is really a great video player if you have tons of videos in different file formats. And you can also open music and image files on it! Below is the complete list of file formats supported by the latest CorePlayer 1.3.6

Audio Formats: MP3, MP2, AAC, MKA, WMA, Midi, WAV, OGG, Speex, WAVPACK, TTA, FLAC, MPC, AMR, ADPCM, ALaw, MuLaw, G.729, GSM

Video Formats: H.264 (AVC), AVCHD, MKV, MPEG-1, MPEG-4 part 2 (ASP), DivX, XviD, WMV, Theora, Dirac, MJPEG, MSVIDEO1

Image Formats: JPEG (420, 422, 440, EXIF Headers), BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF, MJPEG

Container Formats: Flash/FLV, Matroska, ASF, ASX, AVI, PS, M2TS, TS, 3GPP, MOV, MPEG-4, OGM, NSV

Aside from playing videos stored in your phone or memory card, CorePlayer can also stream videos. You can stream YouTube videos directly, and you can also stream video from other online servers.

Streaming Formats: HTTP, UDP, UDP Multicast, UDP Unicast, RDP, RTP, RTSP, RTCP (keep alive), ASX, ASF, Multicast, HTTP Tunneling

Another reason why I like CorePlayer is its ZOOM OPTION. You can choose if you want your video to FIT BEST on your screen, FILL SCREEN, and STRETCH TO SCREEN.

FIT BEST option is best for watching videos who has larger resolution than your phone's screen. It will compress the video so the video will fit in your screen and you can see the picture. For example, a 320x240 video being played on a 176x208 screen of N70.

STRETCH TO SCREEN option is best for fixing the difference between the aspect ratio of the video and your phone's screen. Most of the videos today are in 16:9 aspect ratio. On the other hand, the common aspect ratio of the display of phones is 4:3. If you watch 16:9 video in a 4:3 display, you will see empty spaces (black spaces) above and below of your screen. With the use of STRETCH TO SCREEN OPTION, these empty spaces will be removed. CorePlayer will stretch the video, filling all the empty spaces on your screen. The only problem with this option, the characters and stuffs in the will look weird or silly. They will look too thin (when stretched vertically) or too fat (when stretched horizontally). This is because the proper proportion of the video was removed when it was stretched.

FILL SCREEN is an alternative option for high resolution videos and videos with different aspect ratio compared the phone display. With this option, your screen will be filled with moving objects. No black spaces will be displayed. The disadvantage of this option is that you will not see some part of the video. This option will fill the empty spaces by zooming in your video. So if your screen is in 4:3 ratio and the video is in 16:9, you will not be able to see some part of the images on the right and left side of the video. The advantage of this option is that the video will look bigger.

Aside from the three options stated above, you can also zoom the video by percentage (50%, 100%, 150%, 200%). I always set my zoom option to STRETCH TO SCREEN. I will not see empty spaces in my screen while I am still able to see the whole video.

Outside of the reasons stated above, there are other reasons why I really like CorePlayer. CorePlayer support full screen video play. You can rewind, fast-forward and adjust the volume even in full screen mode. CorePlayer also allows its users to adjust the duration of the rewind and fast-forward options. CorePlayer has continuous playing capability. This feature is good for movies divided into many parts. Just check all the parts, and your movie will play continuously and smoothly. No need to press anything when one part is done and you want to play the next part. CorePlayer will do it for you.

The only negative that I saw in CorePlayer is its inability to play files of different folders continuously. If you want to play video or audio files continuously, the files must be stored with the same folder. Despite of this weakness, CorePlayer is still the best video player for me. You can download CorePlayer in its official website coreplayer.com CorePlayer is not a freeware. You need to pay dollars to use it. But I assure you, it's worth paying for.

Simple Virus Protection for your PC

I've been using this very simple technique to protect my PC from virus attacks for more than a year now. And it has been very effective and efficient for me.

My computer is equipped with Intel Celeron 1.6GHz processor, 256MB video card and 1GB RAM. And I am running a Windows XP SP2 operating system. If you will notice, my processor is really slow. That's why protecting my PC with a top of the line anti-virus is not a good idea. I can't run an application or game without lag and delay when the real time protection of my anti-virus is turned on. I've tried to use AVG, BitDefender and PC-cillin to protect my PC. They are all good in detecting and killing viruses. But they also eats up a lot of space in my computer's memory and they also run tons of processes. These stuffs make my computer very slow.

Because of the problems brought by anti-viruses to my PC, I tried to find a way to protect my PC without sacrificing its performance. Fortunately, I've found one!

With this trick, there is no need to install memory hog anti-viruses and my PC can still run applications smooth and fast. The trick is based on the concept "prevention is better than cure".

The main software that we need to use is the USB Disk Security. This software will automatically scan your USB drive once an USB storage device is plugged into it. It will detect .exe viruses and other viruses that uses an autorun.inf file to automatically execute itself and spread harm to your PC. USB Disk Security will also allow you to disable the autoplay or autorun function of your PC once it detects an USB storage device is plugged into your PC.

This trick using USB Disk Security is only good for those users whose primary source of virus attacks are from USB storage devices or flash drives. In my case, the only source of viruses that infests my PC is the USB port. I am a safety first internet surfer. I never visit malicious websites. I also refrain from downloading software cracks from the net which most of the time are viruses. So it leaves my USB port as the only way for viruses to enter my PC.

So here's what I do with USB Disk Security. First, I will plug the flash drive. Second, USB Disk Security will automatically scan the device. If it detects a virus, I will just click the "delete all" button and reinsert the USB storage device. Since the software will delete all autorun viruses, you can now easily double click your drive without the fear of accidentally executing a virus. But still be careful. The software will only delete autorun viruses. So it may leave non-self-starting viruses in your device. Just be observant. Do not click odd, weird or malicious files.

USB Disk Security really fits my need for a simple and effective virus protection. So if you have the same problem as mine with your PC, I advise you to try this very simple virus protection now! You can download USB Disk Security here.

HD Like videos for symbian^1 phones

Symbian^1 phones, specifically Nokia s60v5 phones, can only play Standard Definition (SD) videos. The phone's video playback capability can play videos up to 640x480 pixels in resolution. The video quality of an SD video is not that bad. But if you want serious visual pleasure, HD (High Definition) video is the answer. And this is the main problem with s60v5 phones. These phones cannot play videos larger than 640x480 pixel resolution.

Nokia s60v5 phones have 3.2in widescreen display. Its wide screen is really great for watching videos and movies. As a video lover, I was really frustrated to find out that s60v5 phones can't play HD videos. I tried to watch SD music videos in a Nokia 5230. Some videos look good, but still not enough to satisfy my cravings for serious visual entertainment. So I tried to find a way on how can I incorporate the quality of a 1080p HD video to a 480p SD video. Luckily, I found one!

After a lot of experimentation, I finally discovered that the secret for a high quality SD video is a high video bitrate. I observed that a low resolution, high bitrate video looks better than a high resolution, low bitrate video.

So if you have a 720p or 1080p HD video and you want to watch that video in your s60v5 phone, the best thing you can do is to convert it to a video with 640x480 resolution and bitrate of 2,500 kbit/sec or 2.5 Mbit/sec (I use Total Video Converter in converting videos. Download it here). This value of bitrate (2.5 Mbit/sec) is the best bitrate you can put in a video that you want to watch in your s60v5 phone. Bitrate higher than 2.5 Mbit/sec will cause some lag and delay during video play back in an s60v5 phone. I recommend to convert the video into .mp4 format.

If you have low resolution videos (320x240 or 480x360) or SD video (640x480), you can also convert these videos to 640x480 resolution and 2.5 Mbit/sec bitrate. After converting, you will see a big improvement on their video quality.

With this trick, you can now have HD like videos for your s60v5 phone. The only disadvantage of this trick is that it will increase the file size of your video.

One more thing, the converted video will only look great on the 3.2in widescreen display of the phone. The video will still be awful when watched full screen in a computer monitor.

So what are you waiting for? Convert those dull videos now. And enjoy a great movie experience with your s60v5 phone.

How To Double Your Download Speed

Sick of having a very slow download speed? So slow that it's so hard for you to even consider putting the word "speed" in your download transfer rate? Then the answer to your problem is here! The Download Accelerator Plus by Speedbit.

Download Accelerator Plus (DAP) is a compact computer software that enhances the download speed of an internet connected computer. Aside from faster download speed, DAP also provides stable download speed. DAP also supports resuming of paused or discontinued downloads (this feature is dependent on the server of the file you are downloading). DAP also has its own internet browser. It’s a good simple browser. But I recommend you to use Mozilla FireFox instead. You can integrate DAP to your FireFox browser. DAP will automatically be your downloader when you download something from the net.

I'd been using DAP for over one year now. And I'm really satisfied with its performance. We have a basic broadband (384kbps or 48kBps) connection in our home. And a 48kBps download speed is not that bad. But in reality, my download speed only reached 24kBps. And it really sucks! With DAP, my download speed was able to reach 50-60kBps. More than twice of my regular download speed of 24kBps.

My regular download speed

Download speed with DAP

But what impresses me more about DAP, is that it doubles my download speed using only regular download acceleration. You can further increase the download acceleration of DAP when you upgrade it to Premium. I'm just a poor boy. I don't have enough money to upgrade my DAP to premium. If you have extra penny in your pocket and you want to experience a lightning quick download speed, then why not purchase DAP Premium. I think DAP is an application worth spending for.

You can download or purchase DAP in Speedbit official website (Speedbit uploaded it on Brothersoft). Enjoy downloading!

Opera Mini 5: A Must Have Cellphone Application

5230 Home Screen

N70 Home Screen

Opera Mini 5 is a java based mobile web browser developed and published by Opera Software. It is a scaled down, or lite version of the full feature packed Opera Mobile 10 for smart phones. Although it don't have some features that Opera Mobile 10 has, Opera Mini 5 can still bring a smooth, fast and fun web browsing experience from your mobile devices.

For me, Opera Mini 5 is better than Opera Mobile 10. Both of them can display full desktop view web pages. But Opera Mini 5 can load pages faster than Opera Mobile 10 can. Opera Mini 5 has an online server which compresses web pages and converts it to OBML (Opera Binary Markup Language) files. These OBML files are much smaller in terms of file size than the original web pages. Since smaller in file size, OBML pages are loaded faster than the original page. That's why Opera Mini 5 can load web pages faster than Opera Mobile 10. Aside from faster loading time, converting pages into OBML makes web pages to be more suitable on phone's small screen. The only setback of OBML pages on Opera Mini 5 is that it doesn’t display animated images. It only displays a random frame of an animated picture.

Another advantage of Opera Mini 5 is its java based platform. Most of the phones used by the mobile users today are java supported. Meaning, more people can use the services and features offered by Opera Mini 5. On the other hand, Opera Mobile 10 is specifically made for smart phones, like symbian, windows mobile, maemo, android, and iphone. According to a report by Nielsen, smart phones only occupy 18% of the phone market today. And there are smart phones that also support java based applications, like Nokia symbian phones. So somehow, we can say that Opera Mini 5 is the universal mobile web browser.

Opera Mini 5 is a compact application. It is very easy to download and install. It's just about 275kB in file size. And don't eat up a lot of memory (RAM) in your phone while running the application. For low end phones with low memory capacity, Opera Mini 5 is not the perfect browser for them. Since Opera Mini 5 is the latest version of the Opera Mini series and has rich features for a java based browser, it is more compatible for mid-range to high end java supported phones. It is advisable for low end phones to use the previous version of Opera Mini, the Opera Mini 4.2.

Other Features of Opera Mini 5:

1. Stand alone download

- this version of Opera Mini can download files directly without the need to open the native or default web browser of your phone. But there are certain file formats, like .jar, that Opera Mini 5 can not download. The size of the file that you want to download is also limited. I am not able to download files that are more than 30MB in size.

5230 Downloads Menu

N70 Download Save As

2. Copy text contents

- this is the first official version (there are modded versions of older Opera Minis that can also copy text contents) of the Opera Mini series who can copy text contents of a web page. The browser can paste the copied text to a text box in a web page.

5230 Copying Text

N70 Copying Text

3. Richer GUI (Graphical User Interface)

- Opera Mini 5 is the first version of Opera Mini who resembles the GUI of the official Opera Browser for PC. It feels like you are really surfing the net using a desktop computer.

5230 Page Overview

N70 Page Overview

4. Touch supported

- this is the first Opera Mini browser that is touch supported. Meaning, it can be used by touch screen phone users without hassle. The menu for touch screen phones was modified so that its options and other features can easily be accessed with just one touch of your finger. You can also easily scroll pages with a few swipes of your finger. This feature is really important today. Since there is an ongoing "touch screen war" in the market today.

5230 Menu

5230 Virtual Keypad

N70 Menu

If you don't have Opera Mini 5 yet, you can download it in the official website of Opera Mini. It's absolutely free!

Enjoy browsing!