Sony Ericsson has released a suite of new babies, real gems that I’m truly drooling over, but have the Sony Ericsson development team forgotten what got them onto the industry pedestal they are now firmly on?

There has been little discussion from Sony Ericsson or Motorola on bug fixes and feature updates across the UIQ platform, this still remains true after the publicised merger with Motorola with which you’d expect exceptional focus on the outstanding bumps across the suite.

A new poll has been created from which I invite you to tell Sony Ericsson your thoughts on future development, I’ll be sending an open letter to Sony Ericsson Australia and the American Public Relations and Media departments with your thoughts and inviting their interaction with customers. Get involved and have your say.

 Loading ...

Time to confess, we’ve all done it. Copied a video that plays fine on the computer yet shutters, skips and pops as soon as it hits your Sony Ericsson P1i. There is a fix. Limited system resources to decode large video files is one gotcha, the fact I broadcast audio to a Bluetooth headset makes the ‘shutter, skip, pop‘ effect even more annoyingly obvious.

This hindrance can be solved by re-encoding the video files with a lower resolution and bit rate that the Sony Ericsson P1i video processor can keep up with.

Requirements

• ImTOO 3GP Video Converter 3
• A video file format supported by ImTOO 3GP Video Converter 3 (various popular video file extensions)
• The supplied USB data-cable

Re-encoding your video file

1. Open ImTOO 3GP Video Converter
2. Press Add
3. Select your video file
4. From the list tick the check box beside the video file
5. Set Video Codec to mpeg4
6. Set Video Size to 320×240
7. Set Bit Rate to 256
8. Set Audio Bit Rate to 48
9. Press Encode
10. Transfer the optimised video file to your Sony Ericsson P1i

There you have it, smooth video playback on the Sony Ericsson P1i with the latest TV shows, feature films and music clips. What videos do you play on your Sony Ericsson P1i?

The Sony Ericsson P1i FAQ and Sony Ericsson P1i Forum are online.

If you have any questions about the Sony Ericsson P1i - from loading music onto your mobile to building UIQ themes - this is the place to ask. Drop in a request that you’d like answered, even the simplest questions will be seen to.

In addition, the home page now features a rotating FAQ Questions & Answer, maybe it’ll be the answer you’re looking for. An RSS feed of FAQ questions will be available shortly… stay tuned.

Update: I’ve integrated the earlier Sony Ericsson P1i FAQ into the new Sony Ericsson P1i Forum, take a look!

The Sony Ericsson P1i is equip with 801.11b wireless network support, so you can browse the internet, check your e-mails and update your feeds - without using a paid 3G or GPRS mobile connection - simply by connecting to established home and office wireless networks.

Keeping this feature in mind I wanted to control my Winamp music library throughout the house, hell, if I’m in the mood for some background trip-hop instead of sassy jazz I walk to my computer no longer! Here’s how I did it and you can too without shelling out a cent.

Requirements

First things first, you need the following for this to work:

• Sony Ericsson P1i (or other wifi-enabled device that supports mobile web-surfing)
• A home/office wireless LAN (Local Area Network) that supports 801.11b connections
• A Windows XP/Vista machine accessible from the wireless network
• Winamp (works up to the latest release, Winamp 5.52)
• Winamp Web Interface (WAWI 7.5.13) plugin for Winamp
• Sample music library

Install Winamp Web Interface

Start by downloading the Winamp Web Interface (WAWI) plugin for Winamp from WAWI: Winamp Web Interface. At the time of writing the latest plugin could be downloaded at Wawi 7.5.13 (109k). Please visit the Wawi site for updated releases.

Install the WAWI plugin for Winamp

1. Visit the WAWI website at http://www.flippet.org/wawi/
2. From the left-menu under Files download Wawi (hat-icon)
3. Install the downloaded plugin
4. Close Winamp

Configure Winamp for WAWI

Now that our plugin has been installed let’s configure WAWI for this computer. WAWI supports user profiles and permissions, so you can give yourself god-mode rights while restricting your brothers and sisters to only playing songs. It’s all covered below.

1. Open Winamp
2. Open Winamp Preferences through the right-click menu under Options > Preferences… Ctrl+P
3. Open the General Purpose page within Plug-ins
4. Select Winamp Web Interface Plugin v.7.5.13 (gen_httpSrv.dll)
5. Press Configure selected plug-in to open Winamp Web Interface Config
6. Open the Server tab
7. Change Port: to 8080 (this prevents any conflicts with other software using HTTP Port 80)
8. Open the Users tab
9. Create a new Super-user by filling in User and Password (eg. michael, password)
10. Check all boxes to allow all permission for this user
11. Press Add/Update to finalise this user
12. Open the Music Collection tab
13. Fill Root Directory with the directory of your music library (eg. D:\music\)
14. Fill Playlist Directory with the directory of your music playlists (eg. D:\music\playlists\)
15. Update Loadable Filetypes to include your default music file extensions (eg. mp3 wav m3u url ogg)
16. Open the Web Page tab
17. Ensure No Frames is selected
18. Update Web Page Title (eg. Sony Ericsson P1i Winamp Remote)
19. Press Apply to save changes
20. Press OK to close Winamp Web Interface Config

That’s WAWI all ready to go. If you got stuck or have any questions please ask below.

Connecting to your wireless network (WLAN)

1. Turn on your Sony Ericsson P1i
2. Open WLAN
3. From the More selection menu choose Enable WLAN
4. Select your WLAN from the list of detected networks
5. Press Connect (enter your WEP/WPA key if prompted)

You are now connected to the chosen WLAN. Almost there!

Opening a WAWI connection

WAWI works just like a website, the only difference being it sends requests to Winamp on our behalf.

1. Turn on your Sony Ericsson P1i
2. Open Web
3. From the More selection menu choose Go to web page (1)
4. Fill in the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the machine where you installed WAWI followed by Port 8080 (eg. http://10.1.1.5:8080)
5. When prompted enter your WAWI User and Password (eg. michael, password)

That’s it. WAWI for Winamp is now running!

Change the volume of your music as it’s playing, add and delete songs in your playlist through Playlists and Music Collection, all from your couch, bedroom, use your imagination! Massive shouts go out to Phil Himsworth for developing Winamp Web Interface (WAWI), without his efforts none of this would have been possible.

Switch on the Sony Ericsson P1i vibrating Selection keys option so that every time you press on the bottom-bar buttons (Calls - Select - More) the phone goes into the motions and vibrates. It makes using your phone fun!

Activate the vibrating Selection keys option:

1. Open Main menu
2. Open Control panel
3. Open Sounds & alerts
4. Open Buttons & screen
5. From the Selection key drop-down choose Vibrate
6. Save changes

Done. It’s all set, give it a buzz. What have you done to personalise your Sony Ericsson P1i?