13.5. Movies on Your Phone When most people hear the word movie, they think "big screen." But high-tech has marched on, small is beautiful, and suddenly we've entered an era when people are content to watch video on very small screens. Mind-blowing though it may seem, you can now send movies directly to the screens of certain cellphones, like the Nokia 6600, 3650, 6230, and 6630. No longer must you show people lame wallet photos of your family; you can play them movies of your family, right there on the street. Unfortunately, you can't send your movies to any old cellphoneonly those with Bluetooth that are 3GPPP-compliant. Here's what that means: -
Bluetooth is a radio technology with a maximum range of 30 feet. The whole idea isn't so much networking as eliminating cables from our lives, which is an idea most people wholeheartedly support.  | Figure 13-7. If you're reading this, then congratulations on your very new, very cool phonespecifically, your Bluetooth-equipped, 3GPPP-compliant multimedia cellphone.
Top: On the Bluetooth pane of the Share sheet, the message tells you how much precious memory this movie will consume once transferred to your phone.
Bottom: Once you click Share, iMovie compresses the footage to within an inch of its life, and then uses your Mac's Bluetooth antenna to search for a nearby cellphone that's turned on, "discoverable," and ready to receive your masterwork. Click its name and then click Select to send the film on its merry way. | |
Already you can get Bluetootheither built-in or as a plug-in USB devicefor computers, printers, cellphones, cellphone headsets, Palm and PocketPC organizers, Sony camcorders, and so on. Apple's wireless keyboard and mouse both rely on Bluetooth. All iMovie cares about, though, is whether or not your Mac has Bluetoothmany models do, including all PowerBooksand whether your cellphone does. (Technically, iMovie can send movies to more than just phones and Macs; it can send to palmtops, too. At the moment, though, there aren't any 3GPP palmtops.) -
3GPP is a video standard for cellphones. (It stands for Third Generation Partnership Program, since you asked.) If your Bluetooth phone is fairly recent, it may be 3GPP-compliant, but check with your cell company. The phone has to have a movie-playing program on board, too; all 3GPP videophones do. If you're suitably equipped, here's how the transfer goes: -
When your movie is fully edited, save it. Choose File  Share. The Share sheet appears, as shown at top in Figure 13-7. -
Click the Bluetooth icon on the toolbar. As usual when you export a movie, you can turn on "Share selected clips only" if you want to send only a piece of your movie (and you highlighted the appropriate clips before choosing File Share). -
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Click Search. After a moment, your phone's name appears in the list. -
Click the phone's name, and then click Select. That's all there is to it. On the phone's screen, you'll probably see a message to the effect that it's receiving a file. After a while, the movie's transmission will be complete. Open the phone's media-playing program and play away.
Tip: iMovie stores a copy of the super-compressed movie in your project folder Shared Bluetooth folder. Its file name ends with .3gp.If youre ever inclined to send that movie againto one of your many other friends who have 3GPP-compliant, Bluetooth phonesyou can shoot it right over without having to wait for iMovie to crunch the thing down to pocket size , thus eliminating step 3 above. Use the Bluetooth File Exchange program in your Applications Utilities folder to do it.
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