LG VX8300 Tips, Tricks, Tutorials, and Hacks

Forums, anyone?

2007-01-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, I know I haven't posted in a while, but the VX8300 is ground that has already been fairly well trod upon. Lately, I've been spending most of my freetime working on my other project, Hellaphone.com. As an experiment, I'm starting up some discussion forums on Hellaphone, so from now on I'd love it if people could start posting their questions and comments in the LG VX8300 forum

Easily Make Wallpapers for your Phone

2006-09-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed the lack of updates to this blog in the last couple of weeks. Well, rest assured that I wasn't letting my guard down, nor have I stopped working for you, kind reader. For in the last two weeks I have been working on a website that will take all the complication out of the most humdrum and mundane of tasks--cropping, resizing, and transferring wallpapers to your phone.

LG Stereo Headphone Adapter

2006-09-11T02:39:00.000-07:00

Here's another one from the reader mailbag. Anonymous writes in to ask:I bought a 2.5 to 3.5 mm (Editor's note: this should read 3.5 to 2.5mm) adapter so I can play WMAs through wired accessories (earbuds, FM xmitter etc.)BUT I only get right channel sound, and when I plug into the phone, the CONTACT(!) list comes up on the front display.I suspect it thinks I plugged in a 2way earpiece, and that

Import, Organize, and Catalog Your Photos

2006-08-25T01:52:00.000-07:00

The VX8300 is one of the first in the new breed of cameraphones that actually takes decent quality photos. With a camera in your pocket your purse 24/7, you're probably going to be taking a lot more pictures than you once did. While this doesn't create memory problems, with a microSD card holding hundreds upon hundreds of pictures, it does create an organization problem once you get those

How to Get the Pictures Off Your Phone

2006-08-23T01:30:00.000-07:00

"How do I get the pictures off my phone?" I think this was probably the first question I asked the Verizon employee when faced with the prospect of upgrading to a VX8300. Since then, quite a few people have come to this site looking for the answer to the same question. I won't go into any lengthy tutorials here, but here's a list of methods to get the pictures off your phone, and onto your

Cheap Accessories for the VX8300

2006-08-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

Buying a VX8300, just like any other cell phone purchase, often entails buying a whole bunch of accessories to go with it: a spare battery for longer talk time or as a replacement, a memory card and card reader for storing extra pictures and music, a car charger for those times when you need extra juice on the road, a case to protect the phone or attach it to your belt, and a Bluetooth dongle for

Free WAP Internet on the VX8300

2006-08-21T02:06:00.000-07:00

NEW: Try the Hellaphone Wallpaper Maker to make free wallpapers for any cell phone.Can't get enough of this blog? Well now you can read it on the toilet, on the train, and on top of the Eiffel tower, thanks to this tutorial on how to get free WAP internet on your VX8300.The VX8300 has a great WAP browser, which beautifully displays many regular web pages, images and all. To take advantage of

Make MP3 and MIDI Ringtones

2006-08-19T00:44:00.000-07:00

And now what you've all been waiting for: how to turn your favorite song into a ringtone and upload it to your phone, all for free. For this guide, you'll need to use BitPim. Here's my tutorial on how to set up BitPim, if you haven't already done so.This tutorial is especially useful for VX8300 owners, but it should work for many other models that are BitPim compatible as well. I say that it

One Touch V-mail: Skip the Password

2006-08-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

Inquisitive reader Richard writes in to ask, "Is it possible to create a one key fast dial contact to my voice mail ... include my password ... so I wouldn't have to enter it fresh each time I access my voice mail .. ?" Good question Richard, and thanks for writing in.Yes, in fact, it appears that you can indeed access your messages on your VX8300

TV, Movies, and Videos on Your Cell Phone

2006-08-17T02:50:00.000-07:00

You're probably asking yourself right now: how did he get that scene from Sifl & Olly on his VX8300, is that some kind of crazy photoshop trick? "No," I answer, "it's every bit as real as the very robot that Sifl built to do his bidding in Episode 12 of Season 1."So what if I told you that you can carry any TV show, movie, or home video around in your VX8300, and watch it whenever you please?

Set Shortcuts to Music, Pictures, Videos on VX8300

2006-08-16T00:03:00.000-07:00

It's a great thing that the LG VX-8300 is loaded with features. If you're looking at this site, that's probably the reason you bought the phone. But having all these features comes at a price: you many of them can only be accessed after wading through numerous lengthy menus. The calculator alone can take 11 keystrokes to open! But that can be changed. Your phone has four shortcut keys that

Enable MP3 Playback on your LG VX8300

2006-08-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

[Update 10/28/06: If you have a new version of the VX8300, this method should no longer be necessary. MP3s will now play in the standard music player by default. Just put them in the my_music directory. Here's how to see if you have the new software: Go to Settings & Tools, then (9)Phone Info, then select SW Version. If your SW Version ends with V01, you have the old version, if it ends with

Convert Your MP3s to WMAs

2006-08-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

The LG VX-8300 has great utility as a music player. Unfortunately, Verizon did not include default support for MP3 format music. There's a lot of talk about how to enable MP3 playback (which I will cover in a later article), and a lot of people do so without first weighing their options. Until Verizon changes the LG VX-8300 to support MP3s by default, I'd recommend to instead convert your MP3s

BitPim: Transfer Contacts, Calendar, Pictures, Ringtones

2006-08-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

OK, now that you have set up Bluetooth to connect your PC with your cell phone, or if you have a USB transfer cable for your phone, how do you transfer data between the two? BitPim is a great free application that allows your computer and your phone to share such data as: contacts, calendar, ringtones, music, pictures, text messages, call history, and more. It is also great for backing up this

VX-8300 Specifications

2006-08-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

The full specs of the LG VX-8300 are available here. Here are some of the most important features of this cell phone:Weight: 3.88 oz (110 g)Dimensions: 3.58" x 1.93" x 0.92" (91 x 49 x 23 mm)Battery life*Talk: 3.83 hours (230 minutes)Standby: 384 hours (16 days)Display Type: LCD (Color TFT/TFD)Colors: 262,144 (18-bit)Size: 176 x 220 pixelsExternal Display: 65,000-color OLED / 96 x 96

Video Longer Than 15 Seconds on the VX8300

2006-08-14T04:07:00.000-07:00

By default, the LG VX-8300 only shoots videos (Verizon calls them "FLIX") up to 15 seconds long. If you have a microSD card, however, you can enable it to take videos that are much longer, as long as your card will allow, in fact...Do this by going to the Settings & Tools menu, selecting Memory, choosing Save Options, choosing FLIX, and switching from Phone Memory to Card Memory. Then, go to

How to Connect to your Cell Phone Using Bluetooth

2006-08-14T02:31:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I told you how to get Bluetooth for about 12 bucks. Now, how do you use Bluetooth to connect your VX8300 to your computer? If your Bluetooth dongle works with Bluesoleil software, here are the steps to set up a Bluetooth connection.Plug in your USB dongle and start Bluesoleil. Click My Bluetooth > Security. Check "Set default passkey" and type in a short numeric code.On

microSD Memory Card for Cell Phone

2006-08-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

Update! Click here for the best prices on micro SD cards. Be sure to select a card size that your phone supports.Many cell phones sold these days tout such features as music players and video recorders. But unfortunately, the amount of storage memory built in to the phones themselves is often insufficient to support these features. The LG VX-8300 comes with a generous 28mb included, which is

How to get Cheap Bluetooth for your VX-8300

2006-08-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

Bluetooth makes it fairly quick and easy to transfer phone book and calendar information to and from your VX-8300 cell phone. There will be an upcoming tutorial on just how to connect your phone to your PC using Bluetooth, but before you can do this, your computer must be Bluetooth capable.If you are not lucky enough to have a computer with Bluetooth built in, it can be obtained easily and

Record a Conversation or Voicemail on your VX-8300

2006-08-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

Using the voice memo recorder outlined in this previous post, it is possible to record conversations on your VX-8300. Well, one side of them, at least. This technique will record the incoming audio only, that is, the person you are talking to, but not yourself. This can be quite useful when you want to save a voicemail, but don't want to leave it

Record Voice Memos on your VX-8300

2006-08-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

There is a quick and easy way to record audio voice memos on the VX-8300. Press and hold the voice command key for about two seconds. (It is located on the left side of the cell phone, and is labled with a microphone.) Press OK to begin recording, speak into the phone, and then press OK again to end the recording...In order to access your memo later, go to the Tunes & Tones menu and select My

Welcome to LG VX-8300 Tips

2006-08-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to LG VX-8300 Tips! In the coming days, this blog will feature tips, hints, tricks, reviews, mods, and hacks for the LG VX-8300 cell phone available on Verizon wireless.