Friday, November 28, 2008

New S18 Phone - With a new Look!!



This is the last model of the CECT Phones. This time they choose a new look and make it different from the iphone besides being lightly and thinner than the other models.

It is very similar to the Sciphone i68+ but with a faster processor and a new operating system.
It does not only have style, it also has all the features of the older ones:

  • Dual Sim at the same time
  • Java 2.0 (you can install programs and games)
  • FM Radio
  • Touch Screen 3.2" 240x320 260K colors
  • Shake to change song or wallpaper.
  • Quad band 850/900/1800/1900
  • Weight 106 gr (with battery)
  • Dimensions: 115 x 60 x 13 mm
  • Camera 1.3 mp
  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • GPRS class 10
  • WAP 2.0
  • Battery Time: Talk time (180-220 min) Stand By ( 180-200 hrs)
  • 2 batteries included
  • Includes 1 Gb memory card (supports up to 8 Gb)
  • Bigger on screen keyboard

Where to buy S18 phone

Saturday, November 22, 2008

CECT Phones comparison


Below is a chart with some features ordered by brand to compare some of the phones made by CECT
I just wrote the ones that make a difference between them because there are many other common ones like Bluetooth and Vibracall (they all have it), batteries (they all come with two), screen (3.3" TFT 320x240), internet connection (GPRS+WAP), etc.


Bandas

Dual SIM

Shake Control

Java

FM

P168

900/1800/1900

YES

NO

NO

NO

P168+

850/900/1800/1900

YES

NO

NO

NO

P168C

900/1800/1900

YES

NO

NO

NO

Sciphone i68+

850/900/1800/1900

YES (same time)

YES

YES

YES

X1

850/1800/1900

YES (same time)

NO

NO

YES

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Wallpapers for download


In this site you can find wallpapers with various content and there is even a part dedicated to iphone walpapers that can be used for the CECT P168 and alike.

You just need to save them to the disk, move them to phone and set them as the wallpaper (this steps are explained in a previous post).

There are also many good images to use as wallpapers in our computers separated in albums like Photography, Abstract, Manga, Cars, Dreams, and more).
They have very good quality and can be resized before download.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Olympic games - Wallpaper

This days is all about the Olympic games at Beijing in China.
For all who love sports and enjoys the Olympics i left here two Wallpapers for the CECT P168 (or any other phone with 240x320)

The first is a still image and the second is an animated one with the flag moving.
This could be used as a normal wallpapers (the animation works when you unlock the phone) or as an On/Off screen.

Just right click and save the images.

--- Beijing 2008 still image ---

Olympics_stat

--- Beijing 2008 animated image ---

Olympics_anim

Sunday, July 13, 2008

ITRICKS - Magic Tricks in our Phone



The Itricks are magic tricks created originally for the Iphone but they do work well in our CECT P168.

There is nothing mysterious about them because they are just videos but with a timely interaction they could be quiet effective.

Here are the links of the RAR files

The first is the standard tricks and the second are girls washing the screen and modeling inside the phone

Download Itricks (13 Mb)

Download Itricks - Girls (5.8 Mb)

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

New FORUM about CECT P168


I am glad to present the new FORUM about CECT P168, P168+, P168C and other phones.
This way we can have the questions in a more ordered way.
Please visit it and help each other as much as you can so we can build a strong community with resources for our phones.

The link is http://phoneontherun.com/foro_cect_en

and it will also be at the right bar in this page.

I started posting the things already here with my user (Navegante) and another two (Question and Answer) to have the information in an ordered way.


Enjoy it and i hope it will be useful.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Speed Dial function on CECT P168


To use the speed dial feature on this phone you have to follow this steps:

Go to MAIN MENU
SETTINGS
PHONE SETUP
7 SPEED DIAL

If it is off, turn it on with option 1
Then go to option 2 SET NUMBER
And edit the empty field corresponding to the number you want to press to speed dial
The numbers must be on your address book because it select them from there.

Once done, when you go to the dial screen with the numbers keypad, you just select the one corresponding to the speed dial marked before and then press the phone key.
Or just keep pressing the number with the speed dial desired.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

New settings for Internet and MMS


Finally. The new page with a more complete list of GPRS and MMS setting is ready and now we have 114 countries!
All this work was the cause for the delay in updating the old table. We apologize for that but hope the result will help many people not just for the CECT but for all cellphones, smartphones and handhelds.

The old table is gone and in the previous post remains the steps to configure the CECT and now there is a link to the new page with the settings. In there you can select the country from a list and then the carrier to search for the data.

Please email me to know if they work for you or not and also if you need some other ones that are not on the list.

Link to the old post updated

Saturday, May 10, 2008

How to change Ringtones on CECT P168

A simple task like change a ringtone on a phone can be hard to find on P168's menu.
Here are the steps to change them with some other bundled or with the ones you download or even with a full MP3 song.

Go to Home menu
* System
* User Profile
Here select the one you use and then choose Customize
* Tone Setup
* Incoming call
Here you can pick one (from 1 to 25 are predefined on the phone) or add one in the 26 to 30 slots.
If you choose to add one click the slot desired (26 to 30) and then click OK.
* Replace
Here it shows the memory card
Go to 'My music' folder or wherever you have the sounds you like
Choose the ringtone or MP3 you like and then click OK

Now you have the sound you want for the ringtone.

Many people asked and as far as i know there is no way to add more than five custom songs or ringtones because the only slots left are the 26 to 30 and the 1 to 25 doesn't permit to change them.
We'll have to wait for a way to update the firmware for that to happen.

Friday, April 11, 2008

User Manual for CECT P168 in English, Spanish, French, Italian and German

Here are links to the user manual of the CECT P168 in many languages including english.
I know many people have received the manual in chinese and needed the english one and also others have received the english manual when they speak another one.
So here you've got the links. I hope they will be helpful for some of you.

Manual CECT P168 - English version

Manual CECT P168 - Spanish Version

Manual CECT P168 - French version

Manual CECT P168 - Italian Version

Manual CECT P168 - German Version

Thursday, April 3, 2008

The answer to the Caller ID problem on the CECT P168


The CECT P168 has a little problem with the caller id feature.
If you store the number of the cellphone with the country code then you can see the name of the owner when you receive a SMS.
But if you do that, when you receive a phonecall from the same person the display shows the number, not the name.

Looks like a difficult choice to make but there is a fix for this problem.

In the Phone Book you can store three numbers for each entry. One for the cellphone, one for the home and one for work.
You can use this to fix the caller id problem.
Just enter the number of the cellphone as you receive it when they send you an SMS, meaning country code + number.
In the home or work number enter the cellphone number again but this time exactly as you dial it on the pad to make a call.
If the phone is a regular one and not a cellphone just enter it with the city code (no country code here) and then the number.

In this way the phone will recognize the name of the caller all the time.

I hope this helps all the people having troubles with that.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Using the CECT P168 as a WebCam

When we plug the USB cable on the P168, two options appear. We can use it as a Mass Storage or as a WebCam. If we choose that last option the screen of the phone shows a drawing of a webcam but the screen of the PC doesn't change.
It's not a malfunction of the camera, is just that we need a software able to detect the camera.
If we use an instant messenger software like Live messenger it will recognize it at once.

If you want to extend the use of the webcam you can use this program to see the video in realtime, capture an image or a video and even send it to a webpage.

Camera resolution on the CECT P168


The camera of the P168 is a complicated topic and a disappointment for more than one.

The features list says 2 MP camera but most of the people i saw complaining said they have a 1.3 MP and some others (including me) only can set the resolution to 640x480 (VGA) which is very poor in this times.

The difference seems to be on the model and i don't mean P168 or P168+ but the chip inside the phone.

We can have one of three chips on it.
The worst one is the MT6226 with VGA camera, some others have the MT6226M with 1.3 MP and the lucky ones (i envy you people) have the MT6227 with 2.0 MP

I have a doubt though: Are they different cameras in each phones or is the firmware installed on each chip the one responsible for the top resolution we can set?
If that is the case maybe in the future we could update it and then be able to select between VGA, 1.3 or 2.0
I hope that is the case but for now i don't have an answer.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Ask a Question




This post was intended to receive questions about the CECT P168 and anything you want to know but now it got too big.

Now that the Forum is online it would be better if you post your questions there because they will be ordered by topic and is more easy to find one and answer it.
Please register there and answer all the questions you have.

FORUM link

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

How to create wallpapers for cellphones, handhelds and other devices


If you are tired of the images in your mobile device and want to resize some of your own to use as wallpapers, there is a way to do this for free.

First, we need to download and install this program

Download PhotoGadget

Once installed there is no icon to run the program, it gets integrated with windows explorer.

The steps to resize the images are:

  • Look for an image in your hard disk with Windows Explorer
  • Right click on it
  • In the menu select "PhotoGadget Picture Resize"
  • A windows with options appears
  • Select the "240x320 and 320x240..." or the resolution of your device. If there is no option click "Custom" and write the resolution on the blank fields.
  • Click "OK" and we're done
The images will be now with the desired resolution and a more appropriate file size for the device (in the CECT P168 images of more than 150 Kb won't work)

Monday, March 17, 2008

Organize playlist in AudioPlayer on CECT P168


When you try to play MP3 files on the Media Player of this phone something odd happens.
If you put a folder inside the "my music" folder (in some models is just "music") it's not showed on the list and the "Auto gen" doesn't recognize it. The only songs added to the list were the ones in the folder 'my music' (or 'music'). It's not reading sub-folders.

There is a 'trick' or more accurate, a hidden option.
If you deactivate the "List Auto Gen' option

'Audio Player'
'LIST'
'Option'
'Settings'
'Player Settings'
'List Auto Gen' ---> Change ot to 'OFF'
Ok

now when you go to 'Audio Player' - 'List' - 'Option'
there's a new menu and the option 4 (Add) appears and let you select a folder to add to the playlist.

We just need to copy folders of MP3 to the memory card on the phone and add them to the playlist as told.
We can have some order now in our MP3 collection inside the CECT P168

Monday, March 10, 2008

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)


We'll try to update a list of frequently asked questions about the CECT P168 and the answers or the link to the post answering it.
If your looking for one and it's not in here please leave a comment and we will try to get it as soon as possible.


Q: Where can i find the user manual for this phone in my language?

A: This post has links to download the user manual in english, spanish, french, itlian and german



Q: How can i dial a number when i'm already on a phone call and need to select and option?

A: There is a little green icon at the bottom center of the screen while we are on an active call. If you touch it, the numeric keyboard will appear and then you can enter the desired number.




Q: I don't know how to connect to internet or send multimedia messages (MMS) from my phone.
How do i do it?

A: This depends on the country you live and the company that gives you the service.
We are updating on a daily basis a worksheet with the info you need. It is in this post.




Q: I don't know how to open the case of the CECT P168.

A: In this post there is a video explaining how to do that




Q: How can i change the wallpapers of my phone? Can i download some from the internet?
Can i create wallpapers from images on my hard disk?

A: Yes, you can. And here is a tutorial of how to do it. You can resize images to fit in your device with this tutorial




Q: Can i read books on my CECT P168? What is the supported file type?

A: Yes, you can. The files must be TXT. The explanation is in this post.




Q: When somebody call me i see the number of the calling phone, not the name even when i have this info in the address book. What is the problem?

A: This phone detects the number with the area code. To get the name you should enter the number after the code.
If the phone is a cellphone then you first enter the country code and if it is a normal phone then put the area code and then the phone number.
The best way to see a sample of this is asking someone to call you and see the number appearing on the screen.




Q: Can i install java games on the phone?

A: Not yet. The phone doesn't have Java support. There are many people trying to change the flash to put java on it. If this gets to be done we will post about it.




Q: The audio sound terrible when i hear it through the earphones bundled. Is there a solution to this?

A: The audio in the device is good, the problem are the cheap chinese earphones bundled with it.
There a solution to get a better sound. Look in this post.




Q: How can i change the screen that appears when i turn the phone on and off ?

A: Answered in this post.




Q: How can i convert videos to be able to see them on the CECT P168?

A: The supported file extension is 3GP. In this post there is a free program to download and the tutorial to use it.




Q: I added some folders with MP3 to the phone but there doesn't appear on the playlist in the AudioPlayer

A: There is a workaround to this problem. See this post




Q: How do i lock the screen manually?

A: There is no way to lock the screen manually on this model. You have to wait till phone goes to standby mode by itself.





Q: Is there any way to synchronize my outlook calendar on PC with phone calendar.

A: You can export the address book from outlook to csv format and then import them with the software PhoneSuite.
To be able to connect to this software you need a Bluetooth connection in your computer.
This method will only allow you to import the name and the phone of the contact though.





Q: How many entries can i save on the address book in this phone?

A: This phone supports up to 500 entries





Q: On the part where you put proxy address it will not let me put a 5 in it only will let 0,1,2 do you know why?

A: In the proxy address you need to put a valid IP address. This are made by four numbers and each one should be from 0 to 255. That's why the first digit can't be 5, it should be 0, 1, or 2.
So you need to write 005 to put 5 on it. The IP should be write like this 192.168.020.005 (sample)





Q: I can't set the resolution of the camera on the CECT P168 to 2.0 MP. What's wrong?

A: See this post





Q: I see a little hole on the back of the phone. Is that a reset? Can i insert a clip on it to hard reset my phone?

A: NOOOO. Be careful with that. The hole is a microphone. There is no reset button on this model





Q: When i plug the USB cable to the phone i get two options and one of them is 'Webcam'. If i select it nothing appear on my PC. How can i use this feature?

A: With an instant messenger or another webcam ready software. See this post.





Q: How can i use the speed dial function?

A: To use the speed dial feature on this phone you have to follow this steps:

Go to MAIN MENU
SETTINGS
PHONE SETUP
7 SPEED DIAL

If it is off, turn it on with option 1
Then go to option 2 SET NUMBER
And edit the empty field corresponding to the number you want to press to speed dial
The numbers must be on your address book because it select them from there.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

How to configure Internet and MMS on the CECT P168


*** UPDATED *** (New link at the end)

Many people are trying to connect to internet and send or receive multimedia messages with the CECT P168 without luck.

I've got mine working after searching a lot for the correct settings so i decided to build a page with a database with this info. It depends on the country you live and the company that gives you the phone service.

It has almost every country and carriers in the world.

When you get to the data for the specified carrier you should write it down and change those values in the following instructions at the words in italic and bold . These words are the sames as the fields in the results page.

The lines starting with a * are options on the phone (menus, buttons, icons, etc)

Internet Settings

* Main Menu
* Entertainment
* Services
* Data Account
* GPRS
- Find one free account (like Account 8, etc)
* Edit
- Change 'Account Name' and put the value COMPANY (remember, you have to change this for the one on the table)
- In 'apn' field put the value APN (again, remember)
- Fill the fields username and password with the ones on the table USER and PASSWORD
-Click 'Done' and say Yes to Save.

* Main Menu
* Entertainment
* Services
* WAP
* Settings
* Edit Profile
- Find one free account (like Profile 8, etc)
* Edit Profile
- Rename Profile and put the value COMPANY
- In Homepage field put the value HOMEPAGE
- In 'Data Account' select GPRS and then the account created before.
- Select 'Connection Type', choose HTTP and click OK
- Fill in the fields Proxy Address with PROXY and Proxy Port with PORT. Then click OK
- Fill the fields username and password with the ones on the table USER and PASSWORD
* Go back and Activate Profile

We are ready to navigate. Try it on


and then choose homepage or Enter Address.




MMS Settings

* Main Menu
* Entertainment
* Services
* Data Account
* GPRS
- Find one free account (like Account 8, etc)
* Edit
- Change 'Account Name' and put the value 'COMPANY MMS' (like 'MOVISTAR MMS')
- In 'apn' field put the value APN
- Fill the fields username and password with the ones on the table USER and PASSWORD
-Click 'Done' and say Yes to Save.

* Main Menu
* PIM
* Messages
* MMS
* Message Settings
* Server Profile
- Find one free account (like Profile 8, etc)
* Edit Profile
- Rename Profile and put the value 'COMPANY MMS'
- In Homepage field put the value HOMEPAGE
- In 'Data Account' select GPRS and then the account created before (the MMS one).
- Select 'Connection Type', choose HTTP and click OK
- Fill in the fields Proxy Address with PROXY and Proxy Port with PORT. Then click OK
- Fill the fields username and password with the ones on the table USER and PASSWORD
* Go back and Activate Profile


If you need another country and company please let me know writing a comment. I will post it as soon as possible.


------>>> New page with list of settings by country and carrier <<<------


Saturday, March 8, 2008

How to see videos on the CECT P168


The phone already have some videos bundled including some shorts of the movies "Ice Age" and Shrek.

If we have a memory card with enough space we can see series and movies on this device either
in horizontal or vertical screen.

To do this we need to convert videos to the 3GP format supported by the P168.
I'll explain two different programs to do this.
The first one can be downloaded from here:

http://www.erightsoft.info/GetFile.php?SUPERsetup.exe

To use it open the program and right click the red area saying OUTPUT and select "Output file saving management". Choose the folder where you want to save the finished movie and press "SAVE Changes".

Now in the first sector in the 1 select "3GP (SonyEricsson)" and in the second mark MPEG-4 and the 3 left it in AAC.

In the green sector left 320:240 selected on video scakle size. Select 4:3 on aspect and try different settings on the frame/sec and bitrate depending the final quality and speed we want.
I tried with 12.5 and 144 and it went well.

Now drag a file from windows explorer to the grey zone having the "Active | FileName | Streaming Link" columns and press the "Encode (Active Files)" button to start converting video.

And the second one is the Total Video Converter

http://www.effectmatrix.com/total-video-converter/tvc.exe

Just use 'New Task' and then 'Import Files'
Select the file you want to convert and click 'open'
Then go to 'Mobile' section and select "Sony K700,S700,K750,W800,W550,W810 MP4(176*144)"

Click 'Convert Now' to start


When it's ready just move it to the "Video" folder on the CECT P168 and call the video player (Start - AV Zone - Video Player) and it's done.

On and Off Screen on the P168

The screens showed when you turn on and off the device are much like the wallpapers but can be animated.
You can download them from internet and upload them to the phone to change the ones that came bundled and give it a touch of personality.

These are the steps to change them:

Go to main menu, System, and then to Settings and "Phone Setup".

Select the option named "Display Characteristic (5) and then the options 4 and 5 to change the boot screen and the off screen.

Now you can choose between use the system ones (option 1) that came with your phone or select one of yours (2) from the memory in the folder "images" (better put them there)

This files should be animated GIF.

I left here some images to try it on. Click on it and when it show the final one do a right click and select "Save image as".
Then upload it to your phone.




The answer to the audio problem of the CECT P168


Even when we love this phone we have to admit that when you first hear it the sound quality is very bad.
Luckily this flaw is not a quality problem in the circuits of the device but an earphone's fault.
The ones that came with the the P168 are very cheap and even sound "Mono" ¿?

That wouldn't be a problem if we could use some other earphones of better quality but the thing is, this phone have a jack totally different from the ones we know.

The answer is a little techy but it's not hard.

The solution has two options:

1) We open the little earphones carefully (they're glued), remove the soldering and attach a new ones from a good pair with better sound.
This is not very difficult and we just need to solder to pints in each speaker and then glue the cases again.

2) Cut the cable after or before the microphone and attach a female jack to it to be able to use any earphones we like.
This is the best solution by far because it let us choose the earphones we want and the resulting sound is much better.

If we follow this last option we need to get a female 3.5 Jack (the standard in earphones) and solder the cables as seen in the next picture.


For the ones who don't want to do all this work to get a better sound there is a website selling it with the female jack and can send it anywhere in the world receiving payment through Paypal

The site is ZYDAGLO

Please leave a comment if you have any questions.

How to change the wallpaper on the CECT P168


The initial wallpaper on the screen of the P168 is the same as the Iphone one (what a coincidence :-) )
To change it we need to go to the main menu, then the fourth icon in the left column ("System") and there you choose "Settings".
After that go to "Phone Setup" and then select "Display Characteristic" and choose the option 1 ("Wallpaper").
You've got two option now, either you choose one of the system wallpapers with the option 1 or you select the option 2 ("User Define") and enter the Memory Card.
In the folder "Images" there are some pre-charged images that come with the phone and we can upload our own to this folder to use the ones we like.
The size in this case should be 240x320

I left here some images to try on. In a few days we will add others as well.


How to read books on the CECT P168


One of the best things about this phone is its ability to read ebooks.
The easier way to do this is one of this two:

1) Search for ebooks on the internet in TXT format

or

2) Open the Windows Notepad (not Wordpad) y copy the text from another program (word, acrobat reader, etc) and paste it on the notepad app.
Save it then as a TXT file and copy it to the 'Ebook' folder on the CECT P168.
We're ready to go!

To read we go to the start menu and then to 'Entertaiment' and enter the 'Extra' icon.
There is an option named 'E-book Reader'.
It should show now the list of books on your 'Ebook folder'. Click it and start reading.

While you read the book there appear numbers on a lower bar. This are shortcuts for the most common options.

1 - Help

2 - Add a Bookmark

3 - Search (can be case sensitive or not)

4 - Go screen (you can go to the first page, the last or to a percentage of the book)

5 - Go to a mark saved before

6 - Find next

7 - Turn on and of the Autoscroll feature

8 - Delete Mark

9 - Turn on and off thr Fullscreen mode

0 - Go to settings screen


That way we can carry a library with us and read a book everywhere

How to open the case of the CECT P168

It's not uncommon to see a new owner of one of this phones trying to open the case with no luck.
And the first thing you do when you buy a cellphone is putting the SIM card inside the case.
Well, in this case is not that difficult is just a matter of fear of breaking anything.

Here is a video on youtube explaining that.
Don't break the thing.




Friday, March 7, 2008

Features of the CECT P168


Some say the CECT P168 is an Iphone clone but the truth is that this chinese phone is not only cheaper than the original but also has unique features.

We start with this post so the ones going to buy it will have more knowledge regarding of their choice.

Features list


Band: Tri-band, GSM (850 or 900 depending of the model) / 1800 / 1900 MHz

Screen: 3.5'' LCD, Resolution: 240 x 320, 260K colors TFT

Features: Dual Sim Card & two call standby (both sim doesn't work simultaneously)

Weight: 92g

Dimensions: 117 x 61 x 16

Battery: 1800 mAH Li-Battery for EXTRA-LONG battery life

Talk Time: 6 Hours

Standby Time: 168 Hours

Video Camera

Camera: 2 MP camera on back side, 16x digital zoom, 16 photo effects (sepia, inverted, etc)

Ring tones: 64 bit

Supports Bluetooth and A2DP

Six Speakers with 3D sound

Video Player: MP4 y 3GP

Sound recorder: Yes

Internet: WAP y GPRS

Memory: 256 mb included. Expandable through micro sd. Maximum 2 Gb

Email: Yes

USB connection to computer and also charges the battery

WIFI: No



The good


* Lot of languages included

* Expandable memory with micro SD cards

* Unblocked Tri-Band

* Loud Volume

* Touchscreen (pen included inside the case)

* Comes with two batteries

* Economic

* USB cable also charges the battery on the phone while connected

* 3D sound (6 speakers)

* 2 SIMS allow on the phone (but cannot be used simultaneously)



The Bad


* No WIFI

* camera real resolution is 1.3 Mp

* not standard jack for the earphones and the quality of the ones included is bad.

* Email doesn't have SSL or SMTP authentication so you cant use GMAIL on it

* No JAVA


Some people complain about a lot of things concerning this phone but most of it is because they don't know how to configure all of it and the manual is poor to say the least.

In this site you will find answers to all the questions for the CECT P168 in the purpose of letting you enjoy the experience of being the owner of it.

Seeing the pros and cons is a good phone for its value and we recommend you to try it.

And of course, is very less expensive than the Iphone.