CREATING PICTURES
A picture can tell a thousand words - as what the saying says. It can also be a
bit more interesting than a plain-old text message. Sending someone a picture
message, lovingly created by your own good self, can be a great way to make them
smile, or make a big impression on someone you're interested in. There are some
really funky designs you can key-in to your mobile and send out to people -
whether you want to send a funny picture to all your friends, or
something with a bit more meaning for that someone special.
1.
First thing first, if you have a Nokia 3210, 3310, 8210 or 8250 mobile,
your phone may already have a few picture messages programmed-in. These aren't
exactly exciting as they can cost up to three times more to send than a normal
text message. But if you want to send a love-heart to someone you fancy, and
don't mind forking out a bit extra for the phone call, they could come in handy.
2. To send one of the pre-programmed picture messages, hit the menu then scroll
down to Messages. Press select then scroll down again to Picture Messages. This
will bring up a list of pictures, each with their own number. To have a look at
one of the pictures, scroll down to the one you want and press View.
3. If
you're happy with your choice, press Option, and scroll down to Forward. Now
press Select and enter the phone number of the person you want to send it to or
press Search in case you forgot the number.
4. If you want to add text to the
picture message to make it more personal - e.g. Happy Birthday! Beside a picture
of a birthday cake - you can do this using the Edit Text option in the Menu.
There is another way to create picture messages and it involves a bit more
effort on your part, but just imagine the satisfaction you'll feel when you step
back and admire your masterpiece! Don't panic, creating your own funky little
picture is much simpler than it looks. The pictures are made up of the numbers,
letters and punctuation marks on your phone's keypad. Remember - SMS messages
can only be 160 characters long, whether they're text or pictures. At the
moment, they'll mostly work only on Nokia handsets. But before you know it,
everyone will be sending them, so the sooner you get practicing, the better!
Picture messages don't need to be complicated to be effective. In fact, some
of the best messages are those that are simple and easily recognizable for
anyone receiving them. Characters from your favorite television programme, film
or advert can work really well, especially if you're sending the message to
someone who loves the programme as much as you.. These pictures will may look
like a real artiste, but they're all quite simple to create. So they should make
you look really clever without forcing you to strain yourself too much - you
won't even need to get up off the sofa. They're also a bit silly, and should
give the lucky person that receives one a good chuckle.
Free-Hand Try keying-in the messages below in your mobiles phones and see what you'll get. The number of spaces between each character is shown in brackets, while the
number of spaces at the end of each line will depend on your phone. Once you
have keyed-in your picture, go to the Options Menu to send it to your friends,
or save it in your outbox.
Love
Messages
If you want to catch
the attention of someone you've had your eyes on for years, a love heart is
always a great way of getting your point across.
Fancy Stuff
Once you've got the
hang of the easy stuff, it's time to move on to something a little bit more
fancy. These pictures are actually just as simple, but they'll take a little
while longer to key in as they use more characters.
These pictures are too
large to fit on your mobile's screen, so the person receiving the message will
have to scroll down with their < and > buttons to reach the
end. This can work really well, as it
means you can surprise them with a hidden message or gag after the picture.
TIP: It's really important to leave the
empty line space between the two faces in the picture below. When you are
keying-in the picture, it's best to think of your mobile screen in terms of a
set of lines. While you are entering the picture, it will seem as if the first
face takes up the whole screen, but when you save the picture, or send it to a
friend, the screen will be one line larger. So if you forget to leave a line
space, it will totally ruin the surprise effect of the message. This is worth
remembering when you are designing your own picture messages - if you want to
create a surprise, don't enter the punch-line until after at least line five.
Nasty
Surprises and Classic Insults Picture messages can also be a nice
way of insulting your friends, especially if you're not too good at dissing them
to their face. A picture that runs two screen works really well for this kind of
message, as it allows you to add a nasty surprise to what seems like a harmless
picture message.
TIP: If you try and enter the text at the
bottom of this picture on a separate line, you will run over your limit of 160
characters. Instead, start keying-in the word "Picture" on the line
above, but just don't give yourself enough space to enter the whole word. This
will mean the entire word is moved to the line below, without taking up any more
characters!
This really cool tip
may also come in handy if you start to create your own funny picture messages
and need to enter some text. It's a great way of tricking your phone into
thinking you haven't used up your whole quota of characters.
