Smart Phone & 3 GP

3gp means Third Generation Partnership Project which is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations, to make a globally applicable third generation or 3g mobile phone system.

In simple terms it is a type of file format which is used to store audio or video. Just as an Mp3 format reduces the total amount of space required to store a particular file, the 3gp format also reduces the storage space required on a Cell phone.

It is based on the popular on the MPEG 4 and H.263 format. It is used for both streaming Video and Audio, however the formats used for both are different.E.g. Video streaming happens in MPEG – 4 or H.263 formats while Audio streaming happens in different versions of AMR, AAC formats.

There are 2 different standards :

• For GSM based phones the files will be stored with an extension .3gp
• For CDMA based phones the files will be stored with an extension .3g2

When a 3gp file is transferred to a computer for viewing the files can be seen on the Linux, MAC and Windows platforms. Some of the players that can be used with this format are :

• Real Player
• VLC media player
• Quick Time
• Media Player Classic

Skype software was developed by the Swedish and Danish entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis and a team of software developers.

Skype allows users to make telephone calls over the Internet to other Skype users free of charge and to landlines and cell phones for a fee. Additional features include instant messaging, file transfer, short message service, video conferencing and the ability to circumvent Firewalls.