Your Flexible Friend

Downloading games, wallpapers and ringtones onto your phone is about to get a whole lot easier thanks to Ki-Bi cards. The cards, around about the size of a credit card but a little thicker, are cropping up in more and more retailers and provide a direct link to the content that you want on your phone.

The cards come with a pre-programmed code that’s emitted as a series of tones that you play into your handset’s microphone. The code instructs your phone to download the particular game, wallpaper or ringtone that the card is for and also configures your phone’s settings as it does so, meaning you can enjoy your new content immediately. It also helps to ensure that you don’t pay for a game that your handset can’t run.

The cards aren’t widely available as yet, with particular versions available in different stores. Virgin Megastores, Orange, O2 and Phones 4u high street stores in the UK have all stocked them in the past twelve months however and the cards are regularly updated. Recent cards have included a mix of up-to-date popular ringtones, games and wallpapers, enabling you to select what you want. Other cards have included nothing but games, a favourite being a Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell card that featured all three titles in that series (Chaos Theory, Extended Ops and Pandora Tomorrow) for £6.99.

The cards themselves don’t expire and can be used to download additional content that you’re billed for separately, such as a game of the week or ringtones and wallpapers.

You can find out about new Ki-Bi cards and where they’re being sold at www.ki-bi.com.