Using Google SMS.

One of the best ways to get information via the mobile phone for those of us that don’t have a Blackberry or internet-enabled, data-ready phone is to send a text message to Google, or 466453. If you have free texting, this is an excellent way to get information while on the go.

Phone Numbers

Syntax: “marks pizza penn yan ny”
Probably the easiest thing to find is phone numbers. The syntax above will get you the number for Mark’s Pizzeria in Penn Yan, New York the same as if you had typed it into google.com. Occasionally you’ll have a problem if it’s a common name or a busy location, but if you’re just looking to order a pizza on your way home or call a restaurant to tell them you’re running a couple of minutes late on your reservation, texting Google is the way to go.

Movie Times

Syntax: “m 11580”
This search will give you movie listings for zip code 11580, which is on Long Island. From there, Google understands exactly what you’re looking for. It’ll text you back a menu of movies, you pick which one you want to see, and it’ll tell you where it’s playing in the area.

Flights

Syntax: “jetblue 12”
Curious if your friends flight is delayed? This query told me that the flight from JFK to SYR was scheduled to arrive at 4:42, but actually landed at 5:01 at gate B6.

Sports

Syntax: “mets game” or “mets score” or just “ny mets”
Get the last game results as well as when the next game is, or get the score if you’re not near the tv. This could probably be more detailed, as it doesn’t mention pitchers or which inning the game is in, but it’ll get you the score in a pinch.

Weather

Syntax: “w shanghai”
It’s 81 degrees in Shanghai right now, cloudy, with 89% humidity. It also tells me the forecast for the next three days.

Google SMS can be very helpful. For more beyond these tips and tricks, text help to 466453.

The Samsung SCH-i760 smartphone, with Verizon Wireless.

The Samsung SCH-i760 phone is a smartphone, but not a blackberry. It’s touch screen, and runs the Windows Mobile OS. I choose this phone because it has more features than the standard phones, but I’m not locked into paying $30/month+ for data like I would with a blackberry or other smartphone.

The phone isn’t all good. I’ve managed to lock it up a couple of times already, and it has it’s slow moments. This comes from it being a computer versus just a phone, so some of that’s to be expected, especially running Windows. My last couple of phones have been simple phones from LG, so there was a small learning curve getting used to the format and design of the menus and options. It came with two batteries, which was cool, but the extended battery barely lasts even two days with regular use.

I’m unhappy with the ringer options. I always like a vibrate option, and the phone comes with two, vibrate and ring, and vibrate then ring. I find the vibrate on vibrate and ring to be too loud and constant that it actually drowns out some of the ringer. The vibrate then ring option doesn’t work so well, because if I’m out where it’s loud I’m never sure if I felt it vibrate or not, and by the time I can reach the phone to touch it and check, it’s stopped vibrating. Fortunately, setting my own ringtones is easy, which has been a problem with Verizon in the past. The phone takes a micro SD card, so I just loaded one up on my computer before putting it in the phone. The phone has a lot of ringing options, such as ‘new wireless network detected’ that can be annoying, especially if you’re driving and it keeps detecting networks, but I disabled those rings with no problem.

One major complaint is I appear to be unable to send picture/video messages. This isn’t a huge deal, but I like to occasionally take pictures while I’m out and about, and message them to people. I could always email them, but since I don’t have a data plan I’d have to find a free wireless point, something that’s not always available. This might not be an issue, as I’ve been very disappointed with the camera.

The camera is a 1.3 megapixel camera, but everything I take seems to come out fuzzy. The delay between button press and actual picture is way too long. The image on the screen freezes when you press the button, but the picture doesn’t actually take for two seconds, so if you’re not good at holding the camera very still, you get a lot of fuzzy pictures.

I really like the build in Picsel browser. It allows me to load webpages in their normal mode, and zoom and slide around. It certainly beats IE and mobile views where things get all cascaded and make it hard to read many pages. It also has mobile office which is good if you’re going to write anything while you’re out, and windows media player if you like to listen to music on your phone. You can get a pretty big micro SD card these days that can hold a lot of music. Since it has wireless, you can always download something else, like Opera Mobile, if you so choose.

The phone’s not perfect, but as a step up from a regular phone without investing in blackberries or data plans, it does a nice job.

Oh, and it also makes phone calls with ease.