SMS/Text Message Tricks

or How I beat the iPhone at its own game

She's got internet. How come I don't?

In one sense, I’m kind of stuck behind the times. I don’t have internet on my phone. I know that I should “get with the program.” I’m aware that I’m a sorry excuse for a tech nerd. Therefore, my blog post cannot possibly be relevant, right? Well, if you have a moment, I thought I could share some of the things I’ve come to learn about text messages.

Most cell phone plans include the ability to send text messages to and from your phone. Usually you have to pay a dime or 25 cents per message. I think all of the providers now let you purchase bundles of 100 or 1,000 (or whatever) which decreases the cost per message down to $0.01 or less. These short, quick messages (in the U.S. this is typically limited to 160 characters or less) are apparently popular among teens – I don’t know any, so I can’t confirm this.

Even if you aren’t into texting your pals, I submit to you these reasons to take a fresh look at your phone’s text capabilities and consider adding some text messages to your cell plan.

Some of the things I bet you didn’t know you could do with SMS text messaging:

1. Movie times at your local cinema
2. Driving directions
3. Stock quotes
4. Traffic updates
5. Weather updates
6. Translate words to and from English
7. Send email
8. Watch your auctions on eBay
9. Post to your blog
10. Compare prices for merchandise
11. Find wifi spots
12. Check whether your flight is on time
13. Keep up with Twitter
14. Get alerts and add events to google calendar
15. Track your package
16. Convert metric to english measurements and back again
17. Calculate math
18. Receive AMBER alerts
19. Get RSS feeds

and my favorite:

20. Find the nearest restaurant. This is where, according to my limited and unbiased experience, TEXT BEATS iPHONE. Yes, I mean it!

I’m driving back to my place with a friend. He has a mad hankering for some Chinese take-out. I can’t think of any asian restaurants between our location and my house. To prove his “tech cred,” he whips out his iPhone and waits for Safari to load, navigates to a search page, types in his query, and then he waits some more. “Is House of Ing nearby?” he asks. No, I tell him. “Where is P.F. Changs?” No, that’s not on the way home. It’s all the way on the other side of town. “Is the Apple Jade on Clippert Street close by?” No, no. You’re way off.

I pull over into a gas station and set my phone to the task. I type the word “chinese” into a text message and send that to 46645 (or “GOOGL”). In less than TWO SECONDS, I get a reply message with the address and phone number for three restaurants in my zip code. If I replied to that message, they would have sent me even more restaurants. That’s right. In a mere 10 seconds, I receive more accurate and pertinent information than he gets after five minutes using the internet connection on his iPhone.

I don’t mean to gloat. I am totally jealous of everyone with an iPhone. But even if you do have an iPhone, when time counts, when your appetite won’t wait for your “edge” connection to find a network to use, when you are just dying to know the Spanish for “where is the bathroom,” you might want to ask the 14 year-old next to you to text you the answer.

Tech Corner: Google SMS
Wikipedia SMS entry
16 more things to do with text