Fun Stuff

Beyond all of the more traditional categories of services for your mobile phone, some companies are providing some great innovations that range from the quirky to the practical. We've highlighted some of these intesting services and where you can find them below.

Bathroom Finder

Who hasn't experience nature's urge and not known where the nearest bathroom was? Well Vidigo solves this problem with it's city guide service. From its website, Vindigo explains how you access this service directly from your carrier.

Cocktail Recipes

Ever needed the recipe to a cocktail? Well there are a number of software applicaitons tat you can download to your phone for this information. For example, Mobatech allows you to carry around 150 recipes for a one time $6.95 fee. Other sites give you free random drink recipes delievered via SMS. Check out 4INFO for an example.

Dice

Download this free Java application from GetJar to your phone and have a pair of dice handy.

Disco Light

Turn your phone into a strobe light with downloadable software from Jamster. The multifunctional mobile phone light offers a reading lamp, 10 different light colors, 10 different blinking sequences, automatic change of color, and blackfilter. There is a fee for this software.

Gas Price Comparison

Need to fill-up your tank today? With today's gas prices, you might consider sending a message to Symphonic before you leave the driveway.

Golf Scorecard

Download Wireless18, a free Java application from GetJar to your phone and don't worry about losing your pencil. Wireless18 is an award winning electronic scorecard that automatically calculates all your round statistics.

Jokes

Are you one of those people that can never remember a joke? This service is for you. 4INFO

Pick Up Lines

You're at a party and see a cute guy or girl, but you don't know what to say. If we're describing you then you might want to try 4INFO's pick up line generator to help you through an awkward moment.

Podcasts

If you're an avid consumer of podcasts, you might want to consider the recently released mobilcast software from Melodeo. The software essentially turns your phone into an RSS reader and let's you download podcasts over the air. Melodeo doesn't charge anything for the service, but your carrier might have a hidden charge to look for. Right now the service is limited to eight phones including Motorola's ROKR or RAZR phones.

SAT Test Prep

Among other applications, Vocel has worked in conjuction with The Princeton Review to offer a cool downloadable application that let's you answer sample questions for either the SAT, ACT, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT or other standardized tests. The software tracks your score and additional 'filler' packs are available in case you burn through all of the questions. The company charges $5.75 per month, unless you're enrolled with The Princeton Review where it comes gratis with their course.

Shopping Comparison Results

This nifty free service, available most commonly via SMS, allows you to check the price of items at various online stores. Simply send a text message with the ISBN (for books) or UPC (all other products) of the product in question and the service will message back competitive pricing information. ISBNs and UPCs can be found next to the bar code on the back or bottom of most packages. Ever wonder if you can get a cheaper price on that wide-screen TV while in Best Buy? Simply text message the UPC code and see what Amazon.com is offering it for. There are several sites that offer this service including: 4INFO, Google, and Smarter. We liked 4INFO the best since it is the only site that gives Amazon.com prices and doesn't require you to register. Send the message: "price 0439784549" to 44636 or "4INFO" on your phone's keypad to get Amazon's price on the latest Harry Potter book.

Song Identification

If you've ever been frustrated because you can't name that tune on your radio or club, there's a neat service for you. 411-SONG allows you to do song identification for millions of popular tunes. All you have to do is call (866) 411-SONG from your mobile phone and hold your cell near the music for just 15 seconds. Shortly thereafter the service will identify the track and text message you the artist and song name. The service costs just $0.99 per identification and works with all major carriers. You can even subscribe for $3.99 per month and get all the song identification you want (the subscription service is limited to Sprint and Cingular).