So I traveled to London today. Nothing special, nothing fancy, but I kept a track of what my mobile phone was used for during the door to door (okay, door to hotel!) trip just to note down how versatile the ‘smartphone’ is nowadays, and just how many messages it can receive.

Reading A Book

Probably one of the ‘biggest’ messages on the phone, carrying a number of novels in the sliver of 1gb MicroSB that the Nokia N95 can read is a lot lighter than carting round a few tombs. With the free to download Mobipocket reader (available for Symbian, Palm and Windows Mobile) you have the choice both of their extensive catalogue of books to purchase, but you can also ‘roll your own; or read any .prc or .pdb format ebook. There are many works available, from out of copyright gems such as the Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter of Mars books, through to new releases and reprints of books, such as the BBC making available one of the novels that was recently adapted for television, Human Nature.

RSS Feed Reader

Shorter messages, but just as important. The built in web browser’s bookmarks also has a section for RSS Feeds, that pulls in the headlines and minimal texts of the websites that I want to keep up to date with while traveling. If I need the full article, one click brings up the page in a web browser. It might not be a 1 to 1 with someone, but updates on the current scores at Wimbledon are a set of messages I want as soon as possible,

Music, Podcasts and FM Radio

A number of information fixes here, from the music that gets me through five hours n a cramped train from Edinburgh to London (including a lot of Japanese bebop jazz), to my weekly touching base with the American NPR quiz “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” which I capture with a built in podcasting client, to following the delays on the London Underground on the local radio stations – there was a derailed carriage while I was in the capital which caused problems!

Getting Hotel Addresses

I forget where the hotel was. Yes I took the reference number (and stored it in the calendar, which syncs to Microsoft Outlook), but the exact address semed to escape me. Whoop. Well no problem. Pop online with the web browser to get the address and then…

GPS Navigation, Mapping and Directions

…take that address and place it into the mapping application that comes bundled with the device. I know where I’m going (now) and can use the GPS to find out where I am, and then let my phone take me to the hotel.

Now not all of these functions would be regarded as traditional mobile messages, but in my mind they are part of mobile communication. They’re taking in information from an external source, and presenting it to me in another form. In their own way, each was vital on my trip to London. I needed something, and it was given to me. Success!

Oh and I called my family when I arrived. The phone does that as well…