Making your 'dumb' cell phone smarter than it looks

So all your friends have the latest whiz-bang cell phone, the kind that does everything including making telephone calls.

They're going on the Internet, downloading a bunch of apps at two bucks per, even editing their blogs and Hubs with their fancy telephones. And maybe being insufferable about it; high-tech toys do that to a person.

So when are you going to get with the program and get a real phone? You know, one of those pocket-sized computers that also makes telephone calls?

The bigger question may be, why?

Smart phones and their ilk are expensive. You can get one for a small stack of C-notes, or less if you agree to one of those draconian phone-service contracts where the company whacks your 'nads with a hammer if you even think about complaining about that contract you got suckered into.

Besides, that cheap cell phone you carry is just as good at making phone calls -- perhaps even better, as you have fewer buttons to mess with when you dial a number. You do send and receive text messages, and that is done as well as the larger, more expensive, fancier, more powerful phones.

But even a cheap cell phone with text capabilities can do a lot more than you would expect. Mine is an LG 220, which does two things well: Phone calls and texts. It also has a Web browser and Internet capabilities, but it's not really practical. But I use my cheap LG for a lot more than calls and texts.

I have important emails forwarded to my phone. I use it to check the weather, add entries to my online calendar, send notes to my Evernote box, and check my bank balance.

In short, I make my plain-vanilla cell phone a whole lot smarter than it looks.

I raised its IQ.

Here's how:

Most cell phones with text capabilities come with their own email address. It's not something that's always publicized; you probably won't find anything about it in your cell phone instruction manual. But I'll bet it's there.

Finding out your cell phone email address is key to expanding the phone's usefulness. Here's how: 

Send a text message to your usual email address. Now. While you're still reading this Hub. Just tell yourself howdy. See how easy it is?

Now, while you're at your computer (which I assume you are 'cause you're reading this), go to that email box. Check new messages. Check out that new one that has a bunch of numbers in the address -- you may see your phone number in those numbers; that's your first clue. Read the message. If you remember sending it to yourself, you're doing all right. Write down the email address it came from.

Better yet, save it in your contacts. You'll need it.

Need to know the weather forecast? How about movie times? Or just want to know where to get a decent cup of coffee in that jerkwater town you're driving through? Google it.

To make an inquiry to Google, send your request to 466453. Save that in your cell phone contacts; you might use this a lot.

For weather in your area (assuming your ZIP code is 29406 like mine is): w 29406

To find a Starbucks, or anyplace where they have coffee: coffee 29406

To see how those Braves are doing: atl braves (DISCLAIMER: This is according to Google, but when I tried that I got the Wikipedia entry for the Braves. Need to spin again, obviously.)

To get the stock quote for Google: goog

To get a listing of movies: m 29406

You might want to save some of these as locked messages in your outbox to save you a little typing in the future.

Although more plain-vanilla cell phones come with a browser now, this doesn't necessarily mean you have a data plan Shoot, one of those plans can get expensive, and every bit as addictive as the Internet connection on your computer. Can you imagine futzing away more time on Facebook when you're away from your computer?

But even with no Internet connection, you can send and receive email from your cell phone. And if you have Google Mail (if not, why not?) forwarding email to your phone is fairly easy.

There are some folks in your life who demand constant contact, and some of them may really be important. If your boss can't get hold of you at a moment's notice, he'll fire you. If your spouse can't, she'll only kill you. 

Remember that email address that's attached to your phone? You're gonna need it for this operation.

From your computer, go to Gmail. Go to Settings, than filters. Create a new filter, following the prompts. In the first screen, type in the email address of the person you want forwarded in the "From" box. When you hit Next Step, you'll have choices. Click on "Forward It To," then type in your phone's email address. Save that, then do the same for any other contacts you need.

Mine is set up so any email from major clients gets forwarded to my cell phone, along with my PayPal account and bank.

Speaking of banks, I have my phone set up to get balances from my bank and PayPal accounts anytime I want. Check with your bank to see how to set yours up. For Paypal, go to the Paypal Mobile pages. You can check balances, send money, or cancel a transaction with an SMS text.

While you're about it, check out your Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, and Evernote accounts. Each of these allows you to send tweets, twaddle, blog posts out for public viewing, or just plain notes to yourself via SMS.

While setting things up is a little more involved than just mail forwarding, you can access your Google Calendar from your cheap cell phone.

To have Google Calendar recognize your cell phone number, go to the calendar settings and click on the Mobile Setup tab. Type your 10-digit phone number in the appropraite box, choose your mobile carrier, and click on Send Verification Code. Leave that browser tab open; there will be more.

After a few minutes Google will send a verification code to your cell phone. Type it in the appropriate Mobile Setup box from your computer, and click on Finish Setup.

You can also have Google Calendar send alarms for upcoming appointments via text.

OK, so what?

Here's the deal: The number to sent SMS messages to Google Calendar is 48368. Type in your calendar information--for example, "lunch at Joe's Thursday 12pm-1pm" as an example. Hit OK. Your lunch date will go in for the following Thursday. 

To check the calendar via SMS, type "nday" for tomorrow's agenda, or "next" for your next calendar item.

A couple of things I should have mentioned from the jump: I hope you have a fairly liberal cell phone package deal for texts, because you're going to use them a lot. 

Oh, yeah. Please, oh please, remember this:

Do not send text messages while driving or operating heavy machinery.

But then, you already knew that.