Illustration by Jonathan Woodward

Ah, the humble mobile phone (aka cell phone). As an early adopter of technology, I was the first one in my family to get a mobile phone when I spent about £60 ($120) on a brick from Woolworth’s at least 11 years ago. How times have changed!!!

Currently, I haven’t switched my now sleek, super slim mobile phone on for about 2 weeks but if I did, there are so many more things that I could do with it than simply call, text or play games…

Here are 12 additional things you can do with your phone whilst travelling the globe as a location independent professional…

#1 To network:

If you use social networking sites like Twitter, Utterz, Facebook or you write on a blog, you can typically post updates to all of these via your cell phone. Status updates whilst you’re travelling via Twitter is one great use that saves multiple text messages to friends and family.

#2 To scan, copy and fax:

Scan, copy and fax whiteboards, documents or images with your camera phone using services like Scanr and Qipit. It’s also a great way to make back up copies of receipts or important documents whilst you’re on the road.

#3 To find out where you are:

Google Maps for Mobile has a nifty ability to show you where you are by using your cell phone. If you have GPS on your phone and even if you don’t, Google uses phone towers to ping your phone and displays your location as a blue dot on your map. It’s less accurate if you don’t have GPS and will give you an approximation of your position only.

#4 For emergency situations

Plugging in an ICE (In Case of Emergency) number is a must if you’re travelling alone or even with your partner. It’s a universally-recognised way of contacting the person you designate should anything happen to you, in an emergency.

#5 To meet up and connect with your travel buddies:

Loopt describes itself as a service to turn your phone into a “social compass” which helps you connect with friends and get alerted when they’re nearby, shares your location, status and photos with online friends and helps you explore places recommended by your buddies.

#6 To receive high priority email only:

Receive only the emails you specify from a pre-approved list using Teleflip (currently US only but with more countries to come).

#7 As a to do list or reminder/memo facility:

Using the voice recorder as a to do list or memo facility is a good way to remind yourself of names, places, street names or ideas you have. Again, you can also try snapping signs/notices etc. using your camera phone and if you’re ever stuck somewhere and don’t speak the language, you can get your language teacher to record the phrase(s) you might need out and about and play it back in an emergency.

#8 To check in and board your flights:

Currently only on trial, the IATA is testing out the ability to let flyers check in for their flights using special 2-dimensional bar codes sent to their phone. Whilst this isn’t widely available yet, the industry has set a deadline of 2010 to implement 100% bar-coded boarding passes.

#9 To read more books:

Never mind the fact that your eye sight will suffer from staring at such a tiny screen, if you really want to catch up on some reading whilst you’re travelling, then BooksInMyPhone is what you’re looking for.

#10 As a time zone, currency or measurement converter

Most phones these days have world time zones and other converter programs installed. These can be especially useful if you’re travelling to multiple countries with different currencies, changing time zones and switching between metric/imperial measuring systems.

#11 As a personal assistant:

The clever software reviewed here, turns your mobile phone into a smart personal assistant who gets to know you. Based on your location, time of day and past behavior, Magitti shows you a list of suggestions, including concerts, movies, shops, bookstores and restaurants. The more you use it, the more the software learns about you and your preferences and then refine its suggestions accordingly. Not available for at least a year or two, I’d be interested to see how it’d cope with a nomadic LIP lifestyle!

#12 To find out what’s around you

Where provides GPS widgets for you to customise your mobile phone (US only) and find out things like:

• Local points of interest around you
• Weather reports for your location
• Earthquakes — find the most recent earthquakes by proximity (we had one the other day in Grenada!)
• Your nearest golf course
• Where the nearest roadside help is
• The nearest wine tour at your local wineries

With any luck, you’ll be far too busy gallavanting around your new destination to be tied to your cell phone, but if space is short and you haven’t managed to fit in all the high tech gadgets and gear you wanted to bring with you, then your humble handset might just be able to do more than you thought!

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