Tech Talk: No More Phone Books with SMS

This week, we look at Google SMS, short for Short Message Service, which serves up answers to specialized queries, and it's as simple as sending a text message. Even if you don't have web access on your cell phone or mobile device, you can send your query as a text message and get phone book listings, prices, dictionary defintions and other information.

Be aware, Google SMS is still in beta and only works on major wireless providers, namely AT&T, Cingular, Nextel, Sprint PCS, T-Mobile, and Verizon. The good news is you don't need a brand-new fancy phone with web browsing built in. Google SMS should work on almost any mobile or handheld, as long as you have the ability to send and receive text messages. Also note that standard text messaging fees apply.

I assume all this reading is making you hungry, right? So let’s find a pizza place and call in. And wings, please, with medium sauce! So let's try a query. We'll find a nearby pizza joint in Beeville. Send your text message to 46645 (the numbers spell "GOOGL") like this:

pizza beeville tx

Or, if you know the zip code, you can shorten it to:

pizza 78102

You'll get your answer in a reply text message, usually within a few seconds in a format like this:

(1of2) Google Local:
Pizza Hut 1103
N Washington St
Beeville, TX 78102
361-358-2970

The "1of2" tells you to look for another message labeled "2of2" with more results. You may get up to four responses.

Google SMS also serves up business and residential phone listings. Why would anyone ever call the phone company for information and pay for it, when Google SMS is free? Here are some examples:

walmart 78102
home depot corpus christi

Or to find publicly listed phone numbers and addresses for residences in the US, try a query like one of these. Specify all the info you know to increase the chances of a successful search. Note that you can omit first name, use an initial, specify the city and/or state, or just the zip code or area code.

iman example anywhere tx (firstname_lastname_city_state)
OR
example 78339 (lastname_zipcode)
OR
example 361 (lastname_areacode)

Google SMS will make you the life of the party when people around you notice your skill at retrieving dictionary definitions and doing price comparisons. Even look up the word 'bloviate' using your cell phone!

define bloviate

If you're in a store bargain hunting, Google SMS will access Froogle to search millions of products from stores on the web. The results contain no ads, just current prices for products available online.

price dvd player
price stereo
price 27 inch television

Suppose that sophisticate at the party is just not impressed that you can get phone listings and compare coffee makers with your phone. What if he says "Well that's fine, sir, but certainly your inexpensive cell phone cannot find information on the moons of Uranus."

Not a problem: Snippets will solve this! A snippet is an excerpt from the results page when you do a search on Google. You don't get the full web results and you can't click on any of the links, but sometimes the answer to your question will be found in the snippets. Happily,

G moons of uranus

returns this:

Google Web:
* The Moons of Uranus-
The following image (Ref)
shows the 5 largest satellites
of Uranus: Miranda, Ariel,
Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon...

Surely that will leave him speechless. Here are some other snippet search examples:

G population san antonio tx
G patriots football schedule

So your old, clunky, 2 day old cell phone doesn't have a calculator? Google SMS does! The calculator can solve basic math problems, convert units of measure and other fun stuff. Some examples:

52134*98.6
23967/12
2^20
sqrt(490)
half a cup in teaspoons
2 gallons in liters

It doesn't stop there, you can even find movie listings, driving directions, stock quotes, and more. If you forget any of the Google SMS commands, just send 'help' as a text message to 46645 and you'll receive instructions and tips on how to use the service. Oh, and if your phone is configured to add a signature to outgoing text messages, you'll have to turn that off to receive Google SMS results. More information and instructions are available at Google SMS. Time to go tally the text messaging fees for writing this column! :)