Almost half the Australians who own both a fixed and mobile phone say that the mobile is their preferred method of voice communication.

It’s official: Australians are smitten with mobile telephones.

A report by market-research firm IDC shows that in 2007, shipments of new mobile devices to this country topped 9.64 million. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), meanwhile, estimates that there are now more mobile services in Australia than people.

But like a lot of love affairs, there’s more to this story than first meets the eye.

ACMA has also revealed that nearly a third of consumers own a 3G-capable phone, yet two-thirds of these people do not use the 3G services available to them. Translation: many of us have hi-tech phones that can do really cool stuff, but we still tend to use them only for voice calls and texting.

Why? One reason might be that consumers are simply unaware of their phone’s vast possibilities. “Your mobile is more than just a phone; it has the potential to be your personal epicentre - provided you know what it can do,” Chris Althaus, CEO of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA), told ConnectedWomen this week.

To help you maximise your mobile muscle, we’ve compiled a list of things that you may not have known you can do with a mobile phone. Some are only available on 3G phones, others you can do on any old handset – but all put more power at your fingertips than ever before:

Facebook is one of several web sites that has developed scaled-down versions of their pages specifically for use on mobiles.

Breezy Facebook browsing. Downloading Internet pages to a mobile phone can be time-consuming, expensive and fiddly. As a result, many web sites are creating scaled down, mobile-specific versions of their pages and services.

Facebook is a perfect example. At http://m.facebook.com, members of the addictive social-networking site can see many features available at Facebook’s regular site – members’ status, news feeds, messages and so on – but without data-heavy items such as pictures, advertising and games. (Want to check it out? You can access the mobile site on your computer too.)

Other sites catering specifically to mobile Internet users include real-estate search engine Domain, ticket-sales company Moshtix and News Ltd.

If your favourite sites aren’t available in mini-form, try Skweezer.com – a useful little site that will condense any other web site into a mobile-friendly format.

You can buy Hoyts movie tickets, Warner music and flowers using Paypal's Mobile Checkout.

Instant retail therapy. Theoretically, any item you can buy over the Internet can also be purchased via a 3G-enabled mobile. However, similar issues of expensive browsing and keypad fumbling have dissuaded Australians from shopping on their mobiles.

Paypal responded late last year by launching Mobile Checkout, a mobile-phone version of its Internet payment system. Already you can pay for movie tickets, music and flowers from certain companies using this method.

You could also instantly pay for your share of dinner out with friends by transferring money from your Paypal account to theirs using your mobile.

Never get lost again! Among its many other uses, a mobile phone can be your personal navigator.

From A to B. If you can’t buy what you need on your mobile, use it to find your way to the nearest shopping centre.

GPS mapping and navigation services are becoming increasingly popular mobile-phone features. In some cases these can be provided by the carrier – Telstra and Vodafone, for instance, both offer GPS functionality on certain handsets. Nokia, meanwhile, has its own mapping service.

Telstra also offers its 3G customers a mobile version of its Yellow Pages directories. “If you’re seeking a florist, it will show you the nearest business to your location and how to get there,” Telstra spokesman, Peter Taylor, said.

Bank on it. Branch banking is so yesterday, and even Internet banking may have passed its prime. At least two Australian banks – NAB and ANZ – now offer “SMS banking”. Eligible customers can check account balances and receive mini-statements via SMS.

ANZ also has a service called M-Banking‚ which enables customers to make payments and transfer funds from their mobile phone.

“Australia has one of the highest rates of technology adoption in the world‚ so we expect there will be demand for this service,” ANZ Group managing director‚ Personal Division‚ Brian Hartzer‚ said when launching M-Banking in February this year.

Some Sydney councils allow you to pay for street parking using your mobile phone.

Feed the meter. Finding convenient street parking near your business meeting is the first challenge; the second is having enough change for the meter. Now your mobile phone can help.

A company called mPark has partnered with certain Sydney councils to allow people to pay for parking instantly using their mobile. Registered users simply phone a specified number, then key in the parking-metre number and how many dollars worth of parking they wish to purchase.
Once the transaction has been processed, the user receives a ticket as per usual to display on their dashboard. The parking fee is charged to their credit card.

Users of the mPay service can even request an SMS reminder when their parking time is almost up.

Like to keep fit? Some mobiles allow you to record information about your exercise regimen.

Running mate. Who needs a personal trainer? Your mobile could help you keep fit without the expense and ritual humiliation.

Owners of certain Nokia handsets, for example, can download to their phone a programme called Sports Tracker. This uses GPS data to record and track a user’s physical activity. Information such as speed, distance and time are automatically stored in a training diary.

We’re expecting other fitness-enhancing mobiles to come on the market this year. Samsung, for example, has already released to US consumers the “MiCoach”, which combines a mobile phone‚ camera and MP3 player with a heart-rate monitor‚ stride sensor and the voice of an electronic "personal coach”.

Snap happy. Camera phones aren’t new. However, you might be surprised to learn that many mobile-phone cameras can now rival the quality of a stand-alone camera.

The latest Nokia and LG phones, for example, have a five megapixel camera. An expert interviewed for our recent article on digital cameras noted that this resolution is “more than enough” for everyday family photography – which means you only have to take one device, not two, to Aunt Edna’s 80th birthday party.

And there’s been another, unexpected benefit of improved mobile-phone cameras. “I know of cases where people first on the scene to an accident have been able to photograph an injury and email it to doctors for immediate advice on what to do,” Althaus said. "In these instances, a phone camera can literally save a life.”

A scene from "Girl Friday", Bigpond TV's "made for mobile" sitcom.

What’s on the box? Most mobile-phone carriers now offer some form of mobile television. This allows users to download and view TV content on a 3G handset.

Telstra customers, for example, can watch episodes or clips from TV shows such as “South Park”, “The Chaser”, “Damages” and “Laguna Beach” . They can also access exclusive “made for mobile” content, including a comedy called “Girl Friday” and video compilations by comedians Hamish and Andy.

“We’ll also be live-streaming Channel 7 and SBS Olympic Games coverage,” Taylor said. “Even if people are on the train going to work, they’ll still be able to watch the swimming finals.”

Unlike the television you watch in your loungeroom, charges apply. Ask your carrier for details.

Save the planet. Ready to upgrade to a sassy new mobile phone? Then make sure you dispose of your old one thoughtfully.

AMTA runs a national mobile-recycling programme called Mobile Muster. Old phones can be left at one of over 3000 participating retail outlets. As at March 31 this year, AMTA had collected over 525 tonnes of handsets, batteries and accessories.

Click here to read our story about a special initiative from Mobile Muster and Landcare Australia.

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