Sometimes, our phones come in handy as tools of distraction for our kids while we wait in the airport or the doctor’s office. I rarely let my son use my phone when he was younger (and still rarely do), but I kept the PBS Kids app and one or two games loaded on it, just in case.

Our smartphones boast some pretty impressive cameras, but they're far from perfect -- especially where zoom is concerned. But, instead of forcing yourself to lug around a beefy DSLR for those long-range shots, you can improve your phone's zoom potential with the 8x Telephoto Smartphone Lens.

The Google Pixel and Pixel XL have set the bar high for the Android, but you don't necessarily have to shill out hundreds of dollars to get a Pixel-esque feel on your handset. Quite a few of the Pixel's features can be added to any Android phone, and here's how it's done.

Supermarket chain Aldi is releasing a mobile phone plan that gives you unlimited calls and SMS along with 42GB of data that you'll have to ration over a one-year period. The one-year mobile plan will set you back $249. Here are all the details.

Vodafone sold the original Nexus One for a brief period in Australia, so it's not surprising that it has also secured a deal for its successor, the Samsung-manufactured Nexus S. No word on when it will go on sale or what the price will be, but from 9am on February 8 you can register on the local Vodafone site to express your interest in the phone.

It's entirely likely that a modern geek would bring an emergency mobile phone on a camping trip, but forget matches or a lighter. If there's some steel wool handy, that cellphone's battery can start a fire.

You don't need to plunk down $150 for a Wii Fit to track your progress toward a healthier body—even if that downhill skiing game looks mighty fun. If you're trying to curb unnecessary calories and stick to an exercise plan, there are tons of free applications that want to see you succeed. Whether you're facing a fast-food menu or polishing off a light entree, you can log, track, and make healthy decisions from your desktop, or just as easily from a phone. Take a look at a few suggestions for accomplishing your fitness goals, after the jump. Photo by angela7dreams.

Coder Mike Brittain has put together a super-clean site for iPhone, Blackberry, Opera Mini, and other mobile browsers that lets you quickly click two languages to translate words or phrases between and then do it. The site supports 11 languages at the moment, and you can easily bookmark a language pairing for quick access while travelling. Those without data connections should try Google's SMS translation service. Mobile Translator

Opera has taken the latest version of its mobile browser, Opera Mini, out of beta this week. The new Opera Mini 4.1 gives the browser a speed bump and offers several new features for quicker scrolling, navigation and page rendering.One feature carried over from the 9.5 Beta 2 version of Opera's desktop browser is the ability to guess the URL you want when you enter a search term in the address bar.4.1 also supports offline viewing, and users with Java-enabled mobiles supporting JSR-75 will be able to upload and download any file via Opera's mobile web.Opera Mini 4.1 is not compatible with all mobile phones, so check the full list of compatible phones here. Most Java handsets are supported, including BlackBerry and Palm phones.Opera Mini 4.1 is a beta, so the usual warnings apply. It can be downloaded here.

The Driinn Mobile Phone Holder declutters your charging portable device by providing both a place to store your device and a method for controlling its long cable while it charges. This charging holder about half the price of the previously mentioned Socket Pocket and charging hammock, and the wrap-around for long cords really cleans things up. The Driinn Mobile Phone Holder comes in a variety of colours and will set you back around $7 at Amazon. Driinn Mobile Phone Holder

Web marketer and migraine sufferer Scott Clark is tracking all the daily variables—food, environment, activity, and the like—that surround his attacks with a migraine diary, and he's found text-to-speech services like Jott (original post) are the best hassle-free tool for the job. Not only will Jott (or ReQall or most similar systems) automatically record the date and time of the entries, but it's always accessible by cell phone, and one can create a dedicated "inbox" for migraines to separate the diary from productivity-related uses. For anyone looking to track a diet, health issue, or other things that happen away from the desk, it's worth looking into. Photo by robtxgal. Migraine Diary Creation using Jott

The Googling Google blog points out a tucked-away mobile search feature that the search giant isn't quite rolling out yet, but is already accessible. Fans of the Yahoo's classic directory trees will feel at home here, as you can browse through food, entertainment, shops, and other features around a city or town, but the nifty part is that your phone remembers locations you've already searched for, and offers direct mapping links for the results, possibly saving you from ever having to type in a thing. It's obviously in an early stage, but for those with really tiny screens or averse to keypad typing, a list of links might make for better searching. Google Search (Mobile)

AU - I don't have Google Search set up on my mobile, but I suspect this is a US-only thing. Anyone able to shed any light?

You just stepped out of that cab, watched it drive away, and 10 minutes later, reached into your pocket and realised your cell phone is gone—forever. I learned firsthand this weekend that losing your mobile phone is a huge pain in the buttocks, especially if you've set up easy access to your email and other services on it. In addition to photos I'd taken with it, text messages, and contacts, my Nokia had both Gmail apps installed, with "Remember me" checked, so that anyone who picked up the phone could've logged into my email. Not good.

US-centric: At its most basic level, webapp Jott is a voice to text transcription service: you call Jott, leave a message, and Jott transcribes it and emails you or your contacts the text. That alone can capture the big idea that pops into your head on the drive to the office, but Jott can do a whole lot more than send you email. With Jott's built-in links and tools that capitalise on its email-sending abilities, it can give nearly any personal organization system a go-anywhere, add-anything boost. Today we've got a quick primer on how to turn your phone into a ubiquitous capture tool that zaps info into all your favorite organisation apps by voice.

Getting Started

Web-alerts.com, a free web service that forwards RSS updates to your mobile phone by SMS message, offers a helpful way to stay on top of important-but-infrequently-updated web sites. Type in a site's URL or feed address, then your mobile phone number, and you're on your way to mobile updates. You can also preview your feed messages and have only updates with certain keywords sent along. We've previously highlighted a similar RSS-to-SMS solution that utilized Gmail and a feed-by-email service, but Web-alerts.com seems to do the same thing without the go-between.
Web-alerts.com

Unless your friend happens to carry the exact mobile phone you're looking to buy, getting a hands-on demonstration isn't always easy. Provider stores are often stocked with non-functioning dummies, or lack the exact model you're eyeing. New web site TryPhone aims to help phone buyers go beyond looks and see how a phone operates when you, say, pull up recent calls or start typing a new text message. The site only carries four popular models at the moment—the iPhone, BlackBerry Pearl, Verizon Juke and Sprint Muziq—but claims it will be adding phones weekly. If you're wavering between two phones, TryPhone's interface preview could help make the decision.
TryPhone

Social money management webapp Wesabe has just added a mobile interface, eliminating the memory gap between purchases and spending records. Along with entering in purchases and withdrawals, Wesabe Mobile lets you see your recent transactions and balances from your cell phone, PDA or Blackberry—a helpful willpower tool for anyone trying to break a once-a-day Starbucks habit (or Tim Hortons, for you northerners). Those with SSL-enabled mobile browsers and an existing Wesabe account can head to m.wesabe.com.
Introducing Wesabe Mobile

Ars Technica's Open.Ended blog has a nice walkthrough up detailing how one editor got his Ubuntu system and a Bluetooth cell phone from Verizon hooked up and happy. The first segment is somewhat Ubuntu-specific, but if you can get your phone and computer paired in any Linux distribution, you can follow the rest of the guide on using BitPim. Not all phones and computers will play nice, of course, but even the notoriously restrictive Verizon phone can be stuffed with MP3 ringtones, videos and the like. If you just want to back up your contacts, you could check out Yahoo Mobile.
Using a Bluetooth phone with Linux

Google quietly added mobile functionality to its Notebook web clipping tool recently, giving phone browsers some of the functionality of Notebook and its recent Bookmarks integration. The mobile version lets users add notes to a "Mobile Notes" notebook and browse their existing bookmarks and notes. That's about it, unfortunately—no adding of bookmarks or labels, note editing, or searching from the smaller screen. But for devotees of the Notebook—and those using it to Get Things Done—it's a nice tool to have on the go. Like most mobile Google webapps, Google Notebook requires an XHTML-compliant browser that also allows SSL traffic.

Google Notebook Mobile