Texting is no longer just about sending funny messages to your mates. As more organisations use SMS as their service tool of choice, the message inbox becomes the control room for your finances, news and leisure.

The services listed below range from banking to sports flashes; from jokes to bus timetables, delivered to your phone by text message, wherever you are. The list is continually evolving and now includes other mobile applications such as SMS Diary and mobile data back-up systems.

General

• O2- www.o2.co.uk/services
  All the usual alerts including taxi's and horoscopes, and you can even receive 'Glamour Alerts', giving advice on what, or what not, to wear
  
• Orange - www.orange.co.uk/multimedia
  Services include theatre, comedy and cinema listings.
• T-Mobile - www.t-zones.co.uk
  Services include sports result alerts and music
• Vodafone - www.vodafone.co.uk/live
  Traffic updates, weather reports, travel and football alerts. 
  
• Virgin - http://bites.virginmobile.com/virgin.bites/
  'Bite-sized bordeom busters' - includes jokes, music news, celebrity interviews
  

Business

• Whois - Check any domain name while on the go, direct from your mobile! Just write: DOMAIN yourdomainname and sent it to 83252 (texts cost 25p plus your networks standard charges) You'll get a whois domain lookup sent via SMS with the availability of your domain within a few seconds.
  

Education

• Bitesize Mobile - www.bbc.co.uk/gcsebitesize/mobile
  Bite Size Mobile, the BBC's multimedia revision aid. Download revision questions or play GSCE Bitesize WAP quiz.
• 82ASK- www.82ask.com
  Text absolutely, positively any question you like to 82275 (82ASK on your mobile keypad) and  receive an answer within a few minutes. Sending a question costs your normal text rate, answers cost £1.
• Edu-text - Parents can sign up to a service which sends a challenging word every day to their children's phone, complete with definition and example of its use in everyday context. To subscribe to the service, which costs 25p per day, text 'edutext' to 82189. 

Entertainment and Leisure

Health

• Ask Brook - www.brook.org.uk
  Brook's offer a full range of sexual health advice for young people under 25 in the UK. Subjects covered range from contraception and pregnancy to sexually transmitted diseases. They also provide a text service where you can get sexual health information direct to your mobile phone - 
  Text BROOK HELP to 81222 or follow the instructions below:
  For automated information on sexual health:
  1. Create a new text message, with the keywords 'BROOK INFO'.
  2. Send your message to 81222.
  3. You will then receive a list of options of information topics to choose from. Select the number of the topic that you want. Press reply, type in the number and send. Your text will be directed to an automated service and you should receive a reply within a few minutes.
  For detail of a local young people's sexual health service:
  1. Create a new text message, starting with the keywords 'BROOK SERVICE', followed by your postcode, e.g.: BROOK SERVICE SW10 9TH.
  2. Send your message to 81222.
  3. You will then receive a list of options of different types of services to choose from. Select the number of the service that you want. Press reply, type in the number and send. Your text will be directed to the Young People's Information Service team. We will text you back the details of a service in your area as soon as possible within our opening hours of Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm.
• Net Doctor - www.netdoctor.co.uk/sms/mainindex.shtml
  Net Doctor provides three text messaging services. BabyText helps you monitor your baby's development during pregnancy.
  Mind and Body Basics gives general health reminders featuring advice on diet and techniques to avoid stress.
  Contraceptive Pill Reminder, uses text alerts to make sure you don't forget. It also offers advice on its use.
  
• Pollen count alert service - Visit www.zirtek.co.uk to receive pollen arts via SMS, from Spring 2007

Information

• Shazam - www.shazam.com
  Tagging is a way to identify what music is playing wherever you are, simply by using your mobile phone. You can use it to discover new music and get information about something you haven't heard before, or as a way of remembering what's playing so that you can buy it later, or just to create a collection. Extremely useful in pub quizzes and for impressing your friends! In the UK, dial 2580 (straight down the middle of your mobile keypad), then hold your phone towards the music source. Very shortly you should receive a text message telling you the name of the artist and title of the track you are listening to.
• Kwickee - www.kwickee.com
  The Mobile Information Exchange is a platform that allows anyone to share knowledge and experiences over the phone. Subscribers buy and sell 'Kwickees'.
• AQA - Any Question Answered - www.issuebits.com
  Service allows users to ask any question at any time from their mobile phone. Just text your question to 63336, and receive answers via text message for a cost of 1 per question, automatically billed by your network operator.
• www.thumbtips.com - Directory for mobile services, including 'twiddling time' links to games, quizzes, jokes and trivia
• www.ent24.co.uk/o2 - listings for cinema, live music, clubbing, comedy, theatre and the arts with coverage extending to all UK cities
• Answers.com - mobile.answers.com
  Mobile version of reference search engine, includes dictionary, thesaurus, almanac and encyclopaedia
  
• Zara's Guide - www.zarasguide.com aims to bring together into one website all the latest goings on in the mobile services world. The information it provides is destined to come from the end users of these mobile services – it’s an online community where mobile users of all types can share and exchange information. 

News Alerts

• The Guardian - //www.guardian.co.uk/textalerts/0,,620579,00.html
  Features News Alerts, Media Alerts, Political Alerts and Business Alerts.
• Sky News - http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91086-1039994,00.html
  Breaking news, showbiz news, business news and wetaher forecasts sent to your phone.
  
• News of the World - http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/scorealerts.shtml
  Football alerts, inlcuding real-time goal alerts, half-time updates, full-time results and league positions - check the website for your team's code, and send to 61008

Safety

• safetytext - www.safetytext.com
  Safetytext Service to pass on people's whereabouts in case they go missing.  Users can notify others of their whereabouts by sending a text message to a preset number. If they do not cancel the message within 24 hours, an alert is sent to a friend of the user, chosen as a 'buddy' when registering
• www.eyeontheplace.com - CCTV over the internet. CCTV systems empower you to see your home or business from anywhere in the world, via the internet or your mobile phone. Monitor your home or business automatically 24 hours a day. Get SMS text message alerts and e-mails the minute your camera see an intruder and view the incident on your mobile or the web.
• www.mobilesos.co.uk - when you need to say “I’m OK” or ask for help, a combination of messages to the people that matter will ensure that your message is heard.MobileSOS is a simple add-on to your mobile service. With just one button your message and location is sent out by voice, text and email messages to your selected contacts. The services are available from as little as £2.00 per month.
  

Shopping and Banking

• SMS Buzz - www.smsbuzz.com
  SMSbuzz.com sends the latest offers, promotions and sales tailored to the users interests via free SMS text messages to a mobile phone  
• First Direct - www.firstdirect.com
  First Direct, part of HSBC, provide a text message service to keeps you in tune with your money, so you always know what's happening. They'll automatically send you a free weekly mini-statement to your mobile showing your balance and last five transactions and for £2.50 a month you can have a personalised text message service with mini-statements and texts for example when your salary's in or to warn you when you're close to an overdraft limi. Text message banking is free for firstdirectory customers or you can make individual requests for balances or mini-statements via MONILINK.
• www.txtbux.co.uk
  A website that allows shoppers to check online book prices using text messages from their mobile phones. The free service, called txtbux, is believed to be the first of its kind in the world

• Argos - www.argos.co.uk
  Check latest prices, check stock and reserve items by sending Argos a text message from your mobile phone.

Pets

• textavet.com - www.textavet.com
  Qualified advice and reassurance from pet experts - pet related enquiries can be texted to 83248 with answers received via text message for a cost of 1.50 per message.

Travel and Motoring

• Google maps - visit www.google.com/gmm on your mobile browser and get detailed directions - whether you plan to walk or drive, your route is displayed on the map itself, together with step by step directions. Interactive maps let you zoom in or out, and move in all directions so you can orient yourself visually. Satellite imagery gives you a bird's eye view of your desired location. Charges from your carrier may apply.
• TextCheck - Check any GB registered vehicle while on the go, direct from your mobile - text CHECKIT and the reg no to 83600 (texts cost £3 plus usual text charge) Receive vehicle details as supplied by DVLA and check to see if there is any police interest (eg. Vehicle stolen) For an additional £1.50 users can check if there are any serious accident records against the vehicle. This information is supplied by the Association of British Insurers.
• Trainblog - www.trainblog.co.uk - text in your complaints and moans about train travel whilst on the move
• Kinchbus - www.kinchbus.co.uk A company in Leicester that uses satellite technology to find how far away your bus is, and then sends you an SMS report.
• Skiing in Switzerland - www.skiinfo.ch/sms/index.jsp  Snow reports from the alps. 
  
• AA Travel Alerts - www.aatrafficalerts.co.uk Personal traffic information alert service
• Car Finder - www.smscarfinder.com Mobile car buying service where car buyers can source vehicles using a mobile phone accessing smscarfinder.com national UK dealer network of over 25,000 cars
• Yell.com - www.yell.com/mobile Text in your request and location, and relevant details are sent straight back to you.
• 1st Choice Online - www.1stchoice.co.uk Search for the car parts you require online and enter the details of your vehicle. 1st Choice Recyclers receive the details of your parts, and text back with quotes, breakers name, phone number and guarantee details.
• Parkers Car Guide - www.parkers.co.uk The online car guide sends current used car prices and mini-reviews to WAP enabled phones. So you can text in the details of a car you have seen, and get an honest price to check against the dealer's while you are still on the forecourt. SMS price check service also available - just text the word PRICE and car registration number to 80806. Parkers will text you back five prices: the new price, the dealer price, good and bad condition prices secondhand and the trade price.
• SMS Snow reports - Daily updates from the Ski Club of Great Britain on over 250 resorts in France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, USA and Canada. Skiers can get a single snow report by texting 'ski + resort name' to 83141, or a 5 days of reports by texting 'ski daily + resort name'. Service costs 50p for single reports, 1.25 for the full week.
• Handy Traveller - www.handytraveller.com Live travel updates about your flight schedule direct to your mobile via SMS, as well as SMS/WAP booking for flights, ferries, airport parking and taxis.

• Weathercall - Text Weathercall at any time of day to receive today's local weather or a five-day forecast by return from the Met Office. Forecasts cover over 500 UK towns, cities and locations and give max temperature, most significant weather, wind speed and direction, and likelihood of rainfall. Each SMS consists of two weather reports - the first is an overview of the current situation and the second is a summary of weather conditions for the same location in six hours time. Forecasts are based on the latest Met Office information and are updated on an hourly basis. For today's weather: Type WC TODAY plus the TOWN or CITY For a five-day forecast: Type WC 5DAY plus the TOWN or CITY Send to 83141
• Netweather.TV - if you're in the garden, drying the washing, out walking, at the beach, on the golf course etc etc, you can receive a text message to warn you if rain is approaching or if lightning has been detected in your area. That way you should never be caught out by the weather again. Sign up at www.netweather.tv

• Candyspace - www.candyspace.tv Candyspace provide 'quality' content for mobile devices, curated by British Vogue magazine's creative director.
• zyb.com - Get a back-up of your mobile data and  get instant online access to you mobile's contents and calendar. It's easy and free with no downloads or cables needed.
• Txtvault - Forward all your text messages to txtvault for safekeeping, so whatever happens, your texts remain safe. Visit www.txtvault.co.uk
• SMS Diary - www.handango.co.uk The SMS diary application reads all your SMS messages in your phone and creates a diary out of them. The diary consists of three web pages (HTML files); one page with a table of contents and statistics on how many messages you have sent and received, one page lists all your messages sorted by date and the third page lists all messages sorted by name. The web pages are saved on the memory card if there is a memory card available, otherwise the pages are saved in the internal phone memory. After the diary has been created you can transfer the web-pages to your pc and store them for future use.