 Using your mobile phone or handheld to navigate a Web site not optimized for portable devices can be one of a business traveler’s most frustrating experiences. Bloated, slow-loading graphics, excessive text, and information that extends past the edge of your tiny display make surfing a real nightmare. If you are rushed and need traffic information or directions in a hurry, it’s even worse.
Fortunately, in the past few years more and more site providers have developed alternate sites (some with special Web addresses) that stream to users’ rescue when their Web servers detect mobile devices. We’ll share our favorites for business travelers. (Sites will work with many devices, but we cannot guarantee that they will work with all, especially Web-enabled phones that are not smartphones.)
Best Of MSN
www.mobile.msn.com
MSN members or, for that matter, anyone wanting a one-stop resource for news, weather, maps, and other information, should check out MSN’s mobile site. You’ll need a Windows Live ID or a Microsoft Passport linked to an MSN or Hotmail email address to enjoy full benefit from it. After signing in you can check your MSN mail, use MSN Messenger, check or update your calendar, and get an array of news, sports, and other information. Log onto the site from your desktop and you can create your own customized mobile portal, configure alerts, and more.
City Guides
www.vindingo.com
When you’re in a strange city, Vindingo can help you find parking lots, ATMs, restaurants (with cost and quality ratings) and more. The subscription service ($24.95 a year) supports Palm and Windows Mobile/Pocket PC OSes and targets leisure travelers. However, its ability to provide directions and locate ATMs, public transportation, and other business-related services may make it worth the price. (A free trial will let you decide.)
If you don’t want to fork over any cash, an OK, if less-than-perfect alternative is Citysearch (www.citysearch.com). If you use its standard version, be ready for some disappointment because the mobile variant of this site is not as well organized or helpful.
Discounted Travel
www.trip.com
Trip.com isn’t the best-known site on the Web, but we like it for its simplicity. No frills here (if you need advanced criteria such as multi-city or specific airline, you may want to visit Orbitz.com instead because Trip.com will send you there anyway). However, for a simple search for car, air, and/or hotel packages, Trip.com works nicely. Even better, it thoughtfully puts its splashy ads (which can slow access time) at the bottom of the page.
Do You Yahoo!?
www.mobile.yahoo.com
Web portal Yahoo! has succeeded in porting much of its functionality to its mobile device site. Scroll down the page and you’ll find a wealth of content options, including news from finance to sports, plus driving directions, movie listings and, if you have a Yahoo! ID, access to your mail and calendar. The Yahoo! site also offers Web-based mobile games (no download required). Entertain yourself with Video Poker, Wordaholic, and more while you wait for that next flight.
Find A Place
www.mapquest.com
Popular map and direction provider MapQuest has one of the simplest “tell me where it is and how to get there” interfaces available. When you visit the site, you’ll see three links: Find Places (locate the address and phone number of hotels, airports, and more), Get Directions, and Maps. Click any of these links, enter your criteria, and you’ll be on your way in no time.
Find Everything Else
www.infospace.com
Fans of this expansive site will love the mobile version. From a single, simple interface you can search for businesses, people, and maps or directions, or search for anyting else on the Web. You can also search by phone numbers or email addresses. Our favorite feature lets you search near an address for business names or types.
Flight Updates & Assistance
mobile.southwest.com (and others)
If you fly Southwest Airlines, you can use your mobile device to check in for your flight. Other airlines don’t offer this service, but several do offer other flight information via your mobile. (Ironically, Southwest doesn’t offer flight status updates on this site, but you can subscribe to mobile flight status alerts.)
Major carriers that offer services include Continental Airlines (wap.continental.com; flight availability, status, schedules, and more), Delta Air Lines (mobile.delta.com; flight status, schedules, itineraries, and more), Northwest Airlines (wireless.nwa.com; flight and gate status, reservation changes including rebooking, and more), and United Airlines (www.ua2go.com; flight availability, status, and more). Many other airlines provide at least flight status information.
Get Transit Times
mobile.ups.com
As you might expect, the mobile UPS site lets you obtain rates, track a package, or locate a drop location. However, it also can provide transit times for a variety of shipping methods. This is a great option if you are on a tight expense budget, or think your package may encounter flight delays, and need to know if something sent via ground will get there in time. This site asks for a login, but there is also a link to use Anonymous Mode, which works just fine.
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With a Google account, you can create a customized Web portal for your mobile device.
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Have It Your Way
www.google.com/ig
Google, already one of our favorite sites for its customizable offerings, now lets mobile users create customized home pages for their mobile devices. These can contain an array of information and services, from the headlines of your Gmail messages to stock quotes, and news. To create this page, add the desired modules to the Google home page on your desktop computer, then visit www.google.com/ig/cp (also from your desktop) to set it up. (Not all modules will transfer, but more will become available as the product transitions out of beta.)
Locate It, View It, Avoid It
google.com/gmm(requires file download)
Google Mobile also offers perhaps the most powerful mapping and traffic capabilities for mobile users; we prefer it over MapQuest. Download the free software to your phone and you’ll be able to request turn-by-turn directions, maps with potential traffic snags marked, and satellite imagery.
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wapSwap gives you easy access to a search engine that targets only mobile-optimized sites plus links to useful news, software, and other mobile sites.
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Mobile Cheat Sheet
www.wapswap.com
Don’t feel like loading a bunch of bookmarks into your mobile phone or PDA? Visit wapSwap, a mobile site that offers a search engine and links to a variety of other mobile sites offering news, software downloads, forums, email, chat, and more. Sub-mit your favorite mobile sites (visit wapswap.com/project) and help build the site’s inventory.
Track A Package
mobile.fedex.com
This site lacks the broad-based functionality of the Web-based version, but its interface is text-based and straightforward. After you choose a language preference, you can track packages, get rates, or locate FedEx drop boxes or offices with a few taps of your finger or stylus.
Traffic Reports
www.wiresoft.net/traffic
Enterprise server platform developer Wiresoft offers free traffic reports for a number of major cities. Most coverage is for the West coast and includes major U.S. cities from Seattle to San Diego. The site also includes Phoenix, Denver, Baltimore/Washington, D.C., and Chicago areas, as well.
Notes For The Road
Before you start surfing the Web using your mobile device, there are a few things you should consider. First, if a site requires or works best with a login, sign up before you leave the office. The sign-up process is much easier to do from a PC than a mobile device.
Second, if you haven’t done much Web surfing from your portable device, you’ll need to revamp your surfing techniques. Two issues in particular will snag the unwary. Clicking a link may return you to the top of the page, or it may seem to do nothing. If this is the case, scroll down the page because the information you request may have loaded lower on the page.
Sites designed with mobile devices in mind may also increasingly use radio buttons to make selection easier. Unlike some Web sites, where clicking a radio button also sends the re-quest, with a mobile site you will likely need to make the selection and then scroll down to press Go or some other send command. by Jennifer Farwell
For The Overseas Set
 If you conduct business overseas, you will appreciate the sites we visited below. Some of the sites help save you money, while others help you save time, or perhaps your sanity.
Currency Exchange
www.oanda.com
Frequent international travelers are likely familiar with OANDA’s FXConverter, an online currency converter tool that provides trading (the best possible) exchange rates. The site is now optimized for portable devices, as well. Scroll to and select Quick Converter, and then scroll down and select your choice of currencies. (The defaults are U.S. Dollars and Euros.)
After clicking Convert, you can scroll down the page to see the going rate. Scroll even further and select Travelers’ CheatSheet and OANDA will display a handy chart with exchange rates for lump denominations.
Events Around The World
www.whatsonwhere.com
Globetrotters will appreciate WhatsOnWhere, which lists prominent events around the world. Select the Leisure Guide link and you can view listings of events by week or month. Scroll down to browse by continent, country, and/or city, and even further to search by theme, country, or date. WhatsOn-Where is not only a way to help fill time between appointments, but also an early warning resource because festivals and other large events are prime causes of travel delays.
International Travel Guides
www.worldtravels.com
These indispensable travel guides to international destinations offer more than where to go and what to do. They also provide health requirements, passport/visa restrictions, and more for overseas destinations. You can search by continent, country, city, airport, resort, beach, port of call, and even tour operator. |
On The Go With AvantGo
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AvantGo suggests channels it thinks you will enjoy based on the information you provide during account sign up.
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If you have little interest in loading a ton of bookmarks onto your mobile device, consider partnering with AvantGo (www.avantgo.com), a wildly popular content service. AvantGo gives you access to thousands of content channels with news (Reuters, Bloomberg.com, and BusinessWeek online, among others), sports, travel assistance, Wi-Fi locators, workout trackers, and more. You can also add your own Web sites by creating personal channels and adding them to your channels list. (See the Channels tab at www.avantgo.com for details.)
The basic version (2MB of channel storage; 20MB per day of content synchronization) of AvantGo is free. If you crave more content, you can upgrade to the Power User plan (8MB of content; 80MB of daily synchronization bandwidth) for $19.95 per year. The AvantGo software works on Palm, Windows Mobile/Pocket PC, and Symbian and is currently available in beta version for BlackBerry devices.
Installation and setup are easy but do require some configuration. To sign up, you’ll want to visit the AvantGo Web site from your desktop PC. Setup for Black-Berrys is different, so we will discuss that procedure later. At the AvantGo Web site, you need to create a user account and indicate your content preferences. AvantGo then makes recommendations about channels and tells how much space each will consume before prompting you to download the software to your desktop PC.
When you open the software from your PC, a wizard walks you through the installation process, during which you will sync your PC and mobile device to upload and install the software and launch the service. After you install AvantGo, it should appear as an application icon or option on your device; launch the service from your mobile device.
A quick sync with the service from your mobile device will update the content on demand. (You can also enable autosyncing.) All downloaded content remains on your device for perusal at your leisure until you sync again.
The AvantGo interface is well planned and helpful. Using tabs at the top, you can access additional offerings and customize your experience. Our favorite is the tab with a picture of an airplane, which leads you to the AvantGo Travel Guide. This free, travel-oriented service lets you track itineraries, search for travel deals, obtain maps, directions, and weather forecasts, search for city information, convert foreign currencies, and more. You can also add, delete, or preview content or browse the Internet.
For BlackBerry users, installation and operation are different as we mentioned previously. As of this writing, when you visit the AvantGo site and provide your BlackBerry email address, AvantGo will send you a link to download the program directly to your device. We tried out AvantGo using the new BlackBerry Black Pearl. The interface was different; it was text-based with no tabbed options. Our only choices were to sync content and add or remove channels. |
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