If you haven't been living under a rock the past few years (or even if you have), you've probably noticed the latest craze in wireless communication: text messaging and basically anything else you can imagine.

During the past decade, companies have begun to mass produce mobile phones and make them affordable for consumers, including high school and college students. Many of us have taken advantage of the convenience and portability and have purchased wireless phones to keep in touch with our friends and families. And for the most part, we're hooked.

And although cell phones have become a necessity in today's society, it now it appears that kids and teens may be more interested in communicating with their fingers than their voices. In January of 2009, for example, a 13-year old girl from California, sent a record 14,528 text messages from her phone. (That works out to an astounding 484 text messages a day, or one every two minutes of every waking hour). Text messaging devices and phones have thus become the latest gadgets to enter the communications game. In this report we will attempt to uncover the features of some of the newest text messaging devices that go way beyond the basics.

Battle Of The Titans (of Texting and More)

When the pioneers of text messaging products first hit the market in the year 2000, there were a few select models that were popular: the Motorola Talkabout T900 and the Nokia 8200 series wireless phone. However, even though only a few years have passed, the selections in text messaging phones for yourself or your children are endless. Different manufacturers and service providers are constantly coming up with new phones or ideas that keep the market evolving and competing.

Just What Do These Things Do Anyway?

To break it down to basics, these products are simply capable of two-way messaging. They can send and receive messages from other two-way devices, such as computers, phones, or anything else that will send a message to an email address or phone number. This feature is very useful if you need to send someone a quick reminder, or wonder where your kid has run off to, or just to say hello without talking into something. Checking text messages is much easier and faster than retrieving voicemail, which requires you to dial in and enter a password

Critical to this whole two-way messaging system is reliability. Will my device send messages every time I want it to? The answer to that is a resounding NO; no matter which device you have, none of the following clever gadgets can deliver a message every single time. Reception seems to be the culprit. The poorer the reception, the worse your chances are of getting that message out. For example, attempting to send messages from the basement will only result in a "Message not sent" reply. You really need to be either outdoors, or upstairs, if you're inside. These devices work great outside, which is where they are usually used anyway. 

The Features You Crave

The features that once amazed cell phone users at the advent of cellular devices, such as call waiting, call forwarding and personalized ringtones, are now commonplace on today's phones.  Any phone that you get from your service provider will include a contacts directory, clock, calculator, games, calendar, alarm clock, automatic redial and certainly a vibrate mode and a standard text messaging program.  But when shopping for your new phone, there are other more "high-tech" features to look for. 

QWERTY Keyboard:  As texting becomes more commonplace and people all over the globe are texting more and more rapidly, the ability to get each message out quickly becomes more and more important.  Look for the advent of T-9 (Text on 9 Keys) technology, a program which allows for fewer button pushes because of its predictive text. This means that, as opposed to a multiple tap touch where someone might need to press the number "7" four times to get the letter "s," one can just press it once and eventually (with practice) retrieve the word he or she wishes to spell.  However, QWERTY keyboards are much more efficient as the keys are the same on your phone as they are on your standard computer keyboard.  Although the keys are obviously on the small side, it is easy to adjust the fingers and it makes sending a text message a breeze.

Instant Messaging and E-mail: The use of fingers on a cell phone also goes beyond punching in numbers to dial and sending that text, as many phones come equipped with instant message capability and e-mail programs.  Now you can sign onto your AIM account and chat with friends no matter where you are or retrieve your e-mail on the run by syncing your phone to send and receive messages from any e-mail account you have.

Wireless Internet: And on some phones, checking your e-mail is only the beginning if they come equipped with a wireless internet connection on either a PCS or 3G Network.  It may sound complicated, but the only thing you need to know is that with this type of connection, surfing the web on your phone becomes possible.  You can check the weather, get the latest news updates, visit to www.familytravelforum.com, check your Facebook page, know the score of that sports game or get your horoscope.  Basically anything you can do on your home computer is at your fingertips on your cell.

Camera: What good would your phone be if you couldn't use it to take pictures of your loved ones and friends?  Many phones come equipped with at least a 1.0-megapixel camera (some go as high as 3.0) and most also have a flash so lighting is not an issue.  The most advanced phones even allow you to record short video clips with a camcorder.  And the best part is that once all of your pictures and videos are taken, you can even send them to friend with picture and video messaging.

Mobile Entertainment: There are even some phones that can literally replace your iPod or any other music/video player that you have.  Phones come equipped with enough memory capacity to handle a large amount of mP3 files and even videos.  You can even watch television shows while on the run or download movies.

GPS: It used to be good to have a cell phone because if you got lost you could call someone and ask for directions.  But now cell phones feature Global Position Systems.  Activate the program and you will see exactly where you are on a map.  Then punch in your destination like any standard GPS and you can get your directions.  But even better, if you are in an unfamiliar city and you need something (anything, from a pizza place to a flower shop to the number of a cab company) you can use your GPS to locate nearby businesses and not only get directions, but call them directly from your phone.  Very cool!

PC Synchronization: And all of these features are, of course, great to have on your cell phone, handy in your pocket or purse.  But even more efficient is the ability to sync all of the data that you have on your cell phone to your computer.  With functions such as Bluetooth, memory cards and USB cables, some cell phones can do that as well.

But How Do I Choose?

Consider each of these features and decide which one works best with your needs and lifestyle.  Are you constantly on the run or traveling?  Then a phone with GPS might be best for you.  Are you a compulsive e-mail checker?  Must you constantly be connected to the internet?  Once you know what features you crave and which ones you can do without, call up your service provider and they will help you find the phone that is best for you.

And remember to inquire about the latest technology your company offers.  Because with the rapid rate at which technological advances are progressing, by the time you have finished reading this article, there might be an even newer and more efficient feature out there that will out do all of the rest.