• WHAT: A few things you can do on your phone to make your life a little easier
• WHY: Save a few seconds here and there, stop looking for paper to write things down, carry less stuff
• COST: Totally free

It's been pointed out to me by friends and family that there are so many things I do on a daily basis with my cell phone that I don't even think about that it's just an unfair advantage on the day.  I save huge amounts of time and make my life just a little bit easier along the way.  These tips work with any cell phone and once you get accustomed to using them you'll have what I call the "microwave moment."  That is, just like a microwave oven, which you didn't really think you needed before you bought one, once you have it you can't imagine life without it because you've found so many uses for it.  So, without trying to put them in any kind of order other than how I think of them when I look at my phone, here are some of the little things - and I do mean little - that I use virtually everyday:

1. Program your speed dial numbers by letters, not numbers.  I've got nine different speed dial entries on my phone and there's no way I could keep track of who is at #4 or #7 if I had to actually remember them.  Instead, I program the speed dial entries to correspond with the first name of the people I call frequently.  For example, I press and hold "D" (the "3") key to call Debra, the "M" (the "6") key to call my Mom, the "P" (the "7") to call Paul, the "A" ("2") key to call Andy, etc.  It's a hell of a lot easier than trying to remember who you assigned to which number.
2. Use the "Send" and "End" keys as a scratchpad for remembering numbers.  When you're chatting with someone (live, not over the phone - you can do this while you're on the phone, too, but it's just too cumbersome to be helpful) and they want to give you a phone number, instead of writing it down just enter the number into your phone as if you were going to call it and then press "Send" and immediately press "End."  The number will be saved in your "Recent Calls" log and you'll be able to get to it later when you can write it down, enter it into your computer, etc.  It's a lot easier than carrying around a pencil and paper.  
   
3. Almost every phone has a micro-voice-recorder in it.  I use mine daily whenever I park in a stacked parking lot or just have to remember a quick thing or two.  At the end of the day I've stacked up several things that I need to remember to do and the only thing I need to remember to check is the voice recorder on my phone for a complete log of them.  (As you can tell I'm pretty bad at carrying around pencils, pens, paper, etc. - I'd much rather do it electronically.)  If you don't know where to find yours on your phone, or would rather not use the recorder, you can use the great service "Jott" that I talked about in another post to do the same thing and have a text message or an email sent to yourself with the transcribed text of whatever you dictated. 
   
4. Get a screen protector.  They cost about $5 and will keep you from scratching the screen on your phone, as well as making it less necessary to do that most famous of all cell phone-related motions... you know the one, where you flip the cover open and then wipe the screen on your sleeve or with your thumb.  A good screen protector won't entirely eliminate that but fingerprints and dirt won't be nearly as noticeable as on an unprotected screen.  The one that I bought came from EveryDaySource.com - a great source for cables, covers, cases, screen protectors and much more for ridiculously low prices.  (While you're there, pick up one of these "Y" adaptors that let you charge two mini-USB devices - like the Motorola RAZR series - with one plug.  Very handy. 
   

There are lots of other things I've done that require just a little more knowledge - and maybe a manual - for the phone.  One in particular is changing what each of the "soft key" buttons does so that they're more relevant.  I see lots of people who have never taken a video with their phone, or used AOL's IM function on their phone, with those items still on the screen all the time because that's the default configuration.  I've set up my phone so that with one click I can get to my address book, calendar, photos, message center (create or read messages) and my two favorite applications (TellMe and Yahoo Go).  These are, as I said, a little more complicated but I do use them all almost every day so it's worth the effort - to me, at least - to take the minute (really, that's all it took) to reprogram the phone's default settings to access these functions instead.