12. Mobile Prep Flashcards

Because this is a back-to-school buyer's guide, we really felt like we needed to close it out with an unabashedly educational offering. In this case, it's an online service that's nearly free to students (they must pay a one-time $5 charge for unlimited use) that enables them to download flashcard decks to their cellphones, and flip through questions and answers while waiting around for something that requires their undivided attention. Waiting around is a big part of the student existence, so this service seeks to convert potential downtime into learning and review time, and we're all for it.

The MobilePrep Service is cheap, easy to use, and covers an astonishing range of subject matter.

To sign up, prospective users visit the MobilePrep home page, submit a phone number, and get a free 30-day trial application sent to their phone. It costs only $5 to convert to unlimited access when the trial period expires, and individual flash card decks vary in price from free to a few dollars (even SAT prep decks cost no more than $10).

Subjects in the MobilePrep library include prep decks for major standardized exams, including SAT and GRE. They also cover academic topics from botany to microbiology, plus language and vocabulary drills for English, French, Spanish and more. Professional topics covered include real estate, firefighting, law enforcement, and more. And then there are all kinds of personal development subjects as well, including culinary terms, mixed drink (bartending) recipes, Japanese slang, and so on. Students or teachers who want to build their own flashcard decks can use a Web browser based application to create, edit, and then add their own offerings to the growing collection of materials on the MobilePrep Web site.

Though we can't vouch for the quality of all the decks on the site, where some offerings are serious and well-researched, but others downright quirky or goofy, there's enough useful information here to make a little student spelunking entirely worthwhile. Best of all, for a modest up-front cost and very little additional outlays, students can get access to all kinds of interesting and sometimes educational materials. Because so many students have cellphones nowadays, this will give those on the Cingular/AT&T and Sprint networks something else to do with those handsets (T-Mobile support is promised for later in 2007, with other carriers in the pipeline as well).