I left my BlackBerry at home the other day and confirmed what I already knew: without it, I feel lost. But the episode also got me thinking about the services that can make even the smartest of smartphones smarter or turn a modest handset into a more useful device.

Top of my list of such services are those that turn messages from my often overflowing voicemail inbox into SMS text messages or e-mails. These include SpinVox (www.spinvox.com), the recently rebranded SimulScribe service that is now called PhoneTag (wwwp.honetag.com), GotVoice (www.gotvoice.com), CallWave (www.callwave.com) and the newest entry, Nuance Voicemail to Text (www.nuance.com), which was launched last month. While their target markets vary, these services all make it much easier to review voicemail messages without having to dial in and listen to them – something that is often difficult to do – for example, during a meeting.