With my recent dilemma of not being able to update my blogs because of my phone line being cut, I began to think about using my mobile phone to do the work. On top of this, I have been doing some research in the area of mobile blogging plugins because more and more people are using their smart phones, like the iPhone, Blackberry and Android, to access the internet. It just makes sense to make your site accessible to those users and also to yourself when you come into a situation like I experienced this past week.

Sometimes its just more convenient to post to your blog from your phone. You could be sitting at a football game and have a super idea and want to get it out before you forget it… If you can post to your blog by phone, you can quickly send your idea on to your readers. Same as if you are driving in your car or doing any number of other things. There are many places that you go where you have internet access via your smart phone, that you will not with your laptop.

Before all of this trouble, I was making my sites viewable by smart phone. I’ve taken this a few steps further and searched out some of the more highly rated WordPress plugins for added mobile functionality for your blog. Here are a few, in no specific order:

WordPress Mobile Admin

This plugin allows you to manage your WordPress blog via your phone. According the developer it works on every phone. Whether you have an iPhone, Blackberry or some other web-enabled phone, you can manage and update your WordPress site while you are on the go. You can:

• Post new articles by phone
• Post pictures from your phone and decide where they appear in the post
• Manage Posts, Pages, Categories and Tags
• Moderate comments
• Edit User profile pages
• Supports Gravatars
• Works in any language WordPress has been translated into

Wapple Architect Mobile Plugin

From the same developer as the plugin above, this plugin will have your blog mobile-ready in just a few minutes. It was the first plugin that I used on this site to make it mobile-ready and, truthfully, it scores better on the mobile test sites than the one I am currently using. I will probably return to this plugin on this site and maybe others at a later time… I’m still in testing mode right now.

From their description:

“Every single mobile device is detected and all aspects of your blog are tailored to the visiting handset. Sites aren’t dumbed down to the lowest common denominator but instead use the features and functionality that advanced phones offer.

“Devices are detected by using Wapple’s advanced web services instead of relying on inferior 3rd party tools. If you view your blog with a brand new, never before seen handset, it’ll still work perfectly!

“Any theme you’ve installed and have styled for web will be carried across to mobile giving you a consistent look and feel for each and every one of your visitors.”

BTW, Rich Gubby (the designer of the plugin) sent me an e-mail wanting to know the reason why I quit using it. If his support follows the same line, I’m sure that I will be using it more in the future.

Mobile version with Onbile Plugin for iphone, blackberry , smartphones, mobile theme.

With this plugin, users can visit your WordPress blog with theirs smart phones and visualize all of the content.

• Multiple Configurations
• Complete Customization
• Change color, text, icons, backgrounds, etc
• Visitors can comment
• Compatible with all smart phones

Mobile Content Sender

Adds a sidebar widget that enables you to send any kind of mobile content to United States and Canadian cellular phone including ringtones, images, wallpaper and video.

Features:

• Includes built-in widget
• Add your own header and bottom text
• Enables any of your blog visitors to upload content from their computer to their own cellular phones

WordPress Mobile Edition

WordPress Mobile Edition is a plugin that shows an interface designed for a mobile device when visitors come to your site on a mobile device. Mobile browsers are automatically detected, the list of mobile browsers can be customized on the settings page.

Note: This plugin has not been updated since well before the release of WP 3.0, so it might be a good idea not to test it on your main site, first… Although; there have not been any reported problems at this writing.

WordPress Mobile Pack

This is the plugin that I currently have running on all of my sites. It does a very good job and is very easy to set up. I posted about it here if you want to read more.

There are many more paid plugins out there. I have just focused on the free ones that have a good rating and appear to work with the current version of WordPress. The bottom line is that mobile computing is rapidly expanding and we, as bloggers, need to keep on the cutting edge of technology to make sure that we are not losing that traffic to other sites.

Related Blogs

• Install WordPress Mobile Edition | Aminudin.Net
• WordPress Mobile Pack Rocks!
• Hyper Cache 2.7.0 and WordPress Mobile Pack
• Wapple Architect Mobile Plugin For WordPress & Features of WAPL | Blogging Tips by Blog iHub
• Setting Up or Installing WordPress Mobile Pack & Methods & Steps to Install WordPress Mobile Pack | Blogging Tips by Blog iHub
• Weblog Tools Collection: WordPress Mobile App Teams Seek Feedback | WordPressPlanet.com
• Mobile Web Junkie » Blog Archive » WordPress Mobile Plugin Install Guide and FAQ
• Making Your WordPress Blog Mobile Friendly With Just A Few Clicks | ahyen.com