If you’re only using your cell phone to make phone calls, then you seriously need to join the 21st Century.

Today cell phones are capable of far more than making phone calls, storing contacts, and playing silly games. Essentially, they’re portable computers — mini-laptops, if you will.

Here are things a modern cell phone can do:

Camera/Video. You no longer need to carry a camera with you (well, unless you’re a photographer and need a good camera). The cell phone snaps pictures and takes videos. It’s perfect for capturing any moment because the cell phone most likely will always be with you. I expect more UFO pictures because of this, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Maps and Navigation. I have a GPS. I don’t use it any more, because my phone does the same job. Even better: I can stick my cell phone into a car mount and use it as a navigation tool. Sure, it sucks up battery power, but that’s why they have car chargers. Since my cell phone does this, I’ve never been lost or been unable to find a Chinese restaurant when I desperately need one.

Web Browsing. Yeah, the screen is tiny and you can’t print anything, but I’ve used my cell phone to catch up on news, read blogs, even post to blogs. Once I used my phone in an airport to check into an upcoming flight.

Social Networking. The most popular web application is social networking, such as the dratted Facebook. On a cell phone you use a Facebook app for social networking, not the web browser. Facebook. MySpace. Twitter. Mebo. They all have apps. Heck, I think social networking was designed for cell phones more than for desktop and laptop computers.

Email. Yep, your phone can do email. That fact alone should wean hundreds of thousands of people off their desktop computers.

Contacts. Boring, yes, but contacts are necessary. Older cell phones kept contact lists, but the software was awkward and cumbersome. Modern cell phones have detailed contact lists that are easy to import from elsewhere, or to create on-the-fly. Further, the better cell phones (meaning not the iPhone) can use the Contact list to call, text, email, or chat with your buddies. That’s handy in today’s socially-networked world.

Calendar. If you’re busy, then you have a calendar. If you’re hip, you keep the calendar electronically. When I’m done with a haircut or the dentist, I input the next appointment into my phone. No more writing things down. And the phone sends me gentle-but-annoying reminders of upcoming engagements.

Movies. Edison postulated that watching movies would be a personal thing, hence the Moviola. Over 100 years later, he’s correct: People enjoy watching movies on their cell phones. Loading up a new film for a transcontinental trip is a must-do.

Music. The iPod may be king, but a modern cell phone can play music just as well. In fact, the decline in iPod sales may indicate that people are finally taking the hint and using their cell phones for playing music.

Games. Yeah, cell phones play games. They may not be as sophisticated as the PSP or Game Boy Advanced, but they will get there. Nintendo and Sony better pay attention!

Whoa! Talk about lightening your load.

I justified paying $600 for my first iPhone because it helped me eliminate several other gizmos I paid for and usually toted around: camera, Palm Pilot (datebook and contacts), iPod, and cell phone. Now the cell phone does even more.

There is a segment of the computer-buying market that will never really buy a computer again. That’s because, thanks to all these features, the abilities and communications features of a modern cell phone is all that you need.