1. A method for inputting a request to a hand-held device, transmitting a server request corresponding to the input request from the hand-held device to a server computer through a telecommunications link, receiving a response to the server request by the hand-held device from the server computer, and outputting the response by the hand-held device, the handheld device having: a number of input components for inputting request data from a number of different input media, including mechanical manipulation of an input component and at least one of additional input media including electronic, auto tones, magnetic, and printed request data, a processing component that constructs a request from the request data, a transceiver component that sends the request to the server computer and receives the response from the server computer, and a number of output components that output a portion of the response received from the server computer in a particular response output medium, the method comprising: coupling the hand-held device to a telecommunications link to transmit the request and to receive the response through the telecommunications link; inputting the request from an input medium to an input component of the hand-held device; processing the input request to produce a corresponding server request; transmitting the server request to the server computer; receiving the response from the server computer through the telecommunications link; and outputting the response via an output component.