i *think* there are people who play from their cells...
i'm not sure tho. signups start in about 40 mins so you could check if you were interested.
it prolly depends on your phone too *shrug* you can que up construction but not research. so sometimes you'll miss some ticks worth of research. you can also prelaunch your ships up to 11 hours before you want them to launch. the main place you'll get in trouble is defence of your planet and checking to make sure your ships dont get defended when they attack.