Things You Might Not Know About Your Smartphone
Smartphones seem to be getting smarter all the time these days—and it’s to the point that most people don’t even know everything their phone can do. You can make calls, send texts and play games, but most people don’t know how to do things like print. You might have a document on your phone that you need a hard copy of your smart phone can help you send that to the printer, moreover, you can pay for your printing service with your smartphone, you can even scan receipts and beyond with your phone. Below are just a few things you can do with the right apps and a little ingenuity.
Webcam
Most people know they can use apps like Skype, Google+ or Windows Live Messenger on their smartphone, there are a lot of other programs out there like Mobiola, Line and others. If you’ve been having problems with Skype disconnecting or other issues that seem to pop up with some of the more popular services, you might want to give it a try.
Scanner
There are a lot of apps that let you scan things, so it really depends on what you want to do with the scans. If you’re looking for something simple like a barcode and QR code scanner, there are a lot of free programs for download, all of which do as well as the next. There are yet other apps that let you do things like scan and sync business cards. You can find either function-specific apps or all-in-one apps, whichever one works best for you.
Wallet
While it hasn’t really caught on in the States, people in Japan commonly use their mobile phones as a stand-in for their wallet. Some applications can store credit card information (Visa, AmEx and Mastercard all have their own apps) and banking information (most large banks have their own apps). You can also use discount and membership cards, too. Some places have a tap-to-pay system, and with these apps, all you need to do is put your smartphone on a sensor with the app open, and the funds are automatically transferred.
Mobile Hotspot
This one is pretty simple. It usually doesn’t require you to download an app—just pay a little bit more for data to your provider, and it gives you the ability to create a Wi-Fi hotspot from your phone.
Live TV
Most local service providers and phone providers offer apps for streaming live content to a smartphone. One very popular one is MLV.tv, which lets you stream baseball games from all over the country to your phone. You can also download apps like netTV or TVUPlayer. The audio might not be the vest, but it’s better than nothing.
All-purpose Thing Identifier
If you have a hard time figuring out what something is, an Android phone can be your best friend. With the app, Google Goggles, you can snap a picture of something, and the app can find out what they are. It’s just a simple web search away.
Now that you have an idea of what’s out there, it’s not hard to find out what kind of apps you can use to unlock the potential in your pocket. Even things like printing are made easier by knowing how to use all the tools at your disposal. Printing services in Ogden may not know exactly how to use these apps, though. But when you know how to use these apps, you won’t have to try photocopying your iPad when you go into printing companies in Ogden. Don’t look at me like that. Most people have tried it.
