10 Awesome Things on Smartphone you probably didn't know

From the lowly landline to the IPhone 7, the journey of the mobile phone has been a long and interesting one. We’ve gone from using the Nokia Torchlight to devices the size of a human head. They have become such a part of our lives that most would likely die than part with them. If you have seen someone whose phone has been stolen, you’ll understand what I mean.

In reality though, they are used for so many things that you might think that you know everything about your smartphone and its abilities, but you don’t. Don’t believe me? Here are 15 awesome things about your smartphone that you didn’t know.

1. Remotely lock, unlock, set the alarm on and even start your car

While this function is limited to those who possess the so called ‘computer cars’, it is still fun to know. Using the Viper Smartkey System, you can toss those annoying keys and replace them your phone. Quite useful for those among us who are perpetually losing their keys.

2. Monitor your heart rate

A godsend for all our friends prone to heart attacks, they can use their phones to track and monitor their heart rates. Apps like Instant Heart Rate can do this by measuring the blood rushing your fingers. Yes, your phone screen is that sensitive.

3. Check if your remote’s batteries are dead when it stops working

I keep wondering who taught Nigerians to hit remotes with their hands or against a flat surface when it fails to function. This practice isn’t just limited to remotes but has been extended to other electronic devices. Well now that you have smartphone you can do away with that bush practice.

Your phone’s camera is sensitive to IR radiation and if you want to try you can just use any common IR remote control. The infrared beam emitted when a button is pressed will show up as a white or purple light on the screen of the camera app. If the batteries are dead, there will be no lights.

4. Works as a makeshift microscope

Astonishingly, all it takes is just a drop of clean water on the camera lens to turn it into an amateur microscope. The drop of water, which will naturally assume a spherical shape, acts an additional lens, allowing your camera much greater focusing power.

5. Measure Speed, Height and Distance

Have you ever seen a car zoom past and idly wondered what its exact speed was? No? Well, anyway with apps like Speed Gun, you can use your smartphone to accurately measure the speed of an object. You can also measure the height and distance of something using your camera lens.

6. As a makeshift metal detector

Utilizing your phone’s built-in magnetic sensor, apps such as Metal Detector can detect metals such as steel and iron. However, they are only effective within a short distance of the object, but it is still useful for finding that elusive needle.

7. Translate Foreign Languages

The process is quite simple. Point your phone’s video camera at any printed material, such as a book, and the app will instantly replace the words in the picture on your screen with its English translation. They cover major languages including French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese. The android versions can even work without an internet connection. An example of such is Google Translate.

8. Digitize documents

Apps like CamScanner allows you to take a picture of any document, receipt or photo and instantly convert it to a high quality PDF and JPG file. This is quite useful as there is no longer any need for bulky scanners. And the best part, most of them are free.

9. Find your location

It’s finally happened. Your worst fear has come to pass and you’ve gotten lost. If you’ve got a smartphone, you’ll probably be fine. If you don’t, well, you're toast. This is because you can use Google Maps to find your exact location anywhere in the world. You can also view the map to get a sense of where you are and how best to get out of there. Also, you can save the maps for offline use.

10. Voice Search

For all the slow typists among us, you can search Google, utilizing only your voice. All you have to do is clearly speak the word you are searching for and leave the rest to your phone.

11. Become a Wi-Fi hotspot

Surprisingly, a lot of people don’t know that you can use your phone to create a hotspot for your friends. This process creates a data connection that other devices can log into. Simply go to settings, Wi-Fi or Tethering to start. Just remember to keep an eye on your data usage before your friends drain it dry.

12. Serve as a Compass

Another useful tool for the perpetually lost, you can download Smart Compass, which will turn your phone into an incredibly accurate compass for navigating around.

13. Scanning Barcodes

Barcodes are those black rectangles that you sometimes see on the back covers of books. Most of the info there will probably be useless to you, but it is still fun to do. Apps that you can use include QR Scanner and Barcode Scanner.

14. Facial Recognition Lock

Tired of remembering all those patterns, pins and passwords? Then you can set your phone to only open when it recognizes your face. People might memorize your pin or pattern, but they cannot steal your face.

Even if you're worried that some mad genius might use a picture of you to open the phone, you can simply set it to ‘Presence Check’ which requires you to blink before the phone opens.

15. Remotely lock or format your lost phone

The pain of losing one’s phone is one that most people hope never to experience. Sometimes though, despite all your precautions, your pins and passwords and chain fences some jerk has managed to steal it. Now he has access to all of your files right? Wrong.

If you're using an android smartphone, you can use the Android Device Manager to track and take control of your phone in case you lose – read – is stolen from you. You can then use it ring your phone, remotely lock it or wipe everything when you know that you aren’t getting it back.

And that’s it. Are there any more uses that I missed? Let us know in the comments.

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