Phones have become the Swiss army knife of technology over the last decade. As well as a means of making calls and sending text messages, your smartphone is a one-stop solution for other everyday activities with a camera, torch, media playing software and instant internet access.
While we’re well-versed in the mainstream applications, there are several things you may not realise your phone can do. These unique and extraordinary capabilities could revolutionise your day-to-day lifestyle, or at the very least enhance your enjoyment of particular situations and events.
1. Read to you Do you suffer from poor eyesight?
Smartphones are one of the most convenient ways for blind or partially sighted people to read books, newspapers and magazines. All you have to do is navigate to your chosen piece and ask your smartphone to read the text aloud to you.
On Android, look for Select to Speak or Read Aloud. iPhones have an app called Spoken Content.
2. Act as a games console
Your phone might not have the processing power or GPU to run next-generation games, but it can still act as the console for an incredibly fun gaming experience.
Smartphone technology and mobile games are becoming more advanced with each day that passes, so there’s a wealth of challenges to choose from beyond classic games like Candy Crush and Snake. Whether you choose to download a Bingo app to play the occasional game, work your way through brain-training puzzles, or take part in online multiplayer races and quests, gaming on your smartphone is guaranteed to keep you entertained while on the go.
3. Give you measurements
Ever needed to know the dimensions of something but been stranded without a tape measure? Your phone is now able to give you exact measurements at speed with no stress. Using the camera and augmented reality technology where a digital layer is put over the physical, smartphones can analyse objects such as picture frames and give you perfect dimensions in seconds. This is pre-downloaded for iPhone users: Android fans will need to get Measure Up.
4. Identify songs
We’ve all been there: filled with frustration at not being able to remember the song that’s playing at a restaurant, club, or concert. Your smartphone can save you the irritation of this lapse in memory by identifying songs in a few seconds.
Apps like Shazam can ‘listen’ to the song and, 20 seconds later, give you a match. They do this by using a music recognition algorithm to browse an extensive database of songs and sounds until they find the exact tune you’re listening to.
