6 Things You Didn’t Know Your Smartphone Could Do

Smartphones are not just called smart for nothing, they are indeed very useful machines. With over 2.5 billion users in the world, smartphones are gaining so much ground, possibly because of the amazing things that could be done with them.

Checking out social media, emails, games and music are just some of those things that keep us glued to our smartphones right from the time we get up to the time we go to sleep. Although we know some of these basic features that our smartphone device can do, not many people know of the other incredible functionalities they are capable of.

Smartphones of all brands now have the abilities to do several things that would surprise you. So, we found you 6 things you didn’t know your smartphone could do.

Speak and Understand Any Language

A8. Like most people I can’t live without my smartphone. Google Translate is a great app when you can’t speak or read the language. #TBINChat

— TheSavvyGlobetrotter (@savvyglobetrot) December 5, 2017

You probably didn’t know that with that rectangular object in your hand, you can easily speak and understand any language in the world – a feat that even the world’s best linguists would struggle at. Word translation apps are your lifesaver when you travel to a different place where you can’t depend on your native language. These smartphone apps are so powerful that they can give you an immediate translation to a different language.

In the case of Android devices, you can use Google Now to translate a word/sentence for you from any language of your choice. Similarly, you can download apps like Word Lens, iTranslate and Google Translate to perform the same task.

Related Post: 4 Unilorin Students Build a Web-Based Speech System That Converses in African Languages

Figure Out what Song is Playing

Before I had a smartphone that can listen to a song for you and tell you what the title and artist is I used to jot down lyrics to songs I heard in shops/on the car radio and then google them later to figure out what the song was.

— 不自然なボーイ🌹 (@rei00033) February 10, 2018

You are in a public place or party and a wonderful jam that thrills you comes on, and you ask yourself – What’s that song playing right now? Your best hope would be to ask —or try to listen to the lyrics and search for them, right? Wrong. You can have your smartphone listen to that song and search it out for you.

Various platforms virtual assistants like Siri(Apple), Google Now(Google), and Cortana(Windows) can all identify songs with the right command. Also, apps such as Shazam and SoundHound can perform this task for you.

Digitize Any Document

If you need to scan a small or short document, you can do so with your smartphone rather than going and spending money on a scanner

— Only Interesting Girls And Links (@only_da_bestest) April 16, 2018

Unless you have a scanner readily available, going out to get a document scanned can be a bit of stress. With your smartphone camera, you have the perfect, convenient tool for a makeshift scanner. Once the document is pictured, you can make use of apps like CamScanner and Evernote to instantly transform the image to a high-quality PDF or JPG file.

Note that the higher the resolution of your smartphone’s camera, the better the quality of the file.

Track your Missing Phone

https://twitter.com/mutoamatenka/status/989822216568279041

So your phone is missing? Misplaced somewhere during your busy day. Painful right? Well, we have all been there. Then the possibility of someone viewing your private and sensitive data makes this more depressing. But with apps like ‘find my phone ( or find my iphone)’ or ‘Android Device Manager’ you can track and take control of your phone in the event it goes missing.

Also, you can use the Android Device Manager to call your phone, lock it with your password or even factory reset it as the case may be.

Monitor your Heart Rate

These days, smartphone applications can measure distance and pace, provide weight training and flexibility routines, offer daily healthy recipes and food ideas, predict exercise calories expended, plan daily exercise and diet, and even measure your heart rate.

— sade oguntola (@folasadeoyebimp) January 19, 2018

With increased heart-related issues, it is necessary that you measure your heart’s health regularly. The good news is this can be done with your smartphone without having to take a trip to the doctor.

Without any need for external hardware, apps like Cardiio/Blood Pressure Companion, Instant Heart Rate will give you an accurate reading of your heart’s rhythm and pace.

Measure Height, Speed and Distance

https://twitter.com/nadhilia/status/443039891710947328

You need to measure distance, height, width of an object or speed of people or moving objects? Gone are the days of struggling with a measuring tape. With your smartphone, you can measure all these.

Apps like Smart Measure Pro (Android) and Dot Measure (Apple) can use your smartphone’s camera to measure target by using trigonometry. Also, you can measure the speed of people or moving objects with the apps such as Speed Gun (Android) and SpeedClock (iOS).

By taking few seconds to download an app or to enable a feature on your smartphone, you can do so much more than you ever thought possible. With your smartphone, the world is in your hands – the options out there, go ahead and explore!