7 Unusual Ways to Use Your Smartphone Camera

The camera built into your smartphone or tablet can be used not only to take pictures of masterpieces and send them to Instagram. And not just for video calls. Here are some non-trivial ways to use the miniature camera that is always with us.

Smartphone Camera

1. SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM

If you have an extra Android phone or tablet (version 1.2 or higher), you can turn it into a home video surveillance system using the decent Webcam apps. After setting up the program at home, you can watch the “live” broadcast over the Internet on your computer or another phone. To save battery, you can choose to broadcast a low-resolution stream. If the device is connected to the power supply, you can set up higher-quality video transmission.

Another Android app, Bambuser, offers a more entertaining approach: you can use your phone as a webcam and invite friends or relatives to watch an interactive video stream. Such a stream can be public or private, and it can also be shared via Facebook.

2. AUGMENTED REALITY APPLICATIONS

The phrase “augmented reality” means quite an ordinary thing: electronic gadgets allow you to see information invisible to the naked eye in the surrounding objects. A typical example is the Junaio and Layar apps for the Android operating system. Both apps use a GPS receiver to determine your coordinates and overlay useful information directly on the image created by your camera.

Simply point your smartphone camera at buildings or objects around you on the street and you’ll see hint icons of shops, ATMs, or cafes.

Gaming applications can also use augmented reality technology. Ball Strike for iOS gameplay is similar to Wii console video games, where an electronic opponent throws virtual balls at your screen and you need to hit them back.

In the SpecTrek Light and Zombie Run games for Android, you need to get from point A to point B on the map of the real area surrounding you. And on your way, you will meet all sorts of ghosts, zombies and other evil spirits. Be prepared for the fact that you will be looked at in surprise, but it’s worth it: as described by one of the commentators on Google Play, it’s like Pac Man, but in real life

3. CATCH SOMEONE WHO STEALS YOUR PHONE

Many applications allow you to track a lost or stolen phone. But those that use the built-in camera can cause the kidnapper the most inconvenience.

For example, the free Lockwatch app for Android. If someone enters an incorrect password to log in, the app takes the attacker on camera and sends you an email with his photo and GPS coordinates. The application starts automatically, and the front-facing camera takes pictures without making a sound, so the hacker doesn’t know that they’ve been photographed.

Another similar app is GotYa! Along with the photo of the kidnapper, it will send you a link to Google Maps. But you will have to pay for the app.

4. PLAN THE INTERIOR OF YOUR HOUSE

The already mentioned augmented reality technology is also widely used in modern smartphone applications for interior planning. Floor Plan Creator and Homestyler apps for Android devices can create a plan and three-dimensional model of a room and add various virtual elements to it. If you don’t like the result, you can return everything to its original state with a swipe of your finger.

5. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PRODUCT WITHOUT STEPPING OFF THE SHELF.

A smartphone with a camera and a barcode reader app (for example, Barcode Scanner for Android or Quick Scan for iOS) allow you to quickly find additional information about your favorite product on the Internet. Including user reviews. Thanks to such applications, you no longer need to sort out the small print on the blinking packaging to learn about the product composition.

6. DIGITIZE YOUR PAPERS

A tablet or smartphone is a pocket scanner that’s always with you. Install the CamScanner HD app, which is available for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 8, and turn your handheld gadget into a full-featured scanner. The app can combine and annotate documents, save to file, and recognize text. You can save all your documents to editable PDFs and store them in a 10-gigabyte cloud for an extra fee.

Handy Scanner application for Android devices allows you to scan documents or photos and save them to PDF files, which can be sent by email or automatically sent to Dropbox cloud storage.

7. GOOGLE PHOTO SEARCH

In the desktop Google search engine, there has long been such a function as a photo search. The free Goggles app transfers it to mobile devices.

The Goggles program is designed primarily to search for various products, paintings, and attractions. It can recognize barcodes and QR codes, recognize texts, and translate them into different languages.

The most impressive feature of the Goggles app is the ability to recognize famous views and panoramas, book covers and disks, and even solve puzzles! If you come across an incomprehensible phrase in a foreign language, point the lens of your smartphone at it. The Goggles app will translate it for you. The application has all the information power of Google.