We love our mobile phones, we’re joined at the finger tips and with good reason. What can’t you do on a smartphone these days? Usually the list for what can you do, would be shorter than what can’t you do, but with mobile that surely is not the case.
Let’s give it a test – So what can you do?
You can power a satellite
Probably not a common feature for the everyday mobile consumer, but students and researchers at the University of Surrey powered a nanosatellite to collect data from space all with a Google Nexus One.
The all-in-one remote
It’s the little things in life which can be rather stressful and a prime example is not being able to find the TV remote or any remote for that matter. Luckily we can use our mobile phones as infrared or Wi-Fi controllers and with 79% of us keeping our phones within arm’s reach, there’s no reason to become frustrated when trying to turn off the TV.
What is this catchy tune?
No longer do you have to stop everything you’re doing and ask everyone within hearing distance what this awesome song is, or rather embarrassingly try to give your best rendition of it. Although, if you don’t get your app out in time to hear the song you might find yourself doing this into your phone instead.
Put up a shelf
No we’re not talking about a WikiHow guide or a helpful tutorial video on YouTube but something physically helpful. Get the perfect balance by using your smartphone as a spirit level. Most smartphones include an accelerometer which is used to detect your phone’s orientation.
Order a burger and a beer in any language
Only 25% of British adults can hold a conversation in a foreign language which is lower than the European average and perhaps with the help of language apps, this isn’t set to rise any higher. Simply type your order in to Google or some other language app and have a rather static robot lady or man read it out in the language you requested.
You can buy a £75,000 Beanie Baby
This is actually true! In 2015, the limited edition 1 in 100 bear soft toy was picked up for £10 in a car boot sale but was sold for £75,000 on eBay. The point is that you can buy anything via your mobile and it’s easy to do so.
Find which star you’re looking at
Due to the accelerator and GPS in our phones it’s possible to point your phone up towards the sky where a beautiful star map can give you all the information you want about stars and constellations. You could even try and use it to navigate with but, let’s face it, there are many more apps designed for that.
This list can go on so much longer but let’s have a look at what can’t you do with a mobile phone.
You can’t use your phone on an airplane
Even this is questionable. Many people now believe that this is more of a myth than law. It was first thought that signal waves and other things emitted from our phones could intercept with the planes computer and radio but there’s few examples of this being the case. Either way we’re told not to use them so don’t use them.
That might actually just be it. At least we were able to come up with one thing you can’t do with your mobile phone.
Obviously we’d like to point out that you can send text messages to thousands of customers at once, but you already knew that didn’t you?
Want to see more things the amazing mobile phone can do? We have done part 2 that you can read here
May 10, 2016 | Industry Commentary
Your mobile is the most powerful thing in your pocket