Interesting Uses of Mobile Phones To Stay Productive
Some creative and productive uses of camera mobile phones (and digital cameras):
Computer Screen Capture – You can use the Mobile Phone cameras for capturing screenshots of error messages that popup while you are reinstalling a copy of Windows or modifying some BIOS settings. In situations like the dreaded Blue Screen, Print-Screen key is useless but any phone-cam will get the job done.
Remember Dates – Some time back, I had gone to a nursery school for submitting the admission form of my son. I don’t remember the exact date now but luckily, I had snapped a picture of the school and so that date is automatically stored with the image.
Cable Connections – Before removing the cables from your home theatre system, gaming console or the computer, it is a good idea to capture the connections with your phone camera. Then you won’t have problems plugging the cables again in the right ports as the pictures will show you “what goes where”.
Use Mobile Phone as a Web Camera – There are some free utilities that will convert your mobile phone camera into a web cam for your computer. You can use the web camera via a USB cable or wirelessly through Bluetooth.
Car Parking – Most shopping malls here have huge underground parking but there aren’t any signboards so it gets 
tough to locate the car. So when you park the car, just look towards the escalator (or the exit door) and take a picture or record some video. This will save lot of effort (and time) when you return with all those heavy shopping bags.
Scan Printed Documents – Mobile phone camera can work as scanners for capturing clippings of text from newspapers, library books and printed magazines. Just photograph the page and use a service like Qipit or ScanR that extract the text out of pictures taken with a mobile phone.
Replace Paper and Pen – Your wife has prepared a long list of items that you are supposed to pick from the grocery story. Why tear down that paper from the diary or put extra pressure on your memory – just click. You can also use the camera phone for capturing information written on whiteboards, subway maps and notice boards.
Google Maps and Directions – You are traveling and need the driving directions from Google Maps onto your mobile phone. If your phone has no Internet or you are not too sure how to transfer data from computer to the phone, just open Google Maps, press F11 for full screen and click with your phone.
Rent A Car – If you are taking a car on rent, capture all the areas with dents and scratches so that you don’t run into a dispute when returning the car to the agent.
Security Weapon – Before you board a taxi in some unknown place, take a picture of the license plate and driver details that are generally written near the passenger seat. Email the picture to your spouse or friend as a security measure.
Shopping Alone – If you are in a store shopping without your spouse, get his/her opinion on the stuff you are about to purchase by emailing pictures though your phone. A word of caution here – some shop owners may consider your action as “digital shoplifting” and this may lead to an embarrassing situation.
As a Mirror – When you are about to reach the party, take a self-picture with your mobile phone to make sure that that makeup and hair style is in perfect condition.
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I saw this really great post today….
Nice blog it seems that the smartphone revolution is here to stay.
Some great ideas there for using my phone! I never would have thought of them all and I’m always getting lost in car parks. I will certainly take a photo when I park up! Many thanks.
Very informative and trustworthy blog. Please keep updating with great posts like this one. I have booked marked your site and am about to email it to a few friends of mine that I know would enjoy reading.
Thanks, very informative!
Interesting information although those seem to be quite obvioues, I never really thought about those before. Mobile phones are really handy and has a number of uses.
that is why i love teh iphone! it is amazing and i get my work done.
These tend to be things that I use my mobile phone for. I’m not really into technology but I do appreciate that I can use my phone to help me remember things and make a lot of notes so that I can keep on track with everything I have to do.
Great tips, indeed! Frankly speaking sometimes I don’t have a ready wit in situations like those you mentioned here. And I think if you always remember that your phone has a camera then you’ll have less chances to get into troubles. I often take shots of various advertisements and schedules, but hardly could I come to the idea of using my phone cam with cables or rented cars. But this would be really helpful to do so! Thus, thank you for your advice, I’ll try to stay productive with the help of the info from your blog
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i was just looking for these tools, thanks alot and keep helping us by sharing useful stuff
i was just looking for this post, thanks alot and keep helping us by sharing useful stuff
Some good uses there. I use mine with little alarms on so I stay on schedule and I also use it for memos and note making, as I never seem to have a blank sheet of paper and if I do, I only lose it.
Hey cool post,
Ive been recently looking at some cool things that Google have been doing with Google Goggles the image recognition software. At present it is currently only able to recognize buildings but just think when this application is able to recognise people, you will be able to photo a person on teh street, it will scour the internet for likenesses and then you will be able to find that person on facebook…. Creepy.
Cheers
This is why everyone should have a camera phone in general. They have really become handy in every day life, and almost have replaced some digital cameras. Do you think it will be long before they do completely?
I have never seen anyone using their cell phone as a web cam.
regards
Kashif.
all is well
Now this is called thinking out of box. Thanks for the tips. Your post actually made me think about other interesting methods of using the mobile camera.
Thanks once again
There are so many reasons i love iPhone and it is one of them you have focused in your post and i have just tried another interesting thing with my son’s iphone and tell you what man its just rocking, i have installed iPhone spy app on his cell to track his activities to help him out in worst situations and its simply rocking
Great post! Keep up the good work!
Great article and ingenious ideas. Bookmarked your site. Thank you.
There are lots of reasons that people love to use phone contained many stuff like camera shot, games, video, music and so on. The article is great, thank you for published.
Nice Article.
Great post thanks so much for the share.
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I agree! Cracking post and thanks for sharing