Smart Phone Uses

[JoeM 8,141]

Boy how things change.

Was not real interested in the new phones until work issued me one a couple decades ago.

Of course evolving along the way I have found some simple uses.

 

Using it as a magnifying glass on picture mode. I find when I am in a store and want to read the fine print, just whip out the phone, either on picture mode or take a picture. Some of the print is so fine even with reading glasses it is hard to see, but the phone blows it right up. 

 

The calendar is so sweet.  Dr. appointments, events and birthdays.......no problem. Two steps ahead of the wife and her paper model!

 

All the grand-kids play ball, sometimes all on the same night. Works well, I can go to one game and listen and watch the others. Especially nice for the one that travels sometimes 3 hours to play on weekends. 

 

Just some of my favorites 

 

[ebinmaine 71,757]

A #1 indisputable first place usage is, Red Square!

 

I use the calendar all day everyday to remember nearly anything. Sometimes I use it as just a notepad.

Speaking of which, I have an app which is basically a posting or notepad that I keep a ton of information on.

 

Weather. Youtube. I punched the clock at work on my phone.

 

We are only just barely scratching the surface.

[953 nut 59,143]

The in thing now is to upgrade to a flip phone.

 

[Racinbob 11,875]

17 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

The in thing now is to upgrade to a flip phone.

 

We've kept the plan we had in Florida for many years. Apparently my wife thinks that's best. We also have a Florida area code. Whenever an 'upgrade' is due, that is, whenever my wife says it's time, we go to the phone store place and I sit there as she talks to them. In order to keep the same plan we always have to go with the latest thingy. Every time I ask them if I could just get a flip phone instead of the thingy. In spite of telling them we'll pay for the thingy even though the flip is way cheaper and every time I get the same answer. NOPE! We can't get the same plan if I don't get a thingy along with my wife. 

[squonk 43,298]

59 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

A #1 indisputable first place usage is, Red Square!

 

 

Judging by your post count, you must have it plugged straight into the grid! 

[ebinmaine 71,757]

1 minute ago, squonk said:

Judging by your post count, you must have it plugged straight into the grid! 

Nearly...

[oliver2-44 10,553]

Compass

GasBuddy

NIOSH SLM Sound Meter

App for Fiber Optic Bore Scope 

ViboChecker Vibration Meter 

Stroboscope Tachometer

 

[Bill D 2,201]

16 minutes ago, oliver2-44 said:

Compass

GasBuddy

NIOSH SLM Sound Meter

App for Fiber Optic Bore Scope 

ViboChecker Vibration Meter 

Stroboscope Tachometer

 

Are the sound meter, tachometer, and vibration meter in the Google app store?

[8ntruck 7,610]

I replaced my phone about a year ago.  Basically picked a new one about the same size as my old one.  Turns out that it was a really fancy almost top of the line model.  The kids on the robotics team were kind of impressed with it.

 

I basically use it mostly as a phone, camera, and to check the news feed in the morning.  I'm nowhere close to using that phone to its full potential.

 

One day when I was working with the robotics team on the robot, we needed a flashlight.  I pulled my phone out and started fumbling around the menus looking for the flashlight.  One of the students grabbed it out of my hand, tapped it 2 or 3 times and handed it back to me with the flashlight on.  I had to ask him to show me where the flashlight app is.  I kind of got that 'you poor old man' look from him.

 

I'm noticing that new electronic or computer controlled devices assume a common base knowledge about menu and touch screen manipulation.  My computer base knowledge is from the dark ages of IBM punch cards, paper tape, and Fortran IV.  I've never really learned how to navigate the typical menu tree on a smart phone.  Took me a couple of months to figure out that I had to hold my finger on a text message until another menu appeared with a trash can symbol on it.

[F. Marra 17 78]

Having a smart phone is at this point a bare minimum if you are running or operating a business.  Like everything in life it has its positives and negatives.  Some positives are location services, documentation of pictures and their locations, emails and data sharing between teams and co workers.  It also has eased payroll and employee punch in with simple programs that leave no error.  Meetings using apps have made it possible for every invitee to attend no matter where they are in the world.  Navigation apps make it possible for my emplyees to get to their jobsites quick and avoid traffic if needed.  Negative, i can never leave work at work.

Personally, i only use it for news, phone and texting and pictures of my family.  I am not very big into social media even though my generation pioneered it.

[ebinmaine 71,757]

1 hour ago, Bill D said:

Are the sound meter, tachometer, and vibration meter in the Google app store?

 

FYI.  Those don't work (or work poorly) on some phones. 

[ebinmaine 71,757]

I've had several "smart" ish phones. 

The first was back in 2014 or so for setting up the hikes and camping I used to lead. 

I've up and down graded several times since.  

 

Like it or not... they're a part of life as we know it in the current form of existence.  

 

 

[MainelyWheelhorse 1,338]

My Smartphone comes in handy especially working on my tractors for looking up schematics, specs or buying/looking up tractor parts as I’m working. A nice thing about the Apple ecosystem is that I can look at a bookmark from my computer, on the phone, or iPad as it saves them through iCloud. I also take pictures of groceries I need or my work schedule to remember later. I save appointments to my calendar too which it reminds me on that day. Replying to texts of plans for later or coordinating schedules helps too

 

They are here until something better comes along. I do think if you’ve been immersed in it since birth it’s easier to intuitively use but if you had to learn it it’s a bit more of a climb to integrate it into what your doing.

[Mickwhitt 5,081]

Interesting to hear a Gen Z girl talking on the radio recently. She was brought up with a smart phone glued in her hands and she us advocating that kids are seriously limited as to the time they spend on phones and what they view. She basically said that her generation missed out massively on social stuff because of smart phones and that they damaged the ability of young people to do so many things. 

 

So it's a case of too much of a good thing. 

 

As regards AI or artificial intelligence I worry that we are rapidly losing actual human intelligence.  Kids don't need to read or learn or study when the machines do it for them. Makes them lazy and incapable of solving a problem without their phone. 

 

One professor of computing said that compooters are actually self aware now, capable of understanding their programmers and only a few steps away from being able to influence human life in ways we can't imagine.

 

Terminator came out in the 80s, maybe it's more of a documentary than a feature film. .....

[adsm08 2,941]

I like Angry Birds.

[Handy Don 13,658]

Tach and sound meter apps are available for Android phones, but many of the low end phones just don’t have strong enough processor speed, or control for the camera and microphone. 

The tachometer uses variable very fast shutter speeds on the camera along with rapid flash cycling. 

The sound meter has to have excellent control of the microphone to process a wide range of frequencies. 

[oliver2-44 10,553]

4 hours ago, Bill D said:

Are the sound meter, tachometer, and vibration meter in the Google app store?

They are in the Apple App store.

I got a new iPhone 7SE last year, so I am nicely and cheaply behind. it does more that I know. 

These app work good enough for home use.

Before I retired i compare the vibration and sound ap I had at that time to the professional equipment the company had. 

They were very close in the middle spectrums, but off more as you got very high or very low.

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 08:07 PM by oliver2-44

[Handy Don 13,658]

2 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

They were very close in the middle spectrums, but off more as you got very high or very low.

 

Directly related to the design of most smartphone microphones optimized for conversation in the human voice ranges with some spillover above and below.

I’d bet the sound pickup alone (not to mention the circuitry behind it) in a pro-level meter costs more than a good smartphone.

I still remember our lab instructor in college electronics drilling us on how to calibrate our tools (oscilloscopes, FET testers, DVOMs, etc.) before even beginning an experiment!

Edited Tuesday at 10:07 PM by Handy Don

[adsm08 2,941]

Dumb phones are probably good for mind control.

[rjg854 12,012]

I have one of my older phones with manuals and other related files and diagrams 

[953 nut 59,143]

12 hours ago, Racinbob said:

Every time I ask them if I could just get a flip phone instead of the thingy. In spite of telling them we'll pay for the thingy even though the flip is way cheaper and every time I get the same answer. NOPE!

That is why I have been with Tracfone for about 20 years.  No contract, I buy a two year plan for about $ 150.00 and seldom run out of minutes. If I want a new flip phone they have several to choose from for about $ 20.00. The wife has a smart phone with a Verizon contract but she is on the phone or aps on the phone half of her waking hours so I guess she gets her money's worth.

[lynnmor 7,699]

2 hours ago, adsm08 said:

Dumb phones are probably good for mind control.

With all of the zombies that are glued to “smart” phones, I believe the opposite is true.

[JoeM 8,141]

11 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

Stroboscope Tachometer

That one works good but is tricky. 

I like the MPH one. I turn it on when my wife is driving and become the driving assistant! 

[8ntruck 7,610]

8 hours ago, adsm08 said:

I like Angry Birds.

So do I.  Applied mathematics.  Figuring parabolic trajectories by eye.

 

AI.  My new fancy phone came with some sort of AI app.  It would occasionally send me a text Comme ting on and offering information about a conversation my wife were having.  One day, it started talking about the word gear - which we had just used in a conversation.  Next time I saw my son, I had him go through the apps and delete the likely suspects.  So far, so good.  No mystery texts, no spontaneous discussions, and the 'normal' phone functions still seem to work.

[adsm08 2,941]

20 hours ago, lynnmor said:

With all of the zombies that are glued to “smart” phones, I believe the opposite is true.

 

I didn't say who was controlling the minds.