There is no denying that from the moment we get up to the time we go to sleep, we are glued to our smartphones like zombies. Checking Facebook, work emails and playing games. One must have thought that since we spend a lot of time fiddling with our smartphones, we must have completely caught up on all its features and functions.
While we all know the basic features of our smartphone device, here are some things you didn’t know you can do with your smartphone.
Identify a leaky window
Leaky windows are a mess. Finding a leak in your window and correcting it just doesn’t make your house more comfortable, it saves you money on your electric bill.
All you have to do is to buy an add-on called Flir One. Flir One is a small camera device measuring 2.8” x 1” x 0.7”. You can plug it into your iPhone or Android device. The only condition is that iPhone should have a Lightning connector and Android phone should have a micro USB connector.
Next, point your phone towards the window area you suspect of leaking. Your phone’s screen will show thermal energy dumbed down into colors. You can see where the problem lies; where it is should whereas it should be cooler. Flir One will even analyze your pipes and tell you whether you need insulation and will identify over loaded circuits.
Measure your heart health
According to Simon Dyer of SwiftContractPhones.com, people will be postively shocked to see how much potential is there in smartphones, it is almost as if we are living in a futuristic world from sci-fi movies. He laments that an average user only uses smartphones for games, apps and social media.
You don’t need to go to a doctor and pay a hefty checkup fee your get your heart’s health statistics. You can do it on your smartphone. There is an app + device for that.
AliveCor’s Kardia mobile heart monitor is a small and durable device. You can attach the device to Kardia through cable and start scanning with a button. Kardia will take 30 seconds, measure your EKG and tell you if your heart rate is normal or not.
The price of Kadia is currently $88.
Prevent drunk driving
This technique can save lives. Imagine when you are at a party, you have a couple of glasses of wine. You do not know for sure whether you should drive or not, in comes the BACtrack Vio Smartphone Breathalyzer.
This keychain device will analyze your breath and determine the alcohol level in it. It will then wirelessly send the data to your iPhone and Android. BACtrack Vio will even call an Uber for you!
The Price is $49.99 from BACtrack and $39.19 from Amazon
Use it as a microscope
When it comes to selfies and filters, we all know what our smartphone is capable of. With a little bit of playing around, you can turn your smartphone into a full blown microscope. This can be a dream come true for people who have scientific curiosity and youngsters who aspire to become doctors.
What you need is a smartphone-to-digital-microscope project by Instructables. It will turn your smartphone into a powerful microscope with up to 375x magnification level.
You can get it for $39 from Amazon.
Measure your muscles
Any health and fitness expert will tell you that weight scale is not the best way to measure your gym progress. Muscles are more weighty than fat, so sometimes gaining a little weight can be a very good thing.
To make this process less confusing, The Skulpt Scanner analyzes your body and gives you a grading based on your body fat percentage and muscle size – not weight.
The device comes with an Android and iOS app. It also gives you best exercises based on your body analysis.
Water intake
Everyone knows that we need water to stay healthy, yet everyone keeps pumping coffee and soda in our bloodstream. It is just the way humans are. There are many fitness and health apps that give you recommendations on your water intake. But these apps rely on you entering your water drinking data.
Hidrate Spark is a smart water bottle that monitors your water drinking habits and lights up every time you are supposed to be drinking water. The Hidrate Sprak has iPhone and Android apps through which you can personalize your water intake routine and track your progress.
