5 Interesting Uses for Your Mobile Phone’s Camera

With the growing popularity of photo sharing apps and sites such as Flickr and Instagram, more and more consumers now consider camera specifications whenever they buy a new mobile phone. A cam phone comes in very handy when you have to capture memorable moments, such as when your child walks for the first time. While most consumers use their camera phones for fun, there actually are more uses to your mobile phone’s camera other than take photos and videos that you can share on your social networking accounts. Here are some interesting uses for your mobile phone’s camera:

Scan Documents

Did your printer run out of ink and you can’t use its built in scanner to scan printed documents? Are you on vacation and the hotel you’re staying in charges an arm and a leg to scan a copy of your airline ticket? Don’t worry. You can use your camera phone as alternative to a scanner to capture text from books, printed magazines, newspapers and documents. You simply have to take photos of the document or page using your phone and use apps such as Quipit and ScanR. With Quipit, you can store photos of documents on a website for access and review at a later time.  The ScanR app, on the other hand, can convert photos of documents into a PDF or text file.

Web Camera

There are tools such as the Mobiola Webcamera that will convert your mobile phone’s camera into a webcam for your PC. With MobiolaWebcamera, you only need a Wi-Fi hotspot to establish a connection between your phone and the PC so you can use your phone’s camera as a webcam. Many smartphones now also have dual cameras so you don’t need to do any complicated setting up to use your phone’s front facing camera as a webcam right away. Smartphones with dual camera features also allow users to place video calls through their mobile phones. The dual camera feature lets you communicate with your friends, literally face to face, when you video chat.

Mirror

You’re at a party and you forgot your mirror. How can you ensure your makeup and hairstyle still look good? You don’t have to go to the bathroom every now and then to check how you look. You simply have to take a self-picture with your mobile phone to see whether your makeup and hairdo are still in perfect condition. Alternatively, you can download apps that let you use your phone as a high tech mirror. The Mirror by App Cubby, for instance, uses the iPhone’s front facing camera to create a real mirror.

Grocery Shopping Tool

Do you tend to forget buying some things when you go to the grocery store? Even when you have a grocery list, you sometimes forget that your spices are running low and you only have one box of milk in your refrigerator. Try this: use your mobile phone to take a snapshot of your pantry and the inside of your fridge and use this to double check whether you need to buy something.

Share Photos and Videos Instantly

What sets a small business phone camera apart from most digital cameras and even DSLRs is that you get to easily share your photos and videos online without having to transfer or copy your multimedia files to your PC. The built in Wi-Fi that comes along with most camera phones makes it easy to share your life through photos on Facebook or Instagram minutes after you’ve taken the snapshot. This special feature also makes the camera phone a perfect tool for taking videos that you like to broadcast live.