Practical Uses for Cell Phones With Camera Features
How many people actually use all the features on their cell phone? Cell phones now have video and picture recording, texting, internet, games, music, ring tones, wallpapers, navigation, news feeds, television channels and then there’s the iPhone which I’m tired of hearing about. Yes, it’s slick; it does a lot; I’m sure it will end world hunger, global warming and revive all the polar bears that have drowned.
But back to your cell phone that’s loaded with features that usually require activation or subscription fees on your account. Are any of these features worth the cost?
That’s your personal choice, but let’s also be honest. You can live without the gadget wizardry and use the cell phone just for phone calls. And under no circumstances does anyone need ring tones’¦ please spare our ears of annoying ring tones!
Seriously though, there are some practical uses for the camera features on your phone, whether you choose to activate a picture / video sharing plan on your phone or not. Some of these uses could actually save a life.
Catch A Crime
Cell phones are increasingly being used to aid police in criminal investigations. Typically, someone witnessing an emergency calls 911 first or gets someone else to do it, then they capture film or video of the suspect in action. Digital imaging features on cell phones have helped pin criminals to hit-and-runs, assaults, kidnappings, theft and so on.
With over half of the world’s 741 million cell phones capable of digital image recording, perhaps the world can be a safer place if criminals knew they can be caught in the act by anyone.
There are a couple of drawbacks. Only some 911 call centers are able to accept video or picture messages, and the process to upgrade technology for 911 call centers is slow and expensive. You’re left with sorting out the logistics for giving authorities your picture or video evidence.
In most cases you can record video or take pictures on your phone, but you will be charged an exorbitant amount to send the file outside of a picture / video sharing plan. Check your account for rates on digital file transmission outside of a plan.
Self-Defense
True Story: During an altercation over a parking spot, an acquaintance of mine recorded video of a woman hurling insults and threats at him after he prevented her from stealing his parking spot. When she asked what he was doing with his phone pointing at her, he informed her that he has her on video making threats to his car, and that he also recorded her license plate to press charges if needed.
It was a risky move in my opinion. You never know if recording a person making threats could push them over the edge and put you in more danger. Escaping a potentially dangerous situation is always the best option. However, there might be cases in which you would want to record a threatening situation — especially if it can be done safely.
Capture Corruption, Incompetence or Rude Customer Service
Companies should be terrified of Consumerist.com. At any moment, bad business practices or poor customer service can be recorded, uploaded online and be exposed to the millions of readers on this website.
Your cell phone’s camera features may help leak shady practices and bring necessary reform. The danger is that you run the risk of a company suing you, whether they have a good case or not.
Other Practical Uses?
Has the camera feature on your phone ever come in handy for reasons not mentioned above? Is the camera feature totally pointless?
I pay an extra $10/month on my cell phone plan to send unlimited pictures and videos. I hardly use the feature, except for taking silly pictures and emailing them from my phone. The added bonus is that I always have the option to transmit digital image evidence from my phone. It gives me an added sense of security when I’m out and about. After all, I live in a big city with safety and quality of life issues that come up all the time. I never know if I’m ever going to need to catch and/or report a crime.
How about for comparison shopping? Don’t have a pen and paper; use your phone!
Wow. Comparison shopping with a camera phone is a great idea! I can think of a few times that would have saved me money…
On a related note to comparison shopping, my partner and I use our camera phones to share images of products when one of us is shopping and the other is elsewhere.
I’m also a stay-at-home-mom (however much of a misnomer that is), and use my phone to send photos of our son to my partner at work throughout the day.
For many bluetooth enabled phones (most of them, these days), you can spend about ~$25 (amazon.com’s price for a DBT-120) for a bluetooth dongle for your PC, and transfer photos/videos etc from the phone to the PC using that, without needing a data/network plan. Other phones may allows you to do the same thing with a USB cable.
Other uses for cell-phone cameras (and also for “shirt-pocket” size digital cameras):
Great when shopping at costco or elsewhere. See something that looks like a bargain, but not sure how it stacks up against other brands? Snap the price tag; then go home and look it up on the internet to see what the reviews are and how the cost rates. (As a bonus, you might realize later on that you didn’t really need the item anyhow…)
They’re also really useful for remebering where I parked (if I’m at a huge multi-story lot that I’m not familiar with) – snap the car and the stall number; or for remembering which hotel room I’m staying in – snap the number on the door. Usually it’s just the act of taking the photo that helps remember it better, but if you forget, you still have that photo as backup.
Great for making copies of maps – for example, you arrive in a subway station in an area that you’re not familiar with. There’s usually a local area map – can snap this, and now you have a copy you can refer to whenever you want. Works best on cameras that have a zoom mode.
Or take shots of the stations that you need to change at – you can build up a visual TODO list that you can refer to later.
Also works great for diagrams, timetables, opening hours, posters promoting events (the type that you find on lamp-posts or on hoardings in many cities) or any other information that’s typically posted up somewhere but where you need to be able to refer to the information later on or elsewhere.
Exploring a new city while travelling, and not sure you’ll remember how to get back to the train station? Snap a few landmarks or intersection signs along the way. Can then look at them in reverse order to help jog your memory. (Before leaving, of course, snap the departure timetable so you know when you should be heading back!)
The big idea here is that’s a camera is really just a form of memory, and one that’s more reliable than head-memory; it’s not just a thing for “photographs”. Anything you want to remember, be it a map, price, location, whatever – snap it, and you no longer have to worry about remembering it.
I have tried comparison shopping with my phone. Took a picture pretty much right against the sign and still was not able to read it when I downloaded the image to my PC and I got a Q. Until we get at least 2 megapixel cameras on cell phones, all that is a waste of time
Cell-phone camera quality can vary hugely depending on model – I usually use a decent small pocket camera (3MP) instead of my cell phone for out-and-about shots, using my cellphone one only as a last resort.
For what it’s worth, very few cameras do well with close-up shots; you need to have the camera at least a few inches – sometimes more – away from the lens. Get closer, and the image will be blurred.
Some cameras have a ‘macro’ or close-up mode that lets you get closer, but that usually just means inches instead of feet.
Of course, the problem with this, is that once you’ve backed up far enough to get a sharp photo, the text you want to capture is now too small to read…
More megapixels can help here – you still have to step back to take a crisp photo: but once you have that photo, having more megapixels will allow you to zoom in further afterwards.
I was shopping for a new mattress last month and as I do regularly, I photograph price tags and whatever else I can to make an intelligent and informed purchase decision.
So after a bit of chatting with the salesperson, I whipped out my phone to take a photo and the guy tells me I can’t take photographs. I ask why not and he tells me it’s against the law. Knowing he’s full of crap, I asked him what he meant by “against the law” and all he tells me is that I can write it down with a pencil/pen and paper, but I can’t take photographs.
I was like, okay, I’ll go buy a nice expensive mattress elsewhere. I almost had a notion to call the BBB or state Attorney General for that display of retardedness.
I should go back and do it again. 😉