6 Useful Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Your Smartphone

Technology has always helped humanity achieve so many great accomplishments. One of the most useful pieces of tech has to be our smartphones. They are frequently used every day and some people use them for almost every part of their daily routine. So, if you're curious to know about some of the special ways you can use your smartphone, you’ve come to the right place. Below are six useful things you probably didn’t know you could do with your smartphone.

1.   Smart Key System

Believe it or not, you can use a smart key system on your smartphone to help you unlock, lock, and start your car. It's a wonderful app that can be synced with your car's system, allowing you to use your phone instead of your keys to operate and start the engine without any hassle. This is a perfect system/app to have on your phone, especially if you're one of the people who always seem to misplace their car keys. This way you won't have any problems getting into your car.

2.   Start a YouTube Channel

You'd be surprised just how simple a YouTube Channel can be if you have a decent smartphone. It's not mandatory to have a big flashy camera to start a channel and make videos. The video specialists and content creators at looxcie.com believe that actionable information and knowledge can help you start your YouTube channel easily, making it popular and famous by understanding what people would like to see and creating some useful content for them. You can set it all up easily by getting a tripod for your phone and it will serve as your camera to make videos on the internet.

3.   Measuring Apps

Smartphones can be used for measuring any distance, height, or width through your camera lens. It can work perfectly if you don't have a measuring tape or any instrument/tool to measure something. The phone app would use the camera to check it for you, and it can provide you accurate readings, whether it's centimeters, meters, or feet. This is very useful for homeowners or construction workers who need an alternative way to measure the floors and walls. Also, it's extremely helpful for carpenters to finish their woodwork accurately. It can be a way to double-check their work to make sure the measurements were done right and it could also be an alternative if you misplace your measuring tape.

4.   Checking Your Heart Rate

Your smartphone can be used to monitor your heart rate by utilizing a special app without using an expensive fitness band/bracelet that can check your pulse. The app would show you the number exactly by using your fingertip. You can see a detailed report after the phone app scans your finger and you would be able to monitor your heart beats per minute. Just remember that the average person's heart rate every minute is between 60 and 100 beats while you're resting, but it's normal if the rate speeds up while you're jogging or doing any exercises. 

5.   Operate Some Electronic Devices

You can get a special app that turns your phone into a universal remote for a lot of your electronic devices. This doesn't work for every brand, but most devices are compatible with the app with which you can turn on your TV, stereo or music system, AV receiver, and stream box. It can be such a great help too during those days when you can't find the remote anywhere or the battery is dead. Sometimes it can be used as a practical joke on your buddies or family members at home when they're watching something on TV too. They wouldn't know what's wrong because the remote is in their hands! 

6.   Staying Safe

You should always stay safe in the streets, but going back home at night can be dangerous for some people. So, you can install a safety app that can send an invitation to your loved ones where they can track your location and see when you finally made it home. The app has a distress call that can trigger automatically if the person didn't go home after a selected timer. It can give you a chance to call or notify the police that something is wrong when they don't answer.

It's amazing how you could do so much with your phone. Every day developers come up with new and efficient ways to make people use their smart devices for numerous activities. Whether you use your smartphone for fun, knowledge, or work, you can rely on it to make your life so much easier. Just remember to charge it regularly because certain apps and actions can drain the battery quite easily.

Are 5G Phones Worth It? 5G vs Fiber to the Home

5G vs Fiber to the Home

Are 5G Phones Worth It?  Our overall assessment is that 5G isn't worth it at this time and you should focus on getting fiber to your home to achieve 500Mbs to 1Gbps speeds.  You home is where you need these speeds the most and you really don't need these speeds in your car or on the road.  Here are some additional reasons why 5G is a waste at this time and instead invest in fiber to your home. 

5G phones are fast, but it's not yet worth the money to get it currently. The networks are small and very inconsistent and you have to choose a phone specifically to get 5G. They're way too expensive, and aren't the best phones available on the market today.

Looking at consumer-ready 5G coverage maps in the U.S. in 2020 it is a frustrating balance of hype and the typical network overstatement of what the networks really are like. Verizon and Sprint were the first wireless carriers to roll out a 5G consumer-ready mobile network, and while the speeds are impressive the coverage maps are not.

Verizon doesn't show 5G specific coverage areas on its regular network coverage map, and instead offers a list of neighborhoods within specific cities that should have 5G coverage in theory.

To Sprint's credit, it has started showing its 5G coverage alongside its 4G and 3G coverage on the their regular Sprint network coverage maps. You have to look for it specifically in the markets Sprint lists to have 5G already, and zoom in to an appropriate map level where you can see its distinction from 4G.

Tests have shown download speeds well over 500Mbs to 1Gbps when there is a clear view of the cell tower. During peak usage locations speeds inevitably drop with more devices on the tower.  The strange thing about using 5G phones is it requires the phones to be in a specific location to receive the faster speeds.  Often a few feet can be a huge difference in download speeds.  Objects can often blog a signal from a cell phone tower to a phone.

It's easy to see the potential of 5G speeds networks when you experience fast downloads.  Expectations have to be tempered by the reality that the networks just aren't large yet. So even if you're lucky enough to live in one of the very specific areas with 5G coverage, and already use that carrier, you may still be disappointed by how often you can actually get and hold a signal.

I am also very curious why someone needs such high speed downloads to their phones while traveling?   Maybe if you are streaming super high quality video or gaming.  However, these speeds are already attainable on most WiFi networks at home or at the office.  It remains to be seen what mobile applications will require 1Gbps speeds.  Please comment below if you know of any consumer related applications that will require such fast speeds. 

Overall I don't think 5G is worth the price yet and think its best to wait.  4G LTE is already pretty good when you can get coverage.  I think the carriers would be better service filling in the network coverage gaps on freeways and in rural areas where they don't have coverage.  5G marketing hype is worth a read as well.  There has also been lots of speculation that some of the small cells and 5G cell phone towers might be emitting too much radiation for nearby residences.  Read this article on living near a 5G cell tower.