Odd Things You Can Do with an iPhone

 Gadgets  

Ray Kurzweil and others are fond of telling how today's smartphones are more powerful today than room-sized computers decades ago.  Now, guest writer David Thompson looks at some very unconventional iPhone apps, including one that warms your hands.

Having an iPhone is incredibly fun. There are so many apps available that almost every idea you can think of is covered by the phrase used by those in the Apple camp: "there's an app for that." However, there are also some unique uses of iPhones that may catch you off-guard.

Last year, Apple once again proved that its technology is the top among the rest as iPhone 5 took the lead in sales in the fourth quarter of 2012. This success and innovation is the result of Apple's versatile, high quality hardware, which tends to attract those who want to push its capabilities a little further via some of the means listed below.

Shoot a Movie

Not just a quick clip of your buddies dancing around at a music festival, but an actual film. The director was one Park Chan-Wook, who you may know from his role as the director of cinematic masterpiece Oldboy. "The new technology creates strange effects because it is new and because it is a medium the audience is used to," said Chan-Wook. He's not wrong, either, and the film itself, Paranmanjang (Korean for "a life full of ups and downs") is probably worth watching just to see what can be done with your new 4-inch iPhone 5, a crew of film industry folks and some ideas.

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Survive the Cold

Yep, there really is an app that'll keep you warm, or at least your hands. It's called Warm Your Hands, and it will wreck your remaining battery life by heating up the hardware inside your phone to keep your mitts nice and toasty. Seriously useful in cold weather but of course, worth bearing in mind that it can't heat food and it's probably going to leave you with a dead battery after a little while, as it's pushing the phone to its absolute limits.

Not Die and Save Lives

Yep, your phone can even act as an emergency first aid book, allowing you to ensure that you don't bleed to death, enabling you to call emergency services, and of course ensuring that other people don't suffer either. It's a pretty incredible bit of software for someone to make available to others, and in all seriousness really could help you save lives, which probably isn't something you thought you would be doing (and hopefully won't be) with your iPhone, but at least you can if push comes to shove.

Keep An Eye on the Kid

If you've got a small child then baby monitors are probably one of the top items on your list when it comes to ensuring that they're safe. Luckily for you, if yours happens to bust, you can just switch this app on, place it near your sleeping child and if any noise occurs, it'll call whatever number you ask it too automatically. If you're feeling especially adventurous you could (while in the room of course) give it the number of your nearest pizza place and see what they send over.

Keep An Eye On Your Picture Frames

Yep, you can turn your iPhone into a spirit level. Yes, we think it's insane as well, but it's pretty impressive that the phone's accelerometer is able to pull this off, and it means that you won't be hunting around the attic for your actual spirit level every four years (as we find that's an optimistic estimate of how often people actually need the things).

So: movie camera, hand warmer, first aid book, baby monitor, spirit level. The iPhone's app selection really is a bag full of surprises, isn't it?

By David Thompson

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David Thompson is a writer interested in the latest tech, future tech, mobile working and online media. His love of playing video games takes up most of his spare time  and he also maintains a passion for fashion and design.

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