Sunday, May 8, 2016

Smartphone as an electronics multi-tool

I like my Leatherman multi-tool because it has so many useful mechanical tools in one small package.  These tools including a pair  of needle nose pliers, a knife, a saw, a file couple of screwdrivers, and other helpful tools. 
Leatherman Multi-Tool



With my visual impairment, I am using a bunch electronics widgets to help me with many daily tasks.  Now that I have a smartphone, I could probably consolidate many functions provided by those widgets into one device.   My smartphone already came with some functions that could replace couple of my electronics devices. and I added few more apps to round out my electronics multi-tool collection. 

Camera: my smartphone came with a 5MP autofocus back camer and a 2MP front camera.  The camera app is very easy to use.  All the buttons are labeled.  This app even  let me take a photo with voice command, just say Cheese.  The main draw back of this camera is lack of optical zoom.  Needless to say, it has video recording function too.

Calculator: what can I say about the calculator app?  Oh, yes, it is a talking calculator.  I don't use my large digit calculator anymore.
Large Digit Calculator


Voice Recorder:  the voice recorder app replaces my portable digital voice recorder.  This simple voice recorder only has 3 buttons (record, pause, stop) and they are all labeled.   One big advantage of the portable voice recorder is its small size and its simple operation.
Digital Voice Recorder