Here are 5 Little Known Uses for Your Smartphone's Camera Plus a Bonus Feature

A lot of people use their smartphone's camera for what it was designed for: taking pictures of beautiful places and important memories, and maybe the occasional selfie or two. However, this does not always have to be the case. There are much more uses for a smartphone camera than the manufacturer of a particular phone would lead you to believe.

According to a report from Fox News' Kim Komando, there are at least 5 other innovative uses for your smartphone's camera, making it an extremely helpful tool to have at your immediate disposal. The first of these uses is as a portable document scanner. A smartphone camera does this quite well with a little help from applications such as Evernote Scannable for the iPhone and the Google Drive application for Android devices. What's also great is how you can almost immediately send these scanned files via email or instant messaging.

The next useful yet relatively unknown function is for looking up UPC barcodes. This could potentially help you look for the best deals on the market for a particular product with apps such as Quick Scan and ShopSavvy Barcode & QR Scanner. You could even scan a product's UPC code and it will direct you to its product page on Amazon.

You can also use your smartphone's camera to translate languages. You simply point your camera at a foreign sing or menu and Google Translate, which currently supports 29 camera translation languages, will attempt to translate these into a language you understand as quickly as possible and within real time. Your smartphone's camera can also make use of augmented reality technology for you to be able to go stargazing.

Finally, with a little help from the Yelp app's function known as "Monocle," your smartphone's camera can scan your location and locate some Yelp-rated establishments near you. As a bonus feature, your smartphone camera can also act as a security camera with apps such as Manything and Salient Eye.