By far my most favorite use is as a notepad that I always have with me. I use a custom keyboard to make typing faster and more accurate.
Anything y’all like to do with your phones that you feel like most people miss out on?
Plugging headphones into a jack port and taking the back of to replace battery.
Those was kind of jokey answers, i really like using mine as a back up for documents via syncthing to view when im out if i need it. Much prefer this than uploading to cloud storage. I also use syncthing to have my save states for emulators sync from my phone to pc so i can contiune where i left off on the other device
SSH
Samsung DEX.
Haven’t needed it in a while, but a wifi analyzer to identify which band(s) are least crowded
Back when we worked it, the app saved so much time and helped explain so much.
Same. It’s actually the reason I chose Android over IOS way way back in the day.
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Imagine you are trying to talk to a friend, and you are standing in a crowded room with lots of other people, all trying to make sure their conversation is heard… As a result, you have to constantly repeat yourself so the others person ger all the info you are giving them.
Now imagine you and your friend move to a different room where noone else are standing. You can say things one time and the info will immediately be understood.
If your wifi network is using a channel that is occupied by lots of other devices, your wifi will have to use alot of the ‘bandwidth’ to make sure the other device have all the data and that it is correct, thereby potentially reducing the max speed of your wifi connection. By switching the channel to one where there are less other devices (or maybe no other devices), the data flows better and you can end up with faster and more stable connection.
(this explanation is simplified, and I might not be using 100% correct names etc, because english is not my native language)
The app i use is called ‘wifi analyzer pro’ and I got it from the F-droid appstore (i think it is mentioned already in this thread), but there are lots of alternative wifi analyzer apps in the normal appstore you could try if you don’t feel comfortable installing an alternative appstore (it doesn’t replace the normal appstore).
Note: some newer wifi routers will have built in functions to automatically select what it deems the best channel to use, meaning you might not have to change anything.
Same here. Now my router/AP does it automatically.
It’s probably a tie between wikipedia and flashlight.
The phone flashlight is absurdly useful to me. I think I end up using it almost every single day.
Another use that comes to mind is google lens. Really easy and quick translation, and it helps me figure out what various random items are called - thrifting finds or plants, for example.
I literally keep Google lens open on my hand at the Japanese supermarket. So fucking helpful in the soy sauce aisle and in general. I actually know what I’m buying!
I’ve started using that recently and it is very handy.
If the phone flashlight is so useful, try carrying a legit flashlight for a while. They’re loads better. I’d suggest one of the smaller offerings from rovyvon. Any of them are great, but I like the ones with two lenses and a rechargeable plus AAA battery compartment. It’s the size of a car key fob, lasts a long time, charges over USB c, and goes from super dim to insanely bright.
Oh, I’m aware and I largely agree. I’ve got a nitecore Tini SS and it’s both adorable and really useful.
One thing I’ve found extremely useful is carrying a small headlamp around - specifically a Nitecore NU20. Having hands-free lighting is so handy. Although, come to think of it, I wonder if I could modify the Tini to serve that purpose…
I use a petzl zipka for that. The headband is a retractable string, so it has no bulk, and it runs on aaas. I don’t think they make them anymore, but you can still find them occasionally.
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Yes! There’s so many cool apps on there! I wish the play store was similarly browsable.
It used to be more browsable and less infested with every top ad being ad spam and whale crunching, but ad spam and whale crunching apps make google the most money
Could you have made the advertisement just a bit more obvious, maybe?
What exactly are they advertising?
I had initially mentioned the custom keyboard app I was using. I have since edited the post to remove that, since I’m genuinely interested in people’s answers and don’t want them to think this is an ad.
Shame. I’d have been interested
See here, since someone else asked as well.
Seriously, people getting their knickers tite over that shit still?
Believe it or not, not every corner of the internet has been taken over by astroturfing as of yet!
I’m genuinely just sharing a cool keyboard app that has made my use-case far more fun for me. Another such app I used for a while was MessagEase, but unfortunately they went subscription-based (and also it was slower, even after a huge amount of practice).
As a VPN client, I dont mean for a connection to a VPN service to annoamyse my traffic, but for my own self hosted VPN so I can call home and access stuff on my network. Comes in handy for stuff like my password manager where I dont like the idea of exposing it to the internet but still need access when im out and about.
Do you use a pihole or sum or block unwanted requests too?
No, just authentication through certificates and a password. But nothing to block unwanted requests at the moment
Do you use a domain name? I put one up and just constantly get spammed from Panama by lamers
I do, and I have a dedicated firewall, however i havent had the time to sit and look at the logs or set much security ( ill get round to it eventually). Im sure im getting hit a fair bit, but im not too worried at the moment.
Nothing super important is stored on my password manager, or server im general, as im just getting my shit sorted.
Yeah not the best way to think about it but between work and other things, who the fucks got the time!!! :D
as im just getting my shit sorted
Story of my life!
who the fucks got the time!!!
Don’t know you of course, but have you ever considered reducing your expenditures and working hours? I had a friend who was quite stressed out and went down from 5 days to 4 then 3 and now has been on 4 for a long time. It also gives you space when you need to get something done at work =)
Renovating my house at the moment, then got to help do my parents house after hence the no time. After thats done I should have the time. And reducing hours is a no go atm. Need the money, but when i dont ill probably consider it
I used my phone a lot to stream games from my PC to other rooms. Connect a Gamepad and Hdmi cable, and you can play all games from your library. Lag is minimal, but I haven’t tried it for competitive games.
how? what did you set up for that?
On PC popular options are Steam Remote Play and Moonlight.
for Xbox it’s built into the Xbox app, Greenlight is a good alternative on PC
for PS4/5 there’s the PS Remote Play app, but a lot of people prefer the PSPlay app on Android and Chiaki on PC for their improved functionality.
As for getting it on the TV any simple USBC->HDMI adapter will work.
I recently started to use my phone to monitor the conditions of my plant collection with a couple of Sensorpush devices. They report temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and vapor pressure once a minute via Bluetooth, and I get a notification if conditions deviate from what I set. It has been very helpful at dialing in things in and responding to problems.
Syncthing
What’s syncthing?
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This is about as witty as a box of rocks, just like it was when it was invented in 2007.
It’s a set of apps that help you sync files between devices. It does so without relying on a centralized server, which is a curse (because you need the devices to be on and online) and a blessing (because it can be fast and private). I use it every day. It’s great!
Thanks
Installing postmarketOS on it to turn it into a full fledged pocket PC. It now runs all your favorite Linux-compatible desktop applications except for those that don’t have ARM64 versions, and even then emulation layers can fix this. It’s not 100% as I haven’t been able to get Steam working (it starts but errors out before the login screen) though I have seen some people have success on other distros so maybe it’s a pmOS/Alpine/musl specific issue even though I was using distrobox with Debian to actually run it.
Is there a single phone made in the last ten years that will run postmarketOS at all?
The best one right now is the OnePlus 6/6T, which has a relatively modern SoC.
An excuse not to interact with people.
“Sorry, my notifications were off while I was busy yesterday and didn’t have a chance to check it”.I got a waterproof case, so I use mine as a coaster.
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Mine is already water resistant up to a couple feet. No case needed for a coaster.
Yeah, I have Simplenote on my devices so that my plain text notes are always synced. Movies and TV shows we intend to watch, stuff to get at the store, unlock codes for lockers in the mail room of our building, stuff to discuss with my therapist, records I wanna find and buy, etc. I was at a show last night (Santigold and she kicked ass) and was jotting reminders for myself between songs. Having an instant notes repository is awesome.
