The term “smartphone” is almost beginning to seem a little bit silly. When these devices first became to come out about a decade ago, they were primarily phones. We could do extra things with them, but their main purpose was still to fulfill our talking, voicemail, and texting needs. We’re well beyond that now. We use our phones for internet access, taking pictures and videos, communicating in every imaginable way, playing games, streaming film and television content, and tracking all kinds of activities. We truly use these versatile devices to run our day-to-day lives.
Even so, however, we’re using them in new and exciting ways all the time, particularly with regard to how we entertain ourselves. To put some of the developments we’ve seen into direct relief, here are a few of the fun new ways people are using smartphones for fun.
VR & AR Gaming
Pokémon GO was a legitimate worldwide phenomenon when it took app stores by storm in the summer of 2016. It was said at the time that it had sparked an AR revolution, and many assumed that we’d begin to see a bunch of games imitating the basic concept of employing smartphone cameras to bring about augmented reality. Truth be told we haven’t seen such a “revolution,” but that doesn’t mean VR and AR gaming aren’t becoming more popular. Thanks to numerous headsets that actually use smartphones to bring about VR gaming, as well as Apple’s intended focus on AR, these games are still becoming a big deal. They’re going to change what we expect of video game immersion.
Live Dealer Gaming
Casino-style gaming is still a massive draw on smartphones, even if most people tend to either take it or leave it. And it’s been a major priority for casino developers to make their video games as realistic as possible over the course of the last decade and a half or so. But lately we’ve seen some of the most promising developments in this arena, thanks to the introduction of live dealer games. These are online casinos that are run just like the real thing, with actual video feeds to people dealing cards at real tables. It’s almost a little bit like VR in and of itself, and it’s something people can now enjoy through mobile devices as well as computer screens.
Remote Controls For The Home
The idea of universal remotes is actually a really old one. But it’s one of those ideas you associate primarily with failed tech, or goofy offerings in Sky Mall. Now, however, universal remotes are getting extremely savvy, insofar as they exist in our smartphones! Thanks mostly to other tech – smart light bulbs, smart AC systems, and most importantly devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home – we can now use our phones to control pretty much everything electronic in our homes. That includes entertainment systems and music speakers, but it extends to lighting and temperature control as well.
Film & TV Projection
This is the only development on the list we’re not actually seeing on a large scale just yet, but it’s sometimes mentioned as a development for the next generation of smartphones, and it’s almost definitely going to happen. We’ll soon have smartphones equipped with projection capabilities, meaning we’ll no longer have to stream content through other means. We might be able to just load up movies or episodes and project them onto the nearest suitable service. This might be the coolest change of them all – imagine being able to download a Netflix movie and throw it onto the side of your tent the next time you go camping!
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