But there are quite a few cool things that smartphones can do which are, for want of a better description, outside of the box.
For example, take the clever people at the Geographic Survey. They have an app that monitors accelerometer data, like the one in your smartphone, on devices connected to the internet (like your smartphone). Combine that with a location (such as from your GPS in your smartphone).
Most of the time the data is pretty random as people are just going about their daily business. No two phones would be reporting the same movements.
But what would it mean if suddenly all accelerometers in an area (say a 30 mile wide area) reported minute movements in the same direction? That would mean the Earth had just moved a tiny amount, or perhaps more accurately a tectonic plate. You now have an early warning system for Earthquakes. The app can then inform you of an imminent earthquake some ten seconds before any other system. Not a lot, but it's often enough to get under a desk or out of a building.
How about the Instant Heart Rate app? It measures (very accurately) your heart rate using the phone's camera.
Why are smartphones banned from casinos in Las Vegas? Someone developed an app that could use the camera to monitor and track the roulette wheel's motion and the ball, and predict with reasonable accuracy a block of 3 to 5 slots where the ball would land.
