If you only knew what your phone could do – Smartphones and the Connected Home

After reading the June blog post by Knowlton Thomas on “Why Canadians use their smartphones for dumb things,” it got me thinking about the main functionalities I’m using my smartphone for, the most common questions our customers are asking us about their smartphones and the capabilities most people don’t even know their phone could do.

As outlined in Knowlton’s blog post, based on a report from comScore, the two most popular activities done on smartphones are texting (64.5 per cent) and taking photos (48.9 per cent) – why are we using our “smart” phones for two of the most basic functionalities that are possible on almost any regular mobile phone? Why aren’t we taking advantage of the “brain” power that is literally at our fingertips? That’s where the Best Buy Mobile Specialists come in.

Ever heard of the Connected Home? It’s a concept that essentially describes the ecosystem of our technology and how we can connect it all together in our home (and out of the home too) to make our content available on the platform we want it on, when and where we want it – and as easy to access as possible. The center piece of the Connect Home? The smartphone.

Thinking of the smartphone as the control centre of the Connected Home, it is the first of the four key screens that most households now contain. The other three include the laptop/desktop, television and tablet. Through your smartphone, you have the capability to control the functionalities on your smart TV; control the music on your tablet, iPod or television; access your TV, digital cable box, or streaming box to control your content – whether it’s recording or downloading movies or music, moving content from one device to another or organizing photos. Pretty cool, right?

Using the Dlink app, through your smartphone you can monitor the security from your home from wherever you are. It also works great as a baby cam for our customers who travel a lot for business, they can see their kids sleeping at night and know they’re safe.

Skype is another great app that can be used through your smartphone, smart TV, computer or tablet (if it’s got a camera). I use it through my flat panel TV so that I can connect with my wife and new baby while I’m travelling.

Using Apple TV, I can send movies and video from my iPhone or access content from my home PC. I can also organize all of my photos to display on my TV at home as wallpaper through my Apple TV – much easier way to share with family and guests than having everyone crowd over the home PC or laptop.

Our smartphones can do a lot more for us than take photos and text message, so don’t waste the brain power of these devices and learn how much more they can do to connect your world.

So how does one go about getting their home to be “connected”? Well you don’t even need to have Internet (though it sure does help to have full functionality), just a wireless router. Or visit a Best Buy store and we can have a Geek Squad Agent come to your house and setup your connected home for just $99. And you can finally start enjoying your smartphone to its full true potential!