# The "Wow! I didn't know my device can do that!" thread. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 21, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763 "2017-01-21T21:26:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/21 "2017-01-25T01:58:25Z")
I’ve had the new X3 just a week, so I’m stumbling into new, cool things every day. The coolest thing thus far is discovering that I can save CDs onto the car’s multimedia drive! I also love the heads up display. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/22 "2017-01-25T01:59:30Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > If it’s an S7 Note, all you have to say is “I’ll take it!”. Very cool! What kind of car do you have? ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/23 "2017-01-25T02:55:53Z")
My mum has been taking pictures of her iPad, then emailing me. It’s the 2017 version of printing a page off the internet and putting it in an envelope. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/24 "2017-01-25T03:31:37Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > What do you say to make it go kaboom? 😛 “Drakaris.” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/25 "2017-01-25T14:03:27Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Does a van count as a device? I didn’t know that mine had heated seats until my son borrowed it and left the driver’s side seat on. > > Let me tell you, having your seat suddenly get warm, when you weren’t expecting it, can be worrying for a second. I used to love driving people around who didn’t know I had heated seats, turning it on, and waiting until they wierdly shifted in their seat and said “What the hell is going on?” ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/26 "2017-01-25T15:31:52Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > I didn’t know my Samsung galaxy was programmed at Hogwarts. > > Open the Google voice search thingo, say “Lumos” and the torch comes on Oh, God, I am so trying that when I’m not at work. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/27 "2017-01-25T15:46:28Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > Very cool! What kind of car do you have? My brain app tells me that you quoted the wrong post! ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/28 "2017-01-25T16:04:08Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I just realized that I could place calls with my dial phone by tapping the hang-up switch. In 1975 I opened up the phone switch panel in the hallway of my college dorm and was able to place calls on other people’s phones by tapping on the contacts with a headphone jack, then laying the jack across the contacts to hear it ring. Then I could hear it connect, but no way for me to talk. > [@Grrr](#): > > You can now use the word “Computer” to wake your Amazon Echo. I have a Dot and wish the wake word could be “Hal.” (One of the little Easter eggs is “Alexa, open the pod bay doors.”) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/29 "2017-01-25T21:04:23Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > You can now use the word “Computer” to wake your Amazon Echo. (You have to change your wake word under settings first though) Oh, man. I could pretend I was Scotty. > [@Barbarian](#): > > My mum has been taking pictures of her iPad, then emailing me. > > It’s the 2017 version of printing a page off the internet and putting it in an envelope. My kids had to show me which buttons to push to make my phone take a snapshot of my boarding pass (on the screen). That way it doesn’t matter how bad the connection is in the airport, I still have access to a usable pass. I guess that counts as something I didn’t know my device could do. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/30 "2017-01-25T22:53:55Z")
Not my device but an app. I downloaded an app called ereader prestigio which has a function where you can turn an ebook into an audiobook. The app will read the book to you so you can listen over your phone. That is nice, I didn’t know they had that function on ereaders. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/31 "2017-01-25T23:02:02Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Not my device but an app. I downloaded an app called ereader prestigio which has a function where you can turn an ebook into an audiobook. The app will read the book to you so you can listen over your phone. That is nice, I didn’t know they had that function on ereaders. I want this! Thanks for sharing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/32 "2017-01-26T03:40:46Z")
My phone (Samsung Note 5) has a pulse oximeter built into the structure of the camera flash. I found this out when I was sick a few months back and had this vague idea that maybe the fingerprint sensor might allow that feature. I did some searching and found out that yes, but it’s on the flash vs. the home button / fingerprint sensor. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763/33 "2017-01-26T17:46:55Z")
Many phones and tablets incorporate IR Blaster hardware and support. That means that with the appropriate application, your mobile device is a perfectly serviceable (and potentially surreptitious) remote control for your TV, your cable box. etc. This is a feature that I’ve never seen marketed or even mentioned in manufacturer documentation (Samsung and LG, I’m looking at you). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wow-i-didnt-know-my-device-can-do-that-thread/777763.md?page=1)