5 Next To Useless Android Features

Gimmicks have always been around, but what can brazenly be termed as useless is more a matter of user perspective. In this article we list a few features which are very popular but, in our opinion, can be overlooked.

Find My Phone

There are number of apps which let you track your phone, but they rarely help when actually needed. First of all, with modern smartphones and associated battery crisis, no one leaves GPS tracking on unless absolutely required. Besides if your phone is actually stolen, the first thing any remotely sane thief will do is turn it off. And if somehow you manage to track your stolen phone, it is very bad idea to confront rouges by yourself.

Find your phone apps might be useful at times when your phone snuggles behind your sofa cushion and is on silent mode, but more often than not, it is a feature which won’t help when you need it the most.

Also Read:5 Floating Android Apps That Can Enhance Your Productivity

Dolby Atmos

Dolby Atmos or object based audio, is a good thing if you are in a Dolby Atmos movie theatre watching a Dolby Atmos compatible movie or even if you have a Dolby Atoms home theatre system, but on a smartphone, the difference isn’t a significant one. Not to mention that Dolby Atmos content isn’t as readily available.

So if you are choosing your next smartphone enchanted by the prospect of this immersive audio experience, you might want to reconsider.

Front LED Flash

Low ambient lighting has been the eternal enemy of selfies. The fornt camera sensors are smaller than the rear counterparts and are already struggling for every photon of light. In comes the LED flash for front cameras, but when has it actually helped?

While talking about rear cameras OEMs justify dual Color flashes as true tone flashes, how then is a single LED expected to make a meaningful difference to your selfies? Want well lit selfies? Shoot in well-lit conditions rather than relying on a front LED flash or even retina flash. And while we are still talking about selfies, you might very well add the ‘beautify’ feature to this list

Antivirus Apps

In 2015 we have had a deluge of Android malware and exploits, but you still don’t need to download a dedicated app. By nature, ‘Viruses’ can duplicate and spread themselves on your Android phone as they do on your PC. Just download apps from secure sources and beware of apps that ask for bewildering permissions. The whole permission process is more transparent in Marshmallow.

It is possible for your phone to be infected by malware on Android, but keeping an Antivirus app running in the background isn’t any solution. You will soon be annoyed by exacting pop ups and battery drainage.

Gestures

Now this may not be completely true. While some gesture features work as intended, most of them are huge pain. Features like smart pause, smart scroll, blow to unlock, wave to take screenshot or almost all proximity sensor and camera dependent gestures are highly unreliable.

Only gestures that work are on-screen gestures. These include double tap to wake, double tap to open an app, swipe up to launch a missile, swipe down to sink a ship, etc. etc. Rest of the so called smart-gestures are fads which you better off without.

Wrap-up

You can add to this list features like heart rate sensor, face detection unlock, dual mode capture, and numerous others which are specific to particular OEMs. Particularly irritated by a smart feature? Vent in the comment section below.