For the past few years, we are addicted to phones as if as a drug is not given you are going to die. We are behaving like it is part of our body without which we can’t exist. And now, in India, almost everyone is having a piece of technology in their pocket. This has led to unique uses for the phone in the country – the world’s fastest growing market for mobile phones with 900 million subscribers. The mobile phone in India has many uses other than making calls and sending messages. Here are some unusual Indian uses for the mobile phone.

Missed Calls

Giving missed calls where the caller disconnects after a ring or two is hugely popular in India and is often used as a way to pass on “the message” without being charged for a call.

Children and employees use the facility regularly to “communicate” with their parents or employers. Missed calls are also used extensively for marketing purposes. Many of marketing agencies like Telebuy missed call service to sell their items.

The missed call is also popular in Africa, the Philippines, and Bangladesh, but in India, it has been converted into a business now estimated at over $100m

Delhi-based technology writer Prasanto K Roy says a start-up, ZipDial, lets over 100 companies such as Proctor & Gamble, Cadbury, Colgate and Disney allow customers to request a sample or service or give feedback, all via a missed call.

Indian political party-AamAadmi party gets in touch with callers in order to enroll in their party.

Torch

Because of poorly lit streets and frequent power outages, many pedestrians in India carry torches. So when Nokia offered the “torch” feature on its popular mobile handset, it became an instant hit and soon other manufacturers too jumped onto the bandwagon.

When smartphones entered the market, they gave up other popular features like FM radio, but retained the flashlight, placing them right next to the camera for easier access.

The Radio

There are about 200FM stations across India,which provide wide choice of FM selection. Most of the people use their mobile phones to listen FM programs as an entertainment source. Many of the low-end phones sold in the market now come with this feature.The smartphones which donot have this feature, use third-party apps like Tune-in to access FM stations. India’s national radio broadcaster All India Radio has also introduced mobile apps to enable live radio streaming for smartphone users.

Scanner / Copier

One of the most common uses of mobile camera in India is to scan or take photos of documents

For instance, those filling up forms for a bank loan or a government identity card may want to keep a copy of it. But as photocopier machines are not available at all places, how do they do it? They turn to mobiles.

Students too use their mobiles to scan their study material which may save their time in writing.

Alternate to YouTube

A couple of NGOs like Access Agriculture and Digital Green offer a call-in service to farmers and rural people to listen to an audio version of videos.

The NGOs help farmers create and share videos and lets them log in to view the videos. But since all of these services are available to those who have access to the internet, what happens to others? Those who are in areas with poor internet connectivity?

Well, they can still listen to the audio version of a video clip.

We might have missed some points, we love to hear from you, please share your opinions, comments by commenting below.