smartphone

Posts

How To Scan Without A Scanner

November 14, 2014/in Online Fax /by KateH

A dedicated scanner is an important tool for many offices, no matter what the size of the company. But it doesn’t have to be your go-to machine for scanning documents. There are a few ways to use your smartphone as a scanner, which we’ll take a look at here.

Using Your Phone’s Camera

Smartphone cameras are more advanced than ever, making it easy to snap a decent picture of a document, receipt, or business card.

To use your phone’s camera to scan, you would simply take a photo and either save or share it in cloud storage, or send it in an email.

It’s worth noting that this method probably works best for smaller items like receipts and business cards. It would be harder to clearly capture a document that’s heavy in text with a smartphone camera, and any variation in lighting will make it even more difficult to read.

Dedicated Scanning Apps

If you plan to use your smartphone for more than just the once-in-a-while scan, it’s probably worth looking into a scanning app. There are several free versions out there that will take your smartphone images a step further. Many apps will convert scanned text into editable documents or PDFs, too.

For Android users, Google Drive has a built-in scanning function. Once you snap a photo of the document, Google Drive will separate the document from the rest of the photo you can save it as a PDF, not just an image.

Evernote also has an integrated scanning feature. Like Google Drive, it will convert a photo of your document to a PDF, saving it to your Evernote account.

For iPhone users, DocScan is another great free scanning app. The app snaps a picture of the document, and then crops and straightens the page. It will group pages together to create PDFs, and it will also let you enhance the document if you need to increase the contrast on the page. Once you’re ready to save or share the document, you can share by email, export it into iBooks or your photo album, or export it into Dropbox, Evernote, Box, and Google Docs. See the images below for an example of an image captured on an iPhone camera (top) compared with that same image enhanced in DocScan. After the image is saved, DocScan gives you a screen with options for exporting it.

For both iPhones and Androids, CamScanner has a basic free version that converts images into proper text, and lets you add annotations to share with contacts. Genius Scan is another free scanning app that works on both Android and iPhones. Like the others, it allows you to enhance images, export PDFs and store images in cloud storage.

If you’re doing a large amount of scanning, a desktop scanner is probably still going to be a necessity for you. But for occasional use, a smartphone’s convenience is a great tool that untethers you from a clunky item.

Top Online Fax Providers With Smartphone Apps

August 21, 2014/in Online Fax /by KateH

The advent of online fax services meant no more being tethered to a fax machine. Then smartphones came along, and furthered the mobility aspect of online faxing. Smartphone faxing apps turn your device into a fax machine on the go, allowing you to create, send, receive and manage faxes. Here, we take a look at the fax providers that offer apps for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry devices.

MetroFax: All three of the plans MetroFax offers include apps for iPhone and Android. Its Essential plan includes 500 total pages for $7.95 per month, the Value plan includes 1,000 total pages for $12.95 per month, and the Professional plan includes 2,500 total pages for $35.95 per month. All three plans come with a 30-day trial. MetroFax’s plans are a great deal, and are among the most competitively priced out there.

MetroFax has won praise for its very intuitive iOS and Android apps. The service also offers HIPAA compliance and Office integration, allowing you to fax directly from programs like Word, Excel, and Outlook. Its optional desktop software, MetroFax Printer, lets you print faxes automatically and sync with Yahoo! Mail contacts, among other features.

RingCentral: RingCentral is another feature-laden service with three tiers of plans. Its Fax 700 costs $8.89 per month and includes 700 total pages, the Fax 1000 plan includes 1,000 total pages per month for $17.99, and the Fax 2500 includes 2,500 total pages at $59.99 per month. Its 700 Plan is a fantastic deal, although its high volume plan is pricier than those of competitors. But RingCentral does provide very good reliability and support, and a wide range of features.

In addition to the smartphone apps for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry, RingCentral’s plans include electronic signatures (eSigning) and Microsoft Office integration.

eFax: eFax offers two plans, Plus and Pro. Plus includes 150 inbound and 150 outbound pages at $16.95 per month, and Pro includes 200 inbound and 200 outbound pages at $19.95 per month. While the services are both feature rich and reliable, that’s significantly pricier than other fax services.

eFax offers apps for iPhones and Android phones, and its services are HIPAA compliant. It also offers the ability to eSign documents and fax them back, as well as Microsoft Office integration and 24/7 phone support. eFax is the only company to include all of those features in one service.

Android Faxing Apps

April 29, 2014/in Online Fax /by KateH

Send and Receive Faxes Directly from Your Android Device

An online fax service gives many small businesses the ability to send and receive faxes without being tied to a landline. More and more online fax services have also started offering smartphone apps, which let you do your faxing right from your phone, instead of going through a website or email. We wrote recently about faxing services that provide iPhone apps; here we’ve featured services that offer Android apps.

(Note: each company’s app is free, but you must be a subscriber of their service to use it.)

MetroFax: MetroFax‘s Value and Essential plans, which allow for 500 and 1,000 pages per month respectively, come with an Android app which lets you turn your phone into a fax machine by either faxing attachments from your phone, or snapping a picture of a document to fax. The app also allows you to view sent faxes, use contact information on your phone to address faxes, and forward faxes to another fax number or email address, and it supports cloud based printing.

RingCentral: RingCentral’s app lets users send and receive faxes by accessing photos, email attachments and cloud storage (Dropbox & Box). One significant limitation is that although RingCentral gives you the ability to e-sign documents using their softphone, desktop application, you can’t e-sign faxes using the app. On the flip side, if you are a RingCentral Professional or Office customer, the app also lets you manage your business phone system from your Android. Phone system features of the app include showing your RingCentral business number as caller ID when you make calls, business SMS feature to send and receive texts with your local RingCentral number, and the ability to make VoIP calls over WiFi without using carrier minutes.

eFax: This app lets users create and send faxes with a phone camera, cloud storage or email attachments, and also lets you sign faxes with your finger on the touchscreen, or take a picture of your signature and use that. It also lets you print faxes directly from your phone or tablet using Google Cloud Print.