Have you recently upgraded to a new Nokia Lumia Windows Phones? What did you do with your old phone? Of course, you could recycle it with Nokia. Or, you could hold on to it, and put that older smartphone to work for you as one piece in your own personal photo-surveillance arsenal.
So, how is that possible? With a new app by California-based MobiAppLines LLC called “Gotya”, which makes it possible for you to easily set up a personal and private mobile photo-surveillance system anywhere that you want keep an eye on things (such as your home or office).
“Gotya works perfectly with smartphone cameras that consumers may no longer be using on a regular basis, giving new life to older, but still useful devices,” says Martin Barclay, MobiAppLines Co-Founder. “Using Gotya, you can save hundreds of dollars on surveillance equipment and avoid long-term, costly commitments to traditional surveillance companies.”
When you use Gotya, you can use up to four smartphones, either Windows Phones or Symbian (S60 5.0 and S^3) devices, as motion-detection cameras connected to a cloud-based service (this is where the images are stored for you). There is also a smartphone and Web-based camera remote controller, so that you can take snapshots, get automatic audio, picture, and email alerts, and have instant picture upload to the cloud when motion is detected from any of your smartphone cameras that are connected to the service.
The Gotya mobile app for Windows Phone 7.5 and 8 includes the motion detection camera capability available in the Symbian version, as well as the camera remote controller, so you can take instant snapshots and remotely control the settings of any of the motion-detection cameras you have associated with your account. You can also use the remote controller as a Web app on browsers with Microsoft Silverlight 4.0 or later.
The Gotya cloud service includes the camera remote controller, instant picture and audio alerts, email alerts with a link to the picture that has been uploaded, and picture gallery.
Gotya costs a fraction of conventional photo and video surveillance solutions; and it is both ad-free, and a private service that does not share, rent or sell the account information, pictures or metadata from its users. You only need to provide an email address to set up a Gotya account.
Right now, Gotya for Symbian and Windows Phone is priced at $1.99 (USD), and the app can be installed on multiple devices under the same Microsoft or Nokia ID, minimizing the per-camera cost. The optional Gotya cloud service is free for the first 60 days; and ongoing subscriptions are available for as little as $1 (USD) per month.
More information is available from the Gotya website. Use either of the QR codes below to download the app directly to your phone.
Gotya in Windows Phone Store:
Gotya in Nokia Store:
Do you have anything that you need to keep a close watch over? Share your thoughts about how you might put Gotya and your old smartphones to work for you in the Comments below.