External microphone through the headset port Especially problematic seems to be recording loud sounds, such as concerts, although even those capabilities are improving. Newer phones have two or three microphones, but differ quite a bit in their sound recording abilities. Microphones on various models of phones vary quite a bit. Also very handy is the ability to email the recording, or save it to cloud storage, such as Dropbox. Important things to look for in an app are the ability to: 1) adjust gain levels 2) change sampling rates 3) display the recording levels on the screen, so you can make any adjustments necessary and, perhaps not as important, 4) save the files to multiple formats (at least. I would highly recommend getting a third-party app, as the apps that come with the phone are pretty basic. If you are looking to use your phone as a voice recorder, for recording personal notes, meetings, or impromptu sounds around you, then all you need is a recording app.

Using a microphone plugged in through the charging port.

Using a microphone plugged in through the headset port.

There are 4 basic ways to use your phone as a recorder: Most of this discussion is about Android phones and iPhones tablets are for another day. Below I describe ways to record on your smartphone, with examples of products that might help. But do they make effective sound recorders? That depends on what you are looking (listening) for and what type of phone you have. It seems like smartphones will do anything.

Voice recording windows phone