8 creative ways to use your old cell phone

The smartphone market Never stops: It seems like every month there's a new device being released, and always bringing some new technology. cell phones with foldable screen, internet 5G, batteries that recharge in a few minutes…the availability of devices is so great that, many times, people feel compelled to change their cell phone even if the device they use is still working. And then an impasse is created: what to do with the old cell phone when buying a new one?

Even if it's a little old, it's a shame to just throw a smartphone that still works in the trash – mainly because they can still be used for other functions. So, here are some options for what to do with your old device.

Turn it into a universal controller

With each passing year, technology gets more and more “smart”, with TVs, refrigerators, lamps, sound systems and practically any part of the house connecting to the internet and interacting with each other to facilitate the daily lives of users. . But one thing that is not very “smart” is the way we control this technology: if these devices do not have a well-configured voice recognition (and, in the case of the Portuguese language, many brands still do not work with the recognition of commands in our native language), it can be a little tricky to have quick access to all the technologies that exist in the house.

This can be easily circumvented by turning an old cell phone into a kind of “universal remote”, leaving all the apps necessary to connect to the devices in the house installed on it – and only those apps and no others, as this will allow you to quickly find the correct program for each situation. So, everything you need to control in your home through an app (you can use an app like iRule to control different devices, from the power of the lights, your sound system or even choosing what to watch on TV) can be done by a single device and without having to worry about occupying the memory of your main smartphone with these apps.

Make the most of the camera

Even if you no longer use your old cell phone to make calls or browse the internet, there's a good chance it has a working camera, and it can be very useful in many situations.

One of them is to turn the device into a security camera. All you need to do is install a monitoring application on it (the Alfred is a good free example, which can be found for both Android how much for iOS), and then leave your old device with the app running to record everything that is happening. 

You can leave your cell phone indoors (for example, to watch if your dog is destroying the house while you work) or outside (to film the movement that happens at the entrance of your house, for example), and the application still allows that you not only record the images and send them to servers in the cloud, but also that you access the image from the live cameras at any time.

Another possibility is also to turn your unused device into a baby monitor, since in addition to the live transmission of images, the app also has the option of two-way audio, allowing you not only to hear when your baby starts to cry but also to talk to him through the cell phone to try to calm him down. 

Turn your cell phone into a portable video game

Even if your old cell phone isn't exactly the most powerful, it can be a very useful device for those who like an old video game. An interesting option for this is the use of the smartboy mobile device da Hyperkin, an adapter that turns your cell phone into a real Game Boy – even running the original cartridges for the Nintendo device. The accessory can be found for sale on the internet for about R$300, being an option mainly for collectors (not least because you need to have Nintendo's portable cartridges to be able to play).

But, if you don't want to spend that much (or even don't want to spend anything) there are a multitude of free emulators of old consoles that you can find in stores like Play Store and App Store, and allow you to play the games that marked your childhood on your cell phone. In addition, Sega has a whole line of Mega Drive and Master System classics available for free for smartphones, including titles such as Sonic 2, Golden Ax e Phantasy Star that run lag-free even on older smartphones.

Turn your phone into a Google Home

If your old smartphone is an Android, it is very simple to turn it into a “homemade” Google Home device. All you need to do is make sure that the device you want to use has the latest Android update (so that it recognizes the voice command “OK Google) and then get yourself a Bluetooth box – it can be one of those simpler ones, like that the street vendor sells on the edge of the beach. 

With both in hand, just keep your old cell phone paired via Bluetooth with the box and – voila! – you will have a Google Home device at home that has all the same functions as the Google device, but with an extremely low sound (and that may even have been free if you also already have a unused Bluetooth speaker at home).

Use as MP3 Player

Anyone who is always riding public transport knows two things: that you can't depend on the internet to access your music (especially if you need to take the subway) and that having your playlists saved on your phone takes up a lot of memory. So why not leave your old device just for that?

Instead of weighing your main smartphone's memory, you can turn your old cell phone into a kind of mp3 player, leaving only the applications you use to access your music and podcasts installed on it, such as Spotify or the Deezer. In addition to freeing up space on your main device, you may be able to save even more songs than before, as all memory will be dedicated to storing songs and podcasts, not having to share space with social networking apps, games, photos and videos . Best of all, you'll never again have your favorite music interrupted at the best part because a telemarketing robot is calling you to offer you a new data plan.

Turn your old cell phone into a wireless mouse

This is a good tip for journalists, designers and any professional who turns and moves and needs to work with a notebook away from home: just download a wireless mouse app on your old device (the Remote Mouse is a good free option, and is available for both Android how much for iOS), ensure that the device and the computer are connected to the same network, and that's it! You already have a wireless mouse ready to go anywhere.

One of the advantages of this technique is that you can leave your cell phone lying in your bag or backpack and always use it when you forget to grab a real mouse before leaving the house. In addition, it is not necessary to use batteries, and even if the battery runs out in the middle of use, just connect it to a source and continue with the work. 

Play football with friends

One possibility that we haven't raised here is that you've become so angry with your old device that you don't want to use it for anything else. Maybe it's already in a deplorable state, taking five minutes to turn on and enter the home screen, crashing whenever you try to open any app, and with the screen already cracked, and you just haven't changed your device in a while because you lacked means ( $$$). 

In this case, a good way to take out all the anger you have about your old device is to call some close friends to play a little football – and use your cell phone as a ball. The rule doesn't matter: goal for goal, three touches, go-to-leg-in-the-butt, whatever. What really counts is that there's something therapeutic about kicking a device that has let you down for so long.

Dispose correctly

But if, even with all the options presented, you find that your old cell phone is so old that it's really useless for anything other than going to the trash, it's important that this disposal is done correctly, and that under no circumstances do you throw the device in the general waste.

This is because these devices have in their components a series of elements (such as lead) that are extremely toxic to the environment, and throwing these devices in the common trash can pollute the soil and groundwater in a virtually irreversible way.

So, if you really are going to throw a cell phone in the trash, first contact the manufacturer's customer service to find out the correct electronics disposal place closest to your home. Authorized resellers and technical assistance usually receive older cell phones to dispose of properly, but in some cities it is possible to find special trash bins for electronics in places of high concentration of public, such as supermarkets, banks and universities. When in doubt, it is always legal to contact the manufacturer and ask for the nearest disposal site to your home, so that you do not run the risk of losing your trip.

Source: CNet, eCycle