How can I utilise my old Android device?
I have a moto g2 lying around for some years. I was wondering if there is anything I can use it for? I don’t plan on inserting a SIM card on it and the battery capacity on it must have reduced quite a lot by now. Can you suggest some ideas which can prevent it from becoming e-waste? (If it hasn’t already become e-waste)
Here’s a few! :)
It’s generally recommended that you put a lighter weight OS onto the phone. Many are available depending on what you want to do and work much better on older devices than android (which updates tend to get heavy and demand more power which unfortunately slows old devices).
I’m planning to do this for a couple old devices and then repurpose them with other uses
Any recommendations for using it as a PC stats monitor? That could be an interesting one for mounting near the PC!
I think the displays may be too small for use as a photo frame or e-reader though (love the Kobo for this).
A lot of people seem to use apps, one called ‘Remote System Monitor’ looks good, and then connect a charging cable to the pc to keep it charged.
Personally I’d love if there is a way to do this not involving phone apps, but instead reducing the old phones capabilities to just a screen and having the pc recognise and use it as one. That could lead to some interesting possibilities.
Absolutely, there are many ways you can repurpose an old Android device. Here are a few ideas:
Digital Clock or Alarm Clock: Install a clock app that can display the time in large digits, and you’ve got yourself a new digital clock. You could even use it as an alarm clock.
Media Controller: If you have a home theater system or a smart TV, you can use the old phone as a dedicated media controller.
E-Book Reader: Install an app like Kindle or Google Play Books and turn your old phone into a dedicated e-book reader.
Security Camera: Apps like Alfred can turn your phone into a security camera. You can place it in a strategic place in your home and watch the live feed from your primary device.
Digital Photo Frame: Load it up with your favorite photos and use it as a digital photo frame.
Dedicated Game Device: There are plenty of games that can run on older devices. You can turn your old phone into a dedicated gaming device.
Fitness Tracker: Install an app that can count steps, measure distance, etc., and use it as a dedicated fitness tracker.
Remote for Smart Home Devices: If you have smart home devices, you could use the old phone as a dedicated control device.
Offline GPS: You can use it as an offline GPS for your car. Apps like Google Maps allow you to download maps for offline use.
Learning Tool for Kids: If you have young children, you could load it up with educational apps and games and give it to them.
Just be aware that the device might not be as fast or responsive as when it was new, and you might have to deal with limited battery life. However, for many of these purposes (like a digital photo frame, e-book reader, or digital clock), you could leave the device plugged in.
I’ve also tried this and was impressed by how well it worked. Image quality can be significantly better than most dedicated security cameras.
Link for convenience: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ivuu
Smart home remote control?
It'll make a good remote display of any kind too.
Do try to see what custom ROM you can load it on, I'm pretty sure you'll need to run a fairly recent version of Android for it to be moderately useful.
The re-usability of a phone is almost nonexistent thanks to the battery, that is a fire hazard. You leave it plugged in as a surveillance camera? Your home burns.
If you can actually remove the battery and power it on without one. Just then is everything back on the table.
If you can’t? Recycle please.
I’m actually using an old Android I had laying around and collecting dust (Huawei P20 Lite), battery was pretty much flopping, but as a Linux user tried to give it a second life and made a sort-of Android TV box of it.
I installed a TV launcher and 2 main apps (SmartTubeNext and Cloudstream), then connected it to my main Linux laptop through cable and run a program called scrcpy which let’s me duplicate the image/audio to a separate window in my laptop. Cheap and dirty, but it works flawlessly.
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