While most electronic equipment can be recycled, they can be put to better use in a number of surprising ways
With new and better phones, tablets and computers being released all the time, most of us have a few old pieces of tech lying around. While they might still work, we just don’t use them.
While most electronic equipment can be recycled, it can also be used in surprising ways. The team at tech website Android Police has come up with five things you can do with old tech and gadgets…
Turn an old phone into a digital audio player
The easiest way to do this is to factory reset your device and install the music apps you want. You can listen through the phone’s speaker, or, for better sound quality, hook it up to speakers via an AUX cable through the headphone socket (if it has one) or use Bluetooth. If you’re willing to put in a bit of extra work, you can install a custom suite of apps dedicated to music playback created by GitHub user Azer Abdullaev by clicking here.
Turn an old phone or tablet into a touchpad or input device
While using a mouse is still by far the most common way of interfacing with a computer, touchpads are also an intuitive way to work. You’ll need to install an app – AndroidPolice recommends Matric, saying: “It has a bit of a learning curve to make it work for you, but it can do nearly anything you need it to do.”
Turn an old phone into a webcam
Webcams are essential in the modern world of remote working, but many computers and monitors still don’t come with them built-in. That’s where your old phone can come in handy. Many modern phones actually have webcam functionality built-in, and there are many apps available for those that don’t. AndroidPolice recommends DroidCam, or Iriun if you have a Mac.
Turn an old phone or tablet into a weather station
Handy when you need to decide whether you’ll need a brolly or sunglasses, all you need is an app – and there’s many available on all the major app stores. You’ll need to set up your device so it doesn’t go to sleep, and you’ll also want to keep it plugged in as keeping the screen on constantly will be a drain on the battery.
You should also use an app that refreshes automatically without the need for manual refreshing so it displays the most up-to-date data. If you have your own weather monitoring equipment, Weather Underground can integrate with it and use it to provide the most up-to-date information.
Turn an old TV or monitor into a smart display
Most of us have an old out-of-date TV or computer monitor or two lying around, and it’s not too difficult to turn them into a smart display. These can be used for almost anything, including controlling devices such as video doorbells and thermostats, keeping shopping lists, leaving notes for family members, watching news feeds, and almost anything else you can imagine.
Setting one up isn’t difficult and there are lots of guides available online to help you. You will need a basic programmable device such as a Raspberry Pi connected to the screen – or an old computer can do the job too. Then you’ll need a smart board app – Android Police recommends DAKBoard – which is a subscription service – or Magic Mirror – which is free, but is more complicated to set up and run.