19 great ideas to take advantage of old smartphones

Modern technology is growing at breakneck speed. New gadgets, new services, new applications . constantly appear regularly, making things that were previously released obsolete in a few weeks (or even in just a few weeks) some days). And this may not be more true for smartphones - mobile devices that almost 100% of people want to own at least one.

For example, consider the phone running the Android operating system. Every year, all device manufacturers (including large and small) release flagship phones that integrate the latest technologies both in software and hardware. And a large number of happy consumers opened their "purse" only with the desire to become one of the first to "touch" them and look forward to the next great thing. Most of them started to put their old phones aside or put them in a display cabinet even though no one claimed that they were no longer useful. The question is, is it really possible to put smartphones into "glass cabinets" just because they are not integrated with the fastest processor and the latest version of the Android operating system?

No need to be confused anymore because 100% you can still use them and this article will help you both be able to use a new phone, and can make good use of very simple old phone again extremely economical. Let's explore it.

1. Turn your old phone into an IP surveillance camera

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If you want to monitor every static in your home or office even when you're absent, an old smartphone will help you fulfill this desire, as long as it has a good camera and you've downloaded some support applications. like IP Webcam or TinyCam Monitor . Just take a moment to install and you can stream live video remotely via any browser to view all areas of the house. Some professional software even allows you to automatically record videos and upload them to cloud services to see when needed.

2. Turn your old phone into a digital photo frame

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Is there a large number of family photos that you really want them to be displayed next to your bed or on your desk at all times? At this point, use an old Android phone (or better, if you have a tablet) to turn your desire into reality. Just download an application like Digital Photo Frame , change some default configurations and you can start using. These applications often have a lot of customization options, such as random image slideshows, sound effects, and even display battery status and time.

3. Turn your old phone into an offline GPS navigation device

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Whether you are moving to a new city or stuck in congested traffic, having a GPS navigation device is essential. At this point, an old Android smartphone can be "spell-free" to become a pretty good offline GPS navigation tool. All you need to do is install some applications like Google Maps and HERE Maps on your phone. In addition to the ability to download offline maps, users also experience a variety of attractive features such as voice-guided (turn-by-turn) support, automatic transfer and others.

4. Turn your old phone into a media server

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Most of us store a variety of songs, movies and videos on smartphones. So how to stream these multimedia content on large screen devices? Simply transfer your media data to your old Android phone (even better if it has expandable memory), install an application like Plex or BubbleUPnP and launch it. These services support a lot of DLNA compatible devices and even digital players like Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV .

5. Turn your old phone into a Retro game simulator

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Specialized devices such as Xbox and PlayStation can make "childhood" games become "past" to smartphone users, but the retro game genre today still stands on the market because of its unique appeal. hard to compare. If you're craving for Game Boy Advance or Nintendo's old classic game, an old Android phone and a simulated application (such as John NES and My OldBoy! ) Is enough to get started.

6. Turn Android into a remote control device

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There are many digital gadgets that we use (like TV, digital music player, air conditioner .) every day, all come with separate remote controllers. In fact, fumbling with these devices is very troublesome. However, you will not have to experience that discomfort if you know how to turn old smartphones into a "general" remote control device for all smart devices in your home. All you need to do is install a supported application such as Easy Universal TV Remote or Peel Smart Remote and although, most applications that require your Android phone must be integrated with IR Blaster infrared port but Some can even work only with Wi-Fi.

7. Turn your old phone into a perfect ebook reader

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Even if you don't have a dedicated eBook reader like the Nook Simple Touch or Kindle , you can still turn your old Android phone into a very simple ebook reader. Just install an application like Kindle or Nook, download some free eBooks and you can experience it right away. In addition, these gadgets also support a variety of e-book formats, allowing data synchronization via the cloud, nighttime reading support for eye protection and some other interesting features.

8. Turn your old phone into a WiFi hotspot

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Wireless connection is great, but WiFi is not always available. In such a case, download some applications that turn your Android device into WiFi Hotspot like mHotspot , then activate and immediately connect other devices to this network to surf the web.

9. Turn your old phone into a perfect media player

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We all use smartphones to listen to music and watch movies. So, why not use an old Android phone just to enjoy media content when you have a new "phone"? It's easy to do. Just remove all unnecessary apps / bloatware from your phone, copy photos, music, videos, etc. to your phone and connect your smartphone to a large headset or speaker. Of course, to do this you also need to install a good "mobile" player as well as a dual device support application.

10. Turn old phone into backup battery (Power Bank)

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Power Bank is one of the necessary solutions to help you timely supply power to your phone's battery when it cannot be charged directly. If you have a smartphone with enough battery information, you can turn it into a simple, easy-to-use battery charger.

11. Turn your old phone into an alarm clock

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If your smartphone can't call, text, blur . but still be able to install the app, don't rush to throw it away. By, just download some alarm apps like Alarmy or Mimicker Alarm that you can turn your old phone into a very simple alarm clock.

12. Turn your old phone into a DSLR Controller

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DSLR cameras are indispensable for professional photographers. Just install the DSLR Controller application and you can make the smartphone seemingly no longer useful to become a very simple camera control device. No need to root the device but still ensure to bring a lot of great features such as adjusting focus, viewing or zooming images .

13. Turn your tablet into a secondary monitor for your PC

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One of the ways to utilize old tablets, especially touch-sensitive tablets, is to turn them into extra screens for computers. Even tablets with 7-inch screens can also be useful when used to display chat screens, monitor email inboxes or social networks. You can also use your old tablet to play videos or control music while focusing your PC screen on more important tasks.

14. Turn old smartphone into Air Mouse

You can absolutely use a smartphone as a remote control for your PC. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection and a mouse emulator application on the smartphone that comes with a PC control application.

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On iPhone, Mobile Mouse is a great option with common touch gestures like 2-finger scrolling. The Pro version costs $ 2 ( about 45,000 VND ) to bring up a few more advanced touch gestures, such as sliding hands accelerated ( continue to roll after dropping hands off the screen ). Mobile Mouse version on Android does not work as well as the iOS version, so the best choice for fans of the green robot will be the Unified Remote.

Both Mobile Mouse and Unified Remote support voice recording from the phone's microphone to the PC, so you can freely use Google Now ( and the future is Cortana on Windows 10 ) remotely.

15. Turn the tablet into a high-end "Control Center" for Windows

Thanks to a much larger screen area than smartphones, the tablet can bring more features. With a small investment, you can turn your old tablet into a pretty high-end monitor for your PC.

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IPad users should try the Action , an application that costs $ 5 ( about 110,000 VND ) that can bring dozens of PC support features. You can open new applications on Chrome , activate the desktop, open the search bar, control music / videos and perform many other features on Windows. Even this application supports Mac. All you need to do is download the Actions on the iPad and install the included control application on Windows / Mac.

On Android, you can buy the premium version of Unified Remote ( price 4 USD / nearly 90,000 VND ). While the quality of the Unified Remote has not yet reached the size of Actions, it still has its own strengths, such as the ability to create customized dashboards for each application or the ability to customize it within. application.

16. Turn your tablet into a home file storage server

Due to its limited capacity, smartphones and tablets are clearly unable to provide the same storage experience as dedicated network hard drives. However, you can still use your old mobile devices to store Office documents or other small file types. You can also add SD cards for Android tablets / smartphones to increase storage capacity. In addition, due to the built-in battery and small power consumption, smartphones and tablets can act as " personal clouds " when the computer is turned off.

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To save the file you need to access to your smartphone / tablet, you can use the regular plug-in method. Or, you can install the BitTorrent Sync application on both your computer and smartphone to synchronize data between your mobile device and your PC.

The easiest way to remotely access files saved on Android is through the AirDroid application. After installing the application and logging in ( with your own account or Google account ), you can access the saved files on your Android smartphone / tablet via the web.airdroid.com homepage. Note that in order to do this, you need to cancel the power saving setting on the AirDroid application.

17. Turn your old phone into a desktop or document scanner

One of the most practical features that a smartphone / tablet can complement a PC is a computer feature. The reason is that typing numbers on the large touch screen is obviously easier than using a mouse on a PC. If you want to take advantage of this basic feature, you can go to PCalc for iOS and RealCalc for Android . Both applications are available for free, and you can also upgrade to a paid version to get more sophisticated computing features.

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You can also take advantage of cameras on smartphones and tablets as scanners. The best application for this feature is CamScanner ( available on both iOS and Android ). Like many other applications mentioned in the article, CamScanner has a free version with basic features and a paid version ( 5 USD / 110,000 VND per month ) with more advanced features.

18. Used as a dedicated device for voice and video calling

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If your laptop doesn't have excess RAM or CPU, you can transfer all Skype or Hangouts applications to the old smartphone / tablet. In this way, you will save both screen space and processing resources for your PC. Of course, smartphones and tablets always have built-in cameras, microphones and built-in speakers, but you can buy a tripod cover to put the mobile device on the table in a more suitable position.

19. Use as an idea writing / drawing device

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Multitasking capabilities on iOS and Android are still very limited, but sometimes this will help you less distracting at work. Therefore, old iPads or Android tablets can turn into " secondary laptops " so you can focus on ideas for the latest presentation. Note applications like Evernote , Google Keep or OneNote will help you the most, because the notes content will always be updated to the cloud for access from other applications. If you follow this option, you can equip yourself with a Bluetooth keyboard for your tablet.

If you like drawing, you can download Lucidchart or Ideament applications . The stylus, which recognizes the sharpness / boldness, will also be more helpful in getting your idea up.