zerowaste

1704 readers

20 users here now

Discussing ways to reduce waste and build community!

Celebrate thrift as a virtue, talk about creative ways to make do, or show off how you reused something!

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net

Looking for some (re-)use cases for older Android smartphones (slrpnk.net)

submitted 2 months ago by Guenther_Amanita@slrpnk.net to c/zerowaste@slrpnk.net

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Up until a few days ago, I've had a Google Pixel 5.

I used it for about 3-4 years, but I had to replace it due to its' hardware failing and it hitting EOL software support wise. Especially the USB-C port is damaged, and the battery is drained in just one blink of an eye.

Said device is now lying around in the drawer, and I want to find a good use out of it. It's still a fine phone. Like all those phones other people have in their drawer. It's probably faster than my homeserver, has cameras, sensors, wireless connections, and much more.

It has GrapheneOS installed, and is still more or less secure, probably even more than 80% of other android phones right now I guess?

**Do you have any ideas for what I can repurpose it? **

I know that there's Octo4a, which can turn it into an Octoprint server for my 3D-printer, but I already have a Raspberry Pi for that, and as said, the phone has an unstable USB connection.

Maybe I could use it for my photography equipment, e.g. as remote shutter?

top 7 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] perniciousanteater@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Dashcam, webcam, or security cam / motion sensor Remote, touchpad, or keyboard for TVs or PCs Smart house controls / mini dashboard

Most of that may require repairing the dodgy USB though...

[–] Tehdastehdas@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Does the keyboard boot up in seconds, so the phone can be stored off and charged once a year like a normal bluetooth keyboard?

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 months ago

Hmm, sadly that device specifically seems to have issues with PostmarketOS: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Google_Pixel_5_(google-redfin)

[–] activistPnk@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

external GPS server

GPS → old phone (calculates position) → bluetooth → current phone

This relieves your current phone of the workload of tracking and calculating a fix, which costs energy. Bluetooth uses much less energy so your current phone only burns energy keeping the LCD lit. It would increase navigation range on a charge because effectively you would be using two batteries. Also avoiding the battery performance hit due to heat because the processing is distributed. The problem is I think no FOSS nav apps support external GPS. There are FOSS apps and drivers to feed and read the mock gps but the nav apps don’t use it.

bluetooth radio receiver:

Old phone has bluetooth enabled and pairs with whoever at the party wants to be the DJ. The headphone output goes to a channel on the (otherwise bluetooth-incapable) mixer or amp.

fake hotspot:

Setup a hotspot with no internet uplink. Use the SSID as a bumper sticker (e.g. “ImpeachTrump_optout_nomap!”). You could theoretically run a web server on the phone which redirects all access attempts to a captive portal that broadcasts whatever msg you want (e.g. anti-Trump memes or announcements for neighbors). It need not give WAN access.

Maybe incorporate Rumble: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.disrupted.rumble/

cryptocurrency:

It could serve as an offline/airgapped cryptocurrency wallet.

car telemetry:

Keep the old phone permanently in the car and attached to the OBD.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 month ago

Saved, thanks!

[–] xylem@beehaw.org 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I use an old phone that doesn't hold a charge as an always-on Home Assistant kiosk. Even if you don't run Home Assistant, there might be some other sort of dashboard-like thing that could be useful to have always visible.

[–] Guenther_Amanita@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 months ago

I actually do even operate my home server with Home Assistant already! :)

But if I feel the need to have a dashboard display somewhere, I would like to use something with an e-ink display instead and then integrate it properly.

But, at least right now, I barely have something one might call a smart home, and therefore not as many use cases for HA just "because it's neat".