Upgrading your smartphone or tablet will leave you with a decision: What to do with your old device?
Trading in, donating, or recycling retired gear are popular options, such as passing on a serviceable phone to a family member sharing your wireless carrier account. But you have countless other ways to get more productive use from outdated hardware without spending much money on it.
Here are a few ideas to get more use from your demoted device.
Make a Media Machine
Need an extra television in the kitchen or home office? Your old phone or tablet can increase if you subscribe to a TV provider or streaming service. Download your TV provider’s app (like Spectrum cable or Verizon Fios) or your separate service (Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Fubo. tv, Netflix, or whatever) and log into your account. Prop up the device near an outlet, so it can run on electrical power while you watch since chances are good that the old machine has a worn-out battery.
Likewise, parking your old phone in a speaker cradle that also charges gives you a bookshelf sound system for music and podcasts. Or you can keep the phone connected to its charger and stream music to a nearby wireless Bluetooth speaker. Powered speaker docks can be found online for around $40, and a wide variety is available. Wirecutter, the product-testing and review site owned by The New York Times, has suggestions for Bluetooth speakers, general audio gear, and those shopping on a budget.
Old tablets can serve as dedicated e-book readers, even if you must charge them frequently or keep them plugged in. Credit…Apple: Even if they have to stay tethered to a charger, old tablets also make good dedicated e-book readers or digital picture frames for photo slide shows.
Control Your World
Smart home appliances, music libraries, internet-connected televisions — so many things can be controlled by apps, so why not convert your old phone or tablet into an all-purpose universal remote? Third-party remote apps abound, but many tech companies (Amazon, Apple, Google, LG Electronics, Roku, and Samsung, to name a few) have their programs. Just take a stroll through your app store for software that matches up with your hardware. App stores contain a mix of official apps (like the Roku software shown here) and third-party options to control smart appliances and streaming TV devices remotely. Credit…Google; Roku
(Apple, which used to have a stand-alone Remote app, folded the Apple TV remote software into the operating system in iOS 12 but still has an iTunes Remote app for iPhone/iPad users to control their iTunes music collections. Stored on Macs and PCs.) And even if you haven’t lost the tiny stick remote that came with your set-top streamer yet, the onscreen keyboard included with most apps makes it easier to type in passwords.
