GADGET GIZMO SPECIAL SMARTPHONE RECYCLED

GADGET GIZMO SPECIAL SMARTPHONE RECYCLED





Why throw out your old smartphone when you can put it to these creative uses instead

Your old iPhone sits, languishing, in a drawer. An Android handset is stuffed between books on a shelf. Perhaps an old Windows Phone is prop ping a door open. It doesn't have to be this way.

You have plenty of options for reusing your old smartphone. Sure, you could sell it, but why bother when there are so many ways you can reuse it; some more creative than you may have thought.

VR HEADSET

NO, SERIOUSLY. Thanks to the wonder of Google Cardboard and its various clones, you can turn a compatible phone into a budget ­ yet impressive ­ virtual reality headset.It's essentially a headset for a smartphone displaying stereoscopic images, and with compatibility with Windows Phone devices and iPhones, as well as Android phones, your old smartphone can soon be giving you newfound enjoyment in a new virtual reality world!

MEDIA REMOTE

UNLESS YOU'VE spent a lot of money on a new TV, set-top box or sound system, the quality of the remote controls is usually very poor.Whether you need a replacement remote for a home built media centre or for a cheap TV, you should find that any IR-equipped smartphone is capable of being reconfigured as a media remote, following a quick trip to the appropriate app store.Media remote apps are available for iPhone, Windows Phone and Android, and might replace any number of remote controls in your household into one lightweight, touchscreen solution. Just remember to charge every couple of days.

COMPACT MEDIA CENTRE

UNBELIEVABLY, YOU could even reconfigure an old smartphone as a media centre, simply by installing the Kodi software. You are, however, typically limited to Android handsets for this creative new use for your old solution.Thanks to USB OTG, you can connect external hard disk drives to your old Android device, and with the media centre up and running you'll be able to enjoy media across your home network, all served from your old Android smartphone.

DIGITAL PHOTO FRAME

AS LONG as your old phone has its display intact, it will make a stunning and attractive digital photo frame. Various apps and tools are available to facilitate this, so as long as you can load photos onto your phone directly or by syncing with a cloud solution like Dropbox, you should be able to configure the previously drawerdwelling phone into a desktop or sideboardsitting photo frame, cycling through favourite photos. On Android, you can do this with the Instant Video Slideshow app, while iOS users should try the aptly-named Digital Photo Frame.

PORTABLE RECORDING STUDIO

ALTHOUGH NOT ideal for older phones and tablets, musicians can also benefit from the portability of older hardware without worrying about whether recording is going to drain the battery and make calls impossible. Connecting a guitar to an iPad is pretty straightforward, and various portable music studio apps are available for Android and iOS. For instance, Garageband is available for iOS, and if you prefer electronic music, the KORG Gadget app is worth a look. Android users have fewer strong options, although Walk Band and the premium FL Studio Mobile, should be checked.

SOUND RECORDER

SMARTPHONES COME with microphones ­ it's how you talk to the person on the other end of the line ­ so it makes sense to install a recording app and use the old phone as a recorder. This might be of the dictating machine variety, which could prove useful around the house if you're making notes for school, work, or perhaps for a writing project. If you're a podcaster, an old smartphone running Soundcloud can even be used to record a show.

CARPUTER

IN A world where automobiles are seen as the next new frontier in OS development, having a smartphone-based carputer that acts as an incar entertainment system is a good option.While you may not be able to access data about your car's performance, bringing a phone into your car permanently in this way can change the way you drive forever. Just remember to keep both hands on the wheel and let your passenger or co-pilot choose the tunes.

STILL CAMERA

PROBABLY THE most creative thing that you do with your smartphone is to take photos ­ so why not keep doing that? Rather than rely on a device that might have a low battery, why not rely on an old smartphone as your main camera for parties and nights out?
Using public Wi-Fi, you'll be able to upload your pictures to the cloud and even share them on Face book and tweak and share them on Instagram.

CAMCORDER

IN A similar vein, your old smartphone may make for a superb handheld camcorder. Obviously, the better the quality of the camera software and hardware, the better the results, but if you're rocking an old iPhone or high end Windows Phone in your spare drawer, you could be looking at some superb results. This also makes your old smartphone suitable for other compact camera-related projects, such as a security camera, a baby monitor, or even a dashboard cam.

MM25JAN16