I have a couple Android phones with little resell value and I’m wondering what I could do with them on my spare time.
Not sure if this is the right sub to ask but figured it could be a good start to see if anyone here has done anything with phones.
You can use it as a security camera on the cheap.
You can glue them together for double phones.
Glue the edges together and make your own Surface Duo.
Ive seen people building whole houses from empty bottles. He could do the same with those phones. He would end up with true “smarthome”
SyncThing backup storage.
I don’t know if it’s still viable but few years back I used to use my old Android phone/phablet as extra monitor for my pc to monitor stats with Spacedesk. It runs on wifi and gives you the ability to add multi devices as monitors so potentially you can make all your old phones into many monitors for your pc as long as they are all on the same network.
Leave one in the car, for emergencies
If you do this, keep a cable and charger handy. An old unused phone battery will drain.
If its not crazy old you could get a super cheap nvmo service and toss it in your car/emergency bag with a spare battery pack and cable
I have an old LG phone, placed horizontally that I rest on a phone stand and use as my bedside alarm clock
Maybe as a central display for your home assistant? As a dashboard or switch panel
I have one in the door peephole. Using Android ip webcam I can turn it on to see through the screen who’s behind. Also i added it to home assistant so I can see through it anytime. If someone rings turn the screen on, so you know who is it without getting too close. Send a photo to your smartphone when somebody rings…
What if they dont ring but start to lockpick/bash your door right away? :D
Home security is to deter would-be criminals, not prevent determined criminals. Ultimately if someone wants to get into your house, and has the skills and tools to do so, you aren’t going to stop them
The LockpickingLawyer consistently proves just how much security theatre we surround ourselves with.
Use the accelerometer as a break-in sensor.
A lot of great ideas in this thread. Sadly, I don’t have any spare phones that don’t have a broken screen which is usually how they meet their demise. Just curious, how much of a concern is it to have the phone plugged in and charging all the time. A little bit worried about an exploding lithium ion battery.
That’s my concern but I also know that most modern phones have battery monitoring software that stops the battery from charging once it reaches 100%
r/androidafterlife is a good place to look
Line them up using a stiff support and take 3d photo’s.
Something I was looking at the other day: you can use them as Streamdecks. (StReam, not Steam.) Basically they become external keyboards, each key being assigned to a function such as start a program, select a tool or whatever, with a graphic to suit.
Elgato (who make the Streamdeck) make an Android app to use a phone as a deck, and there are several other such apps.
Turn them into security cameras:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ivuu&hl=en_GB&gl=US&pli=1
Install DroidcamX and turn them into webcams or surveillance cams. It works over LAN and over USB. On LAN you can connect the phones to the server or the server to the phones, as you wish.
On Linux they’re seen as regular V4L2 devices. You can use its custom kernel module (installs via DKMS) for additional customization options or the standard V4L2 kernel module.
I’m not really knowledgeable about recording and motion-detection (I’ve only used it as a webcam) but perhaps someone else can help with that.