Don’t throw away your old smartphone: 4 tips to give it new life

January 10, 2023 Joe Kenehan

Changing smartphones regularly has now become a global sport in which millions of people indulge. It must be said that manufacturers are endless attract us to their new, ever more attractive models. So we crack and we don’t really know what to do with the old one. We entrust you today some leads to follow.

Old smartphones: life after death

It is true that once the SIM card is removed from our old phones, we tend to see them as useless when it really isn’t. There are several rather clever uses to keep them in the loop. So before you even think about that, it may be best for you to resell it to the store where you will buy the new one. There are some rather interesting trade-in offers at Orange, SFR and Bouygues. Otherwise, you might as well offer him a new utility.

1. So you can continue to use it as a camera or camcorder. Sometimes the new device just doesn’t have a better sensor. Your child will also be delighted to be able to take pictures and learn the basics of photography…
2. It is also possible to use it as a game console or e-reader. These activities are extremely energy-intensive since the screen is always on, so you can spare your new phone this ordeal. You will then avoid using the battery for nothing. There are some great games on Android so enjoy!
3. With the same idea, using your GPS requires no internet connection and eats a lot of battery. So you might as well use your old smartphone in this case. It’s slightly less accurate without GSM triangulation, but still works great… Put your old device in your car and enjoy Google Maps/Android Auto or Waze.
4. We often forget it but you can also always use your device as an external hard drive. Some have capacities of 64, 128 or even 256 GB. This is not huge when you compare these capacities to those of modern USB keys or hard drives, but it can, for example, act as a backup for your photos. The advantage is that a smartphone has a screen and above all a screen sharing capacity: rediscover the happiness of the “slide evenings” of the 80s!