Cellphones go out of fashion and are rendered obsolete at a ferocious pace. What’s hip and new now might become clunky and outdated a few short years down the road. I was struck with the same dilemma which had me thinking that I should sell my phone online for cash. On a whim, I searched the internet for what else can be done with an old phone and came across some wonderful tips. I’m going to share a few of them with you today.
Cellphone Recycling Centers
If there are no buyers for an old cellphone, why shouldn’t we just toss it in the garbage? That’s a question many cellphone owners ask. The answer is, if thrown in the garbage bin, your cellphone will decay and give off toxic materials such as lead and mercury which are very harmful for the environment. Taking your phone to a cellphone recycling center is a far better option. They handle old cellphones in two ways:
- Returning the phones to their manufacturers directly
- Properly disposing of the phones; they are equipped with the proper infrastructure
Donating your Phone
There are quite a few organizations out there that will put your donated cellphone to very noble causes such as spousal abuse centers, victims of domestic violence, and “cellphones for soldiers” program etc. These organizations hand the phones to respective people.
Using your Phone as a Remote Control
If your old phone has an Infrared port, you may install an app and use it as a makeshift remote control for your domestic entertainment components. Even if the IR port does not exist, there are several apps available that might accomplish the aforementioned. But that’s not the only innovative use of your old cellphone. Simply Google “repurposing old phone”, you’ll come across numerous tutorials on how to put your old phone to some pretty nifty use.
Tinkering with Software of your Old Phone
Obviously, you wouldn’t want to tinker with your new phone and render its warranty void, but your old phone can be experimented upon without such trepidations. If it happens to have Android OS, you can install new ROM’s on it. Installing new ROM’s surprisingly enhances the capabilities of your device. If you are new to this ROM’s scenario, searching for ‘how to flash a ROM to your android device’ will yield very helpful step by step tutorials.
Using your Phone as a Storage Device
I still vividly recall purchasing my first phone which only had a few kilo bytes worth of memory for storing names and numbers. Nowadays, even 4 to 5 years old phone have sufficient memory to hold photos, music and other files. Your old phone can be repurposed to turn it into a secondary storage device. There are quite a few free apps available that can assist you in this regard.
Selling your Phone
Last but certainly not the least is the option of selling your old phone. This can be done online where some firms pay a reasonable price for your soon to be discarded phone.
