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Android Cellphones The Internet

Samsung's New Upcycling Program Allows You To Turn An Old Galaxy Phone Into a New IoT Device (gizmodo.com) 22

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Today, with the expansion of its Galaxy Upcycling at Home service (which is still in beta), users in the U.S., U.K., and South Korea will get access to an experimental feature in the SmartThings app designed to give an old Galaxy handset new life as a useful smart home accessory. By using the app to reconfigure the device's battery usage and optimization, Samsung says even older devices will still be able to deliver good longevity, while the phone's usual assortment of wireless connectivity features makes it easy to pair the phone with other devices in your home.

In the SmartThings app, Samsung provides a range of functions that an old smartphone can perform, including serving as a light sensor that can automatically turn on your smart lights or even your TV when it gets dark. Alternatively, you can also convert an old Galaxy phone into a sound sensor, with the phone using AI to detect common household noises like a barking dog, crying baby, or a knock on the door. In this way, you can also repurpose an old Samsung phone as a baby monitor of sorts [...]. And of course, even without much fiddling, upcycled Samsung phones can also be used as universal remotes, providing an easy way to control your streaming video box, play music on your smart speakers, control your lights, and more.

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Samsung's New Upcycling Program Allows You To Turn An Old Galaxy Phone Into a New IoT Device

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  • by Mononymous ( 6156676 ) on Thursday April 22, 2021 @07:53PM (#61302940)

    A footnote from TFA says:

    Galaxy Upcycling at Home feature is available on all S, Note, and Z series released from 2018 (S9, Note9 or later) running Android 9 and above.

    Happy Earth Day!

    • by r_naked ( 150044 ) on Thursday April 22, 2021 @07:58PM (#61302954) Homepage

      Yea, lol.

      If they really wanted to help with e-waste, they could unlock the bootloader's of phones that they no longer support. That way they could still be upgraded and used as phones as well as some IoT device.

      But noooo that would open a market that competes with their current phones. Can't have that...

      • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        As long as you have a user removable battery, not one that is designed to be locked in place, swell up and crack the main board. Both two batteries I have replaced both swelled up, of course removable back on the phone so no problem but clearly fixed batteries the design is meant to break the phone on purpose at the end of life of the battery. Those fuckers are real scummy crooks.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        I'd love laws to say that as soon as a device goes out-of-support, they're required to unlock the bootloader,

        After all, if they're not supporting the device anymore, people (and companies) are forced to self-support themselves..

      • That would help, but many of Samsung's bootloader locks have been hacked. What would be a larger help would be a new source of replacement batteries. Once a phone seems to hit the five year mark, much of the remaining battery stock on store shelves becomes too old and degraded to hold a proper charge anymore. I've had to ditch a couple of smartphones that found second lives as music players or home theater players just because of the issue.
      • by WarJolt ( 990309 )

        Qualcomm-based Samsung devices get screwed again.

    • by stikves ( 127823 )

      The problem with Android (or most Linux ARM devices for that matter) is the closed source drivers and firmware blobs.

      Unless the chipset makers continue to provide support for them, device manufacturers will be unable to support them, even if they wanted to.

      And, sure, I want to be idealistic, and want every piece of Linux code to be open source. But let's be real, it did not happen in the last 20 years, it is not likely to change soon. And Linus himself is vehemently against any stable driver ABIs, so it wil

      • Have you seen the Pine Phone? It now has working open source modem firmware. That is HUGE. By law (in the USA at least) it will never ship with it, but flashing it after the fact is easy.

  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Thursday April 22, 2021 @08:19PM (#61303002)

    A couple years ago, didn't they offer a free upgrade that converted your Samsung phone into a bomb?

  • by BAReFO0t ( 6240524 ) on Thursday April 22, 2021 @10:32PM (#61303402)

    Relase the drivers and device tree, or give us a way to do it ourselves, and unlock the damn bootloader. *That* is upcycling!

    <rant>
    And let the battery be removable again, so it can be used as a Raspberry-Pi-like server with a charger as its power supply.
    I mean what's so hard about making a case with a tiny battery like you already do, and a connector on the back, that lets you clip on a battery of any size you like, so it just looks like a thicker phone? And perhaps just put it in some of those protective cases that literally everyone has to buy and use anyway, rendering the whole "people want anorexic phones" fad *completely moot*!
    </rant>

    • This is why I'll only buy $200 Chinese phones now.

      If they're going to make things that are disposable in the interest of planned obsolescence, I just will get the cheapest thing possible and see how far it takes me. $200 actually can buy you a very competent phone that's on the same level as a $800 mid-range phone.
      • Yeah, I've bought Blackview rugged phones before, and the build quality is as close to perfect as you can get. Samsung and Apple have never released anything that stury. I owned Nokia phones since they were as bog as a bone for dogs, and it's tougher than a Nokia. They have literal seals around every case screw and all around the seam, so I can replace the battery myself for $10. And watertight flaps on the ports.

        Yes, the CPUs are only Mediatek.
        But I don't game on them, and there is noting else that could e

  • Recycle your latest model and buy a new one - that is how our PR solved the Earth Day! How about allowing users to fix their own phones!?
  • Given what happened in the past [cnet.com] to Samsung Galaxies, it would be an interesting add to any IoT network!
  • You get nothing of value for doing this recycling program. Wonder how many people are going to take the bait.
  • Why doesn't smart things find support galaxy watch location? From 03/15/2021, the determination of the location of the watch in the galaxy wearable stops, and it turns out that in which case it will not work to find the top watch. But at the same time smart things find supports tablets 10 years ago . achieveessays [achieveessays.com]

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