Turns out Australia is removing 3G support nationwide and that means I have to upgrade. I've had my phone for at least 4 years but it runs well, I wasn't planning on upgrading for at least another year.

I want to keep using it, but I'm not too tech oriented so my thinking has been, " I can play music with it, some games, videos"...And that's fine. But perhaps some of you guys have more creative ideas? Curious as to what would you recommend.

  • Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee
    ·
    2 months ago

    Bicycle or hiking computer. With osmand and organic maps you can get your position from GPS without a sim card and use the phone for navigation, trip recording, stats etc.

  • Dr. Wesker@lemmy.sdf.org
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    2 months ago

    I use a Pixel 6a 4a I had laying around as a dedicated Discord device, paired with a bluetooth headset. Now I can chat with the lads while around the house doing chores.

  • Extras@lemmy.today
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    2 months ago

    I use my spare as kind of a media controller sort of speak thanks to kdeconnect and casting locally. In the near future, I want to get into emulation so that might be what the spare phone gets used for instead with the help of one of those cheap steam deck docks for USB C. As for more creative ideas, I heard some people use them as a dedicated GPS, media player or even a dashcam for their cars (not sure how the battery would hold up in the heat and whatnot). You can use it to remote view your pc or even play games from that same pc or even one you don't own through cloud gaming. You can repurpose it to be a 2fa device only, so you can keep your TOTPs and other 2fa methods separated from your main assuming the device is up to date security wise. If the camera and whatnot are decent maybe keep it as a spare camera for all your video/picture needs (online meetings, video recording, document scanner, etc...) a dock might be useful for that. If your spare has that desktop like experience when you connect it via HDMI there's nothing stopping you from using it as a really lightweight computer to do basic web stuff. These are really vague answers since I don't know what phone you have but I hope it helps get the ball rolling

    • Mothra@mander.xyz
      ·
      2 months ago

      I like the remoting into my PC or leaving it for meetings ideas. But atm I don't have a job that requires those (looking for said job has been an ongoing issue for a while now). I'll keep it in mind though, thanks for the suggestions!

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
      ·
      2 months ago

      I heard some people use them as a dedicated GPS, media player or even a dashcam for their cars (not sure how the battery would hold up in the heat and whatnot)

      phones geared towards gamers work best for this since they're usually built with heat-syncs and fans; or atleast extensive thermal dissipation in mind.

  • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    i have bad luck with phones so i go through them faster than most so i always the the $100 androids.

    in the past i've used them as ip cameras as part of a homemade security monitoring systems using motion; car dash cams; car backup cameras; homemade lojack; car stereo screens; parallel parking sensor aides; secondary alarm clocks; intermediate android auto proxies; backup alarm clocks; and secondary phones for applications/control that my employers have mandated; system interface screen; bathroom readers; usb drives; wifi extenders; and remote controls.

  • Max-P@lemmy.max-p.me
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    2 months ago

    I've had my phone for at least 4 years but it runs well,

    What's the exact phone model? I'd be really surprised such a phone wouldn't support LTE, 5G was about to come out 4 years ago. Even the OG pixel should support LTE. Unless your issue is lack of VoLTE support, which sometimes can be remediated with root or custom roms. Although I find the Internet portion to be more useful anyway, as you can just route the calls over regular VoIP and use Signal or Matrix or Discord or whatever.

    Unless it's a Samsung, then you're kind of SoL into the fix by modding department, you're stuck with what regular Android apps can do.

    • Mothra@mander.xyz
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      2 months ago

      Motorola g8. Lack of VoLTE indeed. I wouldn't want to rely on my internet connection, Australia is famous for its subpar internet and I've been in many places where coverage is very patchy.