I kept my old phone (an AT&T-locked Samsung Galaxy S7) going for 10 years, replacing the battery midway through and using it well into unsupported territory. I like to keep things working as long as I can within reason, and I also know that this phone is destined to become e-waste as soon as I get rid of it.
But with more apps losing support, and electronics prices on the rise, it felt like now was finally the time to upgrade (to a refurbished Pixel 8 Pro). So I got a new phone…
Still, I don’t want my old locked Galaxy S7 phone to go to waste just yet while it’s still roughly working!
So does anyone have any idea of things that I can do to reuse or repurpose my old phone?
I have some ideas in mind myself, but I’m curious what you all think and if anyone has experience with repurposing old phones in interesting or useful ways.
you could always use it for some tech experiments! there’s lots of examples out there. retro gaming console, home server, run your own AI model (at least better than using big tech!), etc
What AI model could you run locally on a decade old phone though? Probably nothing too sophisticated. It would have to be like ChatGTP 2 or something which doesn’t do a great job of holding a conversation