upcycling old phones

L00bs4n00bs · October 31, 2017

Just read this article about samsung tuning 40 old galaxy s5s in to a bitcoin mining rig and other uses

https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-bitcoin-mining-rig-810977/amp/

I love the idea of this becoming a thing and having them as connected smart cameras and alike

My s7 edge with a smashed screen sat In a draw would make a legit face recognition security camera

All I imagine it would need is a app and enclosure both made by some enterprising young person

Deli · October 31, 2017

Many less developed countries have very poor infrastructures. It is much cheaper to build a cellular network than landlines.

Just come back from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Except for bigger cities, smaller towns and villages have no or limited landline connection, but they do have mobile connection. Although in some places the connection is "VERY" slow(took me 7 hours to download an app). Enough to make phone calls and send messages, but sucks big to connect to internet. Form what I saw, almost everyone has a cell phone there. Many of them are very old, outdated Samsung phones, and some unheard-of Chinese made phones.

I guess some of the old phones in the more wealthy counties eventually end up there.

LAwLz · October 31, 2017

This is really cool.

So what Samsung is doing is creating a community and some tools for installing non-Android OSes on older phones, in order to make them suitable for things like running an IoT hub, or a security camera, and stuff like that. Really neat.