What do to with phones that have broken screens but are good otherwise?

[TimTomTum]

Hey guys,

 

so my Sony Xperia Z3 compact has a screen that doesnt respond anymore - which is a known hardware problem

Repairing makes no sense, the screen replacement costs as much as a working used phone.

Selling makes no sense, used prices are down to 30-40 bucks for working copies.

But it is still a powerful little device.

 

Any projects that these devices are useful for?

The screen is flawless, except that the touchscreen doesnt work anymore.

I am a filmmaker. Is it possible to use the phones screen as a HDMI display?

 

Cheers,

Tim

[Zodiark1593]

I've been wondering the same thing. I have a Galaxy S8 here that i found ran over. Aside from the nonexistent display, the phone works just fine, though the original owner never responded after I informed her of the condition, meaning insurance already cashed out on it and is probably IMEI banned, so it's certainly not worth a new display. Would like to connect it to a tv for emulation though.

[RacA]

Hey Tim,

I believe that most sony phones have an excellent mouse support. Just connect OTG adapter (microUSB to USB) and a mouse and you should be able to use it this way.

 

In case of devices with broken screen, there is not much you can do, because connecting any exteral display or even accesing it's memory to use it as a bulky flash drive, would require connecting new working screen for few secs to get rid of any lockscreens or swipe to unlock screens.

[EpicGeekonFire]

You can harvest the battery and use it to power all sorts of things like small Arduino projects.

 

At this point you are probably best to properly send it in for recycling.