Mostly when a phone wears out, recycle it or trade it in for a new one. But with its new upcycling program, Samsung is trying to help people convert old Galaxy phones into new IoT devices.
Today, with the expansion of his Galaxy Upcycling at Home service (which is still in beta), users in the US, UK and South Korea will have access to an experimental feature in the SmartThings app designed to revive an old Galaxy handset as a convenient smart home accessory.
Using the app to reconfigure battery usage and device optimization, Samsung says even older devices will last a long time, while the phone’s usual range of wireless connectivity features make it easy to pair the phone with other devices in your House.
In the SmartThings app, Samsung offers 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 turn an old Galaxy phone into a sound sensor, with the phone using AI to detect common household sounds such as a barking dog, a crying baby, or a knock on the door.
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This way you can too reuse an old Samsung phone as a kind of baby monitor, which, depending on how old the phone really is, can actually save you money compared to trading the phone straight in and using all the money you get to get a buy brand new baby monitor.
And of course, even without much hassle, upcycled Samsung phones can also be used as universal remotes, providing an easy way to control your streaming video box, play music through your smart speakers, control your lights, and more.
Samsung says the goal behind its upcycling program is to provide users with a different way extends the life of the gadgets they already own and, by extension, helps reduce the impact of Samsung gadgets on the environment. After all, a device that is reused or upcycled may be one less gadget in a landfill.
That said, the biggest hurdle for most people is that repurposing an old smartphone generally takes a bit tinkering and some tolerance for DIY fixes, which may require a greater commitment than most people want to do. And that’s before you even think about buying additional phone stands or mounts so you can properly position your new IoT device.
So in the end, the easiest approach may still be to dispose of your old appliance (via trade-in or recycling) before buying anything new. But at least you now have the option to repurpose or repurpose some of your obsolete gadgets, and if you’ve already invested in Samsung’s SmartThing ecosystem, the Upcycling at Home program can serve as a handy little upgrade.