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Ask Slashdot: What Can You Do With An Old Windows Phone?
Slashdot reader unixisc writes:
While it's always been well known that Windows phones in the market have floundered, one saving grace has always been that one could at least use it for the barest minimum of apps, even if updates have stopped... Aside from a door stop or a hand me down to someone who'll use it like a dumb phone, what are your suggested uses for this phone? A music player (if the songs are on an SD card)? Games? As far as phones go, I have what I need, so for this, anything it's good for?
The original submission suggests problems connecting to wi-ifi -- something partially corroborated by complaints at Windows Central -- though Microsoft's site says they're still supporting wifi connections.
Slashdot reader thegreatbob suggested "shuffleboard puck" -- then added, "Snark aside, if you're into writing custom applications and such for them, there's probably a bootloader/root solution for you out there."
Leave your own best suggestions in the comments. What can you do with an old Windows Phone?
The original submission suggests problems connecting to wi-ifi -- something partially corroborated by complaints at Windows Central -- though Microsoft's site says they're still supporting wifi connections.
Slashdot reader thegreatbob suggested "shuffleboard puck" -- then added, "Snark aside, if you're into writing custom applications and such for them, there's probably a bootloader/root solution for you out there."
Leave your own best suggestions in the comments. What can you do with an old Windows Phone?
Turn it into a Zune
Table-ized A.I.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I ripped my collection of classical CDs to FLAC and have them on an SD card playing into a bookshelf stereo.
Ubuntu Phone, but the same problem of support as Windows.
... if it's locked and you don't have the key.
Otherwise, have fun reverse-engineering proprietary hardware you can't get documentation for even if you could still sign the required NDAs.
This is why you really ought to pick hardware based on whether there's programming documentation freely available, not on whether some big corporation wants to sell you "an experience".
There is a recycling program for these right?
Do people regularly use their Samsung S3s or iPhone 3GSs? Just sell it or recycle it when you no longer use it, and start using a new phone.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
1) stare at it and cry
2) regret life
3) buy hope
4) ????
5) profit
This discussion was created for logged-in users only.
Say what? Have the new new new owners completely lost their minds?
where it belongs.
Can you trust that the data on an old phone has been fully wiped before recycling it? Full.disk encryption on newer phones should help, but I'm a bit more caution about older phones. I know that factory data resets, at least on older phones, are known to not fully.clear everything. Any advice on this?
Put it through a garden shredder before emptying it into the bin.
I assume that you're either trolling or encountered a glitch in the site. I see no indication that anonymous posting has been disabled, and I believe whipslash when he says he has no intention of eliminating anonymous posting.
Back in the day, I had an account in the 300,000s, but I haven't logged in for a long time. I enjoyed posting back then because I got to know who many of the users were and we actually conversed in journals. It wasn't just tech stuff, and I remember having many baseball and fantasy football discussions in journals along with just discussing life in general. That aspect of this site seems to have died a long time ago, but it's the one thing that might convince me to log in again. The trolls crapflooded articles even more back then, but even most of them had civil conversations in journals. It was a good time, but sadly, I doubt that type of community is ever returning to Slashdot. I just don't have a reason to log in anymore, so if anonymous posting goes away, I probably won't bother to create an account.
Installing Android ? Or experimenting with something like postmarketOS.
Keep it as a burner phone, or give it away for someone who doesn't care about the smart part.
You can basically see it as an ancient Android phone, or an even more ancient iPhone.
Because that's the state of apps, and the OS is dead.
Alarm clock, mp3/video player, etc.
Games? It's a fraction of what Android and iOS have, but hey, perhaps give it to a kid that wants to play Minecraft on a smartphone for some reason. A few of the biggest game devs also probably have some of their games there. That is to say, it's better than nothing, but still worse than most other options.
I wouldn't even recommend wasting time with it if you are a developer... Windows Phone was built to be a similar walled garden thing like iPhones, there's even less resources to make use of and less cross app communication, so unless you are really willing to waste your time, you should instead be looking into app development for either Android or iOS. I mean, Windows Phone is going nowhere, and no one will care about it not long from now anyways.
...and make a nostalgia movie on it for youtube, hoping that it still connects to the internet. ;) ...that is if youtube, ebay & co still exist then...
See what's happening to those old Apple II, TRS80 or Commodore Amiga...
Maybe you will be getting a lot of $$$ from ebay auctioning it
It's as silly a question as "What should I do with an old Windows Desktop machine?" The answer should be obvious: Run whatever software you want!
The mobile "device" industry has crippled computing.
Yes. Everyone in my family who has one still uses it. In my case, with LineageOS. Others may differ. They are really good. We have at least 6 batteries in my house, and three chargers - you can leave the house with a fully charged battery, and when you return, replace it with another fully charged battery.
Of course we have other phones. Do you have more than one watch? I don't, but a lot of people do. A second phone is sometimes useful for your "secret identity" as sometimes you have to deal with organisations you don't trust (Equifux?)
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
For the love of god, shut the fuck up.
or a dildo or both.
Doesn't "foundered" (which I assume was actually meant) imply there was a time when Windows phone was successful?
#DeleteChrome
Ask if you can get a copy of XP instead.
You could use it to deliver a message to Microsoft about how you feel about their treatment of the platform. Of course, you'd probably need to write the message on a piece of paper, attach the piece of paper to the phone, and then throw the resulting assembly though the window of one of their stores, but that would also help to emphasise how you feel about it, so that's OK, right?
More seriously, just use it as a slightly more capable dumb phone when you're doing something where you're doing some activity that might risk damage your regular phone, when travelling to avoid the of TSA taking a peek into your private life, or just load it up with games (while you still can) and media and use it as a kind of Gameboy/MP3 player.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
Women shelters used to take them. They used them exclusively for 911 calls. I gave my old one to my mother who keeps it in her car. All she has to do is recharge it once every few months.
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
See what's happening to those old Apple II, TRS80 or Commodore Amiga... ;)
Maybe you will be getting a lot of $$$ from ebay auctioning it
That worked for these because they were quite successful and popular machine back in their era.
On the other hand, Windows-running-phones barely qualify.
They are more like those old computer companies that failed to gain any market, went bust after only pushing a handful of unit and everybody has forgotten since then.
You'll be having a hard even remembering that they even existed.
The only thing that might keep Windows phone barely noticed is that they were a failed product coming from a bing company.
But even with that I'm doubtful they'll enjoy a celebrity nostalgia career in 20 years (common is Microsoft Bob that much popular on Youtube now ?!)
...that is if youtube, ebay & co still exist then...
The company will be gone, but the niche will be probably taken by successor.
It'll be probably snapchat video, and whatever twitter has tried to pull to try to be financially successful (after their take over by Mark Zuckerberg) :-P
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
FbReader / calibre, Utorrent and VLC. Ebooks/music/video.
I use my nokia 520 for a GPS. The GPS app supports offline maps, so I don't even need a sim. It isn't quite as convenient as a dedicated unit, but it was only $20.
Does it have a flared base?
Selling it is a good option, older phones are still in demand (well, maybe not phones that old). You won't get much for them but they'll make someone else happy.
My old iPhones find a second life as smart home control panels. The oldest one actually is a 3GS and still runs the latest version of the control software. They control the stuff of te room they are in, and I can access video surveillance and whole house audio from it (well it's 3 rooms only thus far). My only gripe is that I'd like to remove the battery from the phone but it turns out they won't run on the charger without a battery present.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_throwing
Do people regularly use their Samsung S3s or iPhone 3GSs?
Well, I regularly use my Samsung Galaxy Note 2. I'm not a big Smartphone user . . . I use it for programming my own apps. Hey, it still has the original battery! And, yes, this is my main cell phone.
It's been dropped multiple times. The screen looks like an LSD induced episode of the Spider Man cartoon from the late 60's. But the damn thing still works! An "IBM Fellow" looked at my phone once and told me that it was a sign of honor among geeks . . . to have phone with a bashed up screen that still works. Kinda sorta like that boring book we were forced to read in high school, "The Red Badge of Courage".
When this kid actually was a kid . . . we had a big, black, butt-ugly phone on the wall from Ma Bell for as long as I can remember. With . . . a dial! Have any Slashdotters actually dialed a telephone!?!?! Well, the thing worked, and I guess folks talked with each other more back then, instead of hanging on the telephone all day with their pseudo-friends, so why replace it . . . ? Hey, if you have a Windows Phone, you took the wrong boat, and it won't be updated and shiny new every year or so . . . but if it does what you need . . . why get rid of it . . . ?
Oh, I also programmed FORTRAN on an IBM punch card machine in the late 70's in high school, and used a Teletype to save BASIC programs on paper tape . . . so I'm a bit of a dinosaur.
Ah, that crisp, crunchy touch of the Teletype keyboard. . . being a geek was fun back in those days!
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I have an old android phone which I use as a music player and I'm in the middle of writing an app to allow my current phone to control it over Bluetooth. Sound quality is reasonable and it doesn't cost anything.
My 2012 Note II is the same generation as the S3 with very similar hardware. I use it every day because it is a perfectly decent phone and also happens to be the one working smart phone I own (also have an original Note I with smashed display). The only thing it lacks *for me* is hardware HEVC/H.265 video decoding. I might head to ebay and upgrade to a 2013 S4 just for this.
My 2012 Note II runs Android 7.1 thanks to LineageOS. It works fine and it gets weekly updates (security patch level is 5 August 2017) so I'm satisfied using it for shopping, banking and so on.
It is old hardware though. When the earphone jack got crackly and contact cleaner no longer did the trick I had to spend £2.50 on ebay and get and install a new part. When the original battery got weak I had to buy a new one. When the body of the phone got to looking *really* worn out I spent £13 and swapped all the guts into a new chassis/case. The display is still pristine.
So, no need for a new phone but am occasionally considering a newer used phone.
All the money I save I spend at Franklin Mint. Waste not want not.
Nokia Lumia. I got an 800 which served me nicely enough, but oh goddamn was it a bad mistake. I haven't looked into what to do with that, nor my original Jolla after moving out of Europe.
Source right here:
https://github.com/ms-iot/virt...
Example video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Turn it into a Zune
Hehe, ... funny, but he asked a serious question. I hooked my old iPhone up to an 5000 mah external battery pack and put the thing in a plastic bag. Then I hid it in a small compartment behind an access panel in the boot of my car that's used to change the light bulbs in the rear lights and used it in combination with the 'Find my iPhone' web-app as a LoJack to track my car in case it got stolen. Other than having to re-charge it every 5 days or so it worked well. I dunno if you can do this with a Windows Phone but I'm pretty sure you can do this with an old Android device too.
use it to place and receive calls and text messages.
... I could find some useful information here about things I could do with my Xperia X1!
Which reminds me of the fact that there are no slider smartphones anymore. And no, the Blackberry Priv (which I own, for lack of other options) with its keyboard on the narrow side is no real substitute...
Throw it away! :-)
seriously dont break it like an idiot. find something unsafe about it in a product review an return it for a refund. find one thing wrong, due in small claims court i double-dog dare you: damage to data,memcard, battpack fail, hearing loss, etc etal.
Seriously, it's useless. Like your old commodore 64s, amigas, early PCs and assorted crap that the world left behind for good reasons. It's the past. It's over. What are you trying to do, recapture your past? It's not worth recapturing. Since you're a nerd your past involved a lot of beatings and public debasement. Why don't you stick your head into the toilet and flush it?
First you need to sit on it to crack the screen. You can also drop it down a flight of stairs, or use it as a hammer or a pry-bar. If whatever method you used requires duct tape to keep the phone together, then you get a gold star.
Next you need to drop it in the urinal, toilet, or a swimming pool. Make sure it's fully submersed for at least 30 seconds. Bonus points if the phone fell into salt water or a vat of boiling oil.
Finally, throw that shit away. Nobody cares about an old Windows phone. Why are you even asking Slashdot? Just get rid of it.
6) put it under the table-leg and stop the tilting
7) send it to Kim Jong Un - as part of his cyber defense - its so rare that not even the NSA has exploited it
- btw. this might be illegal under current regulations.
8) send it to south korea they can tie it to a ballon and deliver it
"Slashdot for Consumers."
The dumbed down edition.
"I heard Ginny got a new iPhone. It's the rose gold one!"
Some of those old POS clunker mother fuckers can be made to run android instead. Not most, just a very select few.
Nothing official though. Look for roms at places like XDA.
It's not enough. Throw yourself into the shredder so the original data and the source is destroyed too.
Oh wait, someone decided to yank that out of the OS shortly before stopping updates.
That was the one change that totally ticked off my kids. They loved their Windows phones because of this feature.
Cheers
sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
* a chopping board for small items (garlic etc)
* a make-do mirror for reflecting sunlight into your enemies' eyes
* one earmuff
* the perfectly flat 'pebble' for pond-skimming
* a very fine monitor-height adjustment device for your desktop
any more?
Do people regularly use their Samsung S3s or iPhone 3GSs? Just sell it or recycle it when you no longer use it, and start using a new phone.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 - and it really does do all I need - e-mail, calendar, Facebook, Telegram, photographs, Viber, Skype and a few games (5 in a row, Reversi, etc. that kind of stuff).
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Not really possible with most Windows phones. My partner has a Lumia 1020 that she's just replaced with a newer Android phone. The 1020 still has a much better camera and similar other specs. She'd much rather run Android on the 1020, but there's no port.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Well it's funny, but just remember that all cells will work without a sim card for emergency calls. So if you have an elderly family member, it might be a good option for them. Especially if they're old enough that a fall could potentially cause them serious harm so they can't get help but are still conscious. Had a friend who's grandparents broke down in Tennessee while taking a detour route because of construction on I75, he'd given them his old cell "just in case" they kept it charged. It came in handy wouldn't you say? 911 had no problems getting a hold of some state troopers who came by and waited with them for a tow.
Om, nomnomnom...
Hang it on the wall as a reminder that if you donâ(TM)t change with the world, it will leave you behind, and no amount of pretentious posturing or loud-spoken denials about the state of the world will save you.
Thieves/robber will have to much pitty with you / not enough interest in the phone to steal it and nobody will ever hack it. After all, who uses Windows Phone?
And I'm not even joking that much.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
It actually works rather well as a GPS; the Nokia HERE maps can pre-download all the maps you may need so a cell connection isn't required and the navigation works fairly well.
There are still new ones that have compelling hardware, notably the Alcatel Idol 4 Pro that was recently reviewed on The Phones Show as having the best front facing speakers of any phone. I'd be tempted if I could replace Windows with Android.
https://youtu.be/crB9JNFghuk
Max.
My Lumia 640 is on the Insider program, and it gets more updates in a month than any Android device I've ever owned throughout their entire lifetimes. As far as its uses go - I bought it because:
- It's a better camera than any standalone camera I've ever bought
- It's a better MP3 player than any standalone MP3 player I've ever bought
- It's a better GPS than any standalone GPS I've ever bought
- It's a better PDA than any standalone PDA I've ever bought
If a device that combines what used to be 4 separate devices isn't enough reason for you--and it performs each of those devices' function better than the originals--then by all means, stay away from it. Otherwise, I'm happy with it and it cost me $122, including taxes, hand-delivered to my doorstep and has never cost me a dime beyond that.
I'm saying this as someone who has never had a use for an actual *phone* (and still don't). And no, in case it wasn't clear, I've never put a SIM card in it.
I've been waiting for this! Thanks. Is there a comparable one for old android phones? Obviously one could hack the android phone but my goal is to find some canned method that works right out of the box so I can use this with kids in a class room bringing in old family phones. So I don't want to have to custom code them . I just want to have something that someone else already worked the kinks out of.
Perhaps you can point me to a similar project for androids?
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
As much as I'd love to profit from that M$ failure, I must reflect on how hard is to reuse *any* phone.
First, on a direct, practical view, it's not easy to get another OS onto *any* phone; not nearly easy as installing Linux on a Windows computer.
Then, on a more meta level, can we really afford people having freedom regarding that? I mean, we all want the nice people to have all the Freedom they deserve; the problem is the bad folks. This is a problem we can just sweep under the rug.
And it's not about giving official agencies the right to snoop. It's about ensuring there is an airport next time you go there. Sometimes, some things make us think whether we aren't just monkeys who should not be allowed near fatal weapons...
That said, the problem really is how to reuse an old phone -- any phone -- and how to disable that second Big Brother layer. And be careful with what you wish... because you may get it.
I still have a Samsung S3 but for some reason I could never get LineageOS/Cyanogenmod working properly on it, so it'll be retired soon.
But for anyone in their mid 30s or older, it's damn frustrating to see that the $600 smart phone from 2012 or 2013 that has a current street value of $10 even if it works well would have qualified as a damn supercomputer in 1997. So yes, I do want to find another use for it because it seems criminal to dismantle and recycle something that still has an impressive amount of computing power for any time in my life except the past 12 years.
... but make sure no one sees you. It might violate some "electronic trash disposal" laws.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Do people regularly use their Samsung S3s or iPhone 3GSs?
Of course. Many of these devices are less than five years old and work perfectly fine. I replaced my Samsung S3 earlier this year and only because it physically broke (a button had stopped working and GPS didn't work anymore). I don't know about the iPhone 3Gs, but judging by the resale prices of old iPhones, I suspect that many of them are still being used.
Throw it in the trash.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
Damn! First it was the headphone jack and now it's all the ports?
#DeleteFacebook
Go to Redmond and find one of those, "turn in your iPhone" shame bins. Trade up.
I haven't experimented with that myself, but there seems to be several different options. From DIY to ready made.
DIY:
http://www.instructables.com/i...
Out of the box, but a bit pricey:
https://1sheeld.com/:
You can use it to call people and talk to them.
As long as your wireless provider still lets it connect to their network, I would just keep it. If it still does what you need it to do, then why spend $700 on a new phone and a new more expensive wireless plan?
I still have mine, a Nokia Lumia. I got it in 2013 and use it every day. I use it to check email, check the news/stocks, check the weather apps, make phone calls, and for web browsing. It can even be used to listen to FM radio broadcasts with a set of headphones.
The browser crashes all the time now, but it did not before. Todays websites load up so much advertising cruft that the phone runs out of memory. Those sites just don't get used now.
I realize that I am missing out on all of those essential apps, but I don't need them. The fact that my companies email admins don't support the phone is actually a bonus.
If you want to remain in the Windows universe, you can get the HP Elite or Alcatel Idol. You should be able to try out the HP at a Microsoft store. Staples also sells HP phones now.
The HP Elite seems like a very good phone, but it's been out for a year now.
They can still be used to call 911 without a paid plan.
I don't know, call people?
-Dave
I've noticed a lot of people in the past decade or so have gotten a sort of disorder where they need to have all new gadgets, and the second one isn't considered "new" to them any more, they feel they can't use it. It's super strange to me. Have there always been people like this (new cars every year?)? I don't seem to remember talking to/reading about so many people who are obsessed with only using the newest gadget.
Regardless, I still use my Windows Phone all day, every day. It works just fine. And, I know my data isn't be slurped up by Google or Apple.
I don't respond to AC's.
I don't know why everyone bashes the Windows Phone. I love mine! It is the perfect size to shim up that old table in the den with the short leg.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
Start a open source project to reverse engineer and install Oreo(Android one), helps all those lumina phones out there get a new lease of life.
Be sure to store unused batteries in fire-proof and explosion-proof storage bags.
E-waste it responsibly.
Return to Microsoft, producer responsibility.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
There's no headphone jack issue on any Windows phone. But Raven is right - one can't just install any Android on a Lumia
I have usually handed phones down. Like I had an iPhone 5s, which I handed over to my niece when I upgraded to a 7
the apps crashed, the browser loaded infections, the flesh melted off the users' cyber-presence and he screamed in agony.
"he chose.....poorly", deadpanned the knight
Tuning that thing sucked though.
I got to watch the maintenance staff curse the teletypes because they had to use a tuning fork to get the mechanical frequency right... The good engineer could get it tuned and working for about a month. The others only got them working for about a week.
Keeping it with me to use it as a music player and a camera. Photos are great and better than iPhone 7 and QHD display stunning. Google pixel and high end Samsung phones may be able to match. app support is crap.
lost good for geek - windows mobile
...IFF the page still loads.
burnitwithfire.jpg
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Reverse engineer Cortana, rename her Clippy, bring back Clippy's animation library and tada, you've revived your phone with what would be the world's best AI system ever.
ôó
I think they may have encountered the firehose, which I believe only allows logged-in users to comment on submissions... could be mistaken though. And lazy.
1.) If the windows phone in question can be "upgraded" to windows phone 10, then upgrade the phone and all the apps, and keep using it as a smartphone, with limited apps. Is not diferent than using Sailfish phones, or bada phones, or BB10 10.3 phones (my case)... Also, remember that microsoft baked a lot of the "enterpisey" functions, like VPN connections right into the OS, no extra apps needed, so, while supported with security patches, they make decent enterprisey phones.
2.) If the windows phone in question is stuck in windows phone 7.5 or 8.x:
a.) Get it to the latest firmware supported. Do so before microsoft and/or the hardware maker elimitates the server infrastructure with said firmware...
b.) You can use it as a cheapo media player with VLC (Or any other software you like) : https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...
c.) You can use it as a cheapo DashCam with Dashcam GTX+ (or any other software you like) : https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...
d.) You can use it as a cheapo minitablet. For kids, for example.
e.) As Freizchutz said, you can use it as a cheapo LoJack.
f.) Put it in a drawer, and use only when your normal smartphone is damaged or out of commision (exploding batteries, water damage, cracked screen, botched OTA update...).
g.) Use it as the smartphone you use to go to places were you can lose your smartphone (clubbing, disco, festival/rave, dangerous parts of town)...
h.) Put it in the glove compartment of your car and use it as an emergency phone.
i.) Use it as a "better than a dumbphone worse than a smartphone" phone. Basicaly, as the phone you give to a person who needs certain smartphone apps (say, facebook, uber, and the like), but who will never ever use or install any other app. You customize it to their liking (using either apps, or pinned mobile websites [uber is a prime example]), and then tell them to not move anything.
j.) In the olden Nokia times, there was a hack were you coul make the phone take a call automaticaly without ringing, vibrating, turning on the screen, or turning on the speaker, just pick up the call and turn on the microphone in the highest sensitivity. It was called the "James Bond Mode". I am certain that an app can be had (or made) to do that.
k.) An app to use the phone to measure cell network parameters.
These are some of the possible uses...
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
I use mine as a nice C# box.... I control several DIY projects of mine through TCP/IP sockets from that phone. Granted, I could use mono/xamarin on Android (or Java), but I don't want to leave my main phone in the living room. Honestly, C# has the best development tools out of every programming language I've used, specially for RAD (or agile, as you kids call it now days.)
Yes to the S3. Bought it two years ago, when it was about three years old. Have been running CyanogenMod 12 (Lollipop), then LineageOS 14.1 (Nougat).
It runs fine and is up-to-date with a week-old build.
If someone made a solid Android build for a Windows phone, I'd at least consider it for a backup.
My Touchpad runs KitKat. . . .
With the replaceable battery, it makes it easy to use it as a phone, year after year. You don't need 1000 craplets on a phone. If it does text and phone calls, it is good enough for a lot of people.
You could install the Plesk App on them and use it to remote control a RaspberryPi (or similar) that's acting as the front-end.
If it's enabled for development, you can run your own code on it. I wrote a sampling organ in C# which took a sound input and played it back at a set of frequencies (a non- Equal Temperament scale I wanted to experiment with). It has a mic, sensors, can do graphics, etc. You could use it for a lot of fun projects.
Using it as a remote controlled network camera can be handy.
Use the camera, microphone and wifi for indoor use or point out the window as a weather cam. Access it via the inbulit server to a web page, setup logins or public access and go.
I tried it on an old android phone, i'm sure there is something similar on windows phone.
Did you open the map application for the first time with coarse location sources turned off, see it fail to find an access point in 5 seconds, and close it? If so, the failure is explainable.
If operated with help from coarse location sources, such as the location of a nearby access point, a GPS receiver can request the almanac and ephemeris from a server through the Internet, guess where the satellites are likely to be, and quickly refine the coarse location. Otherwise, it has to trilaterate its position from the satellites' signals from scratch, which involves waiting for the periodic broadcast of the almanac and ephemeris. This may take a minute, or 15 minutes if you haven't turned on the receiver in several months.
Uh the "sign of honor" would be non broken screen, i.e. you dropped it, went on Amazon, figured out what you needed (screen, digitizer, tools etc), ordered it, watched all the youtube vids on how to replace the screen while waiting for delivery and then finally cracked the lid on that sucker and did a screen swap. And then all you got was a white screen, which after many hours of Googling, you figured out and presto chango, you had shiny new unbroken screen. Bonus "honor points" if you made extra money fixing all your friends phone.
It's a damn shame that the platform seemingly died because IMHO the Lumia 640 I've got is a great PHONE. Like forget about all the "smart" features like dumb games and app, it's functionality as a telecommunications device, a TELEPHONE, was unparalleled, especially at it's price point (last walmart go-phone clearance price: $35USD)
I have a Lumia 635 that I use as a media player and a "I don't care if it gets trashed" HD camera.
Your grandma would love to hear from you
Actually I think the demise od Windows Phone is a tragedy. I like the UI a lot
The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
I'm still using my Windows phone, but the battery is starting to go down faster than it used to (I have to charge it every two days). And its camera isn't the best. But then I've dropped it on concrete, and it still ticks! And I do like the Windows UI, much better than the Android UI (I used to have an Android phone).
I have mounted two Nokia 520s in old cars to replace failed speedometers. Probably at least as accurate as the original speedo in a 1965 Chevy truck.
They make nice novelty tea coasters for the technically inclined. Keeps the coffee stains off your authentic tabletop Pacman cabinet
If you gave me a choice between a printer and a giraffe with explosive diarrhoea, i'll get my ladder and my raincoat
Crush it.
aaaaaaa
Donate it to a shelter for abused spouses. Nursing homes or children's hospitals might be able to use it also, if it has a browser that works on wifi.
Cheap storage VM.
The Lumias had fantastic cameras. I'm using mine for time lapse photos.
If you're building a fireplace, you can us it as filler in an outside area. 50-100 years from now when it comes down they'll wonder what the hell it is. Some dumbass will think it's proof of time travel thinking the fireplace was built in the 1800s.
That's not a bad idea, thanks.
The same thing you always could -- NOTHING!
My only phone is still an S3 (running LineageOS, like you mention). Whilst I'd /like/ a faster phone, I don't /need/ a faster phone and I can simultaneously NOT spend money on a new phone and not feel like a parasite of the earth by contributing towards unnecessary e-waste. Old phones don't magically disappear -- their parts and waste have to end up somewhere.
So yes, there are S3 users out there -- either because they can't afford a new device or because they simply don't need a newer device, or even because they just don't need a newer device /enough/ to justify the financial and environmental implications.
I've heard a Windows phone is really good for hammering nails with. Very sturdy.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti