I can do it, you can do it!

Before you retire that điện thoại thông minh or tablet to lớn the bottom of a drawer, there are ways to get more life out of it around the house.

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With a Wi-Fi connection, a streaming video clip app & its power charger, that old máy tính bảng ipad with the feeble battery can find new life as an extra television screen for any room in the house.Credit...J.D. Biersdorfer

Upgrading your điện thoại or tablet will leave you with a decision: What to vị with your old device?

Trading in, donating or recycling retired gear are all popular options, as is passing on a serviceable phone to lớn a family member sharing your wireless-carrier account. But you have countless other ways lớn get more productive use from outdated hardware, without putting a lot of money into it.

Here are just a few ideas to lớn get more use out of your demoted device.

Make a truyền thông Machine

Need an extra television in the kitchen or home office? If you subscribe to lớn a TV provider or streaming service, your old phone or tablet can step up. Just tải về your TV provider’s ứng dụng (like Spectrum cable or Verizon Fios) or your separate service (Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Fubo.tv, Netflix or whatever) and log into your account. Prop up the device near an outlet so it can run on electrical power nguồn while you watch, since chances are good that the old device has a worn-out battery.

Likewise, parking your old phone in a speaker cradle that also charges gives you a bookshelf sound system for music & podcasts. Or you can keep the phone connected khổng lồ its charger and stream music to a nearby wireless bluetooth không dây speaker. Powered speaker docks can be found online starting at around $40, & a wide variety are available. Wirecutter, the product-testing and reviews site owned by The thành phố new york Times, has suggestions for bluetooth không dây speakers, general audio gear and those shopping on a budget.

Old tablets can serve as dedicated e-book readers, even if you have lớn charge them frequently or keep them plugged in.Credit...Apple

And even if they have lớn stay tethered lớn a charger, old tablets also make good dedicated e-book readers or digital picture frames for photo slide shows.

Control Your World

Smart home appliances, music libraries, internet-connected televisions — so many things can be controlled by apps these days, so why not convert your old phone or tablet into an all-purpose universal remote? Third-party remote apps abound, but many tech companies (Amazon, Apple, Google, LG Electronics, Roku & Samsung, khổng lồ name a few) have their own programs. Just take a stroll through your phầm mềm store for software that matches up with your hardware.

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App stores contain a mix of official apps (like the Roku software shown here) và third-party options to remotely control smart appliances và streaming TV devices.Credit...Google; Roku

And even if you haven’t lost the tiny stick remote that came with your set-top streamer yet, the onscreen keyboard included with most apps makes it easier to lớn type in passwords. (Apple, which used khổng lồ have a stand-alone Remote app, folded the táo bị cắn TV remote software into the operating system in quả táo 12, but still has an iTunes Remote ứng dụng for iPhone/iPad users khổng lồ control their iTunes music collections stored on Macs & PCs.)

In recent versions of iOs, Apple’s Remote tiện ích for táo khuyết TV can be found on the Control Center screen, circled at left. The tiện ích allows you khổng lồ navigate apple TV & use a keyboard for search terms and passwords.Credit...Apple

Get Your game On

Depending on the processor và battery state, dedicating your old device to the pursuit of gaming is another way khổng lồ give it extra life. Wiping off all the old data to lớn start afresh gives you more room to download and store new games.

Google’s Stadia gaming platform runs on a wide variety of phones, including older models like the Google px 2 and Samsung’s Galaxy S8.Credit...Google

Playing old games on old phones may have nostalgic appeal, and you can find many classics converted for mobile play in the tiện ích stores. And you’re not limited khổng lồ stand-alone games. Subscription services lượt thích Apple Arcade & Google’s Stadia can run on many sản phẩm điện thoại devices, và you can beam your games (and other video) to the big screen if you’re using the Google Chromecast trò chơi mode or the AirPlay công nghệ that táo devices use to chia sẻ the screen on táo apple TV.

Investing in a hardware add-on like Razer’s Kishi mobile controller turns your old (or new) iPhone or game android phone into a miniature game console.Credit...Razer

If tapping a touch screen has never been your idea of serious gaming, consider snapping your old phone into a special controller that brings physical buttons, the standard D-Pad và thumbsticks to lớn the gaming experience. The Razer Kishi ($80 lớn $100) or Backbone One ($100) are among the options.

Entertain and Educate

If you’ve decided that your child can handle a hand-me-down phone or tablet for games & educational apps, take a moment to vì chưng a little bit of cài đặt to protect both of you. Visit the settings area & erase your personal information first.

Google’s Android, left, and Apple’s quả táo system software include parental control settings designed khổng lồ limit a child’s screen time và app-buying power nguồn on a hand-me-down phone or tablet.Credit...Left, Google; right, Apple

Next, create an account for the child and configure the parental controls for screen time, tiện ích purchases và internet access; operating systems for Amazon, Android, Apple and Samsung all include similar parental control settings.

If you’re loading up an old phone or tablet for a child, check the phầm mềm store for kid-friendly programs or educational offerings like the NASA di động app.Credit...Google; NASA

If the phone still has a functional camera (and can still hold a charge for an hour or so), you can also use it khổng lồ teach the fundamentals of photography. Loading up the child’s phầm mềm store account with a prepaid app-store gift thẻ can impart money-management skills. Và if the device’s old battery conks out after an hour, you can teach time management.