Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Uses for old cell phones?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Adairsville, GA
    Beans
    166
    Distro
    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    Uses for old cell phones?

    Over the past few years, my wife and I have accumulated quite a few cell phones. Half of them are broken and no longer functional, but they all have working LCD screens and good batteries. I have a good background in electronics from classes I took in college, but it has been quite a while since I've put that knowledge to use. I have a digital oscilloscope and lots of salvaged ICs and components so I would like to try to build something useful with the old cell phone parts. Does anybody know of some projects that I could do that involve recycling old phone LCDs?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Rochester, MN
    Beans
    113
    Distro
    Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

    Re: Uses for old cell phones?

    http://transistor-man.com/unknown_LCD.html

    Maybe this will get you started?
    Last edited by clonne4crw; October 26th, 2009 at 02:39 AM. Reason: Sorry, wrong link. :\
    If I had a bean for every post in the cafe...
    "Do you pine for the days when men were men and wrote their own device drivers?" - Linus Torvalds

  3. #3

    Re: Uses for old cell phones?

    Donate the ones that have any use as phones, and they may end up in a shelter for women.
    Aspire One D257, 2GB DDR3-1333

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    West Hills CA
    Beans
    10,044
    Distro
    Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr

    Re: Uses for old cell phones?

    Take the batteries and glue them to the back of cheap mp3 players. Solder wires to the internal battery. Massive battery life for listening to 2-hour linux podcasts.

    A water-logged iTouch that I found at a park gave up it's battery to my nokia n800. 6-8 hours of use vs 4 hours.
    -------------------------------------
    Oooh Shiny: PopularPages

    Unumquodque potest reparantur. Patientia sit virtus.

  5. #5
    pwnst*r is offline Gee! These Aren't Roasted!
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Beans
    Hidden!

    Re: Uses for old cell phones?

    Quote Originally Posted by coolbrook View Post
    Donate the ones that have any use as phones, and they may end up in a shelter for women.
    yep, and vets

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Adairsville, GA
    Beans
    166
    Distro
    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    Re: Uses for old cell phones?

    Donating the functional phones is a good idea, but what about the broken ones?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Beans
    Hidden!
    Distro
    Ubuntu

    Re: Uses for old cell phones?

    Quote Originally Posted by hambone79 View Post
    Donating the functional phones is a good idea, but what about the broken ones?
    Other manufacturers may not have things like this and I'm not sure whether Nokia accepts non-Nokia phones, but I'm guessing that they do accept.

    http://www.nokiausa.com/get-support-...ecycle/recycle
    Vera! Vera! What has become of you?

  8. #8
    pricetech is offline Iced Blended Vanilla Crème Ubuntu
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Beans
    1,651

    Re: Uses for old cell phones?

    Motorola accepts any phone in any condition and they pay the freight. Check out their site for a printable shipping label.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Nebraska
    Beans
    480
    Distro
    Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat

    Re: Uses for old cell phones?

    There are a number of organizations that recycle cell phones. Some (as previously mentioned) distribute working ones to people in need, while others recycle the components and give the proceeds to good causes.

    If you like orangutans, try this. I've also seen dropboxes for this organization at zoos.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    The Left Coast of the USA
    Beans
    Hidden!
    Distro
    Kubuntu

    Re: Uses for old cell phones?

    Very old thread.

    Back to sleep.
    Please read The Forum Rules and The Forum Posting Guidelines

    A thing discovered and kept to oneself must be discovered time and again by others. A thing discovered and shared with others need be discovered only the once.
    This universe is crazy. I'm going back to my own.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •