What's next for a retired smartphone?
September 28, 2015 12:23 PM Subscribe
We had an "old" smartphone so my husband gave it to my son. He's only 8 but he is going to use it to text my husband since my husband travels a lot. It also has a camera he can use... What other cool things can a you do with a old smartphone? Good apps to download? (This one happens to be a Galaxy nexus)
TuneIn for endless free radio!
posted by rabbitrabbit at 12:43 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by rabbitrabbit at 12:43 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Is Google Hangouts an option? Your son could have video chats with his father. Google Hangouts works as a text messaging app too. Google Hangouts can function as a Wi-Fi telephone too. Does your son like music? There's a ton of music playing apps, starting with Google Play Music. Google Play Music will allow you to stream only over Wi-Fi.
posted by dlwr300 at 1:12 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by dlwr300 at 1:12 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
That's a fast enough phone to run retroarch and play tons of emulated games! Something like a cheapo Bluetooth controller would make it even funner, but even just with the screen it'll work quite well.
This was my favorite thing to do with like, my palm pilot and other silly early pocket computers when I was young. And it's soooo much better now.
posted by emptythought at 1:27 PM on September 28, 2015
This was my favorite thing to do with like, my palm pilot and other silly early pocket computers when I was young. And it's soooo much better now.
posted by emptythought at 1:27 PM on September 28, 2015
He is a bit young, but its a great thing for a music student since you can get free apps for a metronome and a tuner.
posted by SemiSalt at 2:27 PM on September 28, 2015
posted by SemiSalt at 2:27 PM on September 28, 2015
Lots of educational apps are out there. I bet your son is in 3rd grade and could use multiplication practice ones.
posted by heathrowga at 3:54 PM on September 28, 2015
posted by heathrowga at 3:54 PM on September 28, 2015
Astronomy apps that use location sensing to show you constellations in the current night sky where you are, compass apps, apps that plot your location when you go hiking and can tell you if you're walking in circles. If it has enough space on it, there's OsmAnd and other offline mapping apps.
posted by XMLicious at 4:11 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by XMLicious at 4:11 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Player.fm is a great podcast player, and can be set to only download on WiFi.
Merlin Bird ID is pretty handy for identifying new-to-you birds. I'd have loved such a thing at that age. It's a heck of a lot easier than browsing through a few hundred pages of handbook.
posted by wierdo at 9:20 AM on September 29, 2015
Merlin Bird ID is pretty handy for identifying new-to-you birds. I'd have loved such a thing at that age. It's a heck of a lot easier than browsing through a few hundred pages of handbook.
posted by wierdo at 9:20 AM on September 29, 2015
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The kids stream YouTube cartoons onto the TV from a Android profile with a family lock on the YouTube settings.
posted by Nevin at 12:37 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]