Making good use of old or spare tablets/smartphones

[oj88]

Cross-posted from another forum, with revisions.

The background: I got into the Arduino prototyping bandwagon in 2014 because I wanted to create a clock that can regularly query an atomic timekeeper via NTP on the internet. My lame excuse was that I simply got tired of correcting quartz clocks every several weeks because of poor movement accuracy. I'm an engineer and I always love a challenge.

However, I got lazy and went for the easy way out.

Why not use a tablet? I had an extra one (at the time) lying around so instead of selling it at practically zero value, why not convert it into an appliance? It's already got a processor, a display, and thousands of ready-made apps.

This was the first ever tablet from Samsung, the Galaxy Tab P1000, which we bought in Dec 2010. It's been rooted and currently runs Cyanogenmod firmware. I had to literally sift through dozens of clock apps before I settled with the one below. I also added a utility that will regularly synchronize the time with a time server. It's permanently plugged in using a modified USB cable (to allow it to charge at full-current using any 3rd-party charger). I installed this last October 2014 and so far, it has never needed too much intervention. I just update the apps every several months (instead of weeks). Most of all, it's always on time!



Next is a Starmobile 7TV+. I bought it because I wanted a portable analog/digital TV... just for the heck of it. After the wow factor have died, I made it into a CCTV monitor on my bedside table. I only keep this on at night (or when we're waiting for the pizza delivery guy to appear).



Finally, as part of a re-contracting deal with Globe, I also received a free Lenovo A3300 tablet (bundled with a Lenovo A536 smartphone). The phone went to my son. But since I've got nothing planned for the tablet, I thought I make it into a dedicated Spotify and Pandora player for the time being. It connects to a Bluetooth receiver which then plays audio out a Xenon 2.1 speaker.



Android tablets are cheap. Older or basic models costs even less. If you're just running simple apps, you don't need a powerful model. Doing this has allowed us to free up our iPads for doing the regular stuff; work files, browsing and games.

Try playing a tune from Spotify and play games at the same time from a single device. ;)

So, share what you have or what you're planning to do with old/surplus devices.