The debate on what to do with a mobile when acquiring a more modern and advanced one is not new, for which there is a diversity of possibilities, as we already know, although now Samsung arrives with the expansion of its Galaxy Recycling Program by launching the Galaxy Upcycling at Home initiative, which allows converting somewhat old Galaxy phones into IoT devices, in beta.
According to the company, This initiative is starting now in the United States, United Kingdom and Korea for Galaxy phones of the S, Note and Z series launched since 2018 and have Android 9 or higher.
Framed in its environmental sustainability plans
Users who already have the possibility to access the program will only have to access the SmartThings application to download the corresponding update that allows you to convert your mobiles into IoT devices that can detect sounds or that are capable of automatically turning on artificial light at an illumination threshold level of the area in which it is located.
As a sound detection device, powered by Artificial Intelligence, it will be able to detect sounds of a baby crying, a dog barking, a cat meowing or a blow, sending the corresponding alert to the user himself to his main telephone, along with the corresponding recording so that he can listen to it.
And as a light sensor device, Samsung indicates that users can configure to turn on the light, or even the TV, through the SmartThings ecosystem, when a certain lighting level in the room is reached.
In either of these two possibilities, Samsung points out that it has endowed its initiative with battery optimization solutions to minimize battery usage, although at the moment it has not clarified the autonomy that it is capable of providing to the devices.
The company intends to expand support for other Galaxy phones in the future, although we do not know if it will be extended to other markets.
Ultimately, it is about increasing the useful life of mobile devices by giving them a new utility, and compared to theory, the company has now gone into practice.
And if this initiative sounds like something, it is because the company already offered a preview of it in the past CES, now when it begins to be a reality, although it is possible that at first it will be insufficient, so hopefully soon add new possibilities.
