Samsung has officially launched its initiative Galaxy Upcycling at Home with which it seeks to turn some of its Galaxy phones into IoT devices for the connected home. Although it may sound like those ideas that have been published on the internet for years.
Samsung copies how to reuse your old mobile
It would be necessary to go back several years to see exactly when all these articles began to be written in which ideas were given about how to take advantage of the mobile phones that we were leaving abandoned in the drawer.
Yes, those with ideas of the type of how to use your smartphone webcam, as a surveillance camera, universal remote for your television or even a monitor to see how your baby is doing while you enjoy your favorite Netflix series in the living room.
Because? Well, because it is now, in the middle of 2021, when Samsung officially launches its Samsung Upcycling at Home initiative. This is nothing more than the classic ideas to reuse your old smartphone at home.
The difference is that Samsung implements it through specific software that will facilitate the use of each of these options for the less expert user, as well as having advantages due to the integration it would have with the SmartThings platform and the use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence. .
What is Samsung Upcycling at Home
Let's go by parts. Samsung Upcycling at Home It is an initiative of the Korean manufacturer that seeks to extend the useful life of several of its devices through uses that are no longer what their phones were initially given.
And it is that knowing the renewal cycles that many users maintain with their smartphone, the idea of the brand is that you do not leave them abandoned in any drawer at home. This initiative, yes, is only available in some countries and for specific terminals.
At the moment they are the users of the United States, the United Kingdom and Korea that have a Galaxy S, Note and Z mobile released in 2018 or later and have Android 9 or higherr may make use of said program, which consists of installing software that turns the terminal into an IoT device within the user's connected home.
These "new" IoT devices that Samsung is pulling out of its sleeve with the reuse of some of its mobile phones are going to be able to take advantage of their hardware to perform actions as different as detecting the sound of a baby crying, barking of a dog or a certain lighting level in the area that would trigger a certain action such as sending an alert, recording what is happening or interacting with other connected devices.
All this would be done by taking advantage of the lighting sensors of the device as well as other hardware components such as microphones plus artificial intelligence that would be in charge of analyzing what is happening to act accordingly and according to the options configured by the user.
So what Samsung is allowing its users is to take advantage of feature phones that other devices make without having to buy them. Also, all of this would integrate with your SmartThings connected home platform.
A beginning that can go further
As you can see, Samsung's idea of reusing its old terminals is nothing new. These are ideas and proposals that have been taking place on the Internet for many years, but it is true that the great advantage here is ease of use for the less expert user.
With Samsung Upcycling many users will be the ones who will be able to adjust the type of use they want to make of that device that they are going to stop using because they bought a new model. Although it is also true that many either resell it or usually give it to other members of their family so that they inherit it and continue using it.
However, if you are one of those who ends up with several phones in a drawer that you no longer use, then this Samsung initiative may be striking and interesting for you. Of course, remember that for the moment only for certain models of the brand, but it could grow and reach more models.
The only thing you do have to take into account with Samsung Upcycling is that you will have to leave the phone connected to a power adapter so that the battery is not consumed and is always on. Especially if its autonomy is not what it had at the beginning when it was purchased.