Gadgetory

so in the spirit of earth-days effort to produce two billion acts of green we here at Edward authority are gonna reduce reuse recycle geek style smartphones could be the fastest growing technology in the world ever and nowadays more than one in seven people own a smartphone worldwide some of us more than others and sadly that produces a lot of e-waste and a waste is not exactly biodegradable bad for the earth bad humans now I had a serious crush on the romper room teacher you remember her I hope that I'll see you again on Monday for robbery but I remember her saying reduce reuse recycle and that spirit let's start with reuse first you can donate it there are various options if you want to turn your old Android smartphone into a charitable donation in the US you'll find campaigns like Verizon's Hope line which supports victims of domestic abuse hope phones which is dedicated to health workers or cell phones for soldiers you can use it as a remote with the right apps you can control your computer console or home theater gear you can even look into home automation your old Android phone can be a really handy remote control that will work from anywhere in the house you can also use it to stream content to other rooms with the right setup you can even turn it into a server you can use it to stream content and share files or even make it into a proxy server to secure public Wi-Fi if you can find use for a portable web server than your old Android phone is up for the job you can find a tutorial on how to do just that by my old friends at X Day developers TV now let's talk about recycling because you cannot recycle it here since E waste is a growing problem some governments have put pressure on manufacturers and carriers to take responsibility for the devices they sell you'll actually find that the majority of manufacturers and carriers do offer some kind of recycling program but they don't always go over the way to publicize it by returning your device through one of these recycling programs you can ensure that is disposed of safely and that many of the components and materials are reused as much as possible and that landfill is kept to a minimum now of course another way to avoid it landing in the landfill is to give it to a relative or sell it yourself for a hassle free time you can try an online service that buys used smartphones in the UK Envirothon is good stateside you may want to try gazelle or swap up but there are plenty of options out there the basic premise is that you can check on the site to see what they'll pay for your phone and then send it to them via a free post they will test it and assuming it is as described pay you the agreed price you can usually opt in to be paid in various ways like Amazon giftcards if you don't mind doing a bit more work arranging the sale yourself you can probably get more money by selling it somewhere like eBay Craigslist or Gumtree but never send the device until you've been Kade now let's talk the really easy option and that's a simple buyback program you'll find that a lot of big online retailers and even manufacturers run buyback programs where they offer a guaranteed return for specific models of a smartphone the catch here is that with these deals you often have to buy a new phone or something else from them these deals usually pay a bit more than straightforward buyback programs because you're buying a new device Samsung offers a deal like this where you send them proof of a new samsung galaxy device purchase and they'll give you cash for your old phone there's also Amazon electronics trade in which pays you in amazon gift cards it always pays to compare the prices offered in a few places before pulling the trigger on a deal I remember as a kid in kindergarten our teacher was reading us a futuristic book about a time where kids could not go outside to play because the pollution was so bad and I thought that must be like 500 years from now no that's now when my kids were in kindergarten school like ten years ago we had smog days where they could not go outside to play because of pollution that's why today's sponsor is so perfect for Earth Day thanks again to our sponsor the Toyota Mirai the new Toyota Mirai is looking to the future with sustainability in mind fueled by hydrogen and leaving zero emissions behind thanks for watching Android are me happy Earth Day love to connect with you right here on Google+ or Twitter or in the comments below you don't wanna forget about my brothers in Android Josh Joe in the tech ninja Kevin lawn and Chris Gary Nash and Taylor all working super hard to be your source for all things Android