Creative Alternatives for inactive 4S on 8.0.2?

[JPamplin]

Hi folks.

I have literally been given an iPhone 4S that's on iOS 8.0.2 (it was a Sprint phone and my friend changed providers). Apart from selling it (which might yield $80 if I'm lucky), what are some interesting things I can do with this thingie?

Here are my ideas so far:

- Turn it into an AirPlay Receiver, hooked up to a small speaker

- Mount it in my bathroom, enable "Hey Siri!", and have it act as a "personal butler" for random questions in the bathroom during my morning routine (weather, email, etc.)

- Use it as a "Base Station" for some kind of home automation system (now that HomeKit is out)

- Remote Control / Remote Mouse for my Living Room HTPC Mac

- Give it to my 3 year old niece to use as a Gaming / Movies client

Anybody use a Siri-capable iPhone for something interesting? Be sure to mention the Apps that would enable it if it applies.

Thanks!

 

[eyoungren]

I used to have a 3GS as a non-primary phone. My situation was different in that I'm actually a Sprint customer so the phone was useless to me as a primary phone because it was an AT&T iPhone.

However, we are similar in that I looked for ways to use it.

I got it about a year before I bought my iPhone 5 as a way to introduce myself to iOS. I also used it as a jailbreak test bed.

But my main use for it, until my iPhone 5, was as a backup WiPhone. That is, I installed Talkatone and used my Google Voice number for it. As long as I was on WiFi I could use the phone to call, text, email and iMessage. I retained that ability on the phone once I got my iPhone 5. So, it was always there as a backup phone. Talkatone had to drop Google Voice at one point, but you can install the actual GV app itself. The advantage of the GV app and Talkatone is that you can do all of this without forcing the people you communicate with to install these apps. Other free calling apps like Viber and so on require that the people you communicate with have the app installed. If those people don't have an iPhone, well, that's a problem. And lots of people don't like to be forced to install an app just to communicate with one or two people.

I also used it as a media tool. It was my iTunes remote for my Mac and plugged in to a stereo it could also be used as a music streaming device (Pandora, Spotify, Google Play, etc) without tying up any of my other equipment. I also used it for quick online stuff when I didn't want to bother with my iPhone 5 because the dock I used is right next to the couch in the front room.

And my kids also used it to play games. In that role the 3GS was perfect to take along on short trips or outings because it had WiFi. Tethered to my iPhone 5 the kids had access to movies and games in the back seat of the car. And vice-versa if the places we were going to also had WiFi.

Now, my phone was a 3GS, but all of this could also apply to your 4S. Use your 4S to free up your primary phone. Some of these things I did with the 3GS saved me battery life on my iPhone 5.

So, anyway, those are my suggestions.