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Consumer Reports joined Into Tomorrow this week to talk about buying a used smartphone:
If you have an old smartphone at the bottom of your junk drawer, it could fetch you some cash. Selling it is easier than you think, so says Consumer Reports. Their electronics spokesman James McQueen is here with some tips.
A number of retailers and websites buy used phones, with the price you’ll get varying widely. For instance, Gazelle.com quoted me $160 for my iPhone 6 Plus, and BestBuy.com’s Trade-In program estimated I’d get $200. In the end, it costs nothing to price a phone, and it’s certainly educational, so approach a few potential buyers. Other retailers with trade-in programs include Amazon and Apple. Additionally, ecoATM kiosks around the country will scan your used smartphone and buy it on the spot.
You might be able to squeeze an additional $50 or $100 out of a used smartphone by selling it yourself on eBay or a similar site. But a smartphone is more complicated to list for sale than most of the other used items you see on such sites.
You’ll have to post quite a bit of information. In addition to the model name, list the carrier you used the phone with, storage capacities, camera resolution, display size, and other common specs. Also include the manufacturer part number. And, of course, make sure the phone is unlocked with your carrier and that you’ve deleted all your data.
For more info on this story, visit ConsumerReports.org.
Dave and Chris shared apps they’ve been playing with:
Smartphone batteries don’t last forever, and some devices have an almost-embarrassing screen-on time. Those big, luscious AMOLED and LCD screens and taxing apps are an obvious drain on your battery, but — as Dripler reports — there are lots of things you can do behind-the-scenes to make your Smartphone last longer. While you can explore several Apps that claim to increase battery on your smartphone, there are also a few things you can do yourself to help. Here’s one:
Try a Black Wallpaper! If your phone has an AMOLED screen (like most Samsung devices do), use a dark-colored background. Black wallpaper can increase battery life because AMOLED screens only illuminate the colored pixels. Black pixels are unlit, so the more black pixels you have, or the more darker pixels, the less power is needed to light them up.
Give it Up! is a brutally difficult rhythm game that will have you playing for hours, mostly out of frustration, trying to beat your last score. This game is what they call a twitch reflex game. basically, it tests your reaction time. You’ve got this little guy on screen, and you have to jump to different levels and over death traps to the rhythm of the music that’s playing. That’s a heck of a lot easier said than done. I have been playing this game for a few months now and have only made it to the third level. It’s one of those games that you play while cussing, but can’t put down because you’re now on a mission to not let the game win. Give it Up! is available for iOS and Android for 99 cents.
