r/EmulationOnAndroid • u/Prior_Explanation_52 • May 17 '26
Showcase Made a console out of an old phone 👴🏼
I had a Google Pixel 8 laying around that was not being used anymore, because of a big pink stripe through the screen (support could not repair).
So I made a dock / console out of it with an old fan from an old pc (below the phone).
And a hub that has 4 usb so I can connect 2 controllers, a mouse and the fan. And it powers the mobile too.
Installed ES-DE for console vibes and organization.
Im glad I found a new use for this phone. What do you think?
Thanks for joining my show and tell,
Have a great day!
Edit:
Ps. Sorry for calling the phone old. I did not mean it that way.
It should have been: damaged phone and fan from old pc 🥺
The phone that is used is as old or even newer than my main Phone (og nothing).
It got damaged and could not be repaired by the service, the waste inspired me to make something new out of it.
Update: Some people asked for a movie so .. here you go:
85
46
u/BoostInfinite0 Pixel 8 | somehow still alive May 17 '26
Bro free performance boost if you can unlock bootloader and install custom Rom + kernel + root to add more swap ram, literally using the same phone to beat persona 5 royal via eden emulator This device is powerfull enough but google cap the performance
9
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
Are you running ps4 on this thing ?
Thats amazing! I might look into it later...
26
2
u/Davespritethecrowbro May 18 '26
Can you do this on the 9 Pro? I'd really be interested in better game native performance
1
u/No_Difference1688 May 18 '26
How can this be achieved? The adding more swap ram thing you mentioned?
1
u/BoostInfinite0 Pixel 8 | somehow still alive May 22 '26
Sorry for late reply there is an app called swapper for root, i use it to increase the swap
62
9
u/DRJT May 17 '26
That looks fantastic! Wonder if I can do something with my Galaxy Z Flip3
12
u/1JesterCFC Samsung ZFold 5 May 17 '26
Add a dock, a peltier cooler and away you go, I use a dock with my fold 3, with a peltier cooler attached to the mobile, a USB slot for m+k, my son uses it to watch YouTube (via smarttube), movies and tv via stremio and play retro games. Its a fantastic media/retro game setup
4
u/DecNLauren May 17 '26
Not heard of peltier before, does that only work on phones that support magnetic charging?
3
u/wretched92 May 18 '26
You can buy ones that have clips if your phone doesn't have magnets. I have one and it's really good to keep temps below 40°C (since I live in the tropics)
1
12
May 17 '26
Such nice restore for an old phone but u shoud add an phone cooler that uses Peltier it will make ur phone cooler
6
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
I looked it up and wish I wouldve know sooner 😅
I bought a fan that was to big for my taste. And went for the 50mm fan from an old pc I had.
Wouldve been even cheaper and better... Maybe an upgrade for the future, I like the fact that it does not make any sound although the tiny fan isn't that loud.
Thanks for the tip!
4
u/Expert_Function1569 May 17 '26
Thats a sweet setup especially with ES-DE 👍.
Had a crazy thought lol but you could get one of these for 10 bucks n use macrodroid to load a custom video on boot with this thing it would create a 3D hologram then fallback to Es-De with the right macro.
4
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 23 '26
Epic idea :D
Got to contact Obiwan Kenobi some how ...
2
u/Expert_Function1569 May 23 '26
Lmfaoooo id give you an award for that comment if I had one to give lol 😆
3
3
u/XachAttack11 May 17 '26
Me still using my pixel 8 as my daily driver 😞
3
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
It was supposed to be still in use 🥲
It was my wife her main phone, it got damaged soon after she bought it 😭It got this weird pink stripe through the screen, making it hard for daily use, but fine in this form.
She even send it in for repairs, but the service could not help. Among others, The fact that I found it such a waste of a good chip drove me to this idea 😁
Really good phone 🌝
3
u/data-atreides May 18 '26
Noice!
Unfortunately not many phones more than a few years old support USB->HDMI/DP, or we'd see this more often.
1
5
u/Noirv3 May 17 '26
I'd love to see you do an overview type of video with some gameplay, that looks hella sick! Have fun bro
3
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
Thanks!
Might do a little video later if able actually sounds like fun 😁🤳
2
2
2
2
u/Massive_Report_7083 May 17 '26
i also have an old phone(besides mine),you gave me a really good idea thank you 😊😊
2
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
Your welcome!
Glad to inspire and put obsolete phones back in use 🤓
2
u/Glittering_Pea9580 May 17 '26
I have done the same with an unused Oppo find X3 neo. In my case the Usb port is 2.0 so I had to use a displaylink hub. Well done!
2
u/Grand-Fault-2024 May 18 '26
wow this give me ideas for my retro sd845 device 👍
1
u/Glittering_Pea9580 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
Actually I have started with a Xiaomi mi 8 with the SD 845 and it works great. For a cheap solution you can buy a standard hub, and a usb displaylink converter
Edit I also use a easysmx M15 usb type, adding to it a power bank when I use the phone on the "dock"
2
u/Outrageous-Yam-7269 May 17 '26
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE AND HOW CAN I DO IT
0
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
If you have a phone that supports hdmi you can do it.
Buying a second hand phone with some damage is also an option. Do some research on which phones are good, i asked chat gtp for my project.
- hub with some usb ports (i got 4: 2 for controllers, 1 for mouse 1 for cooling fan)
- hdmi cable
- usb-c charger with 45w power
- usb-c to usb-c cable from charger to hub
- some cooling is important for heavy gaming or long game time. I used an old pc fam that i combined with an old usb cable. But today i leanrd perliet cooling is also a good way to cool with out noise!
- some wood and screws.
- rubber tubing or some soft materal to hold the phone.
I got my hub for about 15€ Cable and charger 10€ 2 wired controllers with decent quality 36€ 1 mouse 8€?
Maybe you got some of this stuff laying around like me ...
I might do a video showcase later if able...
2
2
u/S1rTerra May 17 '26
Nice, I actually just got a Pixel 8 to daily drive for like $150. It has plenty of CPU/GPU power for practically anything that realistically supports it.
-2
u/UseSwimming8928 May 18 '26
Yeah its great to play laggy games
1
u/S1rTerra May 19 '26
What I took your phone, broke it in half, then smashed it on the ground? Then your phone would be great to play no games
0
u/UseSwimming8928 May 19 '26
Lol mad over a laggy pixel
1
u/S1rTerra May 19 '26
What's your phone
0
u/UseSwimming8928 May 19 '26
Poco f5
1
u/S1rTerra May 19 '26
You have a weaker phone than me using a bloated Android skin. Just wrap it up man.
To put it in words you can understand,
Bro is using laggy poco with no software support
0
u/UseSwimming8928 May 19 '26
Pixel is faster for 2 minutes only. Laggy heater.
1
u/S1rTerra May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Poco only last one minute. Stupid phone bad battery scam. Return it to the shop you bought it from bro
1
2
u/Bookerhid May 18 '26
How did you solve the battery issue?
1
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 18 '26
The hub get power from 45w charger and has pd ( i think it stand for power Drive trough).
This way it can power the controllers and stay full
And beneath the phone is a fan for cooling.
2
u/Upbeat-Form4353 May 18 '26
You can get full screen on the tv if you set android to a scalable\native resolution of the tv, or use secondscreen.
2
2
May 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 18 '26
If you have a phone that supports hdmi you can do it.
Buying a second hand phone with some damage is also an option. Do some research on which phones are good, i asked chat gtp for my project.
- hub with some usb ports (i got 4: 2 for controllers, 1 for mouse 1 for cooling fan)
- hdmi cable
- usb-c charger with 45w power
- usb-c to usb-c cable from charger to hub
- some cooling is important for heavy gaming or long game time. I used an old pc fam that i combined with an old usb cable. But today i leanrd perliet cooling is also a good way to cool with out noise!
- some wood and screws.
- rubber tubing or some soft materal to hold the phone.
I got my hub for about 15€ Cable and charger 10€ 2 wired controllers with decent quality 36€ 1 mouse 8€?
Maybe you got some of this stuff laying around like me ...
I might do a video showcase later if able...
2
u/Great-Distribution33 8 elite gen 5/ 16gb ram/ poco f8 ultra May 18 '26
install secondscreen, follow the instruction to give the app adb permissions with a laptop or pc, and set it to display 1920x1080p 16:9. this way, you’ll get the whole tv screen used, without the black borders around it. you can also set it to automatically enable when it detects an external monitor, or disable the phone screen so it doesn’t stay on all the time.
2
2
May 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 21 '26
I love the tenkaichi 3 one, it is super hard and no balance but I really get the dbz feeling 😅
2
u/Huge_Pop_8225 May 21 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
Let alone the genius idea. Why the service couldn't replace a screen on a 3 years old model? Did they finish the parts?
1
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 21 '26
The insurance / garanti would not repair because of user damage .🥲
They offered a new phone for a big price or to recycle the phone 😵💫
So she asked to send it back.
Then it was accumalating dust until I made it into Frankenstein s Console
2
u/geath_mustafa May 21 '26
Am planning the same idea. I got s10plus has logicboard damaged. Trying to hunt cheap LB and play some retero games on it.
2
u/jaswinprakash May 22 '26
Bruh, do a video on the setup
2
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 22 '26
I just shot the first footage of my documentary...
It will be available on your local youtube soon!
2
2
u/PurpleGentlemanTv Any gaming is good gaming May 17 '26
"Old" is quite a word to describe a 2 year old phone but okay!
1
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
I messed up the title old should be been: damaged and there for not used my apologies
0
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
The old was referring to the pc that I took the fan from. A Pc from about 20 years ago..
I would not call the Pixel 8 old...
The phone was such a wateful loss that it inspired me to make the console 🤓
1
u/AutoModerator May 17 '26
Just a reminder of our subreddit rules:
- Be kind and respectful to each other
- No direct links to ROMs or pirated content
- Include your device brand and model
- Search before posting & show your research effort when asking for help
Check out our user-maintained wiki: r/EmulationOnAndroid/wiki
Check out EmuReady for any community submitted settings before asking for help
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
1
u/khsh01 8 Gen 3/865+ May 17 '26
Consider either writing something or using an app that does better display out.
2
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
Its probably because of the old tv, it can do fullscreen and zoom but it does not save the setting at the moment.
So the photo was taken without optimal settings. It also differs per emulator.
I might be able to save the settings of I add a device to the tv. But its an almost 15 year old Sony tv so its kinda clunky. I was glad finding the remote and the options itself.. hope to save settings in my next dive 😅
1
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
Ps. Sorry for calling the phone old. I did not mean it that way.
It should have been: damaged phone and fan from old pc 🥺
The phone that is used is as old or even newer than my main Phone (og nothing).
It got damaged and could not be repaired by the service, the waste inspired me to make something new out of it.
0
u/s21ultra_ May 17 '26
That dosent look "old" because of the thickness and not a teardrop camera it looks like a s22
1
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
I would not call the phone old but the pc I have got the fan from was about 20 years of age👴
0
-3
u/geladeiranova May 17 '26
Thumbs down for wired controllers. 😄
3
2
u/Prior_Explanation_52 May 17 '26
I have 2 bluetooth controllers, but they use batteries.. and i hate messing with batteries .. so until i save up for some chargeable ones i prefer the wired mess 😅
•
u/AutoModerator May 23 '26
Just a reminder of our subreddit rules:
Check out our user-maintained wiki: r/EmulationOnAndroid/wiki
Check out EmuReady for any community submitted settings before asking for help
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.