r/Consoom • u/Wheeljack26 • 12d ago
is this consoom?? As a frequent lurker, am i consooming or collecting?
i collect androids that were once flagships and had bezels, 3.5mm jack and supported custom roms. all in search of nostalgia. i used to drool over these when i was a kid. i have samsung s1 2 3 4 5 6edge 7edge, nexus galaxy 4 5 5x 6 6p, Lg v30 g7, OnePlus 1 x 7pro and samsung tab s 10.5, and 3 nexus tablets. im a hobby repairist and can with enough time and tools repair pretty much any phone, tablet or laptop/PCs
now how i fund these are , i go to ewaste recyclers on my day offs and grab these from there, and also other electronics like printers or monitors or laptops that can be sold for more after a bit of tlc or configuring windows onto them, some new phones that i can know dont have locks on them and just need a new battery i grab those too and give em a new battery, so far I've made exactly $700 usd in profits over 3 to 4 months and also spent only the same amount onto these old fully depreciated, dirt cheap phones i buy. as of my daily drivers i use a samsung tab s7 plus from 2020 that i got for just 20% of its original value, no defects and a 2024 oneplus 13 that i got for only 50% of its original value, no defects. I'm kind of a bargain hunter.
TLDR :- i visit recycling centers on day offs, grab wanted phones and other salvageable electronics, sell the other electronics for profit to fund my wanted phones. so far I haven't spent a dime out of my pocket, made 700 in profit, spent 700 on old 2010-2016 ish phones
so am i consooming or collecting?
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u/SipoteQuixote 12d ago
Restoring them to functional use is anti-consoom. Just dont pile em up and keep selling what you dont need need.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Yea i did streamline it a while ago, sold like 6 phones to reduce to 20 from 26 ish in my collection. Also I'm only looking for 5 more particular phones, once i get those, this is done and dusted
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u/FreeToasterBaths 12d ago
What is your end goal? Are you a museum exhibit or something ?
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Nah, just loved watching these phones as a kid and now i can own em for dirt cheap
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u/HolyBidetServitor 11d ago
I used to collect old blackberries with the intention of making a cool mounted decor
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u/Wheeljack26 11d ago
That's gonna be sick
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u/HolyBidetServitor 10d ago
I regret lending out my old blackberry passport, but we learn! I'm on unihertz now
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u/omnium165 12d ago
Everything in this photo is much better off in your hands than in a landfill, IMO
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u/ConsciousBenefit87 12d ago
Couldn't that be said on every post in this sub though? /gen
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u/harpinghawke 12d ago
OP mentioned they don’t buy these, but they find them at e-waste recycling stations and restore them. Sometimes they’ll sell them. Since the items are quite literally already on their way to a landfill, I personally see it as different from buying new items that’d end up in a landfill later.
YMMV of course!
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u/Zuuman 12d ago
Recycling isn’t consuming really, it’s great to give a second life to something.
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u/Necessary-Bed-5429 11d ago
It still tells the market there is a need in the product, so they keep producing.
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u/Tyrandeh 12d ago
yes, when its made by a member its "much better off in your hands than in a landfill"
if screenshot of someone else: "wtf man u sick 🤢"
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u/JoviallyImperfect 12d ago
These are picked up as ewaste and repaired, they literally are better off with OP than in a landfill where they would end up.
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u/ChampionshipOne3271 12d ago
In my country they collect e-waste in order to recycle it by extracting rare earth minerals from the components.
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u/Itchy-Decision753 9d ago
We get taught the phrase “Reduce, reuse, recycle” from a young age in Aoatearoa (NZ), meaning to reduce environmental impact first stop the problem at the cause as best you can (reduce), reuse things like shopping bags, sandwich bags, etc so you don’t overconsume, and recycle anything else. Personally I’d teach “Reduce, repair, reuse, recycle”
Recycling is better than landfill, but better still is repair/reuse like OP
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u/ChampionshipOne3271 8d ago
So if I started hoarding trash, would I be doing the world a service by keeping it from ending up in landfills or recycling plants?
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u/Itchy-Decision753 8d ago
Huh? I wasn’t disagreeing with you, I’m just saying that op is reusing and repairing which is better than it going straight to the landfill. It saves the huge waste generation of producing yet another new phone
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u/ChampionshipOne3271 8d ago
Huh? OP doesn't need or even use these phones. He just collects them. It might be better to use the materials inside of them to make new phones that people will actually use.
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u/ret_ch_ard 11d ago
But recycling doesn't give you back all the resources, just fragments of it. If you repair it, you can fully use some of the parts, and what you can't use, you can put back to the e-waste collector
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u/OK_Atlas 12d ago
I think you said that backwards. Did you mean better off in a landfill than in their hands?
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u/6262lE 12d ago
Key phrase: "so far I haven't spent a dime out of my pocket"
You aren't consuming, you are recycling. That's amazing!
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Music to my ears :) thanks
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u/rockhopper92 12d ago
Fixing something broken to keep it out of a landfill is like the opposite of consumption. Even if no one ends up using the devices, you are building upon a niche skill.
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u/chuckythecat 11d ago
Yeah I agree, I'd personally say as long as you don't spend any money (you're making money from it so even better), you can have as many junk (junk in a good way, no offense) as you want. I'm guessing you're not minimalist, just anti-overconsumption, so nothing wrong with that
On the side note, I'm incredibly jealous, your collection looks so cool, I wish there was a recycling center where I live
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u/fancczf 12d ago
Not sure I’d call this recycling, since almost certainly everything here is gonna end up in landfill again eventually. More like reuse. Recycling would be to make them into something that serves some purpose and have a new life. Not just sit there and waiting to be discarded again.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
I intend to keep these forever since they all fit in my drawer pretty nicely and onky going to add 5 more phones to these when i find em eventually, its almost done as a collection
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u/ret_ch_ard 11d ago
They will probably need battery replacements from long storage, so maybe consider removing the batteries from the ones you don't intend to use outside of your home and connect a wire for a PSU directly do each phones battery connectors
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u/Wheeljack26 11d ago
That will be the plan like 20 years from now when batteries are impossible to find for these phones
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u/thtsjsturopinionman 12d ago
This seems more like a recycling/restoration oriented hobby to me. Not even collecting. Consuming would be buying them up new just to have them, and collecting wouldn’t entail the lengths you go to avoid net expenses, and to fix broken items.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
So even better than both huh, score :)
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u/SeptimusXT 12d ago
Most true consoomers posted here usually have like 3+ of the exact same thing. Doesn’t look like you do.
And as you said, you’re not just buying stuff for the sake of just buying stuff, or hoarding, that’s a key difference imo.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Sometimes i do find same phones, if it's better than what i have i swap and sell, if not i sell, usually for way more i what i buy em for since some other people collect em too or just buy em because of nostalgia because they used to use that model of phone a decade ago
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u/Weeab00Slayer 12d ago
Naw dude this is fun. It seems like a genuine collection that you enjoy, and as stated it is a hobby of yours to repair these things. As someone who also loves older phones and repairing technology in general, I say this is cool.
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u/matiapag 12d ago
This brings so many memories that in the name of all Android fans, I forgive you. At the time these were popular I couldn't afford them. Then I started to work as a tech journalist and could use any device I wanted but the age of Nexus devices or Google Play versions of flagship phones was already over. I still work with phones and can use any phone I want for free, but this still looks like peak smartphone era in one picture.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
I was trying to capture that rough idea through these, now i can scroll xda with the devices that i always wanted too lol.
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u/FrotKnight 12d ago
Hoarding unnecessary trash. More consoom than collecting, but it's not the right label.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Yea they are useless from a calling or using modern apps perspective. Only for retro games and retro apps
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u/sizeablefrontallobe 12d ago
Root. Run a Linux kernel. Repurpose as a node that conveniently comes with its own monitor, keyboard, mouse, and UPS. Has I/O from usb, HDMI, WiFi, Bluetooth, some have ant+, gps, lots of tech packed in those little biscuits. On a rooted Linux shell, you can cook.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Already have a linux home server and debian pc so i dont bother much with overheating these ones, but i never say never
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u/sizeablefrontallobe 12d ago
Run pi on a separate node. Have the server sleep when it’s not busy and have the node send the WOL to the server whenever it’s demanded (might not be feasible but we’re always trying to save power)
Use it as an expansion for the home server, Bluetooth repeater/listening node. Plug in a usb dock/hub and use the HDMI/usb etc.Creative minds can play.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Mime actually runs qbitorrent seeding niche content, nicotine for soulseek, immich for photos and several syncthing, komga and stuff 24x7 so it's never gonna sleep, but hey, I'll def look into these, thank you
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u/Jack_Faller 12d ago
They are the same thing. Unless you running a museum or something collecting is just consoom. Though the fact you get them all out the trash makes it basically harmless.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Yea i thougt the same thing, almost seeing this same reply from everyone. Consoom but no harm at worst and even recycling at best
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u/chocolateboomslang 12d ago
This is a hobby because you actually have to spend time on it to make it happen, and you do it for fun.
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u/Various_Candidate499 12d ago
These recycling centers just let you have the phones?
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
For like 5 bucks a piece if they're intact, 2 bucks a piece if they are shattered and are for parts. Some let you go through inventory, some don't. But i rarely find something good there, usually its just piles of no names
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u/Various_Candidate499 12d ago
They are most likely violating privacy right by doing this.
Seems fishy to me
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
I know ownership is relinquished once they hit the recycling centres, nomidea about the privacy rights. As an extra i wipe all the phones there and itself to reveal any locks or not, whichever don't i get em, if one does i see if that can be bypassed, yes? take it, no? toss it
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u/Various_Candidate499 12d ago
Seems sus
You bought all these
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Yea it's a conflicting discussion but it's the owner's responsibility to wipe a phone before giving it away fir donation, recycle or selling purposes
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u/theoceansknow 12d ago
I'm thinking about my local towns recycling and dump, and they have a spot where people can drop off their electronics to be recycled....but that means the dump then has to bundle those up and send them to some magical facility that may or may not strip these phones down. And the town pays to ship that stuff out.
But the reality is that this shit gets crushed and tossed in a landfill.
If he's going to some recycling center that's like what I'm familiar with, he's saving the municipality $$ by taking them himself.
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u/snopro387 12d ago
This was how I got into computers/tech as a kid. I found the ewaste bin at my town dump and went there every week when my dad took the trash and I’d spend the time poking through there and pulling parts to build stuff at home. Ended up leading me to my career
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u/Various_Candidate499 12d ago
Townships often don't pay for postage for things like that
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u/theoceansknow 12d ago
Eh, there isn't a federal program for this. We have 50 states, and at least in my state waste and recycling are accounted for with local budgets. There's probably hundreds of different policies in place. In NH, towns have to pay to haul e-waste away
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u/AlexeyCrane 12d ago
Just make sure to check em for spicy pillows every know and than xD
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Yea, there's none rn, luckily i never found one lol. Just in a tablet but i sold that one since it was a newer model than what i look for
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Update : my collection is almost done now, just like 5 ish phones left that im looking for. So yes, it will be OVER someday :)
Also i rarely find something good in recycling centers most times just piles of no name phones or just pure recycle material, these phones are the result of numerous visits
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u/WonderSignificant598 12d ago
I mean you make this post knowing that this isn't CONSOOM.
Would I have a bunch of old electronics hanging around that I don't use, working order or not? No but that's my minimalist side showing.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Understandable, as a fellow minimalist, I actually built a slotted box that holds all of them and fits in my drawer, so none of these are scratched
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u/WonderSignificant598 12d ago
Well, you keep them in good shape.
I used to like playing around with old electronics, even sold a few but got to me far too much of a pain in the ass from shitty buyers to things just piling up.
Plus, my jobs have been in similar spaces as my old hobby so I dropped it.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
I like tech, work in IT, yea the thing just gets you sometimes, drains you totally
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u/WonderSignificant598 12d ago
It isn't even that it can be draining, just sometimes I don't want to do any computer stuff outside of work. Not everyone is like me though. Part of my problem is probably I had a passion for the stuff BEFORE I started my current career path and I traded a hobby for career/money. I'd make the trade again of course but sometimes I catch myself thinking 'wouldn't that be fun' before I remember 'oh yeah'.
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u/Phantom15q 12d ago
Nah this is just getting the jump on soon to be retro tech. In 10 years all this is gonna be really cool
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Exactly, waiting to exactly that time, these will be amazing show pieces in the house in a cabinet or good conversation starters
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u/lavafish80 7d ago
this is the good kind of consuming because you're collecting things that have already created their environmental impact and would otherwise be rotting in a landfill causing even worse environmental problems. By hoarding and collecting old technology, or old cars, or old clothes, or really anything old, you are saving the environment by preventing something from going to a landfill and adding to the e waste problem
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u/Baelish2016 12d ago
Consuming? No; the fact you recover most of these from recycling centers keeps you out of that typecast.
Collector? Maybe, but it’s getting dangerously close into the ‘I collect McDonalds Sauce Packets’ and not ‘I collect vintage watches’ territory.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Haha i see, McDonald's sauce packets because it's like a weird niche?
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u/Baelish2016 12d ago
Something like that.
My frame of thought was something along the lines of vintage watches have some intricate value and sense of rarity to the general public; while McDonald sauces are generally thrown away.
Old phones and tablets is a weird in-between; it’s not quite garbage, but they’re often outdated to the point where it’s borderline unusable.
I think what stands out to be is also how similar tech has gotten since the mid-2000s; it’s mostly just slightly different variations of the same design - rectangle, touch screen. It reminds me of those people who collect the same Stanley Cups in different colors or different sizes - Only not quite that bad, because you’re saving them from being trash, and also you personally see some sense of historic value in them, even if others don’t.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
There is one thing i did to keep these different, although only a person deep into tech woukd know the difference, these phones belong to 4 lines of smartphones that were loved by the enthusiasts and if we bank on those enthusiasts niche and value these, conservatively the value comes close to 800, altho only for an android enthusiast, to general public I'd have to pay em 30 bucks to throw these in the trash
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12d ago
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Most are wiped to erase locks so never had any pop up till now lol, prefer to stay it that way
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u/lvl-46-primeape 12d ago
It’s crazy how for a while phones with bezels looked old and outdated, and they still do, but now basically any bezel phone is super nostalgic. I’d also love to grab a few old devices like this just to have and experience again, maybe use as a music player or something (I can only assume most are basically unusable as a proper phone now).
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Yea most are unusable for calls but if you up the android version via a rom you can use a lot of other apps like spotify and things
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u/midirion 12d ago
Do you use the devices in some way? If you do it is not consoom, if you just have them for no reason, it is.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
Old retro games, some i get custom roms to try something different, most work as media plsyers due to 3.5mm jacks, i do tinker with almost all of em from time to time, this is a time capsule of sorts, i wanna keep these up and going for decades if i can
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u/InfluenceDapper6476 12d ago
You don't need a consooom...You need to curate a Tech Museum and allow the relics to be donated to you. Then every minute you work won't feel as much like being different things to different people.
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u/Wheeljack26 12d ago
That'll be pfolly too much of a commitment, in the end it's personal for me, i enjoy it and i just wanna keep it as a hobby
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u/InfluenceDapper6476 12d ago
What. If. This. is. Your. DESTINY. The Force works in mysterious ways...But don't take it from me, I'm just hanging out in Mos Eisley for the lurking prowess...
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u/Working_Situation692 12d ago
Honestly, since it was going to be e-waste and you enjoy using them, and make profit from them then I don't think it's consoom.
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u/kleingartenganove 12d ago
I owned two smartphones and two tablets over the last 10 years, and I‘m chronically online. Go figure.
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u/Glad_Following_8164 11d ago
ic u've installed custom roms on most of them. it's definietly not consooming
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u/Itchy-Decision753 9d ago
This is the antithesis of the subreddit IMO; you’re lessening the environmental impact of consoomerism, making money for yourself, and it’s clearly meaningful to you.
I hope this takes off for you, I’d buy my next phone from you if I was in your country/city.
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u/Wheeljack26 8d ago
Thanks for the words mate, i say whenever you are, try to always buy used, some places have it really good, for example s24 samsung can be had for 50% of its original price once s27 drops in used market, and after a battery swap its good for 4 years of security updates left still
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u/Tyrandeh 12d ago
its still too much. just because you are visiting the page you are not better than other people
you use all of these every day? no
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u/dontknowwhattodoat18 12d ago
Honestly this can be a cool time capsule/museum of the evolution of electronics
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u/Pristine_Life9887 12d ago
Mate.