The Guardian on "Unwanted mobiles to get new lease of life ".

The communications giant Nokia has developed technology that turns unwanted mobile phones into a range of useful electronic gizmos, including alarm clocks, handheld games and TV remote controls. The move is designed to help dispose of the growing number of obsolete handsets thrown away or forgotten in drawers by people striving to keep up with new technology.

That's a nice move and a smart initiative.

Nokia says redesigning old handsets makes the most of extra functions such as the clock and memory while hiding communication features. (...) The casing of the phone can be reshaped to "provide a more stylised device", alarm clocks could get a snooze function and software could be reprogrammed to talk to remote-controlled devices. (...) "The cell phone is transformed from something having a short lifespan to a device with an undeterminable lifespan."