Just before Christmas as part of my ongoing mobile phone contract, I upgraded my handset to a Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. This left me with a Samsung Galaxy S8, that I no longer needed. Usually, I sell old handsets online as they tend to hold their value. But as this one had a few knocks and scrapes (due to one single unfortunate drop), I couldn’t really get a good price for it. However, quite to my surprise, Mrs P expressed an interest in it. This was unusual as she is somewhere between a technology Muggle and a militant Luddite. But she does appreciate the practical necessity of having a smartphone these days and her existing Motorola Moto G was no longer fit for purpose. So I bought her a case for the S8, which covered the minor damage to the handset, unlocked it so she could use it with her network and transferred all her personal data. She seems content with its capabilities and so this handset continues to be of practical use. This naturally got me thinking about the nature of hand-me-down technology.