There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Ten things you never knew your cell phone could do is a review aimed at exhausting the possible things your mobile phone can actually do while being a life saver or an emergency tool for survival to keep up with friends or just as a pleasure. Check out the things that you can do with it:
FIRST
Emergency Calls
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.
SECOND
Have you ever locked your keys in the car?
Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other “remote” for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). Editor’s Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!”
THIRD:
Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.
FOURTH
How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone
To check your Mobile phone’s serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won’t get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can’t use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
And Finally…
FIFTH
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don’t have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now. This is the kind of information people don’t mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends.
SIXTH
Text Your Google Search
For the price of sending a text message, you can unleash the power of Google without having to open a Web browser. Just text GOOGL (46645) to get access to much of the search giant’s most useful information, including addresses and phone numbers, word definitions, numeric and other conversions, weather, and even sports scores.
For example, if you want to look up the phone number of a pizza joint to place a take-out order, text-message the name of the business and its city and state to GOOGL, such as zachary's oakland, ca. A minute or so later, Google will send you a text message similar to this: ‘Local Listings: Zachary’s Chicago Pizza 5801 College Ave Oakland, 94618 510-655-6385?. To save time, enter the zip code instead of the city and state.
To look for more-general information, text something like pizza 94618 to receive the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all the pizzerias in that area.
You can text Google for all sorts of conversions, too. For example, if you want to convert pounds to kilograms, or liters to quarts, or even find out the number of miles in a light-year, text GOOGL and enter 2 liters in quarts. You’ll receive a text back with the answer faster than you can say ’2.1133764188651876?. To convert foreign currency at the current exchange rate, text: $100 in euros (the three-letter abbreviation for different currencies also works, such as 100 usd in eur).
Google has many other options for fast lookups from your phone. To find out the forecast for a region, text weather and the city name, such as weather Peoria, IL. During last summer’s pennant races, I almost wore out my phone’s dial pad using Google to check scores. To find out how your team is doing, simply text its name, such as Dodgers to see how things are going in Chavez Ravine.
Depending on your cell-phone plan, sending a lot of text messages to Google may launch your monthly bill into the stratosphere. Check to see if your service provider offers any special deals for high-volume texting before you start punching those buttons
SEVENTH
SMS: Get Google Calendar Alerts, Make Calls
If you use Google Calendar to keep track of your appointments, you can send yourself SMS reminders of the events you have listed. Once you’ve signed up with Google and logged in, you can add your upcoming activities to your online calendar.
Call via SMS
If you make a lot of international calls, you can use SMS to take advantage of cheaper rates. Two of my favorite SMS services are Call2.com and U.K. ISP Telecomplete’s MyWebCalls.com. Both allow you to send an SMS message to their servers, which then either place the call (if you have previously registered the number you’re calling) or call you back with a dial-tone allowing you to enter the number manually.
Call2.com uses standard phone lines, while MyWebCalls.com is VoIP-based, which is cheaper but may be less reliable. Calling France on MyWebCalls.com is 1.4 cents per minute, while on Call2.com it’s nearly 6 cents per minute.
After you register for the service, you text the number that the service assigns you (you may also need to enter a password). You could use this service to place domestic calls as well, but the real savings come when placing calls from outside the United States.
EIGHTH
Take Notes via a Camera Phone; Call 411 for Free
The next time you’re heading to a meeting, leave your notepad (or your laptop) behind and let your camera phone record the meeting notes. The Qipit service lets you convert the text in an image captured by a cell-phone camera (or any other digital camera) into a PDF file (it will also be available as a JPEG). After you register for the service by providing your name, country, and e-mail address, you enter your cell number, service provider, and phone model.
The service indicates the quality of text scans you can expect. For example, my Motorola Razr V3c rated only one out of three stars. After you photograph, say, the whiteboard or your own handwritten notes, you e-mail the image file to the service (copy@qipit.com for black-and-white images, and color@qipit.com for color), and it is added to your list of files. As we went to press, the service is free, but it’s limited to 25 documents per account, and it supports only JPEGs with a minimum resolution of 1.3 megapixels. You pay only the cost of an MMS message. (Note that you can also send the service images to be scanned and converted via e-mail.)
NINETH
Make 411 Calls for Free
A more traditional way to find information about a business than texting Google is to use your phone company’s directory-assistance service, aka 411. However, most cell phone providers charge $1 or more for each 411 call. Fortunately, there’s a free alternative: 1-800-FREE-411.
Just like the name implies, a quick call to the number puts you through to an automated voice-recognition program (similar to the old-fashioned 411) that asks for the city, state, and name of your listing.
TENTH
Connect With Friends; Send Voice Mail via E-Mail
Extend your social network to your cell phone via Dodgeball, a free online service–with 15,000 members and growing–that allows you to broadcast your location to friends by sending a text message to the service. Instead of calling or texting each of your friends individually to say that you’re at the local pub cheering for your March Madness picks, or commiserating over your alma mater’s early exit, you can send a single message and let Dodgeball do the heavy lifting. After you sign up for the service using your Google login, you set up a profile that asks for your home city and gender (you can choose not to specify gender), as well as your cell phone number and service provider, and the number or e-mail address you want your messages sent to (you can also choose to receive photos, though this option is turned off.
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