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5 Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do

Here’s some irony for you – one week after posting about the 8,690 disruptions I experienced in April, here’s a forwarded email I received last week that I actually found interesting.  I guess 1 in 8,690 isn’t bad? :)

FIRST
Emergency

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 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).

THIRD
Hidden Battery Power

Imagine your cell battery is very low . To activate, press the keys *3370# . Your cell phone 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 phone next time.

FOURTH
How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone? (this would have come in handy a few weeks ago)

To check your Mobile phone’s serial number, key in the following Digits on your phone: *#06# . 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 get 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
Free Directory Service for Cells

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)FREE411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.

  • pathardy
    Everyone of these will help me--and I need it!!! Thanks
  • Check this out - a new phone by Sharp will allow you to unlock your car and start the engine!
    http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/R...
  • kenny
    WELL I WOULD HAVE TO SAY, THAT THE REMOTE AND PHONE BIT TO OPEN CAR DOES WORK
  • MARSHA
    THE REMOTE AND CELL PHONE ENTRY DOES WORK I HAVE DID IT WITH TWO DIFFERENT CARS BOTH WERE NEWER MODELS
  • Bob A
    Your comment on Unlocking a car with a cellphone DOES NOT WORK. See: http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/keyless.asp
    Sorry to rain on your parade.
  • sasha
    On-Star - it can alert emergency services you've been in an accident, it can unlock your car, it can even locate the nearest beer store to your current location - On-Star comes standard on many vehicles now and many people opt to add it to their cars.

    But how does it work?

    OnStar is a telematics service, a subscription-based communications, monitoring and tracking service provided by General Motors.

    Telematics?

    Telematics is the transmission of data communications between systems and devices; it is the integrated use of telecommunications and informatics, also known as ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Essentialy it is the science of sending, receiving and storing information via telecommunication devices - wireless meets computers.

    Why doesn't it work when we send the signal through our mobile phones?

    OnStar unlocks the car by sending a cellular data signal to the car's computer. An On-Star operator can unlock your car from miles away because the system allows them to locate the car and access its internal computer.

    Remote door lock keychains work by emitting a low-power radio signal to a receiver in your car (at a frequency of about 300-400MHz). The signal is encrypted specifically to work with your vehicle and is very hard to duplicate. Cell phones use a higher-powered and higher-frequency radio signal (DMA and GSM typically operates at 850MHz and 1900MHz) compared to the remote door keychains. This means that although cell phones can transmit voice and data they cannot transmit other radio signals.

    so until remote keyless entry is closer to the frequency of our voice (voice frequency ranges from 85-155Hz) we probably won't be able to unlock our phones.
  • PDub
    FWIW Google recently launched a free 411 service as well:
    1-800-GOOG411
    http://www.google.ca/goog411/index.html#utm_cam...
  • KMC - thanks for the link. I've received emails from others pointing to the link.

    It is interesting to note that some of the items aren't universal anymore and one doesn't seem to work at all. It's probably reflective of when the original content was developed vs. how the industry has evolved.

    My gf tried the 112 - and it worked... in fact she had to take the battery out to disable it.

    I'm wondering if the tips are CDMA or GSM specific...

    Lastly on the keys tip - this one doesn't appear to work unfortunately... although i wonder how GM is able to unlock cars remotely with OnStar since Onstar is really just a mobile device integrated within the car.

    Does anybody know how that works? Is it by frequency per the original tip or something else? One friend suggested that the OnStar device acts like a modem that can access the car electronics system... which makes sense too.
  • kMc
  • Harry Burke
    I wish you wrote this a couple weeks ago too! Never again need I fear locking the keys in the car.
  • Not sure why... but something i encourage you to try on your other devices!
  • WHAT! very interesting... do you know why the phone has this "hidden" power, and more importantly does my ipod / laptop also have this hidden power?
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