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Mobiles - hillman

SWMBO and I were waiting in the car to drive off and an Asian gentleman knocked on the window. My wife answered and asked him what he wanted. He was very respectful to her and said that he had not eaten all day, could she give him some change. Just then there was a cheery calling tone from a mobile phone that he quickly took from his pocket and cancelled the tone. SWMBO afterwards said that the guy looked genuine and she felt sorry for him but when he took out the mobile sympathy went out of the window. No, she didn't give him money. Neither SWMBO nor I own a mobile - we just don't feel the need.

The use of smart-phones is increasing and more 'apps' are released every day. One of the latest is that you telephone your bank to authorise a payment and back it up with a 'selfie'. You have to blink while doing so to prove that it is you and not some toerag who's stolen your mobile and using a photograph. Think of filling up your car and going through such a performance to pay ! It's said that the bank's computer uses software to recognise faces even though the owner has subsequently grown a beard. I can imagine that will go down like a lead balloon with the lady BRs.

Smartphones have a GPS feature whereby the network can trace your whereabouts. There is an 'app' that the bank uses to trace your mobile to ensure that and the credit card are together when you make a payment with the card. Then they will know that you are there making the payment and not somebody who has stolen your card. The BRs can think that one through !

Mobiles - John Boy

Sorry, I'm over 70. What's a BR?

Mobiles - alan1302

Sorry, I'm over 70. What's a BR?

Think it's Back Roomers - ie people here.

Mobiles - gordonbennet

I've had a mobile, still with Orange too and not changing, for many years now, but i don't need and definately don't want one of the new smart phones....dare say when this one dies i'll be getting another old school jobbie second hand, because as with cars, they just don't make 'em like this any more.

Very seldom text, camera useful just in case, but i like simple rugged normal phones, my current one is dust and waterproof designed for outside workers so droppable and just does everything i ask, nice big numbers display and the battery lasts near on a month on standby and if i use it every day a weekly charge suffices.

Compare to SWMBO's i-thingy so called smart phone which is far too complicated for me anyway, makes stupid silly noises repeatedly alerting the user to something dreadfully important requiring their immediate if not sooner attention (how i haven't put a hammer through the thing i don't quite know) but the blinking things always on charge or requiring charge, wouldn't give you a thankyou for one.

On the subject of chancers beggars and general bone idle ne'er do wells, if telling them to get a job offends, tough.

Mobiles - likeweld

Just another step into total surveillance!

Mobiles - hillman

Alan 1302 "Sorry, I'm over 70. What's a BR?

Think it's Back Roomers - ie people here."

Yes, that's correct. BR = Back roomer OP = Original poster

Is the a glossary of abbreviation that I can look up ? The BRs tend to use text language more than the usual.

Mobiles - jamie745

According to the almightly internet, there are approximately 83million active mobile phones in the UK, in a country with a population around 64million - and that includes babies and children. That is 129 phones for every 100 people. With market penetration like that I wouldn't have thought there's a lot of people left who don't use one at all and within 20 years that tiny minority will likely reduce to 0.

I'm in my very late 20s (31) and I have a tendancy to go through phones fairly quickly, despite not being a phone nut. I have a Sony Xperia and it is pretty handy, you can bank with it, do things online, get emails, watch videos, download TV shows.

Turning the phone into a technological wallet is a logical idea, as the phone is something everybody has with them so getting it to do as much as possible is a sensible idea, but I think we're still a few years away from the public's sensitivities tolerating being able to pay for things with a phone.

Mobiles - hillman

Jaime, my grandson found a top of the range (v. expensive) mobile lying on the ground in the local park when he was doing an early morning dog walk. It had been dropped awkwardly because the screen was cracked. Despite several of the other kids attempts they couldn't enter it to call the owner, or his family. Only several hours later did a friend of the owner ring it and my grandson was able to give details that enabled the father of the owner to collect it. The owner was due to catch a plane to the USA next morning.

If you will permit me, I'll continue to use my debit card (and Sky HD box connected to the old CRT TV). Now, which of the BRs knows what CRT means ?

Mobiles - FP

"Now, which of the BRs knows what CRT means ?"

I do.

Mobiles - jamie745

I am old enough to know what a CRT television is - and I remember televisions being square!

I don't think of myself as anywhere near old but even I look on with astonishment when speaking to an 18 year old who doesn't understand the relationship between a video tape and a pencil.

The phone your grandson found was likely fingerprint protected, so only the owners fingerprint would 'unlock' the phone. iPhone and high end Samsung's have this.

Mobiles - alan1302

I don't think of myself as anywhere near old but even I look on with astonishment when speaking to an 18 year old who doesn't understand the relationship between a video tape and a pencil.

I don't remember that - pencils were always for cassette tapes!

Mobiles - Wackyracer

Now, which of the BRs knows what CRT means ?

I used to make them when I left school. I also broke alot of them too ;)

Mobiles - hillman

I remember when an ex schoolfriend's family got their first TV, years before my family did. There were two programmes only and my friend's mother was watching one of the programmes along with my mother. My friend came in from the pub, wandered over to the TV and changed the channel so that he could see what was on the other side. Thoughtless, Hey !!

What I would like to ask about mobiles was generated by the recent report in the newspaper about an EU citizen who was trawling the pubs and was arrested with about 40 mobile phones in his pockets and down his trousers. Does taking the SIM card out and selling the mobile on change the ownership ? Can putting in a new SIM card render the phone useable to the new 'owner' ?

Mobiles - Wackyracer

Does taking the SIM card out and selling the mobile on change the ownership ? Can putting in a new SIM card render the phone useable to the new 'owner' ?

Well, technically if it was stolen, the phone still belongs to it's rightful owner. If the phone was locked or had been disabled when it was stolen it's probably no use to anyone.

There is a security/ antivirus app for Android phones that if a person tries to unlock the phone and gets it wrong a few times, it takes their photo and sends it to the phones owner. I've seen a few mugshots of phone theives caught out by this app.

Mobiles - hillman

I wonder how this would have looked on an insurance claim.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/12193962/C...m