FOUR MOBILE PHONE TIPS

FOUR THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR MOBILE PHONE COULD DO

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a lifesaver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

1. Universal Emergency Number

The Emergency Number worldwide for mobiles is 112. Even if you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network, you can dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you. Interestingly this number 112 can be dialled even if the keypad is locked, or if you have no credit on a pay-as-you-talk phone. (112 certainly worked for us in Greece, with an English-speaking operator asking which emergency service we needed.)

2. Have you locked your keys in the vehicle?

Does your vehicle have remote locking? If so, this tip may come in handy someday and is a good reason to own a mobile phone and to leave spare keys with someone else.

If you lock your keys in the vehicle and have left another set with a friend or relative, call them on their mobile phone from your mobile phone. Hold your mobile phone about a foot from your locked door and have the person with the key press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone at their end. Your vehicle will unlock.

It saves them from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away from home but, if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors. (We haven't got a remote key for our vehicle, so couldn't check this personally.)

3. Hidden Battery Power

Imagine your mobile battery is very low. To activate hidden battery power, press the keys *3370#. Your mobile will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get recharged next time you charge your mobile. (This did not appear to work with our mobiles, perhaps because their battery power was not low enough. Try it!)

4. How to get the serial number to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To check your mobile phone's serial number, key in *#06# on your phone. A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.

If 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 that, 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 did this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones. (This worked fine on both our phones.)