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I was out riding motorcycles with a friend. He went down and was pretty broken up. As the ambulance loaded him up, I tried to use his Android phone to call hi

I was out riding motorcycles with a friend. He went down and was pretty broken up. As the ambulance loaded him up, I tried to use his Android phone to call his wife to let her know he had been hurt and what hospital he was being taken to. It was a stressful situation but I could not find the phone function at first easily (no idea which distribution). The phone function is still really important!

brokenmachine 9y ago
I know it wouldn't have enabled you to call his wife, but just for people who might be reading this: You can do an emergency call without even unlocking the phone. At least in Australia I'm pretty sure it is a requirement to be able to make emergency calls immediately. Even though my phone has a pattern lock, there's an icon of a telephone handset that you can swipe to make an emergency call without unlocking.
ptaipale 9y ago
Over here (Finland, EU) there used to be standardisation that a mobile phone must be able to make an emergency call even when the phone is locked, and even when the phone's own carrier is out of coverage, or when there is no SIM card - the call must be routed as a guest in any GSM network that is there. That may now have changed, because the user instructions for iPhone say (translation mine): "iPhone can be used to make emergency calls in many locations, if mobile services are available, but you should not trust on it in cases of emergency". Yes, apparently iPhone user instructions say that when you're in an emergency, don't count on iPhone. You should carry a phone with you in addition to iPhone. When dialing 112, the phone goes to a special mode: the call is prioritised (if the cell is full, another call is dropped) and if carrier's network is not there, the phone tries any other network. (I've seen this work on my phone, but that time it didn't help, the guy died.)

brokenmachine 9y ago

I know it wouldn't have enabled you to call his wife, but just for people who might be reading this: You can do an emergency call without even unlocking the phone. At least in Australia I'm pretty sure it is a requirement to be able to make emergency calls immediately. Even though my phone has a pattern lock, there's an icon of a telephone handset that you can swipe to make an emergency call without unlocking.

ptaipale 9y ago

Over here (Finland, EU) there used to be standardisation that a mobile phone must be able to make an emergency call even when the phone is locked, and even when the phone's own carrier is out of coverage, or when there is no SIM card - the call must be routed as a guest in any GSM network that is there. That may now have changed, because the user instructions for iPhone say (translation mine): "iPhone can be used to make emergency calls in many locations, if mobile services are available, but you should not trust on it in cases of emergency". Yes, apparently iPhone user instructions say that when you're in an emergency, don't count on iPhone. You should carry a phone with you in addition to iPhone. When dialing 112, the phone goes to a special mode: the call is prioritised (if the cell is full, another call is dropped) and if carrier's network is not there, the phone tries any other network. (I've seen this work on my phone, but that time it didn't help, the guy died.)