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Smartphones are nightmarish enough in an actual emergency-- try unlocking your phone and calling 911 when you've got blood all over your hands, or you're active

Smartphones are nightmarish enough in an actual emergency-- try unlocking your phone and calling 911 when you've got blood all over your hands, or you're actively sinking in a submerged vehicle in a dark and frozen lake. Or if fluids get into the TFT, good luck getting the screen to stay on long enough for you to press anything at all. There are better ways. Government has the money to arm police with grenade launchers and MRAPs. The telcos have no end of cash from mobile data exploitation. Nobody is suffering except the people. Spend the money. Fix the goddamn infrastructure.

Washuu 9y ago
I have found that touch screens work pretty well when covered in blood. Using my phone is the last thing I would be doing in a sinking vehicle and preferably outside of the vehicle.
- jstarfish 9y ago
  > I have found that touch screens work pretty well when covered in blood. I haven't. The screen registered keypresses all over the place. It doesn't work reliably with wet hands either, or even in a steamy bathroom. > Using my phone is the last thing I would be doing in a sinking vehicle and preferably outside of the vehicle. Every situation is different. Revisit your strategy once the car has already slipped under the ice and started to drift. The cabin is filling with freezing water but you still have some oxygen left. You won't be able to make any calls once you break the window and go underwater, so you better hope you can find/reach the spot where you broke through the ice...in the dark. I personally knew someone who drowned under these circumstances. (And the saddest part is, even though she accurately reported her location, responders showed up instead where E911 said she was...an entire county away.) At the very least, you should be able to just call 911 and engage no further. It should be broadcasting your exact GPS coordinates. To the dispatcher, the pinpoint on the map in the middle of a body of water should speak for itself.
azinman2 9y ago
You don’t need to unlock to call 911. But clearly if the phone isn’t working or you can’t press buttons then it’s a problem.
melling 9y ago
Sure, I look at my phone then say, “hey Siri, call 911” I don’t press anything. Try imagining a solution that works instead of one that doesn’t. Wearables, for example, will be an even better solution: https://www.google.com/amp/s/h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/in-the-future-everyone-will-wear-a-smartwatch/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/28...
deleted 9y ago
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api_or_ipa 9y ago
ya sure, there's always corner cases where stuff won't work and you need to bring in the specialized equipment. It's hardly an excuse for discarding the benefits the other 99% of use cases that benefit from the tech.

Washuu 9y ago

I have found that touch screens work pretty well when covered in blood. Using my phone is the last thing I would be doing in a sinking vehicle and preferably outside of the vehicle.

jstarfish 9y ago
> I have found that touch screens work pretty well when covered in blood. I haven't. The screen registered keypresses all over the place. It doesn't work reliably with wet hands either, or even in a steamy bathroom. > Using my phone is the last thing I would be doing in a sinking vehicle and preferably outside of the vehicle. Every situation is different. Revisit your strategy once the car has already slipped under the ice and started to drift. The cabin is filling with freezing water but you still have some oxygen left. You won't be able to make any calls once you break the window and go underwater, so you better hope you can find/reach the spot where you broke through the ice...in the dark. I personally knew someone who drowned under these circumstances. (And the saddest part is, even though she accurately reported her location, responders showed up instead where E911 said she was...an entire county away.) At the very least, you should be able to just call 911 and engage no further. It should be broadcasting your exact GPS coordinates. To the dispatcher, the pinpoint on the map in the middle of a body of water should speak for itself.

azinman2 9y ago

You don’t need to unlock to call 911. But clearly if the phone isn’t working or you can’t press buttons then it’s a problem.

melling 9y ago

Sure, I look at my phone then say, “hey Siri, call 911” I don’t press anything. Try imagining a solution that works instead of one that doesn’t. Wearables, for example, will be an even better solution: https://www.google.com/amp/s/h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/in-the-future-everyone-will-wear-a-smartwatch/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/28...

deleted 9y ago

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api_or_ipa 9y ago

ya sure, there's always corner cases where stuff won't work and you need to bring in the specialized equipment. It's hardly an excuse for discarding the benefits the other 99% of use cases that benefit from the tech.