4 ms·

You hail the cab and ask them to take you to a phone store, then keep the meter running until you get a new phone. If you're that totally helpless in a foreign

You hail the cab and ask them to take you to a phone store, then keep the meter running until you get a new phone. If you're that totally helpless in a foreign country without your phone, you probably should go with a friend or local.

refurb 8y ago
How do you pay for a new phone?
gjs278 8y ago
they will not do that for you
andrewvc 8y ago
You're ignoring the question. It's not about ability, it's about failure mode. I like keys / phone / wallet because you can lose 2/3 of those things and still be fine in you home city. Lose your phone/wallet? Call a cab, go home, get a backup CC or cash. Lose your keys/phone? You can buy/borrow a phone / call a locksmith. Worst case you can book a hotel with your wallet. Etc. Phone only..... you lose it, what do you do? Keyless locks with codes do offer part of a solution here. Maybe the right answer in the future will just be to have two phones. Probably a fancy primary and a cheap backup.
reaperducer 8y ago
You hail the cab and ask them As noted above, you don't speak the language and both your foreign translation app and dictionary are in your now gone phone. then keep the meter running until you get a new phone That was funny. Thanks for that one. If you're that totally helpless in a foreign country without your phone, you probably should go with a friend or local. It's not the person who is helpless. It's being forced to rely on a single point of failure (the phone) that makes people helpless. Also, there are literally millions solo travelers in the world. Telling someone they cannot travel unaccompanied makes no sense. The whole point of the map apps, the translation apps, the recommendation apps, etc... is to allow people to accomplish things without others.
- taberiand 8y ago
  Sorry, do you travel? At the end of the day, the phone isn't a single point of failure because the fail safe is just talking to people (I.e, the single point of failure is you, the traveler) Your scenario is contrived. Imagine a mystical time before phones - maybe it was your pocket translation dictionary that fell down the grate? You're out of luck in much the same way - unless you just go back inside and talk to the restaurant and have them send a cab, or call the hotel, or find someone on the street to help you out.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    Sorry, do you travel? Yes. 27 countries so far. And I traveled to the ends of the earth in a time before cell phones even existed. Imagine a mystical time before phones - maybe it was your pocket translation dictionary that fell down the grate? You're out of luck in much the same way - unless you just go back inside and talk to the restaurant and have them send a cab, or call the hotel, or find someone on the street to help you out. If my pocket translator fell down the grate, I'd still be able to hail a cab, point to a location on my paper map, and pay with cash. I've done it in Thailand, Japan, and Turkey. Probably other places I don't remember. The point made repeatedly upstream is that the phone is a single point of failure, and eliminating the cash option in favor of a smartphone is a seriously bad idea.
markdown 8y ago
What use is going to a phone store when you don't have any means of paying for a phone? Further, in many countries you can't buy a sim card without ID so if your ID was stored on your phone, you're screwed there too.
- taberiand 8y ago
  I made this point separately, but you can use the phone you're buying to pay for itself, just log into WeChat on it while in the shop. I hope you're carrying your passport in a foreign country.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    I hope you're carrying your passport in a foreign country. Not possible everywhere. In some places, the hotel holds on to your passport.
  - em-bee 8y ago
    logging into your wechat account on a new phone is not that easy. it asks you for verification by sending an sms to your old number, and there was also something about needing to contact old wechat friends to have them verify you. (i don't remember the details of how that worked and why it was necessary)
  - markdown 8y ago
    > I hope you're carrying your passport in a foreign country. One should absolutely not do this. You'll be royally screwed if you lose your passport. Leave it in your hotel room, with just a photo of it on your phone.

refurb 8y ago

How do you pay for a new phone?

gjs278 8y ago

they will not do that for you

andrewvc 8y ago

You're ignoring the question. It's not about ability, it's about failure mode. I like keys / phone / wallet because you can lose 2/3 of those things and still be fine in you home city. Lose your phone/wallet? Call a cab, go home, get a backup CC or cash. Lose your keys/phone? You can buy/borrow a phone / call a locksmith. Worst case you can book a hotel with your wallet. Etc. Phone only..... you lose it, what do you do? Keyless locks with codes do offer part of a solution here. Maybe the right answer in the future will just be to have two phones. Probably a fancy primary and a cheap backup.

reaperducer 8y ago

You hail the cab and ask them As noted above, you don't speak the language and both your foreign translation app and dictionary are in your now gone phone. then keep the meter running until you get a new phone That was funny. Thanks for that one. If you're that totally helpless in a foreign country without your phone, you probably should go with a friend or local. It's not the person who is helpless. It's being forced to rely on a single point of failure (the phone) that makes people helpless. Also, there are literally millions solo travelers in the world. Telling someone they cannot travel unaccompanied makes no sense. The whole point of the map apps, the translation apps, the recommendation apps, etc... is to allow people to accomplish things without others.

taberiand 8y ago
Sorry, do you travel? At the end of the day, the phone isn't a single point of failure because the fail safe is just talking to people (I.e, the single point of failure is you, the traveler) Your scenario is contrived. Imagine a mystical time before phones - maybe it was your pocket translation dictionary that fell down the grate? You're out of luck in much the same way - unless you just go back inside and talk to the restaurant and have them send a cab, or call the hotel, or find someone on the street to help you out.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  Sorry, do you travel? Yes. 27 countries so far. And I traveled to the ends of the earth in a time before cell phones even existed. Imagine a mystical time before phones - maybe it was your pocket translation dictionary that fell down the grate? You're out of luck in much the same way - unless you just go back inside and talk to the restaurant and have them send a cab, or call the hotel, or find someone on the street to help you out. If my pocket translator fell down the grate, I'd still be able to hail a cab, point to a location on my paper map, and pay with cash. I've done it in Thailand, Japan, and Turkey. Probably other places I don't remember. The point made repeatedly upstream is that the phone is a single point of failure, and eliminating the cash option in favor of a smartphone is a seriously bad idea.

markdown 8y ago

What use is going to a phone store when you don't have any means of paying for a phone? Further, in many countries you can't buy a sim card without ID so if your ID was stored on your phone, you're screwed there too.

taberiand 8y ago
I made this point separately, but you can use the phone you're buying to pay for itself, just log into WeChat on it while in the shop. I hope you're carrying your passport in a foreign country.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  I hope you're carrying your passport in a foreign country. Not possible everywhere. In some places, the hotel holds on to your passport.
- em-bee 8y ago
  logging into your wechat account on a new phone is not that easy. it asks you for verification by sending an sms to your old number, and there was also something about needing to contact old wechat friends to have them verify you. (i don't remember the details of how that worked and why it was necessary)
- markdown 8y ago
  > I hope you're carrying your passport in a foreign country. One should absolutely not do this. You'll be royally screwed if you lose your passport. Leave it in your hotel room, with just a photo of it on your phone.