So it does, I'm glad I'm on Orange Dolphin Pay and Go with free internet access for a month eveytime you topup £10. ;)

It wouldn't be much good calling the police when they are the ones trying to break down the door.

It also shows the name of the person you're calling if they're in your phone book...

Not seeing any real details - perhaps it only allows recognized emergency numbers and phone numbers already in the addressbook? Not in the UK with an iPhone, so can't test...

MN

Just another reason to stay away from Wonderdouches craptech.

This is a well known, documented fact and has been for some time. Hardly 'news' worthy.

but the AppleTards are still in denile about all the Apple product follies.

A lock code is far from secure anyway, if someone stole your iPhone with the intention of stealing free minutes as well as a phone, they could just remove your sim, stick it in their own phone and run you up a huge bill.

Not really much you can do about it, thats what insurance is for.

Apple has to allow any number. If it's 3:30 on a Friday, the pub can be an emergency number to a lot of people for a lot of reasons.

Its raining around here so I need this coat to go to the, er, emergency response center.

...this isn't news. Hasn't this been common knowledge for months?

Anyone to know how the Nikias, Sony-Ericsons, RIMs, Motos, etc. handle emergency calls?

....For my daily jesus phone bash. A Friday is nothing without a little BOFH and a jobsian bash

@Urs Keller

Usually, emergency calls in the EU are managed by the network (Vodafone, T-Mobile, E-Plus). If I call Emergengy on any phone connected to any network - even if it is not "my" network, the company puts me through to the general local emergency line 112. So it's like calling 112 from you landline phone. They can deal with anything.

The law states basically that emergency calls have to be routed that way even if the mobile is not logged in. As long as you got juice in the battery and can get a link to any net, you can make an emergency call.

I'm German but if I remember correctly, 112 is the emergency phone number in most of Europe already and will be in all of Europe, soon.

"A lock code is far from secure anyway, if someone stole your iPhone with the intention of stealing free minutes as well as a phone, they could just remove your sim, stick it in their own phone and run you up a huge bill."

And switching the SIM lock on like I've been doing since my first mobile phone circa mid-90's?

What do other ("Real") phones do?

Easy, they only let you dial 999,112 or 911 (depending on where you are), and they've been like that for years, ever since someone first came up with the key lock idea, and someone else pointed out that it might be useful for someone else to be able to use your phone to call for help if you're not able to following an accident. Although these days the odds are that the other person will have their own phone. Gives you an idea how long this has been standard for "Real" phones.

So yet again the outside "Ooooh, pretty" laminate of the iPhone has been scratch to reveal a pitiful understanding of what exactly a phone does, and how people use them... Did Apple not think to have a look at another telephone to see if they could learn something before making their attempt? Then they might have given it a flash, more than a 2 megapixel camera, and MMS support too.

Honestly, the "know your customer" department in Apple must consist of an empty room with a mission statement across the wall saying "Don't worry, they'll buy anything with a fruit logo stuck on it".

Paris: Cos even she could come up with a better design draft.

Just tried it on a co-worker's phone. Had her lock it, then hit emergency call, and dialed my own cell phone...

On the other hand, she now knows that calling her favorite tech for home support wualifies as an emergency...

Come on, is this a big problem? Phone calls are so cheap these days (free even, up to whatever limit your package has) that I doubt anyone is too worried about unauthorised calls. On the other hand, you might well be worried about your wife picking up your phone and fiddling with it while you go to the bathroom and then finding all those smutty texts from that affair you've been having!

In other news, have you heard about the rather embarrassing bug in the Google phone software? Everything (and I mean *everything*) you type in is executed in a console behind the scenes running as root. So... if you happen to type "reboot" or "shutdown" in a text message, don't be too surprised if your phone spontaneously turns itself off! But don't worry, there's an easy fix. Just type "cat" and the root shell will sit there harmlessly consuming the input.

-Rolf

If i want a decent camera I wouldn't buy a phone ;)

The emergancy call thing is as non issue, if your phone is lost/stolen then you report it to the network operator who can block the SIM immediately.

People don't steal phones to make free calls - you get them anyway with most deals on the highstreet! You steal a phone for the phone - an iphone is worth £400 (or £100 down the pub)

Adam

So if you want a decent phone you'd buy a call-dropping, high-premium, utter MMS fail iPhone? I'd have thought of all the reasons to get an iPhone, it being a "good phone" would be at the very bottom of the list. In fact, as Timothy sagely said:

"The ability for someone to use it as a phone is fairly minor."

Rolf

That's as naive as saying some burglars will break into your house and only nick a plate because it would make a good xmas present for their mum. Do you really think they'll steal free minutes by calling their mates on a nicked SIM? Far more likely is that your bill will end up with lots of 40 quid calls to smut-lines.

Isn't that in Africa?

OK so a thief could call any number. Well, the solution to that is to make a note of your network's support number. I had my phone stolen a few weeks ago (not an iPhone, a Nokia but that's irrelevant). It took 10 minutes to call my network's support number and get them to cancel the SIM and disactivate the phone (you can do that if you know the EMEI number) so the thieves now have a nice brick. Good for them!

And while you're at it, go to your friendly police station, ask them for a UV marker pen and write your postcode on the phone. It will only show under UV light but if the ne-er-do-well who nicked your handset ever gets stopped by police with your phone in the pocket, he's in trouble.

...all you need is 112.

Apple strikes again!

There are more emergency numbers than you think. I was washing my car one day when I heard a faint "hello which emergency service do you require" coming from my pocket. I fished out the phone an quickly cancelled the call. I then looked to see what number I'd accidentally dialled while leaning against the car, expecting to see 999 or 112, but was surprised to find it was 08. I rashly dialled it again to check, and it did put me through to the emergency services. That only happened on one particular Nokia phone, which for some reason had 08 enabled for Bosnia or somewhere.

all phones are dumb in this respect, in the way that they will still allow dialling of 999, 111, or 112 while the keypads are supposedly locked.

i can think of no emergency so vital that the extra second required to unlock the keypad before dialling will make the dfference between life and death. i can however think of plenty of times when i've been a keypress away from unwittingly ringing the emergency services, due to my ostensibly 'locked' phone bumping or pressing against something in bag or pocket which causes '999' or '111' to be typed in on the keypad.