[SCrid2000]

I'm not saying I don't believe you, just that I'd be suspicious if someone was like "hey that's my phone" - I'm glad you're getting it back tho.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[PilotPhil81]

If you don't want to brake his legs the you can just brake some of his fingers.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[anandsihra]

Well, the big update. I got her back! It really feels small compared after using my 8700 for so long. But its good to have her again.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[avt123]

Well, the big update. I got her back! It really feels small compared after using my 8700 for so long. But its good to have her again.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Congrats. Make sure you don't lose her again.

[itsdollar]

Good deal. Glad to see the story end well.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[reeneebob]

How badly abused is it? Is it still in decent shape?

Methinks the jackass probably had no intentions on returning it to you, saw this thread and the word police, took some time to come up with a cover story, and then made the arrangements to return it to you...

[pkcable]

I love a happy ending

[anandsihra]

How badly abused is it? Is it still in decent shape?

Methinks the jackass probably had no intentions on returning it to you, saw this thread and the word police, took some time to come up with a cover story, and then made the arrangements to return it to you...

Yeah its still decent, other than the fact he changed my bezel to a black one (I loved the chrome)

As for your theory, I'm 100 percent sure that he's telling the truth when he says he bought the phone online. I'm a pretty good judge of character, and I can say that this guy seemed honest about it. Remember, only a complete tool would message a guy about the phone if they knew it was stolen.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mark_rivers19]

^ great ending!

[VeryBumpy]

Read whole thread. Interesting. Happy to hear a positive ending.

So because BB's have a PIN, a person is 100% able to identify their exact stolen/lost phone.

I assume iPhone/Androids do NOT have a similar feature? And as such once a iP or A is lost, its pretty much gone forever?

[reeneebob]

Yeah its still decent, other than the fact he changed my bezel to a black one (I loved the chrome)

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Ouch...I was a little worried about that when I saw him posting about buying several replacement parts from CNN.CN. I figured he had cracked it open and changed the housing on you.

[reeneebob]

Read whole thread. Interesting. Happy to hear a positive ending.

So because BB's have a PIN, a person is 100% able to identify their exact stolen/lost phone.

I assume iPhone/Androids do NOT have a similar feature? And as such once a iP or A is lost, its pretty much gone forever?

I am pretty sure all modern phones have some sort of method to track...I know I can use Lookout to track my phone by signal down to it's exact location (worked to within 10 feet when I did it last night to try it out - I can also send a signal to make it 'scream'. I haven't done more digging on security stuff for mine. Now my Pre - well, if it was ever lost I could remote lock it, and it is impossible to activate until I would manually release it. So, if someone had taken my Pre it would be useless to them. Pretty sure Apple has Mobile Me or another program, to be honest not having an iPhone I can't be sure. I know there are protections on platforms other than BB.

[PilotPhil81]

Well, the big update. I got her back! It really feels small compared after using my 8700 for so long. But its good to have her again.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Did you brake his legs for it?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[reeneebob]

Why would he stop the guys legs?

Sorry couldn't resist....

[VeryBumpy]

Security apps sometimes make no difference btw.

Person had his iPhone stolen, managed to get the cops to go with him (as a mediator if issues arose) to the house that his phone was in (found via GPS app). When someone answered they said they didn't have a phone. Yeah, the software pointed out where the device was but it didn't do anything to help.

[mark_rivers19]

^ let's put on the "business hat" here..
which is more beneficial for Apple/Motorola/Samsung etc etc.
1. YOU being able to get a lost/stolen phone back thanks to a security feature that they will invest millions to have?
2. YOU buying another phone as a replacement for the one you lost.

i'm not an Economics major but it makes perfect sense to me why companies.. not just phones.. even cars will not give you that option for FREE..

[SCrid2000]

^ let's put on the "business hat" here..
which is more beneficial for Apple/Motorola/Samsung etc etc.
1. YOU being able to get a lost/stolen phone back thanks to a security feature that they will invest millions to have?
2. YOU buying another phone as a replacement for the one you lost.

i'm not an Economics major but it makes perfect sense to me why companies.. not just phones.. even cars will not give you that option for FREE..

Develping a gps tracking app doesn't cost millions of dollars, unless it's ridiculously complex. As far as maintaining it, a gps location is a relatively short line of code that can be brought up in google or microsoft maps. Very little cost there.
Think about it this way: smartphones are very competitive (and with the profit margin on iphones, it makes sense that more business will gravitate towards it). As a consumer, would you rather buy a phone with gps tracking, or one without it?
Without adding new features, smartphones will lose popularity (as we're kind of seeing with RIM). I'm not an econ major either, but if a competitor has more and better features than you (gps tracking for example) then you could potentially lose more sales to them than you gain by forcing consumers to buy a new phone if they lose one.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[CASH]

Someone should forward this link to the presumtrive owner of that phone How NOT to steal a SideKick II

That was a great read; read the whole thing.

[CASH]

Develping a gps tracking app doesn't cost millions of dollars, unless it's ridiculously complex. As far as maintaining it, a gps location is a relatively short line of code that can be brought up in google or microsoft maps. Very little cost there.
Think about it this way: smartphones are very competitive (and with the profit margin on iphones, it makes sense that more business will gravitate towards it). As a consumer, would you rather buy a phone with gps tracking, or one without it?
Without adding new features, smartphones will lose popularity (as we're kind of seeing with RIM). I'm not an econ major either, but if a competitor has more and better features than you (gps tracking for example) then you could potentially lose more sales to them than you gain by forcing consumers to buy a new phone if they lose one.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I am an Econ major and I agree with SCrid2000. The only way I could see that costing millions, even one million, was if they did the coding from scratch, had a team of mid-level developers and gave them all company cars (base model Mercedes-Benz S-Class' that got a little banged up... they played bumper cars).

Assuming the company has that kind of money in the first place, they would have to buy licenses for different technologies/methods anyways.......

In the middle of typing this I realized (just now) that it's not even worth typing. Millions of dollars on developing an app that uses GPS to track it's location, make it "scream," lock it, wipe it etc. would not be economical.

And just like that, I just saved Company X millions of dollars. If only I could get someone to hire me to do stuff like this. XD

[mark_rivers19]

^ guys we're not just talking about a simple app here but the whole process of getting the phone back to the owner... at the expense of the manufacturer or in this case the carrier..
then there's the privacy issue of having a locator as a standard to all these phones.. i can only imagine the people who will feel that this is turning to a " BIG Brother" country every day.
they would have to lobby in Congress for that.. and that's where the millions will be "SMARTLY" spent.
sometimes, it may appear simple to do.. but if you go into details.. with all the bureaucracy.. and the politics.. you need to prepare yourself for disappointment.

slightly off topic ... the " don't ask don't tell" policy we have in the military..
with the Commander in Chief ( Pres. Obama) promising to take care of that back in 2008.. where is it right now? yup it's going back and forth...

[SCrid2000]

1. The phone company has no responsibilty, or especially authority, to do anything as far as repossesing stolen property. And that's a good thing.
2. It's not a violation of privacy. You don't have to buy the phone. In addition, govt loves the idea of knowing where you are by gps. Not like it matters, you never leave camera in a big city.
3. They don't have to lobby congress. You have the right to do anything that's not criminalized by law.
4. This is cell companies, not govt. Therefore it's not a big brother state.
Off Topic: if it's not broken don't fix it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[avt123]

Read whole thread. Interesting. Happy to hear a positive ending.

So because BB's have a PIN, a person is 100% able to identify their exact stolen/lost phone.

I assume iPhone/Androids do NOT have a similar feature? And as such once a iP or A is lost, its pretty much gone forever?

Devices have serial/MEID numbers. I'm pretty sure that number gets registered to your account when your device is activated. I think carriers can find your device this way as well. You can also report your number and it will get blocked from the network so it cant be used.

[CASH]

You can either opt-in or out for the 'use GPS to track my phone if it gets lost/stolen' service the carrier/manufacturer provides just like you basically do when you download Lookout, SmrtGuard etc. Privacy is your call... Opt-in, opt-out, get a different device, switch carriers etc.

Now, if the Gov't found this to be useful (hey, lets see if John Doe, criminals of all criminals, uses this service), they could, hypothetically, call the company and get access to that persons whereabouts, that agency would maybe need a warrant, Executive Order, or already have the authority.

Its no different than AT&T giving the NSA access to their voice network (which they actually did; saw it on 'NOVA: The Spy Factory,' it can be watched in full on Hulu.com).