I have had a lot of downtime in the last few days to just sit and think as I was admitted to hospital on Thursday with appendicitis and had emergency surgery. A massive shock to the system! I’d never had any surgery before and being of a rather sensitive nature AND having reached 49 with barely any health scares, it has left me very wiped out and overwhelmed!
I have received my replacement kompakt and will set it up tomorrow. But I did wonder as I had to contact ‘111’ today which is the NHS uk number to ring if it’s not a medical emergency (or to find out if it is!) as my throat has been damaged from intubation and needed to talk to a nurse/dr to check if I had to go back in to hospital today (I returned from hospital midday yesterday). I was able to send them a photo of my throat as my husband had taken a photo and then texted it to me on my jelly star (that has been my interim phone while waiting on a replacement), which I was then able to send the photo of my issue via an sms text link from the 111 healthcare person. I don’t think I’d be able to do this had I not had access to the jelly star (I could have taken a pic with the jelly but it wouldn’t have been very good).
SO. This is a long winded way of saying, have any of you had situations where you were caught short due to not having the right tools? Our worlds being so set up for smartphones, It has made me wonder if I should have a backup device in a drawer for something like that. But I know there are folk out there who have used flip phones for years, or the LP2 etc, so it is obviously doable. But my husband did say ‘does this make you think again with the kompakt’ ~ and no it doesn’t make me not want to use it, but that maybe I need a backup.
Sorry for your medical emergency. I already had about 10 surgeries in my life, one being a major one, and I still prefer to avoid them lol.
As for the phone, I can only repeat what I said in another thread. I’m happy to have my old Nokia dumbphone. When I switch it on, I can immediately enter my PIN code, and after 2-3 seconds I can text or make a call. With the Kompakt it’s difficult in such situations. It takes almost 30 seconds to start up, and then it has all the issues with texting, calling and everything else, so I would never rely on it for emergency cases. If someone on the street suddenly collapses and I have to call the ambulance, it might be too late once the Kompakt is ready This is why I’m more and more convinced that switching from a dumbphone to a (semi-)smartphone was probably not a good idea. I feel so much safer with a phone that has physical keys and no apps that can fail just when I need them the most.
Yes I do like the Kompakt too, but it really is more of a toy than an everyday companion, at least as long as all the countless bugs haven’t been fixed.
Thank you. Yeah I will have to live with it for a little while and see how I feel. I work from home so app stuff I can do on my iPad, and I generally don’t find myself in emergencies, but you sure can’t plan for them and we can’t always rely on spouses who may be elsewhere. Having a little dumb phone for those moments could be good.
For me it was more about potentially not being able to send a pic to someone like I did, vs having to call. So much to think on!
A phone should be able to be used quickly. Long startup times and a slow screen are not really in favour of that. Plus, for pictures you could have a separate device, like a small digicam. The advantage of having separate devices is that they can’t all fail at once. In a phone, if the battery suddenly runs out, ALL the apps are unusable. And when you think about it, most apps are really unnecessary or even harmful. Constant notifications drive people crazy, yet they ask for them.
“I will never understand humans.” - Spock
lol yeah, I don’t want loads of apps! I’ve not found the kompakt slow to call someone, but need another bit of time with it as only had it for 2 weeks before!
Since you mentioned the Jelly Star, I have an Atom (my previous phone before getting the MK) that I still use as my backup device for apps that either wouldn’t work well on the MK or that I just don’t want on the MK for privacy reasons (no sense getting a de-googled phone just to install other apps that try to track everything you do). It’s unfortunate that you seem to need an app for everything but that’s the world we’re in. Even signing into Google on a computer it wants me to confirm on the Google app on my Atom (it also offers the option for biometric MFA but there’s no way I trust Google with that data).
It is frustrating when the world not only insists that you must use your phone for so many things but also that every establishment wants you to use their special app. I’ve found myself unable to find parking because there were places that you could only pay for with a specific app (and when you are trying to park so you can get to an appointment or event is not the time to try to install a new app, sideloaded or not, and create an account, and setup your payment information). That problem isn’t limited to a minimalist phone, though.
I don’t keep my backup device on me all the time, though (I feel that would defeat the purpose). I try to anticipate when I might need it, which is not a perfect solution but I have yet to find a better option.
Yeah I am not a fan of the completely removing all physical means of paying for things. YES it is ‘easier’, but long term it doesn’t make sense and doesn’t work for some people too.
I wouldn’t put any banking stuff on my jelly due to the security being completely out of date, so I do that on my computer or my ipad.
112 works…I’ve used it & it works.
Also, in Poland we have 986 which a non-emergency for Straż miejska- which is basically the “non-emergency City Guard number” and that works too.
I’m not worried about being able to make a call, it’s just I had to send the 111 dr a photo, and wouldn’t have been able to do that with my kompakt due to it not having a browser. But I guess in those situations one just doesn’t take a a photo! If my husband hadn’t had a good camera it might have been a bit trickier.
I have to say that I don’t understand the problem. Why should I send a picture to an emergency medical service? If I have an emergency and am still able to move around, I drive myself (or call a taxi) to the emergency room or medical service.
And I’ve never had a problem dialing an emergency number quickly enough. That’s happened twice so far, once to 110 and once to 112. Both worked without any problems, just like with any other smartphone.
And even if you turn off the Kompakt, the start-up time is no different from other smartphones.
Sometimes I wonder how many people lived before the smartphone or cell phone era, or how they behaved in such situations.
Yeah calling the number isn’t an issue, like you say, smartphones take a while to turn on anyway.
But I’m not allowed to drive after this surgery (and husband doesn’t drive), and live 40 miles from a hospital, SO being able to send a photo of the issue I have is VERY helpful, it meant I didn’t have to go and sit in A&E for 10 hrs! My husband has a smartphone though so that’s fine, but he’s not always going to be at my side necessarily. I would’nt have even thought of a scenario like this were it not for just having been into emergency surgery etc.
@umalum So, are you trying to send a picture to a regular phone number- like a regular cell phone number? Because if that’s so, then I don’t see the issue.
Tele medicine - so i had to click a link in the SMS and it took me to a browser where I had to upload the photo. I wouldn’t have been able to take a photo of the back of my throat (i had damage from intubation from my appendix operation) with kompakt, however, it would just have meant we’ dhave had to try to get to A&E.
I’m going to keep my jelly star for ‘emergencies’, but i’m not sure even that is useful for emergencies either haha! The biggest problem we have had lately is that I can’t drive now post op, so getting anywhere is v hard where we live so we can’t just go tot he pharmacy easily.
Fun times!
Very cute paw btw X
In August I got in a car crash. I was able to use the Kompakt to phone emergency services. The other driver also did not have his phone, so he borrowed mine to call a family member. (He seemed to operate it just fine - the only problem he had was it locked between calls and I had to enter my PIN.)
I was able to take photos of the incident for insurance purposes too.
In this circumstance, the kompact was actually more convenient than a “normal” smartphone, since the screen was easier to see outdoors than an LCD would have been. Other than that, no real difference for me.
Yeah, like I’ve said, it’s not about the calling issue.
I couldn’t have taken a clear photo of the back of my throat for the dr or sent it via the browser (I don’t have and do not want a browser on my phone). But I suspect this is going to be a VERY rare (i hope!) occurrence so I won’t have to wrory about it. Most of the time just calling is fine.
I hope you’ve recovered ok from your crash, that must have been scary.
Would be nice to live without a car, I have done many times in my life but only when living in cities. Rural life isn’t very conducive to reliable public transport unfortunately!
I live in a small, remote town too and WALK about 10km every day to buy food, despite of several health issues and terrible weather. Cars make noise and ruin the planet, I always hated them.
I already had about 10 surgeries in my life, one being a major one, and I still prefer to avoid them lol.
This is why I’m more and more convinced that switching from a dumbphone to a (semi-)smartphone was probably not a good idea. I feel so much safer with a phone that has physical keys and no apps that can fail just when I need them the most.
I just have no choice.