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iPhone that fell from hole in Alaska 737 MAX flight is found, still open to Mail

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Re: iPhone that fell from hole in Alaska 737 MAX flight is found, still open to Mail

#161

Post by planb »

elzbardico wrote: post #12
aurareturn wrote: post #2

A lot of things went into my head: * The iPhone owner didn't put a password/passcode? * Damn, he paid Alaska $70 for baggage fee? * Now we know an iPhone will survive falling from the sky

Non technical users do some things that we don't even dream about doing, like setting auto-lock to "Never". EDIT: I see some people got offended with the bit about Non-Technical users and downvoted me to Hades. I apologize. Not everyone is paranoid like me.

I have auto lock disabled, because I'm the one to decide when I don't need to look at my screen anymore. But that's different from not requiring faceid/passcode upon unlock.

Re: iPhone that fell from hole in Alaska 737 MAX flight is found, still open to Mail

#162

Post by zulln »

tavavex wrote: post #146
elzbardico wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non technical users do some things that we don't even dream about doing, like setting auto-lock to "Never". EDIT: I see some people got offended with the bit about Non-Technical users and downvoted me to Hades. I apologize. Not everyone is paranoid like me.

I honestly feel like technical users would be using the "Never" setting more often than non-technical. When testing an app on the phone, it's really annoying having to re-unlock it because you looked away at a different screen for a while. Checking it on Android, never locking is a developer setting, regular display settings have a maximum of 30 minutes.

iOS has a few options between 30 seconds and five minutes and then one at never.

Re: iPhone that fell from hole in Alaska 737 MAX flight is found, still open to Mail

#163

Post by imgabe »

neilv wrote: post #91

I would've preferred that the identifying information of the person had been edited out. The phone's owner experienced a traumatic incident. Which furthermore is under investigation. Posting some kind of photo feels OK, however, since finding the phone is arguably newsworthy. And the Twitter poster says that it was open to that email, suggesting that they didn't go snooping through the phone. A little privacy redacti…

It's crazy to me that the phone hasn't locked automatically. Do people really walk around with their phones set to never lock and turn the screen off? Mine times out after 5 minutes.

Re: iPhone that fell from hole in Alaska 737 MAX flight is found, still open to Mail

#164

Post by ta1243 »

bpye wrote: post #130
spike021 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many decent cases are relatively thin and don't add more than a few millimeters in my experience. It's only when you start getting into stuff like Otterboxes or similar that cases have a very chunky factor.

I find that even something like the 15 Pro is borderline too big. It’s already quite hard to use one handed, adding a few mm from a case makes it noticeably worse - for me at least.

I have a 12 mini which is a little large, but sadly they've got rid of that line. A 15 pro is massive. The only current phone which seems to be a reasonable size is the SE.

Re: iPhone that fell from hole in Alaska 737 MAX flight is found, still open to Mail

#165

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

pxeboot wrote: post #143
ars wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it won't. They'll log where it landed and that's about it. What kind of of evidence do you think it has on it?

In prior incidents, I have heard it takes years before belongings left on the plane are returned. Devices sucked out of the aircraft seem like they would be more relevant than other items. 49 CFR § 830.10 appears to be one of the regulations on the subject [1]. [1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/830.10

While "that would be stupid" doesn't reliably keep government officials (or companies) from doing that thing, not returning the phone promptly would be a really dumb move. They're not going to learn much from the device, and a phone is something that is incredibly annoying to lose for any amount of time.

If they keep it and it becomes known, people who e.g. took videos of incidents would become reluctant to come forward and share them, worried that the government might want to take the phone that recorded the video. They'd lose a lot of useful evidence in future cases, on top of the terrible PR it'd be.

Edit: The agency also relies a lot on the goodwill of the public. Investigations work a lot better when school teacher Bob, finding an aircraft piece in his back yard, contacts the NTSB and tells them to come get it, rather than deciding to quickly bring it inside and turn it into a coffee table later. And public perception can totally make the difference between "this might help them, let me call them immediately" and "screw those guys, it's mine now, will make a really nice coffee table".

Re: iPhone that fell from hole in Alaska 737 MAX flight is found, still open to Mail

#166

Post by rekoil »

imgabe wrote: post #163
neilv wrote: post #91

I would've preferred that the identifying information of the person had been edited out. The phone's owner experienced a traumatic incident. Which furthermore is under investigation. Posting some kind of photo feels OK, however, since finding the phone is arguably newsworthy. And the Twitter poster says that it was open to that email, suggesting that they didn't go snooping through the phone. A little privacy redacti…

It's crazy to me that the phone hasn't locked automatically. Do people really walk around with their phones set to never lock and turn the screen off? Mine times out after 5 minutes.

The fact that it was pulled out of the plane (and didn't stay snug in its owners pocket) suggests it was being used at the time, and thus unlocked. And yeah, I tend to set my phone to never lock at times, probably not while traveling I guess, but it absolutely happens.

Re: iPhone that fell from hole in Alaska 737 MAX flight is found, still open to Mail

#167

Post by lultimouomo »

ryandrake wrote: post #127
ivan_gammel wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not very smart to find owner this way, when you can just reach the airline, which has contacts of all passengers.

If I was the passenger I’d want to know it’s found and have the possibility of finding the finder. Best would be to post it online like this—I’d see it that way. If they turn it in to the airline it’s probably going to be stuck in bureaucracy for months. If they turn it in to the NTSB, it’ll be gone for years.

Just call "Mum" and be done

Re: iPhone that fell from hole in Alaska 737 MAX flight is found, still open to Mail

#168

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

xivzgrev wrote: post #113

This isn’t surprising - there was a wired story about phones surviving from planes back in 2011 (1) The gist is that it’s a light object and due to that + broad shape, its terminal velocity is not very high. Coupled that with the mass and there’s not a lot of force on landing. Of course the phone itself is fragile so it might not take a lot of force to break. Still, as long as it lands on something soft it might be o…

> the phone itself is fragile

Modern electronics are quite the opposite of fragile, I'd say.

Re: iPhone that fell from hole in Alaska 737 MAX flight is found, still open to Mail

#169

Post by sbuk »

bagels wrote: post #106
dgrin91 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doing a bit of research I found a few sources that say that the terminal velocity for a generic smartphone is ~20-40mph, which isn't that much. Lots of phones survive car crashes with higher speeds than that. Add to that landing on softer soil and maybe even breaking fall with branches and I'm not shocked it survived. No screen crack is pretty good though. Smartphone screens have gotten crazy good recently

There's no way it's 20-40 mph. They're dense enough for much higher velocities.

~25mph assuming a Cd of 2.1 (a smooth brick is the closest I could find) a mass of 0.194Kg and a surface area of 0.01142313m^2 (75.6mm x 150.9mm).

Of course that assumes it’s falling facing its largest surface, and not tumbling or a falling edge first. Obviously that is trickier to calculate, but 20-40mph doesn’t seem that unreasonable.

Edit: it takes ~3 seconds to reach 99% terminal velocity.

Re: iPhone that fell from hole in Alaska 737 MAX flight is found, still open to Mail

#170

Post by teamspirit »

Beldin wrote: post #157
xcv123 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airplane mode allows bluetooth, so it is trackable through Find My.

I was rather surprised at this comment. A quick google later it seems that airplane mode turns off all radio communication (as I suspected), but apparently it is possible to turn Bluetooth or WiFi on while remaining in airplane mode. At least for some phones. Honestly did not consider that.

I do this as soon as I’m home. Now both Android and iOS automatically keep bluetooth and wifi on when turning on airplane mode, provided the user does it the first time.

I do it because cell reception is quite poor at my house so calls are better off staying on wifi - also battery life is improved.

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