Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#101

Post by nodemaker » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 6:01 AM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #74

elliottcarlson wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the only advantage is that police are called about 30 seconds sooner" Unless the thief takes off with the victims phone as well. Additionally there are sadly instances where the theft at the ATM is just the start of other crimes towards the victim.

Unless the thief takes off with the victims phone as well. I was thinking of the best case scenario. So the robber takes the phone as well, and the person calls it in 15 minutes later when they get to a phone. When the average police response time is about ten minutes, the difference between a call being placed 30 seconds after the robbery and 15 minutes after is pretty much nil. Additionally there are sadly instance…

You do because for the criminal there is no way to know if you used a duress code or not.So if you cant really get into a better position in the eyes of the criminal by not using it,you might as well use it and get cops to know you are in trouble.

Not to mention that cops will potentially have a live video feed of the crime scene as the crime is being committed!

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#102

Post by aen1 » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 6:15 AM UTC

For the guy with friends that he doesn't trust. Actually, for the guy who thinks he has friends.

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#103

Post by therandomguy » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 6:16 AM UTC

jerrya wrote: post #16

Somewhat related: I've long wondered why ATM cards don't have something similar. 1234 is my regular PIN. 1235 is my help I'm being robbed PIN -- it dispenses the cash, calls the cops, and tags the video.

You should change your pin to something more difficult. Just saying.

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#104

Post by gillygize » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 6:31 AM UTC

Lost_BiomedE wrote: post #88

jerrya wrote: post #16

Somewhat related: I've long wondered why ATM cards don't have something similar. 1234 is my regular PIN. 1235 is my help I'm being robbed PIN -- it dispenses the cash, calls the cops, and tags the video.

My girlfriend worked at bank that did this. The alert PIN was your PIN backwards. I don't know if they still do this or not.

Out of curiosity, do you know what happened if the pin number was a palindrome? Did they restrict your selection to prevent that?

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#105

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 6:31 AM UTC

Lost_BiomedE wrote: post #88

jerrya wrote: post #16

Somewhat related: I've long wondered why ATM cards don't have something similar. 1234 is my regular PIN. 1235 is my help I'm being robbed PIN -- it dispenses the cash, calls the cops, and tags the video.

My girlfriend worked at bank that did this. The alert PIN was your PIN backwards. I don't know if they still do this or not.

[deleted]

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#106

Post by zalew » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 6:37 AM UTC

marquis wrote: post #59

jerrya wrote: post #16

Somewhat related: I've long wondered why ATM cards don't have something similar. 1234 is my regular PIN. 1235 is my help I'm being robbed PIN -- it dispenses the cash, calls the cops, and tags the video.

That would be an excellent idea in countries where people are taken hostage to empty out their bank accounts overnight to get the maximum withdrawal over 2 days.

I remember ATMs were turned off overnight to stop these kind of crimes in big cities of Brazil. Don't know if it's still relevant.

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#107

Post by buster » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 6:38 AM UTC

Users can, when choosing the right ROM.. hooray for choice!

Guest mode: enable the “Guest Mode” toggle in the panel, and your calls and text messages logs will be hidden, and all installed applications cannot be removed. You may have a try when you need to show your phone to guests or children.

http://en.miui.com/a-10.html

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#108

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 6:44 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#109

Post by Lost_BiomedE » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 6:44 AM UTC

gillygize wrote: post #104

Lost_BiomedE wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My girlfriend worked at bank that did this. The alert PIN was your PIN backwards. I don't know if they still do this or not.

Out of curiosity, do you know what happened if the pin number was a palindrome? Did they restrict your selection to prevent that?

Yes, they restricted the selection. They also encouraged each number to be unique.

Re: Why Don’t Smartphones Have A “Guest Mode”?

#110

Post by pinaceae » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 6:47 AM UTC

...and this is why developers should never be in charge of usability/design.

simplification enhances usability. the vast majority of smartphone and tablet users are happy that all that complicated IT/nerd stuff went away on their devices.

the complications you would introduce by user switching are big. you need to add UI elements to tell the user at all times in which mode they are, you need new dialogs to switch, etc etc. the android status bar already looks like a badly maintained win xp install with all that crap in it.

built by developers for developers. brrr.