# Cell phone tricks???? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725 "2010-03-08T15:16:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cdsilv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cdsilv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdsilv)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/1 "2010-03-08T15:16:25Z")
This email is going around work, is any of this true??? 5 Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do _(Remainder of lengthy email removed by moderator. To read it, follow the Snopes link in the post below this one)_ ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/2 "2010-03-08T15:19:03Z")
Always check [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/cellphones.asp) first. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/3 "2010-03-08T15:25:00Z")
I like that one about unlocking your car from a long distance over a cell phone. Makes me want to spread this email around more, in hopes that someday I’ll get to see someone trying to do that trick. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/4 "2010-03-08T15:31:48Z")
Most of that is bullshit. Thanks for spreading ignorance. BTW, did you know “gullible” isn’t in the dictionary? It’s true! Look it up! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/5 "2010-03-08T15:35:03Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Most of that is bullshit. Thanks for spreading ignorance. > > BTW, did you know “gullible” isn’t in the dictionary? It’s true! Look it up! How can you look up something that’s not there? :dubious: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/6 "2010-03-08T15:51:40Z")
> [@cdsilv](#): > > SECOND > Have you locked your keys in the car? > > Does your car have remote keyless entry? > This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If > you lock your keys In the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone > at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone > about a foot From your car door and have the person at your home press > the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car > will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no > object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has > the other ‘remote’ for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). Oh yes, cause radio waves travel just fine over phone lines :rolleyes: (eta: Did you know you can pop popcorn with your cell phone also!) ---
**Author:** ![cdsilv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cdsilv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdsilv)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/7 "2010-03-08T15:53:29Z")
yah- figured it was all BS, kind of like ‘wrap a cat-5 cable around your cell phone and get wireless internet!!!’ ---
**Author:** ![moldybread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@moldybread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moldybread)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/8 "2010-03-08T16:05:01Z")
Dialing 112 with your keypad locked does work. As for unlocking your car over a cell, mmmmm no! ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/9 "2010-03-08T16:24:44Z")
> [@moldybread](#): > > Dialing 112 with your keypad locked does work. Only in certain parts of the world (Europe, mostly.) In Canda and the US (Mexico?) 911 is the emergency line, and yes, dialing 911 will (almost always) work from a locked phone, even if the phone has no service or a SIM card (again, almost always…but it still has to be in an area with cell coverage.) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/10 "2010-03-08T17:03:50Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Only in certain parts of the world (Europe, mostly.) > > In Canda and the US (Mexico?) 911 is the emergency line, and yes, dialing 911 will (almost always) work from a locked phone, even if the phone has no service or a SIM card (again, almost always…but it still has to be in an area with cell coverage.) Furthermore, all the prepaid phones and deactivated phones I’ve had say that you can still call 911 with them. My sister did it once by holding down the 9 key just goofing around. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/11 "2010-03-08T18:51:33Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Most of that is bullshit. Thanks for spreading ignorance. > > BTW, did you know “gullible” isn’t in the dictionary? It’s true! Look it up! [Moderating] Posts like this serve no useful purpose in GQ. From the [General Questions Rules:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=466202) > [@](#): > > …we aren’t interested in hearing about how stupid the question was because a search could have answered the question. Nor are we interested in hearing how simple it was for another poster to find the answer in a search engine. If it’s that simple to find the answer, go ahead and post the answer. As the link to Snopes indicates, some of the information is at least partially correct. If you know that some of it is wrong, it would be far more useful to identify the incorrect parts rather than to castigate the OP for gullibility. Please refrain from this kind of post in the future. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-tricks/531725/12 "2010-03-08T19:41:32Z")
> [@cdsilv](#): > > This email is going around work, is any of this true??? [moderating] When you get an email like this, pick a phrase that might be unique, and type it into the search engine of your choice with quotes around it. In this case, I picked “interestingly, this number 112”. It provided 231,000 hits on Google, and every single one on the front page led to a copy of that same email. Copying the whole thing and pasting it into the Straight Dope Message Board just creates the 231,001st copy on the Internet without adding any new information. Try looking up the first few–and if one of them leads to Snopes you can probably get some decent information (as **beowulff** did right after you posted this). I’ve removed the majority of your OP. Those who wish to read it can click on the link. [/moderating]