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Today's 3pm emergency alert

EEPhil said:
Who's going to buy a new phone just to get an alert?
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Very few people I would expect but if you are going to support older smart phones wouldn't you be relying on users to download an app? As I understand it, the emergency alert system is baked into more recent Android and Apple phones so as time goes on eventually the vast majority of smartphone users will have the ability to get emergency alerts. I'll certainly leave them enabled until I have seen what they are actually going to be used for.
 
MartinLiddle said:
I'll certainly leave them enabled until I have seen what they are actually going to be used for.
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If they are over-used too many people will turn the notifications off but if the authority needed to generate a (local) alert is overly restrictive then the likelihood of receiving a timely warning of a fast moving problem is greatly reduced.
 
MartinLiddle said:
Very few people I would expect but if you are going to support older smart phones wouldn't you be relying on users to download an app? As I understand it, the emergency alert system is baked into more recent Android and Apple phones so as time goes on eventually the vast majority of smartphone users will have the ability to get emergency alerts. I'll certainly leave them enabled until I have seen what they are actually going to be used for.
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Just wait until some terrorist organisation sets up a heap of explosives triggered by a alert on a phone. They could take weeks setting up things in advance of another test alert, only to have a heap of infrastructure taken out at once - and they didn't even need to send a message to trigger it.
 
trog said:
Indeed there are and for good reason. I have lost count of the amount of phones I have broken whilst working. It is not practical to carry around a large slab that requires you to swipe your dusty, oily or mastic covered fingers over and a cheap compact push button phone can survive for years rather than months but if it does suffer a fatal fall from height or a killer impact it can be replaced for a fraction of the cost of a smart phones cracked screen. I know many other people in the construction industry who do the same as me for the same reasons and just as many who are constantly taking their iphones to a repair shop.
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I thought phones in ruggedised cases were aimed at the likes of the building industry? We use them and can vouch for them surviving being driven over by a large vehicle as well as surviving many falls. The one weak point is the screen if they happen to land face down on a piece of grit which concentrates the force resulting from the sudden extreme deceleration through a very small impact area. But the raised bezel mostly prevents that kind of impact.
 
gomezz said:
I thought phones in ruggedised cases were aimed at the likes of the building industry?
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Yes, but then they'd have to spend money on a 'decent' phone.
Often cheaper to just replace a crap phone every few months.
There's no point or profit in trying to accommodate everyone. 80% is the best compromise and the 20% can just ... whatever.
 
antipodean said:
Just wait until some terrorist organisation sets up a heap of explosives triggered by a alert on a phone. They could take weeks setting up things in advance of another test alert, only to have a heap of infrastructure taken out at once - and they didn't even need to send a message to trigger it.
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That idea sounds terribly American/conspiracy theorist.
The longer you leave a "heap of explosives" lying around the more likely someone will find it.
 
MartinLiddle said:
Very few people I would expect but if you are going to support older smart phones wouldn't you be relying on users to download an app? As I understand it, the emergency alert system is baked into more recent Android and Apple phones so as time goes on eventually the vast majority of smartphone users will have the ability to get emergency alerts.
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You maybe right. The 3rd hand iPhone I have was passed to me by my brother who wiped the contents first and presented it in a working "as new" state (well, as "as new" a 7 year old device could be). Despite it being an old 5s there is a COVID-19 exposure app that neither of us downloaded (and doesn't do anything either). I'm guessing that was installed as part of one of the OS updates. So you may not have to rely on the user to download it.
 
MikeSh said:
Yes, but then they'd have to spend money on a 'decent' phone.
Often cheaper to just replace a crap phone every few months.
There's no point or profit in trying to accommodate everyone. 80% is the best compromise and the 20% can just ... whatever.
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Every few months? My £9.95 Robert Dyas work phone is in its third year now. Actually many people use two, a cheap one to keep on them whilst working and a "decent" one safely stowed away in a locker or bag.
 
gomezz said:
I thought phones in ruggedised cases were aimed at the likes of the building industry? We use them and can vouch for them surviving being driven over by a large vehicle as well as surviving many falls. The one weak point is the screen if they happen to land face down on a piece of grit which concentrates the force resulting from the sudden extreme deceleration through a very small impact area. But the raised bezel mostly prevents that kind of impact.
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Yes cases do help with dropping though most often damage is from cracked screens due to being hit by something often whilst on your person. The problem is that large phones offer a far larger area to be damaged and slip out of a pocket far easier than a small phone also having to remove dirty gloves to swipe them without fouling your hands and the phone is a pain in the butt whilst using a clean knuckle to push a button is quick and simple especially if you have wrapped your dumb phone in a bit of cling film.
 
MikeSh said:
That idea sounds terribly American/conspiracy theorist.
The longer you leave a "heap of explosives" lying around the more likely someone will find it.
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"They could take weeks setting up things" Also the battery would be flat by then.
 
EEPhil said:
Despite it being an old 5s there is a COVID-19 exposure app that neither of us downloaded (and doesn't do anything either). I'm guessing that was installed as part of one of the OS updates. So you may not have to rely on the user to download it.
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But Apple are known to have a reasonably record at providing longer term support for their phones as opposed to a lot of suppliers of Android phones who stop operating system updates after a few years.
 
MartinLiddle said:
But Apple are known to have a reasonably record at providing longer term support for their phones as opposed to a lot of suppliers of Android phones who stop operating system updates after a few years.
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That's annoying as I've just got an Android phone because of the aforementioned problems with the old iPhone. Keeping my fingers crossed that the OS updates continue for a long while.
 
According to a BBC item today the government say that 90% of current phones are capable of receiving the alert and 80% of those did get it. They are working with 3 on that issue but the article didn't say what fraction of the 20% 'misses' that constituted.
For a new system I think that's all fine.
 
EEPhil said:
That's annoying as I've just got an Android phone because of the aforementioned problems with the old iPhone. Keeping my fingers crossed that the OS updates continue for a long while.
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You need to do homework on Android support as it is down to the manufacturer to provide updates. Usually you'll get system upgrades (ie. to a new Android version) for a couple of years, and then security updates for a another couple of years, but delay and frequency vary widely.
Google did implement a system a few years ago called Android One to make updates easier, but I don't think it really went anywhere. Our (now spare) Nokia 6 phones use it, but not sure of others.

We've both got Google Pixels now as they get the quickest and most frequent updates, though still time limited. They also come with the plainest Android interface and don't get pre-loaded with huge amounts of unwanted and unremovable apps, as with Samsung and the like.
 
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