Lost Phone

[HearnyIchiban]

Hi,

Unfortunately I lost my phone during a night out yesterday. My new Nexus 5 which obviously I'm pretty devastated about. I hadn't got round to putting all of my apps on it so didn't have Avast or Cerberus installed.

The battery is dead (it was fairly low the last time I had it). So no chance of putting any apps on via the Google Play store from my computer. I'm fairly screwed I take it? Only hope I have is that I lost it in the club I was in. I've sent them an email and hoping they will get back to me tomorrow. I didn't actual get my phone it while I was in there, it must have slipped out of my pocket.

Should I get my network provider to block the sim? My phone has a passcode on it which is something I guess.

 

[Haalcyon]

Hi,

Unfortunately I lost my phone during a night out yesterday. My new Nexus 5 which obviously I'm pretty devastated about. I hadn't got round to putting all of my apps on it so didn't have Avast or Cerberus installed.

The battery is dead (it was fairly low the last time I had it). So no chance of putting any apps on via the Google Play store from my computer. I'm fairly screwed I take it? Only hope I have is that I lost it in the club I was in. I've sent them an email and hoping they will get back to me tomorrow. I didn't actual get my phone it while I was in there, it must have slipped out of my pocket.

Should I get my network provider to block the sim? My phone has a passcode on it which is something I guess.

Welcome to the forums.

I'm so so sorry for your loss. Yes, I would recommend having the SIM blocked but any nefarious thinking low-life would change the SIM anyways. It'd be great if you could somehow have the IMEI blocked on all carriers, effectively making it a paperweight. Not sure if Google or any carrier can/will do that but it'd be worth investigating.

 

[HearnyIchiban]

Thanks buddy. I've actually been signed up for a while but haven't post. I read the forums quite a lot and have been wanting to contribute. Sadly this isn't how I wanted to make my first post! I had quite a lot to drink so I don't expect sympathy but I'm totally gutted. Got everything crossed that the club has it.

My sim card is currently still in the phone. Well I rang the phone and it went to my networks Voicemail. I'm on giffgaff in the UK which isn't the most popular so I'd be surprised if someone had put another giffgaff sim in. Thanks for taking the time to respond dude.

 

[HearnyIchiban]

Also, is there a way to reset the phone without it being on? I love technology but I'm a bit of a technophobe really! I'm just thinking if somebody tried to turn my phone on, then they wouldn't be able to use it as they don't know the lock code. I imagine there is probably an easy way round this though.

 

[Haalcyon]

I'm in the US. Are the European version not unlocked like our US versions are? I bought my phone at Sprint and took it to their competitor who instantly put their SIM in it and had it up in running instantly. So, if someone found your phone couldn't they put a SIM from say...O2 in it and have it working?

 

[Rukbat]

There's only one thing a phone can do when it's not turned on - keep papers from flying away. Keep trying to upload something like Android Lost to the phone. Hopefully someone will be stupid enough to keep the phone turned on for a few minutes.

I wouldn't try to have the IMEI blacklisted just yet, but by Monday night, if nothing happens, I'd block the SIM if possible. Then if you do get it back it's only a few cents for a new SIM.

Best of luck and let's hope that whoever has the phone now is pulling a "stupid phone crook trick".

 

[HearnyIchiban]

I'm in the US. Are the European version not unlocked like our US versions are? I bought my phone at Sprint and took it to their competitor who instantly put their SIM in it and had it up in running instantly. So, if someone found your phone couldn't they put a SIM from say...O2 in it and have it working?

Yes they are unlocked over here also. But if you change sim card to a different network then you still have to input the passcode for the phone. That was the case for my Nexus 4 anyway.