Smartphone – 3

Okay, so I don’t know if this works the same as with the iPhone, but it was really easy to get up and running with my replacement Droid phone which came late yesterday afternoon. Once I activated the phone, even my wallpaper came back and the apps that I had downloaded originally, including the ones that were purchased by the thief, were automatically downloaded minus one. The one it did not download was the one I purchased online at the Android app store, rather than purchase it on the phone through the Market app.

I still had to set up my icons as I wanted them but it was pretty painless. Lessons learned from this fiasco:

• Password protect your phone so they can’t even get into it from the start.
• Put a tracking program on your phone that can remotely lock and wipe.
• As soon as you know it is lost or stolen, use the lock feature so they can’t do anything with it.
• Backup your data often, especially pictures that are on the SDE card.
• Call your provider as soon as you have done the remote lock and suspend your account. This way if they do try to sell it, it cannot be activated.
• Get insurance. It cost me a lot less to just pay the deductable instead of shelling out the cost of a new phone.

 These tips can work even if you damage the phone. If you don’t have a SmartPhone, you can still back up your data such as pictures and contacts. Your provider will probably have a service that allows you to back up your contacts. Verizon has Backup Assistant which works really well. I know from my son’s phone which had to be replaced several times. He is a skater and destroyed three phones – insurance only covered the first two. But without the backup program all of his contacts would have been lost. In addition, I was able to go in and see his contacts, which as a parent of a teen is important.