Moments of need?

When was the last time your smartphone came in very handy in a time of stress and what happened? I can think of a few, but I guess when my car broke down and the pick-up company was able to find my by the GPS co-ordinates that I could send them via my phone.

Comments

[Jah]

Don't need my Note / S3 to get a location in case of break down as my car's Satnav includes a tracker which the control centre can use to locate me :-)

But many years ago (just before the iPhone was launched) I had to use my SE P990 to check if Burger King chips were gluten free as my special needs (autistic) daughter wanted to have chips for lunch (her regular behaviour at that time) and I was able to check the Burger King web site and various parent forums to get a view - and at that time the answer was "yes". This may not sound like a big deal but my daughter would have been very very upset if she missed her chips for lunch.

[Bug Blatter]

I had a time of stress caused by the smartphone when I tried to use public transport to get from Beckenham to Tooting. Transport apps really need to be tightly integrated into Google Maps; having to keep going back and forth between apps and web pages and not being able to see map positions for bus stops made it such a pain I ended up getting off the bus and calling a cab instead (I had an appointment to keep).

A few years ago we were being taken in a coach back from our work Xmas dinner in London and the driver clearly had no clue how to get back to Beckenham. I was following our progress in Google Maps and eventually went up front, told him we were heading for the seaside and directed him to where we needed to be.

[Jaam Gans]

Yesterday - wasn't sure which junction to get off on the way to legoland - so while stopped at a light quickly switched on GPS via notification bar on S3 and then as we were about to jump off launched navigation software via s voice. Thanks to already having them loaded as a contact (for address and ordering tickets via work), s voice pulled them up and navigation did the rest, including making sure that I got off at the right junction.

[Gavin]

I had a major panic . I asked s voice where I could get a decent roast lunch. And this is what she found.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinfabl100/7992247007/in/photostream

[RichardE]

Very interesting comment from Jah as my son needs a gluten free diet. He's allergic to wheat with an anaphylactic reaction the outcome if he eats pasta, bread, flour etc. Companies are far more aware of the need to offer detailed ingredients etc and using the iPhone 4 to view company websites etc has been very useful. Also, contacting the companies beforehand has resulted in pdf menus being emailed to me which I can view via iBooks and keep for future reference.
Another example is using Google translate to show waiters in France and Italy on holiday that 'My son needs a wheat free diet' in their local language. Made ahuge difference when my French/Italian wasn't up to the job !