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I was just thinking the other day what is Hollywood going to do in the future with people lost movies that simply won’t be very reasonable for in most movies. For example I saw one the other day and they crashed a plane but people survived and they were trying to hold their phones up but couldn’t get a signal. Of course not or there would be no plot to the show they would just be rescued right away. With this new technology it will be pretty unlikely anyone will get lost and not have their phone which everyone carries on them. Our kids will watch movies of the past and think how stupid why would they not just call for help what is this no signal thing they are talking about. Much like when humans went from landline only to cellular phones this will be marked as another great milestone in human history.

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I am a filmmaker, and interestingly it happened before already. One example is that since cellphones became widespread, it's not very realistic for a guy to run after a girl in the third act of a rom com -- a call is now enough

This isn't bad -- it drives storytelling innovation

>This isn't bad -- it drives storytelling innovation

to me it feels like it just drives filmmakers to make more period pieces.

'the wedding singer' comes to mind.

Yes, that too

> since cellphones became widespread, it's not very realistic for a guy to run after a girl in the third act of a rom com -- a call is now enough

Seems like, if she's running away, she might not be inclined to take your call either?

She's leaving for a job in another state and he just realised he loves her

Filmmakers still haven't come to terms with the fact that everyone has a cellphone in their pocket now and most plot confusion that normally drags on for 2 hours can be resolved in under 30 seconds.

Watched Die Hard again, and it was funny how fast a single cell phone would have changed the movie.

I seem to remember that the limo driver in the parking garage had one.

It's already nonsensical and has been for over a decade. Planes have ELTs, emergency locator transmitters, that are activated by G-force in a crash (or manually). Any sensible person going somewhere remote has a PLB (personal locator beacon), or at least one for each three people in a group.

You’re underestimating the number of people getting lost or injured in not-quite-remote places that just don’t get any cell signal.

Apple spent hundreds of millions on building a service catering to exactly that type of customer into their recent iPhones.

Phone can run out of battery and it can be easily destroyed or lost.

Phone eaten by a bear

That damn cocaine bear is at it again

Sure but critics will say that is a poor plot in all but a few scenarios. Even seen here last week was the phone that fell out of the jet when the door ripped off and the phone was still on and in working order. So ya a movie plot could say the person was kidnapped when the battery died but no more lost plane crash movies or boats being lost at sea or people lost in the desert. And with the recent announcement of a nuclear battery the size of a watch battery that can last 28,000 years I imagine if they become commercial we will see those things adopted so no matter what you can always signal an emergency from your phone. Sure there will be some plausible movie work around but Hollywood will definitely need to become creative.

Your credit card expired and you didn't pay your last month of service and to update your credit card details you need access to your email account to confirm ID you but your phone is a new replacement phone and you don't have your 2FA codes for your email account.

Almost any phone will let you make an emergency call without so much as a PIN to unlock it. No active service required.

It should even work if there isn't a SIM card in the phone, though I've only personally tested it on 2G and 3G.

Not everywhere anymore, unfortunately.

Germany recently banned SIM-less phones from making emergency calls, supposedly due to widespread abuse/hoax calls.

Here's a list of countries where it's still possible (according to Apple): https://www.apple.com/watchos/feature-availability/#communic...

It's radio certification requirement for phones to be able to do so in some regions, and requirement to NOT be able in some others so it can't be used for pranks and terrorist manifest deliveries.

You just described a couple months of my life - my phone and card went missing, a lot of services were tied to a Revolut account on the phone - and my 2FA/Password Manager/Card became totally inaccessible so I lost access entirely to huge chunks of my life (:

It’s amazing how fragile stuff is. Now I’m super autistic about paper backups of everything, having ways back in, etc

> Now I’m super autistic about paper backups of everything, having ways back in, etc

I don't think autistic means what you think it means

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