“I found a phone sitting on the side of the road that had apparently fallen 16,000 feet,” Bates said in a video recorded for social media Sunday.

He said he was “a little skeptical” when he first found it, thinking perhaps it may have been tossed out of a passing vehicle. But the phone wasn’t locked, so he opened it up, he said.

“It was in airplane mode with a travel confirmation and baggage claim for Alaska 1282,” Bates said. “So, I had to go call the NTSB.”

  • merde alors@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    the fact that “the phone wasn’t locked” surprised me more than its surviving the fall 🙃 then i realized the discrepancy. i should stop reading posts in privacy communities 🙂

    • n3m37h@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Some people are sane and use cases and glass screen protectors. Phones dont have a great enough terminal velocity to damage the internals. People get cases and throw band new iphones out of apartment buildings

      • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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        5 months ago

        I don’t feel the need to get a case that would allow my phone to survive an incident that I wouldn’t survive.

      • derpgon@programming.dev
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        5 months ago

        Also if it landed on grass or fell through thin tree branches, there is almost no chance of damage.

        • n3m37h@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          I always use a glass screen protector, my last phone (Galaxy A71) only had a case, dropped it 100’s of times, one time there was a little pebble on the ground and that shattered my screen, for $10 you can get a 3 pack of glass screen protectors. Well worth it IMO

    • tias@discuss.tchncs.de
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      5 months ago

      I have yet to understand the “discrepancy”. Which brand doesn’t default to locking the phone automatically after a short timeout? I’ve never had a smartphone that stays unlocked.

    • Cort@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Some phone case company is about to get some serious free advertising

      • 🇰 🔵 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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        5 months ago

        I have one called Beetle Defender and it’s been even better than the OtterBox cases I’ve had. The Otterbox’s silicone part would always get stretched out and become loose over time, with the flaps no longer closing or the corners coming off.

        • TheOSINTguy@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          I used to have a otterbox too, but I recently got a uag case and those are some of the most duarable cases ive ever used. The only problem is they are expensive.