I often see my family and other people putting handphones down on restaurant tables, on taxi seats and even on the tops of cars. What could go wrong?
Lost Phones
That phone on the restaurant table. You could leave it behind. It's locked, so the management don't know that it's yours. They don't know where you are. They can't call you because when they do the handphone on the table in their restaurant rings.
The professional, commercial solution is a handphone rope. #phoneropes
This one cost my friend about 18 Singapore dollars in August 2023, from a kiosk in Singapore.
Where can you buy the handphone rope and what does it cost. I have lanyards, but you need a small end connector, and a phone cover with a ring in the top centre.
When getting on transport to stop the phone swinging and hitting something hard you need to have it inside a buttoned jacket.
Wrist Straps
I don't like wrist straps. I once had a camera on a wrist strap. As I boarded a bus I reached for the banister and my phone swang and hit the side of the bus and broke. However, some people like them. You can get pretty lanyards which look like beaded necklaces, for evening wear. At the opposite extreme, you can get sporty ones, waterproof phone covers.
The solutions I use are:
When you are out and not using the phone, put your mobile phone in a large jacket pocket which buttons down. Alternatively, use a pocket inside a handbag.
I often lose my phone in the bottom of a big tote bag. When leaving home, I panic. I can only be sure the phone is with me when I ring it from another phone.
How do you locate the mobile phone in a hurry? The solution is to keep it in the same, accessible place. You can cut the pockets from a jacket or shirt you are throwing away. If you don't have a ready-made pocket, you can improvise one from an oblong folded into two, twice the size of your phone, and a pencil width more to allow for sewing the edges. You can even an old pillow case, or a pair of knickers or pants. (Yes, Americans say pants meaning what the British call trousers. But both garments, pants/trousers, and pants/underpants, can be cut up to make pockets.
If you are not good at sewing or are in a hurry, about to travel, you can pin into your bag or tote bag or its lining a long ribbon. Better still, use a spiralling and expanding 'plastic' synthetic ribbon.
I just made myself two open top oblong pockets to go inside a large bag or tote bag so I can find my phones in a hurry. I was looking for a fierce of fabric. I found some perfectly good underwear, which was unwearable because the elastic had gone, overstretched. You might have something you can recycle, a half slip, underpants which are too large or small, a bra, a bikini, a vest, something which has a hole but a nice hem, an old tee shirt with a stain on one side, but intact neckline and armholes and hem. Cut it using the parts which have a nice edge to form the top or sides of a pocket shape to fit your phone.
DIY Tote Bag Pocket
What else could you use? An old spectacles case, a toiletries bag, the zip up bag you get on airlines, even a large sock. Or a garment from a baby or toddler, or a baseball cup whose slogan you don't like, an odd colour. It is going inside your tote bag or shoulder bag where nobody will see it.
You can sew it into the lining of your big bag. Or attach it to a ribbon or lanyard.
If you buy a proper phone rope later, your hidden ribbon pocket will still be useful. Use if for whatever you are likely to need in a hurry on your travels. A bus pass. A ski lift pass. A hotel door key. Spare reading glasses for checking a restaurant menu. Cash for tips in a restaurant. Paper tissues for a sudden sneeze. Business cards. Your suitcase key. The car key. Your hotel address to tell the taxi driver. You are all set to go!
Make sure you get the case with the ring in the middle as well as the strap. The case has to be for your model of phone in order to have the holes for the lens at the back in the right place. So first you need the model of your phone. It will be on the back cover, on the login page when you power off and switch on again, or on the box, or will pop up on your laptop screen. When you find your phone model, write it down in your diary or travel notebooks, so that you have it handy if your phone goes missing.
Useful Websites
Amazon has all types, all prices from about 7 UK pounds sterling plus 99 pence (that's 8 pounds less a penny) or 8 dollars to about 30.
Plain Black
Beaded
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