Users urged to make best use of smartphones

BANGKOK, May 22 (TNA) - Users of smartphones have been recommended to learn to make best use of their smartphone devices and applications in case of any emergency. Following a recent headline of a 17-year old Thai woman who managed to escape from being lured into prostitution in South Korea by using social networking applications in her smartphone, such as Line, Facebook and Twitter, useful tips have now been introduced for smartphone users to help them cope with the situation in emergency. Social networking applications, like Facebook or Twitter, can become great channels, and even easier if used via browsers, that ones can ask for help from their friends or families. Users of smartphones, however, are advised to learn to type in English, as it is faster than typing in other languages and to always logout from the application once they finish using. For the LINE application, once an email is registered to the programme, a smartphone user can sign in from any mobile device and ask for help via sending group messages or even use the phone’s Global Positioning System or GPS to share locations. In case of a limited Internet connection, Short Message Service (SMS) available on all mobile phones is, on the other hand, very useful, but it is important that users use correct country codes if they ask for assistance from people in different countries. In some cases, applications like vocal assistance or video functions are useful for gathering evidence, but smartphone users need to make sure that the applications' sound is disabled. Most importantly, smartphone users should maximize the lifespan of battery by turning off 3G or Internet connections, adjusting screen brightness or even using the Airplane mode. Even in case that there is no power supply available, a deactivated smartphone hardware can also be used for self-defense. (TNA)