yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[G1 General] ckacey:
I don't have mom and dad listed as I call them but by their proper names.

Closest I have are aunt and uncle so and so.

My phone is also locked with contact info displayed that doesn't include the cell in question. Now if only I could get a Google Voice acct.
[G1 General] daveid:
I am 32 and have Mom and Dad listings in my phone, I also have my grandparents listed as (get this) Grandparents.

Because... get this, they are my mom, dad, and grandparents. My dad is not Daniel to me, even though that is his name, he is my dad.
[G1 General] hazeline:
Outcome?

Hope to see the outcome, LOL, wanted to see the person reaction when he had his phone returned to him. Please update us, thank you:)
[G1 General] DOHCtor:
Can I have my phone back now?
[G1 General] Anthony2oo5:
A whole two days is a lot more than what thousands of other people would have done. I could go to a t mobile store after I work all week, like I have nothing better to do, but for what? the guy behind the counter to say yes sir, il get this right back to him, and put it in his pocket?

IMO the guy had 2 days to ring me, he didnt, he dosnt want the phone so my question was, am I going to be able to use it normally or is it as good as a brick?
[G1 General] neoobs:
I think you should be able to use it, however, if it is as good as a brick let me know I may buy it off of you for a small price. I need a development phone that isn't my primary device.
[G1 General] uberingram:
Wow. There is a good amount of flimsy moral rationalization going on in this thread. :(
[G1 General] brandenk:
This is exactly why I use this image (click for full size) as my boot screen and use GPS Tracker.
[G1 General] neoobs:
To be honest, it isn't even a flimsy moral rationalization. If the person has gone 2 days without trying to get the phone back and has submitted it to insurance... than the phone will never be returned. The insurance company doesn't want to pay money to track down the phone because it really isn't worth it.

It is the same way for all insurance types, car insurance does the same thing, they report the car as stolen and give up the search immediately. If they do find it, they sell it at an auction.
[G1 General] TimSykes:
Who says he has insurance on the phone. He may be out $400. Call 611 and tell them you found the phone. What if it was your phone? Wouldn't you want the person who found it to do the correct thing and return it.
[G1 General] neoobs:
OK lets put ourselves in the shoes of the person who lost it. Would you wait 2-3 days before calling your own cell phone to see if someone found it? Would you wait 2-3 days to tell T-Mobile it has been lost? Would you wait 2-3 days waiting for someone to call and say they found it?

Like they said above you can return it to a T-Mobile store and they will most likely pocket it right there in front of you because it has been too long.
[G1 General] TimSykes:
that's why I said call 611, not drop it off at the store. But hey what ever makes you feel good about it.
[G1 General] jashsu:
Changing the SIM and performing a wipe in recovery should render the phone usable. However, if the owner reports the phone as stolen, T-Mo can lock out the IMEI remotely.

If you want to proactively try to get the phone back to the owner, open the Google Talk app and go back to the account list. You'll be able to see the owner's registered GMail address.
[G1 General] SolemnWishing:
Okay, first off, TMobile CANNOT lock out a phone based on the IMEI number. How I know is because, 1, my mother's phone was stolen about a month ago, and I just called Tmobile if that was even possible, and they said no. No wipe is necessary, you have NOTHING to worry about. Nothing will happen to the phone. However, maybe try to get in contact back with the owner. When my mother lost her phone, things were pretty difficult. I know for a fact that the owner wants their phone back, there is no going around that even if they haven't called back for whatever reason. Also, Tmobile will not return the phone to the original owner either, it is simply up to you.
[G1 General] jashsu:
Just because they didn't do it for you doesn't mean it's impossible ;-)
[G1 General] Senorkabob:
Is it animated???
[G1 General] cheekymonkee20:
Trust me, it's impossible for T-Mobile to lock out a phone based on the IMEI, unless it is a Sidekick.

For the guy that found the phone:

As SolemnWishing said, you can use it as normal. Start a T-Mobile account and pop the SIM in if you don't already have one. That's about it.
[G1 General] nolageek:
What?? Who calls their parents by their full names? I'm 35 and Jeannine is listed as MOM in my phone and I'm proud of it. :)
[G1 General] momentarylapseofreason:
Yeah... I don't call my parents by their names. IMHO it's just disrespectful. Even my mom and dad call their parents mom and dad.
[G1 General] ckacey:
I call 'em mom and dad even to others, but ever since I started with Windows CE they've been in there by their legal names.
[G1 General] nolageek:
To the OP: It's pretty obvious you just want us all to say "go ahead and wipe the phone and use it."

I mean, really, you only waited two days.. stop pretending you're a martyr.

Is it a little bit evil to use their phone? Yes. Would I think you were evil to use their phone? No. Would I think you were a stand up guy if you looked through their phone and tried to contact them? Yes. Would I fault you if you didn't, no. So, do whatever you want to, but the mere fact that you're asking this on a forum leads me to believe you know it's the wrong thing to do. So call the guy and get him his phone back.
[G1 General] ckacey:
sorry, double posted somehow
[G1 General] ckacey:
Yeah, call a handful of the numbers and explain what happened its his fault if his friends take his phone. But you'll know you did the right thing.

My G1 and my Wing are my only phones that I have currently (I only have one active SIM) so getting ahold of my own phone when it goes missing is difficult. (I have my office phone, and borrowing a friend's phone requires I call them first to meet up)
[G1 General] Binary100100:
You have the G1 thus you have the e-mail address.

If you don't feel up to calling the owner then e-mail him/her.

Don't ever assume that just because someone hasn't attempted to contact the phone doesn't mean that they don't want it back. The phone hasn't been out that long and the owner likely had to renew a contract to get it. So why would they just shrug and move on? I would want it back even if I didn't want to use it anymore mostly because of privacy concerns... I mean... it has DIRECT access to e-mails with little security.

I suggest you make efforts to return the phone. I don't agree with the "finders, keepers" because we have all had unfortunate things happen to us and I tend to use the "what if it was me?" question. If I had lost (or break) my G1 I would be devestated. Find me anyone that wouldn't. Also, knowing this, I would also assume that someone had stolen it and would go through relentless efforts to recover it. God help the person that was in possession of it and did not attempt to return it.

Personal experience: I had a repo man fired and almost arrested when he tried to take my Tilt. I had a tracking software on it and baked to restore even after a wipe. I went to recovery my personal effects and he said it was never in the car. Strange how the 5 minute old coordinates stated otherwise along with his new phone number, texts that were sent, calls that were made/received, etc.

So... you never know. Although I am not certain such can be done (yet) with the G1... you wouldn't want to find yourself in his situtation if you were innocent.

Bottom line... you have the means to return it... and you should do just that. You might be surprised how far a little integrity will go.
[G1 General] Binary100100:
I'm 30 and my parents are listed as their names on my phone. But of course I still call them "mom/mother and dad/father".

I also have my father as the Halloween ringtones and my mother is the ringtone from Saw. But they get a kick out of it. :D
[G1 General] jashsu:
This is what worries me the most about using an Android phone tbh. For someone interested in identity theft the keyguard provides little resistance once you have the phone near a computer.
[G1 General] SolemnWishing:
Oh right, I forgot to mention... TMobile is unable to track phones through IMEI or block the IMEI number, but the police can. In the case that that phone may have had sensitive information, the owner can request (at a high cost of course, and only very exceptional situation would this be possible) for the police to track down the phone. However, this is very rare, and most of the time they will not track down the phone unless, like I said, the phone has some sort of sensitive or very important information. (And yes, I called TMobile and asked them this too.)

I don't mean to scare you, and so far, you haven't really done anything wrong as long as you actively try to get the phone back to the owner.

On a side note, I remind everyone to install the GPS Tracker app, LocService app and Sim Checker app from the market, which are all tracking and theft notification applications. However, they are harsh on battery life.
[G1 General] Binary100100:
But unfortunately these programs will not survive a wipe.

Is there any way that we can "bake" them into future JF releases?
[G1 General] jashsu:
You can "bake" any app into Android now by just remounting /system as read-write and then adb pushing the app into /system/app
[G1 General] Anthony2oo5:
I have a diamond, im not intrested in the phone. Only 2 days ? How many would you wait? If he hasnt got in touch with me im not going to hunt him down!

Like i saod earlier im not intrested in your pathetic opinion, like your christ all mighty, never done a thing wrong in your life. Its not as if I found the phone and took the SIM card out !

Also theyc an block your phone by IMEI

http://www.met.police.uk/mobilephone/ceir.htm

Either answer the question (thanks to those that did) or dont reply.
[G1 General] randmscienz:
Call the T-Mob

..............
[G1 General] randmscienz:
Jot down the IMEI and call T-Mob 611. This will show that an attempt is being made to return it to the owner. Saving time and money. Make sure they log your call. They have a bad habit of not documenting.
[G1 General] sblmnl:
Clearly you're interested in the opinion of those on this forum, else you would not post here.

This whole situation is like me finding a parked car with keys in it, engine running. I found it, drove it, and kept it and it is now in my possession and I'm waiting for the owner to contact me. (Hypothetical situation)

If you're not going to be proactive in finding the owner (I admit, a lot of people wouldn't at first-it's a great phone), post the information here and someone will contact T-Mob or the respective operator.
[G1 General] All~G1:
Id just say call someone in the contact list.... What if the person was a loaner and is dead lying in a ditch or got abducted??? To each his own though... Karma :D
[G1 General] nolageek:
If you're not interested, then why the hell did you post here? Go ahead and steal the phone (that's what you're doing, no matter how you want to justify it in your head) but don't expect anyone to tell you it's a perfectly dandy thing to do.

How many days would I wait? None. I've found a couple phones before. In 2005 (after Katrina) I found a pink RAZR under a car while I was riding my bike home from work (this was when the RAZRs were new and still kind of cool.) I looked in three different stores that were near the car and finally a young girl came out of the dressing room yelling at her mom becuase she couldn't find her phone. She totally treated me like ****, like it was my fault she dropped it. I gave it to her anyway. :)

Last year after I moved to DC I found a Blackberry on the Metro. I called a few numbers in the contact list until I found someone who told me who owned it. A few minutes later they called their phone. They were very grateful that they got their phone back and didn't call the number because "you never know who is going to be on the other side." He figured it had already been sold or whatever. He bought me California Tortilla to say thanks. :)

The guy probably thinks you've wiped the phone by now or sold it on the black market. Don't be that guy. Just call around, it's not that hard and instead of being all angry at the world and calling people names on the internet, you'll be able to say "wow, I made a stranger happy today."

Just saying.
[G1 General] grokdesigns:
+1

Good advice, you should take it.
[G1 General] bmfc187:
this is actually not very much like that at all. first off, a car is a pretty big object, and usually dont just get "misplaced". at least not with the engine running. not only that, but chances are the car belongs to some guy thats just grabbin a newspaper from the corner stand real quick, and that surely doesnt warrant turning the engine off..so the door's open, engine running, and the guys standin right there, youre tellin us that youd seriously get in this guys car thinkin you "found" it, and take off to "look for the owner"?

I SERIOUSLY dont think thats anywhere close to what OP is talkin about...a phone is much easier to misplace, and the point is that if you find a phone layin on the curb, chances are the owner doesnt know it yet, if you find a CAR on the curb...well, where else are you SUPPOSED to park a car? YOU should have the common sense to know that no matter what the situation, you dont get in somebody's car and take off without their permission. Namely, the car was never LOST to begin with....but the phone obviously was, and your metaphor is way off cuz the car and the phone arent even in the same country...

and to the OP, you can only try so hard to find the owner....after that, the phone is just your reward for trying....but how hard you try is up to you, and the more you try, the greater the reward.

-BMFC
[G1 General] FiFTYSiX:
i found a booger in my nose one time...

...and i picked it...
[G1 General] Senorkabob:
Why all of a sudden has everyones moral pendulum swung in the direction of honesty and good heartedness? What are you all, saints?

From the sounds of it, this guy tried to get in touch with the guy. Its not HIS responsibility to find whoever the owner is. Im sure this guy has a job, life, etc.

Its not your phone, stop playing morality police. And yes, I do know how it feels to lose one. I lost my sidekick 2 back in teh day two days after I got it. It was my own fault.

EDIT: Sorry for the rant, but for the past two days I've had to listen to way too many holier than thou attitudes... (not on here).
[G1 General] diabolical28:
funny Tmobile does track IMEI's everytime you buy or return or request a replacement its tracked by imei's for instance someone outright stole my phone 2days ago i reported it to the police and had software to send me a msg with new sim info, gps location. i tell you this theft is a very fine line between strong armed robbery are you prepaired to goto prison or get a 455$ theft ticket for having a phone. i found a wallet few years back with a thousand dollars cash and played finders keepers and wound up with a theft ticket. so if your in milwaukee wisconsin and came across a black g1 with a hairline crack from the menu key to the left lower corner return it to the nearest tmobile store intact and your reward is not facing strong armed robbery....
[G1 General] Senorkabob:
Good luck with that... not being facetious.

I left one of my phones at steak and shake back in the day. I called the server, she confirmed she found it, went in the next day, and she said: "Oh this is what I found, I guess they looked similar"

I lost a sidekick 2, she claims she described a nextel i90 lol. God I wanted to punch that stupid b*tch in the face for pocketing it.

However, theres not much you can do man... you'll waste more time and money tryinig to track this dude down than its worth. Get the insurance!
[G1 General] diabolical28:
like i said imei's are logged ALL the time... tmobile can block them any carrier can but they dont want to because then insurance wont sell if theres no fear of loosing your phone. but like police check certain serial numbers on car stereos and other such things when you have runins with the law. ill recoupe my money and loose a few more phones and unlock them and ebay here i come. maybe it will teach T-Horrible to start being user friendly.

this brings me to 2006 when i had a person on my account who didnt listen and kept texting i was footing the entire bill for us and 500+ messages plus overages on minuates came to like 600$ i talked to them about blocking texts said it couldnt be done etc etc... NO they just wont do it because a few months later they were doing it and i was out 5 months of extremely high phone bills. great job Tmo you suck as a carrier.
[G1 General] nolageek:
Jealous much?

But seriously. If you come to a phone fanatic's forum and say "I found someone's phone, how long until I can keep it?" what do you expect?

Plus, f you think I'm a saint, you don't know me very well. :)

I do suffer from what is called 'empathy'. Try it out sometime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy

Think back on that day... how bummed you were... imagine if that person would have contacted you and said "hi, I have your phone." Wouldn't you have liked that?

Just sayin.
[G1 General] Senorkabob:
I have plenty of empathy, but for everyone on here who's giving this guy crap, please let me know how you're able to type from such a high horse.

The guy said he tried. You don't know him, I don't know him, so who's saying his efforts weren't enough?

Also, what am I jealous of?
[G1 General] Ineedtoys:
Where do you get that he tried? All he did was sit on his a$$ for 2 days and wait for it to ring. Didn't try any contacts, didn't try any email, didn't try T-Mobile. He's just fishing for info and reassurance from mobile phone "experts" on the chances of him being able to steal the phone without any comeback or being traced.
[G1 General] Beast84:
And all the owner did was sit on his a$$ for 2 days & not call so it must not be that important. Seriously, when you lose your phone, don't you call it first thing just to make sure? Or do you just sit there bummed out, hoping its gonna magically sprout legs & come running back? As far as trying contacts & email & tmobile, I don't see where this is his responsibility to do so? The guy said he found a phone. He didn't say he was gonna quit his life & go on an epic journey to find the rightful owner.

I say keep it. You have no obligation to find the owner. He had every opportunity to at least attemp calling the phone. He moved on, you move on. Game over!
[G1 General] tubaking182:
i'm sorry i gotta throw my two cents in. i am all for keeping the phone, but only after calling everyone in their favorites on the contacts list. also email them and if after a week you get nothing then wipe it and it's good to use as your own phone. sorry that i seem like a selfish bastard but if you go to their favorites then you will probably find someone that has a second way of getting ahold of the owner.

if i lost my phone i would have given up within two hours and called t-mo for replacement as well as deactivating my old SIM
[G1 General] Beast84:
But if it were that important to you, you would have called it first right?? How many times have any of you misplaced your phone, thinking it was stolen or lost & looked to your friend & said hey call my phone real quick? If the owner hasn't even done that, then obviously its not a top priority
[G1 General] tubaking182:
that's kinda my point, if i haven't found it in two hours, then it's gone and i've shut off the sim. normally it takes 10 minutes of looking for it before i call it every 20 minutes
[G1 General] d3viou5:
I'm 31 and i still have mum and dad in my phone.....
[G1 General] gospeed.racer:
me too, 33 and "Mom cell" and "Mom and Dad" are both in there. "Sue and Tony" just sounds so impersonal to me!
[G1 General] Ineedtoys:
What utter rubbish. You are working on pure supposition and have absolutely no information on who the legitimate owner is or in what circumstances he/she came to be parted from the phone, nor the reasons why the loss has not yet been followed up. For all you know he could have been taken ill and is lying in a hospital bed somewhere (or worse). Or it could be simply that they are assuming that the phone was stolen and are reluctant to ring for risk of coming into contact with the low life that have perpretated that act.

Neither do we have any information on the circumstances by which the OP came to "find" the phone, which in itself raises its own questions. How do we know he wasn't there at the time of the loss and didn't contribute to it's concealment?

The only thing we do know for certain is that the "finder" hasn't lifted a finger to make one phone call to try and return the property to its rightful owner. That's hardly a big effort and this alone speaks volumes on his motives. The baying of the mob fuelling his greed by chanting "Keep It! Keep It!" is perhaps not surprising to see in a forum where many people's purpose is to to gain something for nothing, but it's still sadenning to see it reflect a society where an attitude of "I'm alright Jack, screw you" prevails.
[G1 General] JanetPanic:
If you are not willing to put some effort into finding the owner then you should have left the phone where you found it. Really it is a matter of courtesy. I have lost a phone before, I am sure many of us had.

I do not know the circumstances of the finding of the phone or what the situation of person who lost it was. It is possible the phone was stolen and left at whatever location it was found by the OP. In these circumstances I would not call it either. But I think that anyone losing any cell phone would want it returned. The amount of personal information we tend to carry around on our phone makes it something unpleasant to lose. The fact that it is a G1 just increases the desire to have it returned.
[G1 General] warrmr:
I still think that its long enough now that if you do get in contact with the owner then they will have got there replacement from insurance and will tell you to keep it anyway. As thats is exctly what i would do if i was the owner fo the phone. If i didnt have insurance i would probly give you some money as a thankyou gesture.

I lost a phone a couple of years back and i felt so lost without it all of my contacts and messages gone, it wasnt a smartphone so i couldent backup my contacts. The wrong thing is I had seen the people who lifted it and it happened to be a reglular in the pub i worked in but i couldent prove it so never confronted them.

they were sat on the steps to the staff living quaters and my phone had fallen out of my pocket getting out of mums car. by the time i noticed it was missing and went to the carpark it wasnt there. . was stright on the phone to O2,
[G1 General] Htapia1984:
Maybe the owner is 'older' and doesnt remember his/her number :D
[G1 General] Ruthie:
Don't be ashamed!

Im 30 yrs old and i have my momz & dad on my phone and i know alot of people that have it that way too im not ashamed.

On another note i would keep the phone, if they wanted ithe phone back they would've called.
[G1 General] bigtruckguy3500:
I've found phones before. Once, the battery was dead, so I spent a couple days finding a friend with a charger, charged it up, and began calling numbers on the phone. Within 3 numbers I found someone who would pass my phone number along to the owner, and sure enough, they got their phone back.

Seriously, do the right thing. You wouldn't like it if your phone was stolen. Whether you found something that was lost or not, if you take it, you're stealing from the owner. Do the right thing and work harder to find the owner. Integrity.