How to find owner of found phone?

[vnatale]

P.S. @Vinny is there any way you can reveal how you found the owner without private details? I'm really curious.

Sorry. I missed this when you originally asked and only saw it when you asked again.

Owner was found the extremely old fashion way.

We play basketball Monday / Thursday nights at a Middle School. We make the arrangements through the recreation department. I'm in frequent contact with that recreation department regarding various details of our arrangement for playing.

This past Thursday night as our night was ended that phone was sitting on a table in the gym. I thought it was one of our players who was still there and picked it up to give it to him. He said no so I was going to leave it on table.

Another player said I should take it because if I did not some kid would get it the next morning and it'd never be seen again. He took a picture of it and put it on our Facebook group basketball page.

First thing I did when I got home with it was do a Bing search to see if I could locate its owner.

Then I put the message here on Friday.

Just after I put that message here I got an email from the recreation department asking if I'd found a phone.
I was overjoyed to get that email.

That led to the owner contacting me and he was quite happy that it'd fallen into the hands of an adult rather than a child. And, even happier to be re-united with his not inexpensive phone when he came by about 1/2 hour later to get his phone.

[dualstow]

Ah, nice!

[Mountaineer]

High end phone camera story follows. Time to get rid of that $700 single use camera?

https://apple.news/A_3zECeR6QKGIp1BYzsRteQ

Excerpt:
How this pro photographer used an iPhone 14 Pro Max to capture the Super Bowl
The iPhone’s camera has improved drastically over the years, prompting some professional photographers to use Apple’s hardware in situations where they would’ve previously used a dedicated camera. This was the case for one pro photographer, who spoke with SI Showcase about shooting the Super Bowl this year with an iPhone 14 Pro Max. Professional photographer Kevin Mazur offered a pair of tips on “how he snapped the perfect moments” at Super Bowl LVII earlier this month. He even goes as far as to say the iPhone 14 Pro Max is like “having a professional camera in the palm of my hand.”
Mazur stresses the importance of learning about the various software and settings that Apple offers on the iPhone 14 Pro Max camera. Fine-tuning these settings can be the “difference between a good photo and a great photo,” he says.

[vnatale]

High end phone camera story follows. Time to get rid of that $700 single use camera?

https://apple.news/A_3zECeR6QKGIp1BYzsRteQ

Excerpt:
How this pro photographer used an iPhone 14 Pro Max to capture the Super Bowl
The iPhone’s camera has improved drastically over the years, prompting some professional photographers to use Apple’s hardware in situations where they would’ve previously used a dedicated camera. This was the case for one pro photographer, who spoke with SI Showcase about shooting the Super Bowl this year with an iPhone 14 Pro Max. Professional photographer Kevin Mazur offered a pair of tips on “how he snapped the perfect moments” at Super Bowl LVII earlier this month. He even goes as far as to say the iPhone 14 Pro Max is like “having a professional camera in the palm of my hand.”
Mazur stresses the importance of learning about the various software and settings that Apple offers on the iPhone 14 Pro Max camera. Fine-tuning these settings can be the “difference between a good photo and a great photo,” he says.

Read it all. Here is my response of why my camera is still superior for me to take pictures.

1) It has a 25 to 400 mm lens. That gives me an 8X zoom. Looks like the iPhone only has 3X tops? I live on zoom. Plus using electronics I can double that zoom to 16X

2) I'm near sighted. I can get by reading and doing computer work without glasses but I definitely need aid to drive or be able to see distance like a person with good vision. Therefore tonight when I went to a girls high school basketball game and, of course, had my camera with me to take pictures, I put in my contact lenses before I left the house.

My contact lenses are optimized for long distance which means if I want to see anything up close while they are in my eyes I have to wear reading glasses.

I do not need any aid using a camera with a viewfinder. It has an adjustment so that I see perfectly through the viewfinder. If I was using the image on the back of the camera, similar to using a phone, to take the picture rather than the viewfinder I'd again have to be wearing reading glasses to see that image but once I looked up at the game with those reading glasses on it everything would be blurry.

3) Also, when you are using a phone or the image on the back of the camera to take pictures you have to hold either the phone or the camera away from you so you can look at it. That is nowhere as stable as when I'm looking through that viewfinder and have my arms braced into my body to give that camera stability.

iPhone or phone may be fine for the casual picture taker but that is not my mode of picture taking.

Also 4) when I got home I took the card out of the camera and copied to my computer the 242 pictures I'd taken of my Thursday basketball and tonight's girls game basketball.

How does one move that many pictures out of a phone into a computer?

Once I stuck the card into the reader it's all in the computer in a few minutes.

Again, phone fine for casual user but I don't think you are going to find too many other stories like the one you put here.

[Mountaineer]

High end phone camera story follows. Time to get rid of that $700 single use camera?

https://apple.news/A_3zECeR6QKGIp1BYzsRteQ

Excerpt:
How this pro photographer used an iPhone 14 Pro Max to capture the Super Bowl
The iPhone’s camera has improved drastically over the years, prompting some professional photographers to use Apple’s hardware in situations where they would’ve previously used a dedicated camera. This was the case for one pro photographer, who spoke with SI Showcase about shooting the Super Bowl this year with an iPhone 14 Pro Max. Professional photographer Kevin Mazur offered a pair of tips on “how he snapped the perfect moments” at Super Bowl LVII earlier this month. He even goes as far as to say the iPhone 14 Pro Max is like “having a professional camera in the palm of my hand.”
Mazur stresses the importance of learning about the various software and settings that Apple offers on the iPhone 14 Pro Max camera. Fine-tuning these settings can be the “difference between a good photo and a great photo,” he says.

Read it all. Here is my response of why my camera is still superior for me to take pictures.

1) It has a 25 to 400 mm lens. That gives me an 8X zoom. Looks like the iPhone only has 3X tops? I live on zoom. Plus using electronics I can double that zoom to 16X

2) I'm near sighted. I can get by reading and doing computer work without glasses but I definitely need aid to drive or be able to see distance like a person with good vision. Therefore tonight when I went to a girls high school basketball game and, of course, had my camera with me to take pictures, I put in my contact lenses before I left the house.

My contact lenses are optimized for long distance which means if I want to see anything up close while they are in my eyes I have to wear reading glasses.

I do not need any aid using a camera with a viewfinder. It has an adjustment so that I see perfectly through the viewfinder. If I was using the image on the back of the camera, similar to using a phone, to take the picture rather than the viewfinder I'd again have to be wearing reading glasses to see that image but once I looked up at the game with those reading glasses on it everything would be blurry.

3) Also, when you are using a phone or the image on the back of the camera to take pictures you have to hold either the phone or the camera away from you so you can look at it. That is nowhere as stable as when I'm looking through that viewfinder and have my arms braced into my body to give that camera stability.

iPhone or phone may be fine for the casual picture taker but that is not my mode of picture taking.

Also 4) when I got home I took the card out of the camera and copied to my computer the 242 pictures I'd taken of my Thursday basketball and tonight's girls game basketball.

How does one move that many pictures out of a phone into a computer?

Once I stuck the card into the reader it's all in the computer in a few minutes.

Again, phone fine for casual user but I don't think you are going to find too many other stories like the one you put here.

Vinny, I'm not seriously trying to get you to get rid of your camera. I'm just giving you (probably poorly) some food for thought. Check out the iPhone, especially the specs on a 14 Pro Max. It's a lot more capable than you might think, albeit quite pricy. If nothing else, it would probably interesting to you to just see how far phones have advanced.

https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-14-pro

https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/apple-iphone-14-pro-max

My "old" iPhone 11 can only do up to 10x zoom electronically, I think the new ones are even more. As for uploading pictures, it automatically syncs with iCloud. No cards, no fuss. The pictures from my phone are available on my computer literally instantly. And I have access to all of my 40,000 plus photos on my phone, instantly. Also the image stabilization that is built in eliminates any hand shaking. And so on. iPhones really are amazing devices - as likely the latest Pixels are if one prefers Android. It is astonishing to think about all that capability that you can easily put in your pocket. Try that with a 400mm telephoto!

Best wishes.

[dualstow]

iCloud

That is something I struggle with.
I bought one of those dual drives that has a USB-C on one end for the phone and regular USB on the other end so you can offload files to a computer. My phone didn’t even recognize it.

I believe CraigR once said he almost reluctantly owned an iPhone because Android phones all looked “like they were designed in the Soviet Union.” Now, the Pixel is pretty polished, but if it is going to be so locked down I may end up eventually getting an iPhone.

What say you, Vil? Do you use a cloud service for photo storage? Google One?

[vnatale]

High end phone camera story follows. Time to get rid of that $700 single use camera?

https://apple.news/A_3zECeR6QKGIp1BYzsRteQ

Excerpt:
How this pro photographer used an iPhone 14 Pro Max to capture the Super Bowl
The iPhone’s camera has improved drastically over the years, prompting some professional photographers to use Apple’s hardware in situations where they would’ve previously used a dedicated camera. This was the case for one pro photographer, who spoke with SI Showcase about shooting the Super Bowl this year with an iPhone 14 Pro Max. Professional photographer Kevin Mazur offered a pair of tips on “how he snapped the perfect moments” at Super Bowl LVII earlier this month. He even goes as far as to say the iPhone 14 Pro Max is like “having a professional camera in the palm of my hand.”
Mazur stresses the importance of learning about the various software and settings that Apple offers on the iPhone 14 Pro Max camera. Fine-tuning these settings can be the “difference between a good photo and a great photo,” he says.

Read it all. Here is my response of why my camera is still superior for me to take pictures.

1) It has a 25 to 400 mm lens. That gives me an 8X zoom. Looks like the iPhone only has 3X tops? I live on zoom. Plus using electronics I can double that zoom to 16X

2) I'm near sighted. I can get by reading and doing computer work without glasses but I definitely need aid to drive or be able to see distance like a person with good vision. Therefore tonight when I went to a girls high school basketball game and, of course, had my camera with me to take pictures, I put in my contact lenses before I left the house.

My contact lenses are optimized for long distance which means if I want to see anything up close while they are in my eyes I have to wear reading glasses.

I do not need any aid using a camera with a viewfinder. It has an adjustment so that I see perfectly through the viewfinder. If I was using the image on the back of the camera, similar to using a phone, to take the picture rather than the viewfinder I'd again have to be wearing reading glasses to see that image but once I looked up at the game with those reading glasses on it everything would be blurry.

3) Also, when you are using a phone or the image on the back of the camera to take pictures you have to hold either the phone or the camera away from you so you can look at it. That is nowhere as stable as when I'm looking through that viewfinder and have my arms braced into my body to give that camera stability.

iPhone or phone may be fine for the casual picture taker but that is not my mode of picture taking.

Also 4) when I got home I took the card out of the camera and copied to my computer the 242 pictures I'd taken of my Thursday basketball and tonight's girls game basketball.

How does one move that many pictures out of a phone into a computer?

Once I stuck the card into the reader it's all in the computer in a few minutes.

Again, phone fine for casual user but I don't think you are going to find too many other stories like the one you put here.

Vinny, I'm not seriously trying to get you to get rid of your camera. I'm just giving you (probably poorly) some food for thought. Check out the iPhone, especially the specs on a 14 Pro Max. It's a lot more capable than you might think, albeit quite pricy. If nothing else, it would probably interesting to you to just see how far phones have advanced.

https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-14-pro

https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/apple-iphone-14-pro-max

My "old" iPhone 11 can only do up to 10x zoom electronically, I think the new ones are even more. As for uploading pictures, it automatically syncs with iCloud. No cards, no fuss. The pictures from my phone are available on my computer literally instantly. And I have access to all of my 40,000 plus photos on my phone, instantly. Also the image stabilization that is built in eliminates any hand shaking. And so on. iPhones really are amazing devices - as likely the latest Pixels are if one prefers Android. It is astonishing to think about all that capability that you can easily put in your pocket. Try that with a 400mm telephoto!

Best wishes.

Seems like a wonderful phone for taking pictures.

As I stated above because of my vision issues it works out way better for me to have a camera that has a viewfinder.

I did buy one of those cameras that was like a phone in that you take pictures by looking at the screen on the back of it. But it also had an option to attach a viewfinder to it so I spent another $100 for the viewfinder as I knew that was the only way I'd ever use that camera.

[dualstow]

iPhone security (WSJ)

https://on.wsj.com/3lYxDpz

The tl;dr is that if someone gets your passcode, they can reset your AppleID and wreak havoc
Boooo!