Things you never knew your cellphone could do

• Emergency. The worldwide emergency number for mobiles is 112. If you find yourself out of your mobile network's coverage area, dial 112 and the phone will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you. Interestingly, this number (112) can be dialed even if the keypad is locked.

• Locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cellphone from your cellphone. Hold your phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at home press the unlock button on your spare key while holding it near their phone. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has another "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

• Hidden battery power. Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# — your cellphone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery strength. This reserve will get recharged the next time you charge your phone.

• How to enable quick disabling of a stolen phone. To find your mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits: *#06# — a 15-digit number will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. If your phone is stolen (or lost), phone your service provider and give them the serial number. They will then be able to block your phone so that even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.

If even one of the above tips is valid, it's well worth what you paid for it.

Wait a minute....

[via Kayla Falconer]

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Addendum at 6:52 p.m. today: Most of the above is bogus, according to snopes.com.

Thanks to Joe Peach and Rocketboy for pointing out my gullibility (I'm being kind to myself today).