How I lost my phone .. Coz I thought I was smart.

"I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being — forgive me — rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger." -  Albus Dumbledore.

It is said that the more smarter you think you are, you are more likely to fall for dumb tricks. I fell for one such trick. The oldest one in the book - and lost one of my most favorite things in the world - My first Android Phone. 

To give you the back story - I was gifted a Samsung Galaxy Ace by my friends on my birthday. I was thrilled and excited. I was ( still am) an Android fan-boy and loved the new phone. As time went by, i loved it and hated it. I loved it because of the ease of sharing things with the wonderful choices I get from the Android Eco system and hated it for the battery consumption. I was a power user - 2 hrs of screen ON time  + 1 hr of talk-time and that phone wasn't built for my case. 

Nevertheless I rooted my phone and installed custom-ROM many times.  And loved it for that.

So one fateful day, when I was returning to IIT after my bro's wedding. I was crossing the road and going over the local station to catch the train to IIT. A guy on a bike came and asked me for directions for Anna Nagar. The guy 'looked' educated and 'nice'. I told him I didn't know, then he asked me if he can use my phone to call his friend. 

                       The first thing which ran in my head was, what if he runs away with my phone? Then I laugh it off saying maybe i should trust people.

I gave him the phone, he was on his bike trying to call a number and was also trying to make small talk, asking me which college I was etc. 

                    I was staring at his bike keys and debating with myself - should I pull out his bike keys, just to be safe. Would it be too weird? Am I over reacting?

Ultimately I decided to step down the footpath and be closer to the bike so that IF he tries to escape i can catch his brakes and the bike may topple :)

Just then a bus honked behind the bike, he told lets just move aside, I moved and he fled. 
I was shocked,stunned for a sec. I smiled , I actually was laughing, cursing myself what an ass I am. 
I didn't even have the time to shout anything. 

                    The only things i remember is his bike - A white Yamaha FZ. 

Later I did give a complaint at the nearest police station. The constable told no use of the complaint, u may never find it as generally they take the phone apart and sell it in different states. 
For a couple of months, whenever Ii slept the scene of FZ zooming past me flashed in front of me. 

This happened almost an year back. But why am I writing it now? 

Because I realized the importance of having important stuff on your phone backed up that day. 

The moment I lost my phone, I only remembered a few numbers and called them to let them know that my phone got stolen. But all my contacts were synced with my Google account. So technically I lost no contacts. 
Since I just came from a wedding( one of the best one also),I  thought I lost all my photos but thanks to Dropbox app I had all my photos synced and in the cloud. So i lost none of my photos/videos. 

My next phone was an Android ( no surprise there :D ) - Motorola Defy+ 

And Google Play actually installed all my previous apps which I had installed on the other phone. So with just a change in launcher - my new phone was as good as the old phone. 
I still miss my Ace but Android helped me a lot in seamless switch to other phone. 

I did learn my lesson though, and to safeguard your  phone I suggest the following points - 

• Put a lock screen - All your friends may know it but it still acts as first line of defense at-least
• Install backup apps - Dropbox for your photos, Evernote for your notes n all. 
• Titanium Backup - If you have rooted your phone, always backup your apps and its data often. And save it on your local disk as well periodically. 
• Google contacts sync - One of the best ways to sync all your contacts in the cloud. 
• Sim lock - Many sim lock and anti theft apps are available. My fav are avast anti- theft and Prey. They may not be fool proof but they sure can help you a lot. 
• Plan B - This app you can install after your phone is stolen and it sends you the GPS location of the phone. 
• Be aware - last but DEFINETLY not the least be aware of 'innocent-looking-educated' scamsters. 

Also remember it's not very easy to get your phone back once its stolen, as generally the phone is switched off. But being cautious is always better esp. when you have sensitive data and pictures on it.