Mobile Phones

Joel has an older Samsung Galaxy S5 and it's just fine. But he isn't sure if he should wipe it and start over. Is that necessary like it is with a PC every once in awhile? Leo says that it's good housekeeping for a computer. It puts it back to the day it first came and gets rid of all the "cruft" he doesn't need. With a phone, it's a bigger challenge because of music, pictures, text messages, etc. Music and Pictures can be backed up to the cloud, or a PC, pretty easily. Text messages, though, is another challenge.

Sarah is traveling overseas and wants an international cell phone plan. Leo says that it depends on where she is going and for how long. A smartphone is very valuable for traveling overseas. Sarah will be in the Middle East, Israel, Syria, as well as some countries in Europe. She should check out prepaidwithData.wikia.com. She can unlock her phone and get a local SIM that will work in each country. The downside is, she'll have a different phone number.

Adam wants to know if he can control a mobile device from his computer. Leo says that Remote PC does not work in the opposite direction, unless the phone is physically connected. You could control another laptop from a laptop, or Desktop. But not a phone. So in the case of your phone being stolen, you have to get your carrier or phone manufacturer involved to brick it or wipe is remotely.

John is frustrated that he can't delete the pictures on his phone without deleting them from iCloud. Leo says that if he selects "optimize phone storage" in settings, it will delete it on the phone without deleting it on iCloud. But he'll have to select "Keep Originals" on his Mac so it doesn't delete there.