Dear LPG,

I have learned a little secret through experience over the years and that is that, as old as I am, I can learn about new technology as long as I just take on a little bit of information at a time.  This time last year I had a really simple one but, thanks to my grandson’s patience and regular visits, I am getting better at using my latest mobile smart phone to do so much more than just making telephone calls.

As I learned more about things that they can do I also worked out that it might be to my advantage to get a slightly more sophisticated one.  Very quickly I had mastered the art of taking photographs with it and using its Google function to find answers to questions that would have taken me ages to look up without it.  He even put a button on the screen which takes me to the LPG website with just one click.   We talked about all the different ones that are available but he had been showing me things on his phone and I felt quite comfortable with that so we came to an agreement.  I would pay towards a new one for him and then he could give me the one he had because I knew where I was with that. 

So that is what we did, and it worked out very well.  After a short while I realised just how much of his personal information was still in the phone, which was fine because he gave it to me, but it occurred to me that, had he given it to someone else, they would have all sorts of information about his friends and personal life at their fingertips, and we have all heard of how much damage can potentially be done when one person has too much information about another.

It was quite technical but he somehow managed to transfer all the information from my new phone (the one he gave to me) to his new one, but he had forgotten to take it all out of his old one (the one he had given to me). 

I have mentioned all this because it is really important to reset any mobile phone that you have been using before you give, or even throw it away.  It is potentially dangerous to leave your old telephone numbers and other information in a mobile phone that you plan to get rid of. 

My grandson cleared the information in a few short minutes and made it look fairly simple but it is something that you don’t need to do often and perhaps, getting someone you trust to do it for you is not a bad idea.

I learned something really important that day; the days when all the information your phone needed was on the sim card have long passed.  The phone often retains more personal data than you think.  So no matter how basic your phone, and even if you have only ever used it to make the odd call, be aware that your friends telephone numbers could well be stored in it. 

Make it factory fresh before you give it away.

HG, Forest Hill

Every mobile phone is different, but they nearly all have a factory fresh facility.  It will also be important to make sure that you have transferred all the information you need onto your new phone before you permanently get it off the old one, because once you have done this the phone should behave like a brand new one and anyone who wants to use it will have to enter absolutely everything from scratch.

It is quite complicated, and LPG strongly suggests you get someone who knows more about how to do it for you.  We have placed two videos, but nearly every make and model of mobile phone will have a specific video showing the slightly different instructions for doing this.

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