"Along with the suncream, sandals and shades, these days many people also throw a smartphone into their summer suitcases.
But while it takes a second to toss your handset into your hand luggage, making sure that it’s ready for the journey takes a little more thought.
Have you done everything necessary to enable it to work abroad, for example? How can you keep an eye on call and internet costs when travelling? And talking of costs, are there ways to save money while still using your smartphone?
There are numerous things to consider before heading for the airport – so read on for our guide to readying your smartphone for an overseas jaunt.
Step 1: Download Before Departure
In what will become a recurrent theme of this guide, downloading stuff when abroad can be expensive, so if you intend making use of language phrase books, travel guides or maps, do your downloading now, using your home wi-fi.
It will typically be much faster and, more importantly, it will effectively be free
Step 2: Call Your Provider
From June 2017 roaming charges will end within the European Union. It's worth asking your provider if they offer any bundles for use abroad.
Step 3: Register Your Handset
Smartphones are easy targets for organised criminals – and don’t think that they’ll be fooled by hiding your handset under a flip-flop while you head off for a paddle.
It makes sense to register with a phone-finding service, if available.
Once registered with Apple, for example, iPhone users can make use of the company’s Find My iPhone app/service to help locate a missing handset.
Android users need to download the Google app, then head to www.google.com/android/devicemanager
As long as the phone has battery, its location will appear on a map and you can command it to make a sound or wipe it.
Step 4: Pack A Travel Adapter
Forget a travel plug and you can forget using your phone – or any other electrical item for that matter.
Many smartphone chargers are universal, meaning they can be used safely in any socket worldwide, but you still need an adapter.
Step 5: Enable Airplane Mode
This tip isn’t strictly necessary but if you want to avoid a flat battery at touchdown, enable your smartphone’s ‘airplane mode’.
This disables all radio communications, saving loads of juice during the trip. Typically, this will be found in your smartphone’s Settings menu.
Step 6: Monitor Your Data Use
Remember, overseas data use can be expensive. If you haven’t arranged a special tariff in advance (Step 2) then keep a close eye on your usage.
On Android handsets, tap Settings – Data Usage. Later versions of Android allow you to set alerts when reaching specified data levels.
To really avoid bill shock, turn off data roaming altogether. You can still access the internet using wi-fi.
Step 7: Connect To Wi-Fi
Finally, while it makes sense to connect to your resort’s wi-fi service, if it has one, make sure you do so securely – check with management to ensure that you’re connecting to the correct hotspot and avoid connecting to it if it is unencrypted and unsecured (so if it doesn’t request a password, steer clear). "
Source: Hannah Bouckley, home.bt.com