No handset is worth dying for; a timely reminder

I was just reading about a poor chap who was robbed for his iPhone and wallet recently. In the report in today’s Telegraph, it appears the chap was stabbed in the head with some sort of screwdriver after he tried to get his iPhone back from the robbers.

Sexton, of Moors Avenue, and Smith, of Fairview Road, both Cheltenham, are jointly accused of the murder of Mr Soons and the robbery of his wallet, bank card, store card and iPhone 4 between February 4 and 6.

via Two men charged with murder of man thought to have been killed for iPhone – Telegraph.

Having your phone stolen — in front of you — is a hugely unpleasant experience. It’s not just the financial issue that burns, the massively personal nature of the device can prompt utter outrage. I know I was absolutely furious when I was phonejacked a little while ago. I had the opportunity to run after the guy but I decided against that.

I’m an abnormal subject though. I value my device(s) highly but I have everything in the cloud and as I change my phones almost every day, I am not particularly partial to the actual piece of hardware. I’ve got plenty to use instead. But I can definitely see — if I had just one phone, and I’d spent a ton of money on it — how I could be prompted to fight back during a mugging.

This news is a timely reminder: If someone demands your handset, best give it to them and work out the frustration later on. Unless you’ve a Black Belt or the 86th Airborne on speed dial.