When I googled earlier, all answers pointed towards the phone receiving cellular signals or depending on its internal digital clock but I’m asking this question because when we crossed my country’s border and briefly entered our neighbor’s territory, my phone’s time automatically changed to the neighboring country’s timezone even though there was absolutely zero cellular service and I didn’t have mobile data or location turned on (not that mobile data would have worked without cell service)
So, how did my phone know the other country’s time? I don’t really understand how the internal clock works either, but this is even more of a mystery to me. Would love to know how this really works!
In: Technology
Since it cannot be magic, it must have picked up the location from somewhere. Most likely from a cell tower with a signal too weak for it to show as 1 bar service on the display, just a quiet, or brief, message received. Or it does GPS location for “system uses” even when the display says GPS location is switched off.
It’s technically possible that it could use accelerometers, e.g. “if you leave your home and travel 50km/h West, you will be in the next country in 30 minutes”. Possible that it could use mesh networking, like Apple’s air tags, and exchange data with other phones. But it’s a simpler explanation for the display to just not accurately report what the inside is doing and it to hear a cell tower or a GPS signal for a few hundredths of a second.
Latest Answers