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Comment by frik | Hacker News Reader

It should be the other way!

Smartphones should have an emergency button. Pressing the button should automatically call 911 (or 112) and speaking using a Text-To-Speech TTS software (Siri, etc.) the name of the phone owner and the GPS coordinate, street address, etc.

This technology is already built in e.g. Ford cars (using Nuance/Microsoft speech technology, using automatic Bluetooth to call via the phone) - at the same time as the airbag goes off the car calls the emergency number and speaks.

And there are a number of (smart)phones that have an inbuilt emergency button that calls or SMS a predefined (but editable) number (like relatives).

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I think you're on to something there. Theoretically the auto-dial button wouldn't be necessary because the phone knows what number it's calling, so no matter how you connect with emergency services it could know to initiate the procedure for providing location information.

You don't need a special emergency button. It wouldn't be hard for the phone to provide that info to emergency dispatchers whenever 911 was dialed at the same time as it was connection the call.

Lets say you just had a stroke or something. I honestly can't imagine how hard it would be to dial 911 on a modern touch screen phone if you are mentally or physically incapacitated.

Seriously, it it kind of scares the crap out of me visualizing how I'd dial for an emergency if shit hit the fan and for whatever reason I wasn't my normal self.

The number of people every year who are so incapacitated that they can't dial 911 yet are just capacitated enough to find the red emergency button on their home screen (after entering their unlock password) can be approximated as zero. And if you have one of those "emergency call bypass" features for your lock screen...well, you're already done.

Smartphones already have these features.

> Smartphones should have an emergency button.

There is an emergency call button on the iPhone lock screen, because you have to be able to place such calls even if it's not your phone, or it's not activated, or the SIM is not in, etc.

> Pressing the button should automatically call 911 (or 112)

Actually the same thing, since dialing the emergency number doesn't just call a number, but starts a GSM emergency call. That's why dialing 911 on an American phone works even if you've taken it with you to another country. (This doesn't quite work in countries with separate police/fire/ambulance numbers.)

Actually, if you tell Siri to "Call 911" I believe it just does it with no confirmation, unlike other numbers. Not sure what information is provided by cell phones on these calls, though.

A 911 button exists! The people that have them use them often... Google: 911 system for elderly

It's not only about elderly.

Imagine you have a stroke, or your hands are full of blood, or you fall and brake your hands ...then you cannot use your touch screen smartphone and/or speak comprehensible words!

In such emergency situations a text-to-speech would save life's. You may be able to press a physical button or the G-sensor detects the accident and reacts automatically.

>or the G-sensor detects the accident and reacts automatically

Just don't ever drop your phone.

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