SPC, the Spanish consumer electronics brand, offers a series of recommendations to get the most out of your tech products when traveling abroad.
Technology has become a faithful travel companion abroad, as essential as carry-on luggage or bringing a towel to the beach. From using it as a source of entertainment during trips to using it as a “tourist guide” thanks to maps and recommendation searches. There is no unexpected situation we can’t solve with a smartphone or a tablet.
In this article, SPC, the Spanish consumer electronics brand, offers you tips that will help save money, allow you to use and charge your devices anywhere, and keep their security under control. Follow these guidelines and make the most of technology from any foreign destination.
Activate and manage mobile data to avoid wasting data (and money)
When traveling around Europe, thanks to the so-called “roaming without extra charges” we can use our mobile phone as if we were in Spain. But when traveling outside the EU, that changes drastically.
Before starting your adventure abroad, find out about roaming and international agreements of your phone company. If you travel to a place where your company has no roaming, there are prepaid SIM cards compatible with the country you are visiting, and you choose the GBs you want to use during the trip, thus avoiding overpaying abroad.
Also, to preserve your prepaid card data longer, download maps and your itinerary in Google Maps beforehand, so you don’t consume those precious mobile data when traveling abroad on something you can access offline. And don’t forget to turn off mobile data usage when it’s not essential.
Use plug adapters and universal chargers to always be able to use your devices
Something as simple and common as charging our mobile phone can be an ordeal in a foreign country if we don’t check beforehand the usual plug type in our destination country. Generally, in Europe, we use type C plugs, but there are up to 15 different types. For example, the UK plug is type G and the American plug is type A. Meanwhile, one of the most common plugs in Asia and Africa is type D; in China, Oceania, and surrounding islands, they usually use type I. And Thailand, a popular summer destination, has an exclusive plug type, type O.
So before your trip, make sure to get a universal or specific adapter to avoid unexpected surprises. And if your devices have USB-C connection, a 2024 standard, you’ll avoid needing multiple different cables because you can charge all your devices with the same cable.
Use technology as entertainment during transport travel
Usually, we take advantage of summer, with longer vacation periods, to dive into those dream trips to exotic destinations. Trips to the Caribbean or Southeast Asia can come with flights lasting between 8 to 13 hours.
Some long-haul airlines often include individual screens to escape the long journey by watching a movie or even a series. If you’re not lucky enough to travel on one of these, a good option is to bring in your carry-on a tablet that, set to Airplane Mode, can make the trip more enjoyable with offline series, movies, or games you’ve downloaded beforehand.
In case of loss or theft, here’s how to find it
Before your trip, it’s advisable to write down some unique device data on paper, including the serial number, a unique network identifier of the device. Another thing you can do before traveling is to get specific insurance for theft or loss, as standard policies usually don’t cover theft.
In any case, you should protect your device with a password lock, whether numeric, digital, or even facial recognition. This will make it harder for others to access your data and use your smartphone, computer, or tablet.
If you have added your Google account to your Android device, the “Find My Device” option activates automatically. This allows you, in case of loss or theft, to track the device’s recent location, helping you recover it. You can do this in 3 different ways from another phone or tablet: via an app, through the Google search engine, or via this link.
From the phone, you’ll need to install the Find My Device app from Google Play and log in so it can show you the device’s location on the map. From Google, you just need to log in with your account and type “where is my phone” in the search bar to see your device’s location.
The most complete way to locate your Android device is through its dedicated web service. Through “Find My Device,” you can remotely lock the phone, erase data, or play sounds at maximum volume, even if it’s on silent mode.
How to protect devices at the cybersecurity level
When traveling abroad, we don’t always have unlimited mobile data access. It’s common to try to save the data we have by connecting to public WiFi networks in restaurants or stations. These networks, over which we have no control, expose us more to MitM attacks, malware, or data theft. To minimize these risks, we should make sure the network is not fake, ask at stations and restaurants for the network name to confirm and avoid similarly named networks designed to mislead. And whenever possible, use a VPN network.
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