The recent spate of account cancellations in Google+ have some interesting side effects for those who own Android smartphones. It is possible to lose contacts, picasa graphics and more from your smartphone if Google decides to pull the plug on your account.
For those who have been the recipient of a Google+ deletion, they have lost everything they ever stored on the Google servers. For some this means years of personal data. The worse news is that the Google user may also lose valuable data from their Android device. Since a gmail account in an Android smartphone is connected to the obliterated account, the smartphone will have no more email features. Some people call this leaving the smartphone “orphaned”. Indeed, for those who are frequent email users, it can be disastrous.
A call was made to Google about this situation. A question about what would happen if someone owned an Android phone, which uses a Google ID to access a multitude of their services, and they exterminated the account. Would it destroy the Android phone ? The reply came back that the phone would still function for surfing the web for calls, and for sending texts. But gmail, and other Google services tied to the deleted Google+ account would not work. The only option in this case would be to begin another Google account.
One person who has received attention for their obliterated Google account is not happy about it. They claimed they were just about to switch to Google Android for a smartphone when their account received the gestapo treatment. The person, Dylan Marcheschi, is an artist and completely changed his attitude towards Google. He said he would be terminating the Google apps within the workplace, terminating the Google products he uses and no longer reading Google news. If that seems dramatic, he was banned by a Google bot ( not a human ) that constantly runs through the Picasa program owned by Google. A human from Google eventually stepped in and reinstated the account.
Some of the best advice for those who own an Android phone is to back up your information regularly. If the hammer is about to fall on your Google account, be prepared. As long as you do not use Google Voice, your phone number itself is not connected to the Google system and should be safe to use if somehow you are found in “violation” of their terms. Some people are using a service called Skydrive to back up their gmail information. Skydrive is a free Microsoft program that stores files and photos online for later. A generous 25 gigabytes is offered for free storage.
