Kevin Bostic
Google's Android platform has largely caught up to Apple's iOS in at least one respect: Android device owners will soon be able to track the location of their phone much in the same way iPhone owners have been able to do since 2010.
The Android team revealed in a blog post on Friday that the new Android Device Manager (ADM) feature will roll out later this month for devices running Android 2.2 Froyo or later. That covers all but 1.3 percent of Android devices, according to Google's figures.
The new feature will allow device owners to ring a phone at maximum volume in order to find it, even if it has been silenced. Users can also locate a device on a map with real-time location data. In the event a phone cannot be recovered, ADM also allows for the secure erasure of all of the data on a device.
In releasing ADM, Google is a latecomer to the phone location and remote interaction game. Both Apple and Microsoft have had a "find my phone" feature built into their mobile platforms since 2010. Apple has spent the three years since introducing Find My iPhone steadily improving the feature. In December, the iPhone maker added driving directions to the app, and the iOS 7 beta includes both a password disabling feature that locks a device out of a user's iTunes account and an activation lock feature that shuts a phone down entirely.
Additionally, other Android device manufacturers have already stepped in where Google had not. Sony, for instance, offers a my Xperia security service for its Android-powered Xperia line. That feature allows users to sound alarms, wake a device's display, lock a phone, or remotely erase data if necessary.
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58 Comments
Kudos to Google. Android users will certainly appreciate it being built-in to the OS rather than only available via a third party. Took'em long enough.
It took three years for accidental thefts to be prevalent enough to need something like this. Though why anyone would want their Android phone back after it's stolen is beyond me.
[quote name="Tallest Skil" url="/t/158857/android-gets-find-my-iphone-like-feature-3-years-after-apple#post_2372889"]It took three years for accidental thefts to be prevalent enough to need something like this. Though why anyone would want their Android phone back after it's stolen is beyond me.[/quote] Every once in awhile you come up with truly funny stuff. Well done!!:lol:
This is not the Android you are looking for <waves hand>
Just look in the nearest dumpster. When thieves realize they stole a Sammy, they'll just toss the sucker.