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20 Android Apps: Our Favorites

By Paul Escallier 6:10 PM - October 15, 2009
 

Picture 9 of 20

 

Picture 9 of 20

   

Mobile Defense


Price: Free

Created by Neavo:

If you’ve ever lost your phone, you know how disconcerting it is, thinking about all the minutes someone could use up before you get the chance to report it to your carrier. It’s even worse when you lose a smart phone. Not only is the device itself worth considerably more than an ordinary mobile phone, but the information on it could cost you dearly. Mobile Defense greatly increases the chances of getting your phone back. After losing your phone, you simply log on to the firm's Website and the app is activated via SMS, relaying the phone’s location back and pinpointing it on a map. But Mobile Defense doesn’t stop there. If things are looking grim and you fear for the integrity of any confidential material on the phone, you can backup all of your data remotely as well as clear it from the phone. Because it relies on a dormant process running in the background, the iPhone has yet to receive an app like Mobile Defense, and while Windows Mobile has the capability to run such an app, none exist as of yet.

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kquaker1 10/16/2009 8:32 PM
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Thanks for the article. I will look into these apps.

http://www.gizmoelectronics.blogspot.com
http://www.stophighcosts.com

quantumrand 10/17/2009 3:09 AM
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It looks like with the 2.0 Eclair update, Google Maps will have "Layers" for displaying things like Wikipedia points of interest. It will also support Multitouch gestures, such as double finger tapping to zoom.

danish_2828 10/19/2009 8:17 PM
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[citation] Because it relies on a dormant process running in the background, the iPhone has yet to receive an app like Mobile Defense, and while Windows Mobile has the capability to run such an app, none exist as of yet. [/citation]

Microsoft MyPhone does the exact same thing.

You can make your phone will ring loudly for 60 seconds even if it is set to 'silent' or 'vibrate only' mode.

You can locate your phone on a map. Your phone's current location will be marked on a map, which will give you a general idea where it is.

You can lock your phone so that it cannot be used by anyone else. You can also enter a message to display on your phone's screen to tell the finder how to contact you.

You can erase your phone and storage card to ensure that your data is safe. Your phone will be restored to the factory default settings.

All of this is done via SMS. Check your sources Android fanboy. If anything it looks like MSFT MyPhone does a better job at it.

quantumrand 10/20/2009 12:41 PM
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danish_2828 :
[citation] Because it relies on a dormant process running in the background, the iPhone has yet to receive an app like Mobile Defense, and while Windows Mobile has the capability to run such an app, none exist as of yet.

Microsoft MyPhone does the exact same thing.You can make your phone will ring loudly for 60 seconds even if it is set to 'silent' or 'vibrate only' mode.You can locate your phone on a map. Your phone's current location will be marked on a map, which will give you a general idea where it is.You can lock your phone so that it cannot be used by anyone else. You can also enter a message to display on your phone's screen to tell the finder how to contact you.You can erase your phone and storage card to ensure that your data is safe. Your phone will be restored to the factory default settings.All of this is done via SMS. Check your sources Android fanboy. If anything it looks like MSFT MyPhone does a better job at it.[/citation]

Good catch. The references to other apps were mostly focused on those found on the Windows Mobile Marketplace and Apple App Store. It would make sense that there are a lot of WinMo apps that aren't on the WinMo Marketplace since it's rather new. Sorry I didn't catch it.

Anonymous 10/20/2009 11:18 PM
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Umm, the iPhone has this as well. With the caveat that it requires a MobileMe subscription. You can make your phone ring so you can find it, you can send a message to be displayed on screen ("Reward for return of this phone" for example). Even if your phone doesn't currently require a passcode to unlock the phone, you can force this feature on so your phone can't be used, and you can see the phones GPS location on a map on the MobileMe website. If all else fails you can remote wipe the iPhone.

quantumrand 10/21/2009 11:31 AM
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True, Apple sells the $99/year service that does this, but it's a service, not an app. Also, they monopolize by closing off the possibilty of an independent developer writing an app like it, free or otherwise.

masterasia 10/21/2009 5:59 PM
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I like this phone. Looks to be better than the iPhone.
The thing I hate most about iPhones/iPods is the battery.
Once it stops holding a charge, then you're screwed.
There used to be battery replacement kits with the iPod Minis
back in the day, why can't the iPhone/iPod Touch have this?

Anonymous 10/30/2009 5:41 PM
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Is it really necessary to do a complete page redraw? This slideshow looks like it should load instantly, but it's fake as each time you click for the next slide you need to wait 2 seconds for the page reload. Lame. Sorry, don't have the patience to wait because you want to force your ads to reload and count as a page hit.

Anonymous 11/04/2009 11:49 PM
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"You can make your phone ring so you can find it..."

Hmmm, can you think of some other service you could use to "make your phone ring"? :)

hillcountry2010 02/12/2010 7:32 PM
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Take a look at this new app... http://www.slicesoftware.com/vtext.html Cool implementation of Voice Texting.