Android finally gets a Find My Phone feature 3 years after iPhone
Since 2010, iPhone users have had a feature -- Find My iPhone -- that allowed them to track the location of their phone should it ever get lost or stolen. I remember this feature came out in 2010 because I had just purchased a very expensive Droid X and, upon promptly losing it, was informed by everyone I knew with an iPhone about their nifty app. Now, in 2013, Android users will finally be given the opportunity to have this delightful feature that iOS users take for granted.
Android's development team announced in a blog post today that the new Android Device Manager will be available later this month as long as your device uses Android 2.2 Froyo or higher. Thankfully that covers most Android users. Given the uneven way updates are handled between different carriers, sometimes Android users have to wait to receive new features.
The Android "find my phone" feature allows device owners to either ring their phone at maximum volume or wipe all the data from the device. Your phone will ring even if you lost it after putting it in silent mode, which is a nice feature.
Meanwhile Apple has been steadily improving their take on Find My iPhone since its 2010 launch, adding as recently as December the ability to get driving directions to your phone's location from the app. While some Android manufactures have added their own version of Find My iPhone to make up for the absence, this is the operating system's first official release of such a feature.
