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Google Home can help you find your phone when asked
As teased by Google at its Pixel 2 launch event earlier this week, its Home speakers can now actively ping your phone when you've misplaced it. (It's down the couch cushions, I bet.) For Android devices, the smart speaker will actually call your phone even if silenced. The feature works with iOS too, although it's a more like a typical phone call. Calling out "ring my phone" or "where's my phone" will stir the Home Speaker into action. And if, like some Engadget editors, you have multiple phones to find, Home will call each device before cycling on to the next one. But, like I keep telling you: it's down the side of the couch. Can't you just check there?
Android Device Manager has a new name: Find My Device
Since Google introduced Android Device Manager in 2013 it has updated the feature periodically, but the latest change gives it a new name -- Find My Device -- and a few new features. It's now a part of the Google Play Protect service mentioned earlier during I/O, and most Android owners should see an update for it on their devices. The standard features (similar to iOS' Find My iPhone) are still intact with the ability to locate, ring, lock down or wipe your hardware remotely -- you can even Google Search "Find My Phone" to use it -- while it has added information about the current battery level and WiFi network connection. For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2017, follow along here.
Google makes it easy to find lost phones and access My Account
Back in 2015, Google launched a feature that displays a map showing your Android phone's current location when you search for "find my phone." Now, the big G is introducing another way to look for missing devices that sounds especially useful for absent-minded users. In the near future, searching for "I lost my phone" will take you straight to a portal called "Find your phone." If you have an Android device, you can ring and locate it straight from the page. You can still remotely sign out of a Gmail account if you have an iPhone, but the page instructs you to visit iCloud.com to find it.
Google search 'Find My Phone' to locate your missing Android
Google's making it even easier to track down your misplaced mobile device. While Android Device Manager already exists to help find lost phones and tablets, just getting to your account's ADM menu often requires a search of its own. But Find My Phone is as simple as a web query. In fact, that's literally what you're doing. Simply open a Google omnibox and type "find my phone" to display a map that reveals the phone's current resting place. If the device is nearby, you can also opt to ring your cell. Unfortunately, Find My Phone does not allow you to lock or erase your device should it be stolen or, say, left at the local pub -- you will still need Android Device Manager to do that.
Windows Phone 7's 'Find My Phone' feature teased in Microsoft video
And then, there were three. Apple's Find my iPhone introduced a rather compelling idea -- one that involves locating your phone by tapping into the GPS lock that it was holding onto in someone else's arms. A few weeks back, Big Red announced a similar service for VZW-branded BlackBerry, webOS and Android phones, and now that Windows Phone 7 is making its red carpet reveal, we're learning that Microsoft's newest mobile OS has similar functionality baked in. The feature is teased in a new Microsoft video that shows off the cloud functions of WP7, which also demonstrates the phone staying in sync with contacts added on the PC, playing Xbox LIVE with friends and shooting an image on the phone just moments before viewing it on a Windows 7 laptop. We're hoping to get a better idea of how the handset recovery system works (and how much it'll cost) a bit later in the day, but for now that aforementioned video is embedded just past the break. Update: AT&T has affirmed that this feature will be completely free of charge for WP7 handsets purchased from it. We're still waiting to hear if it'll be free across all carriers / countries. [Thanks, JagsLive]
Windows Phone Live to offer remote wipe, location, and sync for your Windows Phone 7 device
See, Android owners don't ever lose their phones, so that's why they don't need this capability... right? Right? Hot on the heels of yesterday's news that RIM would be delivering a comprehensive remote wipe solution to BlackBerrys this year, Andy Lees is mentioning at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference today that an all-new Windows Phone Live website will figure prominently into the Windows Phone 7 equation when devices launch toward the end of 2010. It looks like the site is divided into two, arguably equally important parts: a sync function, which lets you transfer photos directly from your phone (a la Kin Studio, perhaps?), move OneNote content, synchronize contacts, and so on, and a suite of tools for dealing with a lost or stolen device -- you'll be able to remotely wipe it, locate it, lock it, or just make it ring until you drive the thief out of his gourd. On a related note, Lees is also announcing that we'll be seeing the first volley of Windows Phone 7 devices in five languages -- English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish -- and that Windows Phone Marketplace (the Windows Phone 7 version of it, presumably) will be available in 17 countries out of the gate. That's not what we'd call global domination, of course, but you've got to start somewhere.
