Recently we featured a well known product called TrackR which is a small tracking device which can be placed almost anywhere and it gives you the ability to track items via you smartphone, This time around we check out a similar product called Tile Mate.. Its made from plastic,its small and discreet and surprisingly no GPS built in,instead it uses your mobile phones geodata.
It looks simple and is simple its simple to set up and thats all you need to know, Simplicity wins for most but functionality is also important this has it all. So after you purchase the tile all you need to do is download the app on Android or iOS and set it up which take a minute or two..
It comes well presented in a nice package too if I may add, I am a stickler for presentation if you do not know by now.. Is comes in a two tone colour there is one button and some plastic to protect it, I suggest leaving it on if you can as its prone to getting marked.. You can press the button marked “Tile” to hear some sounds to ensure its alive and well.. This wakes up the tile too.
Tile works rather well. There is several reasons.. You can find things and if you lost your mobile phone you can ring it not only that its crowd-sourced too so users anywhere within a range can alert you to where your missing item last was so this is idea is quite a benefit having a network of users as additional eyes if you will.. the problem though with this is that it has no GPS tracking which will not show you a TRUE location it works via Bluetooth but you can leave the app running in the background and as mentioned you can report a lost item an other users can pick up on this once they are running the app too which you probably should and would deem your purchase void if not to be honest. Also to point out if you misplace your mobile phone you just tap the Tile icon twice then this rings your mobile phone which is neat along with this you can of course ring your things from the tile..
There is no separation alerts here which is a letdown but not a caveat. From using TrackR I was pleased to have this but then over time I was getting pointless separation alerts and eventually turned it off because it annoyed me several times a day for nothing but thats not to take away from TrackR it works dam well. Another great feature here is that the Tile itself is LOUD. You could easily hear it if something was buried under your car seat or down the back of your sofa so thats pretty neat. Tile is also waterproof. Tile also works within a 100ft range with any Bluetooth V4. Tile will last you around One Year but they do offer a replacement programme which is nice..
Overall Tile is a good piece of small tech that wont get in your way and help you out someday when you are in trouble but for the majority of the time it will sit redundant wherever you place it having said that its not a bad thing if you are not in the habit of loosing things and if you are this is something you should consider. One small thing as I said with TrackR,being a security conscious person I would not advertise it and leaving it dangling on a bag for all to see for example because would be thieves would be aware of such gadgets and just remove them. Other than that it works perfectly fine and does what it says on the tin..
