Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat
It may have taken it whole, but Google finally has its own Android phone tracking service.
Android Device Manager, which will be available later this month, will let Android owners locate their lost devices from afar, greatly increasing the chances of recovery if the phones are misplaced.
In addition to simply plotting device location on a map, the service will also let owners ring their phones — a helpful feature for when devices are hidden nearby. In the event that the devices can’t be recovered, Android Device Manager will also let owners completely wipe their devices’ content.
The timing of the news is worth calling out here. Google’s announcement comes just a day after it officially unveiled the Moto X, the first true Google phone. If the company ends up selling as many of these phones as it certainly hopes it will, it needs to offer a way for Moto X owners to recover their devices if they’re lost. The introduction of Android Device Manager, in that sense, was pretty inevitable.
Android Device Manager is an extension of similar features that Google has offered via My Devices, a collection of management tools that’s only be available so far to Google Apps for Business, Education, and Government customers.
Android Device Manager’s feature set is pretty standard.While those features are pretty standard as far as these things go, what’s notable is just how long it took Google to get this far. Just about every phone manufacturer – including Apple, HTC, Sony, and Samsung, — already offers such a service, which makes Google’s lack of inclusion both glaring and, frankly absurd.
