Cobra Tag review

By Brad Molen

Via Engadget

Phone, keys, wallet. Discovering that you’re missing any of these three items could easily trigger a panic attack, yet they’re all so easy to misplace. How many times have you spent twenty minutes looking for keys that were buried between the couch cushions? The Cobra Tag may help you win that losing battle. Acting as a Bluetooth device that attaches to your key ring and connects to your phone, it gives you the opportunity to find the missing item if it’s less than 30 feet away. It can also send notifications when the two devices are out of range from each other. The concept sounds convenient, but how does it work in practice? Let’s find out.

The premise of the Cobra Tag is simple. Hook it onto your key ring (or any other valuable you misplace often), download the app on your Android (2.1 or higher) or BlackBerry smartphone — sorry folks, Windows Phone, iOS and Symbian devices aren’t included, which could be a result of limitations on the OS side — and allow the two devices to find each other. Since the Tag uses Bluetooth to connect, you’ll naturally need to make sure the radio is on. Once the two devices are attached, you can use one of them to find the other as long as they’re within a 30-foot radius. If one goes out of range, you can be notified in a variety of ways: an email, text message or even social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook.

Are you looking for your phone? Press and hold the Cobra Tag button down and the phone (provided it’s powered on, of course) will begin playing a song of your choosing. What about your keys? You can go into the app and tell it to start ringing the Tag, after which an extremely annoying high-pitched signal will begin emanating from it. If you lose your keys often, all of the dogs in the neighborhood will love you. How about if both your keys and phone are gone? Tough luck, soldier — Cobra Tag unfortunately can’t do much for you in that situation.

There isn’t much to the Cobra Tag’s hardware. It’s meant to be small and light enough to easily attach it to your key ring and not weigh down your pocket or purse, and only consists of a single button, LED indicator light that can flash red or blue, and a microUSB charging port. That one button does everything you need: a one-second click will turn it on, a long press while connected will ring the phone, and a ten-second long press will power the Tag off.

The app itself has a simple interface on both smartphone platforms. When you first enter the program, you’ll be prompted to connect the Cobra Tag to the phone; after this, you’ll be allowed to move on and customize your settings. You can see how much charge remains on your Tag and how close it is to your position (this comes in handy when searching around the house, as it will tell you whether you’re getting closer to or farther away from the device). In addition, you can opt to lock your phone when it’s out of range, you can change your notification options, and even disable your connection with the Cobra Tag if you know you’re going to be more than 30 feet away from it in the near future. Fortunately, the app runs quietly in the background so it doesn’t get in the way of other tasks.

Notifications and locks

As mentioned earlier, the Cobra Tag has the ability to help you find your lost items whether they’re stuck somewhere in the house or hanging out in the lost and found at your local Denny’s. But how? It uses a customizable system that will send you (and others) alerts whenever you’re more than 30 feet away from either device. If you leave your phone behind, the Tag will beep to let you know you’ve moved too far away from the phone. The app can also automatically send an email showing your device’s current GPS coordinates, altitude, and other stats to help you retrace your steps; this email can be sent to any email address, and multiple points of contact can be added if you’d like your family or friends to be on the lookout as well. Lastly, you can choose to have Cobra deliver a text message and send a tweet or Facebook status update to everyone you know. Just don’t tell it to SMS your own phone — that’s likely the very item you’ve lost, so it wouldn’t do you much good.

If you have sensitive information on your device, Cobra has tossed in an option to password-protect your phone once you’re out of range. Choose a password, the length of time you’d like the program to wait before it locks your handset (which stretches from right away up to a full day), and even leave a personalized message to let others know how to reach you if they find your phone.

Wrap-up

The Cobra Tag worked well through the course of our testing and, when left on the entire time, lasted seven days on a single charge. It’s a simple enough concept that there really isn’t much to how the device manages and functions. We all hope that nothing will happen to our valuables, but horrible things occur constantly. Using a device like the Cobra Tag is a preventative measure to take just in case our phone or keys get lost, and can definitely help us find them much faster and easier.

Granted, the idea of the Cobra Tag has been done before. So many phones wind up missing every day that dozens of services, such as GPS tracking and remote device wipe, exist solely to help protect them. However, the Tag is set apart from the crowd by adding a two-way communication system between it and your handset — in essence, it acts like an invisible leash. It merits a consideration for that reason alone. As difficult as it may seem to justify spending your hard-earned George Washingtons on something of this nature, ultimately your smartphone costs much more than that. It’s true that you’ve learned to survive this long without the Cobra Tag, but if peace of mind (and time saved) is worth more than the cost of the product, that’s all the reason you’ll need to get it — provided you have an Android or BlackBerry, of course.

CHICAGO, IL — August 16, 2011 — Cobra Electronics Corporation (NASDAQ: COBR),
celebrating 50 years of innovation in 2011 as a leading designer and marketer of award-winning
consumer and mobile electronics, today announced that Cobra Tag™ — an award-winning
tracking and loss prevention system for car keys, smartphones, laptops and other valuables —
is now available nationwide for Android™ and Blackberry® smartphones.
According to Asurion.com, the largest phone insurance provider in the U.S., more than 164,000
phones are lost, stolen or damaged each day. This brings the annual permanent loss rate well
into the hundreds of millions of dollars, making the tracking and protection of these critical
devices a top priority for consumers and business users.
Cobra Tag, powered by Phone Halo Technology, is a brilliant alarm and loss prevention system
consisting of a smartphone app that is paired via Bluetooth® to a small key fob device. Users
download the Cobra Tag app to their smartphone and attach the Cobra Tag device to any item
they wish to protect, such as car keys, a purse, or laptop bag. The Cobra Tag system monitors
the distance between the phone and tagged item and produces an audible warning if the two
items become separated.
“Just about everyone can relate to the pain and anguish associated with the loss of a mobile
phone, laptop or hand bag,” said Sally Washlow, senior vice president of marketing and sales
for Cobra Electronics. “In fact, the estimated total cost of a lost laptop averages over $6,000
including lost productivity, and sometimes these items are simply irreplaceable. With a price
point of $59.95, Cobra Tag is a sleek and stylish solution to this everyday problem that just
about everyone can afford.”
In the event that a valuable possession is left behind, the Cobra Tag app will record the GPS
location and time of day the item was lost, and will send this information to a pre-configured
contact list via email, text message, or even to a linked Facebook or Twitter account. The
system also includes a useful two-way finder feature to easily locate a misplaced smartphone or
Cobra Tag device.

Pricing and availability:
Cobra Tag™ is available from retailers nationwide effective today at a suggested retail price of
$59.95. The Cobra Tag app for Blackberry® is available at no cost from the Blackberry App
WorldTM at www.appworld.blackberry.com and the Android™ app can be downloaded for free
via the Android Market at https://market.android.com/. For more information or to locate a
retailer, please visit www.cobratag.com.
About Cobra Electronics:
Cobra Electronics is a leading global designer and marketer of communication and navigation
products, with a track record of delivering innovative and award-winning products. Building upon
its leadership position in the GMRS/FRS two-way radio, radar detector and Citizens Band radio
industries, Cobra identified new growth opportunities and has aggressively expanded into the
marine market and has expanded its European operations. The Consumer Electronics
Association, Forbes and Deloitte & Touche have all recognized Cobra for the company’s
innovation and industry leadership. To learn more about Cobra Electronics, please visit the
Cobra site at www.cobra.com.
Follow Cobra on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CobraElectronic and Like Us at
www.facebook.com/CobraElectronics.

Smartphone OS Market Share

This is a follow-up of the initial look into the smartphone market. So did the numbers for OS’s add up to what was expected. No. Numbers surpassed what was expected. As of now, Android was able to pick up 36% of the smartphone market, with the closest being Apple’s iOS at 26% of market share, with RIM trailing right behind, thanks to its global presence. Nonetheless, the spread is quite large between the first and second market holders. So what does this mean? Simply put, Android is and will continue to be the leading OS for smartphones.

Smartphone Market Share

As for smartphones, total consumption has increased from 303M units in 2010 to an approximated 450M units in 2011. In the long run, what does this mean? In essence, it means that the smartphone market is growing at an incredibly rapid pace, greatly out-selling PC’s, with the Android OS taking the front seat of this wave. Furthermore, given the widespread use of the smartphone, applications involving interconnectivity will become all the more common, employing current options such as Google’s wallet. This mass-initialization of NFC is the precursor to tomorrow’s technology wave; interconnectivity between the smartphone and objects is the next.

NFC Implications

When paying, the consumer is concerned with the fact that money is going out of their account through their phone into somebody else’s. But apart from the consumer, there’s also the credit card companies (MasterCard in this case), the OEM’s of smartphones, and the NFC chip manufacturers. How does technology such as Google Wallet benefit them? Apart from giving one more big reason to own a smartphone, Google Wallet results in an exponential growth in the use of NFC technology. Studies say that by the end of this year, 50% of mobile phone users will be using smartphones; that study was done before Google Wallet came out. It is very possible, given this new technology gains traction, that the smartphone market will be larger than projections: more smartphones leads to increased smartphone and NFC production. As each day passes, the smartphone becomes more and more important; it becomes the backbone of people’s lives.

The Importance of the Smartphone

Technology used to be punch cards made by IBM; Thomas Watson Sr. was persistent on the fact that no rational person would need a computer. His son, Thomas Watson Jr., went against his father’s beliefs, and ultimately brought IBM scorching to new heights by seeing that the punch card had a short life; PC’s were the future. Fast-forwarding to now, we have been using laptops and desktops for long enough for me to ask “What’s next”?

One good way to find out where the future is leading is to see in which direction companies that supply components are repositioning themselves. Thus, it would make sense to see where Intel is repositioning its CPU powers: “During Intel’s financial analyst meeting Monday, CEO Paul Otellini announced that he is refocusing the company, moving its ‘center’ from PC processors to processors for the burgeoning mobile market. ‘I think Intel recognizes that they absolutely have to get a win here,’ said analyst Rob Enderle.”

The smartphone market is expanding at scorching speeds, as are the processing capabilities. Soon, our smartphones will be be the connection to our cars, homes, tv’s, computer screens (as the phone will the CPU)…everything. Prevent losing that which will connect you.

Interconnectivity

I am fascinated with the ability to do more with less.  Smartphones connect us to the web and to other people, but they have missed out on connecting with other objects we encounter every day. How great would it be to wake up in the morning, push a button on your phone, and by the time you have showered, your coffee and toast is ready; another push and the car is unlocked and humming idly, waiting for you to get in and drive off?

Google took a big step towards interactions between our smartphones and objects we use regularly in everyday life(kind of like what PhoneHalo has been doing). As Wired.com said after attending Google?s Android@Home demo, “Google explains it has essentially created a framework to control wireless communication between objects in your house…That means some day in the future, you could control home appliances- your dishwasher, the heating system, the lights in your house – using your Android device as a remote control”

This is where the future is headed: connecting you remotely to your surroundings; and Google, with their Android OS, will be the ones to lead.

Which one will take the lead?

The Smartphone Market

Google was the precursor to the new business model: horizontal expansion, instead of vertical. The two main companies at the front of the lines are Google, with its Android OS, and Microsoft, with its Windows 7 OS; their growth comes at the expense of others: RIM (Blackberry), Palm, and especially Symbian 60. In particular, from 2010-2011, Symbian will lose approximately 18% of market share and RIM at 3%. Future growth is projected to be 50% of the global market share for Android, and 20% for Windows 7, with all other OS’s following.

In essence, Android is the leader in the smartphone iOS market. Apple will continue to have a market share, but thus far, it has found its saturation point. According to user’s input, the new Windows 7 platform will be a real competitor to Google’s OS, and thus further backs up the growth of Microsoft’s stake in the global smartphone market; we can expect the platform to continue to grow, especially within Europe, based upon its partnering with Nokia, which currently holds the largest market share in Europe. It is going to be Google’s Android vs. Microsoft’s Windows 7 in an environment in which smartphone usage is rapidly growing.

Matsushima-Wan in Miyagi

Japan needs our help.

I have had a special connection with Japan for a long time.  Since my initial study abroad in High School to Kyoto, to my family constantly hosting Japanese foreign exchange students, to my year long study abroad in Sendai.  When I started to see the images on NHK of the destruction of the tsunami, I realized that so many of the places I loved in Sendai are forever changed.  Like Matsushima-wan, know as one of the three great views of Japan has been ravaged by the tsunami.

After a week of trying, I’ve been able to confirm the safety of most of my friends living in Sendai but many more are still unfound and homeless.  The path to rebuilding is long and hard and I’ve tried to think of the best way to help the people of Sendai.   Phone Halo has decided to raise funds through selling special Japan Phone Halos (see below).  100% of the profit goes to the Mercy Corps and their efforts.

Thanks,

Chris

Purchase your Phone Halo Japan device Below