James Bond Isn’t The Only One Who Can Track A Cell Phone
We’ve all watched movies or television programs where the super spy quickly presses a couple of buttons on a computer and bingo, the location of their nemesis instantly pops up on the screen. They jump in their spy mobile and the chase is on. They look down at the laptop display every now and then and see the bleep on the computer showing that their prey’s location is just around the bend. This is cool but it’s just science fiction, right? Believe it or not, it’s not science fiction anymore.
The ability to track a cell phone from a computer or another cell phone is not only based in reality but it’s rather simple and accessible for anyone to do. There are basically two ways to do this. The first is to install some tracking software onto your phone. This of course requires that you have a programmable smart phone like the iphone, or the droid. The second is to purchase a phone that has the tracking software pre-installed on it.
There are several cellphone locater services that you can subscribe to for a fee. You pay a low monthly fee and you can track any phone that is in your network. There is also a free service called Google Latitude. It works in conjunction with Google maps. There are pro’s and con’s to each option. If you are providing cellphones for the delivery drivers that you employ and you want to keep tabs on them, it’s probably a good idea to buy non programmable cell phones from a mobile phone locator service. This way, your employees won’t even know that their is a tracking device in their phone. This can be very valuable if you are trying to find out if they are out goofing off while on the clock.
If you want to keep tabs on your wife, daughter, or son. You may want to just download the Google Latitude app onto their phones for them. Then whenever you want to know where they are, you simply log in to the Latitude app from your phone or computer and viola, you’ll know right were they are.
Even though this technology is no longer science fiction, you’re sure to feel like a top secret spy when you use it.
Three G Phone: Droid Eric by HTC
There are many 3G phones out there, and the list keeps increasing. They have proven to be very useful and highly reliable. I am currently using the Droid Eris, which runs on the Andriod platform. I love this phone! It is sleek, compact and easy to use.
The sound quality is great for both me and the person I am speaking to. It fits very well in a pocket or purse and doesn’t take up a lot of room. And The battery life on it is spectacular compared to past phones that I have used! I had the G1 from T-Mobile for about a year before I got this phone and I like the Eris a lot more. I was skeptical at first about using the touch-screen keyboard, but have found it very easy to use and accurate. I love the predicted text in the keyboard function which tries to guess which word you are trying to type. From my past experience with T9 and other predicted text programs, I didn’t think it would be very accurate, but I was proven wrong. It has helped me out on many occasions when I accidentally type one letter wrong.
The camera and video recorder on the Eris are very good quality. The SD card holds quite a bit of information, although I would like to see a larger gig capacity on them in future versions. I also like that it has a standard headphone jack and is compatible with most headphones and auxiliary connections.
Also, with the separate headphone jack, you can charge the phone and listen to music at the same time. The Android system on the Eris is hands down the best. Anyone can make an application and there are plenty that are free to download. There are only a handful of apps that I have actually purchased: the majority of them are free. This system also makes for a wide variety of apps, even on the same subject, so you can find exactly the features that you are looking for specifically.
I also like the compatibility with Google. I can receive my e-mails from Gmail straight to my phone. If you don’t use Gmail, however, you can also stream e-mails from other sites (i.e. hotmail, yahoo, etc) straight to you phone as well. I like using Gmail and I find it simple and easy to manage my contacts that way. If you end up needing to get a new phone, your contacts are synced through Gmail; no more having to obtain contacts from scratch or waiting in the store while they transfer them via their machine.
All things considered, I have very few complaints about the Droid Eris. I chose it over the Droid from Motorola simply because I liked the design better and was familiar with the HTC line of products. I would highly recommend the Eris to anyone looking for a good, easy to use, reliable three G phone that also looks great!