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Find My Device on Android

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Re: Find My Device on Android

#191

Post by bigiain »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #184
ddalex wrote: post #3

I love my Tile(s), but since the AirTag and now Android networks now feature the same capability, I feel their model is dead in the water since they don't own the platform and can't compete on the installed base. They should have sold out (edit: to a mobile platform company, either Google or Apple) while they had the chance.

> I feel their model is dead in the water since they don't own the platform and can't compete on the installed base. Yeah, this functionality is the ultimate "network effect" model. While my most common use case for Tile is walking around my house with my phone to see where I've misplaced my keys, the other (and more advertised) case is that if I lose my keys while out and about, I can get notified of their location…

> if anyone else with an iOS device (for AirTags) or Android device (for this new functionality) is near my keys.

I wonder just how quickly this'll roll out over the Android devices in the wild? It needs Android 9+ it seems, which is about 80-85% of the devices from memory. I wonder if it also needs vendor updates? How quickly will Samsung/Huawei et al provide Android updates with this feature? (And will vendors be able to choose to block it?)

Re: Find My Device on Android

#192

Post by bigiain »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #190
causi wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who owns about eight of them, I don't see how you could love Tile. They have a ridiculous profit margin and the company likes to engage in asshole practices like making it so getting a notification when you lose connection with a tile is a fucking monthly subscription. Companies that charge for things which cost them literally zero dollars deserve to burn to the ground.

Last time I checked their parent company's financials, they made almost as much revenue from selling to data brokers as they did from hardware sales

And these are all under the control of the worlds largest surveillance capitalism advertising company...

Re: Find My Device on Android

#193

Post by bigiain »

TheSkyHasEyes wrote: post #113
nolist_policy wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMHO if you cary around anything that contains a cellular modem you're fair game anyways.

The if here is some phones can be turned off and not transmit anything, at all.

I have a Pinephone, which has hardware switches to turn off potential privacy destroying features.

But it's even more secure than that - them made it so it's such a poor phone that I never managed to get it into use as a daily driver phone for more than a day or two at a time! The most private device is one you never bother carrying!

Re: Find My Device on Android

#194

Post by bigiain »

kelnos wrote: post #124
Scene_Cast2 wrote: post #11

Would anyone have details on how Pixels can be found even when out of battery?

"Out of battery" isn't really what we think it means. The phone shuts down (and refuses to start back up) when it still has quite a bit of battery left. If it truly allowed the battery to go flat, that would damage the battery, and you'd have a really hard time charging it again. The amount of juice your entire phone needs to run for, say, a half hour can probably power just the bluetooth LE chipset for occasional wa…

The CR2032 that AirTags run on for over a year has about 200mAhr of capacity. That's down under 5% of a typical 5000mAhr phone battery. So 1% of the contingency low battery capacity could probably run the BLE stuff for a few months if needed.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#195

Post by bigiain »

ianburrell wrote: post #62
wolverine876 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much energy would be needed to power a minimal wireless network node, of some sufficient capability, for let's say 1 day? Any IoT devs out there?

If it is using a similar technology to AirTags, then it could broadcast signal for a long time on remaining battery. Even Bluetooth can do months on coin cell battery.

AirTags get about 12 months on a CR2032 - which is about 200mAhr

Re: Find My Device on Android

#196

Post by Shawnj2 »

lxgr wrote: post #179
nikeee wrote: post #56

This is not compatible with AirTags in any way, no? Wouldn't this be a great opportunity for a common standard? Or is there one?

Of course it isn't. The time of interoperable standards in consumer devices is long past. Bluetooth used to support file transfers from device to device on feature- and early smartphones no matter the brand; now there's AirDrop (and maybe sometimes Google Nearby, but only if the humidity and lunar phase is just right). In home audio streaming, there was once DLNA; now there's AirPlay and Google Cast. We have two mutu…

Bluetooth file transfer was always nearly useless in my experience, airdrop was somewhat revolutionary in that it actually worked reliably most of the time

Re: Find My Device on Android

#197

Post by gghffguhvc »

accrual wrote: post #5
ddalex wrote: post #3

I love my Tile(s), but since the AirTag and now Android networks now feature the same capability, I feel their model is dead in the water since they don't own the platform and can't compete on the installed base. They should have sold out (edit: to a mobile platform company, either Google or Apple) while they had the chance.

Agreed. I bought a couple Tiles before AirTags were available. They worked fine, but AirTags are just better in every way.

I find Tiles easier to locate in a room. I think the lower quality sound or frequencies used are easier to locate - especially if under something.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#198

Post by MBCook »

lxgr wrote: post #180
MBCook wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bull. That’s why I put the comment in parentheses. They had already switched their laptops to all USB-C many years ago. And iPad Pros. I think the iPad Air and iPad (no name) switched as well. There were also strong rumblings Apple was going to release the USB-C iPhones when the rule was passed. > They tend to oppose standards they aren't already using. You’re kidding right? Then explain USB. Or Thunderbolt. Of every…

So you're saying that's what they wanted to do all along, it just took them almost ten years, and it just happened to neatly coincide with the EU regulation as well? Sure, and they're now allowing game streaming apps and retro emulators on iOS because that's what they always knew was best for the world anyway. What a coincidence (with the DMA, in that case)! > Apple didn’t invent any of them and open them. They were…

USB-C didn’t exist when they went to Lightning, it wasn’t an option.

The fact all their other products were moving seems to indicate they’d move to USB-C on the iPhone as well. Rumors had them working on it for years.

Now maybe it would have come out this year and not last.

MagSafe: they added something back. You can still charge with USB-C. Works fine, I do it.

Thunderbolt: that wasn’t Apple. Intel invented it and Apple put it to use. I have no idea if it’s open or closed, that’s my fault. What I meant was it wasn’t an Apple invention. Besides, what else had that kind of bandwidth at the time in a cable? It’s not like there was some common better thing they shunned.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#199

Post by filoleg »

sleepybrett wrote: post #103
accrual wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I bought a couple Tiles before AirTags were available. They worked fine, but AirTags are just better in every way.

one way they aren't better. You have the tile but can't find your damn phone. Sure there is 'find my' but the little button on the tile that causes the phone to chime was actually pretty handy. I imagine apple removed it because tags are not paired to phones (like tiles) but instead to the whole account. If you were to push the theoretical button on the airtag your entire house would probably set to chiming (apple tv…

> If you were to push the theoretical button on the airtag your entire house would probably set to chiming (apple tv, homepod, all the phones and ipads on the account all the macs...)

There is a simple solution to this: if you press the hypothetical AirTag button, trigger the closest iPhone attached to your account, and then you can manually pick any specific device in Find My as usual from the iPhone.

Re: Find My Device on Android

#200

Post by jsheard »

bigiain wrote: post #191
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel their model is dead in the water since they don't own the platform and can't compete on the installed base. Yeah, this functionality is the ultimate "network effect" model. While my most common use case for Tile is walking around my house with my phone to see where I've misplaced my keys, the other (and more advertised) case is that if I lose my keys while out and about, I can get notified of their location…

> if anyone else with an iOS device (for AirTags) or Android device (for this new functionality) is near my keys. I wonder just how quickly this'll roll out over the Android devices in the wild? It needs Android 9+ it seems, which is about 80-85% of the devices from memory. I wonder if it also needs vendor updates? How quickly will Samsung/Huawei et al provide Android updates with this feature? (And will vendors be a…

It's rolling out as part of Google Play Services, which is updated out of band from Android itself so just about every device should get it without any action from the manufacturer, aside from the small minority of devices running de-Googled versions of Android.
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