Samsung will add two new anti-theft features to its premium flagship, the Galaxy S5. The phone will now get “Find My Mobile” and “Reactivation Lock” to make it more desirable.
In a statement (via Associated Press) the company said “Samsung takes the issue of smartphone theft very seriously, and we are continuing to enhance our security and anti-theft solutions.”
This comes after an announcement from San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and other US law enforcement officials emphasize on the use of ‘kill switches’ to kill the functioning of phones in cases of unauthorized access.
In an press release issued by the District Attorney of City and Country of San Francisco said “Senate Bill 962 requires all smartphones and tablets sold in California to come pre-equipped with theft-deterring technological solutions enabled to render the device useless if stolen.â€
The release also mentioned “more than 50 percent of all robberies in San Francisco involve the theft of a mobile device, a number that goes up to 75 percent in the East Bay city of Oakland. Los Angeles also has a significant smartphone robbery problem, with reported thefts increasing 12 percent in 2012.â€
According to the Associate Professor of data science and analytics at Creighton University, William Duckworth, “American consumers would save millions, if not billions of dollars, from a smartphone ‘kill switch’â€, reports ReadWrite in an April 01 news report. According to this news in an interview to the PCWorld he said “I view losing a credit card as a similar frame of reference. If it is stolen or lost, I can call the credit card company and get it canceled and they can issue a new one. There is safety there. My smartphone has tons of information and accounts in there, so the idea that I could call and say “kill it” is a very reasonable thing.â€
Last year Apple used an “activation lock†to the iPhone. Recently Boeing also launched the Boeing Black phone that comes with a case which if attempted to be removed will destroy the phone data
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The feature will come to models sold by wireless carriers Verizon and US Cellular and will lock the phone if any unauthorized attempt to reset it carried on the model.
How to use ‘Find My Mobile’ feature?
Log in to Find My Mobile and use the Find My Mobile function to see where it’s going on the map. You can track where your mobile’s been every 15 minutes for the past 12 hours.
When you purchase your device, log into Find My Mobile online on your PC and follow the simple step-by-step instructions to ensure your phone is set up on the service. Once it has been set up, you can view the location of your device on the map straight away!
With the feature you can lock your lost mobile using a 4 digit PIN that’s activated from your PC. You can even leave a personalized message to whoever finds it!
There is ‘Wipe Out’ function will wipe your device’s contents instantly, helping you keep your important info from falling into the wrong hands.
How the Reactivation Lock feature works?
This feature stops other people from reactivating the device and doing a factory reset. That means it can’t go to the grey market and be re-sold again.
All one has to do is to register for a Samsung account. This will activate the Reactivation Lock. So the next time you or anyone need to reset your phone or login with a new account it will ask for a password.
