Samsung is strengthening its battle against mobile thefts by adding two new security features to its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone.
"Kill switch" integration might be far off, but Samsung is working its way around the securing against the ever-increasing mobile-thefts. The world's biggest smartphone maker will add two new anti-theft features to its premium flagship smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S5 will feature "Find My Mobile" and "Reactivation Lock" to help owners find missing handsets, wipe data, activate alerts and set up security login even after a device is reset. These security add-ons will come pre-installed in Galaxy S5 sold in the U.S. by Verizon and U.S. Cellular.
"Samsung takes the issue of smartphone theft very seriously, and we are continuing to enhance our security and anti-theft solutions," Samsung said in a statement to Associated Press, Friday.
Find My Mobile, as the name suggests, will help owners track their lost or missing Galaxy S5 with the help of geo-tagging on Google Maps. The feature has long been available in Apple devices and Google recently added Android Device Manager with web support in September last year and as a mobile app last December. With the latest addition, Samsung becomes the first tech company without its own mobile OS to offer mobile tracking feature.
In addition to locating the device on digital map, the app logs details of your phone's location every 15 minutes for the past 12 hours. Users must log into the app online on a PC and complete the set to see the S5's location on the map right away. Find My Mobile also enables users to lock the handset with a 4-digit PIN that is activated from the PC in real time. Samsung also lets users send a personal message to whoever finds the Galaxy S5. Finally, like other tracking apps, Find My Mobile also features "Wipe Out" function that will erase any data stored on the device instantly.
The Reactivation Lock feature is a simple, yet important addition to the Galaxy S5. Unlike Find My Mobile, which comes handy in more than one situation, it is only useful when the device is lost. This feature stops other people from reactivating the handset, even after performing a full device reset.
The announcement comes after the District Attorney of City and Country of San Francisco issued a statement in a press release last month, emphasizing the need for kill switch in smartphones. "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."
