Founder of SmrtGuard Robert Kao and the Indosat team.
SmrtGuard and the Indonesian carrier Indosat, have announced the launch of the i-Guard service, a white label version of SmrtGuard. With this white labeled version of the service, users can wirelessly backup and restore personal data, as well as personally track and remotely wipe their smartphone in the event of theft or loss.
Personally, I would love to see North Americans getting a white labeled version of SmrtGuard as well. There are a ton of BlackBerry consumers that would benefit from this service, but aren’t in the know when it comes to purchasing applications. Relationships with carriers can go a long way to bringing these great apps to people who don’t know about them.
SmrtGuard for BlackBerry is a big favorite here at BlackBerry Cool. The software does a great job of bringing features usually reserved for people on BES to the average user.
The application lets you backup and restore personal data OTA, track your device with GPS, and wipe the device in the event of theft or loss. This is a must-have product for any BlackBerry user who does not already have this functionality built into their company’s IT infrastructure.
SmrtGuard have updated their product with the following:
More Robust Remote Wiping that wipes out Password Word Keeper, Facebook, Phone Application.
Backup and Restore secured by Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption.
New “Smrt Backup” that only backs up if there have been changes in your personal data. It is a more efficient way to backup!
Support added for User1, User2, User4, User4, Birthday, Anniversary fields in Contact backup and restore.
Fixed an SMS restore and backup bug where outgoing SMS message greater than 160 characters were not being backed up properly and impacted the restore of SMS.
Today is a great Deal of the Day as we have SmrtGuard for BlackBerry with a yearly service for only $22.49. This deal only applies to today so be sure to take advantage of it soon.
With SmrtGuard, you are able to:
Remote OTA Backup (manual or scheduled) PIMs, Call logs, Emails
Remote OTA Restore PIMs, Call logs, Emails
Remote Data Wipe (including microSD)
Remote Tracking (lowjack) and Locating – see it on our companion website that comes with the account
Remote Listen – Listen to your thief or be a spy
Remote Lock
Remote Audio Ping (to help you find the device)
Personal Guardian (send out distress call with push of a button)
SIMCard Guardian – alert send out when unauthorized SIM is used (GSM based phone only)
Loved-one Tracking – Great for couples and families with smartphones to track each other
Thanks to everyone who participated in the SmrtGuard BETA program. There were a ton of great comments and feedback. In response, SmrtGuard has made several improvements to their product and they have implemented several new features.
What is New:
* Fixed Call Log backup problem
* Add Vondafone (UK/Spain/Australia), Orange UK, T-mobile (Germany) to list of approved BlackBerry Native Emails
* Fixed Personal Guardian Preference freeze issue
* Change Personal Guardian timeout to 8 seconds instead of 5
* Auto prompt for activation when entering the application for the first time
* Other minor fixes
SmrtGuard is an application for your BlackBerry that aims to protect you against theft or loss. To do this, the app uses a combination of OTA sync’ing, GPS tracking and remote data detonation, to keep your device safe. Currently, the project is open for public beta so you can try it out.
To register for the public BETA, create an account here.
For those of you that have a “native” BlackBerry email address (blackberry.com or blackberry.net) AND are experiencing the following problem:
Problem using Audio Ping
Problem using Remote Tracking / LocatingÂ
Problem using Remote Self-Destruct Drill
We have identified the issue and have a fix for this with v1.01 patch update.
IF YOU DO NOT have the described problem, you can ignore this update.
Here are the steps to take to fixed the above problem
1. Get v1.01 here.
2. You will be prompt to reboot your BlackBerry, please do so.
3. Once rebooted, go into SmrtGuard Application and navigate the menu About SmrtGuard-> Reactivate
4. Enter your activation code. You can find this code on the SmrtGuard website, under Account Tab, listed as “Device Side Activation Code”
5. When successfully done so, please manually reboot your BlackBerry by pulling the battery.
Roy Bragg of the San Antonio Express-News has written an article investigating the security surrounding President Obama’s BarackBerry and how that is juxtaposed against the needs of the common BlackBerry user. Unfortunately, Mr. Bragg was unable to interview any BlackBerry experts, so I had to pinch hit. My take on the matter is that one should be more worried about losing their BlackBerry than having it’s transmissions swiped over the air:
The biggest threat, however, is physical — a lost or abandoned handset can be opened and its contents divulged.
Most handsets have built-in password protection, and Microsoft Office documents can also be created with password protection. Older e-mails and documents should also be deleted at regular intervals rather than being archived on the device.
And to protect the device even more, it’s a good practice to keep sensitive data on a remote computer, accessible only while the phone is logged onto the secure network. Blackberry users can buy software such as SmrtGuard, which can back up data, shred sensitive data, and can be tracked or shut down via GPS if it’s stolen.
It’s a well-written piece and poses an interesting question: are you more concerned about losing your BlackBerry or having it ‘hacked’?
BlackBerry Nation, assemble! The fine gents over at Smrtguard are in need of your help. It turns out that they’re looking to translate their award-winning software PeekaWho into Italian and German, but are without the requisite skills (i.e. being literate in Italian and German)!
Are there any Italian or German-speaking members of the BlackBerry Nation willing to lend a helping hand? If so, Smrtguard is willing to throw in a free copy of PeekaWho and FollowUp! for your BlackBerry, as well as a lifetime supply of appreciation.
All those interested can email support|AT|smrtguard|dot|com with the heading ‘Translate’.
FollowUp! is a great little app that allows you to set reminders for yourself to read or reply to important emails when you’re too busy to read them immediately. If you’ve been looking for something to help you save more time while you’re cruising through your bloated inbox, PeeKaWho – a fine piece of app that gives you caller-ID like functionality for emails and SMSs on your device – AND FollowUp! integrate so that you don’t even have to anymore! Well, at least not initially. You can follow up directly from the popup, and that’s pretty sweet when you’re on the move and you don’t want to forget to reply to that important email from your spouse, or lose out on a time-sensitive coupon.
We’ve talked quite a bit about PeeKaWho here at BlackBerry Cool, but no one’s actually reviewed the product. BlackBerry Cool 15 nominee Robert Kao of SmrtGuard – the developer of Followup and SmrtGuard – brings Blackberry users this great piece of software.
If you’ve been looking for a reliable caller ID function for your incoming email and SMS text messages, look no further. PeeKaWho is great if you want to view your email or text messages at a glance while performing other functions on your Blackberry, like composing an email or surfing in the browser. You can also disallow PeeKaWho pop-ups when using certain applications, great for when you don’t want to be interrupted while you’re writing an email, viewing a video or dialing a call Continue reading ‘PeeKaWho v.1.160 Reviewed!’
