Mobile phone reviews – Rated Mobiles

RIM’s BlackBerry Protect Service Moves to Closed Beta

For those who have not heard, RIM is working out a new online service that is designed to help out users who often lose their mobile handsets. Of course, the service will only cover existing BlackBerry users. But if this works, then other mobile phone makers might want to try out the mode, for the BlackBerry Protect service.

The system is quite basic in terms of use. Users will need to create an account online and sign up their BlackBerry smart phones. After this, they can use the online service to remotely access the device. This comes in handy if the handset is misplaced, lost or even stolen as the number of commands available to users comes in a very wide range.

The most basic function would be to make the phone ring with message or an alert –this is really useful for folks who tend to leave their devices lying around the house. For those who feel that they might have left their device in a different location (such as the office, the car or a friend’s house) the GPS on the device can be activated and the location can be tracked to ensure that the device is indeed in the specified location.

Of course, there are times when phones are left in other places as well, such as the local gym or the pub, where the chances of another person taking the device is quite high. In these cases, or in times when direct theft is suspected, users of the Protect service may opt to have the device remotely locked or even have the contents wiped.

Wiping the memory can be a bit extreme, but as most professionals use smart phones to store important and private information, security is an important issue. The service also periodic allows over the air backups which allows users to instantly transfer content from one handset to another (should the previous handset prove to be irrecoverable).