Phone Halo Protect Tracker - Black

First, my review:

Great concept, solid looking Android app, and long battery life. There were two issues that caused me to return the item

1) VERY cheap housing material/build quality! The keyring is just waiting to break..and the whole thing has a dollar store tactile feel to it.

2) KILLS your phone's battery! (Tried on stock MT4G and N1 w/CM6.1) If you want the GPS logging, it literally relies on your phone's GPS being on 24/7..otherwise, it'll just give you the tower-triangulation location, which has an accuracy of +/1,000+ feet. The device doesn't have it's own GPS integrated, despite what it semi-implies.

For my purposes, I just bought a cheap bluetooth headset and downloaded the Car Locator app, which will save your location whenever a bluetooth device unpairs with it.

That being said, the bigger issue I have with this item is the obvious clutter of shill reviews!

Notice how most of the 5 star reviews appear to sound like commercials...acting as though this changed someone's life on the same scale as having a third thumb? Well, feel free to click the reviewers posting histories, and you'll notice that nearly all of them have reviewed only this one item..ever. Also, many of these suspect reviews are bunched around February 4th of 2010. Keep in mind that this is the same company that gave themselves a 5 star review on the Android Market with the comment simply being their email address.

To further reinforce the dubious nature of some of the reviews, hop on over to PhoneHalo's website and click "about." You'll quickly notice that their CTO/Co-Founder suspiciously shares a last name with 2 of the 5-star reviewers. Sure..it's possible that people have common last names but what a coincidence that, within one click of the Phone Halo Facebook page, the fact that Ann is the CTO's mom and Carrie is his wife stares you in the face. Also, on "about" page, you'll notice that Glass Lighthouse media put together their marketing video. What a coincidence that one of the reviews again, from someone that isn't an Amazon verified purchaser is from none other than Glasslighthouse. Furthermore, another glowing review, left just a few days later, is from someone by the name of "Jeremy Canterbury". Want to take a wild guess at the name of Glasslighthouse's CFO?

There are certainly some high reviews that sound legitimate, but without the fake ones pulling up the average, the item would probably have a 2 at best.

Disclaimer/clarification: I am, in no way, shape, or form, involved with any consumer electronics companies, and have no vested interest in the success/failure of this product. I am simply a buyer who had to put up with their runaround to return the item (bought it direct through them since it was cheaper), and I feel fleeced, since I depended on those reviews when selecting the Phone Halo.

This is a cool product idea, but it had too many bugs. It would lock my phone whenever it felt like it. Even turning every thing off (all alarms, notifications, etc.) And turning the app itself off wouldn't stop it. My keys would be sitting on top of my phone and the alarm would go off.

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I occasionaly leave either my Blackberry Tour or Keys behind. I reviewed both Zomm & Phone Halo. I ruled Zomm out because it's built-in bluetooth speaker doesn't play nice with other bluetooth headsets or the bluetooth speakerphone in my car. The Phone-Halo paired fine with my Blackberry Tour and will make it ring when they move too far apart (beyond bluetooth range). But I have one major concern which may cause me to return it.

1. The beeper volume on the Phone-Halo is so low you can barely hear it. Not good if you're looking for the keyring its attached to, especially if buried in the couch or in a jacket where you wouldn't hear it at all. Because the volume is soo low I don't know if it goes off at night when my Blackberry automatically turn off to conserve power for 8 hours while I'm sleeping. I immediately emailed Phone-Halo support the day after I receive the unit about this problem. After 2 business days and no reply I sent a 2nd request and finally heard back from their support. Their reply confirmed this is a known problem and they're working on a fix. My question back to them was a) how soon and b) will it be a free upgrade or replacment unit. After a week I've yet to hear back. Deduct 1 star until its fixed for free.

2. The button on the Phone-Halo when pushed for 3 seconds (per their website) is suppose to make my cell phone ring to help locate it. Problem is it doesn't make my cell phone ring. I included this in my email to support and found that instead of one 3 second push it shoud be 3 quick pushes (which does make the phone ring). I pointed out the error in their website manual but its still lists the 3 second push.

3. The on-off switch on the unit can accidently be turned off (especially attached to the keys in my pocket) causing my phone to go off. A more secure design would be nice to prevent accidently turn off. In addition, once the unit & phone are in range again it takes almost a minute for them to pair up again. Deduct 1 star again.

4. Their is no indication on the Phone Halo to tell if the unit is paired or what its battery status is. I guess they figure that when you phone starts ringing you'll figure it out but by then it might be too late to charge the halo unit until you get home. There is a tiny indicator on the phone next to the Bluetooth logo indicating the phone and the halo are paired.

5. The distance indicator, when connected, shows either VERY CLOSE or FAR nothing in between. Since this is typically a 30'diameter I got a lot of places to search.

Hopefully I'll hear back in a couple more days from their support with info on the beeper volume fix. Otherwise I'm happy with the device. All it will take is one found lost/forgotten set of keys or phone and I'll be very happy!

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I tried this little device on a a business trip. It malfunctioned when I used the gps feature on my phone. It also lost connection during a seminar and started beeping. (Quite embarrassing). I still have the device and may try it later. But for now my HTC Thunderbolt with Verizon service and the Halo aren't speaking.

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You should have a minimum technical knowledge to use this. I mean, You should be able to tell when a Bluetooth device is paired or not. Since, if the pairing drops for any reason, you will not be able to ring your device if lost. Otherwise, when paired, this item is a lifesaver. We used it on an android phone with its free market app. My mom who always misplaced her phone used this item for a week and found her phone successfully several times. However, I would have to check her phone and make sure it was paired at random intervals, and remind her to charge the Halo. We only had to charge it once in the week that we used it so the battery seems to last very long, but I can no longer be her tech support so she told me to sell it.