I am seeing a lot of comments about "forgetting the galaxy tags." I know it exists- this is Google's attempt to make a universal tracker that works across the entire Android eco-system. The point I'm raising in this review is that it could be a heck of a lot better given how many Android phones are out in the world.
Unfortunate thing about anti-stalk feature is that the same feature will also warn thieves that the stolen thing has a tag attached so that they could get rid of it.
Yeah...I was planning on putting one of these in the boot of my car for if my car ever get stolen, but its no good if it alerts the thief they are being tracked and then starts beeping and flashing lights 😅
I've seen some really good comparisons of Airtags and Galaxy Tags. They're very competitive - at least in densely populated areas. We've had pretty good success with Galaxy Tags personally.
@@BenReese my issue with Galaxy Tags was that I got them when I had a Samsung, and then when I changed phone to a Pixel the app no longer worked. My battery died on the tag and I was never notified, and later my bike was stolen, with a dead tag in it, and I couldn't find my bike.
@@Dogburt_Junior wow! Yeah.... I could see that being a real issue. We really need a open standard for these things. The Apple Air tags should work with Android. The Galaxy Tags should ping off Apple devices. All Android and Apple devices should notify you if a tag has been following you for a while. The issue you faced... With a Samsung phone at least, I do get a notification when the battery is low. No way for it to notify me if the battery is dead. I've misplaced a couple tags because the battery died and I didn't know where it was - but I typically had days of warnings first. If that functionality doesn't carry over to other Android devices, it seems like a big miss on Samsung's part - and Android as a whole.
Each review only tests the Bluetooth functions. no one shows test about a lost device over the fdm network. because it doesn't work, neither with Pebblebee nor with chipolo trackers.
Thank you for the review. It seems based on your experience that it the default "high-traffic" setting does not explain why you weren't able to find the location of your tag when your wife was at the grocery store or the art show. The default setting is "location info from your device is used only if others in the network also detect the item" while the "all areas" setting says "location info from your device may be used even if it's the only one in the network to detect the item. That would imply that if there were 2 or more android devices near your tag that it would have shown up on the network. I believe the reason the tag didn't show is not because of this setting but because of some other reason. Maybe Google are aware of the issue and can issue updates that make the network more reliable.
I don't know why, but it always feels like you are yelling in your videos. I worked in broadcast television my whole life. Maybe look into that? Because I love your content and subjects you cover. Keep the video coming.
@@ChadUSA What makes you say that? It took forever just to get Apple to implement cross platform anti-stalking feature. I would be pretty excited to be wrong about the odds.
@@DarthAwar Apple went kicking and screaming even though it was in their best interest to agree on the standard and implement it. That's far from "combining networks" which isn't in their best interest because they are currently in the lead.
The problem with Apple's find my network is if you try to turn off any of your location data you get this crazy warning that says someone can easily steal your phone and factory reset it. they absolutely demand you agree to so many permissions that you basically have to join their network to functionally use your device.
7:28 I can't believe that the "left behind feature" is missing. Am I the only one who thinks being informed in the moment I lose something is way more important, than being able to track a device when I noticed the missing hours later? Lost my purse latley (without any tracking device). But according to credit card usage, the purse was found several hours later. So the tracking feature might have helped or not to find the thief, but the left behind feature would have prevented the losing of my purse in the first place.
I have these and they definetly have a 'left behind' feature. They even let you set safe spaces such as your home so you don't get notifications when your leaving your house if you don't want.
I been looking at this to replace my tile pro that ive had for years on my truck keys. Not sure if this or the Samsung tracker is better. I am a Samsung user with an s23fe. Seems to me like Google needs to improve the network and software a little bit. I really wish Google would have come out with this sooner and developed it with major phone makers like Samsung Motorola and oneplus from the beginning
Looking to purchase this item solely for tracking and keeping up with my checked luggage in the airport. Due to too many times they have lost my luggage, this would be in a high trafficed area obviously (hence the default phone settings). In you knowledge and opinion would you think this would be a good product solely for the purpose of keeping up with your luggage while traveling mainly for airports?
I accidentally left this device in my wife's car and it turns out it does work. She said she was going to a yoga class and it turns out she was getting personal yoga lessons from her instructor at a nearby hotel. 😥
Cohesiveness is something Apple will always be the best at. They own their entire ecosystem and therefore can have strong integration between all their devices.
Maybe I missed it but are earlier pixels not a part of this network because they're no longer updated to the latest os? This would severely limit its network imo.
All that's required is an Android device with Android 9 to participate in. The update for this is pushed out via Google Play Services. So yes, all the earlier Google Pixels (even the 1st generation) are supported
If you receive the notification "Item Found Moving With You" and you can’t find anything in your vehicle, then go to a car dealership or mechanic's garage and ask them to put it on the lift and search under the vehicle for anything unusual.
Funny how this video and numerous news outlets talking about this, act like Samsung tags and find my network don't exist. Yeah, they are specific to Samsung, which is just like Apple.
I referenced Find My .. The potential advantage here is that it supposedly works with EVERY Android phone which is most of the market. But the limitation of its effectiveness in low density areas negates much of it.
@@LonSeidman I wasnt referencing the Google implementation. Samsung has their own trackers and independent network that has been around for years. It uses smartthings and other Galaxy phones to find your tags.
@@wojtek-33 That's great but it only works with Samsung phones. This should work with any Android phone including Samsung. The point is that the Android OS is the market leader for mobile phones and it should work better than it does.
@@LonSeidman The point is that you and others discussing this didn't know this already existed in the Android space or would have been mentioned and compared.
@@wojtek-33 It exists in the Samsung space - not the rest of Android. This is marketed as a true alternative in that it sits at the OS level but is not up to par IMHO.
Are you able to get both Apps to work together? I'm only able to use the Google Find My Device App or the Pebblebee App I can't get them to work together for some reason?
Thanks for finally speaking out what everyone else is (deliberately?) omitting, namely that the Pebblebee devices are not giving you an update on their latest remote location, regardless of the settings and of how many other android users are nearby. I have the card and two clips and none of them works. It is also worth mentioning that for whatever reasons the devices are not shown on the Google FMD web. Pebblebee sucks and so does Google's half a*s attempt to emulate Apple's superior network. We had to wait one year for Google to come up with the FMD and I am not waiting another couple of years before some numb nut in Google finally fixes all the shortcomings.
People who really don’t want their car stolen should put one of these in their car and and an AirTag in case the AirTag is detected. It won’t detect this one.
It's awful. I have the clip, card, and whatever the other small one is. All within 20ft of me most, none of them are able to play a sound, even though they (mostly) recognize they're near me.
I am seeing a lot of comments about "forgetting the galaxy tags." I know it exists- this is Google's attempt to make a universal tracker that works across the entire Android eco-system. The point I'm raising in this review is that it could be a heck of a lot better given how many Android phones are out in the world.
I got the Samsung Galaxy Tag 2, several of them but only work with One UI and now my current phone is the Nothing Phone 2.
Unfortunate thing about anti-stalk feature is that the same feature will also warn thieves that the stolen thing has a tag attached so that they could get rid of it.
@@pkundrat remove the speaker, it's easy on airtag.. it will still tell that there's a tracker but it'll be harder to find
Yeah...I was planning on putting one of these in the boot of my car for if my car ever get stolen, but its no good if it alerts the thief they are being tracked and then starts beeping and flashing lights 😅
I've seen some really good comparisons of Airtags and Galaxy Tags. They're very competitive - at least in densely populated areas. We've had pretty good success with Galaxy Tags personally.
@@BenReese my issue with Galaxy Tags was that I got them when I had a Samsung, and then when I changed phone to a Pixel the app no longer worked. My battery died on the tag and I was never notified, and later my bike was stolen, with a dead tag in it, and I couldn't find my bike.
@@Dogburt_Junior wow! Yeah.... I could see that being a real issue. We really need a open standard for these things. The Apple Air tags should work with Android. The Galaxy Tags should ping off Apple devices. All Android and Apple devices should notify you if a tag has been following you for a while.
The issue you faced... With a Samsung phone at least, I do get a notification when the battery is low. No way for it to notify me if the battery is dead. I've misplaced a couple tags because the battery died and I didn't know where it was - but I typically had days of warnings first. If that functionality doesn't carry over to other Android devices, it seems like a big miss on Samsung's part - and Android as a whole.
Each review only tests the Bluetooth functions. no one shows test about a lost device over the fdm network. because it doesn't work, neither with Pebblebee nor with chipolo trackers.
Thank you for the review. It seems based on your experience that it the default "high-traffic" setting does not explain why you weren't able to find the location of your tag when your wife was at the grocery store or the art show. The default setting is "location info from your device is used only if others in the network also detect the item" while the "all areas" setting says "location info from your device may be used even if it's the only one in the network to detect the item. That would imply that if there were 2 or more android devices near your tag that it would have shown up on the network. I believe the reason the tag didn't show is not because of this setting but because of some other reason. Maybe Google are aware of the issue and can issue updates that make the network more reliable.
I don't know why, but it always feels like you are yelling in your videos. I worked in broadcast television my whole life. Maybe look into that? Because I love your content and subjects you cover. Keep the video coming.
Yes it's hard to listen to
All Lon wants is hell to freeze over(Google and Apple combine find my networks). 😂
Looks like that's possible now.
@@ChadUSA What makes you say that? It took forever just to get Apple to implement cross platform anti-stalking feature. I would be pretty excited to be wrong about the odds.
@@jmr They worked together to stop tracking be it Google Find My Devices or AirTag (or Compatible with Apple Find My!)
@@DarthAwar Apple went kicking and screaming even though it was in their best interest to agree on the standard and implement it. That's far from "combining networks" which isn't in their best interest because they are currently in the lead.
The problem with Apple's find my network is if you try to turn off any of your location data you get this crazy warning that says someone can easily steal your phone and factory reset it. they absolutely demand you agree to so many permissions that you basically have to join their network to functionally use your device.
Yeah it’s true, so annoying
I love the way Apple has done this, they don’t always get things right but I do think their AirTag and device FIND ME set up is very very good
Hey Lon!, Thanks for posting this video
7:28 I can't believe that the "left behind feature" is missing. Am I the only one who thinks being informed in the moment I lose something is way more important, than being able to track a device when I noticed the missing hours later?
Lost my purse latley (without any tracking device). But according to credit card usage, the purse was found several hours later. So the tracking feature might have helped or not to find the thief, but the left behind feature would have prevented the losing of my purse in the first place.
I have these and they definetly have a 'left behind' feature. They even let you set safe spaces such as your home so you don't get notifications when your leaving your house if you don't want.
@@Ruttagger is this because you connected to the the pebble bee app instead of the Find my Device app?
@@lilmario0 can't you connect to both?
@@wiimancool1 Na, one or the other. (Heard it in an unboxing/review)
@@lilmario0 Well that's disappointing
I been looking at this to replace my tile pro that ive had for years on my truck keys. Not sure if this or the Samsung tracker is better. I am a Samsung user with an s23fe. Seems to me like Google needs to improve the network and software a little bit. I really wish Google would have come out with this sooner and developed it with major phone makers like Samsung Motorola and oneplus from the beginning
I need GPS to find my pets when they go out into the woods in a rural area. Is there something like that?
No it'll only work if there are multiple android phones in range
I think there are GPS collars for pets but I don't think at this price point.
There are options but they come with a monthly fee and regular battery charging.
i stick with apple because of air tag. I constantly use it to find my stuff. i would switch if I had the same functionality and same reliability
How does the stalking part work? Will my stock android phone with no settings tell me if there is an airtag or tile, or this one following me?
Very detailed, thank you SM
the default setting is easy to change. only a matter of time
Looking to purchase this item solely for tracking and keeping up with my checked luggage in the airport. Due to too many times they have lost my luggage, this would be in a high trafficed area obviously (hence the default phone settings). In you knowledge and opinion would you think this would be a good product solely for the purpose of keeping up with your luggage while traveling mainly for airports?
AirTags will be superior given the quality of the network
Right! I agree but I don't own an iPhone. I own a pixel 8.
I accidentally left this device in my wife's car and it turns out it does work. She said she was going to a yoga class and it turns out she was getting personal yoga lessons from her instructor at a nearby hotel. 😥
Don´t be sad, instead be happy as she paid for a class lesson and instead had a privat session! And I bet, she was more relaxed then ;)
@@sunsetraving well, it must've paid off because that night I found out she really got stretched by this other guy. 😒
@@emu256I'm sorry man. I hope you're okay
I've never seen the map when trying to track it, I just get last updated 20 days ago at home, this sucks because it is at home lol
Cohesiveness is something Apple will always be the best at. They own their entire ecosystem and therefore can have strong integration between all their devices.
I feel like that setting is a privacy compromise. If one tag is only ever getting pinged from one phone you know they are a pair.
❤❤❤
Maybe I missed it but are earlier pixels not a part of this network because they're no longer updated to the latest os? This would severely limit its network imo.
All that's required is an Android device with Android 9 to participate in. The update for this is pushed out via Google Play Services.
So yes, all the earlier Google Pixels (even the 1st generation) are supported
If you receive the notification "Item Found Moving With You" and you can’t find anything in your vehicle, then go to a car dealership or mechanic's garage and ask them to put it on the lift and search under the vehicle for anything unusual.
i got the card and clip. i haven't lost anything yet so i dont know how good it is yet lol
So far it has only rolled out in North America.
I use pebble bee as an IPhone user as I can’t get the AirTag open to change the battery
They are hard to open!
Funny how this video and numerous news outlets talking about this, act like Samsung tags and find my network don't exist. Yeah, they are specific to Samsung, which is just like Apple.
I referenced Find My .. The potential advantage here is that it supposedly works with EVERY Android phone which is most of the market. But the limitation of its effectiveness in low density areas negates much of it.
@@LonSeidman I wasnt referencing the Google implementation. Samsung has their own trackers and independent network that has been around for years. It uses smartthings and other Galaxy phones to find your tags.
@@wojtek-33 That's great but it only works with Samsung phones. This should work with any Android phone including Samsung. The point is that the Android OS is the market leader for mobile phones and it should work better than it does.
@@LonSeidman The point is that you and others discussing this didn't know this already existed in the Android space or would have been mentioned and compared.
@@wojtek-33 It exists in the Samsung space - not the rest of Android. This is marketed as a true alternative in that it sits at the OS level but is not up to par IMHO.
Are you able to get both Apps to work together? I'm only able to use the Google Find My Device App or the Pebblebee App I can't get them to work together for some reason?
I have a wallet I got as a gift that has a air tag pocket but I have android so glad android finally go one
Thanks for finally speaking out what everyone else is (deliberately?) omitting, namely that the Pebblebee devices are not giving you an update on their latest remote location, regardless of the settings and of how many other android users are nearby.
I have the card and two clips and none of them works. It is also worth mentioning that for whatever reasons the devices are not shown on the Google FMD web. Pebblebee sucks and so does Google's half a*s attempt to emulate Apple's superior network. We had to wait one year for Google to come up with the FMD and I am not waiting another couple of years before some numb nut in Google finally fixes all the shortcomings.
People who really don’t want their car stolen should put one of these in their car and and an AirTag in case the AirTag is detected. It won’t detect this one.
I take this back. I said this too early.
Actually, maybe you’ll get lucky and It won’t notify the iPhone user
Finally, a comprehensive tracking and spyware network from Google. Just what we've been asking for.
seems you forgot galaxy tab....
It's awful. I have the clip, card, and whatever the other small one is. All within 20ft of me most, none of them are able to play a sound, even though they (mostly) recognize they're near me.
These crap devices won't work , I tried everything. Do not buy them
This company is waist of time it's not tracking it's not working
I really think these are one of the most overly priced devices. These things should be $2 or $3 each