I spent a few hours testing Where's My Droid, MobileDefense and WaveSecure on my droid running 2.0.1. The short of it is that WaveSecure is the most feature rich with huge potential, but lacks in actual functionality, reliability and one key ability. Where's My Droid's simplicity would make it the hands down winner if it had a couple of additional features. MobileDefense, at least for now, has the best combination of functionality and ease of use with a nice set of options. As long as it's free and the other programs remain as they are, it wins in my book, though it has it's own issues.
Here is a breakdown of what I found:
Where's My Droid -
This is a simple and functional program, and I like it. It's very cool to be able to send a text and get a response with location or to start an alert in case you aren't near a computer. I also like the special number function, but don't see it being used much. The GPS location on it is the most accurate of the three tested programs, but the GPS must be on to get any response for location. I didn't have any issues or bugs pop up on this program. Not having a webpsite with a user interface was also annoying.
MobileDefense -
I read about this one before getting the Droid, and was upset that it wasn't available right away. I also assumed it would be a paid application, so having it for free, for now, is nice. The web access is nice, but the site needs some re-design. Connecting to your phone needs to be a little simpler and easy to find. I don't like not being able to text commands to the phone, and MD can't do that. It would also be cool if this program did some backup/restore functionality. The lock screen function simply stinks on this program. I don't want to use the Droid lock screen all the time, but to set up a lock screen for MD, you have to set up a lock pattern with the stock lock pattern feature. If you don't the lock screen unlocks to anything you do to it. You CAN set it up for the lock screen to be used by MD and not the rest of the time, but it's a bit of a convoluted process to do so, and a much simpler, more streamlined lock system should be used instead. The major problem I have with it is that the stock lock feature doesn't work. If you have your Droid locked and you get an incoming call, you can take the call and then hit home and access the phone's contents... oops. The cool thing about MD is that you can track the phone with the GPS off. I conserve batteries by turning the GPS off when not in use (side note - Google should set the GPS to auto turn on/off when starting/exiting Google Navigation AND allow programs like this to do the same remotely). If my phone is lost or stolen when the GPS is off, I want to be able to get a rough idea of where it is, and MD will do that. With GPS on it's very accurate, but not as much as WMD. I also liked that the app is hidden, which WMD and WS do not do.
WaveSecure -
After using MD I had high hopes for WaveSecure. I had hoped it would blend functionality of WMD and MD and be the winner. I was wrong. It is very feature rich, but also very buggy, slow, unresponsive and sketchy. Their login system of phone/PIN stinks. Id rather a password or a 4 digit PIN as everyone has a password or 4 digit pin already. Making a 6 digit PIN numerically forced me to think of a new one. I spelled out a password on the keypad, but that doesnt work so well when having to enter it in on their web-site. The web site actually was a little easier to use and had better flow than MD, but half of the stuff didn't work, or would have such a long delay that it might as well not have worked. I tried about 40 times with GPS on and off to track and view the position of my phone both in IE and FireFox and it NEVER worked. I also couldn't get it to remotely back-up things from my phone, which was one of the most appealing features. It also appears there are multiple access points for different countries/carriers/etc., and although the idea behind this program is good, it hasn't been executed well nor the wrinkles ironed out quite yet. Due to that I am not horribly comfortable using them to back up all of my contacts/messages/pictures/video/SD card contents. WS also did not do any sort of text activation. Their lock screen works well. At first I thought it didnt work because you can hit the home button and see the home screen, but when you try to open anything the lock screen pops back up and you're locked down. The only problem is that 50% of the time the web site activated locking didn't happen, and the other half of the time it took about 4 min. to activate. This doesn't give me much peace of mind if my phone is lost or stolen. The buddy function of this program was cool, but useless with a Droid as there is no sim card, so alerting a buddy when it's changed is useless.
What I'd love to see is a combination of the best of each. A nice easy web site that actually works well, and quickly. A simple to use program and web site. The ability to get general location data without GPS and specific data with the GPS on. A siren or audible alert for finding the phone. The ability to activate features both via the web-site and by text. The application should be hidden. Access passwords shold be 4 digit pins or alpha characters. The lock screen should NOT be the stock Android unlock pattern feature, and should be circumvention free. Sending either or both of text/audible alerts should be a feature. I loved the idea of WS being able to back up so much data remotely, so that would be cool if it worked well and was stored securely, but it isn't necessary. Until this is done, I'll have to stick with MobileDefense.
