[General Questions and Answers] jaibar:
Theft Aware saved my phone, Cerberus... hmmphh

[UPDATE] Tested "in the field"

Yesterday night I came to a friend's party and couldn't find my phone, so first thing I tried to dial it and see where I forgot it- went to check the car, but the phone wasn't there. The strange thing was that I was directed immediately to the voicemail, as if my phone was powered off..

Then I noticed my wife's phone has got an sms from Theft Aware, that the sim was replaced with a new number (including the new number). I called the new number, and got no answer but was able (via sms command) to get the phone's location, then I sent an sms to the new owner that I'd like to have the phone back and a number where I can be reached, then locked the phone.

At the same time I tried to operate similar thing with cerberus via their android client which is easy to operate. Nothing happened.

I tried again to call the new owner- he answered- told him I've got his phone number, location and photo (this was a bluff because cerberus did not work). The new owner was so surprised that he immediately offered to bring it back, which he did. I got my phone back after barely 30 minutes.

When the phone was back I checked my mailbox, and noticed that I got a mail from cerberus:

IP address: 109.64.199.59

An unauthorized SIM card has been inserted into your device.

Number: null

Network

Operator: 42502 ()

Subscriber ID: null

SIM card

Operator: ()

Serial: null

This is an automated message, please do not reply.

Nothing really useful... :confused:

Cerberus app did take a photograph, though, but it showed my own face back at home- the photo was taken only AFTER I have entered my unlock pattern, so it was no real use.

So, when really needed Theft Aware vs. cerberus: 1-0.

Nowadays Theft Aware is free, bundled with Avast! antivirus and some other bla bla (which can be manually uninstalled), so I just can't see no reason whatsoever why not install this useful program. Within minutes, all Android phone owners in the party started looking for Avast's TA and iphoners started looking for something similar for their own kind :D

You can probably disregard all the BS I wrote before (below), but whatever...

[OLD][BS]

TA is only sms-based. Perhaps they are working on some web-interface but not sure where it stands (beta stage?).

With Cerberus it is possible to send commands from their website and from a small applet/client (e.g. you can install it in a friend's phone) that is very useful if you don't have a computer nearby. Cerberus can also trigger the cameras, record audio, splash a message+speech in full screen ("Hey, thief! Bring it back") etc. Cool, perhaps also useful.

TA can be installed as system app, and with a name of your choosing to add further "security".

Cerberus installs as user app, but it is possible to download from their website a zip file that can be flashed as system app (or installed via ROM Manager) but not sure how many users are aware of this option. Anyway, it will still show as "cerberus" in lots of places, so it cannot be considered as stealthy as TA.

Both have many disadvantages- if the thief has access to the phone (some people don't use any pin/pattern lock, eh???) then he can deactivate TA or Cerberus from the list of device administrators and in a few seconds rendering both of them useless.

Both won't survive the flashing of a new rom, but I doubt that most "casual thieves" will go away to flash a rom in a stolen phone.

Some other sms applications using notification may override TA. That's what happens with GO SMS, for example- GO SMS will display the sms with code and everything, and TA won't work at all. There are workarounds, but it is an annoyance.

Major disadvantage of TA is the same code used to enter the application is also the one used in SMS commands! The dev is well aware of this issue but thinks it is too much for a user to remember two different codes (one for entering app, second to confirm sms commands). Thus, a thief can just get the sim out of your stolen and put it in any other phone. Then, when you start sending sms with commands to your stolen phone, you'll be actually providing the thief with your unlocking code... Next he turns on the stolen phone (with whatever sim- original or one of his choice), unlock it with the code you've just sent him by sms.. It's THAT easy. I am not sure how cerberus will act, in a similar case.