[myTouch 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] netter123:
Trip report on Prey:

So I got Prey installed on both Mytouch 4G's on my account and tried it out. The free version of the app lets you specify your phone as 'lost' via a user-defined SMS, and this worked every time. Upon sending the SMS to put the phone in 'lost' mode, you can also have the app perform several actions on the phone, including sounding an alarm, displaying a user-defined alert message, and locking the phone (with the stock android locking mechanism, but a Prey specific unlock password). These actions can be modified from he Prey website control panel (even after phone is in lost mode), and are performed a frequency of between 10 and 40 minutes while the phone remains lost. You also receive an e-mail alert when your phone is put into 'lost' mode. Prey also has the option to put itself into lost mode if the sim card is replaced.

Regarding everything above, Prey seems to work great. A couple things to be aware of though: when the alarm sounds on your phone, it starts at the loudest volume but can be reduced in volume to zero with the rocker on the side of your phone even when locked. If it sounds again after the specified interval, it starts out at the loudest volume, but again can be reduced. Also, if you opt to lock your phone, then the user-defined alert message won't be displayed until the correct unlock password is entered on the device. Thus, you can't both lock your phone and display a message to the person who has it. The developers indicated that a future version of Prey may allow for an alert message to be displayed first, with a keypress then sending the phone to the lock screen. This would be a significant improvement imo, since it would be nice to display contact information for someone who may have innocently found your phone while at the same time protecting your privacy by having the phone locked down.

[[[EDIT: This paragraph no longer applies. As reported in my post (below), the developers have now fixed this problem, but I'm leaving this paragraph here as part of my original review. "Prey currently fails on the MT4G when it comes to generating reports in order to track the activities and location of your lost phone. The reports are supposed to be generated at the same frequency as the actions above (10 to 40 minute intervals) when in 'lost' mode, with the free version allowing you to have up to 10 reports on file before the newest report will replace the oldest one. However, after trying every possible setting I could think of on both the Prey side and phone side, I could never get these reports to generate on a consistent basis (success on <10% of attempts). I contacted the developers about this and other questions/concerns, and they were friendly and helpful with trying to resolve the issue. Apparently they haven't had any problems like this on their test device, but again, the reports are not reliable for the MT4G."]]]

In summary, Prey works great for being able to lock down your phone via SMS if it's lost or stolen, with an optional alert message and alarm sound. It currently does not [EDIT: DOES...the problem was fixed] work in terms of helping you find the location of your lost or stolen phone via gps/wifi, etc.

Note: Lookout does offer the ability to locate your device in the free version of that app, but does not allow wipe or lock without purchasing the premium app. Thus, perhaps using Lookout in conjunction with Prey allows the free version of each of these apps to compliment one another.

Edit: The developers of Prey continue to be very friendly and responsive. They contacted me to let me know that they are continuing to work on resolving the problem with generating reports. I'll report back when the issue is resolved.

Thanks to me if you found this review helpful : )