Few things are more frustrating than losing something you use every day: keys, glasses, phone, wallet, or the punch card for your favorite coffee shop. Until the world goes completely digital (we aren’t so sure about that, e.g. we think paper isn’t completely going away), we are stuck with the real possibility of frantically searching for lost items at the most inopportune time. A simple solution for making it harder to ‘misplace’ important items, like keys, is a Bluetooth wireless tracker device like the one we recently got to try out: the Cube Tracker.
The Cube is a small bluetooth tracker that comes with a companion smartphone app, that can be attached to everyday items, making it easy to keep track of and locate, as needed. We will admit that we are suckers for nice product packaging and the Cube tracker scores well on that front. It comes in a nice pristine white flat square box, with simple, crisp text and a true-to-scale picture of the tracker. A quick, simple unboxing, followed by downloading the app on your smartphone, and you are on your way within a minute or two. For us, the tracker paired with the phone right away and accurately showed the location on the map as well. The Cube claims a range of 100ft, but realistically it will be shorter than that with walls and other obstacles in the way. Even the website mentions the the bluetooth connection is strongest within 30ft. The same is true for most other bluetooth trackers we have come across. You can ping the Cube tracker from the phone app if it is within range, otherwise it will show you the last location of the Cube on the map when it was in range. That way it can get you close to where you need to look for any lost items. An additional way of locating your Cube that is out of range is to use the Crowd Find feature, where you can mark a Cube as lost and every phone on the Cube network (with the app downloaded on the phone, and Bluetooth enabled) will be looking for your lost item and will send you a private message if your Cube is located. The effectiveness of this solution is totally dependent on the size of the network (# of people using the app) so it may be patchy depending on where you are.
The Cube is small enough to attach to a set of keys and still be able to fit in a pocket or small purse. The construction seems sturdy and polished, and it claims to be waterproof up to 1.5 inches as well (though we didn’t try that out). The battery has a promised life of about a year, and then it can be easily replaced with button-sized CR2032 battery. Additionally, there is a nifty ‘selfie’ option within the app, where you can use the Cube as the shutter button for your phone. Just open up the Cube app and then choose which unit you want to serve as the shutter for your selfie camera. Then select the camera icon. Then you can press the button on the tracker device to snap a selfie. The app has a few additional settings options, like the following:
- Name or picture of the Cube
- Phone or Cube notification of connection or disconnection
- Phone alarm settings
- Quiet times and zones
- Ringtones
Given the price point of the Cube (about $25), one can easily think of getting multiple Cubes and attaching them to various items from keys to school bags. A replaceable battery with long life, unique ‘selfie’ feature, and ease of use should make it worth a look for those in the market for a Bluetooth tracker. For those looking for longer range, the company is planning a Cube Pro version with a longer range sometime in the near future.
Product received, thanks to Cube and PR for supplying us with a product for this review. All opinions are our own.
I titally need this im forever los8ng stuff