IGEEKPHONE August 1 news, Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTag 2 Bluetooth tracker has appeared in the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website, the design is also exposed, the device is a flat oval, the top has a huge keyring hole, looks a bit like a cigar cutter. If this is a hole the size of a regular keyring, it means the device is twice the size of Apple’s AirTag.
Galaxy SmartTag is a Bluetooth tracker from Samsung, similar to Tile or AirTag, that can be used to find nearby items, such as keys, wallets, etc. Previous versions only worked with Samsung phones. The new device will incorporate ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to more precisely locate the device’s location. When devices are far away, they need to rely on nearby smartphone networks to update location information.
The new device also supports the Bluetooth 5.3 standard, which is more energy efficient than the older Bluetooth 5.1. The device was expected to be unveiled at Samsung’s Galaxy Fold 5 launch event last week, but it didn’t show up, and it’s unclear when it will officially go on sale.
Android Bluetooth trackers will become more competitive when Google launches its own tracking network, which does not have its own GPS module or Internet access, relying instead on nearby smartphones for data and location information. As long as the trackers are compatible with nearby smartphones, this approach can even leverage other people’s smartphones to form an anonymous, crowdsourced network of data and locations. Apple’s AirTag, which can use any nearby iPhone to update location information, has a large network. Google’s Android network also plans to take this approach and allow third-party hardware vendors to access it. Once launched, it will be the largest network in the world. Google plans to roll out the network through its Google Play service rather than an operating system update, so it can reach 3 billion Android phones.
IGEEKPHONE notes that several of Samsung’s previous Galaxy Tag models can only be built with modern Samsung phones, and it’s unclear whether Samsung would be willing to join Google’s larger network, but for now that network does require a heavyweight hardware partner. It is understood that Tile will join the network in the future, but other than that, the others are small vendors.