Correction
Samsung SA has since publication admitted that the Samsung Dive application is not yet available to local users. Paulo Ferreira, head of mobile product and business solutions at Samsung South Africa, says: “Please be aware that unfortunately the Dive application will not be available locally on the Samsung Wave II as previously indicated. This application is in fact available on the Wave II in the European markets. Samsung apologises for any inconvenience that may have been caused through the reporting of incorrect information in this regard. We can confirm that the Samsung Dive application will be available locally on the Samsung Galaxy S II which is currently scheduled to be launched within the next quarter.”
Samsung has introduced a portal to help its customers recover lost phones, or at the very least wipe their personal data from the devices.
The company says an increasing amount of personal information is being stored on smartphones, as the devices become more technically advanced. It adds that its new online access portal, Samsung Dive, has been created to address the security issues this causes.
Samsung head of product and software solutions, Paulo Ferreira, says the loss of a phone can be a huge security risk.
He explains that the Samsung Dive service allows users to see the device's last 20 incoming or outgoing calls as well as its actual location via the Internet.
Once the phone is registered on the site and the SIM is active, the location of the device can be pinpointed on a Google Map interface.
The user is also able to lock the phone, wipe personal data from the phone, send a message to the phone to ring, and initiate a call no matter whether the phone is on or off. Initiating this call also enables users to locate their phone if they have misplaced it in their immediate vicinity.
Users can also receive notifications online the moment the SIM card is taken out and replaced with a new one.
Samsung Dive is able to do this by using a combination of network-based tracking and a global Samsung server with Samsung smartphone functionality.
Samsung Dive also allows users to pull up call logs remotely, which Samsung says allows parents to monitor their children's cellphones and stay in contact.
Users who want to take advantage of the service must first create a Samsung account. They must then access the site. The service is currently only available on the Galaxy S II and Samsung Wave II.
The service is free, says Samsung.
Research In Motion's BlackBerry Protect Beta and Apple's Find my iPhone are similar services.
According to Nashua Mobile, 15 000 cellphones are stolen in SA every month while over a million stolen cellphones are in circulation.
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