Have you heard of the new feature in HTC Sense where you can almost track your phone if it is lost? Well, it is quite cool. There are few features that you can activate remotely which are call forwarding, message forwarding, make your phone ring at full volume, phone locking and a full format (remotely) which erase everything in your phone. Not only that, it also shows your phone’s location on a map.

Alright, I will now explain on how this function works.

Firstly, you need to register a HTC Sense account. This can be done via the phone itself of via the website – www.htcsense.com. Once that is done, you need to sign in via your phone and viola, it is complete. After that you can modify the setting from your phone by going to settings > locations.

Now, let’s say your phone is now lost. All you need to do is to login to www.htcsense.com. Below is a screen shot of the website :

Once you have logged in, you will see a map and a few controls. Please refer to the screen shot below :

This is the interesting part. Can you see all the functions in the screen shot above? All these can be used to locate and lock your phone, remotely . As for the map on the left, it will not show your location the moment you logged in. I was shocked to see my phone’s location on the sea (fortunately I knew that the phone was with me, in my pocket ). All you need to do is to click on the “refresh locations”. Before that, please make sure that you have configured your phone properly. Otherwise some of the functions will not work.

The maps is quite accurate I would say. It shows the correct area but the difference from my exact location is about 500 metres. Well, that is good because I was indoor at that time and furthermore I was in a high rise building. So there will be some plus and minus when detecting the exact location. Later I need to put it into test again by going outdoor.

Ok, now I will briefly explain the rest of the functions :
1)  Forward calls – by turning this function on, you can forward all new incoming calls from the lost phone to another phone number where you can answer.

2) Forward messages – same as forward calls. It will forward your smses (yeah only sms and not emails etc) to another number.

3) Make phone ring at full volume – assuming that the phone is somewhere very near to you. This will be helpful because even if your phone is in silent mode, this function will make sure that your phone rings at its loudest volume so that you can find it.

4) Lock phone – this will lock your phone and ensure that nobody can gain access. When you lock your phone, it will request you to enter a 4 digit pin, an alternate phone number and a message. Once the phone is locked, only the 4 digit code that you enter at the website can unlock the phone again. The alternate phone number will be shown on the screen of your phone so that if somebody finds your phone, they can call and inform you. The message that you enter via the website will also be shown on the phone.

5) Erase phone – this function is to be chosen as the last resort where if you already know that you are not going to get your phone anymore. You can at least make sure that all your details which are saved in the phone doesn’t fall into bad hands by clicking on ‘erase phone’. It will wipe your phone entirely and get it back to factory default.

Overall, what do I think about this feature? Well, it is not perfect yet. I still find some hiccups while using this function. At times, I press the ‘lock phone’ function and my phone is never locked although at the website, it shows that my phone is locked. Sometimes, it will take about 5-10 minutes to get it locked. It is a little unreliable at this stage, but hey, it is definitely a good start . I am still testing it out because some questions about this phone locator remains unanswered. Until now I am not sure if it require a network data connection or can be used with a WiFi. I am not sure if the phone number registered in HTC Sense website and the number in the phone (sim card) must be same. I am also wondering what happens if the thief takes out the sim card before we can do anything, can we still lock the phone?

Unfortunately, it is just taking too long for me to test those functions but no worries, I will definitely test it out because if it really works without a sim card, this function will be really awesome.

So, has anyone else tried this function in your phone? I believe currently, it can only be found in HTC Desire Z and HTC Desire HD. Although it is not guaranteed to find back your phone if you use this system, you will have some chances (about 50% I would say) to find your phone back if you have misplaced it.