Review: BuddyGuard – Protect your BlackBerry & Personal Data

by Ryan

12 March 2010 No Comment

Not so long ago I did an in depth review on SmrtGuard. Given that I loved the app, I decided to try a similar one, smaller and more basic. Everyone’s issue is memory these days. Not everyone, but those who have their BlackBerry smartphones crunched with lots of emails and apps. Memory becomes less of an issue these days with the newer BlackBerry devices out with their extended memory. So BuddyGuard is pretty much a lighter version of SmrtGuard doing some similar taskts.

Features:

alert – locks phone and makes a lovely noise
lock – just locks the phone
locate – sends your location details but does not lock the phone
list – gives you a list summery of phone details
help – give you list of commands if you cant remember
wipe – only do if you have really lost! (It removes Calendar, Contacts, Emails, Phone Logs, Memos, Tasks and Files on your SD Card and in Device Memory.)

So whats the benefit of BuddyGuard over SmrtGuard? It is a interesting question as both have good and bad points. I’m going to run a nice list below and let you all make your own choices!

Both applications are free, but SmrtGuard has a subscription option

SmrtGuard (with subscription) does full remote backup BuddyGuard does not, however do you really need it?
SmrtGuard has a nice interface on pc, BuddyGuard does not, however if you have misplaced your phone all you want to do is lock it down and locate.
With SmrtGuard You can do any of the above features on the PC interface or email, however BuddyGuard does the same by email or sms. What is quicker? grabbing a phone and sending a text or jumping onto a PC?

So far I would agree that SmrtGuard is a nicer application but we don’t want nice we want action! and we want it NOW!

So I give you a quick scenario, you are out for lunch and you have just left the pub, realized you have misplaced your phone.

Do you :

Quickly borrow someones phone and send a text to lock and alert
try to find another blackberry or phone with email and send a mail
run home and log onto PC
run to work and log onto PC
run around in circles with your hands in the air

This is where I start to favor BuddyGuard. Its simplicity is the key. But this does come with a few flaws.

The first thing I noticed is if you have a key lock and it is active, then you wont get the BuddyGuard menu pop up. This was easily solved by removing the password lock on the phone. Not everyone would like the idea of that.

One other is with the location, if your phone is inside you will just get a GPS is unavailable message back. The final thing is when you send the messages they still come through to the phone, this is not really a big deal as the phone locks. One other good feature is on the lock screen it gives your details and the option to call the owner. Finally you are also using a lot less memory on BuddyGuard. Unlike SmrtGuard it does not run in the background so you have more free running memory as well.

So SmrtGuard or BuddyGuard?

For myself, I have moved to BuddyGuard. You should try it out too as it is free. SmrtGuard has its freebie too so you’ll have to try each one and see which suits you best.