BlackBerry Protect Preview: Formerly Known As “Shield” – Free Remote Backup, Wipe, & Track

by Mac Jadalhack

12 July 2010 No Comment

Now here’s some great news we like to start off our week with. We got some screenshots from BerryReview on the newest BlackBerry Protect aka Shield as we knew it for awhile. This is RIM’s free remote backup and wipe application that is expected to be in App World Test Center later this week.

Features:

Locate on map
Activate loud ringer
Device lock
Password change
Lost and Found screen
Remote wipe both device and microSD card
OTA backup of PIM data, bookmarks and text messages

So this is just a glimpse of what to expect from BlackBerry Protect. For a free service it does a lot that some premium applications out there do for you nowadays. My favorite feature so far is the lock screen that comes up telling you to open BlackBerry Protect to unlock the phone. Surely there’s other cool stuff we see here like all the items Protect backs up, but having that secure lock screen does a lot, and prevents thieves from going any further, possibly resulting in getting your BlackBerry back by the founder perhaps.

The control panel is also fascinating. We see simple options to locate your device, create loud ring, display a message, lock device, and wipe device. If the rumors are true, we should be seeing this app release in public beta later this week. Stay tuned.

-by Mac Jadalhack