Samsung is expected to launch its Galaxy S21 flagship smartphones on 14th January, but the South Korean smartphone maker is also expected to unveil other products during the event. One of them is the rumoured Galaxy SmartTag, a smart object tracker that should help users recover lost items like their wallet, keys or earbuds easily.
Based on leaked images from 91 Mobiles, the supposed Samsung tracker resembles as a small square with rounded corners and a hole at one edge to attach it to an item via a keychain or lanyard. There is some credibility to these photos as the pictures match with an illustration of a similar gadget leaked on Samsung’s SmartThings app.
From what we gather it looks like the Galaxy SmartTag will function like your standard Bluetooth tracker. It is said to use Bluetooth to connect with nearby devices and broadcast its location, enabling owners to find the lost item that it is attached to.
According to a regulatory filing spotted by GSMArena, the Bluetooth tracker is powered by a single 3V CR2032 button cell battery which makes it easy to replace when the battery eventually runs out.
This is actually not the first time Samsung has introduced a tracker, back in 2018 it released a SmartThings tracker that was powered by LTE-M (instead of Bluetooth) to help it continually track the object it is attached to.
It turns out that Samsung has also launched an app called SmartThings Find that extends the capabilities of its Find My Mobile app by letting Galaxy users locate other Galaxy devices like tablets, smartwatches and earbuds. The app seems to be laying the foundation for the upcoming Galaxy SmartTag.
The introduction of Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTag comes at a time when Apple is also reported to be working on a similar solution, dubbed “AirTags”, that supposed to work by being attached to items, with integration with the Find My app on iPhones and other Apple devices.
It is also worth mentioning that Samsung has made some breakthroughs in the use of Ultra-Wideband (UWB), which is seen as the next big thing in wireless technology. The company plans to push the technology more widely in 2021.
For those unfamiliar, UWB is a short-range, wireless communication protocol much like Bluetooth and WiFi. But unlike its counterparts, UWB operates at very high frequencies and be used to capture accurate spatial and directional data. In short, it can be used to quickly locate your personal items like keys or wallets, even your family pet as UWB can be used to track its movements in real-time.
So, what do you think of the Galaxy SmartTag? Would you be interested in using a tracker from Samsung to help you find lost items? Let us know in the comments section below.
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