Introducing the Tile, a small square device with built-in Bluetooth that connects to your iPhone to help you find lost items like your wallet, car keys, computer and more. In fact, anything you attach the Tile to, the app can help you track down.
Now, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Bluetooth accessory team up with the iPhone with the promise of tracking things down. But Tile is small, extremely affordable and can attach to almost anything. And it has several other cool features too…
Here’s Tile in action (via MacRumors):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pqDm3gZNZPM
As you can see, the Tile has a number of interesting features. I particularly like that you can securely share Tiles with friends, as well as the ‘Lost item’ function that discreetly puts all other Tile users on the lookout for your lost or stolen item.
Because the Tile uses Bluetooth Low Energy 4.0, its battery lasts for about a year. After that, you’ll have to replace it. That also means it’ll only work with Bluetooth 4.0 devices, which includes the iPhone 4S/5, iPod touch 5 and late model iPads.
The Tile isn’t available for purchase yet. The developers finished their prototyping and are currently hosting a Kickstarter-like pre-order to raise money to start production. And with 7 days left to go, they’ve already raised $1 million on 18,500 orders.
Pre-ordered Tiles are about $6 cheaper right now, at $18.95, then they will be in retail. So if you’re interested, you may want to hop on over to the Tile website and grab yours. The accessory will start shipping either later this year, or early 2014.
What do you think of Tile?