Can Your Phone Find Your Car?
Can Your Phone Find Your Car?
Two years ago, my parents celebrated their 40 year anniversary. Toasts were given, tears were shed, and when the last of the dishes away was set, my mother surprised everyone with a slide show of unprecedented pictures of my parents skiing around the western United States - that she was five months pregnant with my oldest brother - celebrating the last of their days sans children.
It was a lovely evening. But only two years later, their 42rd birthday almost ended in divorce.
My parents celebrated with a movie and dinner in San Francisco. My mother was recovering from knee surgery, so my father dutifully placed her at the restaurant and then went to retrieve the car.
The way my mother says she had to stand on a street corner in the pouring rain, with men trying to pick her ("I was very well dressed, and they were honking," she recalls) for 30 minutes before my father called to report that he lost the car.
Call for towing companies were not fruitful. "We only got four of the numbers on the plate and can not remember the correct order" They asked a taxi driver to get them up and down nearby streets. "It was the end of his 12-hour shift, and after an hour, he would go home," my mother said. "But I can be very persistent." At midnight, they discussed the train home, but decided to it was too late. Finally, after some of my mother's motivational talk to the taxi driver and a $ 70 cost, they found the car. (For whom the car for the first time, continues the debate.)
I suggested that next time they use Google Maps to their cars location on a map. Other people suggested mobile applications designed to help people find their car. My father and I gave six apps a whirl:
Find My Car. (Free, iOS and Android) Using the phone's GPS to find my car locates your car and make it to the card in the phone. You can take pictures using the phone's camera to take and record notes, which is useful if you park in a huge airport garage. But the app can be more intuitive. Lets you set the timer for a parking meter, which is useful, but it took five minutes to find this feature within the app. My father had his reading glasses for small print - important point deduction there.
Find my car developers recently unveiled a new app called Find My Car Smarter, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, which syncs with Bluetooth from your car and automatically saves your location when you park the car. The only time you need to get the app to open when you park your car. I would be willing to fork over $ 1.99 for it, but my father who has never made use of Bluetooth, seemed eager to start.
ICAR. (Free, iOS) The iCar app offers All Find My Car does, except it does not take pictures. Also locate nearby gas stations, but when we tested these features, we have a problem. This was one of our least favorite settings because of all the apps we tested, this was the only one with annoying ads. Note to advertisers iCar: When someone desperately looking for their car, they are probably not likely to click on a Sam's Club advertisement.
Hey Dude, Where's My Car? (Free, iOS) This is basically a more complicated version of Google Maps with a fancy name. Bugs this app crashed three times. The app promises you "never" Dude Where's My Car? "Ask again:" but it was hard to figure out how the car location set When we looked at the app's instructions, we found a description of the app developer instead (a pretty groovy guy in Austin, Texas. ")." It may be nice guy, "said my father," but lost my car, and we have not even parked it yet. "
Sally Park. ($ 2.99, iOS) This was the most expensive but also the most intuitive of the apps we tested. All you have to do is open the program and the large "Park" button to create and automatically sets your location. Sally Park allows you to take a picture or write notes on your location. Just like Find My Car, iCar and Honk, it also includes a parking meter and timer reminds you when you have five minutes on the meter.
Because all apps using phone mapping and GPS technology, all had the same location accuracy. Because of this, my father said that he would probably use the apps with the most intuitive interface and included photographs and make notes skills and a parking meter alarm like Honk and Sally Park. Outside the city, where he will not have to worry about meter maids he said he would be more likely to My Stuff Finder, especially for things like my mother. "Your mother is always misplacing her glasses and keys." And with that, we will see if they make it to their 43rd.
It was a lovely evening. But only two years later, their 42rd birthday almost ended in divorce.
My parents celebrated with a movie and dinner in San Francisco. My mother was recovering from knee surgery, so my father dutifully placed her at the restaurant and then went to retrieve the car.
The way my mother says she had to stand on a street corner in the pouring rain, with men trying to pick her ("I was very well dressed, and they were honking," she recalls) for 30 minutes before my father called to report that he lost the car.
Call for towing companies were not fruitful. "We only got four of the numbers on the plate and can not remember the correct order" They asked a taxi driver to get them up and down nearby streets. "It was the end of his 12-hour shift, and after an hour, he would go home," my mother said. "But I can be very persistent." At midnight, they discussed the train home, but decided to it was too late. Finally, after some of my mother's motivational talk to the taxi driver and a $ 70 cost, they found the car. (For whom the car for the first time, continues the debate.)
I suggested that next time they use Google Maps to their cars location on a map. Other people suggested mobile applications designed to help people find their car. My father and I gave six apps a whirl:
Find My Car. (Free, iOS and Android) Using the phone's GPS to find my car locates your car and make it to the card in the phone. You can take pictures using the phone's camera to take and record notes, which is useful if you park in a huge airport garage. But the app can be more intuitive. Lets you set the timer for a parking meter, which is useful, but it took five minutes to find this feature within the app. My father had his reading glasses for small print - important point deduction there.
Find my car developers recently unveiled a new app called Find My Car Smarter, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, which syncs with Bluetooth from your car and automatically saves your location when you park the car. The only time you need to get the app to open when you park your car. I would be willing to fork over $ 1.99 for it, but my father who has never made use of Bluetooth, seemed eager to start.
ICAR. (Free, iOS) The iCar app offers All Find My Car does, except it does not take pictures. Also locate nearby gas stations, but when we tested these features, we have a problem. This was one of our least favorite settings because of all the apps we tested, this was the only one with annoying ads. Note to advertisers iCar: When someone desperately looking for their car, they are probably not likely to click on a Sam's Club advertisement.
Hey Dude, Where's My Car? (Free, iOS) This is basically a more complicated version of Google Maps with a fancy name. Bugs this app crashed three times. The app promises you "never" Dude Where's My Car? "Ask again:" but it was hard to figure out how the car location set When we looked at the app's instructions, we found a description of the app developer instead (a pretty groovy guy in Austin, Texas. ")." It may be nice guy, "said my father," but lost my car, and we have not even parked it yet. "
Sally Park. ($ 2.99, iOS) This was the most expensive but also the most intuitive of the apps we tested. All you have to do is open the program and the large "Park" button to create and automatically sets your location. Sally Park allows you to take a picture or write notes on your location. Just like Find My Car, iCar and Honk, it also includes a parking meter and timer reminds you when you have five minutes on the meter.
Because all apps using phone mapping and GPS technology, all had the same location accuracy. Because of this, my father said that he would probably use the apps with the most intuitive interface and included photographs and make notes skills and a parking meter alarm like Honk and Sally Park. Outside the city, where he will not have to worry about meter maids he said he would be more likely to My Stuff Finder, especially for things like my mother. "Your mother is always misplacing her glasses and keys." And with that, we will see if they make it to their 43rd.
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