Nokia Treasure Tag to launch in April 2014 - Pirates on the Caribbean on Stranger Tides will find locating lost keys that much easier

For someone like me who’s very forgetful, this product would be a godsend, as soon as versions of it that work with the Apple iOS or even Google Android start coming out by April 2014!

I’m of course referring to the US$30 Nokia Treasure Tag as stated in “NOKI-ARRR LAUNCHES THE TREASURE TAG, A LOCATION TRACKER FOR FORGETFUL PIRATES”, published February 19, 2014 by Andy Boxall, DigitalTrends and “Nokia Treasure Tag tries to keep your valuables safe”, published February 19, 2014 8:56 AM PST by Don Reisinger, CNET News.

This is possibly the first Nokia Accessory that has drawn my attention to the point that I’ve decided to do an article about it as it solves a problem I have: forgetfulness. Very compelling reason to have a Nokia Lumia smartphone, I must say!

What’s so interesting about a 30 x 30 x 10mm plastic square that comes in colours of Yellow, White, Cyan, and Black?? Because of what it can do! The Nokia Treasure Tag can be used to locate lost or stolen items via Bluetooth.

How the Nokia Treasure Tag Works – Tethering Bluetooth is like a string tied on your finger

It works, surprisingly, in the same manner as the Project Embrace+Bracelet that light up in different colours when you receive an IM (Instant Message), Email or SMS (Short Messaging Service) as explained in my blog article entitled “Kickstarter Project Embrace+Bracelet lights up for your smartphone notifications - Inspiration for our local Innovators to Shine Like a Diamond Rihanna Style”.

No, the Nokia Treasure Tag doesn’t light up. Rather, it sounds an alarm via the Nokia Treasure Tag App on your Windows 8 OS powered Nokia smartphone when you drift too far from the item to which you’ve attached or you leave with an item tagged with the Treasure Tag but leave your Nokia Lumia smartphone behind. As I said, very similar to the function of the Project Embrace+Bracelet!

It then basically tags the exact location of your item on a map using the smartphones GPS based on the angular orientation and the signal strength the Bluetooth Signal. Thus, even if you’ve drifted out of the 100 m range of Bluetooth, you can still look on your Nokia Treasure Tag App and locate your lost item.

More interestingly too, as that you lost item can be located by someone else with the Treasure Tag App! If you item is lost or stolen for some time and the owner hasn’t recovered it and someone who has the Nokia Treasure Tag App active passes nearby, the Treasure tag makes contact with the app on that smartphone.

The smartphone then reads the signature from the Treasure Tag and ascertains the owner. It then sends an alert to the owner via that person’s smartphone connections i.e. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G/4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) to the owner of the lost item, updating the Treasure Tag App on the new Location of the item on a Map with GPS Coordinates if it has changed and the phone number of the person who last made contact with the lost item. Lost Item and owner reunited!

Nokia Lumia owners must be thrilled with this product. Each of the maximum four (4) tags that you can attach to your Nokia Lumia is given its own live tile which keeps track of your items and even where your items have been. The US$30 Nokia Treasure Tag is powered by a Coin-sized CMOS Battery and thus isn’t GPS capable; that heavy lifting is done by the smartphone, which keeps tabs on the lost item even after the battery runs down after six months of being lost.

I just wish that another version of the Treasure Tag existed that could be placed invisibly inside of items, as this could serve as an excellent way to track people for Surveillance purposes. Also, it should also have the capability to contact ANY smartphone even if it doesn’t have the Treasure Tag App and just simply use that smartphone to relay the message via Bluetooth from phone to phone until the owner of the lost item receives the message and the stole item is recovered.

The ability to recharge itself via Inductive, Solar or even Kinetic Charging would make this Treasure Tag last even longer, making it a must-have indispensable tracking tool to have.

So the next time you decided to play Treasure hunt, you just might run into this product, which by April 2013 should be available on Apple iOS or Google Android. Great for hours of Fun playing Pirates of the Caribbean with your kids and a great way to track you beloved items and loved ones secretly!