Just found out about the dialog buddy tracker. Since I'm a fan of Google Latitude and wished i had an iPhone on which i can use it i thought dialog's new service might be worth checking out. As always I googled it first but since there were no useful posts on it thought i will try it out myself and see. Now im putting up a post about it as a guide for anyone interested in checking it out themselves.
- First activate the service by SMSing the word REG to 779
- U will then receive an SMS with instructions on how to use the service ( in fact through-out the use of the service you will receive many SMS from dialog with lots of instructions - i found this a tad bit annoying)
- To track a buddy u must first add him/her to ur buddy list. SMS the words ADD [friend's number] [friend's nickname] [a group name] to 779 ( don't forget to remove the [] marks)
- Now your friend would receive an SMS asking him/her to accept your request. Once he/she accepts you will get an SMS confirming this.
- Now you can find out your friends' location whenever you want by SMSing the words TRACK [friend's number] to 779 or SMSing the words TRACK [friend's nickname] to 779
- Soon you will receive an SMS with your friend’s location. At the same time your friend will receive an SMS notifying about the tracking and giving them the option to stop this person from tracking him/her.
The service also includes functions to find friends in the vicinity and to send secret messages(?) I didn't check those functions out yet.
Overall I think dialog's buddy tracking service is smethng new and interesting but it has some flaws..
1. It’s difficult to use. You have to send many SMSs with correct format in order to receive the service properly.
2. Dialog floods you with sometimes unnecessary SMSs when u use this service ( which is not harmful but can be pretty annoying)
3. Privacy issues are controlled well but it doesn't allow friends to mislead each other by pretending to be somewhere else. Its great to be honest with your friends but sometimes you don't want them to know where you are ALL THE TIME.
I think dialog should modify this service by giving user's the option to set their location in addition to allowing dialog to detect it automatically ( just like in iGoogle).
Finally i think it's cool that dialog will take the effort to provide new and interesting applications to users even if they are probably only doing it to make more money:D
If you have comments about this please post them here:)
