The Ultimate Theft Alert v3 Review

Ultimate Theft Alert is an application that runs hidden in the background and monitors the SIM card in your Windows Mobile Phone Edition device. It is designed to send an SMS message from your phone in the event that the SIM card is changed.

Installation is just like a regular Windows Mobile application, but configuration requires a little digging in File Explorer. You will not find any shortcuts for UTA in any menu on your device. It runs stealthily in the background, so that any would-be thief cannot disable the software. Obviously you will need to install it to the internal memory on your device.�

To configure the program, run the UTA Config executable in the Program Files folder on your device. First thing I noticed was that it is not optimised for devices with square screens (240×240) so on my Treo 750v it was displayed with scroll bars on both the side and bottom of the screen. Good thing is you will probably only look at the screen a handful of times anyway so it�s not really a problem.�

The settings are organised into tabs to make it simple to configure. The first tab is simply a welcome screen.

The second tab contains a description of what the app does. Personally I find this really redundant. I don�t know how many people install applications without knowing what they do first. This screen has bars everywhere on my Treo!! While the ones on the right and bottom are still there to scroll around the panel (designed for 240×320 screens) there is one to scroll up and down the description. �

The third tab is where you get down to business and configure which SIM cards you want associated with your phone. There is only one SIM I use with my phone which you can see I have added there. You simply click the �Add� button and your SIM cards unique serial number is added to the list. The one thing that is missing is a remove button.

Moving on to the fourth tab we have the list of phone numbers that you want to be alerted at an unauthorised SIM card change. Simply type in the phone number and click add. You can add as many numbers as you like to the list, and each will receive an SMS. There is also a button to send a test message to confirm that it is working.

The next tab lets you alter the message that will be sent. This message will be sent to every number on the phone number list. There is also an option that hard resets your device when an unauthorised SIM card is inserted. Make sure you have every SIM card you use in your phone added to the SIM list!!

The next tab is a kind of help screen, again bulking up with scrollbars.

The final tab shows your registration information (or a space to enter your registration code if you are running the trial).�

To test out the software I borrowed my sister’s SIM card, and I setup the software to send a message to my dad’s number. I inserted her SIM card into my Treo and turned it on. It booted up just like normal, and moments later I received two SMSs on my dads phone. The first had the text that I had entered earlier, and the second contained the SIM card�s serial number. Using both of these numbers you can track down the new �owner� of your phone, and hopefully recover it. With a phone as expensive as most Pocket PC Phone�s are, it is probably worth the effort.

Ultimate Theft Alert works as advertised, and is an excellent idea to help track down a lost phone.� $14.99 is a small price to pay, especially considering one day it may just save your phone.�

There is a trial version available, which displays a message when you change the SIM card, allowing you to cancel sending the SMS. So essentially it allows you to set it up, test it (albeit needing to agree to send the message) and see if it works for you.

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Ultimate Theft Alert�is available from the Gear Diary Software Store (thanks for supporting us!) as well as from other retailers.
MSRP: $14.99
What I Like: Works as advertised, reasonably priced
What Needs Improvement: Better support for 240×240 devices, less clutter in menus, the option to remove a particular SIM card

[Ed. note: Remember to use the code 06HOL to get 20% off all software in the Gear Diary Store, including Ultimate Theft Alert, until January 06, 2007.]

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Tags: Microsoft Windows Phone Apps