https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/02/tile-mate-pro-replaceable-batteries/
Nicole Lee / Engadget
Tile has been a household name in Bluetooth trackers for awhile now, with over 15 million Tiles sold over the past six years. But the one complaint that many customers have had about Tile trackers is that you couldn’t replace the battery; instead, you had to swap in new Tiles every year or so when they ran out of juice. Today, however, Tile is announcing its latest line of trackers will finally have replaceable batteries. Plus, the company is rolling out a new Premium service that promises, among other features, free battery replacements every year.
The aforementioned trackers are a new Tile Mate and a new Tile Pro. The new Tile Mate has an improved Bluetooth range of 150 feet, and is also 50 percent louder than its predecessor. As for the new Tile Pro, that now has 300 feet of range (100 more than the original Pro), and is also 50 percent louder than last year’s model. Flip both of them over, and you’ll see that both have tiny compartments, each housing regular coin cell batteries. The Tile Mate uses a CR1632 model while the Tile Pro uses a CR2032. (We should note here that Tile still sells the Slim, which doesn’t have a replaceable battery. Tile says it’s a bit too thin for that.)
According to Tile, the batteries in both of the models are guaranteed to last at least 12 months each. Just like it does now with the older Tiles, the Tile app will let you know when the batteries are running low. Of course, since the new Tiles use ordinary coin cells, you can just go out and buy the replacement batteries yourself, without having to involve Tile in the process.
But if you’re particularly lazy, or you just happen to own a lot of Tile trackers, you can also sign up for an optional Tile Premium service. For $30 a year (or $3 a month if you’d rather go the monthly route), you will get automatic battery replacement every year for an unlimited number of Tile trackers. This means that every time the app detects that your tracker is running low, it’ll automatically send you a new battery without you having to do anything.
Even if you weren’t to get the new Tile trackers, there are other benefits with the Premium subscription. The service extends the warranty of Tile products from one year to three, and you can also now share a Tile tracker with an unlimited number of people — in case your soccer team shares a communal bag, for example. Another subscriber-only feature is Smart Alerts, where you can set it so that you’ll be alerted whenever you leave the house without certain Tiled items. Other Premium features include a up to 30-days location history and Premium Care tech support.
According to Tile, the Premium service supports all existing Tile trackers as well as partner products like Bose and Skullcandy earbuds (it’s just that the battery replacement plan only works with the new Tile trackers). The new Tile Mate is priced at $25 while the Tile Pro will cost $35 (the Pro comes in a white and black version). Both products are available today. As for the Premium service, you can sign up for a one-month free trial starting today as well.
via Engadget http://www.engadget.com
October 2, 2018 at 05:06AM