One of the services Canadian mobile phone maker Research in Motion has been long rumored to be working on was the BlackBerry Shield, some sort of a security solution for the users of BlackBerry devices, which has been recently uncovered courtesy of a series of leaked screenshots. There are still a great deal of details that are unknown about the service, but it seems that it is about to enter the testing stage in the near future, and that it might not be too long before it would be launched publicly.The new BlackBerry Shield includes the possibility of tracking the GPS location of a certain BlackBerry smartphone, to perform wireless backups of the device, to remotely wipe it, and more features. The screenshots brought to the Internet by bbnews.pl are meant to show not only that the service exists, but also some of its main features. Both the web and the device interface can be “previewed” in the leaked screenshots, it seems.
Some of the actions that would be possible when using the service include the option to make the BlackBerry device ring loudly even if it is on silent mode, a great feature when it comes to finding a lost device, that's for sure. Moreover, one can set a message to appear on the handset's screen, so that whoever finds it to provide help. Device lock and remote wiping are also included in the features list of the service.
Since the service also comes with wireless backup of the device, one can avoid accidentally wiping the handset clean. Users should be able to easily save contacts, calendars, memos, tasks and browser bookmarks into the cloud, while being able to access them whenever it's necessary. Reportedly, BlackBerry Shield should be a free service for BIS customers when RIM decides to make it available publicly. Additional details on the matter should emerge as the release date approaches, so stay tuned for more.
