People with Google Chromecast devices have been left unable to stream thanks to an issue relating to the hardware’s security certificate.
Chromecast users have shared error messages on Reddit, indicating the device “couldn’t be verified” and therefore is an “untrusted device”. As a result, the affected devices can’t function as intended, which sounds similar to what happened to Hubbl boxes last year.
Google is aware of the issue, having shared an update via the Google Nest forums. At the time of writing, the company’s one specific piece of advice is “Do not factory reset your device”.
“…we will keep you all updated when the fix rolls out. If you have already factory reset your device, we will provide instructions to set your device back up as soon as possible.”
The forum’s admin referenced the Chromecast 2nd Gen and Chromecast Audio devices as being impacted by the current outage. These models originally launched in 2015, leaving some users to fear that Google is abandoning its older hardware, especially considering the company recently launched its TV Streamer as a Chromecast replacement.
The Register reported that the outage is because of an expired security certificate. Apparently, it lapsed on 9 March 2025 after 10 years, leaving devices unable to authenticate with Google. That’s why Google cautioned against factory resetting; it won’t fix the issue.
Google’s Chromecast outage only adds to its recent legacy hardware woes after the Pixel 4a recently ran afoul of the ACCC. In the case of the phone, concerns over overheating batteries led to its safety recall notice in Australia.
For now, Chromecast owners can only wait until Google comes up with a fix for the current outage. There’s no timeline at this stage, so hang tight.
Australia’s consumer watchdog has issued a recall for the Google Pixel 4a due to the risk of an overheating battery.
As listed on the ACCC’s Product Safety site, the Pixel 4a received a firmware update on 8 January 2025 aimed at addressing potential battery overheating issues. Anything battery-related catches the ACCC’s attention, hence the recall.
Not every Pixel 4a handset is impacted. If not, the firmware update doesn’t change anything about the phone’s battery performance. An online Google form can determine whether any given Pixel 4a is affected or not, which could also lead to compensation.
Although it’s not a recent phone by any stretch (originally launching in 2020), it was on shelves until 30 September 2022, meaning it’s likely to still be in some folks’ pockets today.
The recall follows a firmware update labelled by some as “bewildering” due to the reported reduction in battery life it subsequently caused. Connecting the dots, it seems like Google used a scattershot solution to limit the risk of anything drastic happening to Pixel 4a owners.
Disney didn’t make us wait long after confirming it’d start streaming ESPN content in Australia, with 26 March the local launch date.
It was only last month that Disney announced sports programming for its popular streaming platform. Once live, existing Disney+ subscribers will have access to ESPN and ESPN2 channels, including a range of live sports events and talk shows.
A late March launch date is just in time for the NBA playoffs, the start of the MLB season, and the upcoming NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. As part of a dedicated ESPN hub within Disney+, subscribers will also get to watch on-demand content like SportsCenter and the 30 for 30 documentaries.
As mentioned in Disney’s announcement, ESPN will celebrate its 30th anniversary in Australia this September. Fortunately for subscribers to other platforms, ESPN will remain on the likes of Foxtel, Kayo Sports, and Fetch TV in Australia.
However, it’s not all happy news for Disney+ subscribers. Prices recently increased for both Standard and Premium subscribers, making the subscription service as much as $30 more expensive annually. To some, it might be seen as an ‘ESPN tax’, including sports content regardless of whether users want it or not.
In a brilliant analysis by Reviews.org Australia‘s Brodie Fogg, Disney+ was found to have increased prices by up to 133% since its 2020 launch in Australia. At launch, 4K streaming cost $8.99 a month, while it now costs $20.99 per month.
It’s far from the only service to grow more expensive over time, but the timing of Disney’s latest price hike coinciding with the ESPN launch certainly stands out. For sports enthusiasts who like Disney content, it’s not such a bad deal considering Kayo’s cheapest plan starts at $25 per month.
I first noticed ASUS’s new Zenbook A14 when I was at the CES show in Las Vegas. Thanks to some cool innovations, including new materials, a very slim and light body, AI tech and a super long battery life, it looked like something I’d want under my arm. Now that’s selling in Australia, let’s take a closer look.
What are the Zenbook A14’s features?
All up, the Zenbook A14 is designed to tackle the day-to-day tasks that most of us will need to do, along with a good dose of AI assisted work, be it looking up things, generating words or images, and the like.
This is a Microsoft Co-Pilot+ PC so it ticks off the required boxes including an AI optimised Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite X, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, Windows 11 Home (with CoPilot), and a 14 inch OLED display.
ASUS Zenbook A14 (UX3407RA) specifications:
Specification
Details
Price (AUD)
$2,599
Warranty
12 months
Model
UX3407RA-QD063WS
Color
Iceland Gray, Zabriskie Beige
Operating System
Windows 11 Home (ASUS recommends Windows 11 Pro for business)
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon® X Elite X1E-78-100 Processor (42MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz, 12 cores, 12 threads)
Graphics
Qualcomm® Adreno GPU
Neural Processor
Qualcomm® Hexagon NPU with up to 45 TOPS
Display
14.0-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) OLED, 16:10 aspect ratio, 0.2ms response time, 60Hz refresh rate, 600 nits HDR peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, VESA CERTIFIED Display HDR True Black 600, Glossy, 90% screen-to-body ratio
Memory
32GB LPDDR5X on board
Storage
1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe® 4.0 SSD
Expansion Slots
1x M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4
I/O Ports
1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (up to 10Gbps)
2x USB 4.0 Gen 3 Type-C (supporting display/power delivery, up to 40Gbps)
1x HDMI 2.1 TMDS
1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
Keyboard & Touchpad
Backlit Chiclet Keyboard with 1.3mm key travel, Precision touchpad
Camera
FHD camera with IR function supporting Windows Hello
Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) (Triple band) 2×2 + Bluetooth® 5.4 (*Bluetooth® version may change with OS version)
Battery
70WHrs, 3-cell Li-ion
Power Supply
Type-C, 90W AC Adapter (Output: 20V DC, 4.5A, 90W; Input: 100-240V AC 50/60Hz universal)
Weight(official)
0.98 kg (2.16 lbs)
Dimensions (W x D x H)
31.07 x 21.39 x 1.34 ~ 1.59 cm (12.23” x 8.42” x 0.53” ~ 0.63”)
Built-in Apps
– StoryCube – MyASUS – ScreenXpert – GlideX
MyASUS Features
– System diagnosis – Battery health charging – Fan Profile – Splendid – Tru2Life – Function key lock – WiFi SmartConnect – Link to MyASUS – TaskFirst – Live update – ASUS OLED Care – AI Noise Canceling – AdaptiveLock
Military Grade
US MIL-STD 810H military-grade standard
Materials and design
Pick up the A14 and you’ll notice immediately that it’s light, weighing just under 1kg – 991 grams according to my scale. This makes it easy to move around one-handed, and it almost feels like there’s nothing inside, but there is of course. It’s also great to tote around, be it along the hallways at work or to and from the office. It probably weighs less than your bag or carry case, but more on that.
ASUS’s Ceraluminum material case in Zabriskie Beige. Credit: GadgetGuy
The Zenbook A14’s lid, keyboard frame and base are made of Ceraluminum. This is ASUS’s own combination of ceramic and aluminium materials that the company developed. The net result is a wear, scratch, stain and fingerprint resistant material, which feels both sturdy and light. It also meets the MIL-STD 810H standard for reliability and durability, and can absorb some sock when dropped.
Not worrying about nicks and scratches great, so you can be a little cautious about what comes in contact with your laptop when putting it away or even resting things on it. While I generally prefer metallic cases, I must admit that once I got used to the feel of Ceraluminum, which initially seemed a bit like plastic, and then more of a smooth ‘stone’, it’s both practical and pleasing to the eye.
The Zenbook A14 is a CoPilot+ PC so is optimised for getting stuff done with AI. Credit: GadgetGuy
Colour-wise, mine came in Zabriskie Beige, with a tonally matched keyboard, and is a refreshing change from the traditional, or you can also choose the Iceland Grey version.
Keyboard and trackpad
The Zenbook A14’s keyboard action is quick, with a medium amount of travel (1.3mm) in the keys, plus it’s not excessively clicky. I was able to get up to my full typing speed in a few minutes, and the main keys are full-sized and well-spaced. However, there’s a thin row of function keys at the top that are less than half as deep, but these are easy enough to use on occasion.
For typing in darker places, there are three levels of keyboard lighting settings, the top one being quite bright. I couldn’t find an automatic setting that turns this on or off depending on ambient lighting, however.
Light up keyboard and roomy track-pad. Credit: GadgetGuy
As expected, there are dedicated Windows and CoPilot keys, although I found that the power button is oddly placed, as it’s one key in on the top row, with the DEL/INS in its place. With many laptops, you just reach for the outer-most key on the right to wake it up.
There’s a large trackpad too, which comes with virtual edge zones for swiping volume, screen brightness, and media forward/back. While it’s not a haptic model, it still feels quite responsive and not overly sensitive to accidental brushes with your fingers or thumbs.
Performance
The Zenbook A14 iSnapdragon Elite X chipset, runs at 3.4GHz with integrated Adreno graphics. The Elite X’s Hexagon NPU punches out 45TOPS with the complete chipset managing a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 45 Watts. This spec also includes 32GB of DDR5X RAM, which is ideal for more intensive tasks too, like editing video, coding, and on-device Machine Learning.
My benchmark tests were conducted with the Zenbook A14 unplugged, running in balanced power mode settings. Essentially, the way that most people would use it when away from mains power. For comparison, I ran the same tests on an HP OmniBook Ultra, which has Intel’s Core Ultra 7 installed.
Benchmark
ASUS Zenbook A14 (3.2GHz Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB RAM)
Disclaimer: Benchmark results can vary based on specific configurations and testing conditions.
From the results, it was interesting to note where the Zenbook A14 came out on top. Its Solid State Drive was faster, which certainly lends to its responsiveness. Geekbench 6.0 and Cinebench 2024 revealed the Snapdragon’s faster Single Core score, while the Intel chip held its own on Multi-Core tasks. The Zenbook scored considerably better on AI tasks too, including Half-Precision and Quantised scores. Overall, both machines will probably feel similar on general real-world tasks, however, the Zenbook would likely outlast it battery-wise for the same amount of work, but more on this later.
My general activities consisted of web browsing, checking emails, video conferencing with Teams, streaming YouTube and Netflix and asking CoPilot to look up various things. The Zenbook A14 took them in its stride without noticeable fan noise, heating up on the bottom or struggling in any apparent way.
The aluminium dual-fan cooling system also did a decent job of reducing thermal throttling when I was pushing the Zenbook hard with colour grading tasks using 4K MXF video clips in DaVinci Resolve 19.
Extra-long battery life
The Zenbook A14 has quite an efficient design with a TDP (Thermal Design Power) rating of just 45 Watts. Coupled with a large 70Wh battery, ASUS expects that you can achieve a massive 32 hours of battery life in ideal conditions. Keep in mind that this figure was achieved when just playing continuous full HD video.
It estimates 28 hours when streaming Netflix and 19.5 hours for general tasks such as replying to emails, sending updates on social media and online shopping. Regardless if you’re watching the entire series of Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Indiana Jones and Star Wars back-to-back or doing a mixture of office, online and entertainment tasks, the Zenbook will keep going for hours.
In my experience, the A14 lasted two days without a charge, and the battery life only started to really dip quicky during benchmark testing for this review.
If only the charging block could plug right into the wall rather than with that fat and bulky cable. Credit: GadgetGuy
There’s a 90-Watt charging brick included, which looks good and is fairly compact, however, it’s a shame about the the bulky full-sized mains cable that connects it to a power socket. ASUS should really figure out how to integrate the plug directly into the brick instead, like Apple’s MacBooks.
The Zenbook’s 3-cell battery has improved tech versus the previous model too, with a longer usable life and 20 percent more charge cycles.
When charging with it, however, the A14 can go from zero to 60% in a speedy 49 minutes, and fills up completely in just over an hour.
OLED screen
ASUS is a proud proponent of OLED displays, and offers them as standard across its laptop range. The 14in model on the Zenbook A14 is as you’d expect – bright, responsive, great blacks, vibrant colours and a fantastic viewing angle. This is a WUXGA panel, with a 16:10 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1920 x 1200. While a higher res screen might be nice, and there are 3K OLEDs in ASUS’s range, this addiotnal detail would also detract from battery life.
In terms of brightness, the panel runs at 400nits, but can go up to 600nits in HDR mode, so you can enjoy HDR movies or games.
Keep in mind that this isn’t a touchscreen however, nor does the screen fold completely flat, as there are other 2-in-1 models in ASUS’s range to tackle those things.
ASUS also includes software to reduce chances of burn-in, increase the colour gamut up to P3 for content creation, photo and design work, illustrations, etc.
Camera and sound
I tried out the camera and audio with my regular Teams meetings. Visually, the camera manages exposure well, and avoids blowing out my windows and overhead lights. Skin tones are also quite accurate compared to the HP’s camera
In terms of microphone quality, I’m told that my voice was clear, and there was noise cancellation going on to drown out the traffic outside my window.
For listening to music and videos, there’s Smart Amp technology for added clarity, but like most laptops, they don’t have a lot of bass or volume. Nothing bad here and fine for watching content, however, if comparing, the HP OmniBook Ultra’s speakers were a tad louder with more depth.
Connectivity
Connecting to other devices is well covered too with HDMI for video, a 3.5mm headphone jack, two USB-A ports and two USB-C 4.0 plugs. USB-C 4.0 is very fast with 40Gbps transfer speeds, plus it supports up to 100W power delivery to make quick work of charging the 70Wh battery.
It’s great also to see support for Wi-Fi7, which is the latest Wi-Fi standard and can support blistering wireless transfer speeds. While there aren’t many Wi-Fi 7 routers out there yet, this is great for future-proofing.
Should you buy it?
Overall, there’s little to not like about ASUS’s Zenbook A14. More importantly, it delivers on the key pillars that are important for most people – battery life, screen quality, portability, durability and performance. Plus it’s all wrapped up in an attractive and scratch-resistant case.
Price-wise, for $2500 in Australia, it’s competitive against other premium laptops with similar capabilities, such as the 14in HP OmniBook Ultra and even has the edge in terms of storage space over the new MacBook Air with M4 chip.
All up, it’s a very light and capable machine that you can tuck under your arm with the assurance that it will get the job done.
The ZenBook A14 hit its mark by delivering solid performance, a sturdy, scratch resistant design, great OLED screen, AI power and ultra-long battery life.
Features
8.7
Design
8.7
Performance
9
Ease of use
8.4
Value for Money
8.4
Positives
Ceraluminum case is hard wearing, resists scratches and marks
Refreshing beige colour with tonally-matched keyboard
Capable performance from Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD
OLED display looks great
Just so light at under 1Kg
Crazy long battery life
Negatives
Power brick cord needs to go
Odd placement of on button
Would be nice to have a haptic trackpad
Battery life can vary quite a bit depending on what workloads you are giving it
The best gadgets are the ones that are easy to set up, and then you barely have to think about them ever again. The Asus ZenWifi BQ16 is mostly one of those devices. From the simple and elegant setup process, to being generally very reliable, it is exactly what you want from a Wi-Fi router.
Better still, it has Wi-Fi 7, so it’s future proofed for at least a small chunk of the future.
I have set up a lot of Wi-Fi routers in my time. There is usually one part of the setup process that I want to stab in the face. And yet the Asus ZenWifi BQ16 had one of the smoothest set ups I’ve ever had with a router. I plugged it in, downloaded the app (there’s always an app), it took me through the important stuff step by step and then it just worked.
Usually there’s at least one moment where I have to power cycle either the router or the phone to try and get them to find each other, but no, it was so smooth and easy with no hiccups.
Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) (2.4GHz): up to 1376 Mbps Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) (5GHz-1): up to 5764 Mbps Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) (5GHz-2): up to 5764 Mbps Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) (6GHz): up to 11529 Mbps
The highlight here, of course, is the 802.11be protocol, or Wi-Fi 7, which is the latest standard. If you’re considering paying extra for Wi-Fi 7 (because these routers do cost a pretty penny), make sure you have at least a couple of Wi-Fi 7 devices that will take full advantage of it before taking the plunge.
Asus ZenWiFi BQ16 performance
I was generally extremely impressed with the performance of the Asus ZenWifi BQ16. It has been a device that just blends into the background of my life, rather than a router I have to think about a lot (except for review purposes).
Image: Alice Clarke.
My only gripe with it was that sometimes I didn’t get the download speed I would expect, which was a bit frustrating. My connection is fast enough that a bit of drop off isn’t a problem for me, but it would be a big issue for someone on a regular NBN connection.
Speed
It doesn’t really matter how stable a Wi-Fi router is if the speed sucks. I got some really funky speed tests while using the Asus ZenWifi BQ16.
It is worth noting that I have a non-final unit to test, and was warned that there were some download speed issues with my unit. Other reviewers have not had the same download problems I did, so I am going to largely disregard the download speed and instead focus on the upload speed (but still include the dl speed for completion purposes).
In the app, I confirmed that the speed going into the router is close to what I would expect: 933Mbps down/936Mbps up (shoutout to Pineapple Net).
Plugged into the router directly, I pull down similar speeds of 933/947. Standing next to the router, I get 351/947 using my iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is impressive consistency on the upload speed.
In the living room, about five metres away, which is sometimes a problem area for other routers, it’s 348/947, which is even more impressive for upload speed consistency.
In the worst problem spot of the apartment (my wife’s side of the bed), where there is interference from 70+ other Wi-Fi networks, it’s an almost 75% speed drop-off of 241/243. That is still better than some other routers where I’ve had 95%+ drop-offs. I’ll take what I can get.
Smart home compatibility
What really impressed me was that, during setup, it gets you to put in the name and password of your regular network, and then asks if you would like to set up a smart home network. I very much did want to do that, because none of my smart home devices play well with a Wi-Fi 7 network. Although they should be fine with it, they have decided not to be.
It’s essentially just a guest network wearing a different hat, with just the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands turned on (you can and should also turn off the 5GHz band), but I appreciated that during the set up it makes it obvious for medium-tech-savvy people to know what they need to do and why they would do it. It was a nice, user-friendly touch.
Image: Alice Clarke.
My smart home devices generally played really well with that network, with no issues to report, which is an absolute miracle for a smart home network (I am so tired).
The grumpy electricians who came to fix an unrelated issue with my light switches praised the Asus ZenWifi BQ16 over all the other routers I have on my desk, which I also found encouraging. These guys spend every day fixing problems with smart home networks and have seen everything. That’s a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one.
Coverage
I am really happy with the coverage of the Asus ZenWifi BQ16. It was nice and even across my whole apartment, even though I apparently live in the place where Wi-Fi networks go to die. There is interference in my apartment from more than 70 other Wi-Fi networks, because I live in a building complex that has more residents than the town I grew up in. And yet, somehow, even though there is a significant speed drop-off in the bedroom (as shown above), it still got better coverage than many other routers I’ve tried.
One of the benefits of the Asus ZenWifi BQ16 is that one node will do when people might have previously used two, and two can stand in place of three in a lot of homes. Given how extremely expensive they are, that’s a big help.
Who is the Asus ZenWifi BQ16 for?
This is the router for people who want their Wi-Fi to work quickly and seamlessly, and are willing to pay a premium for that privilege. It’s especially good for people with smart homes who just want their separate 2.4GHz network to work without issue.
If I were shopping for a router, this is the one I would buy out of all the routers I have tried recently.
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Asus ZenWiFi BQ16
The Asus ZenWifi BQ16 is a drama-free router you can set up and then never think about. That’s the dream.
Divining the location of that which was lost, the Motorola Moto Tag can reunite you with your valuables when disaster strikes.
Whether it’s luggage missing in transit or house keys dropped in the street, we all know that stomach-churning feeling of realising that we’ve lost something precious.
Rather than retracing your steps and hunting around on your own, attaching a tiny Bluetooth tracker to your most valuable possessions lets you take advantage of every compatible smartphone in the area to locate a lost item.
When someone else’s smartphone detects your Bluetooth tracker, their phone anonymously reports the location back to your phone, so you know where to start looking.
Choosing the best tracker for your belongings depends on your smartphone of choice. You can only set up an Apple AirTag or Samsung Galaxy SmartTag using an Apple or Samsung phone respectively, after which you can only rely on other smartphones of the same brand to help in the search for your lost items.
Alternatively, third-party trackers like Tile work with iOS and Android devices, but you’re only relying on other Tile users to help locate that which is lost.
The Motorola Moto Tag is more flexible in that you can set it up with any smartphone running Android 9.0 or above with Bluetooth Low Energy support. Likewise, all of these Android devices – practically every Android phone released in the last five years – can join in with the search when you lose something.
To pinpoint the location of your precious items, the Moto Tag taps into Google’s Find My Device network, which you can access from your Android smartphone. Find My Device is also accessible via a desktop browser, but for some reason doesn’t reveal the location of Moto Tags, only Android devices.
The Motorola Moto Tag is a tiny, palm-sized Bluetooth tracker that’s light enough to attach to almost anything. Frustratingly, just like the Apple AirTag, there’s no way to attach the Moto Tag to things without shelling out for third-party accessories.
Unlike some rival trackers such as Tile, the Moto Tag lacks a tiny hole that you could use to tie the tracker to an object. Instead, like an Apple AirTag, the Motorola tracker is just a tiny smooth disc so you need to buy a separate holder in order to attach it to something like a key chain.
In the US, Motorola sells its own range of Moto Tag holders, but for some reason it hasn’t bothered making them available via its Australian website. This feels rather disrespectful to Australian customers.
You’ll need to invest in Apple AirTag accessories if you want to attach a Moto Tag to something like your bag. Image: Motorola.
The good news is that, perhaps not coincidentally, the Moto Tag is exactly the same dimensions as an AirTag. This means you can use Apple or third-party AirTag accessories to attach a Moto Tag to your precious items.
Like Apple, Motorola includes safety features which alert people if an unknown tracker has been travelling with them, perhaps slipped in their bag or snuck in their car by a would-be stalker.
Motorola Moto Tag specs and price
Connectivity
Bluetooth Low Energy BLE
Ultra-Wideband UWB (pending)
Compatibility
Android 9.0 over above with Bluetooth Low Energy support
Battery
Replaceable CR2032 watch battery, good for 12 months
Setting up a Motorola Moto Tag is fairly straightforward, you simply place the tracker alongside your Android phone and pull out the plastic battery tab so the Moto Tag powers up. Your Android phone should recognise the tracker straight away, otherwise you can press the ‘M’ symbol on the front for a few seconds to activate the pairing process.
Moto Tags run on a replaceable CR2032 watch battery, just like an AirTag, which Motorola says is good for 12 months.
Pairing a Moto Tag with your Android smartphone launches Google’s Find My Device app and also prompts you to install the Moto Tag app for managing your trackers. As an extra security precaution, when launching Google’s Find My Device app to see the location of your devices and trackers, you need to reenter your phone’s unlock code.
Managing your Motorola trackers between these two apps can be cumbersome at times. The Moto Tag app lets you check your trackers’ battery levels and make them beep so they’re easier to find when they’re nearby. This is especially handy if you’ve lost your keys down the back of the couch.
Tapping on ‘Find My Device’ in the Moto Tag app launches Google’s Find My Device app. Here you can see a list of your tracked Moto Tags and other Android devices.
Tapping on a Moto Tag which is listed in the Find My Device app displays a time-stamped last known location. You can use Google Maps to get directions to that location, but you can’t see the location history to track its movements over time.
Lose something precious in a busy location and the Moto Tag shouldn’t have too much trouble reporting back to base. Image: Motorola.
From Google’s Find My Device app you can name and categorise your Moto Tags, share their location with trusted friends, make them beep and adjust the beep volume.
Inversely, you can press the ‘M’ button on a Moto Tag to make your Android phone beep or trigger the camera shutter remotely. That’s handy if you keep a Moto Tag on your keyring, assuming you know where your keys are.
Finally, you can use Google’s Find My Device app to mark your Moto Tag as lost, with the option to notify anyone who locates it with your contact details and perhaps the promise of a reward should they return it.
Unfortunately, you miss out on the ‘Notify When Left Behind’ option offered by Apple’s AirTags, which would reduce the likelihood of losing things in the first place.
Lost in a crowd
Put to the test, the Motorola Moto Tag is quick to help you find lost items in busy areas, but much slower once you get off the beaten track. Rather than attach a Moto Tag to luggage in transit through a busy airport, I decided to test its ability to locate items lost in public.
The initial plan was to leave a Moto Tag behind the counter at a friend’s shop in the local suburban shopping mall, to see how long it would take for passing Android phones to report its location.
In the end I didn’t need to wait. Calling my wife at home, who had the Android handset running Google’s Find My Device app, she could already see that I was standing outside the shop – thanks to the Moto Tag in my pocket. Walking out of the mall and across the road, it only took Find My Device a few minutes to update my location.
Only a few dozen people, wandering around a small shopping mall during a weekday lunchtime, ensured there were enough nearby Android devices to quickly report back on the Moto Tag’s location. So far, so good.
Without AirTag-style direction and distance readings, playing warmer/colder with Google’s Find My Device outside could take a very long time to find your lost Moto Tag.
Back at home, the Android handset running Google’s Find My Device app told me the Moto Tag in my pocket was “near you right now”.
The app even identified which Google smart speaker in my house was closest to the tracker, so I could narrow down my search to the dining room. Getting the Moto Tag to beep made it easy to find.
You can also play a game of warmer/cooler in Google’s Find My Device app to locate your Moto Tag. The shape on the screen gets larger as you get closer to the tracker, but – unlike Apple – it doesn’t indicate a direction or distance, so you might end up walking in circles for a while. This is where Google’s lack of support for Ultra-Wideband makes a big difference, which we’ll get to in a minute.
Lost in the woods
The next test was to stash a Moto Tag alongside a nearby walking track, as if I’d dropped my keys while walking the dogs. It’s a tougher challenge which highlights the difference between Google and Apple’s Find My ecosystems.
Apple’s Find My network only needs a single passing iOS device to recognise an AirTag and report its location. Yet Google’s Find My Device network is set to work in “high-traffic areas only” by default. This means multiple Android devices must identify and triangulate a Moto Tag before its location is reported.
Another difference is that Apple takes advantage of both Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Ultra-Wideband (UWB), the latter of which provides greater range and a more precise location of AirTags – thus Apple’s extra assistance with direction and distance readings. While the Moto Tag features UWB, we’re still waiting for Google’s Find My Device network to support it, so for now it’s limited to relying on BLE.
As a result of these key differences, it took eight hours for my Moto Tag alongside the walking track to be located. Dozens of people had passed by since I hid the tracker that morning, and many of them surely would have had Android handsets in their pocket.
The first time I checked the Find My Device app to see if anyone had stumbled across the Moto Tag, the app suggested that I change the location settings from ‘With network in high-traffic areas only’ to ‘With network in all areas’, so that an item’s location can be reported by a single Android device.
I assumed this meant my Moto Tag could now be spotted and reported by a single Android phone, but a closer look at that menu reveals that it only refers to how my own Android smartphone behaves.
If your Moto Tag is off the beaten track, then you can expect a much longer wait for news than if you’d lost an Apple AirTag. Image: Adam Turner.
Switching to ‘With network in all areas’ meant that my Android phone could now be the sole phone to report someone else’s lost items. But it didn’t change the fact I was still waiting on multiple Android phones to report the location of my lost Moto Tag – unless one of those Android users had also changed this obscure setting on their phone.
This means you could be in for a long wait to find a Moto Tag lost in a quiet area, unless passing Android users have decided to be a good Samaritan and change the settings on their phone. This is unlikely considering that the menu is buried in Android, and Google doesn’t draw attention to the issue unless you’re an active Find My Device user.
Considering that reporting is anonymous, it makes little sense that Google doesn’t enable “With network in all areas” on every Android phone by default. Without this, it’s never going to be as reliable as Apple’s network once you get away from crowds.
Google’s view is that: “Aggregation by default is a safety protection which makes unwanted tracking to a private location, like your home, more difficult”. That’s understandable, but little consolation if Find My Device refuses to find something precious that you dropped in a quiet area.
If Google’s Find My Device was relying on triangulation, then leaving a Moto Tag alongside a walking track might mean that everyone passes on the same trajectory so Find My Device struggles to get a precise fix. To test this theory, I moved the Moto Tag further along the track to a crossroads, to a busier area where people would approach it from all sides.
With this shift, the Moto Tag was detected more often. Yet it still seemed to be ignored until the evening rush of dog walkers finally achieved the critical mass of Android passersby required to convince Google’s Find My Device that it was time for my lost Moto Tag to report back to base.
Testing on multiple days returned similar results and I suspect that passing Android owners needed to linger in the area rather than walk past briskly in order for the Moto Tag to be reported.
Needle in a haystack
Once the Moto Tag was located in Google’s Find My Device app, the reported location was quite vague. The circle on the map has a 50-metre radius, the centre of which was about 25 metres from its actual location.
Finding the Moto Tag would have required a very long game of warmer/colder if I didn’t already know where to look. The beep is also harder to hear outside, and would be even more difficult if the tracker was muffled inside a bag.
Once I moved the Moto Tag to the crossroads, the reported location was far less accurate. The true location lay outside the circle on the map, insisting it was more than 50 metres away on the other side of the creek. It’s unlikely I would have managed to find it, even with the assistance of warmer/colder clues and follow-the-beep.
I didn’t have an Apple AirTag on hand for comparison, but I had the next best thing in the form of the AirPods Pro 2 earbuds, which show up in Apple’s Find My app just like an AirTag.
I put the AirPods Pro 2 in my pocket, left my other Apple gear at home, and walked back along the track to the hidden Moto Tag. Even though I didn’t pass anyone, after a few minutes my wife at home could see my location on my iPhone – likely thanks to an iGadget in a nearby house taking advantage of long-range UWB.
So while Google’s network took hours to find the Moto Tag in a quiet area, and perhaps required Android users to linger in the vicinity, Apple’s network found my makeshift AirTag in minutes. Results will obviously vary, but I know which network I’d rather be relying on if I actually lost something valuable.
Who is the Motorola Moto Tag for?
If you’re an Android owner who’s worried about losing valuable possessions, then a Moto Tag could save the day. That said, the lack of Ultra-Wideband support from Google for more precise location tracking is frustrating, which means you’re probably in for a much longer search than if you were an iPhone owner hunting for a lost AirTag.
Of course, you need to hope that you’re lucky enough to lose your valuables in what Google considers to be a high-traffic area. If you drop something away from the crowds, even if people walk past regularly, you’ll likely need to wait a lot longer for it to be reported than if you were waiting for news of a lost AirTag.
To be fair, the Moto Tag’s shortcomings are really the shortcomings of Google’s Find My Device network. As Google’s network improves, a Motorola Moto Tag will be more likely to save the day when disaster strikes.
Motorola Moto Tag tracker
Reuniting Android users with lost items, the Motorola Moto Tag tracker can save the day.
Features
8.5
Value for money
8.5
Performance
7.5
Ease of use
7.5
Design
8.5
Positives
Long battery life
IP67 Water Resistance
Fits Apple AirTag accessories
Negatives
No Moto Tag accessories sold by Motorola in Australia
Google's Find My Device network more limited than Apple's
Waiting for Google's Find My Device network to support Ultra-Wideband for accuracy
GPU
