Because:
- using a cellular modem requires a high capacity battery
- if you hide a tracker well, it probably won't have a good GPS reception
Apple's BLE-based network solves both of these problems.
- using a cellular modem requires a high capacity battery
- if you hide a tracker well, it probably won't have a good GPS reception
Apple's BLE-based network solves both of these problems.
Problem is: 1. Precise location of tracked object, now
This is actually one problem and Apple didn't solve it very well, airtag doesn't work in real-time. You only get updates when there are people near object that uses iphone.
An AirTag might help me find my keys if they fall out of my pocket in a restaurant restroom. A cellular-based tracker won't because (1) it will be out of battery, and (2) it won't have a GPS signal.
Ok? In practice, this is most of the time. In most reasonable use cases (i.e. excluding the Sahara desert or some remote mountain).
The example third party AirTag clone described on the linked page is powered by a full size USB power bank.
It could easily be optimized for power and size. Sure, it will have to use more power than a vanilla airtag, because it's doing (slightly) more, but not enough to make a significant difference.