Just yesterday, Google posted to its Android blog about Android Device Manager – a tool that will help Android users keep their phones and data safe by offering location and remote wiping/locking features that third party solutions have until now been filling in for.

This morning, users started reporting that the service was rolling out to their devices already. Indeed, Android Device Manager is getting introduced by way of Google Play Services version 3.2.25, but it's not complete just yet.

For now, it seems ADM is limited to a checkbox in the Device Administrators menu.

Of course, we're digging in to the new Play Services apk. Ron's found several strings that refer to options that simply aren't present yet.

<string name="mdm_settings_locate_title">Remotely locate this device</string>

<string name="mdm_settings_locate_summary">Show device location on Android Device Manager</string>

<string name="mdm_settings_locate_disabled_summary">Unavailable because Google Settings > Location > Access location is turned off</string>

<string name="mdm_settings_wipe_title">Allow remote factory reset</string>

<string name="mdm_settings_wipe_summary">If you lose your device, you can lock or erase it with Android Device Manager</string>

<string name="mdm_device_admin_desc">If you lose your device, Android Device Manager can lock or erase it remotely. But first you must grant some administrator rights.</string>

<string name="mdm_device_admin_desc_2">Allow Android Device Manager to lock or erase a lost device</string>

<string name="mdm_help">Help</string> <string name="mdm_reminder_notification_text">Set up remote factory reset</string>

For now, there's not too much more information available. ADM's real functionality will be more useful (and visible) once the web interface and Android application show up. We'll keep you updated as more details emerge. In the meantime, download the new Play Services for yourself below.

Update: Since noticing the new Photo Sphere's button looks decidedly low-res, some users report that perhaps Google's rolling out different Play Services apk files for devices with different screen densities. We aren't sure whether this is the case, but if we come across any new information, we'll update the post again.

Update 2: Since it's likely Google is distributing multiple Play Services apks, we recommend that you uninstall updates then update directly from the Play Store once the update has reached a wider rollout (probably in several days' time). Until then, using the downloadable apk shouldn't hurt anything, but it may not be optimized for your device.

via Reddit

Thanks Moritz for the APK