Wistiki Bluetooth tracker review | CES2017

CES Product Reviews

To stand out in this heavy Bluetooth tracker market, Wistiki went for design, look and style. Wistiki tasked designer Philippe Starck to make that tracker.  He succeeded with three designs for Wistiki under the names aha!viola!, and hopla!. Each is unique in shape with shared color schemes.

While I tried to imagine what it would look like before opening the package or viewing the website, I still was not prepared. It just looks stunning. Time will tell how long the body holds up to bangs and drops though.

Wistiki Viola case

After a successful Kickstarter, they went into production targeting a unique need with each of the three styles. I was able to test the voila! in yellow. I immediately liked the packaging and found the device to resemble a USB stick or small pack of gum, with an amazing esthetic look and quality.  The stainless steel body does model itself after some USB vendors. While the yellow tip was not removable it gave a clear view of the actual tracker device inside.  There is only one small indent on the body that activates the Wistiki. More on that in a moment.

 

The application capabilities are pretty standard to any Bluetooth tracker on the market. It allows you to find the Wistiki Voila! or use it in reverse to find your phone if you only have the tracker.  The 90db sound it made was definitely loud enough. I also caught a general location meter when using my phone to find the Voila letting me know just how close it was. Even with the ringing sound.

Wistiki ViolaActivating the Wistiki Voila was simple by pressing on the small indent on the body.  While not a full fingerprint mark, it definitely is slightly futuristic in look. More like a space movie to me. A quick hold had my phone blaring away.

Wistiki is also following along behind some other Bluetooth tracking vendors by offering a form of crowd-finding ability.  Anyone running the app can find a Wistiki and open a chat to the person (anonymously) letting them know they found it.  Also, those running the app will see any Wistiki and help provide updated location services.  I found the GPS map pretty accurate in all my tests.

The application can support up to 10 Wistiki devices of any of the three types. You can label them by name, take a picture of the object or use their built in icons. I played around with the Voila in a bag, on keys and even taped it to the remote control for fun.  It definitely served the purpose. But for function it is like any other tracker.  The difference is all in the design and look.

All of the devices come with a two year warranty and a battery that will last as long (they say three years on the website) based on normal usage. Whatever that may be. I would imagine if you are not making it go off every day, multiple times per day, then it will have a good shelf life for you.  They are also rain resistant so no fear of a splash damaging it.

You can get the Viola now via the Wistiki site or Amazon soon. The other two are on pre-order as of the time we did the review. But they look just as stunning!