Bluetooth 4.0-powered Cobra Tag G5 needs only biannual recharges

LAS VEGAS--As helpful as the original Cobra Tag was for a forgetful guy like me, it had one fatal flaw: I kept forgetting to recharge the darn thing!

The new Cobra Tag G5, set to be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, now only needs charging twice per year. Cobra is claiming more than six months of monitoring between recharges of the new Tag G5 thanks to its implementation of Bluetooth 4.0 technology. However, in order to achieve this astronomic battery life, the phone the Tag G5 is paired with will also need to support Bluetooth 4.0--for now, that means only the Motorola Droid RAZR and the Apple iPhone 4S. (When we originally tested the first Cobra Tag, it was an Android only-affair. So, iOS device support is also a new trick.) I'm guessing that with phones using Bluetooth 3.0 or older, the new Tag G5 will see similar battery life to the first-generation Tag.

Like the original Cobra Tag, the new Tag G5 allows forgetful users to keep track of their keys with a phone, and vice versa, by pairing with a smartphone via Bluetooth and establishes communication with the Cobra Tag app. If the phone and the Tag ever get separated--maybe you walk out of the door without your keys or leave your phone in the car--they both sound audible chimes to notify you that you've forgotten something. Likewise, users can press a button on either the Tag or in the app to manually trigger an audible chime from the complementary device, which is useful for finding lost keys in a messy apartment or figuring out where you set your phone last.

Should you miss the chime, the Cobra Tag app will mark the GPS coordinates where the devices separated and can automatically send that location via e-mail and social networks, so you won't be left wondering if your phone is at the office or at your favorite bar.

The new Cobra Tag G5 will retail for the same MSRP of $59.95 when it becomes available nationwide in Q2 2012.