Visual Tour: Kaspersky Mobile Security For Android Phones

Kaspersky Mobile Security is a comprehensive package that would seem to address many -- if not all -- of consumers' smart phone security concerns. It protects Android phones with anti-virus scans, blocks of unwanted calls and text messages, and theft recovery, all for just $9.95 a year. Too bad neither we nor Kaspersky could get the anti-theft tools to work.

The anti-theft features in Kaspersky Mobile Security are industry standard and comparable to those in other mobile security apps. They're controlled via a Web interface or SMS commands. One feature we especially liked is SIM Watch, a tool that protects your device from what most thieves do almost immediately: change the SIM card. The app claims that if the SIM card is changed it will lock the phone, then SMS and email the new SIM card's phone number to the user.

Here's where we had problems. Even with help from Kaspersky's support team, we couldn't get any of the anti-theft features to work properly. We were able to log in to the website, but none of the commands we sent from there ever reached our phone. Try the 30-day trial download to make sure Kaspesky Mobile Security works with your phone before purchasing.