Most of the Android manufacturer has their own way to locate lost or stolen Android devices. For example, Samsung Find My Mobile for Galaxy S4. Glad that Google comes out a universal way to track Android devices no matter Nexus series like Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 (2013) or Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One. Does it work on all the Android devices? Almost… Android Device Manager failed to detect my Galaxy S3 and Nexus 4 which are running on custom ROM. But working properly on Galaxy S4 with stock firmware. I still need to discover why.
How to find lost Android device?
Just bring up Android Device Manager (link) to find your stolen device. Then use it to ring or remote erase all device apps and data (you will need to enable this feature first in Google Settings. Do check out Android Device Manager help guide for details). As usual, it requires Internet connection to perform all the stuffs. Devices that are offline or powered off are out of luck. And the lost device needs to be associated with your Google Account. Do take note…
