Of all the Android phone security systems out there, Theft Aware has got to be the best. It’s definitely the best I’ve seen, and I just installed it 20 minutes ago. A license for the program will cost you $9.99 per phone, but the features TA offers are worth far more; possibly as much as your device is worth.

Theft Aware is a root-friendly app that takes advantage of the access hackers achieve, though root access is not required for use. The benefit of running TA on a rooted device is that the program is invisible and impossible to remove. Even a hard reset won’t alter your TA settings if you protect them during setup. If you don’t have root, TA can be named whatever you like in the app drawer and application management list so that a thief or finder wouldn’t even think to go looking for security.

So, what does it do? Theft Aware all begins with your secret code. This is the number you will dial from your phone app to launch the app’s settings, and the code you will enter if you recover a device after locking it. When you lose your phone, simply send a text message from another line (TA can accept SMS commands from any number or only the one or two you specify) including your code and a defined command. For example, “1234 lock.” below is a video of Artem from Android Police demonstrating the behavior of a locked device.

Other commands allow you to turn the siren sound on or off, relay GPS information, wipe the phone’s memory and SD card, and to even secretly have your missing phone call another number so you can listen in on whoever has your gadget. It’s really quite amazing. And while true Internet control has not yet been implemented, it’s easy enough to bring up a Google Voice tab and get busy with stalking a gadget thief via your chosen map service. Oh, and the GPS icon will be hidden from the perps as well, which is handy when you tell the phone to send you updates every 10 minutes…or every 60. TA will also lock your phone when an unapproved SIM is inserted, if you so choose. Very cool indeed.

A time-limited free trial of Theft Aware is available in the Android Market, but some features are disabled. Is it worth the $9.99 for the full version? My response is an unqualified, YES.

Demo:

Via Android Police