Found 68 articles
05
May
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Samsung Aims To Block Root Exploits And Tighten Up Security With Latest Exynos Galaxy S4 Update, But This Is A Good Thing

Posted by in Android OS, Galaxy S4, News, Samsung

Note from Artem: The post's author, Justin Case, also known as jcase in the Android community, is an xda Elite Recognized Developer, AP team member, and an all-around knowledgeable guy when it comes to Android's internals. When he speaks, I tend to listen.

The Android world was slapped in the face when well-known developer AndreiLux made a post in the XDA Galaxy S4 forum titled [Info] Rooting will be impossible on newer stock kernels.

His post has caused some unwarranted drama in the community, and I wish to set this subject straight as much as I can. AndreiLux is pointing out a new feature in Samsung Galaxy S4 kernel called CONFIG_SEC_RESTRICT_SETUID.

03
Apr
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Avast! Mobile Security Updated, Brings Simplified Anti-Theft Setup And User Interface, Folder Scanning, And More

Posted by in Applications, News

Thanks to its amazing anti-theft features – which are powered by what used to be Theft Aware – avast! has long been one of our favorite mobile security apps. That's not to say its malware prevention abilities aren't also a highlight of the application, because they are – in fact, it's an all around good package. And thanks to a new update that hit the Play Store just a bit ago, it's just got better.

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The update doesn't bring anything major – it's really about fine-tuning what features are already in place. You'll find a simplified Anti-Theft set up process afterwards, as well as a new AT UI.

31
Mar
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It Has Begun: April Fool's 2013 Roundup From Around The Web [Continuously Updated]

Posted by in Android OS, Off-Topic, Roundups
Last Updated: May 13th, 2013

April Fool's 2013 is here (at least in some time zones), and the Internet has already given birth to a few early pranks. We will spend the next two days second-guessing every piece of written content, getting rickrolled, and generally feeling the way members of bomb squads do on their missions.And we will hate love every minute of it.

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So, let's take a look at the best Android, mobile, and Google-related jokes that hit the web this year.

*** This page will be continuously updated ***

Check out April Fool's pranks from 2011 and 2012.

25
Feb
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[MWC 2013] Samsung Unveils KNOX, A Secure Enterprise Solution For Workplaces With A BYOD Policy

Posted by in News, Samsung

The push for BYOD (bring your own device) policies in workplaces has been on the rise for the last couple of years, but many corporations have frowned upon Android devices due to "security issues" within the OS. Samsung is looking to change that mindset with its newly-announced KNOX solution.

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Essentially, KNOX is a security-enhanced version of Android – based on the NSA-approved SE Linux – optimized for Samsung's SAFE (Samsung for Enterprise) program. It's built-in to both the hardware and Android's framework, so it's really a full-coverage solution. At the application layer, it works to separate personal and corporate data by containerizing and encrypting corporate applications and data, which protects against viruses and malware, as well as outside attacks.

21
Feb
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AV-Test.org Releases Its First Report On Android Antiviruses, 22 Different Apps Compared

Posted by in Applications, News

One of the most common questions newcomers to Android have is do I really need an antivirus? While there are varying answers to this question depending on who you ask, it's hard to deny the demand for such apps. Of course, most AVs have other, far more useful features than just the AV scan – like anti-theft, device location features, and more. For that reason alone, I always have one installed on all my devices.

If you've never used an antivirus on your device before, there's a huge question that needs an answer before you install one: which is the best?

20
Feb
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Oppo Find 5 Review: Not Perfect, But You Should Probably Pay Attention To It Anyway

Posted by in Find 5, Oppo, Phone Reviews
Last Updated: March 14th, 2013

In a world where Samsung and Apple dominate the smartphone sphere, and multi-billion dollar companies like Sony, LG, and Motorola struggle to maintain single-digit market share, it's rather easy to convince yourself that real innovation and excellence costs lots of money. And, as an extension of that thought process, that there's little reason to look outside the current crop of popular phone makers.

But you'd be wrong.

Known mostly in the United States for its Blu-ray players (yes, really), Oppo is a Chinese electronics maker that is easily ignored. I hadn't even heard of their Blu-ray players until last week (and only because I looked them up on Wikipedia).

19
Dec
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Samsung Acknowledges Exynos Kernel Exploit, Will Fix It "As Quickly As Possible"

Posted by in Android OS, News, Samsung

Say what you will about Samsung, but their catapulting into the number-one position among Android smartphone vendors hasn't made them feel "above" responding to various product foibles. Speaking to Android Central, a Samsung spokesperson confirmed that the company is aware of a fairly-serious kernel exploit affecting a number of its high-profile devices using the Exynos 4 chipset. This includes handsets like the Galaxy S III and Note II (in most forms), and tablets such as the Note 10.1 or Tab 7.7.

Here's the company's statement, which we have since received an identical copy of, as well:

Samsung is aware of the potential security issue related to the Exynos processor and plans to provide a software update to address it as quickly as possible.

19
Nov
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[APK Teardown] Coming To A Play Store Near You: App Reviews Will Require A G+ Profile, Pre-Order Support, And More

Posted by in APK Teardown, Features, News

Google has been on an update roll lately, with Voice, YouTube, Google+, Calendar, and Music all getting updates in the last week. I've been dutifully doing teardowns on all of them, but there's been no hidden goodies, and thus, no articles. There was a Play Store update this weekend, however, and that does have some interesting, new stuff in it, so we're back!

Google+ App Reviews

Android is quickly becoming the Google+ OS.

App reviews in the Play Store will soon require a Google+ account, and future reviews will be posted showing your full Google+ name and picture. The string file always seems to be the most enlightening, so we'll start with that first.

01
Nov
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Android VP Of Engineering Hiroshi Lockheimer Opens Up About 4.2's New Security System

Posted by in Android OS, News

We knew that Android 4.2 would see the introduction of new security features both on your device and in the Play Store, but Computerworld got a chance to speak with Android's VP of Engineering, Hiroshi Lockheimer, about the platform's beefed up security measures, specifically Android's new real-time app scanning utility.

The scanner builds on the functionality of the Play Store's existing security features by bringing app-scanning security to the frontend, scanning incoming apps from third party sources (including apps like Amazon's App Store).

The service is of course "opt-in" – when you first install a third party app on your device, you'll see a friendly popup asking if you'd like Google to check on all your incoming apps for "harmful behavior." The decision to include this feature, according to Lockheimer, came down to the idea that "security [is] a universal thing.

17
Oct
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[Exclusive] Android 4.2 Alpha Teardown, Part 2: SELinux, VPN Lockdown, And Premium SMS Confirmation

Posted by in Android OS, APK Teardown, Exclusives, Features

We've got an LG Nexus system dump and endless desire to spoil every Googley surprise we can. Today's edition of the Android 4.2 Teardown could be alternatively subtitled "The Super-Serious Security Edition," because we're talking about the sort of stuff that should make your sysadmin jump for joy.

Please keep in mind this is just as forward-facing and time-ambiguous as all my other teardowns. This is a list of new stuff in the 4.2 dump, not a list of "confirmed for 4.2" features. Anything could be cut or not fully implemented by the time 4.2 rolls around; similarly to how bits of Android are currently multi-user aware, yet multi-user functionality isn't accessible.

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