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For as long as Google Maps (and other digital mapping services) have existed, there have been fake listings. The most notable example was a scam where a centralized operation would mass-produce fake locksmith listings advertising low rates, then jacking up prices as poor sods left out of house or car get desperate. These days, the directory battlefield has expanded across different high-cost industries with devastating tactics deployed against businesses and the public while placing livelihoods on the line.
Odds are that you won't encounter any fake Pixel 3s or Home Hubs, and if you're reading this site, you'd probably be able to identify a counterfeit Google product pretty easily. But if you're buying a piece of Google hardware off, say, Craigslist, and you want to verify its authenticity, the company's 2018 products each come with a reflective anti-counterfeiting sticker that'll let you know what's real and what isn't.
Counterfeits are a sad reality for any moderately popular company. Not only does it lose all the sales that go to fake products, it also has to tend to its reputation which might get destroyed when consumers buy a fraudulent item and blame it for a faulty build or function. Google is trying to catch fakes by launching several pages for you to report them.
Have you heard of Colorfly, a European importer of cheap whitebox Android tablets? Yeah, neither had we, at least until a rumor started circulating that this tiny company would be making the next Nexus tablet. The news began with what's almost certainly a faked Geekbench screenshot showing a "Nexus 8" running on a "Colorfly Hero" motherboard, and continued with a couple of photos posted to a Chinese website. The photos have been paired with the screeenshot, the implication being that this is the same device.
One of the more far-reaching Android Police stories this year was our exclusive write-up of Virus Shield, an impressively popular anti-virus app that managed to make it to the top of the Play Store's sales charts in less than a week, despite the fact that it did absolutely nothing. After digging into the app's code, Artem Russakovskii and various Android Police readers found that it was nothing more than a few images and a toggle. Virus Shield racked up more than 10,000 downloads at $3.99 a pop, and the app was removed from the Play Store hours after our story was published.
Computer security is important, even if the computer in question fits in your hand. There should be no doubt about that fact. However, you should be just as wary of security software as any other app. Case in point: there's a slick new app in the Play Store called Virus Shield. It's got a cool look and it's easy to operate. Just press a single button and your virus shield is activated.
On the evening of the 18th, Chinese tech site CtechCN began the circulation of an image representing an all-white variant of the Nexus 5, with the accompanying story that, according to a tipster, the white variant could be launched simultaneously with the black version, and presumably the version we've already seen with a white back and black front.
This morning we were alerted to a possible Blackberry Messenger sighting in the Play Store, but upon closer inspection, it was immediately obvious that this app is beyond fake. The problem is it already has 100,000+ installs, it's been sitting in the Play Store since Friday, and Google hasn't done anything to remove the listing yet.
Yesterday, BorrowLenses, a site that rents gear to photo and video enthusiasts, posted up a rental page for Google Glass and a matching blog post. Those interested were invited to rent Glass on April 30th. The prices started at $105 for 3 days all the way to $499 for 4 weeks. With the developer version of Glass going for $1500, this didn't sound like such a bad idea if you were just looking to see how it worked without a huge commitment.
Just a little while ago, the first purported press shots of the LG Nexus 4 hit Twitter, thanks to EVLeaks. Almost immediately after looking at the image, though, it's clear something's... not right.
Earlier today, a couple of rather exciting photos found on Picasa began hitting news sites showing what could be a leaked device called the Sony Nexus X. Of course, during Nexus season, any rumor or glance at a possible new device is always exciting, but sometimes it's worth while to take a step back and consider whether what we're looking at is actually what it appears to be. Our penchant for putting leaked images under the microscope led us to do a bit of investigating.
Remember HTC's 5" mystery device we caught a glimpse of last month? Well, according to Engadget, a user of China's popular social network Weibo earlier revealed what may (or may not) be an official press shot of the device – a shot which also reveals the device's potential name – the HTC One X 5 (named, obviously, for its ample display size).
Way back in the day, if you wanted to know if a piece of software was safe, reliable, or usable before you opened the package, you were out of luck. Once you rip that shrink wrap, you're stuck with it. The app markets of today are, by comparison, a breath of fresh air. A litany of user reviews let you know up front if a piece of software is crap or not before you download. Unfortunately, sometimes developers, like Noosoft Games, abuse this system by, as an example, using the Mechanical Turk system from Amazon to pay for 5-star reviews.
Today's suspected Galaxy SIII leak caused quite a stir in the Android community, of course sparking concerns over validity, likelihood that Samsung would choose such a form factor for the upcoming flagship, and just when we may see the real thing up close. A great summary of the leak on Reddit, and the subsequent comment thread got me thinking, though: just how likely is it that the leak is real? In short the answer is a resounding "not very."
If you've downloaded anything Temple Run-related from the Android Market, you've been scammed. We do our best to keep you informed, but this app in particular seems to spark a lot of fakes. Thankfully, Imangi Studios, the developer behind Temple Run, announced on their Facebook page that the app isn't out yet, but when it is the company will announce it at least a week in advance.
Last week, a "report" by InFlexWeTrust showed a screencap of a popup that invited users to download a "featured" app - Instagram for Android.
Earlier this morning, news broke of a horrible deed - the entire stock of Xperia Play phones was allegedly stolen from Vodafone NZ, leaving hundreds of giant-thumbed customers button-mashing nothing but air for the foreseeable future. We deliberately skipped this story, even though it was spreading like fire, but what happened next prompted me to grab my pen keyboard and give this crime some coverage.