Articles about Android

Mobile World Congress 2017 may not technically kick off until tomorrow, but lots of companies like to jump the gun so they can be the first to get their announcements out. In this group is Samsung, and later today the company is holding a press conference in Barcelona at which it will unveil the latest addition to the Galaxy range.

Of course, there has not been official word that it's the Samsung Galaxy S8 that will be announced, but there have been enough hints, rumors and leaks for this to be considered likely (even if Samsung has said the actual launch will come after MWC). If the rumors are to be believed, we may also see a Samsung Galaxy S8+, and the specs sound pretty special, and may be enough to help the company rebuild faith after the Note7 debacle. So, are we in line for the Galaxy S8, and/or an addition to the Galaxy Tab range?

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If you want to secure your Galaxy smartphone, the first thing that you should do is set up a screen lock. But what if you want to go a bit further, and protect specific things on the device? Well, Samsung just released Secure Folder, which gives you a "private, encrypted space" to store sensitive data in.

Secure Folder is derived from Knox, the company's secure platform for business users, and can be seen as a consumer-focused iteration. It acts as a sandbox for apps and data and works with existing authentication options to keep them safe.

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Just last week we were talking about Google's championing of RCS (Rich Communication Services), the successor to SMS. Now the company has renamed its Messenger app to Android Messages as it aims to become not just the default SMS app, but the default RCS app for Android users.

The name change also helps to better differentiate the app from others that had the same name -- such as Facebook Messenger, which is shortened to just Messenger on shortcuts. At the same time, the change is likely to cause a degree of confusion thanks to the sheer number of messaging apps Google now has.

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Android or iOS? Or both? It’s a question anyone who’s been involved in building a mobile app will have asked. Android is still the major player in the development world, due to the simple fact of the size of the market, but it’s foolish to write anything that’s grown from Apple off.

As with just about every trend in technology, it appears that flexibility and fluidity is the choice route. Here are five things developers will need to consider to stay relevant in 2017 and beyond.

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Microsoft has thrown a lot at Skype in recent years, and the latest move sees the company releasing a completely new version of the Android app designed for use on slower internet connections -- specifically in India.

Described variously as being "our fastest and smallest app to date" and "built in India, for users in India", the focus with Skype Lite is on speed and efficiency. The new version of Skype uses less data and battery power, but still delivers the Skype experience that users have come to rely on.

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A potential successor to SMS has received strong backing from Google as it partners with Telenor to launch RCS messaging in Europe and Asia. Rich Communications Services is more feature-rich than traditional SMS and Google's latest partnership sees the technology spreading outside of the US and Canada.

With support for features such as group chat, read receipts and high resolution image sharing, RCS has a lot going for it. There's just one catch. In integrating RCS support into Android, Google is providing the "upgraded SMS experience" through its own Messenger app.

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It's something that should delight Donald Trump -- Google is helping to fight fake news. Whether the company's move to help keep web users better informed is in keeping with the US president's penchant for "alternative facts" remains to be seen, but for everyone else it is great news.

Google is far from being the first technology company to lend its support to the fake news fighting army -- Facebook and the BBC are already doing their bit too. The expansion of Google News fact checking means that the Fact Check label is spreading further around the globe, giving people in more parts of the world the assurance that what they're reading has been verified.

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IT security has never been more prominent at the forefront of people's minds than it is currently. With a sadly regular supply of hacking horror tales, Internet users are now exercising a great deal of care with the information they share through their networks. Stronger passwords and a reluctance to add personal details are among the more common measures to have become widely implemented.

Another option which people are leaning towards is that of secure messaging apps, a selection of which are profiled in the infographic below by ERS IT Solutions. There doesn’t yet exist a messaging app that is completely impenetrable to hackers, but there are those which distinguish themselves for their encryption of messages so that even if they are intercepted, the messages can’t be deciphered by unsolicited parties.

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It's only a matter of weeks since we were talking about the impending arrival of Instant Tethering. This delight of technology makes it possible to quickly and painlessly share a data connection between devices, and now it's officially available to Pixel and Nexus devices.

To use Google's explanation, Instant Tethering means "you can automatically share a cellular data connection between certain Pixel and Nexus devices via Wi-Fi when they're signed in to the same Google Account." Now the rollout is official, and many people are able to make use of this very handy feature.

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The days of dedicated satnavs are surely numbered, with the likes of Waze and Google Maps bringing turn-by-turn directions to smartphone owners for free. The feature set for these apps just keeps on growing, and Google Maps now includes a new Lists feature which lets you use the app to create and share lists of places.

There are lots of possible uses for Lists -- Google suggests using it to create your bucket list of places to visit, but it's better used to draw up a list of places to visit on vacation, say, and then share it with friends who are planning a similar trip. While lists can only be created in the iOS and Android app, they can also be viewed on the desktop.

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It has been a little while coming, but WhatsApp is finally rolling out support for two-step verification to its messaging app.

The extra layer of security means that it is now more difficult to gain unauthorized access to an account, and it is a feature that is being made available to iOS, Android and Windows users. With the feature enabled, if you -- or anyone else, for that matter -- tries to verify your phone number on WhatsApp, you -- or they -- will have to provide the 6-digit passcode you create.

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Using a smartphone while operating a car can be a dangerous affair. You obviously shouldn't text while driving, but sometimes using the device while moving is necessary, such as when using a maps app. Logitech ZeroTouch is an interesting Android-only solution that puts your phone into a special hands-free driving mode when mounted in a dock. It can be quite the elegant solution.

Today, Logitech announces that ZeroTouch is getting even better. The company is adding Amazon Alexa support, meaning you can call upon the voice assistant while in the car. Quite frankly, as great as Alexa is in the home, the assistant should prove equally as valuable in an automobile too.

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A huge proportion of web traffic comes from mobile devices these days, and this means people are often trying to access online articles when they have a slow data connection. For this reason, Facebook introduced Instant Articles, and Google introduced Accelerated Mobile Pages.

Both of these technologies allow for near-instantaneous loading of pre-cached, optimized articles on mobile devices, but they have a problem. Both mask the original URL which can make it difficult to share interesting articles with others. Google has seen the problem and made an important change to the way AMP works, helping to increase trust.

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If you're using the Facebook app on your phone, you might notice the appearance of a new Discover People section. As you would probably guess this is a feature designed to connect you with people on the social network, but there's something of a creepy twist.

Unlike the current "People you may know" section which suggests that you might like to become friends with people because you have a common acquaintance, the experimental Discover People adopts a different approach. It suggests that you become friends with complete strangers.

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Even after new mobile threats have been identified the number of devices in use means it can take time for patches to be rolled out to all users.

Mobile threat defense company Zimperium is hoping to tackle this problem with the launch of a $1.5 million bounty program to purchase N-day exploits which have been identified but are still usable on unpatched devices.

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