Articles about Android

Stagefright took the Android world rather by surprise. As well as catching the industry with its pants down, it highlights a problem of mobile security: it's just not taken seriously enough. In response to the Stagefright vulnerability, both Samsung and Google announced new monthly security update cycles.

Not to be outdone, LG has now followed suit, and it would be surprising if we didn’t see more manufacturers of Android handsets doing exactly the same in the coming weeks. But in announcing its own monthly security update schedule, LG has highlighted another stumbling block for mobile security. Carriers.

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Stagefright detectors seem to be flavor of the month at the moment, not surprising when the vulnerability could affect around 95 percent of Android devices. We reported yesterday on Zimperium's version and now mobile security specialist Lookout has launched its own detector.

The app will tell users whether or not their Android device is vulnerable to Stagefright. If it is affected, it provide a run-down on how to reduce the risk of being attacked. Uses will also be able to check back in after receiving a security patch to confirm it contained the fix for Stagefright.

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Hackers can steal fingerprint data on a large scale through insecure Android phones, researchers claim, saying that vendors that ship with fingerprint sensors don’t lock them down well enough.

FireEye researchers Tao Wei and Yulong Zhang are singling out Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One Max as the most vulnerable examples, and are set to announce new research during the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

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Danish security company Secunia is using the Black Hat conference to reveal an early look at the vulnerability trends to date for 2015.

One of the main findings is that 15 zero-day vulnerabilites have been discovered so far in 2015, making it likely that the total for the year will exceed the 25 discovered in 2014. The 2015 zero-days were all discovered in popular Adobe and Microsoft products widely in use across both personal and professional IT systems.

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We've already looked at the Stagefright vulnerability, discovered by Zimperium, and shown what can be done to deal with it. Affecting up to 95 percent of Android devices, the vulnerability has led to Google and Samsung announcing monthly security updates.

Now the mobile security company has released additional details about how the exploit works. To help explain the vulnerability, a video has been produced which uses a Stagefright demonstration to illustrate it in action. Zimperium has also released an Android app that checks devices for the vulnerability.

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Apple is one of the most forward-thinking companies in the world. Its products are legendary, and the innovative iPhone revolutionized the smartphone market. Heck, iOS has impacted the entire computer industry arguably for the better.

Unfortunately, Google's Android has been a thorn in the company's side for years, stealing market share and allegedly angering the beloved Steve Jobs in the process. With that said, it is very curious to see Apple hiring Android software engineers. Yup, you are reading that correctly. Could Apple be planning to release apps for the Android platform?

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Google and Samsung announced today that they are taking steps to ensure the ongoing security of Android phones and tablets. Both companies said that over the air (OTA) updates will be released on a monthly basis with Google focusing on its range of Nexus devices.

Samsung made reference to the recent StageFright vulnerability in announcing that its Galaxy devices are in line for regular security updates. While Google will be pushing out OTA updates directly, Samsung is currently in talks with global carriers to ensure that updates can be delivered "about once per month".

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Google released its monthly distribution numbers for Android earlier this week, showing quite a large spike in Lollipop growth in the month of July. Lollipop went from 12.4 percent in June to 18.1 percent in July. The growth mostly came off the back of Jelly Bean updates and new device sales.

Jelly Bean, the previous holder of the top spot, slumped down to 33.6 percent in July from 37.4 percent last month. KitKat received a slight boost of 0.1 percent this month, most likely due to continued sales of early 2015 devices running the OS.

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The move to bigger iPhones is arguably the best decision that Apple has made in recent years. Consumer demand has been extremely strong from launch, proof being that Apple was able to match Samsung's shipments in Q4 2014 and post record sales quarter after quarter. The result? Record earnings.

The strong iPhone sales also translate into a strong market share. In Europe, Apple's handsets are gaining ground across all five-largest local markets, at the expense of either market leader Android or third-place rival Windows Phone, according to a new report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

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Sony has announced a slew of smartphones, with the Xperia C5 Ultra one of the more interesting in the range. The 6-inch phablet comes with a duo of 13MP cameras on the front and back of the smartphone, offering a wide angle selfie camera for all those interested.

On top of the selfie camera, the Xperia C5 Ultra offers a 6-inch 1920 x 1080 display, 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek CPU, 2GB of RAM and ARM Mali 760 GPU. The smartphone features 16GB of internal storage, with an optional microSD card slot capable of holding up to 200GB of additional storage.

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One of the worst tragedies a person can experience is a home fire. If the flames themselves don't destroy your belongings, the smoke, and water from hoses probably will. In other words, it is a very serious thing and should not be taken lightly.

Sadly, Nvidia's Shield tablets are a fire-hazard. If you own one of the affected tablets you should stop using it immediately. Do not charge it and do not power it on other than to verify if it is affected. Not sure if yours is impacted? Read on to learn more.

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The smartphone market moves along at a fast pace, with a new device seemingly every day. Unfortunately for customers, upgrades from providers move at a much more sedate pace. You'll get one every two years unless you pay extra. That's generally fine, though most people end up longing for one before that magic date rolls around.

That brings us around to those who are set for that upgrade now. The latest flagship handset comes from LG, no stranger to this market. And, for the most part, it's an excellent piece of hardware. But let's take a closer look.

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Yahoo is making a first step in the messaging world, with the launch of LiveText for iOS and Android. The app will be available in North America and Europe, following a brief test in Hong Kong and Taiwan last month.

The messaging app is similar to Snapchat, with an image or video and superimposed text. When video streaming is unavailable, LiveText will offer a text only option. Interestingly, the video will be silent, meaning no audio playback between the two recipients.

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The security of mobile communications is of paramount importance to many people, but it is particularly high on the list of priorities for business and enterprise customers. Silent Circle is a company that caters to those concerned with privacy and security, billing its work as the 'world's first enterprise privacy platform'.

The company's original Blackphone generated some interest, and earlier in the year we learned about the follow-up -- the Blackphone 2. Kitted out with a customized version of Android, the security-focused handset is the latest addition to Android for Work, Google's own security-focused program.

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Do you speak a foreign language? If not then Google Translate becomes your friend while travelling and today it's getting a bit better. Actually a lot better, going from seven languages to 27, which triples the amount it could handle -- okay that math is slightly off, but it's close enough.

Google announces the update to the app, which can be pointed at a foreign language and read the words in your native tongue. That's pretty essential for traveling. While it's good to know the language in any nation you're visiting, it's not always possible.

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