3/4 of android phones/tablets/devices are at risk | Page 3 | GTAMotorcycle.com

3/4 of android phones/tablets/devices are at risk

PrivatePilot said:
All that said, the exact same stuff can happen to an Android phone. Personally, I feel a lot more secure dealing with an Apple employee in an Apple store than I ever will dealing with some guy at a mall cellphone repair shop...which is the only viable option for a owners of other brands of cellphones who simply don't have the benefit of a direct manufacturer chain of service facilities.
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You have just described the first step in the chain towards getting your info stolen.

Trust no one. Regardless of the device, if it needs to be handled by another party you must either: look over their shoulders as they work on the phone to make sure they don't explore any content they have no business exploring, or; wipe the phone after having performed a backup (the Apple store won't and shouldn't help you with that BTW).
 
Yeah for reals.. a blue shirt and a couple days training doesn't make apple retail employees trustworthy in the slightest. I'd never let them walk away with my phone. And if sending a phone in for replacement (anywhere) make sure to securely wipe it clean. Data can easily be recovered even after a normal factory reset.
 
PrivatePilot said:
*cough*


All that said, the exact same stuff can happen to an Android phone. Personally, I feel a lot more secure dealing with an Apple employee in an Apple store than I ever will dealing with some guy at a mall cellphone repair shop...which is the only viable option for a owners of other brands of cellphones who simply don't have the benefit of a direct manufacturer chain of service facilities.

I'd rather this not turn into the typical Android vs Apple bashfest, but one needs to make buying decisions based on facts, not sensationalism.
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Nobody said anything about taking your device to "some guy at a mall cellphone repair shop". There was a direct reference to diagnosing the issue to an Android device by having the ability to analyze, or have someone analyze the log files without giving another user access to the device.
It gives you the option to try and fix your issues yourself without exposing all your data to someone - you would not have such control over an Apple device.

Apple employees don't magically become trustworthy the moment they walk through that door and start serving customers.
The only thing protecting your info is a Non-disclosure agreement between Apple and the employee which are usually one of those papers you need to read and sign upon employment where people seem to magically "read" through those papers in 15 secs.

Many people in their 20s likely don't know, or don't care of the ramifications of breaching an NDA and data breaches for the most part are unreported or never linked back to the source.

I'm not saying you should not go to someone to get your phone fixed, just that there is risk associated in doing so. Giving someone physical access to the device to fix with confidential data should be a last resort.

EDIT: Just found that logs are accessible on Apple devices (just not in real-time), there is however, very limited information/support online to do much with it (because the go-to is go the the Apple store).
 
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Might as well chime in here.

Apple is for people who want a phone that can do everything moderately okay without requiring the user to do anything. They're simplistic.

Android is for people who want customization/modification options on their phone. They're simplistic but can be complex.

Both phones do exactly what they were designed to do and neither is better than the other overall. They have specific niches in the market they play on, and they're the king of their own jungle.

And back to the topic at hand. To get the googligan malware you would have to go very far out of your way to allowed 3rd party apps to be installed, and assume the risk of installing them. You can't just install 3rd party apps on a fresh android device, you have to enable developer mode by doing a very specific sequence of actions.
It's the same as jailbreaking an iphone and installing 3rd party apps. Some could be malicious.

This has nothing to do with the security levels of android, it has to do with the users purposely deactivating a security feature and assuming complete responsibility for what happens. In the same way anyone jailbreaking their iphone is. In the same way that if you took apart your motorcycles engine and ****** in the cylinder, that's on you. It's the same as pirating a game because you don't want to have to pay for it and getting a virus. That's on you, not microsoft. Shoot yourself in the foot because you were playing with your gun with the safety off? That's your own damn fault not the company that makes the firearm.

It's also interesting to note 57% of the infected accounts are in asia, 19% north america, 15% africa, 9% europe. That's about 200,000 androids in North America. ALL over North America. Compare that to the 100+ million android devices in North America and you have a very small portion actually infected.

1 million devices might seem like a lot.But that's world wide. In 2015 near 1,200 million android phones shipped world wide. 1 millions is less than 0.1% of that.

tl;dr. Unless you specifically went out of your way to download and install 3rd party/unknown/non play store apps on your phone you're safe. Less than 0.1% infected worldwide with 0.001% more being infected everyday.
 
fastar1 said:
Same problem, no? How do you know those 3rd party developers aren't embedding malware?
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They are from known developers in a big devel comunity. Many options are open source. There are risks, but the risk of running an outdated OS is greater.
 
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Honda uses Android for their infotainment OS, so it must be the best.
 
SunnY S said:
8 reasons why Google's Pixel is better than the iPhone - Read at Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/reas...than-iphone-7-2016-12?&platform=bi-androidapp

Although purely subjective like most reviews Interesting read from a longtime iPhone user on why the pixel is simply a better choice than the dated iphone

It's obvious apple is waaay behind in key features.
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Really want a Pixel, but waiting to see how this new release goes. So far reviews are great, but need some time on the devices for a true review of the device.

If all goes well, will likely go for the next release of the Pixel.
 
PLau said:
Really want a Pixel, but waiting to see how this new release goes. So far reviews are great, but need some time on the devices for a true review of the device.

If all goes well, will likely go for the next release of the Pixel.
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I bought a pixel xl on preorder and it hasn't disappointed. It's easily the best Android phone, bar none. Specs alone would put it at or near the top; pure Android puts it over the bar.

Yeah it's not waterproof rated, but I'm seeing videos on YouTube of them being submerged completely for an hour and working fine the whole time. Good enough for me.
 
kwtoxman said:
Just picked up a Sandisk 200 GB micro sd memory card for my flagship phone on sale with Black Friday. $65. I love phone specs that give real value. :)
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wth? and you did not tell us this before
gaaah
good for you, lol
 
-D- said:
wth? and you did not tell us this before
gaaah
good for you, lol
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Sorry 'bout that; it was amazon.ca so I guess I figured people would have been watching them. Love that site; lots of very very good deals this year. Finished my christmas shopping. :D Online is so much easier. I averaged 50-70% off too.

Keep an eye on it. It will go on sale again. I'll post up if I see it. :):)
 
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kwtoxman said:
A Windows 10 phone has great security and it will continue as it is now UWP, which no other OS has been able to attain yet. Full selective permissions as well.
http://betanews.com/2015/06/11/windows-phone-security-is-top-notch-says-kaspersky/
https://mspoweruser.com/hacker-claims-windows-phone-the-most-secure-smartphone-os/

Due to a confluence of events and lack of popularity on Windows phones, crazy good prices just came and went with Black Friday to Cyber Monday sales. EXCELLENT prices. Unlocked and the best interface going (works on all carriers and fast manufacturer updates). Their two flagship 950 phones spec like the Iphone7 or Samsung Galaxy S7 and in some ways better (at notably less than half the price with the sale). And the more budget oriented 640/650 was something like a $100.

As mentioned there is an app gap so it may not be for you if you are an app junky. Still, it has many apps for the masses and the big ones. I have various. The Windows 10 phones even have a digital assistant, Cortana, like Siri.

I got the Lumia 950 XL and 950 at a great discount. Been using them for over six months; very happy and can answer any questions. Love the interface of Windows 10 phones; the system and interface is great for learning, simplicity and overlap as well as interoperable use with my computers which also run Windows 10.
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Damn I missed it. Bored of the iPhone again and was looking to try out the Win10 phones. Hopefully Boxing Day will have some good sales.
 
mmmnaked said:
I bought a pixel xl on preorder and it hasn't disappointed. It's easily the best Android phone, bar none. Specs alone would put it at or near the top; pure Android puts it over the bar.

Yeah it's not waterproof rated, but I'm seeing videos on YouTube of them being submerged completely for an hour and working fine the whole time. Good enough for me.
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What is cool with new Android (5.x and above) is that you can get an 8gb phone, pop in a 32gb (or 64gb) micros sd card for $30....click 2 buttons and the phone will set card up as internal memory giving you 8 + x...that's pretty cool and useful.
 
That's a hardware feature. Had it, never ever used it. Not one to carry more than about 20gb on my phone, ever, but yeah sure I guess it's cool? I think the manufacturers are stepping away from that sort of expandability. Google did with the Pixel, but they offered unlimited cloud storage for full res photos and video.
 
kwtoxman said:
I filled up my 32 GB new phone in a few months with photos and video. Not hard to do with a 20 megapixel camera and 4k or HD 60fps video (and I haven't recorded much video). Way better now with the micro SD slot filled with 200 GB. I like lots of music as well. No constraints is a very nice thing.
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With the Pixel and Pixel XL google offers free unlimited storage.. and when the phone gets full(ish) it will automatically remove old photos and videos if they've been backed up. Added benefit here is the ability to share albums with friends and family right from the phone. I don't have to email photos of my kid to a bunch of relatives, just give em a link to the album and its updated as I take photos... pretty neat.

I used to be of the opinion that I didn't want my photos going to the cloud but I don't care any more. The convenience outweighs privacy paranoia. If I ever take photos of anything sensitive I can move them to an album which doesn't get backed up automatically..
 
mmmnaked said:
With the Pixel and Pixel XL google offers free unlimited storage.. and when the phone gets full(ish) it will automatically remove old photos and videos if they've been backed up. Added benefit here is the ability to share albums with friends and family right from the phone. I don't have to email photos of my kid to a bunch of relatives, just give em a link to the album and its updated as I take photos... pretty neat.

I used to be of the opinion that I didn't want my photos going to the cloud but I don't care any more. The convenience outweighs privacy paranoia. If I ever take photos of anything sensitive I can move them to an album which doesn't get backed up automatically..
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I do the same with my Priv, I would just suggest to also backup those pictures to a personal physical high capacity drive. I wouldn't want all my kids pictures to some day just vanish due to some glitch or hack or whatever.
 
-D- said:
What is cool with new Android (5.x and above) is that you can get an 8gb phone, pop in a 32gb (or 64gb) micros sd card for $30....click 2 buttons and the phone will set card up as internal memory giving you 8 + x...that's pretty cool and useful.
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...and which 2 buttons would those be?

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
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