Monday, December 20, 2010

Mobile Buzz

Mobile Buzz

Google Security Engineer Blogs About “Rooting”

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 02:45 PM PST


Nick Kralveich, an Android Security Team engineer, has posted up (via Tim Bray, Android Developer Advocate) his thoughts and concerns about the current state of security on the Android platform. As the amount of Android handsets on the market increases, many users have been "rooting" their devices in order to install customizations, cooked ROMs and unlock third party software and repositories. Nick says that while Google does provide an easy modification to allowing personal boot images by unlocking the bootloader via simple commands (fastboot_oem_unlock), that it is not an indication of lax security. Google developers do "aggressively fix known security holes, including those that can be used for rooting" and Adobe has given credit to how Android uses a sandbox for application segregation. Google is also known for sending security of relevant patches back upstream to a project, yet many simply don't know that rooting is an "active exploitation of a known security hole" says Nick. He says it is "possible to design unlocking techniques that protect the integrity of the mobile network, the rights of the content providers, and the rights of the application developers, while at the same time giving users choice. Users should demand no less." and he is absolutely right.

Android straddles the fine line of providing users with a polished device with a booming application ecosystem and a highly customizable interface with open source software. With each iteration and release of Android, these lines are being blurred and Android is quickly climbing to the top.


TAGS:
Google Security Engineer Blogs About “Rooting” originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Simon on Monday 20th December 2010 05:45:35 PM under Mobile News. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.

Gingerbread Update For Nexus One Coming In Few Weeks

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 02:07 PM PST


Google’s discontinued phone used to usually be the first phone to get major updates. However, it looks like Nexus One owners will have to wait for a few weeks before they see a OTA update.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread

In a tweet from the official account @googlenexus, the folks at Google hinted that the update is coming in the next few weeks.

The Gingerbread OTA for Nexus One will happen in the coming weeks. Just hang tight!

Why this delay? Most probably because Google is now more interested in pushing Nexus S to users and might be starting to give secondary treatment to the poor old Nexus One. Well, I say secondary because it has been almost a fortnight since Gingerbread was released and Nexus S ships with it.

Nevertheless, Nexus One should at-least get an update before 2011 sets in. If you are waiting for the update, just hang tight. In the meantime you can install the Gingerbread keyboard on your device.


Gingerbread Update For Nexus One Coming In Few Weeks originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Keith Dsouza on Monday 20th December 2010 05:07:00 PM under Mobile News. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.

Rogers Releases Palm Pre for $99

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 02:02 PM PST


The Palm Pre 2 is now available on Rogers Wireless in Canada, for the low price of $99 on a 3 year contract. The Pre 2 is the newest device from HP and Palm running WebOS. This iteration of hardware comes with a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and the usual connectivity options including GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth. The Pre 2 is the successor to the Pre Plus and the Pre, before that. Rogers adds a heavy subsidy when going from a 2 year up to a 3 year term. The off-contract price is $449.99, $399 for a 1 year and $349 for a 2 year.

The Pre 2 is also available online, unlocked and directly from Palm for $449 USD.


TAGS:
Rogers Releases Palm Pre for $99 originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Simon on Monday 20th December 2010 05:02:21 PM under Mobile News. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.

Samsung Bada 2.0 To Bring NFC and Updated UI

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 12:01 PM PST


bada-2

Samsung’s Bada OS has been a huge success for them selling millions of handset worldwide. Samsung introduced Bada for its mid-range device in 2010. Bada, which is currently in version 1.2 will be getting a major leap next year with its upcoming version – Bada 2.0.

Bada 2.0 will  introduce near-field communications (NFC) a feature which Google recently introduced in Android 2.3 and Nokia too has been sporting in its C7 handset. Besides the NFC, Bada 2.0 will also bring tons of features like smarter home screen, SDK support for Linux and Mac, 3rd party SNS integration, Multitasking, FlashLite 4 support and more.

Having experiences Bada OS in Samsung Wave S8500, Bada 2.0  will definitely be adding gold to its portfolio specially with the NFC which will open up lots of options for the developers.

[via]


Samsung Bada 2.0 To Bring NFC and Updated UI originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Apurva Chaudhary on Monday 20th December 2010 03:01:38 PM under Mobile News. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.

Motorola Droid Running Android 2.3 Gingerbread

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 09:59 AM PST


After the Samsung Galaxy S, the original Motorola Droid has got its share of Gingerbread love from the modding community. An original Motorola Droid owner – neubanks89 – has managed to build a Gingerbread ROM for his handset from AOSP. However, the ROM is not usable on a day to day basis as it has some issues like Camera not working, no Google Apps and the browser does not work properly.

Motorola_Droid

However, from the comments of users who have flashed this ROM on their Droid, it looks like Gingerbread absolutely flies on the handset. Since the Droid has reached its EOL (End-Of-Life), Droid owners should not expect Motorola to update the handset to Android 2.3.

Nevertheless, I am pretty sure the modding community will definitely cook up a working Gingerbread ROM in the coming few days. Interested Droid owners can read about running Android 2.3 Gingerbread on their phone here.

Via – Droid Life


Motorola Droid Running Android 2.3 Gingerbread originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Rajesh Pandey on Monday 20th December 2010 12:59:22 PM under Mobile News. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.

HTC Wildfire Android 2.2 Update To Roll Out In Europe This Week

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 09:15 AM PST


Quite a few months ago, HTC announced that the HTC Desire, Legend and the Wildfire will be getting their share of Froyo love. The company started first rolled out the Froyo update for Desire and recently started rolling out the Android 2.2 update for the Legend in Europe. Now, the Taiwanese handset manufacturer has announced via an FB status update that they will start rolling out the Froyo update for the Wildfire from this week.

Here is what the company announced on Facebook:

image

So Wildfire users in Europe will get their Android 2.2 update before Christmas (hopefully), whereas Wildfire owners in other regions of the world will get it by February next year. However, by that time the whole world will be going gaga over their Android 2.3 and Honeycomb (Android 2.4 if rumors are right) update.


HTC Wildfire Android 2.2 Update To Roll Out In Europe This Week originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Rajesh Pandey on Monday 20th December 2010 12:15:00 PM under Mobile News. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.

Nokia Planning to Launch Windows Phone 7 Devices?

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 08:01 AM PST


Nokia - MicrosoftBoth Nokia (Symbian) and Microsoft (Windows Phone 7) have been hit hard by the rise of Android as a smartphone OS in the last 2 years. Symbian has been continuously losing marketshare to Android, even in the budget category of smartphones. Even Windows Phone 7 has seen very encouraging sales, thanks to Android’s domination. Android is probably in the smartphone world what Windows is in the PC world. However, Android has one huge advantage – it’s free and open. And everyone knows that you cannot beat “free” unless you offer a very compelling product which is better in every way, which Windows Phone 7 is definitely not.

Nokia has already stated that it won’t be using Android as the OS for its smartphones anytime in the near future. It is relying on MeeGo to give a boost to its lagging sales in 2011. But MeeGo is still not ready for a final release.

Eldar Murtazin at Mobile Review has commented in his weekly editorial piece that Nokia is planning to team up with Microsoft and launch smartphones running with Windows Phone 7 under the Nokia brand. While it may sound ridiculous at first, given Eldar’s track record, I can’t help but think that it might turn out to be true.

Even if this rumor does turn out to be true, I doubt that their alliance would be successful in curbing the growth of Android.

Source: Mobile Review


Nokia Planning to Launch Windows Phone 7 Devices? originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Pathik Shah on Monday 20th December 2010 11:01:06 AM under Mobile News. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.
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