Database Develop

An Idea for anti-theft software

I was playing around with W.I.M.P. (Where is my phone) yesterday and I noticed an area that I think would make this program, or any other for that matter much more powerful.
Theory behind WIMP is that it sends back a text with GPS co-ordinates to another phone, not so great if theres 3 pubs within very close proximity, like in town. Soooo. my next thought was what if the phone was used at a camera post-being stolen.
I imagine the way this would work is that a photo would be taken from the thefts perpective using the standard back camera. However another additional photo is taken from the front camera with GPS data packaged into the JPG properties ala GPS Photo.
You'd get a shot of said thief, some decor in the background which Im sure would help work out where they are, you'd also have evidence of the theft and who took the phone, with time and date stamps, which when tallied against a police report would prove the photo was taken after the fact.
Im surprised this feature isnt available anywhere yet, or perhaps im talking tosh, or even that my google skills are lacking.
Anyhoo what do you funky brothers think?

I think that is a great idea now all we need is somone smart enuff to make make this porgram work like that lol

I think you would get a lot of pics of peoples pockets. Then you would know what pants they have on.

RussianTechno101 said:
I think that is a great idea now all we need is somone smart enuff to make make this porgram work like that lol
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If you were able to find someone smart enough to make the front camera work on your Tilt....then writing the software should be cake.

Laptop recovery.
They have this type of software on Apple lappies.
Have a look at the engadget link
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/11/stolen-laptop-recovered-with-back-to-my-mac/

That would be a neat feature but you would also probably get a bunch of bad images (tables, pockets, hands).
Valtamr said:
If you were able to find someone smart enough to make the front camera work on your Tilt....then writing the software should be cake.
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If you noticed the first poster is from London so he probably has a Tytn II with the front camera...

fone_fanatic said:
That would be a neat feature but you would also probably get a bunch of bad images (tables, pockets, hands).
If you noticed the first poster is from London so he probably has a Tytn II with the front camera...
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Yes, and if you noticed the person I actually quoted has "Using: AT&T Tilt" in his/her signature.

Is that even possible?
Wow! Now that would really be something. I would definitely be installing such an app on my next device especially in face of my Kaiser being stolen 2 weeks ago.
I think the problem with picuters of people's pockets and pub tables could be easily solved by setting the application to transmit only the pictures actually taken by the person in possesion of the phone after the theft. This way you could make sure the pictures sent, were taken when the person in question was holding the phone in front of them actaully trying to take a picture of sth.
This creates other problems of course like: what if the thief never uses the camera? But I think all mobile phone users try the camera out (no matter how poor it could be) at least once. So receiving a good quality picture would only be a matter of time.

Why doesn't google

Why doesn't Google implement video chat into Gtalk or Google voice? I think that would be the next logical step in the evolution of those two apps what do you guys here think?
Skpe is good but I don't use it and I would rather use a app that I already use on my desktop that I am familiar with that I can use on my mobile device.
(Nexus One) plus it would give me a choice.
I know that the Nexus One does not have a front facing camera, but a native video chat app for the android os would be best. plus it simple to make a mirror for the camera so that it can be use for video chat.

What makes you think they're not working on it for Android already?
http://www.google.com/chat/video

I know that they have the plug in for the desktop which i use, i do hope that it will be implemented ,maybe the next update (gingerbread).

Won't do us much good without a front facing camera. Maybe once the hardware becomes more common they will add it.
I remember when video phones were all the rage many years back. The plans were ridiculous, the quality was piss poor, and no one used it. Now that mobile networks are getting faster it might start to make sense finally.

well once a long time ago i had a iphone (god forgive for i have sin) and some guy had written a video chat program for it which never was release but i copy the mirror setup to use the camera on the iphone which did not have a front facing camera. so nexus one could use it .

You don't have to have a front facing camera for video chat.
Imagine you're talking to someone and see something cool. "Hey, check this out" / turn on video chat for a few seconds and point at whatever / turn video chat off.
As video chat becomes more and more popular, I bet that's what it'll be used for rather than looking at someone's face for 30 minutes.

Paul22000 said:
You don't have to have a front facing camera for video chat.
Imagine you're talking to someone and see something cool. "Hey, check this out" / turn on video chat for a few seconds and point at whatever / turn video chat off.
As video chat becomes more and more popular, I bet that's what it'll be used for rather than looking at someone's face for 30 minutes.
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It will be used to view females boobs for 3-5 minutes.
Thats why people want video chat..thats what theyll get.

I need a front facing camera. I need to make sure she is where she says she is lol!

UNICORN025 said:
Why doesn't Google implement video chat into Gtalk or Google voice? I think that would be the next logical step in the evolution of those two apps what do you guys here think?
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I certainly hope they do but I don't think they're in much of a hurry because alternative services like Fring and Skype already have it covered.
However [and this may be a little off the rails] I hope that MMS is high on their Google Voice priority list because people send me pictures and not only can I not see them, it doesn't even tell me that I got it. Very annoying.

Whats the point to use video chat to show someone something, just record a video and mms it. I don't think video chat will catch on anyways, its been tried before with landlines. People just don't like to be seen when talking on the phone. They wouldn't mind seeing you but they don't want to be seen. Plus I see schools getting pissy about new types of "sexting."

McFroger3 said:
Whats the point to use video chat to show someone something, just record a video and mms it. I don't think video chat will catch on anyways, its been tried before with landlines. People just don't like to be seen when talking on the phone. They wouldn't mind seeing you but they don't want to be seen. Plus I see schools getting pissy about new types of "sexting."
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for one its real time ,i won't have to open another app to send a mms, i can just point and show and im done.

I guess it's a question of time that Google will bless us with a full blown video app (mobile or not). The recent acquisition of Gips gives us a hint.
As voice and video is however only marginally close to Google's mission (and possibly, core competence) of making the world's information universally accessible, they are dragging their feet. And, they make internet-enabling all sorts of devices a priority.
But I can't wait for an integration of Google voice with gizmo5, which would make the talk/chat client more Skype-like.
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

Galecio Family said:
I need a front facing camera. I need to make sure she is where she says she is lol!
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Ya don't need the camera. Just sign her into google latitude or whatever's it is and become a friend of hers on your google latitude. Then use google maps to see her on The gps. That's what I do. I spy the **** outa my girl. Although I trust her I'm just not gonna be taken of fool of if the impossible happens..Lol

temperbad said:
Ya don't need the camera. Just sign her into google latitude or whatever's it is and become a friend of hers on your google latitude. Then use google maps to see her on The gps. That's what I do. I spy the **** outa my girl. Although I trust her I'm just not gonna be taken of fool of if the impossible happens..Lol
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Doesn't that only activate if she opens the Maps app?

Video chat should be made standard into android and smartphones in general. Its of great use for people that communicate thru sign language. I know it would help friends of mine and their families.
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1-star-reviews are bloody frustrating

ARGH!
It is so frustrating to code for Android, if people rate apps bad because they don't read the bloody description!
For example, I have an app that mutes the media volume (and does not do anything else!) and somebody complaints that my app doesn't do anything then showing the android volume popup.
Or people rate the medium version of Hack me if you can bad, because they can't solve it.
I guess most of them don't know, that 1-star reviews are really bad for us developers. And if it is a paid app, that also means less income!
But they don't think about it and just do it with one click.
I do understand, that the 1-star option is a must, especially if an app is not working and the developer doesn't response (I mean, that is why we enter an email address!), it is totally okay to give such a bad review.
But most people don't think about it. Best example is the WiiRemote Controller by ccp creations - either people complain that is not working on their phone (because the manufactor removed the functionallity) or because no Wii Games are included. I mean, WTF?
Sorry for spamming, but I think I am not the only one who is frustrated by that. Leave a comment if you want to

The ones I hate are the ones who ding an app because of "no apps to SD"...even if the bloody app is like 2Mb in size...a whole 2MB!!!
Sent from my Nexus S 4G

And if your app uses widgets, you simply can't move it to the SD - but you're right, I have seen a lot of these, too....

hmm.. not true, there are many widgets that works even when they are on SD
i got many of them running
To name a few Learn from Go Team, they have a lot of widgets that runs fine even when the App is installed on SD

An app that does nothing but mute volume is a waste of space and deserves a 1 star review IMO.
The Android market has enough junk in it and developers don't seem to care. That's why users barely pay attention anymore. Everyone assumes the worse.
I only have two ratings I use. 1 star and 5 star. Ive yet to meet this mythical flawless app. Paid apps tend to be buggier and less supported than free apps on android and WP7, actually, so people are much harsher towards them.
And do you serious expect me or anyone to hold a rating for an email response? Did you email those users and wait for responses from them before posting this topic?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

@AllGamer: Do you know how to achieve that? Because according to the Developer Guide this is not possible.
@N8ter: If you think it is a waste of space, well don't download it and don't rate it. For other people it is useful, in this case it mutes the media volume, which is normally not muted. So eg. you're sitting in a bus and don't want to annoy other people, you can mute your game sounds with one click.
Yes, you might find it not useful, but still 1-star ratings should be avoided at all costs (unless it is a buggy app AND the developer is not responding)

When developers stop bloating the marketplace with trash then the ratings will stop being so negative. People are frustrated. That's why they have such low attention spans.
Seriously an app to mute volume? You have to back out of your game to run the app, so it's not one click. It's a useless app and you're better off just depressing the volume rocker. Which accelerates and gets it done faster than backing out, tapping the icon, and going back into the app. I don't see any usability advantages to that.
You can publish why you want. But don't complain about the ratings.
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

N8ter said:
When developers stop bloating the marketplace with trash then the ratings will stop being so negative. People are frustrated. That's why they have such low attention spans.
Seriously an app to mute volume? You can do that with the volume rocker on most every phone without even unlocking the phone.
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
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Like I said, the media volume, that is not the ringer volume. But I don't want to discuss whether this app is useful or not, it is about the ratings.
And you can't say the WiiRemote app is not useful, but still people give it bad ratings. Same with the Hack me if you can app - people give bad ratings because they don't read the description (the first sentence is that people shouldn't download the app, if they don't know what adb, logcat etc means) and still I am gettings mails everyday asking me why this app asks for a serial -.-
/edit: No, you click on this app *before* you start the game.

That depends on why the app received those ratings. You're starting an apples and oranges comparison now.
If you expect them to not download because they don't know what adb means then why is it not published on xda instead of the android market.
Most phones have an option to vibrate when silenced so keeping the ringer on is useless. If you don't wan them hearing your game sounds you probably don't want them hearing your ringtones either. Hard to miss a call vibrate when the phone is in both your hands anyways. Games don't use the vibrator that much to miss the call (and it would pop up on the screen anyways).
Again, it's absolution to a non issue. That's why people call it useless. I've read a lot of the reviews.
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

As an educator and former support desk supervisor for a 1000 seat call center I believe those responding inappropriately to applications are immature and/or ignorant. The former is understandable but barely bearable and coupled with ignorance it makes for an unhappy experience for everyone else. I'm proposing a matrix for apps. and 15 or 20 associates from your ranks or readership to review apps if in fact this can be done at xda. Xda could conceivably be the stopping place for accurate reviews based on a matrix.

All devs care about ratings. Don't get me wrong. I just think your expectations are out of line. People will not wait for email responses before rating free apps, and since app markets let you edit ratings they will always rate low and raise the rating only if the app improves or becomes useful.
Low ratings for niche apps ensure that more broadly useful apps surface higher for that broader user base.
The fact that your volume app is low rates means its only useful to a very small number of people. The ratings simply reflect that.
Ratings reflect more than quality, they affect scope and usefulness as well. When you accept that, it will be less of an issue for you to swallow it.
Obviously you're new to this.
Example: the app that put ads in your notification bar would never have been fixed if people simply uninstalled and didn't rate or report it, or rated it highly because it worked well ads notwithstanding.
The problem is more the rating system than the ratings. A star system works better for your personal music library than an online app store, IMO.
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

mtd076 said:
As an educator and former support desk supervisor for a 1000 seat call center I believe those responding inappropriately to applications are immature and/or ignorant. The former is understandable but barely bearable and coupled with ignorance it makes for an unhappy experience for everyone else. I'm proposing a matrix for apps. and 15 or 20 associates from your ranks or readership to review apps if in fact this can be done at xda. Xda could conceivably be the stopping place for accurate reviews according to a matrix.
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That's useless because XDA readers are not a typical representation of the average consumer. All that data would be less than marginally useful IMO.
As an educator and support center supervisor you should know this (and how to paragraph).
The market reviews are doing the OP a favor by suggesting he should focus on other projects.
Sometimes obvious clues aren't so obvious, though. I'm sure Microsoft can still be selling the Kin, and Nokia can be trying to push Symbian in the US, among other things. After all, a few people did rate them 5 stars. Right.
Part of being a developer is knowing how to manage your obligations an knowing when it's time to drop something and move on. Crying about reviews can and likely will do nothing but harm your reputation as a dev (and attract more negative reviews, just to spite you in some cases).
It's not an easy thing to do, but it's part of the profession. Being an indie developer is hard as ****.
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

Well, it is not about the app, but about the ratings. And I absolutely agree with mtd076.
Btw n8ter, the Muter app has an avarange rating of 4.7 and the Hack me if you can app *was* on xda (even on the frontpage). So, this discussion is getting way too offtopic...

I told you I read some of the reviews and looked at the download numbers.
This thread is pops up every 6 months or so.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

LordLugard said:
The ones I hate are the ones who ding an app because of "no apps to SD"...even if the bloody app is like 2Mb in size...a whole 2MB!!!
Sent from my Nexus S 4G
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you have a Nexus S. which means you have 15 GB of storage, and no SD card. what you fail to realize is not everyone has your phone. a very large amount of phones have small on board storage, and so those users (did I say users? I mean app developer's CUSTOMERS) NEED the app 2 sd option. and no, we don't all have the option of a phone with lots of storage, and even if we do, some of those phones have other limiting factors that some of us consider even worse. the fact is, there really are no excuses left for those devs that still fail to offer their customers the app 2 sd option.the feature debuted with Froyo, around a year and a half ago. ironic to hear people complain about version fragmentation, yet havent yet supported a good feature that's over a year old.
some devs simply fail to understand the fact that not all customers are like them, and use the phone they use. and they fail to serve these customers. which hurts the dev's reputation, and sales. good devs learn from this mistake, and adapt their product accordingly for success. bad devs, instead, blame their customers for the problem and ignore it, quickly developing bad word of mouth (ratings).
I'm not usually a promoter of capitalism, but seriously, welcome to the free (Android) market, folks. success is what YOU make it.

A lot of mid ranged phones come with < 400mb device storage but support to 32 gb SD cards as well. Think of phones like the Aria, as well as people on older "high end" phones who haven't upgraded. Nexus Ones, for example. Lots.of high end HTC phones came with relatively little internal storage as well.
You can always package the widget independently like the catch notes development team does for those people.
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Falkner09 said:
some devs simply fail to understand the fact that not all customers are like them, and use the phone they use. and they fail to serve these customers. which hurts the dev's reputation, and sales. good devs learn from this mistake, and adapt their product accordingly for success. bad devs, instead, blame their customers for the problem and ignore it, quickly developing bad word of mouth (ratings).
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Completely agree. People will download your app for the sole reason of rating it down, and then uninstall without even opening it duebto bad word of mouth. This happens all the time with some popular apps... browsers. Launchers. Messaging clients. etc. All deal with that.
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N8ter said:
Completely agree. People will download your app for the sole reason of rating it down, and then uninstall without even opening it duebto bad word of mouth. This happens all the time with some popular apps... browsers. Launchers. Messaging clients. etc. All deal with that.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
that... isn't what I said at all. and I doubt any sizeable number of people are doing what you're saying. no one trolls the Market just for that reason. I was actually saying that bad word of mouth prevents people from downloading flawed apps, which is exactly how it's supposed to work.

I never said you said it. I said I agree with you and addes my own thought afterwards.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

Moved

Case similar to eyepatch? (privacy slider for cameras)

I tried searching google, amazon, and this forum. No dice.
Anyone heard of a case for note8 that is both decent and also has some kind of physical slider for the camera?
I've only found one online, and its only for junk iphones lol.
Figured I'd ask. Thanks!

This is more gay than everything else that has ever been gay before for a phone accessory. Just my 2 cents... :laugh:
Sent from my Galaxy Note 8 using XDA Labs

Dejan Sathanas said:
This is more gay than everything else that has ever been gay before for a phone accessory. Just my 2 cents... :laugh:
Sent from my Galaxy Note 8 using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Noted.
However, it is more gay having some fat dude spying on yourthrough your selfie cam unknowingly while you are getting dressed/naked.

cricketpaddleinmyhand said:
Noted.
However, it is more gay having some fat dude spying on yourthrough your selfie cam unknowingly while you are getting dressed/naked.
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If someone can see you through the phone's cameras, you have bigger issues then some fat dude seeing your junk.

I can't see any photos on this thread

Dejan Sathanas said:
This is more gay than everything else that has ever been gay before for a phone accessory. Just my 2 cents... [emoji23]
Sent from my Galaxy Note 8 using XDA Labs
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You need to be more in line with your verbiage. Gay is not a politically correct word to use these days. I'm thinking using the word " so hetro", as opposed to so gay. Thoughts?
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

That is actually a good idea. I don't see why case manufacturers don't include this in their case designs as it would add another layer of protection to camera sensor.

cricketpaddleinmyhand said:
Noted.
However, it is more gay having some fat dude spying on yourthrough your selfie cam unknowingly while you are getting dressed/naked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is absolutely no way, and I mean zero, someone could be looking at you through your selfie cam without you knowing.
Firstly, when the screen is off, the device cuts the feed to the camera. You can test this by using any number of apps that allow video calling and video call a friend using all of them and turn the screen off during the call. Your friend should report your video feed either freezing or going away entirely.
Secondly, and this is the most important one, the only way someone would be able to have access to your selfie cam is if you installed an app from some unknown source that grants someone access to use your selfie cam without your knowledge. And even then, you'd have to give the app permission to use the camera, first. Apps can't just start using your camera or your microphone without you knowing about it. They need explicit permission, first.
So, if this is a concern for you, go into all the apps in your app manager and turn off the camera permission for every app, except your camera. Or, hell, turn that off also, if you're scared Samsung is spying on you, like someone else on this forum is.
These devices aren't like Windows. You can't accidentally go onto a website and suddenly someone is using your webcam to look at you. Very nearly anything that happens on your device needs your explicit permission. They can't just take control of sensors or install apps willy-nilly without your knowledge.
Also, something someone said once about people sticking tape over their webcam on their laptops; let's say something like this actually happened. Your device is presumably laying on your desk or in your pocket for most of the day. So, for a good portion of the day, whomever is spying through your selfie cam will be looking at a ceiling or a dark pocket. The couple of times that you are using your device, all they'll be looking at is your face, looking at your screen. They can't see what you're doing or looking at, only your face. Why would someone want to hack your device just to look at your face for 5 minutes, a couple of times a day and look at the ceiling the rest of the day (this is assuming also they can access the camera while the device's screen is off, which they can't. So, essentially they'll be looking at a blank camera feed and staring at their monitor all day for that hopeful chance they'll catch you checking your email for 2 minutes, which won't help them anything, again, as all they'll see is your face and not what you're doing).
TL;DR
No need to be so paranoid about anyone spying on you. Trust me, your life isn't that interesting and the ceiling of your work place isn't either.

Max_Terrible said:
There is absolutely no way, and I mean zero, someone could be looking at you through your selfie cam without you knowing.
Firstly, when the screen is off, the device cuts the feed to the camera. You can test this by using any number of apps that allow video calling and video call a friend using all of them and turn the screen off during the call. Your friend should report your video feed either freezing or going away entirely.
Secondly, and this is the most important one, the only way someone would be able to have access to your selfie cam is if you installed an app from some unknown source that grants someone access to use your selfie cam without your knowledge. And even then, you'd have to give the app permission to use the camera, first. Apps can't just start using your camera or your microphone without you knowing about it. They need explicit permission, first.
So, if this is a concern for you, go into all the apps in your app manager and turn off the camera permission for every app, except your camera. Or, hell, turn that off also, if you're scared Samsung is spying on you, like someone else on this forum is.
These devices aren't like Windows. You can't accidentally go onto a website and suddenly someone is using your webcam to look at you. Very nearly anything that happens on your device needs your explicit permission. They can't just take control of sensors or install apps willy-nilly without your knowledge.
Also, something someone said once about people sticking tape over their webcam on their laptops; let's say something like this actually happened. Your device is presumably laying on your desk or in your pocket for most of the day. So, for a good portion of the day, whomever is spying through your selfie cam will be looking at a ceiling or a dark pocket. The couple of times that you are using your device, all they'll be looking at is your face, looking at your screen. They can't see what you're doing or looking at, only your face. Why would someone want to hack your device just to look at your face for 5 minutes, a couple of times a day and look at the ceiling the rest of the day (this is assuming also they can access the camera while the device's screen is off, which they can't. So, essentially they'll be looking at a blank camera feed and staring at their monitor all day for that hopeful chance they'll catch you checking your email for 2 minutes, which won't help them anything, again, as all they'll see is your face and not what you're doing).
TL;DR
No need to be so paranoid about anyone spying on you. Trust me, your life isn't that interesting and the ceiling of your work place isn't either.
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Click to collapse
And yet, my question still stands and I still am looking for a case like this.
Thanks for the reply and information sir.

But the question is why? Lol. If it was a major concern wouldn't you think case manufacturing companies would jump on the chance to make a quick buck off people's paranoia? They would be offering all sorts of microphone blockers, cameras covers, etc..

luisramon17 said:
But the question is why? Lol. If it was a major concern wouldn't you think case manufacturing companies would jump on the chance to make a quick buck off people's paranoia? They would be offering all sorts of microphone blockers, cameras covers, etc..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly this.

cricketpaddleinmyhand said:
And yet, my question still stands and I still am looking for a case like this.
Thanks for the reply and information sir.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just buy any case, cutout a piece of paper, paint it if you would like, stick upper side of the paper to the case and thats it.
Idc if some fat dude is watching me. I always leave my phone upside down and also i dont use dex station so no way of anyone seeing me.
Also go ahead and test it yourself, open a videocall in whatsapp, when you turn the screen of the feed will freeze. If you still dont want to leave it as is, try the method i gave, works everytime. Or simply you can 3d print a case for yourself.

All that noise. If can be done in any way it is being done. You public schooled parrots.

To those of you that state it cannot be done or you have nothing to worry about you are VERY wrong. It happens all the time and doesn't take much to be able to infiltrate someones personal phone and turn on the mic or any of the cameras and apps WITHOUT alerting the end user(Yes that means even if the screen is off). Its a fairly common practice, so much so that those in my line of work that take it seriously buy the Vysk QS1 Quantum Security Case. The Vysk takes it a step further and also encrypts your phone calls. Information security is no joke and is rampant in the corporate espionage world. What the OP is looking for is a basic version of the Vysk that only blocks the cameras I think that is a great move and you should too. If you do not congratulations you been dumbed down and made so docile that you believe the world is all rainbows and fairytales. lol OP if you cannot afford the Vysk do what I used to do and tape the cameras with a small dot of electrical tape. Also to you entrepreneurial types, there is a market for camera blocking phone cases. Get on it!!!!
---------- Post added at 11:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------
Also, OP forgot to mention there is a cheap alternative for the mic as well it's called Mic-Lock. There are also small webcam/phone cam sliders that are sold on Amazon just search webcam cover slider. And as another FYI your phone continues to gather data whether it is off or in airplane mode or not. The gyros and all the sensors are actually dialed up in when the phone is in airplane mode and caches all info recorded. As soon as it connects to a tower the cache is sent over to the servers. This is not science fiction or a conspiracy theory it is fact! Whether you choose to believe it or not. So much so that VIP's in many industries carry around portable dead boxes or what you would call a faraday cage to prevent information from exiting or entering the phone during closed-door meetings. You are right in worrying about your privacy OP as everyone should be....

Juice56 said:
blah blah blah smartphone conspiracy
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OK just for clarification, why get a bloody smartphone in the first place........ I mean the only vibe I get from your post is to never get a smartphone, actually even a cell phone might be exposing yourself to unwanted "privacy intrusion", actually scratch that, the internet is a big flaming heap of privacy intrusion...... I hear foil makes for an excellent Faraday cage

SteelPicori said:
OK just for clarification, why get a bloody smartphone in the first place........ I mean the only vibe I get from your post is to never get a smartphone, actually even a cell phone might be exposing yourself to unwanted "privacy intrusion", actually scratch that, the internet is a big flaming heap of privacy intrusion...... I hear foil makes for an excellent Faraday cage
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hahahaha always with the tin foil labels. Jest all you want brother but in my industry and many other information security is no joke. So much so that it has grown to 100 billion dollar A YEAR industry. The numbers and security methods do not lie. If it wasn't an issue I wouldn't have a job right now.
Don't take my word for it, do your own independent research or don't and trust the bought and paid publications of your choice. I cannot post links due to me just joining this forum but if you search "Forbes Information security growth" you will see the industry went from 75B a year in 2015 to 124B in 2019. Click the second search result to read the article. Educate yourself instead of throwing out labels when you know absolutely nothing about the topic.

Juice56 said:
Educate yourself instead of throwing out labels when you know absolutely nothing about the topic.
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Always interesting when this is thrown out, look I do not doubt that infosec is a big thing, not only on a commercial level but on a national level too, I am all too aware of how unguarded our national infrastructure is. There are without doubts individuals and organisations who can easily compromise any given assests in our possession.
It is a game is acceptable risk, that is, I do not believe myself to be a valuable enough target, that they might expose themselves to detection, just for a bunch of compromising media on me, I mitigate some of this risk by following smart internet usage and not leaving anything that maybe valuable on an expose attack surface.
So again I will ask, because you did not answer, why get a smartphone given how large of an attack surface such a device pose, or indeed even use the internet.

Juice56 said:
To those of you that state it cannot be done or you have nothing to worry about you are VERY wrong.
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Me, myself, am not too concerned about this. There is nothing, anyone can learn from hacking my camera or my mic. Firstly, they will notice my phone lays on my desk for a large part of the day and they will be staring at the ceiling, or the inside of my pocket. As far the mic is concerned, they'll only hear the radio station I prefer to listen to and sometimes the podcasts I listen to. As far as conversation, English isn't my native language, so they'll only hear me talking in a foreign language which they most likely won't understand, and even if they do, it will by and large be about my work, which is electrical repairs. I doubt them hearing me promising a client his board will be ready in 2 days, will be all that interesting.
Then of course, there is also the matter if they were happening to stream video or audio data from my device, I would notice very quickly, as my data bundles will run out very fast and I will notice the bandwidth traffic on my device, as I also have network traffic monitoring apps on my device so I can see which apps are the data hogs.
This is one thing conspiracy theorists never consider, is that it's not like in the movies where this information is streamed in real time with no means of noticing it. It would require an internet connection and needs to transfer large amounts of data. People on limited packages will notice their data running out very quickly, or if the person has a slow connection, they certainly won't be able to stream HD footage from a mobile device.
It might be possible to do the things you speak of, but it certainly won't be inconspicuous.

SteelPicori said:
So again I will ask, because you did not answer, why get a smartphone given how large of an attack surface such a device pose, or indeed even use the internet.
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Assumptions.... I personally have a dumb phone but I am required to have a smartphone for work which is always in its vysk case that was included due to my works security measures. They are pricey! So if you are looking to purchase one yourself be prepared to pay to play.

Juice56 said:
Assumptions.... I personally have a dumb phone but I am required to have a smartphone for work which is always in its vysk case that was included due to my works security measures. They are pricey! So if you are looking to purchase one yourself be prepared to pay to play.
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Never made any assumptions, just did not notice your recommendation to the OP to forego his smartphone and get a standard cell phone (which are by no means any less secure given that even modern feature phones also runs on some OS or other that probably can parse java applets). I always thought that infosec would be using phones similar to the blackphone and call it a day.

Question Video call quality

I've had this Pixel 7 for 2 days. I like just about everything about it but the image quality of the front facing camera in video calls is embarrassing. I've searched everywhere and aside from a handful of forum posts elsewhere on the internet I don't see many people talking about this. Some going as far back as a year + with older pixel devices.
The only place the front camera looks ok is in the default camera app. I mainly use Google meet for video calls but discord, Whatsapp and Skype all have the same issue.
Anyone else have this problem? Anyone know of a way to improve the video call quality? Is Google ever going to do anything about this?

goboslament said:
I've had this Pixel 7 for 2 days. I like just about everything about it but the image quality of the front facing camera in video calls is embarrassing. I've searched everywhere and aside from a handful of forum posts elsewhere on the internet I don't see many people talking about this. Some going as far back as a year + with older pixel devices.
The only place the front camera looks ok is in the default camera app. I mainly use Google meet for video calls but discord, Whatsapp and Skype all have the same issue.
Anyone else have this problem? Anyone know of a way to improve the video call quality? Is Google ever going to do anything about this?
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how do you know what your video call quality look like? have you ever thought that its your internet?

It has nothing to do with the internet. The preview itself looks awful. Composing video messages on meet looks awful. Not even just video messages. Go into Meet and try and send a photo message to someone. If anyone here has had a different experience I would appreciate if you would share a screenshot from within Meet. I'm attaching a screenshot from Meet and another from the camera app both previewing the front facing camera.

+1
My sister asked me if I switched to new phone (Google Pixel 7) when I made my first whatsapp call to her. She was shocked to hear when I told I switched from Poco F1 and this call was from the new phone.
I have not tried any other app, but the front facing video quality sucks without doubt.
Even the photos taken from front facing cam (barring bright outdoor daylight photos) are extremely poor. This has been confirmed by several known youtube channels who are known for comparative analysis.

mohan_168 said:
+1
My sister asked me if I switched to new phone (Google Pixel 7) when I made my first whatsapp call to her. She was shocked to hear when I told I switched from Poco F1 and this call was from the new phone.
I have not tried any other app, but the front facing video quality sucks without doubt.
Even the photos taken from front facing cam (barring bright outdoor daylight photos) are extremely poor. This has been confirmed by several known youtube channels who are known for comparative analysis.
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I tested out snapchat (an app I hadn't used in a very long time) and the image quality was so much better than in Meet. I'll be damned if I'm going to convince my family and friends to download snapchat after already convincing the iphone users in my life to install Duo just to talk to me with video.
Funny thing is Google is actively marketing right now with Snapchat to sell this phone. I keep seeing the ads on Twitter. Decent video calls in Meet are possible on this phone, they just have to make it happen.

I had a telehealth appointment for therapy yesterday and I couldn't believe how terrible my camera looked in the browser-based service they were using. This is on my Pixel 7 Pro.

I guess its all relative to what you consider as bad, I thought its good enough for goverment work...people I video call with havent complain
google likely wont do anything, its not a wide issue, or even an issue.

Vio281 said:
not a wide issue, or even an issue.
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Poor video quality on Google's video calling app on Google's current phone isn't an issue when the camera is capable of a much better image?

goboslament said:
Poor video quality on Google's video calling app on Google's current phone isn't an issue when the camera is capable of a much better image?
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yea but thats an opinion of a few...you expect a corporation to dedicate their time to you?
I havent seen this complaint anywhere else but here.

Vio281 said:
yea but thats an opinion of a few...you expect a corporation to dedicate their time to you?
I havent seen this complaint anywhere else but here.
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I must be asking too much for not wanting my video calls to look like I'm calling from a Gameboy. Meet looks better on the cheapest samsung phone. If this isn't making sense to you then feel free to read my previous replies again.

goboslament said:
I must be asking too much for not wanting my video calls to look like I'm calling from a Gameboy. Meet looks better on the cheapest samsung phone. If this isn't making sense to you then feel free to read my previous replies again.
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and I'm telling you, you are one of the few...google is not going to care what the few thinks.
If this was a problem, it would have been address a month ago.

Vio281 said:
and I'm telling you, you are one of the few...google is not going to care what the few thinks.
If this was a problem, it would have been address a month ago.
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But he's not one of the few... Google themselves says its a known issue which would indicate more than a few and worth ignoring... It is a standard problem and there are many threads on multiple sites related to it... People dont come here to have their issue downplayed...

For the naysayers, take 2 phone hand in hand and do a video call, preferably connected to the same wifi and check it out.
I used my spouse Redmi Note 9 and the image quality was way better than how Google pixel 7 projected.
Simple test, no harm done and you can review it yourself

mohan_168 said:
I used my spouse Redmi Note 9 and the image quality was way better than how Google pixel 7 projected.
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Vio281 said:
and I'm telling you, you are one of the few...google is not going to care what the few thinks.
If this was a problem, it would have been address a month ago.
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Go ahead and post your screenshots of Meet vs. the camera app, Vio. Let's see what "good enough" looks like on your $600+ phone.

goboslament said:
Go ahead and post your screenshots of Meet vs. the camera app, Vio. Let's see what "good enough" looks like on your $600+ phone.
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and what does that prove? I'm not disapproving your point of view...like I said, there are far and few in between, none of the major reviewer has confirm your account so why would google care what you think?

Is it good?

Add1191 said:
Is it good?
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I like the phone. I don't have any complaints besides Google's poor image quality in their Meet app. And, you know, I'm still not over the lack of an SD card but that's just me. It's a good android phone for the money, with some cool features.
Vio281 said:
and what does that prove? I'm not disapproving your point of view...like I said, there are far and few in between, none of the major reviewer has confirm your account so why would google care what you think?
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This guy not a major reviewer?

UPDATE: It looks like Discord fixed theirs in a recent update. Either I'm misremembering how bad Discord looked or they fixed it. Google Meet's image quality still stinks on Pixel 7.

Definitely a better experience on Discord now. Video call quality with Google Meet on Pixel 7 is still poor. Here's some screenshots for comparison.

goboslament said:
I like the phone. I don't have any complaints besides Google's poor image quality in their Meet app. And, you know, I'm still not over the lack of an SD card but that's just me. It's a good android phone for the money, with some cool features.
This guy not a major reviewer?
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where exactly in the video are you referring to? hes comparing the video call from iPhone 14, not necessarily saying anything wrong with the camera.