Z3 Compact Security Issues / Stagefright - Xperia Z3 Compact Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

A few days ago, I started getting random apparently blank MMS messages from unknown urls in Hangouts. Looks like my phone / number is being targeted by someone trying to leverage one of the recent Stagefright vulnerabilities. I've got auto-downloading of MMS messages disabled in Hangouts and the stock Sony Messaging client, so probably (?) no immediate danger. But I am only on the last Kit Kat rom because I've been bitten before by abysmally bad battery life in Lollipop.
So options...
5..1.1 - sounds like battery life is better now than it was originally in LP. Can anyone verify that all the Stagefright vulnerabilities are even fixed in the latest for the Z3c? I have a Z1C test phone around the office here, and last I checked its latest 5.1.1 rom did not resolve all of those issues.
6.0 Concept - looks promising....but early MM wasn't immune to Stagefright problems either. Can anyone check if whatever anyone not part of the early program can install is free of this vulnerability?
Unfortunately, I need to run a secure app platform / email app for work, which means that I can't root or run xposed - stock roms only.

johdaxx said:
A few days ago, I started getting random apparently blank MMS messages from unknown urls in Hangouts. Looks like my phone / number is being targeted by someone trying to leverage one of the recent Stagefright vulnerabilities. I've got auto-downloading of MMS messages disabled in Hangouts and the stock Sony Messaging client, so probably (?) no immediate danger. But I am only on the last Kit Kat rom because I've been bitten before by abysmally bad battery life in Lollipop.
So options...
5..1.1 - sounds like battery life is better now than it was originally in LP. Can anyone verify that all the Stagefright vulnerabilities are even fixed in the latest for the Z3c? I have a Z1C test phone around the office here, and last I checked its latest 5.1.1 rom did not resolve all of those issues.
6.0 Concept - looks promising....but early MM wasn't immune to Stagefright problems either. Can anyone check if whatever anyone not part of the early program can install is free of this vulnerability?
Unfortunately, I need to run a secure app platform / email app for work, which means that I can't root or run xposed - stock roms only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The whole stagefright vulnerability affects a huge percentage of devices running LP, while Android has claimed to have "fixed" most of the vulnerabilities some still remain in 5.1 but they are really not that impactful when it comes to using the phone.
With regards to security, you are never really "safe". The very fact you download apps like Facebook or Youtube already makes your internet life an open book, probably right now your phone sends anonymous data to Sony at set intervals.

True enough - no phone anyone really wants to hack into is 100% secure, and the more popular, the more they're going to be targeted. Specifically, I was wondering if anyone had run this tool:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zimperium.stagefrightdetector
on either 5.1.1 or 6.0 Concept? I have access to a few different phones that pass all these checks, but several that don't. The standard 4.4.4 on the Z3c fails all but one. A small comfort - but figured it was worth checking.
As for PI leakage, true, but different issue. I'm personally much happier with Google's methods where we have a dashboard that shows what information they're slurping up by the second, than others (like many manufacturers) that bury it in a massive T&C. We at least have some control over that vs. exposure to these security holes.

Related

Slow exchange mail froyo.xxjpo

Hi all,
Last week i flashed my i9000 with the froyo jpo build, since doing this my exchange mail is so slow. When i open the email program now my phone hangs, eventually it comes back to life but i still cannot navigate the email. The scrolling stills and i almost never get emails to open.
Is this a known bug; and is there a fix?
Vince
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
It's a known Froyo problem with exchange accounts, only a lagfix will fix it.
Also, set the exchange account to "Push" to prevent a wake-lock which drains the battery
Can you advise me on how I can root froyo, it seems that all the methods and apps I have found are only for 2.1!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I have come across your message via google and have almost thrown away my galaxy mainly because of this terrible performance. I used to do my mail via my iPod touch 2nd generation which still outperforms even as 'old device' the galaxy. I updated 2 weeks ago via Samsung Kies after long waiting and tracking the news about the foreseen froyo performance benefits. However, apart from people mentioning Touchdown or K9 as alternative for (corporate) email, it 's still unclear to me how to solve this specific issue other then using the Galaxy as mobile accesspoint for my iPod touch. A bit stupid for such a device.
Besides this, after the update I loose icons like nu.nl on my homescreen after rebooting for sure but also without..
I would love if we can get directions how to solve this in a way that I do not 'blow up' my device. Yes, I have read - not done yet - about Odin, unrooting etc. but I, like akaVintz, need a more 'proven solution guide' because the lack of experience in the Android environment.
On 2.1 I used to have and Exchange and a pop3 email account set up and all worked fine.
When I updated to 2.2 the whole mail client became very very slow and many times it used to hang and many cases it would force close the email app. I simply did a factory reset and this corrected all the issues. I didn't really loose anything as my contacts etc etc are syncd with exchange I just had to download and reinstall some apps
I to have done the factory reset, like you say it's not really a problem when all your contacts are in exchange, it just doesn't seem to of cured the slowness. I really just want to apply what ever I need to sort the lag out on 2.2. Everything I have found refers only to 2.1.i have downloaded apps and they won't work for me. Please help...¿
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Maybe is a service relating to a third party app that might be causing it. Do a bit of trial and error stopping and restarting services. I found one of my ip widgets was causing a lot of slow down once removed I got back to 2.1 speed.
Email performance 6 weeks later Galaxy S 2.2
As suggested I did a factory reset and it looked this corrected the mail performance issues. Having added only a few apps in the meantime (and moved to external SD card where possible), and killed any widget on the main screens I again suffer from lags (force kill email) and Android BSD instead of windows BSD. Difference is Black and Blue. Having Black Screens of Death in 2011 is not very user friendly. Reading further about something like z4root etc. makes me feel like switching to the IPhone or giving it a change. No idea of the email works better then. Apart from that, comparing my 2,5 years old ipod touch email app which does HTMl flawless with this Android 2.2 exchange client is like Apple was already 5 years ahead a that time. Anyway, it does not perform at all, did a side by side test with a HTC desire which theoratically should have been slower....but not....drives me to the last option of rooting. But wich one? So to start the weekend I hope some can share their (rooting) experience giving my Android experiences with email.
Just rooting won't make Exchange email any better. Flashing a newer ROM (which will bring root in the process) will. JPO is considerd an old ROM by now. We are at JPY by now, which is a lot better, lagfixes are no longer needed to have a fast Galaxy.
Flashing is really simple with Odin, just make sure you can get into download mode before attempting flashing and there is almost no way to mess up your Galaxy S for good. All original ROMs are available at samfirmwares.com, i suggest to read up on there, or read the Android Development subforum (which can be intimidating i admit)
I am uncertain if JPY have any improvements on this but I encounter the same problem in a stock I9000 ROM
- Click on the exchange inbox, took 3 minutes to go to the list of email
- Click on email , took 3-4 minutes and you may see the email or the email application will crash.
I was super frustrated by it as it a company mail system that I rely on, so I root the phone and get lagfix... currently with around 108 mails in inbox...opening every mail is a breeze, also facebook and android market load much faster too.
I am using a I9000ZSJPE s.w as its a Hong Kong Rom
Much better email performance with JS3 the dutch jpy update
Yesterday i flashed with odin to this samsung pre-released stock update after installing the 3 button recovery/download fix. The performance increase is indeed extreme good and to my surprise the email client suddenly supports html to a degree i can live with now. i cite someone who wrote that obviously samsung released a great piece of hardware but to early for delivering good software. anyway i really can recommend this version 2.2.1 after a lot of frustration.

A list of features that lacks in Windows phone 8

Hi everybody, I would like to make a list of those features that lacks on windows phone, even if we are only at very early stages, maybe with the arrive of unlocks some of them could be added, in future..If you have any suggestions I can edit the list
P.S. I consider the GDR3 improvements alredy achieved (like a decent task manager, FM radio..)
-A FILE MANAGER
(yeah, I know that on the market already exists something, but they are definetly FAR from a real file manager. Anyway nokia/microsoft said that in the next months would come out http://www.tuttowindowsphone.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/nokia-lumia-file-manager.jpg , we will see..)
-FLASH PLAYER
(on windows RT exists and works, as in future the WP8 kernel would be almost the same of WinRT, probably we will se it..or at least I hope so)
-LIVE TILE TOOGLE
(Right now we have only shortcuts to settings, would be more useful if the live tile would act directly as a toogle. Maybe someone will give it an attempt :fingers-crossed: )
-A NOTIFICATION LED
(some phones does have the windows logo acting as a led, BUT it works only to notify some battery status (a bit useless..). If it should be used as a proper notification led would be amazing..or at least the camera flashlight could be used for that (ok, this is a desperate suggestion LoL)
-COSTUMIZABLE RINGTONES AND ALERTS RELATED TO THE APP
(A different sound for whatsapp, sms and e-mail. I personally use the phone at 90% in vibration/silent mode, But I know that it could be useful)
-A CUSTOMIZABLE LOCKSCREEN
(I mean lock-patterns and some other useful features..I mean, windows phone 8 lockscreen can be used better, you know..)
-A QUICK WAY TO MANUALLY ADJUST SCREEN BRIGHTNESS
Sometimes the Authomatic sensors don't work well and is necessary to switch the brightness manually.
-A BETTER PUSH NOTIFICATIONS MANAGEMENT (thank's to @Life'sGood for reporting and to @GoodDayToDie for explainations)
Sometimes are delayed
This really belongs in General; it is neither a question (or answer) nor related to troubleshooting.
With that said...
The only thing really standing in the way of an on-device file browser is the need for somebody to write it, but that doesn't mean it'll be worth much to do so right now; until I or somebody else gets more permissions working (ideally, all of them), the amount of the file system which is readable (never mind writable) is extremely small from an app's perspective. To get an idea of what I mean, take a look at my Webserver Native Access app - the all-capabilities version, if you have a Samsung phone - and see for yourself just how little of the system is accessible.
Even completely leaving aside the permissions issue (ha!), Flash player support is somewhat unlikely. First of all, it struggles a little even on the Surface RT, which has nearly twice the CPU power of any WP8 model right now (GDR3 opens the path for quad-core WP devices, but they aren't here yet). Second, the kernel may be the same but the user-space libraries are not; a lot of system components that Flashplayer depends on are probably missing from WP8.
Believe me, such toggles have been attempted, and they will go on being attempted. It'll happen eventually...
Some phones actually have a notification LED, even. There are (unofficial) APIs that could probably be used to control it, too... I wouldn't hold your breath on this one, though. In any case, you won't get colors unless there's actual multiple color elements there to work with; the best you could di is different flash/fade patterns.
Update 3 (GDR3) brings some additional controls over notifications. However, I believe you're right that they still don't offer per-app sounds (though you can set the sound for apps, as a class, I think).
Lock patterns are pretty darn weak and easy to break, but in general I agree with the concept of having more control over the lock screen, and additional features.
Not a problem that I've had, but I can see how it could be. This probably falls under the toggle tiles request, actually; have the ability to create tiles that increase or decrese the brightness.
Sorry for the bad section, I was looking at the same moment at general section and at Q&A and I chose the wrong browser tab, my fault (don't know how to change section)
Anyway thank you for the reply I think that the main problem for indipendent developers is time, because every 18 months windows stops the support on the actual OS and switches to another new (WP8 support is planned to be killed in july 2014, after that it will be an update to extend "phone life" of 6 months, in total: 2 years). After that date will come out another OS but nobody knows if it will be "similar" to WP8 or something totally different (probably the latter option)..and everything probably would start from the scratch. I think that all the OSs producers are making BIG efforts to make you change phones after exately two years LoL
P.S. When I talk about brightness control, I can't figure out how a live tile could directly make it (swiping on it?), it can only turn on/off. My idea was that could be useful something like a swipe on the status bar on the top of the screen, like cyanogenmod does (I don't want to compare android to windows because they are totally a different concept, so I generally don't want to mention functions present in other OSs that could be ported, IMHO it's quite useless thinking in this way.) but I suppose that this is quite impossible on a programmative side :s
You'd have two (small) tiles for brightness control, one to increase and the other to decrease. It would be a little messy and would need to go in significant steps, but it's possible.
I think it's not a bad idea I've just found out that on offical WP8 site exists a section dedicated at suggestions about features to add to windows phone, and many pepole voted on that site..but Microsoft NEVER listened to them LoL probably the task manager improvement in GDR3 will be the first feature accepted by Microsoft from that lists. Anyway the requests on the officiale site are quite the same on my post (file manager is STRONGLY requested)..nobody is asking for flash player or for led notification (quite strange IMHO but that's it).
P.s. any idea about how to reach bootloader (I'm talking about ativ s)? I suppose that with a simple boot is impossible, even pressing a combination of buttons will not work..
There have been multiple items implemented from uservoice, although the custom SMS tones and application closing are certainly notable for having been long-requested and taking until now to be provided.
No idea on the bootloader. I haven't been looking for it in particular, though; not my area of interest.
Technically, you can implement a media stream source to support flash (i believe there is one already on the interwebz).
However, flash is really not meant for mobile devices (which is why very few mobile OSes support flash out of the box), because it wasn't intended to be used on devices with such low computing power. So even if you were to have a flash player, you wouldn't be able to do much with it until your battery drops dead or your phone starts turning into plastic(or aluminum in some cases) soup.
There is also an increasing abuse of flash advertisement all over the internet (which is bad from many points of view), which hurt mobile internet browsing quite a lot on devices with flash support. I just wish google & adobe would stop supporting this dark ages format and move on to HTML 5
Yeah but..just to make a famous example, look at youtube. Many videos are locked down for mobile devices. Combining a flash player and a browser that supports desktop as user agent, you can go beyond this limit. Ok, the result is that it works quite bad, but at least it works..
gigsaw said:
Yeah but..just to make a famous example, look at youtube. Many videos are locked down for mobile devices. Combining a flash player and a browser that supports desktop as user agent, you can go beyond this limit. Ok, the result is that it works quite bad, but at least it works..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that the format (flash) is the problem here, you can always watch these videos with an unofficial app, like Metrotube or Tunetube. And I doubt they use some kind of flash player, it's just not allowed on mobile devices by the uploader/youtube I think.
To the OP, what do you mean with "features that lacks in Windows phone 8", something MS should fix or hackers should provide as features? Because a file manager would completely be against windows phone's locked OS, every app is sandboxed and can't access other app's storage, which has its reasons for security. A file manager will never be possible, except for th case they change the whole OS. On iOS, it's pretty much the same, and with a jailbreak you get a file manager (if you want to). And you can brick the whole system, can make apps crash or even modify them, which would cause a lot of trouble for Microsoft.
I have to try those unofficial apps, I've never considered to use them Regarding the lacking of features I mean that with a system well locked down like WP8 is, I think that microsoft should put more effort to provide some features that nowdays are considered basic (you know, a notification led is useful and doesn't require any particular effort from microsoft or manufacters. Even (real) toogglers are essential but they are not in here..don't know why ) Of course I understand that not all the features can be provided by microsoft due to security reasons, and here comes developers' work
P.S. regarding file manager I suppose that, if it will would ever come out, would have been thanks to developers, but as I said in OP, nokia probably would provide it. Don't know if it's true, but let's see what comes next! Some hours ago at Abu Dhabi, at lumia phablet presentation, came encouraging signals to encrease the number of the apps for windows phone. Ok, it doesn't mean anything and Personally I don't use instagram but more apps means more people that will adopt WP8..and more people will call more developers (hopefully) and micosoft ecosystem would finally start (even if there's to solve the "problem" of Windows RT/Windows Phone, first).
As you said even iOS is closed-source but (even if I don't like making comparisons between OSs because they aren't meant to work in the same way) I think that the interest in that platfom made possible to create the powerful mobile substrate, to make even heavy modifications to the system.
But even without moddings, I mean..iOS now has quite al the essential features that a phone requires (quick and real toogglers, a camera flash that tries to act as a notification led..ok, not a file manager but it has a download folder, a quite "useful" lockscreen, battery percentage..), so IMHO is quite usable out of the box because apple now provides many of the basic features expected to be on a phone. So I think that for apple devices jailbreaking is not as necessary as was in the past. WP8 on the contrary strongly needs a jailbreak because is not a fully mature OS..
ANOTHER FEATURE THAT LACKS (IMHO): the new versions of office are not as useful as office 2010 in windows mobile. Who remembers WM, office 2010 was so similar at the desktop version (even fonts could be changed and added!!!)..but since then, the most part of features disappeared, so office mobile stopped being as useful as it was before for business people nobody will care about that (developers can't do anything for this, and microsoft will never provide those features..but I miss it. So I didn't put this in the list because it's more a "personal" thing.
And I was thinking that even a windows phone with the stylus would be useful especially with one note, that on PCs and tablets is ready to be used with a stylus and I found this fantastic. But even this is a "personal" desire that will never come LoL
::facepalm::
snickler said:
::facepalm::
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why? I don't think I'm that wrong, there's no real possibility to have a fully featured file manager on WP, is it?
th0mas96 said:
Why? I don't think I'm that wrong, there's no real possibility to have a fully featured file manager on WP, is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my inner eyes i see next user/professional developer asking if there was a patch to adjust screen brightness to personal needs in more than just the dictated three steps.
Answer: Buy an other phone or program your own OS.
A very simple feature is missing, App update notifications from Store.
WP8 now doesn't seems to be telling me when the apps on my phone has been updated unless I went to look for them. Its only then that the tile shows 1 update available. HELLO???!!!
So that means I have to list out the apps I've downloaded and look for each and every single one of their updates?
How can Microsoft and OP miss this one out?
And my clock isn't synced even if I set it to auto, sometimes it jumps AM/PM or even months!
Life'sGood said:
A very simple feature is missing, App update notifications from Store.
WP8 now doesn't seems to be telling me when the apps on my phone has been updated unless I went to look for them. Its only then that the tile shows 1 update available. HELLO???!!!
So that means I have to list out the apps I've downloaded and look for each and every single one of their updates?
How can Microsoft and OP miss this one out?
And my clock isn't synced even if I set it to auto, sometimes it jumps AM/PM or even months!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Added in OP
@Life'sGood and @gigsaw: That's a problem with your phone, not the OS as a whole. I guarantee you that WP8 fully supports app update notifications and clock sync. If yours doesn't, that's a problem with your phone, specifically. Blaming Microsoft for it is nonsense and won't help you fix the problem.
Now, as for fixing the problem... do you have an active SIM card in the phone? If so, does it have a data connection? That's most logical reason I can think of for the app update notifications to not appear; no connectivity when the phone tries to check. The clock can sync off the towers as well (also needs a SIM, I suspect) but it can also sync off GPS satellites (which have extraordinarily accurate clocks, and broadcast time signals that anything with a GPS receiver can pick up even if it can't get an accurate locations fix).
The most likely solution, honestly, is to hard-reset your phone. You might want to call support or take the phone in to a Microsoft store or something first, though; hard-reset will wipe the data (though that's most likely what they'll tell you to do anyhow).
GoodDayToDie said:
@Life'sGood and @gigsaw: That's a problem with your phone, not the OS as a whole. I guarantee you that WP8 fully supports app update notifications and clock sync. If yours doesn't, that's a problem with your phone, specifically. Blaming Microsoft for it is nonsense and won't help you fix the problem.
Now, as for fixing the problem... do you have an active SIM card in the phone? If so, does it have a data connection? That's most logical reason I can think of for the app update notifications to not appear; no connectivity when the phone tries to check. The clock can sync off the towers as well (also needs a SIM, I suspect) but it can also sync off GPS satellites (which have extraordinarily accurate clocks, and broadcast time signals that anything with a GPS receiver can pick up even if it can't get an accurate locations fix).
The most likely solution, honestly, is to hard-reset your phone. You might want to call support or take the phone in to a Microsoft store or something first, though; hard-reset will wipe the data (though that's most likely what they'll tell you to do anyhow).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please let me explain why I though it was microsoft's fault: I had an WP7 with a different SIM (but same phone number) and those problems were there for almost Every app I had to update and clock often changed hour. After that I had an Android, at least with date and time no problem..with store of course I can't say after a year of android I switched back to WP8 and the market/time problems happened only a couple of times..but I thought that was something wrong in my phone because here on xda nobody has never talked about it. But I notoced that even whatsapp sometimes misses or delays some notifications with wp8 (with android never happened), and, at least in my country, this is a common problem with many users that complain abouth that, so at least for whatsapp I'm sure it's not my problem. I contacted the support of whatsapp and they said to me, if I remember well, that whatsapp notifications pass trough Microsoft servers, so in their opinion the fault of this problem was microsoft's. So I was thinking that even the other problems are related with Microsoft server's sync..so when another user said to have almost same problem As mine (but As I said, with WP8 happened to me only a couple of times, I don't know if other user has those problems more often), I convinced myself about my theory LoL of course I can imagine I am totally wrong because I don't know how those syncs works and if they work alla in the same way..what do you think about it? Before re-editing the OP I wanted to explain to you the whole situaton because you have for sure better knowledge about that
Push notifications for apps are completely different from update notifications. The latter are polled for, by the OS, at pre-determined times and without the app in question being involved at all; you'll get the update notifications even if you've never run it.
That said, push notifications on WP (7 or 8) are not as quick or reliable as on Android, it's true. The battery impact of push-using apps is lower, though.
Thank's, anyway I will hard reset my device. I have just realized right now that if the glance screen could be ported in future on other devices, a led notification becomes useless (of course, I don't know what is the battery impact on an AMOLED screen..and it's VERY important)
GoodDayToDie said:
@Life'sGood and @gigsaw: That's a problem with your phone, not the OS as a whole. I guarantee you that WP8 fully supports app update notifications and clock sync. If yours doesn't, that's a problem with your phone, specifically. Blaming Microsoft for it is nonsense and won't help you fix the problem.
Now, as for fixing the problem... do you have an active SIM card in the phone? If so, does it have a data connection? That's most logical reason I can think of for the app update notifications to not appear; no connectivity when the phone tries to check. The clock can sync off the towers as well (also needs a SIM, I suspect) but it can also sync off GPS satellites (which have extraordinarily accurate clocks, and broadcast time signals that anything with a GPS receiver can pick up even if it can't get an accurate locations fix).
The most likely solution, honestly, is to hard-reset your phone. You might want to call support or take the phone in to a Microsoft store or something first, though; hard-reset will wipe the data (though that's most likely what they'll tell you to do anyhow).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
afaik i'm not seeing these features. I did a hard reset but I've yet to see the Nokia Camera, network+ (call filter) update.
I googled and found out this is a system wide issue with almost everybody having this issue. So does a half f'ed apple still counted as an apple?
App update notification this feature is simply not available.
I have a SIM and data connection for my 1020, on Wifi most of the time. Clock doesn't sync at all neither.

[Q] switching from android to windows phone

Looking at the Nokia 640 on metro PCs , what are you guys opinions on this phone?I had a Nokia 521 quiet awhile back but switched to android because of the lack of SD card use back then.
I can't speak to MetroPCS as a carrier, but the 640 is a great phone for its price. The biggest problem with it is the same problem every WP device will have - there aren't as many apps available for the platform as there are for Android and iOS (although there are a bunch nonetheless, and more every day) - but the phone itself is quite good unless you need high-end specs for some reason. The OS runs very smoothly on it. Also, it's upgradable to Windows 10 Mobile (yes, Microsoft changed the branding on their phone OS *again*...), so you've got a reasonably future-proof design and it'll even be able to run at least some Android apps in the future.
In my opinion windows phones are always better and safe than android phones. You can also read about technology public relations.
Play Apps?
GoodDayToDie said:
I can't speak to MetroPCS as a carrier, but the 640 is a great phone for its price. The biggest problem with it is the same problem every WP device will have - there aren't as many apps available for the platform as there are for Android and iOS (although there are a bunch nonetheless, and more every day) - but the phone itself is quite good unless you need high-end specs for some reason. The OS runs very smoothly on it. Also, it's upgradable to Windows 10 Mobile (yes, Microsoft changed the branding on their phone OS *again*...), so you've got a reasonably future-proof design and it'll even be able to run at least some Android apps in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where are these claims about Android apps to WP coming from? Isn't it still a rumour?
I can't seem to find any official substanciated news about this...
As I understand it MS currently have two problems regarding the app-gap;
1) if they open WP to Play-apps, then they risk losing interest from dev's to continue making apps specifically to WP, making WP more or less another version of Android.
2) making dev's keen on making apps for a third platform, which isn't futureproof yet (even tho it's been around for long enough). This "solution" will make WP it's own and keep MS in the mobilemarket as an real and actual alternative to the established platforms.
What is sure and what are rumours?
M
Metalbuddhist said:
Where are these claims about Android apps to WP coming from? Isn't it still a rumour?
I can't seem to find any official substanciated news about this...
As I understand it MS currently have two problems regarding the app-gap;
1) if they open WP to Play-apps, then they risk losing interest from dev's to continue making apps specifically to WP, making WP more or less another version of Android.
2) making dev's keen on making apps for a third platform, which isn't futureproof yet (even tho it's been around for long enough). This "solution" will make WP it's own and keep MS in the mobilemarket as an real and actual alternative to the established platforms.
What is sure and what are rumours?
M
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They will not enable android apps to run directly on the phone like in an emulator, they developed a tool so android developers can recompile their existing app code so it can be used in windows, see the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qgajY4An1I
I'm really looking forward to making the switch from Android. I've always been a Windows PC enthusiast, and Windows 10 is shaping up nicely.
So, a phone to match will be nice. As for apps for phones, I hardly use any nowadays.
The biggest disadvantage of WP is the low market share of under 10% .
This means that most of the useful apps or games will not be available to WP.
But if as you say you dont use apps and you like the windows style you should go for it!
My experience switching over
I picked up a 640 on T-Mobile the other day as a new "daily driver" - my S4 went swimming once upon a time and reception was never quite the same after that, and I've been thinking about app development and the possible advantages of being a bigger fish in a smaller pond - particularly if MS manages to be successful going forward with Windows Phone. I'm sure I won't have anything available by the time Windows 10 Mobile comes out, so I'm not sure how that's going to work out in the end - perhaps Android development would be a better choice after all? But my experience with the phone overall hasn't been bad so far, particularly not for $100.
The one thing that I hate about the phone is that I can't put it on WiFi at home - something about the WiFi config puts it into a boot loop when it tries to kick in the voice over WiFi piece. Seems like it's similar to the "no iOS zone" problem that turned up for Apple back in April, except that since (relatively) nobody is using Windows Phone nobody really cares. The "fix" recommended is "reset your router to factory defaults" which might be an issue since I'm running OpenWRT..... I'm thinking about putting the Windows 10 preview on so this may go away - even if it's only due to lack of support for T-Mobile's WiFi calling. At least I have LTE coverage in most of my house and an "unlimited" data plan.
The main thing I'm really missing is browser choice - I REALLY miss having Firefox and Dolphin, because I do a lot of long-form reading in my browser and the readability view in FF is much more usable. LastPass in Dolphin is also nice to have, though it never worked for me in Firefox. I'm also missing the addon ecosystems of both browsers. Surfy is at least a nice addition, but browsers on WP seem to be at least 2-3 years behind what's on Android. Both IE and Surfy "feel" kind of like the built-in browser in Gingerbread (2.3) or maybe in the early days of Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) before Google started pushing Chrome as the default browser. Having relatively weak browser(s) is a problem because with the lack of apps at least I can use mobile websites..... when they don't simply crash out the IE tab/window/whatever since it's not a tabbed or windowed interface.
I'm also hoping that Pocket Casts will work correctly for me after their next update (currently it hangs if I turn on sync to pull in my podcasts, then dies on app startup), but I'll survive for a while. I'm also feeling the lack of good ebook readers, I've been spoiled by Cool Reader and Moon+ Reader Pro on the Android side.
The only things besides browsers that I'm really missing:
Things tied in with Google's ecosystem - I use Google Voice for my voicemail, I've been using Location History for a long time to help me track when I arrive at and leave customer locations, and there's a group of us that uses Google Hangouts for group chat. I can get Voice notifications in email with the transcriptions then listen to the messages via URL. The Location History bit I may be able to replace with Phone Tracker, but I'm not sure what to do about Hangouts yet.
Replacement keyboards! I've been a big Swiftkey user for years and would love to have it back even without the voice recognition link (which launches Google's service). I hate having to do 4-6 extra keystrokes to enter passwords because of the switches to get to numbers/punctuation and extended punctuation (via the numbers page). There are places where Hacker's Keyboard (a much more full keyboard nice for terminal emulations) was also nice to have.
A GOOD text editor (e.g. DroidEdit which has syntax highlighting, etc.) or really even an adequate text editor. Maybe a mediocre one? Please? I've seen mention of Code Editor but was unimpressed by the "Free" version (first thing it does is throw you to the store page for the paid version, free version can't even see the "advanced" editor that's the only reason to actually consider it). The only other option that at least looks good in screenshots ("HTML+JS+CSS IDE") hasn't been updated since 2013 and has a total of 3 reviews - and the two with text are both 1-star.
CallTrack (which adds all of my phone calls to my Google Calendar, tagged appropriately and with start and end times) and SMS Backup (which uploads my sent/received SMS to GMail, tagged appropriately). CallTrack is great for going back and "Who did I talk to that day?" and SMS Backup is great for tracking down things received in old messages. I WILL be working on finding replacements for these.
And a few less-important things that I can either do without or still need to find replacements for:
My auto mileage/service tracking app - if there's something comparable to aCar then I haven't seen it yet.
OpenVPN, though the VPN service I use allows IPSEC as well so I'll need to set that up.
Lyft, though I've not actually needed to use it. I know Uber's on there, I just like what I know of Lyft better (and there's one area where my wife may need it that's on the edge of the areas for both but Lyft covers it and Uber doesn't).
KeePass - I believe I saw one implementation in the Store, but I'd want to check into the background of it given the number of scam apps I've come across.
@fencepost: Good list of stuff, there. I don't really have a good solution to much of it - I mean, Microsoft has alternatives to a lot of Google's stuff, but they are mutually incompatible so everybody you hang out with would need to switch too - but those are some good problems to list. The problem with WiFi calling is probably a T-Mobile bug, sadly; I don't have it myself but WiFi Calling on WP8.x isn't really as good as it could be. My biggest personal complaint with WiFi is that the OS is too damn desperate to stay on (unusably weak) WiFi signals even when it has cellular data; if I'm actively using my phone when I leave the apartment (for example, checking a bus schedule) it's faster to manually disable WiFi than to rely on the phone to notice that the WiFi signal is much too weak to use and fail over to cellular. Ideally I'd be able to tell the phone to use cellular by *default* and only use WiFi for stuff that it can't get ont he WAN (LAN servers, etc.), but the OS wasn't really designed to provide an optimal experience for people with unlimited data plans.
The custom keyboard thing may be fixable soon - at least, I really hope so - but for now it is indeed a problem. WP8.1 has the best *built-in* keyboard of the three leading mobile OSes, IMO, but it's not better than all the Android options.
As for a text editor, I generally avoid writing anything longer than notes or minor document edits (or emails, but usually only plain text) on the phone, so I haven't really looked. You might be able to use SSH or Remote Desktop, though; there's a number of decent apps for each (including a MS-authored one for RDP) and with unlimited data they should work. You may even find them more useful than a local editor. It might be worth setting up a Remote App server (so you'd *just* get an editor, rather than a whole desktop) for this.
OpenVPN *should* be possible to port, but it needs a driver (TUN/TAP) and MS would need to approve or provide that even more than they would need to approve a new VPN app (which I think requires a capability not normally available to third-party devs). I'm tempted to say that they really *should* allow it, but I'm also painfully aware that OpenVPN on Windows (and, possibly, other platforms) is sort of crap. I can usually beat it into submission on a machine where I have admin, but on a phone it could simply just sit there being unusable until the phone gets rebooted or something.
WP8 in general seems to have a lower risk of scam apps than Android, but it's definitely a good idea to look into any password keeper utility's trustworthiness.
EDIT: As for browsers, as far as I know there's not actually any rule against third-party browsers. Opera Mini does exist for WP8, which is cool, but so far as I know nobody has ported a Gecko or WebKit/Blink-based browser. Ideally, somebody should fix this, although getting them to work within WP8's application model might mean rebuilding a lot of the browser as well as just porting the rendering engine.
Metalbuddhist said:
Where are these claims about Android apps to WP coming from? Isn't it still a rumour?
I can't seem to find any official substanciated news about this...
As I understand it MS currently have two problems regarding the app-gap;
1) if they open WP to Play-apps, then they risk losing interest from dev's to continue making apps specifically to WP, making WP more or less another version of Android.
2) making dev's keen on making apps for a third platform, which isn't futureproof yet (even tho it's been around for long enough). This "solution" will make WP it's own and keep MS in the mobilemarket as an real and actual alternative to the established platforms.
What is sure and what are rumours?
M
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read an article on Flipboard some while ago that MS had ditched it because of Lack of security in Open-source and it wouldnt work directly from the file system.. only if they sideloaded Android apps. Why do we want android apps anyway.. It removes the love of WP. MS need to invest more money in their WP store to entice new devs.
Let ms make a toolkit for the android devs
A toolkit to one click port it to MS ecosystem
Then the threshold to port it would be lower and a real mony maker for the devs
Sent from my C6603 using XDA Free mobile app
NightOrchid said:
I read an article on Flipboard some while ago that MS had ditched it because of Lack of security in Open-source and it wouldnt work directly from the file system.. only if they sideloaded Android apps. Why do we want android apps anyway.. It removes the love of WP. MS need to invest more money in their WP store to entice new devs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want Android apps as such, but Android and IOS devs in the wp game.
I've had a lot of Apple and Andy devices the last eight years and have grown to like the variety of developers and want they put out for us.
WP is a good ecosystem, but the app gap is way bigger than I expected. There are just to many everyday apps I had on my other phones, which I cannot get in WP (yet).
I feel like I've walked into a grossery store and most of the shelfes are empty... I have to buy my oj and milk in another store, simply because MS can't get those dev's on board.
...And that's just a crying shame.
The 640 has a baked in WiFi calling feature rather than a separate app like almost every other Lumia device. I think it may be the only Lumia to have Wi-Fi calling baked into the SIM settings rather than running as a separate app.
Be careful if you are using any Google apps with it - Google is scared of Windows phone and they are doing everything they can to prevent app development. Any app they have taken over will never see another Windows phone release, and they are kind of crazy about it. For example Microsoft made their own YouTube app because Google wouldn't ,Google forced them to take it down. Now the YouTube app on the WP is just a link to YouTube - not because no one wants to make one for WP, but because Google won't let anyone make one.
---------- Post added at 08:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------
I should add though - I have the 640 and it's awesome, extremely fast, well built, solid screen, expandable SD card slot, decent cameras for a phone and an ok flash. It's also neat the way the apps tie together with your windows 10 computer
NightOrchid said:
I read an article on Flipboard some while ago that MS had ditched it because of Lack of security in Open-source and it wouldnt work directly from the file system.. only if they sideloaded Android apps. Why do we want android apps anyway.. It removes the love of WP. MS need to invest more money in their WP store to entice new devs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried both Windows as well as Android Phone but everyone will agree that Android is anytime the best coz of features or benefits it has to offer. I used to be a Windows Mobile fan but now I love Android.
I would not switch to Windows again for now atleast

Android 'Stagefright' exploit

Stagefright is very serious issue on android devices not known to many android users.
Currently I am using CM12 Nightlies on my N5.
I read about Stagefright sometime back and found that my phone has been sending and receiving thousands of SMS and MMS. So i blocked all access to CM12 Messaging app using Privacy Guard. Privacy Guard is one reason why i love CM12, loved slimrom too...
Attached are screenshots of my Messaging app and a report by Stagefright Detector.
1. How android phones are really hacked by simple SMS/MMS
2. More about Stagefright
3. XDA on Stagefright
Did google really fix this and did CM do anything about this??? I believe majority of the testing is done on N5 and other nexus devices.
this is frightening!!!
How many of you have been exposed to this???
Lordificated said:
Did google really fix this and did CM do anything about this??? I believe majority of the testing is done on N5 and other nexus devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it did. With official release of Marshmallow (build MRA58K), all CVE's, that Stagefright Detector is checking, are fixed, and device is not vulnerable. Your issue is on CM side, not Google's.
First of all, blocking MMS access on Messaging will only prevent a small portion of the exploit. Stagefright is a large library, it basically plays *every* media file (based on my knowledge). This includes stuff that browser plays (for example : webm video, like YouTube) all of these are handled by Stagefright and FFmpeg library.
But, the good thing is, the library is not exploited widely. This means there's no wide range attack (based on reports online). No need to worry, the issue is internally fixed on Google side, if you can update to latest CM nightly release the issue might be fixed.
Srandista said:
Yes, it did. With official release of Marshmallow (build MRA58K), all CVE's, that Stagefright Detector is checking, are fixed, and device is not vulnerable. Your issue is on CM side, not Google's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess they did, on Android M...
as you said, Stagefright detector says there are no vulnerable CVEs on my N5...
Moved from CM to Stock 6.0... But I am not sure if I love the App Permissions settings of 6.0 over the Privacy Guard in CM12...
still :good:
F4uzan said:
First of all, blocking MMS access on Messaging will only prevent a small portion of the exploit. Stagefright is a large library, it basically plays *every* media file (based on my knowledge). This includes stuff that browser plays (for example : webm video, like YouTube) all of these are handled by Stagefright and FFmpeg library.
But, the good thing is, the library is not exploited widely. This means there's no wide range attack (based on reports online). No need to worry, the issue is internally fixed on Google side, if you can update to latest CM nightly release the issue might be fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, i read the same about Stagefright... being a large library used for almost all media access, most of the apps we use triggers Stagefright... but as you said, now that nobody knows the extend of vulnerabilities of Stagefright, we can only prepare for what we know!

EMUI update notification sent me to potential malware site

Hello!
I'm afraid my phone might have malware. Hopefully it's a false alarm but I would appreciate any insight into the behavior:
Yesterday I saw a notification with the EMUI icon (stylized red "UI") but when bringing up the notification panel all I saw was a green "down" arrow and no text. I've had apps with bugs creating broken notifications before so I tapped it to check. It sent me to a webpage flagged as a source of malware "d1.3gmimo.com/handpet/wallpaper/...<can't remember rest>". I closed the page and since Chrome showed the warning before loading the page I think it's safe to assume I didn't download anything.
I don't know the origin of the notification though so I'm afraid there might be some malware already present. It had the EMUI icon but that can be faked or may be the default when no icon is configured (not sure how it works).. The notification appeared over mobile data so no router redirect infection. Searches gave me only one hit I could make sense of - a forum thread with the poster describing a similar event. They got not explanation but see here for their screenshots: Google Translate on thread-5858387-1-1.html on club.huawei.com (can't post links yet it seems)
I am very careful with the apps I install, avoid all the copycat crap, and I only allow Google Play as a source. The phone was only ever used by me except briefly by a family member which I trust not to download anything sketchy. Still, I uninstalled the most recent 2 apps: Hashi and Nonogram Katana (has ads) , though these had been installed a week before. The list of installed apps shows nothing new/strange. I also installed AVL, Bitdefender, and Avast but they found nothing. (I know it's debated whether av/anti-malware apps are helpful but thought to cover everything.)
Any thoughts?
Thank you in advance!
Phone details:
Huawei P7-L10
Android 4.4.2
EMUI 2.3 (V100R001C02B129)
Branded by Vodafone and with their uninstallable apps - using it on different network though.
I know I should update but the update app doesn't find anything (I understand this may be due to modifications made by telecom companies) and I got lazy since I've had no compatibility issues. I guess I should think more about security.
After doing more digging and learning to use adb to look at the logcat, I think the notification might have been created by VLife, which is Huawei's wallpaper distribution service.
On my phone I have VLife 2.23.3 installed (seems to be stock) as a system app. The title is in Chinese but the icon is the EMUI logo. (I figured out which app it is by the icon and version number, after I found the app hosted on aptoide.com while googling for "vlife".)
I presume what happened is that VLife tried to download a new wallpaper (no idea why all of a sudden) and it went to 3gmimo.com, which might serve as a mirror for apps. The site is flagged as having malware. This might be a false alarm or the site might have been hijacked since my version of VLife came out.
So the app might be ok. Though I'm still worried why the sudden update. Maybe there's a central message that was sent to the app to update? (The logcat below mentions a receiver.) The only suspicious thing about the app otherwise is that it has the permission to record sound along with changing sound settings. The latter isn't so surprising since it provides multimedia wallpapers. Maybe recording comes with the rest of the sound permissions. I've disabled the app and disabled its notifications for now. It can't be uninstalled since it's a system app.
These lines come up quite often in my logcat:
I/am_proc_start( 604): [0,18761,10089,com.vlife.huawei.wallpaper:main,broadcast,com.vlife.huawei.wallpaper/com.vlife.receiver.PetMainReceiver] - the link I got referred to a "handpet"
I/am_proc_start( 604): [0,18907,10089,com.vlife.huawei.wallpaper:main,broadcast,com.vlife.huawei.wallpaper/com.vlife.receiver.InstallEventReceiver]
Does anybody know more about this app or service?
Thanks!

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