João Saramago » Mobile Phones

Can Android Without Dalvik Avoid Oracle’s Wrath?

js — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:14:18 +0000

jfruhlinger writes “Despite the fact that Oracle is suing Google over claims that Android violates Java IP, Android is roaring ahead in the marketplace. Still, some groups are wondering if they can implement Android without incurring Oracle’s current or future …

Windows 7 Phone Gets Jailbreak Tool

js — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:51:03 +0000

An anonymous reader writes “Developers have released a ‘jailbreak’ tool for Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, allowing the handsets to run any application, not just those approved for distribution through Microsoft’s Marketplace. Although reminiscent of jailbreak tools for the iPhone, this …

Gentlemen Prefer Androids, Ladies iOS

js — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:43:39 +0000

Ponca City writes “PC World reports that women are more likely to buy an iPhone for their next smartphone purchase, while men prefer Android devices. According to data collected in October 2010, 31 percent of women wanted to buy an …

Android Phones Get Virtualization

js — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:42:56 +0000

bednarz writes “VMware is teaming with LG to sell Android smartphones that are virtualized, allowing a single phone to run two operating systems, one for business use and one for personal use. A user’s personal email and applications would run …

Apple Quietly Drops iOS Jailbreak Detection API

js — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:26:54 +0000

bednarz writes “Without explanation, Apple has disabled a jailbreak detection API in iOS, less than six months after introducing it. Device management vendors say the reasons for the decision are a mystery, but insist they can use alternatives to discover …

Apple, Google Diss the DoD Over Mobile Security

js — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:26:21 +0000

Julie188 writes “The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has long supported the use of BlackBerry smartphones for soldiers. It built a system called Go Mobile to provide secure communications, training, and collaboration applications to mobile soldiers. DISA recently decided to …

Security Expert Warns of Android Browser Flaw

js — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 12:14:49 +0000

justice4all writes “Google is working on a fix to a zero-day flaw discovered by British security expert Thomas Cannon that could lead to user data on a mobile phone or tablet device being exposed to attack. Cannon informed Google before …

Researcher To Release Web-Based Android Attack

js — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 17:28:18 +0000

CWmike writes “A computer security researcher says he plans to release code Thursday that could be used to attack some versions of Google’s Android phones over the Internet. The attack targets the browser in older, Android 2.1-and-earlier versions of the …

iPhone Alarm Bug Leads To Mass European Sleep-in

js — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:45:17 +0000

nk497 writes “A flaw in the alarm clock in iPhone 4s gave Europeans a bit of a lie-in this morning. While the Apple handsets automatically adjusted to daylight savings time, a bug in the alarm system meant many were woken …

Serious Security Bugs Found In Android Kernel

js — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:43:59 +0000

geek4 writes with this excerpt from eWeek Europe: “An analysis of Google Android Froyo’s open source kernel has uncovered 88 critical flaws that could expose users’ personal information. An analysis of the kernel used in Google’s Android smartphone software has …

.Net On Android Is Safe, Says Microsoft

js — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:55:37 +0000

An anonymous reader writes “With Oracle suing Google over ‘unofficial’ support for Java in Android, Microsoft has come out and said it has no intention of taking action against the Mono implementation of C# on the Linux-based mobile OS. That’s …

Android Data Stealing App Downloaded By Millions

js — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:50:47 +0000

wisebabo writes “A wallpaper utility (that presents purloined copyrighted material) ‘quietly collects personal information such as SIM card numbers, text messages, subscriber identification, and voicemail passwords. The data is then sent to www.imnet.us, a site that hails from Shenzen, China.’” …

Android Rootkit Is Just a Phone Call Away

js — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:50:37 +0000

alphadogg writes “Hoping to understand what a new generation of mobile malware could resemble, security researchers will demonstrate a malicious ‘rootkit’ program they’ve written for Google’s Android phone next month at the Defcon hacking conference in Las Vegas. Once it’s …

Android growth spurs new mobile malware, SMS Trojan discovered

js — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:46:40 +0000

By Tim Conneally, Betanews Security researchers at Kaspersky Lab announced the first malware for the Android operating system to be classified as a Trojan-SMS, the most widespread type of malware on mobile phones. The malware is disguised as a media …

BBC Builds Smartphone Malware For Testing Purposes

js — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:46:06 +0000

siliconbits writes “BBC News has shown how straightforward it is to create a malicious application for a smartphone. Over a few weeks, the BBC put together a crude game for a smartphone that also spied on the owner of the …

SMS Trojan Steals From Android Owners

js — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:45:49 +0000

siliconbits writes “A Trojan posing as a media player for Android smartphones automatically sends text messages to premium rate numbers, according to Kaspersky Lab. Company officials say the Trojan, dubbed Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a, is the first of its kind for the Android …

Apple closes PDF flaw in iOS updates for iPhone, iPad

js — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:45:36 +0000

By Ed Oswald, Betanews Apple released iOS 4.0.2 for the iPhone and iPod touch, and iOS 3.2.2 for the iPad on Wednesday, effectively closing the PDF flaw which allowed hackers access to the internal code of those devices. The exploit …

iPhone Jailbreak Uses a PDF Display Vulnerability

js — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:10:25 +0000

adeelarshad82 writes “Latest reports indicate that the website that ‘jailbreaks’ iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches does so by means of a PDF-based vulnerability in OS X. PDF parsing and rendering is a core feature of OS X, and there have …

Android Outsells iPhone In Last 6 Months

js — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:10:07 +0000

tomhudson writes “Despite all the hype about Apple’s latest iPhone, Android has sold more in the last 6 months (27% of all smartphone sales) than Apple (23%). The gains for Android are coming at the expense of RIM (still #1 …

Fifth of Android Apps Expose Private Data

js — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:03:03 +0000

WrongSizeGlass writes “CNet is reporting that a fifth of Android apps expose private data. The Android market threat report details the security issues uncovered. Dozens of apps were found to have the same type of access to sensitive information as …

Palm WebOS Hacked Via SMS Messages

js — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:48:47 +0000

gondaba writes “Security researchers at the Intrepidus Group have hacked into Palm’s new WebOS platform, using nothing more than text messages to exploit a slew of dangerous web app vulnerabilities. The white hat hackers found that the WebOS SMS client …

Android Ported To iPhone

js — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:47:53 +0000

anethema writes “iPhone hacker planetbeing, from the iPhone Dev Team, has successfully ported the Android OS over to the iPhone. He is doing it on a first-generation iPhone, but others may be possible. The port is pretty functional, with data, …

Nokia N900 Linux Smartphone Running OS X

js — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:45:17 +0000

Rovaani writes “There is a video floating around of a Nokia N900 smartphone running the full desktop Mac OS X 10.3. From the author, Tomi Nikkanen: ‘I believe this makes the N900 the first smartphone ever to run a full …

Android Phone Demand Up 250%, iPhone Down

js — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:07:09 +0000

CWmike writes “A ‘monstrous’ jump in demand for Android-equipped smartphones has turned the market upside down, according to a retail pollster. Of the people who told ChangeWave Research in a mid-December survey that they planned to buy a smartphone in …

CES, Reporter Breaks “Unbreakable” Mobile Phone

js — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:57:54 +0000

ChiefMonkeyGrinder writes “Reporter Dan Simmons from the BBC’s technology show Click managed to break a mobile phone marketed as ‘unbreakable’ (video), during a demonstration at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.” The phone can survive a 10 story fall, …

Windows Mobile 7 Rumours Reach Apple-like Proportions

js — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:48:47 +0000

Ah, Windows Mobile 7. For once, Microsoft decides to be tight-lipped about an upcoming product, not saying a thing about it anywhere, and right then, of course, the rumours start to run rampant. You think the Apple tablet stuff was …

Windows Phones To Arrive in Coming Months

js — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:20:01 +0000

Microsoft is planning to rev up the mobility market under its “Windows phone” brand. Link to the original site

Android team updates ‘Donut’ and ‘Eclair’ SDKs

js — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:06:16 +0000

By Tim Conneally, Betanews Part of the allure of Motorola’s Droid smartphone is that it’s the first, and currently only, device built upon Android 2.0 (“Eclair”). While Droid users are treated to a new Web browser, new personal navigation features, …

See ya later, WinMo: Microsoft’s mobile strategy needs a reboot

js — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:05:32 +0000

By Carmi Levy, Betanews There are lots of winners in the wireless wars. Microsoft, unfortunately, isn’t one of them. Thirteen years after it first introduced Windows CE, its homegrown OS for small devices finds itself perilously close to oblivion. With …

Microsoft, don’t hang up on Windows Mobile, but do call for help

js — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:03:42 +0000

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews It hasn’t been a good day for anyone working on Microsoft’s Windows Phone team. This morning, IDC made the ridiculous prediction that the number of iPhone/iPod touch applications would triple to 300,000 by end of 2010. …

Third-party mobile browsers Skyfire and Bolt give Opera a run for its money

js — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:12:44 +0000

By Tim Conneally, Betanews Mobile browsers have come a long way in a relatively short time. In a way, webOS, iPhone OS, and Android users have been kind of spoiled by the fast and easy-to-use browsers installed on their devices …

Beta of Opera 10 for Windows Mobile available now

js — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:19:39 +0000

By Tim Conneally, Betanews Today, Opera Software has released the beta version of Opera Mobile 10 for Windows Phones, with support for touchscreen- and keypad-driven Windows Mobile 5 (PPC), 6.0, 6.1, and 6.5 devices. The keywords with this release are: …

Android “Eclair” Open Sourced

js — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:53:22 +0000

Google engineer (and my husband!) Jean-Baptiste “JBQ” Queru just open sourced the latest Android version, codenamed “Eclair”. This will open the doors for device manufacturers to get the latest version of Android. You can read all about it in his …

Motorola and Verizon unveil the Droid, Google Maps navigation

js — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:20:14 +0000

By Tim Conneally, Betanews After a long period of rumors, leaks and teaser marketing campaigns, Verizon and Motorola have officially announced Droid, Verizon’s first Android smartphone, and the first Android device running Eclair. It will be available on Friday, November …

Preview: Verizon’s Android 2.0 Phone

js — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:12:40 +0000

Verizon’s highly awaited Droid phone lands November 6th, but Geek.com was able to get their hands on one and post early impressions. This will be the first phone shipping with Google’s Android 2.0 operating system, giving it a big advantage …

Will Google and Android Kill Standalone GPS?

js — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:52:39 +0000

xchg passes along a WiseAndroid piece on the drop in value of Garmin and TomTom shares following Google’s announcement yesterday of Google Maps Navigation. “Shares of GPS device makers Garmin and TomTom plummeted… through a combination of their quarterly results …

The new face of Android: No face

js — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:51:33 +0000

By Tim Conneally, Betanews Early this morning, Sony Ericsson took the wraps off of its first Android-based handset, the 1 GHz Snapdragon-powered Xperia X10. With a huge 4″ touchscreen, an 8.1 megapixel camera and the elegant custom user interface named …

* Review: HTC Hero *

js — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:40:18 +0000

PureMobile sent us in the GSM version of the HTC Hero, one of the most popular Android-based smartphones out there. There are already a number of in-depth reviews about this phone out there (here’s one), but here’s my own take …

Comparing the Freedoms Offered By Maemo and Android

js — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:10:05 +0000

An anonymous reader writes “Maemo 5 and Android have received a lot of publicity lately, despite the former not even shipping yet. Both have become famous partly for using the Linux kernel, but now that we have a choice, how …

iPhone cannot win the smartphone wars

js — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:08:07 +0000

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews I’m going to make a bold prediction: Apple’s iPhone will lose the mobile device wars. Such statement will send some iPhone fans howling — perhaps appropriately so with the full moon days passed and Halloween days …

Android 2.0 features revealed

js — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:07:35 +0000

By Tim Conneally, Betanews It’s undoubtedly been a huge quarter for Google’s Android mobile operating system, and exciting developments are all falling into place. Two weeks ago, the ceremonial giant foam pastry was planted on Google’s front lawn. This time …

Nokia Sues Apple for Patent Infringment

js — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:56:32 +0000

Remember when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, and proclaimed, to much applause, that they patented the hell out of it? Well, apparently Apple likes to boast about its own patents, but when it comes to dealing with other’s they’re not …

Nokia sues Apple, claims iPhone is stealing its innovations

js — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:53:28 +0000

By Tim Conneally, Betanews This is no patent troll lawsuit. This is the world’s largest mobile phone maker calling out one of the most beloved devices of recent history on ten counts of patent infringement. The patents that Nokia cited …

50+ Android Phones Expected In Near Future

js — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:45:33 +0000

wiseandroid writes “It’s not even a year ago that the HTC Dream G1 became the first Android enabled phone to be released publicly (on October 22nd, 2008) and now we have listed more than 50 Android phones expected in the …

Verizon touts Android’s superiority over iPhone

js — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:03:58 +0000

By Tim Conneally, Betanews Every major iteration of Android is named after a pastry (Cupcake, Donut, etc.), and whenever the latest version is being worked on, a giant foam rendition of that pastry is planted on the lawn of Google’s …

Verizon’s Challenge To the iPhone Confirmed

js — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:01:11 +0000

misnohmer writes “Verizon has just launched a new set of ads confirming the rumors of its upcoming iPhone competitor: ‘Unlike previous Android phones, the Droid is rumored to be powered by the TI OMAP3430, the same core that the iPhone …

Acer rings in year 2 of Android with a Snapdragon-based device

js — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:12:25 +0000

by Tim Conneally, Betanews Acer today took the lid off of its first Android-based smartphone, the Liquid, formerly shown off as the “A1.” In addition to being the top computer manufacturer’s first Android smartphone, it’s also the first Android phone …

Windows Mobile 6.5: “There’s No Excuse for This”

js — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:49:45 +0000

Before the iPhone, we were content with stylus-based interfaces that worked well – mostly – for what you needed to do. Then came the iPhone. From a pure feature perspective, it was (and is) lacking, but it more than makes …

Windows Mobile 6.5 Launched, Panned

js — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:19:46 +0000

Barence writes “It’s not Windows Mobile 7, but at least it’s here. PC Pro has posted its full review of Windows Mobile 6.5, as found on the new HTC Touch2 handset, which is also reviewed. If you’re expecting something to …

The ‘Windows Phone’ era officially starts today

js — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:18:24 +0000

By Tim Conneally, Betanews Today, we finally welcome Windows Mobile 6.5 and the “Windows Phone” platform from Microsoft. As a part of today’s Windows Mobile 6.5 debut, the new Windows Mobile Marketplace app store has opened for business, the new …

Windows Mobile to Lose Marketshare, but Continue Growing

js — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:16:52 +0000

Acer is the latest smartphone handset maker to shift its resources from Windows Mobile to Android. And with competing OSes grabbing marketshare and attention daily, an observer couldn’t be faulted for assuming that Microsoft’s mobile OS initiative is in terminal …

iPhone’s global success is more marketing myth than reality

js — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:41:12 +0000

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews American business history almost certainly will recall Apple as one of the most successful marketers ever. With iPhone, the company has performed a remarkable magic trick: Making the late-starting mobile seem ready to take over the …

Windows Mobile 5 and 6 get a new interface

js — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:40:31 +0000

By Tim Conneally, Betanews As smartphones gained popularity outside of the business world, a division formed between devices made for consumers (lifestyle smartphones) and those made for enterprise deployments (professional smartphones). Professional devices tend to be more integrable into bigger …

Ballmer Admits “We Screwed Up Windows Mobile”

js — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:31:29 +0000

Barence writes “Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer has blasted the company’s own mobile operating system at the firm’s Venture Capital Summit. One tweet from an attendee claims Ballmer said the company had ‘screwed up with Windows Mobile. Wishes they had already …

Security in Your Pocket: OpenBSD on ARM

js — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:38:09 +0000

InformIT has an interview with Dale Rahn, the OpenBSD ARM port maintainer, about the history of OpenBSD on mobile devices, and where some opportunities growing in the mobile space in the future. It covers the DARPA-funded origins of OpenBSD use …

Moblin 2.0 Released

js — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:37:13 +0000

Yesterday the Moblin Steering Committee announced three developments: Release of Moblin v2.0 for Atom-based netbooks, a preview of the Moblin Garage and Moblin Application Installer, and a community preview release of Moblin v2.1 for Atom-based netbooks and nettops for early …