Hasta La Gadget!

At this point, we’re starting to think that Motorola is intentionally (and cruelly) teasing us with its Droid successor. Today we can add to the parade of leaks preceding the Droid 2‘s debut in the form of the above hard case, which has just landed in Best Buy’s storerooms. Before you go off on some conspiracy theory comparing this to the iPhone’s Bumper and questioning whether this Droid might need a jacket, you should be aware that Rocketfish does similar paraphernalia for the Droid Incredible, marking this out as an entirely unremarkable run-of-the-mill accessory. Which might be the best news of all, we figure — if the unexciting peripherals are already being shipped, the handset itself shouldn’t be too far behind.

[Thanks, Justin]

Continue reading Droid 2 cases arrive at Best Buy, Droid 2s soon to follow?

Droid 2 cases arrive at Best Buy, Droid 2s soon to follow? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An Android app that offers free wallpapers is allegedly gathering data about its users, including their phone numbers, carrier subscriber identifiers and phone number of their voicemail accounts. The app then sends this data to a website based in China, says mobile security firm Lookout.

The Android app, called Jackeey, is estimated to have anywhere from 1 to 4 million downloads.

“While the data accessed are certainly suspicious coming from wallpaper apps, we’re not saying that these applications are malicious,” Kevin Mahaffey, founder and CTO of Lookout wrote in an e-mail to Android Central. “There have been cases in the past where the applications are simply a little overzealous in their data-gathering practices, but not because of any ill intent.”

The Jackeey app does not touch the SMS and browsing capabilities of the phone. Lookout made the disclosure at the ongoing Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. (See Wired.com’s Threat Level blog for more coverage of Black Hat.)

Wired.com was not able to contact the developers of the Jackeey wallpapers.

While one Android app has been singled out, many iPhone apps also intrude into the users’ privacy, says Lookout. A survey of 300,000 applications for both the iPhone and Android OS found twice as many free applications on the iPhone have the capability to access the user’s contact data (14 percent) as compared to Android (8 percent).

“Ultimately, the device OS makers should focus on better security,” says Dimitri Volkmann, a vice-president at Good Technology, which provides mobile security and device management for businesses. “It’s more about the maturity of the vendors rather than control vs. open source.”

How the data gathered from users is handled has been a minefield for phone makers. In 2009, a developer found the Palm Pre’s operating-system webOS sent his GPS location back to the company every day. Palm was also monitoring the webOS apps he used each day, and for how long he used each one. The outcry forced Palm to change how it handles data gathered by the OS.

Android app Jackeey’s missteps in handling user data has hurt and embarrassed them. But with thousands of apps in the Android app store and little supervision, it’s just a matter of time before a bigger mobile-security risk has major consequences for consumers.

See Also:

• Apple’s iPhone Security Gets Better, But Still Not BlackBerry
• Google Flips Remote Kill-Switch on Android Apps
• Hacker Says iPhone 3GS Encryption Is ‘Useless’ for Businesses
• Want to Fool Apple’s App Store? Plant an Easter Egg

Photo: (marketingfacts/Flickr)

If you’re an iPhone user, the only privacy notice you’ll see from an app regards your current location — as much a warning about the associated battery hit from the GPS pinging as anything. If you’re an Android user, however, things are different, with a tap-through dialog showing you exactly what each app will access on your phone. But, do you read them? You should, with Lookout running a sort of survey across 300,000 apps on those two platforms, finding that many access personal information even though they seemingly don’t need to. One particularly scary instance, an app called Jackeey Wallpaper on Android, aggregates your browsing history, text messages, could get your voicemail password, and even your SIM ID and beams it all to a server in China. That this app has been downloaded millions thousands of times is a little disconcerting, but it’s not just Android users that have to fear, as even more iPhone than Android apps take a look through your contact infos. What to do? Well, be careful what you download to start, on Android read those privacy warnings… and we’re sure Lookout wouldn’t mind if you took this opportunity to download its security app.

Update: We received a note from Jussi Nieminen, who indicated the data fields being retrieved, as reported by VentureBeat, are incorrect. Texting and browser history are apparently not retrieved, but your phone number, phone ID, and voicemail fields are. And, since it’s not unheard of for voicemail entries to include a password when setup on a phone, it’s possible they could wind up with that too. Also, the popularity of the app was apparently misstated, with actual downloads somewhere south of 250,000.

Update 2: Kevin, one of the Black Hat speakers from Lookout, wrote us to let us know that the full details on the wallpaper apps have been posted here, if you’d like to read. Meanwhile, estimations of just how many people have downloaded this particular wallpaper app are all over the place, ranging from as low as 50,000 to over four million.

Lookout’s App Genome Project warns about sketchy apps you may have already downloaded originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If size matters, Modu’s extremely tiny and lightweight phones that come with interchangeable casings are an interesting idea. Go beyond that and the phones seem rather dated.

That could change as Modu is likely to introduce a new version of its phone that will run Android OS. A video showing a tiny Modu phone and some of the key screens has surfaced.

Israeli company Modu, which makes these phones that are sold outside the U.S. and most of Europe, has engineered devices that weigh just 1.4 ounces. An iPhone 4G weighs about 4.8 ounces. So far, Modu’s phones have used a proprietary version of the operating system, giving rise to complaints about the tired looking user interface.

Android OS could fix that. But it looks like it may not be enough. The new Modu phone has some glaring omissions such as the lack of 3G capability and a capacitive touchscreen, says Phandroid. The phone includes a stylus and a microSD card slot.  It also seems to be running version 1.5 or version 1.6 of Android.

Clearly, Modu become so captivated by the idea of a small phone that everything else–specs, OS, user experience– has become secondary.  A pint-sized phone is enough to get consumers’ attention but when its peers are on Android 2.2 and turning into powerful little computers, Modu can’t just count on its looks to be accepted.

See Also:

• Bloatware Creeps Into Android Phones
• iPhone Hacked to Run Android 2.2
• Motorola Droid Rules Android
• Android Comes of Age at Google Developer Conference

Copy protection has always been a concern in the Android Market, primarily because applications can be sideloaded onto phones without a root or other modification from the end user. In a brief announcement made today, Eric Chu has made clear that a new method for protecting the work of paid app creators will be implemented long-term, with the plan being to “replace the current Android Market copy-protection mechanism over the next few months.” This new “licensing service” is available now for those that want in, providing developers with a secure mechanism that can ping a Market License Server upon launch in order to see if a particular app was indeed purchased legitimately. It’s hard to say how exactly this will affect usability (specifically in offline scenarios), but it’s certainly an interesting twist to the whole situation. Expect to hear lots of growling on both sides as more and more apps opt to take advantage.

[Thanks, Jonathan]

New ‘licensing service’ replacing existing copy protection method in Android Market originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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