yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android General] downwiththebanksters:
I agree wholeheartedly. Privacy, and hence liberty, is being eroded at every turn. People just don't seem to realize how much information they're giving away, and don't care. What's the big deal about wearing a little yellow star someone once said. That is the evil insidious problem of Facebook. A generation ago people kept diaries under lock and key. Now people publish their every banal moment to Facebook. And, to be fair, most of these people are safe doing this. Most people are not criminals or terrorists and have nothing, or what they consider very little, to hide. But this is the thin edge of the wedge. I read 1984 in 1970. I also read Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World. Although the authoritarianism of our present system is less overt and more insidious than that shown in these books, you really can see distinct similarities between these fictional times, and the way we live now.

And the above post is the saddest thing of all. If we want to use any app we have to give them blanket permissions. I'm sorry, I don't want them knowing who/where I am. Who my contacts are, what I'm doing. I miss the ownership of my data that the old Palm OS gave me. And I rue the day I was forced into the cloud. I don't want to see their ads. I don't want to help them in any way. That may seem unreasonable considering most of the programs are free, and you can call me selfish, but to me free is free period. If you want to charge for your app, and it is good, I'll pay for it, but if you're going to call an app free it should be just that, free. The "business is business argument" doesn't cut it with me, there is only one "thing" and that's the right" thing". Integrity is the only thing that sets regular people apart from the wealthy.

I did see a thread somewhere on here about how to use a more finely grained approach to permissions. I do remember it required root. Perhaps the original poster could find that and put a link to that in his original post as it would provide people with concrete steps to protecting their privacy, and valuable data.
[Android General] wencu:
I was very keen to start using some of the apps mentioned in this thread until I found out that they all require rooting.

While I understand the benefits of rooting, some of us aren't ready to take that step, partly as it invalidates warranty (I've only had the phone two weeks) and partly, being a newbie, an element of caution (I've not done it before and don't want to brick the phone).

Are there any means of securing your phone that don't require rooting first?

I especially, like the discussion about blocking access to certain functionality per application.

Thanks

(How many times can I say the word rooting in one post :p)
[Android General] kakagi:
thanks for sharing
[Android General] dissolid:
just check the Facebook permisions what all does it have access to.

was the 1st thing i uninstalled after i put custom ROM on phone
[Android General] chase89:
hmm.

this is interesting.. +1
[Android General] chase89:
you know..

this is a good example of apple trying to take over the smartphone/ tablet industry.
[Android General] duanxiaotao:
common sense++
[Android General] tim-tim:
common sense is not common. just sayin
[Android General] pmcqueen:
oh, please...

you know what's even worse than people who develop an app specifically to collect your data (and possibly use it in an undesirable way)? people who create mass hysteria via fear mongering.

your life is not going to spin into disarray if you accidentally download a bogus app that tries to access your personal data. is it wrong? hell yes. is it scary to think about? hell yes. is it potentially damaging to your life? sure, depending on what data is accessed and how it is used.

will life go on? damn right it will...

sheesh. here's something to chew on: there are people out there making more money off of your fear than the people they purport to be protecting you from...
[Android General] silverwolfx10:
If you suspect better not to install.
[Android General] Wakahoola:
I started using LBE Security Guard for controlling permissions. Thanks for the info.
[Android General] ricky babalu:
Very, Very, Very good point! Isn't China were most of the mobile malware is originating from?

Second, why has the OP not addressed this very question?
[Android General] crowbarsolutions:
As a developer, you really should question every permission an app requires. Some apps even go so far as to justify each one. If it doesn't look like something the app will need then pass on it.
[Android General] sleeperzzz:
Thanks for the nice post and share.

Agree completely.

Most users ignore the messages as to what the app can access.

But like the user @crowbarsolutions said some apps make you believe and convice you they need that function and in terms it makes perfect sense. But in truth they don't need it and just wanna have access for "future" purposes.

It reminds me as to FB and there privacy settings. You can configure it but no one looks at it until noticed or shocked about something.

I think google should infact react upon this and make an app or update the applications app so that you can easily view all rights to all applications.

They can't ever fully prevent this and the user is in fact responsible for what she/he installs but they should at least give a quick option showing they do care about your privacy. Not that google is an angel regarding privacy but just saying.
[Android General] c9h9no3:
I switched from Apple iOS iphone to the android operating system. I have to say I have not regret it. In fact, I find myself more content with this phone, than my iPhone where is was constantly waiting for something new.

Furthermore, I have to say that Apples appstore seemed more secure, blocking most malicious apps.
[Android General] Trebuchette:
I tend to not install apps that don't play nice; but there are open-source permission viewers/deniers that I feel more comfortable with (like Permissions Denied). It's important to be familiar with the devs, their other apps, and their reputation (stericson in the case of PD, who also did busybox and other apps; I can follow him on Twitter; etc).

And some apps are just going to need those perms for a reason; I respect a dev who explains their reasoning well. I'd imagine denying certain perms would break an app, so I'd rather view permissions case-by-case instead of batch.

But ITA re: Google collecting info; with sites like spokeo.com it's obvious that data-mining isn't simply to give us better ads. I don't trust google anymore than I do FB; and google has no access to anything truthful about me besides my cell number, my friends' cell numbers, and my location. It's a throwaway acct. Even my checkout is a damned lie (it's an old, low-balance credit card with a formerly-legal name). As far as google is concerned, I'm a gay black guy in my teens with a penchant for cooking.

(I go overboard.)

Be safe!
[Android General] kingird72:
I got droidwall going as well, it seems to work fine for me
[Android General] :
common sense :) if an app uses strange permissions don't install
[Android General] oleerik:
Thank you everyone for some good tips :) Great example to show to family and friends who are careless regarding this issue.
[Android General] Duv'orynn:
Wow!

Maybe a little paranoid point of view, but better to be safe than sorry.

I agree that we need to be extra careful when revealing info about ourselves, but like someone already mentioned, just use common sense and logic when giving permissions to apps.

Anyways, thanks for the info.
[Android General] mr00t:
BTW... CM7 users can control app permissions directly in control apps...
[Android General] sii77:
thanx :) :)
[Android General] kmanilpillai:
Sensible... but a real fact to understand...
[Android General] MattyOnXperiaX10:
YOU CANT GET ROGUE APPS ON THE MARKET PLACE. They may have these permissions but they need some of these to function.
[Android General] chauchunyin123:
Common sense:cool:
[Android General] amysim:
useful info

a must have knowledge to protect your privacy in coming future...
[Android General] goldchang:
Will watch out for it though
[Android General] (•.•):
did I tell you... ?

To post it here too...

I recently got my Samsung Galaxy S4 9505 and I WAS FKN SHOCKED !!!

Android 4 Smartphones became a super spy machine - it get's everything from you, I mean EVERYTHING!

ALL YOUR INPUT DATA! Even your face, your voice, your photos, your messages, your photos/videos, your private life AND the private life of your family & friends!

...shocking?

Who can get this data? Of course and foremost google (and all companies behind and in google), but also alot more.

Samsung, Sony, HTC and every other mobile-phone-producer, but that's not all, at all - look in your options/security/trusted CA and check the huge list...

SHOCKED ? Get over it.... it's the new world order. Be aware of it. Snowden was the undercoverproject to tell you all, that they have you by the balls and p.... yeehaaah :cowboy:

:crying: still... allmost nobody cares... because allmost no one KNOWS... stupid sheeps! -.-

check out this thread too... http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2498285

however to motivate you... life isn't that bad at all, but some bad rich psychopathic people are.... check out this video :)

LIFE IS AWESOME:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nDGQj8hxn8

have fun... ;)
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] ilovesoad:
The app on the market, and others like it called ad free android start up when the phone does and gets root access immediately. Do apps like this run all the time, ie do they stop the system from sleeping? Thanks. I'd have used the search feature if i wasn't on my phone.
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] anonymerb:
just install Adfree, let it set up the /system/etc/hosts rules and the uninstall it afterwards, should work...(i for myself deactivated the app after setting up the hosts rules, but that is more difficult for non advanced users)
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] ilovesoad:
Thanks :)
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] POQbum:
To answer your question:

- It does not start up when your phone does, it only starts up if you open it

- It modifies a file in your phone OS that basically will re-route certain URL's to a false address, making them not appear.
[Galaxy 3 General] Mohanshbhr:
How to mod framework-res.apk? I want to change background colour from black to something new and want to change text colour from bule to something new, how to decomplile and decompile.
[Galaxy 3 General] Nidjo16:
you must decompile framework apk in apk manager.

you can edit it and build it
[Galaxy Tab 10.1 General] y2jdmbfan:
Guys,

I have a dilemma on my hands. I wanted a 32GB metallic grey from Best Buy and that is what I asked for when I went in there yesterday, they had plenty of all 4 versions at this particular Best Buy. Well, it turns out they gave me a 32GB white one, the boxes aren't blatantly obvious which one is which. I could just go swap it out, but for some reason they didn't charge me any sales tax, so I only paid 599.99 for the unit, actually 579.99 with my reward zone certificates. I know they won't let me get away without paying tax if I go in and swap it out. Is the grey really that much better than the white? Tax is like 8.9% out here.

Thanks for the input,

Y2J
[Galaxy Tab 10.1 General] figurine:
Save themoney they didnt charge you in taxes and get yourself the black samsung folio case. :cool:
[Samsung Infuse 4G] hydrogenman:
I'm a frequent phone hopper, so I've avoided Verizon and AT&T lately because of high ETF's.

I've recently had

Old school Droid when it first came out

Samsung Vibrant

MyTouch 4g now

I hated the vibrant, it was slow, laggy, and the GPS was a ****ing piece of ****.

I love my Mytouch 4g, running sense 3.0, but the screen's too small, I have big hands.

I can't find a store with an infuse to play around with.....is it laggy at all? does it have the same problems the Galaxy S line had?

can you see yourself happy with the phone for 2 years since AT&T has such a massive ETF?

My other option is switching to Sprint, getting the Evo3D, then when LTE goes live around the holidays here, switching to Verizon
[Samsung Infuse 4G] shadow65781:
The Infuse is a great phone stock.

The screen is awesome for video.

Not laggy like gs.

But I do get some force closes with certain apps. Plume is problematic.

If I were in your shoes I would wait for the sprint phone coming soon. Basically a gs2 in an Infuse body with the awesome 4.5"screen.
[Samsung Infuse 4G] nv83:
I just switched over from the captivate. My thinking was I wanted to sell my cappy while it still had some value before everyone dumped it for SGS2 and if i was gonna trade some battery life for better features I would rather have a bigger screen than dual core or NFC anyway even if the knock on this phone is that it's last year's tech.

Only had it a few days but for me it's noticeably less laggy than my captivate (both on custom roms), the screen is gorgeous and the gps works great unlike the cappy. I'm v happy so far with it...I did sell my soul and my a$$ to ATT for another 2 years to get upgrade pricing and that is such a long time...but I think 2 years without dual core and NFC won't be that big a deal and you won't see many apps taking advantage of those features before then anyway.
[Samsung Infuse 4G] keitht:
I agree with you and I had the same thoughts when choosing to upgrade to Infuse from Captivate. The only issue is that I do not get hspa+ 4G speeds. I am actually slower than 3G captivate speeds.
[Samsung Infuse 4G] gtg465x:
It's definitely faster than the Galaxy S phones stock and the GPS works better as well (though I've still seen better). It can get a bit laggy if you run stock for a while, but not to the extent of the Galaxy S line, and if you install a custom ROM with Voodoo lagfix it will of course be cleared right up. That said, may want to wait for the Galaxy S II variants unless you really have to have the 4.5 inch screen. The SGS2 will be better in every other way and has absolutely no lag even if you run it completely stock.
[Samsung Infuse 4G] chrisyou:
This is the first phone I've bought with no buyers remorse. The size screen and performance really won me over. My last day to return is this Monday. Instead of prepping the phone for a return I bought 2 docks GPS dock and a casemate barely there. /committed.
[Samsung Infuse 4G] beatblaster:
Plume isn't problematic. I use it all the time with zero issues on my Infuse.
[Samsung Infuse 4G] Mr Jason:
Switched from a iPhone 4 to this a week ago. Got to say that I am impressed with the phone so far. The screen is really quite gorgeous and is one of the best mobile devices I have used for internet.

A couple of things to note:

-Even though quadrant scores are not all that accurate in terms of actual speed, I got 1000-1200 average on stock and 1600-1800 on average with the Infused Custom ROM. With that said, it is a very fast device and can handle apps, games, and the internet with speed. Widgets do slow down the stock ROM, but Launcher Pro fixes that real easy.

-Battery does fairly well. On stock, I was getting a average of 15 hours on a quarter brightness with a fair amount of use. On the custom ROM, it seems to be doing much better and seems to have increased the battery life a good 5 hours+ or so. On standby, it does fairly well as long as it isn't checking for notifications constantly.

-I live in a somewhat big town in Tennessee, and my HSPA+ speeds are averaging about 1.50Mbps -3.0Mbps download, which is on par with my iPhone 4. It only dipped into edge once, and on average it will hold a signal pretty well (I get the same amount of bars as the iPhone and same connection pull, pretty much).

-Call quality is fine on my end, although some people have had problems. It is generally recommended that you do a reformat immediately when you get the phone to be on the safe side. Speaker phone mode is also fine. The sound quality is also adequate for both headsets/ear buds and just for watching stuff like youtube without them.

-Build quality-wise, it is surprisingly thin and somewhat weightless and does fit in my pocket just fine. I am not the biggest fan of the chrome bezel, but it isn't bad per-se. The back looks and feels fine, but the battery cover can be a pain in the ass to get off. It also only comes with a 2GB SD Card, although it comes with a rather large 16GB internally. I have not run out of space yet, and I have quite a few apps installed.

-Camera-wise, it is a 8MP camera and it does show. Pictures do have detail in them and look rich and vibrant. I will note that the stock camera app has TERRIBLE image stability when compared to the iPhone 4's pictures, but several apps on the marketplace fix that issue. It also only records in 720p at the moment, but that might get upgraded with Gingerbread (The rogers version is supposed to ship with both Gingerbread and 1080p recording, so that might make a difference). The front facing camera is a 1.3MP one, which is a step up from VGA.

-Flash tends to run fine in the web browser as long as it isn't a huge size dimension wize (Youtube imbedding size works fine) while anything larger might lag. Also, if there is a bunch of flash content on a page, it WILL be slow. I have been pleased with it in general, although newgrounds might run a little slow and choppy.

I will say that I am pleasantly pleased with the phone, it might not be a dual core (1.2Ghz single core Hummingbird processor), but you really do not need dual cores at the moment. I say go for it if you want a huge screen and a decent all around android phone.
[Samsung Infuse 4G] reverendmilo:
I'm coming from ios and I am interested in stock camera replacement apps.

The camera and photo manipulation apps I has on the iPhone is really all that I miss at this point.

sent from my fancy pants Samsung Infuse
[Samsung Infuse 4G] carhigh:
Ive never owned a iphone and i would like to know about the camera problems and whats needed to make it better. As stated above, there are several apps that fix it?????? "TERRIBLE image stability" ?????? What exactly does this mean?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] hauj0bb:
Hey all,

I'm on vacation and Google navigation tracked me all the way to my destination like a boss.

Now that I'm here, my GPS thinks I'm in my home city, and won't move... I opened up GPS test and I'm only connected to 2 satellites.

My phone seems to get a decent location fix.

I'm wifi tethering to my TF.

Any idea what's going on?
[Eee Pad Transformer General] LightningXCE:
Same issue. GPS icon appears but doesn't blink and just stalls.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] GwynBleidd:
Gps test - clear agps - update agps. Fixed the issue for me.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Rumbleweed:
GPS location comes from several sources.( see your settings). One source is GPS, however if the fix is not great as when you just turn on TF and in a mew location, it will use the WiFi router location which is actually a lookup online that is set once and fixed. If the WiFi location for your phone was established and recorded at the online site while at home ( most likely the case) then the TF will read that and think it is home. Go to settings and turn off use wifi location.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] fone_fanatic:
+1 granted the wifi location is faster but if that router is registered to somewhere else (if you just moved or bought a used router online) then it'll say your there and tale a lot longer to get a lock.
[Eee Pad Transformer General] Rumbleweed:
If your wifi router location is wrong due to the situations mentioned above, you can have it reset by contacting "skyhookwireless".
[Eee Pad Transformer General] LightningXCE:
No-go. Clearing the AGPS made the icon for GPS totally disappear, and refuse to appear again until a hard reboot. Even then it still just stalls. Trying a rom different from Prime to see if that might be the cause.

Has ANYONE else had issues like this? The GPS worked for a while but now totally fails.
[General Questions and Answers] ApplesRevenge:
Hi Guys,

I've been working on android app development and I'm at the stage of implementing designs. I'm looking for a phone primarily for developing apps, portable media centre (videos: xvid, mp4; music) and tinkering around with ROMs.

I have a work Samsung Galaxy S GTI900, but due it belonging to my work I'm very limited in what I can and can't do with it. It has problems with GPS accuracy and Kies PC software issues, leaving me to want to try something different from Samsung. HTC users seem to be very happy with their products, but there seems to be a lack of available ROMS such as CyanogenMod

Phone should be hardware reliable, software updated regularly and something that will last for a few years for development.

The phones available to me:

HTC:

Wildfire

Wildfire S

Desire

Desire S

Desire Z

Legend

Samsung:

Galaxy Ace

Galaxy Apollo

Galaxy Mini

Sony Ericsson:

Xperia X10

Xperia X10 mini

Xperia X10 mini pro

Or should I keep saving until I can afford more expensive models such as HTC Sensation, Incredible S and Desire HD?

Any input would be appreciated.
[General Questions and Answers] Dark3n:
Skip those samsung models you listed, they won't make you happy.

The HTC Desire is decent with a huge community but already a bit old.

If you don't want to get another galaxy s you can play around with i would recommend saving for a galaxy 2.

btw: im happily developing on my galaxy s running cm7 atm... soo smooth... no your not allowed to do that on your work device, :p
[General Questions and Answers] juzz86:
For development purposes, your best bet is the Desire. As stated previously it has a massive developer base and plenty of support, plus most of its quirks are well-known. Even better, see if you can find a Google Nexus One ;)
[General Questions and Answers] aaa:
Get a Desire...I know it is old and has many limitation but if you got stuck during development, many experienced devs can help you out.

Desire has the most powerful community and devs, so, you might wanna check Desire out.

:)
[General Questions and Answers] ApplesRevenge:
Yeah you're right. :(

I work for an engineering firm, if they were less technical I would risk using that for general use.

Thanks for the input. Seems the Desire is the most popular choice from reading other threads around here.

It would let me get started on implementation quickly, but some of the quirks could be a problem i.e. battery life, is there a list of all the quirks?

From reading; the Desire S seems to have most of the quirks sorted, but it doesnt have the same level of modding possible.

How is the HTC PC connection software? Does it perform media conversion for devices such as Samsungs Kies?

If I was to buy a Desire then i could purchase a Samsung Galaxy S GT I9000, Xperia ARC, or even save for a few extra months to purchase a Samsung Galaxy S2, which would be bit excessive...

Right now I'm leaning towards purchasing a HTC Desire, will need to do some more reading of what can and can't be done on it, but I'm now also considering a Samsung Galaxy S...

Cheers guys.
[General Questions and Answers] Dark3n:
The biggest problem of the HTC Desire is the small internal memory.

The users crying for App2SD are usually the HTC Desire owners ;).
[General Questions and Answers] aaa:
Yup!

The only problem but also the real major problem of the Desire is the internal memory.

It is simply sh*t small.

That is why we have A2SD, A2SD+, Data++, Data2EXT, etc.
[General Questions and Answers] klquicksall:
I have a Desire HD and it is a great phone with a crazy amount of support. The sensation isn't rooted yet so skip that until it is. On a side note I love HTC products Ive never had any problems with them. I've had HTC since the Hero. Great phones.
[General Questions and Answers] KarlosTheJackal:
For development i would just look at the NexUS phones. Best bang for buck IMO!
[General Questions and Answers] ApplesRevenge:
Thanks for the help guys.

Ive settled on getting a HTC Desire for development purposes.

Only questions I have is about battery life with media on custom ROMs, which Ive enquired about in the Desire forum.

Cheers.

:)