[Windows Phone 7 General] The Gate Keeper:
Tomhierl, you've made mention of Android's security being superior to iOS/WP because it allows the user to control what the application has access to.

Can I present a scenario that the laymen would be in for using an Android vs the same on iOS/WP, and tell me which is more secure?

Say we had an application that was developed for data mining. The application's description is vague and misrepresentative, but not damaging to the phone in any way, only in that it can data mine. Given that there is no screening process (this is iOS/WP first line of security) in the Android market place, this app becomes immediately available for download and people start using it. Let's so the application was a wall paper application (though this wouldn't be valid for iOS/WP, but let's just use that for argument sake as what the intention of the application isn’t at interest here but the process). So anyways, on Android you go to install it, and it asks for permission to your PIM, Location, Phone Access, and every other permission possible. Is it true that not granting it permission means you cannot load the application? The laymen see that not granting it does this, so they grant it not really thinking about it. So they’ve now just given permission to an application that has been through no screening, no checks, and it has complete access to the user’s phone to send any data mined from the phone off to who knows where for who knows what purpose.

This is a common scenario with Android applications, and makes the Android a lot more vulnerable than you would like everyone to believe. I don’t believe you can use Android’s ability to allow the end-user to determine permissions a feasible means of saying that this alone makes it far superior to iOS/WP in terms of security.

You’ve also said that after using the phone it is a disaster? Why is it a disaster? What makes the sandboxing approach of applications or the tighter control of applications a disaster? Yes there are a few missing features, but this in itself does not make it a disaster, merely incomplete. A disaster would be them offering all these features which people are saying it doesn’t have... at far less quality than the current set of features in the phone. That would be a disaster, so I would prefer to buy a Windows Phone (any phone in this regard really) if I knew that the features were being worked on to meet a high level of quality, even if I had to wait. Isn’t this what made the iOS the success it is?

Also adding to the security mentioned above about Flash/ActiveX, the reason it isn’t RUSHED in as you’ve stated a lot above (that they rushed Windows Phone) is because they want to introduce these features WITHOUT compromising on security.

And finally the last argument that has been presented heavily in the last couple of pages is by predator290, in saying that you can unbloat the android. This is only true if you root the phone. What if you’re not the tech savvy person (95% of the Smartphone audience)? Most of the bloat in the Android phone are put straight into the ROMs from the manufacturers and Carriers. You CANNOT uninstall these applications/bloatware, so how can you say just unbloat it? At least with Windows Phone, MS has strictly said... yes put your stuff on there, but they’re treated like every other application, and can be uninstalled, and therefore unbloated. This is not the case with Android phones which have been fattened up by the manufacturers and carriers. Note this is not the fault of Android, but it invalidates your argument that you can unbloat Android, without rooting it.

But I'm also with predator290 in saying that each is superior in it's own right and you shouldn't be saying one is better than the other. It is down to what meets your requirements, tastes, and capabilities. Not all phones need to have 300,000 applications to meet your requirements. For me, the pitfalls of Windows Phone are minimal to me as I don't multitask my windows mobile 6.5 (and yes I do know that apps run in background, but i force close them), I never tether or use VPN, and I've only used copy/paste once in a blue moon. So the common pitfalls about Windows Phone 7 which are being addressed are not major issues for the general population and are coming for those who like to make a lot of noise about what isn't there.