Amichai Rotman <amic...@iglu.org.il> writes: > I also heard about some kind of a "Big Brother" issue with Android > devices?
I am a very privacy-conscious type so I'll be glad to hear about "Big Brother" issues if anyone has more information. As far as I know there are a couple of issues to be aware of. 1. You are dealing with Google. They want as much info as they can get, even as they "don't do evil" and maybe don't even know what to do with the info. My understanding is that by default most Android phones sync contacts, calendar, Gmail, with Google. This is what most people want and like, because they do not pay attention to the fact that their private information and their *friends'*, *acquaintances'*, *business partners'* private information ends up on Google's disks. This is the main "Big Brother" issue I can think of. I had a mandatory requirement that my contacts or calendar should not be synchronized with any external device or service (backup is a separate issue). So I put quite an effort into finding out (before getting an Android phone) whether this was avoidable. Long story short - it is avoidable on Galaxy S - you need to disable synchronization before you input any information to the phone. With contacts it is usually not a problem - I didn't see any requirement to create or sign into a Google account. You cannot use the calendar without first registering with Google though. This is were you need to be careful. Luckily, Orange (or, I suppose, other operators) cannot transfer calendar data from older phones so there is no risk they'll do it before you stop them. Galaxy S specifically has a local calendar (called "My Calendar") that is not synchronized. When you start the calendar application the first time it is not shown, and you are required to sign in to Gmail or create a new account (create a new one - it will be empty). Once you do that, My Calendar is actually the default, so if you do not want to sync it works out quite smoothly. If you do want to sync then the fact that My Calendar is the default may be a bit baffling. Here is a good description: http://kollerie.wordpress.com/2010/08/01/samsung-galaxy-s-peculiarities-01/ This is not a problem for me. I hope synchronization can be disabled on all Android phones, but I don't know that and I could not find out. "My Calendar" was a major reason for choosing Galaxy S. 2. Another issue that was reported recently is not so much "Big Brother" but just a security flaw that sounds very serious. I have not verified it, but it seems that even if you set your Google account and/or Facebook account to "always-on SSL" some of the traffic to/from Androids is still not encrypted (passwords are safe). In particular, Google Calendar data was reported to be sent as cleartext to accounts configured to use SSL. If you plan to co-ordinate anti-government activities using Google Calendar Big Brother may find out. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/24/android_phone_privacy_shocker/ Configuring email accounts with incoming (POP) and outgoing (SMTP) gmail.com servers allows you to choose SSL among other configuration opions, I have not seen any reports of unencrypted mail to/from Google. > Any of you know how to get out of the Nokia purchase? The Galaxy wasn't > available at the time. Who is your provider? Orange are promoting a "double reimbursement" scheme - if you get a smartphone and your monthly bill is high enough (not very high) you get compensated for both the new smartphone and whatever you still need to pay for your old phone. I don't know the exact terms, but it should be easy to find out. I am not trying to advertise them in any way, of course. > Is it really a good phone? I can only share first impressions, but since there seems to be an interest (the other thread seems more interesting, actually) then maybe someone will find a review useful. I'll include some points that I could not find out from the net, from talking to Orange Suport, asking Samsung employees, or from playing with SIM-less Galaxy in a shop, despite significant effort. I have not tried to root the device (yet), so these are "out-of-the-box" impressions. [NB: it turned out long, stop reading now if you are not interested.] The phone is slim and light, and I don't mind the largish screen. It is gorgeous, by the way, and it is sort of worth having in 4 inches rather than 3.5 (that's 30% more area). Ladies with small hands may mind the size more than I do. I didn't want a large phone, but in the end my technological curiousity told me that I would never lug a tablet, and a 4 inch approximation with a similar OS and an ability to make calls seemed worth trying. Galaxy S II sounds too large. The screen is a fingerprint magnet, but there actually is a tradeoff - the fingerprint-repelling coatings reduce the quality (extra reflection, etc. - I am familiar with the tradeoff because I wear glasses). >From Orange the phone comes with full Hebrew, but I cannot comment on the quality since I changed the default to English quickly. So far everything works. It took a powercycle to get the cellular data network going, but no tweaking was necessary. I can't comment on battery yet. My only benchmark is an old Nokia 6230 that can easily live a week without charging. I have not had any problems yet, even though I play with the new phone more than my "steady state" is likely to be. "Play" means quite a bit of internet via Wifi and cellular data network, fairly long phone calls, bluetooth in the car, a bit of GPS trials, but not much in terms of music or movies or stuff like that. The battery is down to 50-60% by the end of the day, but nothing drastic. Orange supply a car charger by default, and I use it, but my car trips are rather short thee days. The charging cycle seems long (the documentation says 5h for full charge), so you can't hope to charge the phone if your commute is 20 minutes. I bought an extra charger (Motorola-branded that is supposed to be compatible) and found out that the screen became irresponsive while it was plugged in. I exchanged it for a no-name charger that works fine. No problems with the original Samsung charger. No problems with email (local app and Gmail app, both built-in), calls (good quality, even through the speaker, despite reports that the speaker is rather weak), or SMS. Internet browsing is surprisingly effective. The home screen has a dedicated Google search field and you can search by speaking - voice recognition is pretty good. I checked youtube - you can do it through the browser or through a dedicated application that works pretty well. Music videos look and sound good. So far saw no problems with hebrew sites (haven't tried many though). NTLM authentication is not supported (at least I couldn't get to SharePoint at work). I've seen reports that mobile firefox now has it, but I have not installed any browsers to check. Maps are really good. If you need much detail then you only see a small area, of course, but in general maps work just fine. I have a difference of opinions with Orange GPS (the other GPS - Google's? - fails to navigate in Israel, but directions work fine) as far as route optimization is concerned, but it did get me to the right place every time I gave it a try. GPS maps show traffic, parkings, gas stations, ATMs... Skype - got it from the Market - works great (not sure if there is an option for video in the mobile Skype application). Swype (from the guy who invented T9) works quite well and does not require much effort to get used to. I am still trying to get used to the phone, and some extremely useful workflows that old Nokias implemented (I am coming from 6230, probably the greatest business phone ever if you don't need web/email/Facebook) are missing, which makes life a bit difficult for me. One important scenario is creating a reminder to make a call to a contact. On a Nokia you would go to Calendar, choose a call reminder, search the contact list and choose a contact and a number, and enter the time. At the specified time the phone beeps, you hit the green button, and it dials the right number. This has been working beautifully since approximately forever. The Android calendar does not allow you to do this simple thing (it is bloody amazing that NO smartphone can do it). You can download an app from the Market (COL reminder is free), but the app is not integrated with the calendar. So you end up with two repositories for your schedule - the calendar and the COL reminder list - and you need to check both. The COL reminders don't show in the "Daily Brief" widget (sugar-coating, but nice), either. I am used to doing it 20 times a day and it's a pain after the Nokia bliss. [Aside: not that I trust Microsoft to implement it right in the next 5 years.] The contact list is much more versatile than on old Nokias, not surprisingly. It is extensible, and where on Nokia I sometimes had to keep two separate entries for contacts with a lot of info (say, home and office, with addresses, emails, etc.), here it is all together, and you can have custom labels for phone numbers and other details which I found very useful. It all works pretty well together: if there is an entry to a web page you can click on it and the browser starts, Swiping the contact name to the right dials the default number, swiping to the left sends an SMS - very nice. No problems in the car so far. Bluetooth works, automatic answering (when connected to BT or headset) works. One glitch is that Skype does not auto-answer or pipe the sound to the speakers. I forgot to switch Skype off once and someone called me while I was driving. Your choice is to ignore it, stop safely and take the call, or manage to enable the speaker while driving - this is not so easy without a physical button. Better keep Skype off when you get into your car. Maybe every smartphone owner knows it already, but I had not thought of this. Another glitch is that Orange GPS does not shut up if a phone call comes in. This is probably correct in the sense that directions are more important than most phone calls, but the other party can't hear you every time the nice lady tells you to take the right turn and may think the call is about to be dropped. These are app glitches, of course, not Android's. Bottom line: overall impression is quite positive, despite the nits picked above. The interface (TouchWiz) is very nice, looks quite polished to me. Configuration is intuitive and fairly comprehensive. I cannot compare the interface to stock Android or to HTC Sense though. -- Oleg Goldshmidt | p...@goldshmidt.org _______________________________________________ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
