phones

Samsung's flagship phone is getting special protection against a particularly nasty form of mobile malware. It combats zero-click attacks, which can steal data or compromise a handset without needing any action by the user. The hacking technique ... hasn't been widely seen in real-world attacks on Android phones, though Samsung claims it has worked on Apple devices. Samsung clearly believes it's just a matter of time before attackers find a vulnerability that would make such an attack almost irresistible. The company explains that a zero-click attack would exploit such a vulnerability by sending ... (view more)

Samsung wants to turn old phones into home gadgets. Its evolving its Galaxy Upcycling program to make it easier to convert handsets. The program launched in 2017 as a largely internal project where Samsung staff tried to find ways to use old phones ... for new purposes. This often involved taking advantage of the various sensors in a phone even if its specifications were now too low to run the latest operating systems and apps. Baby Monitor Among New Use Ideas At that point the project appeared to be more about creativity than solving significant problems. For example, one design used a motion ... (view more)

A consumer group has warned a time limit on updates could mean phones become a security risk before they wear out. The group wants laws to make it clearer how long devices will receive support. The warning comes from Which?, a British organization ... similar to Consumer Reports in the US. It surveyed 15,000 people about how long they kept their phones. The questions covered how long people had been using their current phone, whether it was newly manufactured when they got it, and how long they had used their previous handset. The calculations only took account of handsets that were replaced ... (view more)

A hygiene company says the average smartphone is "seven times dirtier" than a toilet seat. People using them in bathrooms could be the cause. The company says it swabbed 50 phones with a device that lights up spots on a surface housing live ... bacteria. On average it found 1,479 such spots on a phone, compared with 220 on a toilet seat. Not all phones are equally icky however. Phones with a wipe-clean plastic covers had slightly fewer bacteria spots than the average handset. The worst offender was a phone in a leather case that doubled as a wallet and had nearly 17 times as many bacteria spots ... (view more)

Google has invested $22 million in a company that makes software for bare-bones smartphones. As part of the deal, it hopes to bring some of its key apps to the budget handsets. The investment is in an operating system named KaiOS. It's based on an ... open source system that was developed by Mozilla, the makers of the Firefox browser, before being abandoned. Originally Mozilla had hoped to make a phone for as little as $25. Cheap Handsets Get More Attractive KaiOS is specifically designed for "feature phones." That's a term with a loose definition, but generally refers to very basic ... (view more)

Android phones from a variety of companies have reached business employees with malware already installed according to researchers. How and why it got there is not yet confirmed. The report comes from Checkpoint, a security company. It says it was ... examining devices used by staff at two businesses: one a "large telecommunications company" and the other a "multinational technology company." (Source: checkpoint.com ) While it's not unusual to find malware on employee phones during some checks -- that's partly the purpose of hiring services such as Checkpoint. ... (view more)

The first consumer features of Windows 10 -- albeit very much still in test mode -- may be just a few weeks away from public unveiling. Recent leaks suggest that the virtual assistant Cortana may be extremely prominent in the new system. Cortana is ... a voice recognition feature already present in Windows Phones and works somewhat similar to Apple's Siri and Google Now. The Windows 10 Consumer Edition Preview is expected to officially roll out to public testers in late January, 2015; some analysts suggest it will likely be on January 21st, as that is the date of Microsoft's next press event. ( ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Lagrangestacy' writes: " Dear Dennis, How can I recover a video from today that was deleted from my phone? " My response: You didn't mention which phone you have, so I will provide general information on file recovery for mobile ... phones using a PC. First and foremost: mobile phones use either micro SD memory card to store data, or internal phone memory, or both. Depending on where the deleted video is stored, you can try to use your Windows PC to recover the files. You can either: a) Take out your micro SD card in your mobile phone and attach it to the ... (view more)

Rumors suggest that Microsoft is primed to launch its own smartwatch in the next few weeks. Details are still hazy, but it seems it may connect with multiple devices , and not only Windows Phones. Smartwatches have been one of the big tech stories ... of 2014, becoming a serious mainstream product after years of hype. Apple is launching its own smartwatch running a modified version of the iPhone software, while firms such as Samsung have produced Android-based watches. Check Emails at the Flick of a Wrist Although smartwatches run a mobile operating system, they usually rely on a connection to a ... (view more)

President Obama is expected to sign a bill in the coming weeks to make it legal to unlock cellphones. That may give users more choice about the cellphone network they use to get service, though there will still be technical restrictions. Most new ... cellphones are sold in a 'locked' state, meaning that they can only run on a particular cellphone network carrier. Usually that's because the network sells the handset at a reduced cost, hoping to make money back from associated monthly service fees and call charges. Unlocking a cellphone effectively modifies the phone's software, and thus allows ... (view more)