Silicon Investor - Smartphones, Tablets, Wearables and Gadgets

[Julius Wong] Android Settings You May Not Know About wired.com

Julius Wong — 10/5/2022 8:42:30 PM

[Julius Wong] Hidden iPhone Tricks That Will Make Your Life Easier wired.com

Julius Wong — 8/6/2022 8:15:23 AM

[Julius Wong] How to Use Your Smartphone to Cope With Hearing Loss wired.com

Julius Wong — 7/20/2022 8:49:32 AM

[Ken Adams] I hope this is the place for my question. I want to replace the QR reader on my...

Ken Adams — 8/5/2021 8:15:10 PM

I hope this is the place for my question. I want to replace the QR reader on my iPhone. When I try to use the current one, it interrupts and wants me to sign up for a free trial, them pay a small monthly fee. I've never seen that before and can't see a way around it for this app.

Can someone recommend an app from the App Store that will do what I need, simply, and without a fee?

Thanks

[TimF] old cell phone with optional clip on chatboard for ‘easy’ texting [graphic] redd...

TimF — 7/28/2021 1:16:57 PM

old cell phone with optional clip on chatboard for ‘easy’ texting

reddit.com

[Ken Adams] Thanks. I guess I got the answer I was looking for. I'll probably replace my c...

Ken Adams — 7/15/2021 2:45:59 PM

Thanks. I guess I got the answer I was looking for. I'll probably replace my current iPhone in a few months. My needs are far less than what my current iPhone 7 provides and I'm not willing to spend that kind of money on a replacement with loads of overkill. I want most of the features, just not the speed, storage or initial cost. Looks like there are loads of options open to me for most of that.

As usual, SI provides fast, useful answers. Thanks to both of you guys.

[TimF] Alexa does more than turn on lights. Its Amazon's equivalent of Siri. Google h...

TimF — 7/15/2021 2:17:41 PM

Alexa does more than turn on lights. Its Amazon's equivalent of Siri. Google has Google Assistant.

[Ken Adams] Isn't Alexa only the "in-home" device that turns on lights, etc.? I don't (and ...

Ken Adams — 7/15/2021 1:47:45 PM

Isn't Alexa only the "in-home" device that turns on lights, etc.? I don't (and won't) have that. I'm only interested in the possibility of replacing "Hey, Siri..." on my iPhone if I don't stay with a newer iPhone.

[FJB] Android has a similar built in assistant. You can also install Alexa...

FJB — 7/15/2021 1:43:46 PM

[Ken Adams] If I give up my iPhone for a newer Android, do I lose access to Siri information...

Ken Adams — 7/15/2021 1:40:12 PM

If I give up my iPhone for a newer Android, do I lose access to Siri information and help?

If so, does Android (or others) have a similar service?

[FJB] wccftech.com Google Free Android Smartphones are Now Available in the ...

FJB — 3/2/2021 11:07:46 AM

wccftech.com

Google Free Android Smartphones are Now Available in the U.S.
Furqan Shahid

3 minutes

Whenever you are in the market looking for a new Android smartphone, it is safe to say that Google services will be the main part of the service. However, what if we tell you that there is one service that actually lets you buy Android devices that are free of Google, and those smartphones are finally making their way into the U.S.

/e/ Foundation is Offering Renowned Smartphones But Without Proper Android and Google Experience On Them According to a report, the /e/ Foundation has been offering refurbished smartphones running "deGoogled" Android since 2019, and the focus back then was just towards the European markets due to the limited supplies of the phones. However, the situation has now changed, and they have enough stock to start offering "deGoogled" smartphones in the U.S. as well. They even come in their own retail box.

You can clearly see that the company has put in some effort in offering these smartphones. At the moment, the /e/ Foundation is offering two phones in the U.S., Starting with a refurbished Galaxy S9 for $380 and a Galaxy S9+ for $430, both of which are fantastic, to say the least. These phones are classed as "premium refurbished," this means that the phones are fully functional, the batteries have been tested, and the camera works fine, too. In addition to that, you are getting a 1-year warranty, carrier unlocked, and they also come with a headset, a quick start guide, and a SIM card tool removal.

So, what exactly are you getting with a Google-free Android phone? Well, Android without Google services is called /e/ OS as the Foundation explains,

We have removed many pieces of code that send your personal data to remote servers without your consent. We don’t scan your data in your phone or in your cloud space, and we don’t track your location hundred times a day or collect what you’re doing with your apps.

Clearly, there are some consequences. You lose access to the Google Play Store, for starters, but your phone does ship with open source apps like browser, email, calendar, maps, and camera. Since you are still getting Android under the hood, the phone can run Android apps, and you can download over 60,000 apps directly from the phone.

While the /e/ Foundation does have an ambitious goal of protecting people's privacy, we live in an age where nothing is really private, so a phone that caters to those concerned about their privacy makes very little sense. If you are still interested in checking it out, you can do so by going here.

[FJB] Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are… Wladimir Palant pa...

FJB — 3/2/2021 10:09:18 AM

Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are…
Wladimir Palant

palant.info

In case you missed it, there was a Forbes article on Mi Browser Pro and Mint Browser which are preinstalled on Xiaomi phones. The article accuses Xiaomi of exfiltrating a history of all visited websites. Xiaomi on the other hand accuses Forbes of misrepresenting the facts. They claim that the data collection is following best practices, the data itself being aggregated and anonymized, without any connection to user’s identity.

TL;DR: It is really that bad, and even worse actually.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you might find this argumentation familiar. It’s almost identical to Avast’s communication after they were found spying on the users and browser vendors pulled their extensions from add-on stores. In the end I was given proof that their data anonymization attempts were only moderately successful if you allow me this understatement.

Given that neither the Forbes article nor the security researchers involved seem to provide any technical details, I wanted to take a look for myself. I decompiled Mint Browser 3.4.0 and looked for clues. This isn’t the latest version, just in case Xiaomi already modified to code in reaction to the Forbes article. Update (2020-05-08): If you don’t need the technical explanation, the newer article gives an overview of the issue.

Disclaimer: I think that this is the first time I analyzed a larger Android application, so please be patient with me. I might have misinterpreted one thing or another, even though the big picture seems to be clear. Also, my conclusions are based exclusively on code analysis, I’ve never seen this browser in action.

Contents

The general analytics setup The Forbes article explains that the data is being transmitted to a Sensors Analytics backend. The Xiaomi article then provides the important clue: sa.api.intl.miui.com is the host name of this backend. They then go on explaining how it’s a server that Xiaomi owns rather than a third party. But they are merely trying to distract us: if sensitive data from my browser is being sent to this server, why would I care who owns it?

We find this server name mentioned in the class miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.i (yes, some package and class names are mangled). It’s used in some initialization code:

final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); sb.append("https://sa.api.intl.miui.com/sa?project=global_browser_mini&r="); sb.append(A.e); a = sb.toString();
Looking up A.e, it turns out to be a country code. So the i.a static member here ends up holding the endpoint URL with the user’s country code filled in. And it is being used in the class’ initialization function:

public void a(final Context c) { SensorsDataAPI.sharedInstance(this.c = c, i.a, this.d); SensorsDataAPI.sharedInstance().identify(com.xiaomi.mistatistic.sdk.e.a(this.c)); this.c(); this.d(); this.e(); this.b(); }
The Sensors Analytics API is public, so we can look up the SensorsDataAPI class and learn that the first sharedInstance() call creates an instance and sets its server URL. The next line calls identify() setting an “anonymous ID” for this instance which will be sent along with every data point, more on that later.

The call to this.c() is also worth noting as this will set a bunch of additional properties to be sent with each request:

public void c() { final JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject(); jsonObject.put("uuid", (Object)com.xiaomi.mistatistic.sdk.e.a(this.c)); int n; if (H.f(miui.globalbrowser.common.a.a())) { n = 1; } else { n = 0; } jsonObject.put("internet_status", n); jsonObject.put("platform", (Object)"AndroidApp"); jsonObject.put("miui_version", (Object)Build$VERSION.INCREMENTAL); final String e = A.e; a(e); jsonObject.put("miui_region", (Object)e); jsonObject.put("system_language", (Object)A.b); SensorsDataAPI.sharedInstance(this.c).registerSuperProperties(jsonObject); }
There we have the same “anonymous ID” sent as uuid parameter, just in case. In addition, the usual version, region, language data is being sent.

For me, it wasn’t entirely trivial to figure out where this class is being initialized from. Turns out, from class miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.b:

public static void a(final String s, final Map<String, String> map) { a(s, map, true); } public static void a(final String s, final Map<String, String> map, final boolean b) { if (b) { i.a().a(s, map); } miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.d.a().a(s, map); }
So the miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.b.a() call will set the third parameter to true by default. This call accesses a singleton miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.i instance (will be created if it doesn’t exist) and makes it actually track an event (s is the event name here and map are the parameters being sent in addition to the default ones). The additional miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.d.a() call triggers their MiStatistics analytics framework which I didn’t investigate.

And that’s it. We now have to find where in the code miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.b class is used and what data it receives. All that data will be sent to Sensors Analytics backend regularly.

How anonymous is that ID? Looking up com.xiaomi.mistatistic.sdk.e.a() eventually turns up ID generation code very close to the one cited in the Xiaomi blog post:

public static String d(final Context context) { if (!TextUtils.isEmpty((CharSequence)y.g)) { return y.g; } final long currentTimeMillis = System.currentTimeMillis(); final String a = L.a(context, "anonymous_id", ""); final long a2 = L.a(context, "aigt", 0L); final long a3 = L.a(context, "anonymous_ei", 7776000000L); if (!TextUtils.isEmpty((CharSequence)a) && currentTimeMillis - a2 < a3) { y.g = a; } else { L.b(context, "anonymous_id", y.g = UUID.randomUUID().toString()); } L.c(context, "aigt", currentTimeMillis); return y.g; }
The L.a() call is retrieving a value from context.getSharedPreferences() with fallback. L.b() and L.c() calls will store a value there. So Xiaomi is trying to tell us: “Look, the ID is randomly generated, without any relation to the user. And it is renewed every 90 days!”

Now 90 days are a rather long time interval even for a randomly generated ID. With enough data points it should be easy to deduce the user’s identity from it. But there is another catch. See that aigt preference? What is its value?

The intention here seems to be that aigt is the timestamp when the ID was generated. So if that timestamp deviates from current time by more than 7776000000 milliseconds (90 days) a new ID is going to be generated. However, this implementation is buggy, it will update aigt on every call rather than only when a new ID is generated. So the only scenario where a new ID will be generated is: this method wasn’t called for 90 days, meaning that the browser wasn’t started for 90 days. And that’s rather unlikely, so one has to consider this ID permanent.

And if this weren’t enough, there is another catch. If you look at the SensorsDataAPI class again, you will see that the “anonymous ID” is merely a fallback when a login ID isn’t available. And what is the login ID here? We’ll find it being set in the miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.i class:

public void b() { final Account a = miui.globalbrowser.common.c.b.a(this.c); if (a != null && !TextUtils.isEmpty((CharSequence)a.name)) { SensorsDataAPI.sharedInstance().login(a.name); } }
That’s exactly what it looks like: a Xiaomi account ID. So if the user is logged into the browser, the tracking data will be connected to their Xiaomi account. And that one is linked to the user’s email address at the very least, probably to other identifying parameters as well.

What is being collected? As mentioned above, we need to look at the places where miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.b class methods are called. And very often these are quite typical for product analytics, for example:

final HashMap<String, String> hashMap = new HashMap<String, String>(); if (ex.getCause() != null) { hashMap.put("cause", ex.getCause().toString()); } miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.b.a("rv_crashed", hashMap);
So there was a crash and the vendor is notified about the issue. Elsewhere the data indicates that a particular element of the user interface was opened, also very useful information to improve the product. And then there is this in class com.miui.org.chromium.chrome.browser.webview.k:

public void onPageFinished(final WebView webView, final String d) { ... if (!this.c && !TextUtils.isEmpty((CharSequence)d)) { miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.b.a("page_load_event_finish", "url", this.a(d)); } ... } public void onPageStarted(final WebView webView, final String e, final Bitmap bitmap) { ... if (!this.b && !TextUtils.isEmpty((CharSequence)e)) { miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.b.a("page_load_event_start", "url", this.a(e)); } ... }
That’s the code sending all visited websites to an analytics server. Once when the page starts loading, and another time when it finishes. And the Xiaomi blog post explains why this code exists: “The URL is collected to identify web pages which load slowly; this gives us insight into how to best improve overall browsing performance.”

Are you convinced by this explanation? Because I’m not. If this is all about slow websites, why not calculate the page load times locally and transmit only the slow ones? This still wouldn’t be great for privacy but an order of magnitude better than what Xiaomi actually implemented. Xiaomi really needs to try harder if we are to assume incompetence rather than malice here. How was it decided that sending all visited addresses is a good compromise? Was privacy even considered in that decision? Would they still make the same decision today? And if not, how did they adapt their processes to reflect this?

But there are far more cases where their analytics code collects too much data. In class com.miui.org.chromium.chrome.browser.omnibox.NavigationBar we’ll see:

final HashMap<String, String> hashMap = new HashMap<String, String>(); hashMap.put("used_searchengine", com.miui.org.chromium.chrome.browser.search.b.a(this.L).f()); hashMap.put("search_position", miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.e.c()); hashMap.put("search_method", miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.e.b()); hashMap.put("search_word", s); miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.b.a("search", hashMap);
So searching from the navigation bar won’t merely track the search engine used but also what you searched for. In the class miui.globalbrowser.download.J we see for example:

final HashMap<String, String> hashMap = new HashMap<String, String>(); hashMap.put("op", s); hashMap.put("suffix", s2); hashMap.put("url", s3); if (d.c(s4)) { s = "privacy"; } else { s = "general"; } hashMap.put("type", s); b.a("download_files", hashMap);
This isn’t merely tracking the fact that files were downloaded but also the URLs downloaded. What kind of legitimate interest could Xiaomi have here?

And then this browser appears to provide some custom user interface for YouTube videos. Almost everything is being tracked there, for example in class miui.globalbrowser.news.YMTSearchActivity:

final HashMap<String, String> hashMap = new HashMap<String, String>(); hashMap.put("op", "search"); hashMap.put("search_word", text); hashMap.put("search_type", s); hashMap.put("page", this.w); miui.globalbrowser.common_business.g.b.a("youtube_search_op", hashMap);
Why does Xiaomi need to know what people search on YouTube? And not just that, elsewhere they seem to collect data on what videos people watch and how much time they spend doing that. Xiaomi also seems to know what websites people have configured in their speed dial and when they click those. This doesn’t leave a good impression, could it be surveillance functionality after all?

Conclusions If you use Mint Browser (and presumably Mi Browser Pro similarly), Xiaomi doesn’t merely know which websites you visit but also what you search for, which videos you watch, what you download and what sites you added to the Quick Dial page. Heck, they even track which porn site triggered the reminder to switch to incognito mode! Yes, if Xiaomi wants anybody to believe that this wasn’t malicious they have a lot more explaining to do.

The claim that this data is anonymized cannot be maintained either. Even given the random user ID (which appears to be permanent by mistake) deducing user’s identity should be easy, we’ve seen it before. But they also transmit user’s Xiaomi account ID if they know it, which is directly linked to the user’s identity.

Xiaomi now announced that they will turn off collection of visited websites in incognito mode. That’s a step in the right direction, albeit a tiny one. Will they still collecting all the other data in incognito mode? And even if not, why collect so much data during regular browsing? What reason is there that justifies all these privacy violations?

Update (2020-05-07): I looked into the privacy-related changes implemented in Mint Browser 3.4.3. It’s was a bigger improvement than what it sounded like, the “statistics” collection functionality can be disabled entirely. However, you have to make sure that you have “Incognito Mode” turned on and “Enhanced Incognito Mode” turned off – that’s the only configuration where you can have your privacy.

[Latest Review] Excellent Article, yes xiaomi is Biggest selling phone in India due to socio eco...

Latest Review — 2/28/2021 6:54:08 PM

Excellent Article, yes xiaomi is Biggest selling phone in India due to socio economic Status of majority of Indians

[radkapital] Top Chinese Phone Brands and Their Best-Selling Models in India - Pandaily ...

radkapital — 5/2/2020 6:15:11 PM

Top Chinese Phone Brands and Their Best-Selling Models in India - Pandaily

6-7 minutes

Over the years, India has emerged as one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world. As the world’s second largest smartphone market, it is constantly attracting global brands seeking to expand their market share. According to the latest report from Counterpoint Research, Chinese brands Xiaomi, vivo, Realme and OPPO accounted for 73% of India’s market in terms of shipments in Q1 2020. Here are some of the Chinese titles performing well in the Indian market.

SEE ALSO: Top Chinese Mobile Phone Brands

Best Chinese phone brands in India 2020 Xiaomi and Redmi Note series India is now Xiaomi’s biggest mobile phone market. In Q1 2020, it led the Indian smartphone market with a 30% market share. Aggressive offline expansion, customer focus and affordable prices have boosted company’s business there. The Redmi Note series handsets, including the Redmi Note 8 series and the Redmi Note 9 series, are the most popular smartphones under Rs. 15,000 in the country.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro – Rs. 12,999

Redmi Note 9 Pro (Source: Xiaomi)The Redmi Note 9 Pro is a killer phone hitting India in March, the new budget phone from Xiaomi’s sub-brand Redmi comes as the successor to last year’s Redmi Note 8 series, with a lowered starting price of Rs. 12,999. It packs a 6.67-inch LCD screen with a 60Hz refresh rate and achole-punch frontal camera. The handset runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G SoC which is surprisingly powerful for this price range. The Redmi Note 9 Pro is also equipped with a powerful 5020mAh battery, supporting 18W fast charging.

Vivo and vivo Y series Vivo saw its market share in India grow from 12% to 17% last year. Vivo phones mainly target fashion conscious smartphone buyers, who are looking for a good camera, audio functionality, sleek design at a low price. The Y series models, usually featuring AI selfie capabilities, a dual-camera, a bezel-less screen, and a Qualcomm SoCs, performed well in Q1. The best-selling vivo Y series smartphones included the Y91, Y95, Y83, Y53. They are priced starting from Rs. 6990.

Vivo Y91 – Rs. 7,950.

VivoY91 India (Source: vivo)The Vivo Y91 launched in January 2019, is a stripped-down variant of the Vivo Y95. The phone comes with a 6.22-inch display, 4,030mAh battery, and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 processor. Its Halo FullView Display offers users an immersive viewing experience. The Y91 has a 13MP+2MP dual rear camera setup and an 8MP front-facing camera. The rear camera setup is reinforced by features such as Portrait mode, Autofocus, and more. The front camera includes AI Beautifying effects. The Vivo Y91’s starting price on Amazon is Rs. 7,950.

Realme and first 5G phone India Realme started as a sub-brand of OPPO until its separation in 2018. It launched its first product, the Realme 1 exclusively in India in May 2018. Realme grew ferociously by heaping 119% year-over-year in Q1 this year. It now commands 14% of the Indian smartphone segment, surpassing OPPO’s 12%. The Realme X50 Pro 5G was the first 5G phone in the Indian market. The Realme 5i and C3 are currently the hottest Realme phones in India under Rs. 10,000.

Realme C3 – Rs. 6,999

Realme C3 triple camera phone (Source: Realme)The Realme C3 is the latest budget smartphone from Realme, the successor to the Realme C2. With a starting price of Rs. 6999, the affordable phone has helped win market share for Realme in Q1 2020. It has a 6.5 inch display with 89.8% screen to body ratio, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, and a 5,000mAh battery. It features a dual camera 13MP + 5MP set up and runs on the new Helio G70 processor and Mali G52 GPU that guarantee fast performance in both routine tasks and mobile gaming, even while playing heavy games like COD and PUBG.

OPPO and A series OPPO has emerged as India’s favorite innovative handset brand in the premium segment. OPPO constantly focuses on camera capabilities and long-lasting and fast-charging batteries, which have impressed young customers the most. OPPO has similar offline marketing strategy to vivo. People can see OPPO and vivo selling everywhere in India. The budget friendly OPPO A5 series, A31 and A9 2020 have shown especially good performance.

OPPO A9 2020 – Rs. 17,390

The Oppo A9 2020 has a large 6.5-inch screen with a 89% screen-to-body ratio. The display comes with a water drop notch and Gorilla Glass 3+ for protection. It has a 5000mAh ultra battery with reverse charging capability, and a 48MP ultra wide quad camera setup supported by a 16MP selfie camera featuring AI beautification. The Snapdragon 665 + Game Boost 2.0 provide faster performances and smoother, more responsive gaming experience. OPPO A9 2020 comes with 128GB of ROM, which can be backed up by up to 256GB of additional memory thanks to a three-card slot (Dual Sim + MicroSD) for tons of extra storage.

OnePlus and Note 8 Pro series Chinese phone brand OnePlus has become the new leader of India’s premium smartphone segment (= Rs. 30,000 retail price), followed by Samsung and Apple in 2019. In 2019, its shipments grew 28% YoY and captured one-third of India’s premium segment.

OnePlus 8 – Rs 41,999

OnePlus 8 series smartphone (Source: OnePlus)The OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro were launched a couple of weeks ago at an online event. The anticipated high-end phone is now available for pre-bookings in India on Amazon.in. The OnePlus 8 starts at Rs. 41,999 for the base 6GB + 128GB storage model, while the price for the 8GB + 128GB variant is set at Rs. 54,999. The OnePlus 8 is a little bit smaller than the Pro variant with a 6.55-inch display. Additionally, it is equipped with a Snapdragon 865 processors, and supports 5G.

[Julius Wong] This App Automatically Cancels and Sues Robocallers It's the newest offering fr...

Julius Wong — 2/14/2020 8:22:01 AM

This App Automatically Cancels and Sues Robocallers

It's the newest offering from consumer advocacy group DoNotPay.

vice.com

[Julius Wong] All the cool things you can do on your phone's lock screen Unlock some hidden s...

Julius Wong — 2/11/2020 7:52:22 AM

All the cool things you can do on your phone's lock screen

Unlock some hidden shortcuts.

popsci.com

[Julius Wong] Just being around your cellphone affects your thinking, study finds medicalxpre...

Julius Wong — 2/7/2020 10:32:53 AM

Just being around your cellphone affects your thinking, study finds

medicalxpress.com

[Julius Wong] As flames encroach, those at risk may lose phone signal when they need it most ...

Julius Wong — 11/13/2019 9:55:37 AM

As flames encroach, those at risk may lose phone signal when they need it most

techxplore.com

[Julius Wong] Surprising ways phone apps are tracking you msn.com

Julius Wong — 10/5/2019 8:09:48 AM

[Julius Wong] You don’t need a new phone, so here’s how to keep your old one running like new ...

Julius Wong — 8/28/2019 8:36:29 AM

You don’t need a new phone, so here’s how to keep your old one running like new

cnbc.com

[Julius Wong] How to log out of Instagram on your phone or computer to protect your account's ...

Julius Wong — 7/24/2019 9:51:30 PM

How to log out of Instagram on your phone or computer to protect your account's security

businessinsider.com

[Julius Wong] How “stalkerware” apps are letting abusive partners spy on their victims Many w...

Julius Wong — 7/12/2019 7:52:49 AM

How “stalkerware” apps are letting abusive partners spy on their victims

Many women are unaware that they are being spied on with apps hidden on their phones. App-store owners must do more.

technologyreview.com

[Julius Wong] How to transfer your photos from an Android phone to a PC Get your photos off y...

Julius Wong — 7/9/2019 6:41:21 PM

How to transfer your photos from an Android phone to a PC
Get your photos off your phone and on your PC with these tips
digitaltrends.com

Tight on space? Here’s how to transfer photos from an iPhone to a computer
digitaltrends.com

[Julius Wong] 5 ways to keep your Android apps from spying on you Over 1,000 Android apps gra...

Julius Wong — 7/9/2019 7:40:44 AM

5 ways to keep your Android apps from spying on you

Over 1,000 Android apps grab your data even if you tell them no.

cnet.com

[TimF] How is that link relevant?

TimF — 6/5/2019 6:36:05 PM

[Julius Wong] SI policy on Copyright and IP Copyright and Intellectual Property Agent for Not...

Julius Wong — 6/5/2019 5:26:31 PM

SI policy on Copyright and IP

Copyright and Intellectual Property Agent for Notice
siliconinvestor.com

[TimF] When I try to follow links you post they are often paywalled.

TimF — 6/5/2019 5:04:22 PM

[Julius Wong] How Safe Is Your Mobile Phone? Not as Safe as You Think Three experts talk abou...

Julius Wong — 6/4/2019 10:30:57 PM

How Safe Is Your Mobile Phone? Not as Safe as You Think

Three experts talk about where the weaknesses are—and what companies can do about it

wsj.com

[Julius Wong] What Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant Can Do—and Annoyingly Still Can’t Do wsj....

Julius Wong — 6/4/2019 6:49:58 AM

What Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant Can Do—and Annoyingly Still Can’t Do

wsj.com

[Julius Wong] Why You Should Never Use Airport USB Charging Stations forbes.com

Julius Wong — 6/2/2019 8:34:52 AM

[FJB] MediaTek claims its 7nm chipset is the world's first SoC with an integrated 5G m...

FJB — 6/1/2019 10:40:15 AM

MediaTek claims its 7nm chipset is the world's first SoC with an integrated 5G modem, will ship in devices in 2020 using Arm's Cortex-A77 CPU and Mali-G77 GPU — Today MedaTek is making quite an unusual announcement: The company is the first to announce a SoC with an integrated 5G modem.

More: Engadget, Gizmodo, GSMArena.com, XDA Developers, Pocket-lint, Business Insider, Reuters, VentureBeat, PR Newswire, The Verge, ExtremeTech, and Trak.in

[Julius Wong] iPhone Privacy Is Broken…and Apps Are to Blame Don’t be too confident in those ...

Julius Wong — 5/31/2019 6:56:37 PM

iPhone Privacy Is Broken…and Apps Are to Blame

Don’t be too confident in those privacy controls. Our test of 80 apps in Apple’s App Store reveals most apps are tracking you in ways you cannot avoid

wsj.com

[Julius Wong] How to backup your Android phone's contacts to Google, and restore them from a b...

Julius Wong — 5/30/2019 9:43:36 PM

How to backup your Android phone's contacts to Google, and restore them from a backup

businessinsider.com

[Julius Wong] How to open zip files on an iPad and extract their contents businessinsider.com

Julius Wong — 5/25/2019 7:58:39 AM

[Julius Wong] Scientists Created a Display With Pixels a Million Times Smaller Than Those on a...

Julius Wong — 5/12/2019 8:43:57 AM

Scientists Created a Display With Pixels a Million Times Smaller Than Those on a Smartphone

gizmodo.com

[Julius Wong] I swapped out my $1,449 iPhone for Google's new $479 Pixel phone, and it proved ...

Julius Wong — 5/7/2019 9:34:53 PM

I swapped out my $1,449 iPhone for Google's new $479 Pixel phone, and it proved that phones don't have to be so expensive

businessinsider.com

[Julius Wong] WSJ's Joanna Stern had big plans to review Samsung's first foldable phone. Then ...

Julius Wong — 4/20/2019 10:41:50 AM

WSJ's Joanna Stern had big plans to review Samsung's first foldable phone. Then other Samsung phone screens started breaking and she accidentally began to peel off the screen protector that's not really a screen protector.

wsj.com

[Julius Wong] How to remove the SIM card from your iPhone businessinsider.com

Julius Wong — 3/21/2019 9:48:33 PM

[FJB] First Verizon Mobile 5G Markets Chicago and Minneapolis Launch April 11 with Mot...

FJB — 3/14/2019 2:19:38 AM

First Verizon Mobile 5G Markets Chicago and Minneapolis Launch April 11 with Moto Module

3/13/19 at 11:48 AM by Joan Engebretson
+

The first two Verizon mobile 5G markets will be Chicago and Minneapolis and will launch April 11, the company said today. To use the service, customers will initially have to purchase a 5G moto mod device from Motorola, exclusive to Verizon, which will be used in combination with a moto z3 smartphone launched last year. Additional 5G capable smartphones will become available later.

Verizon calls the mobile 5G service “5G Ultra Wideband” to designate the technology’s deployment in the millimeter wave band. Verizon has broad spectrum holdings in that band, which should enable it to maximize mobile data speeds. The downside is that the offering is expected to require dense cell site infrastructure as range is reduced for service operating in that band – although Verizon has said that those concerns are not as severeas some initially expected.

The equipment underlying Verizon mobile 5G meets the 5G NR standard developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards body, the company said. A total of 30 Verizon mobile 5G markets, specifically 5G Ultra Wideband markets based on the 5G NR standard, are expected to launch in 2019. The Verizon news comes just a few weeks after AT&T added Chicago and Minneapolis to the list of cities where it expects to roll out 5G service in 2019. It seems unlikely that the news was a coincidence. Instead, it seems more likely that AT&T learned of Verizon’s deployment and made the announcement to dissuade its own customers from switching to Verizon.

It would seem virtually impossible for a carrier to deploy a mobile network in a major market without other industry stakeholders learning of it.

Verizon Mobile 5G
The 5G moto mod will retail for $349.99 but Verizon has a special introductory price of $50. The moto z3 smartphone that the 5G moto mod works with launched in August with a price of $480 and a trade-in offer to take as much as $300 off that cost. The moto z3 works on Verizon’s earlier generation networks if 5G is not available.

Verizon will begin taking orders for the 5G moto mod tomorrow. Rival carrier AT&T previously launched mobile 5G service in 12 markets, with plans for at least nine more markets this year, but that service also lacks a dedicated smartphone. Instead, the service is supported initially by a mobile hotspot. Both carriers were able to launch their networks before dedicated smartphones were available. Those smartphones are expected to hit the market this year.

Verizon previously launched a non-standard version of 5G to support fixed service in four markets to support an offering the company calls 5G Home.

[waitwatchwander] FUD everywhere these days. You have to wonder about these experts given the sam...

waitwatchwander — 3/5/2019 12:26:38 PM

FUD everywhere these days. You have to wonder about these experts given the same can be stated about any country within their jurisdictions. Some may requires courts to act in conjunction with the state but is that really that much different. Jurisdiction also comes into play with a foreign entity selling equipment elsewhere. Yes, Huawei could break the law just like anyone else. What happened with innocent until proven guilty.

If all is so dire why don't these experts have factual cases to back up their coulda's.

Yes, more of the real world !

[FJB] Huawei says it would never hand data to China’s government. Experts say it would...

FJB — 3/5/2019 10:13:59 AM

Huawei says it would never hand data to China’s government. Experts say it wouldn’t have a choice

CNBC ^ | Mon, Mar 4 2019 • 8:13 PM EST | Updated 3 hours ago | Arjun Kharpal

Huawei would have no choice but to hand over network data to the Chinese government if Beijing asked for it, because of espionage and national security laws in the country, experts told CNBC. Major governments including the United States, Japan and Australia have blocked the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker from providing hardware for next-generation mobile networks known as 5G. The U.S. has said Huawei equipment could provide backdoors for the Chinese government into American networks — a claim the company has repeatedly denied. Australia did not cite specific countries or companies, but last year it gave guidance to domestic carriers...

[FJB] The SD Association unveils microSD Express format for mobile with data transfe...

FJB — 2/25/2019 3:34:30 PM

The SD Association unveils microSD Express format for mobile with data transfer speeds of up to 985 MB/s, lower power consumption, and backwards compatibility — The SD Association has unveiled microSD Express, a new format that will bring speeds of up to 985 Mb/s to the tiny memory cards used in smartphones and other devices.

[Julius Wong] The Chinese phone giant that beat Apple to Africa cnn.com

Julius Wong — 10/18/2018 7:48:36 PM

[FJB] Huawei Launches the Mate 20 Series: Kirin 980 7nm SoC Inside anandtech.com P...

FJB — 10/18/2018 11:23:16 AM

Huawei Launches the Mate 20 Series: Kirin 980 7nm SoC Inside

anandtech.com

Posted inNew to the market is the latest flagship smartphone from Huawei. Following the Mate series, last year’s Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro are succeeded by the Mate 20 and the Mate 20 Pro, featuring the 7nm Hisilicon Kirin 980 chipset, along with a whole new design with added features. Out of the two, the Mate 20 Pro is aiming for the upsell, with new features such as reverse wireless charging, an OLED HDR display, an IP68 rating, a larger battery, and support for a 40W Supercharge.

Huawei Mate 20's
		Mate 20 Pro	Mate 20	Mate 20 X
SoC		HiSilicon Kirin 980 2x Cortex A76 @ 2.60 GHz 2x Cortex A76 @ 1.92 GHz 4x Cortex A55 @ 1.80 GHz
GPU		Mali G76MP10 @ 720MHz
DRAM		6GB LPDDR4X	4GB LPDDR4X 6GB LPDDR4X	?GB LPDDR4X
Display		6.39" OLED 3120 x 1440(19.5:9) DCI-P3, HDR	6.53" RGBW LCD 2244 x 1080(18.7:9) DCI-P3, HDR	7.2" OLED 2244 x 1080 (18.7:9) DCI-P3, HDR
Size	Height	157.8 mm	158.2 mm
	Width	72.3 mm	77.2 mm
	Depth	8.6 mm	8.3 mm
Weight		189 grams	188 grams
Battery Capacity		4200mAh 40WSuperCharge	4000mAh 22.5WSuperCharge	5000mAh
Wireless Charging		Qi
		+ Wireless reverse charging	-
Rear Cameras
	Main	40MP f/1.8 27mm equiv. FL	12MP f/1.8 27mm equivl. FL	40MP f/1.8 27mm equiv. FL
	Telephoto	8MP f/2.4 3x Optical zoom 80mm equiv. FL	8MP f/2.4 2x Optical Zoom 52mm equivl. FL	8MP f/2.4 Optical Zoom
	Wide	20MP f/2.2 Ulta wide angle 16mm equivl. FL	16MP f/2.2 Ultra wide angle 17mm equivl. FL	Ultra wide angle
Front Camera		24MP f/2.0
		Dot-projector Flood illuminator IR camera	-
Storage		128 GB + proprietary "nanoSD" card
I/O		USB-C	USB-C 3.5mm headphone jack
Wireless (local)		802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi Bluetooth 5.0 LE + NFC
Cellular		Kirin 980 Integrated LTE (Category 21/18) DL = 1400 Mbps 4x4 MIMO 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM (5CA no MIMO) UL = 200 Mbps 2x2 MIMO 1x20MHz CA, 256-QAM
Splash, Water, Dust Resistance		IP68 (water resistant up to 1m)	IP53 (no water resistance)
Dual-SIM		2x nano-SIM
Launch Price		128 GB: 1049€	4+128 GB: 799€ 6+128 GB: 849€	128 GB: 899€

A New Generation of DesignEven by Huawei’s own reckoning, the Mate 10 series sold extraordinarily well. As a company, in the first half of this year, they moved ahead of Apple to be the second biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world in terms of unit sales, totalling 95 million units. That represents a 30% year-on-year growth, although a big step up is needed to rival Samsung for that number one spot. Huawei believes that flagship devices such as the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are an integral part of that strategy.

Mate 20 Pro

In our briefings, Huawei made it clear that they want an iconic look. Smartphones, we were told, seem to be unifying over the design and it is often difficult to tell them apart. Huawei stated that it has made design choices this time around to remain identifiable and unique in the market, and from my perspective, the choices made here will instantly indicate that someone is using a Huawei smartphone. The first obvious feature is the rear camera.

Mate 20

Following on from the dual-camera setup of the Mate 10 series, the new three rear cameras now appear on the back of the Mate 20 in a square pattern, with the flash in one of the corners. This quadrilateral design is slightly different on the Mate 20 Pro, as it is a larger phone so the camera layout is slightly longer vertically, however the camera setup on both is very similar: a telephoto lens paired with a wide angle lens and then an ultra-wide angle lens just for good measure.

Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro

This means that the monochrome sensor has finally gone (it had questionable benefits in the last generation), and has been replaced with a new ultra-wide sensor. This allows the new phones for an optical zoom from 0.6x to 2.0x-3.0x (depending on model), beyond which the camera goes into a ‘hybrid zoom’ mode, combining optical and digital zoom. The differences between the two models are in the details:

Mate 20: 12MP Wide Angle f/1.8 + 16MP Ultra-Wide f/2.2 + 8MP Telephoto f/2.4Mate 20 Pro: 40MP Wide Angle f/1.7 + 20MP Ultra-Wide f/2.2 + 8MP Telephoto f/2.4The 40MP wide angle also supports "4-in-1 shots", or more commonly referred to 2x2 pixel binning, combining data from multiple pixels to produce 10MP photos that look better in low light. For both cameras OIS is found only on the telephoto lens, while other stabilization comes from Huawei’s AI-stabilization technology.

Sticking with the cameras, the front facing camera is different on both models as well. The standard Mate 20 will have a single 24MP f/2.0 RGB camera sensor on the front, whereas the Mate 20 Pro is going all in with proper facial recognition, with a dot projector, the 24MP RGB sensor, a time-of-flight proximity sensor, a flood illuminator, and an IR camera, similar to the Apple system but in testing felt a lot faster, capable of dealing with some sizeable side angles. Huawei was not clear if this is going to be used as a way to make payments, although some announcements might be being made at the presentation today. Huawei did state that apps and files can be locked away using the facial recognition.

Mate 20 Pro

Mate 20

Also on design uniqueness, Huawei is pleased with what the company has done with the rear of the device for feel. The main color choices for the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro use a glass ridged rear surface, with microbumps as an oleophobic coating. Running a nail across it gives that scratchy sound similar to vinyl, and the feel of the device is very natural, with Huawei stating that every edge uses rounded glass. Each model will be available in five different colors, three with the microbump ridge pattern (Pink Gold, Midnight Blue, Emerald Green) and two without (Twilight and Black).

The HardwareInside both devices is the Kirin 980, Huawei’s newest 7nm smartphone SoC. We covered the launch of this chip at IFA when it was announced, but the high level specifications include a tri-CPU design using ARM’s latest Cortex A76 and A55 processors and ARM Mali-G76 graphics. Huawei’s enhancements to the chip over the Kirin 970, aside from the new CPU/GPU and manufacturing process, includes the newest version of the sensor hub, an upgraded integrated modem now capable of Cat 21 download, and a dual core Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for neural network inference.

Back at IFA, we were told that this dual-core NPU is essentially just a double size NPU to that of the Kirin 970, except with 8-bit INT capabilities. Ultimately it acted like a single device, but could compute on one core for efficiency or both for throughput. At our recent prebrief, we are now told that one core of the NPU deals with 16-bit networks, while the other deals with 8-bit networks. We’ve asked several questions to clarify this, and are waiting on the response.

For the deep analysis of the launch of the Kirin 980, head on over to our article here.

On the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, one of the key differentiators will be with the screen. On the standard Mate 20, the display is a 6.53-inch 2244x1080 RGBW LCD unit, capable of a good amount of DCI-P3, and brightness up to 820 nits, in what Huawei is calling a ‘Dew Drop’ display based on the notch. The Mate 20 Pro by comparison uses a smaller but denser 6.39-inch 3120x1440 OLED display also capable of DCI-P3 and HDR, with Huawei stating it has a ‘high color saturation’ and ‘high contrast ratio’ but declines to give specific numbers.

Also up for differentiation is the battery, with the Mate 20 Pro getting a 4200 mAh battery capable of a new 40W Super Charge mode certified by TÜV Rheinland (we’re still waiting on exact details) which Huawei states is good to charge the device from 0% to 70% in 30 minutes. The Mate 20 Pro is also equipped with fast wireless charging, up to 15W, and can be used in reverse charging mode – if you need to charge another wireless device, it will do so up to a certain limit.

We tried this with an iPhone. No problems. But no luck with my LG V30.

The standard Mate 20 gets a 4000 mAh battery, which is a bump up from the standard Mate 10, and will do 22.5W Super Charge, which charge the device to 56-60% in half an hour according to the claims.

The fingerprint sensor is another area for differentiation, and the Mate 20 Pro has one built into the screen using a DPS sensor similar to the Mate 10 Pro. The Mate 20 has a rear fingerprint sensor, which in our hands-on seemed to get a lot of oil from fingerprints on it very easily. Another differentiation is the waterproof rating, with the Mate 20 Pro going at IP68, while the standard Mate 20 is an IP53 device. Also the 3.5mm jack: the Pro does not have one, but the regular Mate 20 does.

Both devices will support 802.11ac Wave 2 technology, capable of a theoretical peak of 1.732 Gbps in a perfect scenario, and both devices will ship with EMUI 9, based on Android 9, with the latest version of GPU Turbo technology and a high-performance mode for users that need it. As part of EMUI 9, Huawei is introducing a password vault, with data kept inside a secure zone in the processor. There will also be backup capabilities to a NAS with the SMB protocol.

SoftwareOn the software side, due to EMUI and the dual NPU, the AI has improved to allow for more scenes to be detected in the camera view, as well as skeletal representations of people in shot to help with framing. It uses real-time 4D predictive focus to keep objects in focus in videos, and with the wide angle lens can record natively in 21:9. A new feature is an AI-based highlight reel, which can take all the film from a day of shooting, identify people common to many videos and generate 10 second highlight footage of those individuals.

Also in the software is Huawei’s push to make it more ‘natural’, using a slow chirp of nature as the default alarm sound for example. There is a general push to give a more natural aural feedback across the interface. Huawei also states that it is up to 51% faster with built-in app startup, and that its ‘born fast, stay fast’ philosophy still applies with a supposed better aging process for devices than competitors and even the Mate 9 or Mate 10.

Both the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are also taking Desktop Mode to a new level, by now supporting wireless desktop mode via Miracast. This allows users to take their device with them and stream wirelessly in desktop mode using the smartphone as a trackpad, or supporting a dual screen extension.

Another feature of the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro will be the Digital Balance part of the software, showing users where their time is spent, and offering to give warnings when the user is putting the device in front of their face too often during the day.

Configurations and PricingBoth devices will come in dual nano-SIM variants, however rather than supporting the standard microSD, Huawei has developed a proprietary standard it is calling ‘nanoSD’ that it will sell and will fit into a standard nanoSIM slot. This is going to be fun (not).

The Mate 20 will be sold in 4GB+128GB and 6GB+128GB variants, with the Mate 20 Pro only in a 6GB+128GB variant. Exact details of regions and pricing should be announced at today’s launch.

Mate 9, Mate 10, Mate 20 Pro

We are also expecting another Mate 20 design to be announced today, probably a Porsche Design model, with additional storage and a leather trim with certain PD specific design aspects.

[FJB] Huawei 7nm smartphone chip stuns Apple and Samsung 7nm smartphone processors...

FJB — 9/3/2018 12:38:30 PM

Huawei 7nm smartphone chip stuns Apple and Samsung

7nm smartphone processors will help phones run faster, save more power, and have a higher resolution screen and camera than the current 10nm versions

24 Aug 2018

More on
this story
With nodes just 7 nanometres wide, the world’s newest generation of smartphone chips will help phones run faster, save more power, and have a higher resolution screen and camera, compared to the 10nm processors available now.

They are costly and difficult to produce, which is why industry experts predicted last year that Apple and Samsung could be the only two manufacturers in the world to launch 7nm chips in their newest phones this year.

But an unexpected contender has caught up: Huawei, the Chinese phone manufacturer that recently unseated Apple from its position as the world’s second biggest phone maker.

Huawei reportedly started developing its 7nm chipsets as early as 2015, in partnership with TSM Corporation, a manufacturer of precision machine components.

5 common myths about iPhone battery life – and how to prolong it

While Apple’s 2018 iPhones – expected to contain 7nm chips – will be launched around September, Huawei chief executive Richard Yu has confirmed that the company’s new Mate 20 series phones will hit the market in October, and with 7nm technology,

Huawei will unveil its 7nm technology at IFA, an electronics trade show in Berlin, from August 31 until September 5.

Samsung hopes Galaxy Home will rival Apple, Google speakers

Competitor Samsung’s 7nm chip is expected to feature in its S10 series, which could be made available next year. The company is also said to be researching 3nm chips, with a targeted production date of 2021.

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This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

[FJB] Apple Is Clearly Working on AR Glasses by Jesus Diaz Aug 30, 2018, 4:38 AM App...

FJB — 8/30/2018 9:48:00 AM

Apple Is Clearly Working on AR Glasses

by Jesus Diaz Aug 30, 2018, 4:38 AM
Apple has bought Akonia Holographics, a Colorado-based startup dedicated to the manufacturing of displays for augmented reality glasses.

In addition to other recent purchases, this is an extremely strong indicator that the Cupertino company is actively working on AR glasses.

According to Akonia’s web site, its more than 200 patents result in a technology that can create “thin, transparent smart glass lenses that display vibrant, full-color, wide field-of-view images.” Just the kind of qualities that would be touted by Phil Schiller at a special AR glasses event.

Apple’s AR acquisition trailAkonia is only the latest in a long series of purchases that show that Apple is actively working on developing AR glasses. Apple has been buying a lot of companies with technologies that are directly applicable in an AR set since as eagerly as 2013.

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Just in 2017, Cook and his mariachis bought four: InVisage Technologies (an American quantum dot-based image sensor manufacturer), Regain (a French computer vision company), Vrvana (a Canadian manufacturer of augmented reality head-mounted displays), and SensoMotoric Instruments (which makes eye tracking hardware and software).

In 2015 Apple acquired Metaio, a German company that developed an Augmented Reality SDK that seems to be the basis for ARKit, the Apple Augmented Reality developer API that debuted in iOS 11 in 2017.

And let’s not forget about PrimeSense, which Apple scooped up in 2013. PrimeSense developed the software for the Kinect 3D depth sensor. The technology, which already has ended in Face ID, will be crucial for an AR device. Equipped with small IR cameras, Apple’s glasses will be able to track the motion of your hands in order for you to interact with a virtual object — like Leap Motion is doing with its Project Orion.

Leap Motion Demo
Can Apple create the perfect AR glasses? Apple told Reuters that they won’t comment on the matter: “Apple buys smaller companies from time to time,” the Californian company said, “and we generally don’t discuss our purpose or plans.”

But we know that Apple company purchases generally result either in new products or features added to existing products. The purchase of Siri Inc. in 2010, for example, became the iPhone 4S’ Siri assistant, which then got enhanced when Apple bought Novauris, another speech recognition developer, in 2013.

We know that Tim Cook is a fan of AR and Apple seems to be following the vision that the technology will be the Next Big Thing if done right. Indeed, an elegant set of Apple glasses that offer smart object recognition, seamless hand tracking, and a field of view wide enough to destroy the windowing effect that impairs all current headsets, cutting virtual objects due to the limitations of current eye displays, could be the equivalent to the next iPhone.

It is a hard challenge, but maybe Apple can pull it off.

Of course, the fact that Apple’s acquisition indicate that the company is actively working on AR glasses is not an indicator that a product will be released. But if Apple can solve what the much-hyped MagicLeap or Microsoft Hololenses have been trying to solve for years, they will have a killer product on their hands.

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[Lynn] The one I bought is new, sealed in the original AT&T box. I did not get a used o...

Lynn — 8/30/2018 12:19:07 AM

The one I bought is new, sealed in the original AT&T box. I did not get a used or refurbished one. Even the AT&T fellow said their new, unsold phones get sold to jobbers when new models come out. AT&T would rather sell their old inventory and focus on newer models.

The reason my current S5 Active is going is most likely due to my dropping it once too often. I am hard on cell/smartphones, the reason my pre-smartphone was a Samsung Rugby. Advertisements for that one showed men wearing hardhats at construction sites (lol). I loved my Rugby, but since it does not have a proper keypad, is torture for sending text messages or browsing.

[FJB] Four years is long past time for replacement. I don't think they are meant to l...

FJB — 8/30/2018 12:04:19 AM

Four years is long past time for replacement. I don't think they are meant to last that long.

[Lynn] Samsung Galaxy S5 Active back firmly fitting issue: I am hoping someone has had ...

Lynn — 8/29/2018 11:54:26 PM

Samsung Galaxy S5 Active back firmly fitting issue: I am hoping someone has had experience with/resolved a problem I am currently facing trying to get the back securely on a new S5 Active, red, smartphone. Facing the back, the left side fits correctly and tight, but the right side slightly buckles. Getting the back on, even to this not quite right state is a struggle.

This is not the greatest photo, but you can see that it somewhat buckles up near the blue button on the side. The phone is new, just purchased from someone with a 99.7% rating from thousands of sellers on eBay. I bought it because my current S5 Active is having serious problems, confirmed by the Android expert at my local AT&T store. Since I am waiting for Samsung to release it's S9 Active [or even have to wait for an S10] the AT&T fellow, who I do trust, agreed that buying a new S5 Active from Amazon or eBay would be a good way for me to go.

I ordered a red one only so it would look different from my current S5 Active (gray). Not sure if others with red ones have had the same getting the back to fit correctly, but I would really rather find out some fix rather than send it back, for a refund or exchange, because I am concerned my current smartphone will bite the dust making it impossible for the AT&T store fellow to move things from it onto a new phone.

[coolme] I never turn off my phone. All of them worked perfectly.

coolme — 8/27/2018 2:03:13 PM