HTC’s software found in many of their devices has a HUGE security hole

Jake Smith

The fine folks over at Android Police have discovered that many HTC devices have a huge security hole due to a recent Android update. The results are pretty shocking, and HTC has no one to blame but themselves. In a recent update, HTC included a set of logging tools that logs users email accounts, last known network and GPS connection, phone numbers that have been recently dialed, encoded SMS data (probably can be decoded), and system logs.

Okay so HTC logs all of this, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that any app that requests android.permission.INTERNET can get their hands on this information. Phones include the Thunderbolt, Evo 4G, Evo 3D, and more.

As of now, the only way to patch this hole is to root your device and remove /system/app/HtcLoggers.apk. If you’re not rooted, stay away from sketchy apps. As Android Police points out, even a high-quality app could still get their hands on this information. Android Police has all of the technical details.

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Google Chrome is on its way to Android, message board post says

Jake Smith

Confirming previous reports, Conceivably Tech has uncovered a post that Google Chrome will soon be making its way into Android. A post on the Chromium Message Boards tells us that Android’s version of Chrome will have the same features as the desktop version — tabs, Skia 2D graphics library, and maybe a combined search and website bar?

Sadly, there’s no word on when this new browser will hit.  Now we’re not drawing any conclusions, but perhaps this will be announced at Google’s (and Samsung’s) event October 11th? For those of you who haven’t heard, Samsung and Google are rumored to announce the Nexus Prime and Ice Cream Sandwich. While this tour didn’t show it, let’s hope Chrome is bundled into ICS. Read more

Here’s an AT&T Galaxy S II security flaw that you need to fix

Jake Smith

BGR has discovered a pretty big security flaw in AT&T’s version of the Galaxy S II, which hits shelves tomorrow. For users who have a unlock pattern or pin set, they can simply bypass it by waking up their screen to unlock and then let the screen timeout to go black. Then simply, the user can wake up the phone once again and they’ll no longer have to use a pattern or pin to access the phone. BGR shows how simple it is in the video above.

Samsung offers a temporary work around, while they work on a permanent solution, after the break:

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Virgin announces $200 LG Optimus Slider and HTC Wildfire S

Jordan Kahn

Virgin Mobile USA just officially announced the LG Optimus Slider and HTC Wildfire S, their latest Android handsets coming to Best Buy at the end of October.

We told you about a Best Buy leak a few days ago confirming the Optimus Slider’s specs, which is really just a refreshed version of the $99 Optimus V. The specs are largely unchanged from the V apart from the slide-out hardware QWERTY keyboard and Android 2.3. If you’re not familiar with that device, expect the Slider to sport a 3.2-inch color LCD touhcscreen, 3.2 megapixel main camera, WiFi/3G, and 4 hours battery life (3 days standby). You’ll be able to grab it on October 17 from Virgin, or on October 31st at Best Buy and RadioShack for $200. It will hit Target November 6, and November 13 in Sprint stores.

Also announced today is the HTC Wildfire S, the first HTC device on Virgin. The Wildfire S will comes with a 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen display, 5 megapixel main camera with flash, 600MHz processor, 3G/WiFi, Android 2.3 and HTC Sense on top. The silver model will be available exclusively to Virgin customers (and Best Buy). You’ll be able to pick it up for $200 on October 23 through RadioShack and Best Buy.
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Flickr finally posts the Android app. Will it affect cameraphone usage stats?

9to5 Staff

Flickr has had an iOS client on the market since September 20th, but it took a lot of teeth gnashing and cursing from the Android camp before the company would unveil the official Android app. Well, here it is… The Flickr for Android app lets you take photos, enhance them with filters and quickly share on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other image sharing services.

It’s nice that you can take advantage of geotagging and built-in mapping to explore activities and places where the photos have been taken. Commenting is also supported and you’ll especially appreciate stunning full screen browsing and slideshows. The app is free and you can grab your copy in Android Market. Now that it’s been finally released, perhaps the program will help tilt Flickr camera and cameraphone usage stats (see below) in favor of Android and away from Apple’s iPhone. Full release notes after the break.


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Thinner, lighter, faster Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus form Samsung due end of October

9to5 Staff

Samsung’s seven-inch Galaxy Tab was launched last year on September 2 at the IFA in Berlin and as of April of 2011 they managed to ship six million units worldwide. A year later, the Korean company has updated the tablet with a thinner form factor and a speedier processor. It’s also gotten a new name to convey the enhancements to buyers, the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. According to Samsung’s press release, the new version supports faster 3G HSPA+ connectivity and runs a speedier 1.2GHz processor versus the “Hummingbird” 1GHz chip found inside its predecessor. It also features WiFi Channel Bonding which bonds two wireless channels into one for improved network connection and data transfer at up to twice the speed.

The device is 9.96mm thick and weighs in at 345 grams. This compares to 11.98 millimeter depth and 380 grams of weight of the original Galaxy Tab 7.0. The front camera is of a 2.0-megapixel variety (1.2 megapixels on the original model), and RAM has been bumped up from 512MB to 1GB. On the software front, the Plus runs Android Honeycomb 3.2 which is optimized for seven-inch devices, in addition to Samsung’s latest TouchWiz user interface. Other specs are left unchanged, including 16/32GB of built-in storage expandable via a microSD card slot, a three-megapixel camera on the back and a 4000 mAh battery. The new devices launches at the end of October in Austria and Indonesia, Samsung said, followed by a U.S. launch and the global roll out. Full specs after the break.

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