Tests Show Free Android Antivirus Programs Don't Work

A report from AV-Test, a well-known security software testing lab in Germany, says that free antivirus products for Android don't work well. In the lab's tests, many didn't find a single malware file scanned by them.
AV-Test gathered seven free products: Creative Apps Antivirus Free, GuardX Antivirus, Kinetoo Malware Scan, LabMSF Antivirus beta, Privateer Lite, and Zoner AntiVirus Free. Compared to two commercial Android AV products tested, F-Secure Mobile Security and Kaspersky Mobile Security, the free products were dismal failures.

The products had big differences in scanning capability. Some could only scan built-in storage, not SD cards. This isn't necessarily a problem because code can't execute directly off removable storage. In static scans of 83 Android installation packages (APK) and 89 Dalvik binaries (DEX), none of them more than five months old, only Zoner AntiVirus Free found more than 10% of the malware--32% to be specific. Four of the products found none at all. Zoner did much better in detection of malware at install time, finding 80%, or 8 out of 10. Three of the other six products found 10% or one in 10, and the other three found none at all. F-Secure and Kaspersky found all threats.

Some of these products are extremely popular. The Market website says one of them, Creative Apps Antivirus Free, has millions of installations. Many free antivirus products on the PC have excellent reputations and protect well, but these come from established AV companies that are using the free versions to sell pay versions with extra features. The free Android AV products might not have that advantage.

Android App Downloads Surpass iOS App Downloads For the First Time

Android has taken the lead in application market downloads, according to reports by by market analysts. This is the first time for the platform to overtake iOS, although Apple still trumps Google in terms of revenue and per-user downloads

ABI Research recently revealed market findings during the 2nd quarter of 2011. According to the analysts, Android Market downloads have surpassed those of Apple’s App Store. During that period, Android got a 44% market share in app downloads, while Apple’s share slid to 31%.

ABI credits this trend to Google’s open approach to Android and application development, citing how the platform is open for use by multiple manufacturers, while Apple’s iOS is a closed ecosystem. Also, quarterly shipment figures point toward a decline in iPhone sales during 2Q 2011, with a 9% shipment growth compared to 15% in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, Android smartphone shipments grew 36% compared to 20% in Q1 2011.

However, ABI qualifies this trend, saying that Apple is not exactly a net loser. In terms of per-user downloads, iOS users still outnumber Android users in average, by a factor of 2-to-1. iOS is said to be a better ecosystem for developers and users. ABI attributes this to better monetization for developers and a better user experience for smartphone users. As such, Android may be overtaking iOS in terms of raw numbers, but Apple’s winning strategy is focusing its market on getting the most out of each user and out of each application.

ABI’s Mobile Applications Market Data research says the global app market is expected to reach 29 billion app downloads by end of the year, compared to 2010′s 9 billion. Meanwhile, the total smartphone install base is expected to grow 46% compared to last year’s.

BlackBerry's business problem

Addictions are tough to break, yet Research in Motion seems to be doing whatever it can to help users cast aside their CrackBerrys once and for all. Consider just a few of the reasons the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is ailing: an international outage in mid-October; the Playbook tablet, a weak answer to the iPad; and phones with web browsing that is both laughably low-quality and slow as molasses.

All of these woes mean that RIM (RIMM) faces its greatest existential crisis yet. At a time when its product lineup and network service have never been weaker, Apple (AAPL) and Android users are fiercely attacking BlackBerry's greatest strength -- the business market. Sure, BlackBerry had its moment of hipness, when advertising built around the likes of U2's Bono helped convince kids its smartphones were cool. But "the enterprise" was always RIM's sweet spot. Selling functional e-mail devices with a proprietary -- and secure -- network is where BlackBerry has excelled. That's why its three-day service outage was such a black eye.

For a while now BlackBerry has lagged in the kind of applications that make iPhones and Android devices so popular. And recently Apple has been highlighting business applications like Dropbox and Cisco's (CSCO) WebEx in its iPhone advertising. Though Apple focuses on consumers, it frequently notes that 93% of the Fortune 500 is testing or has already deployed the iPhone -- a terrifying statistic for RIM.

Meet the top 7 app makers of 2011

At the same time Motorola (MMI), which Google (GOOG) is buying, suggests its new Droid RAZR will sell well to chief information officer buyers, who value its inexpensive but high-quality "cloud" capabilities. The cloud lets users access content on networks businesses don't have to maintain themselves. "CIOs today understand there is a shift in IT to cloud and mobilization, whether they like it or not," says Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha.

RIM still has plenty going for it. Peter Walker, the company's senior director for enterprise product management, trumpets the "BlackBerry Balance" technology, for example, which lets business customers control employees' devices while enabling the use of personal apps. It is also beefing up its offerings from independent app developers. A bevy of new phones and tablets built around a redesigned operating system is expected next year.

Most important, the company still has 70 million worldwide subscribers, and shipped some 10.6 million smartphones last quarter. "A whole lot of businesses remain BlackBerry loyalists," says Kevin Restivo, a Toronto-based analyst with market tracker IDC. He says RIM is still strong for businesses where compliance matters, like law firms. Still, he notes, "enterprise is not the exclusive domain of RIM anymore." The problem with this narcotic, it seems, is that there are many suitable replacements.

--Reporter associate Richard Nieva, This article is from the November 21, 2011 issue of Fortune.

Wi-Fi tethering : Use a smartphone as a mobile hotspot

Computerworld - Buried inside many of the latest smartphones is a capability that few people take advantage of. A feature called tethering lets a phone go beyond talk, email and Web surfing to act as a mobile hotspot that can supply Web access to nearby computers, tablets and other devices. 

"It lets [smartphone users] always have the Web with them without taking any extra equipment along," says Allen Nogee, research director for wireless technology at market intelligence firm In-Stat.

Like dedicated mobile hotspot devices, these phones connect to a mobile data network and then act as a Wi-Fi router, distributing the bandwidth to nearby clients. There is a price to pay for the convenience that hotspot phones provide: Three of the four national networks charge an additional fee to use tethering. On the other hand, you don't have to worry about finding a public Wi-Fi hotspot or having another device to buy, lug around, keep charged and accidentally leave behind.

Want to know more? After speaking to analysts, network engineers and other mobile experts, I've rounded up and answered the 12 most common questions about smartphone tethering, including options and carrier policies. Additionally, I used a couple of smartphones as hotspots in various parts of the U.S. and Europe to discover what the experience is like in real life.

Finally, I've gathered a listing of all the hotspot-capable smartphones currently available from the Big Four U.S. carriers, including how much they cost, which network(s) they work on and how much tethering services cost.

FAQ: Tethering with a hotspot phone
What is tethering?
Tethering is the ability to share a smartphone's Internet connection with computers or other devices. It can be accomplished by connecting the devices with a USB cable, a Bluetooth wireless link or a Wi-Fi connection. This story concentrates on Wi-Fi hotspot tethering because it's convenient and can service more than one client at a time -- and because just about all laptops and tablets have Wi-Fi built in these days.

Android Problems Solved

Whether you’ve got a Desire, Galaxy S, Droid or Nexus One our troulbleshooting guide will help you solve these common Android problems.

How do I re-install purchased apps?
You need to make sure that you have setup your Google account on your Android device, the same account you used to purchase the app, and then go to ‘My Downloads’ to retrieve the app. Free apps are not held in the My Downloads section, but can be retrieved direct from Android Market.

How can I soft reset my Android phone?
Try pressing the End, Send and Menu keys at the same time. This should restart the phone in working order, but if it does not try a battery pull.

Can I tether my Android phone to my laptop?
Yes. Many Android phones are supported by EasyTether which will allow most of the popular models to stream their mobile data via a laptop or desktop. Remember that a 3G connection is required at the very least to make the experience worthwhile.

Why are some apps not available in the Android Market?
Some apps will only work on specific phones with set screen resolutions. Check the developer’s product page for more information regarding which phones are compatible.

Should I worry about OS updates?
The Android OS does get updated often, but the only real advice is to buy the best model you can afford which should ensure that it will cope with at least the next 2 or 3 updates.

Is it safe to run Android on a Windows Mobile phone?
This is a difficult one because it is in many ways, but the overall experience will not live up to Android on a phone that has been designed for the OS. Some people have ported the OS, but a full backup should be a minimum precaution before you attempt to do this.

My phone can’t connect to my home Wi-Fi!
This is a common problem on some Android phones such as the Hero, but some quick steps could solve it. Wireless N routers are problematic with some Android phones so make sure you switch on B/G compatibility and that you have the latest router firmware installed. With luck your problems will be solved.

Can I send group SMS messages?
This has been a problematic issue for a while now, but there is a solution. Look for ‘Text Easy’ in the Android Market which has the features which allow you to create groups and select multiple contacts. It is free as well.

Where did my new contact go?
Sometimes when you add a new contact on an Android phone it will not show up in the contacts list. It is without doubt a problem that needs fixing, but the quick solution is to go to Google Contacts in GMail and you will see the new contact. Now, click the Groups button and then the ‘Add to My Contacts’ button. It will now appear on your phone.

Viewing photos is too slow!
Trying to view lots of photos in the native Android gallery app can be painfully slow especially if you have recently cleared the cache. The best solution is to search for alternative solutions in the Android market, of which there are a few, and see which works best for you.

Wrong email headers?
Some Android users suffer from an anomaly where email subjects do not match the emails themselves. The way to fix it is by resetting up your email account and clearing the original data. Go to Settings / Applications / Manage Applications and then choose the email application and ‘Clear Data’.

Can I back up my Android phone online?
Lookout Mobile Security will do the trick and allows you to backup your personal data and to also access it directly online. It is a free download and should offer some peace of mind.  Image: lookout.tiff  Lookout will look out for your data.

Coolest Android Ice Cream Sandwich Features

Wednesday morning, Google and Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Nexus, the first phone designed specifically with Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich) in mind. Ice Cream Sandwich will, naturally, make its way to other handsets when it's released to the public sometime in November. As such, we're taking a look at the latest Google Android mobile operating system.

Ice Cream Sandwich contains many new features, but we've highlighted 10 of the tastiest, ranging from wireless sharing to new widget management. Check out the features and images below for a rundown on the new operating system. Which is your favorite?

Face Unlock
Is swiping the home screen to unlock your phone growing a bit tiresome? Ice Cream Sandwich's new Face Unlock feature taps a phone's camera so that users can log in by simply looking at the handset. Don't worry, if you don't want to use your grill, you can still use a code number (or a drawing interface) to unlock the handset.

Android Beam
Ice Cream Sandwich leverages NFC (near-field communication) technology that lets users share apps, websites, YouTube videos, maps, directions, and more by simply tapping two Android 4.0 phones together, much like iOS's Bump It app.

New Browser Functionality
Android 4.0's Web browser has evolved to closely match the desktop Chrome browser. Ice Cream Sandwich includes Chrome sync (which keeps bookmarks synced between your handset and desktop browsers), a “full site" button (which let users switch between desktop and mobile views), tabs, and a new Incognito tab.

New Contacts and Social Networking Features
Ice Cream Sandwich's "People" streamlines the way that contacts are displayed. Contact information is culled from your social networking connections, plus any other custom info that you'd like to manually add. This data is displayed on cards (similar to Windows Phone 7.5's tiles) that are updated when the contact updates his or her social networking information.

Data Management
Bundled with Android 4.0 is a stock app that lets you control network activity and view a specific app’s data usage. What's the benefit of this? You can now set up warnings (for when you begin to approach certain data thresholds), and hard caps to avoid an overage-fee pummeling

New User Interface

New User Interface

Taking a cue from the Honeycomb tablet operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich sports a sleek futuristic design that more closely aligns the phone and slate OSes. Android 4.0 also has a multitasking icon that calls up your recently used apps, and eliminates the need for physical keys, as it features adaptable software buttons.

New Camera Capabilities
Have you ever wanted to take a photo with your phone, but lost the moment due to the relatively lengthy snap time? Ice Cream Sandwich aims to eliminate that with swift, multiple shot shooting that plays catch up with the recently released Apple iOS 5. Android 4.0 also packs a new filter-filled photo editor, and a particularly cool sounding feature: an image rotator that spins the photo based on where your eyes are looking.

Speech
Does Apple iOS 5's Siri have voice control competition in Ice Cream Sandwich? That remains to be seen, but Android 4.0’s live voice-to-speech feature lets smartphone users create e-mail, texts, and perform other functions simply by speaking. This should (hopefully) make dictation and messaging a swifter, more streamlined affair.

Simple Screenshots
Android finally lets you take screenshots without requiring users to install apps, pull hair, or gnash teeth. How is it done? Users (especially hardworking Android app reviewers) will appreciate the operating system’s ability to grab a screenshot by simultaneously holding power and volume-down buttons.

Widget Management
Ice Cream Sandwich gives you widget flexibility by letting you select the size of displayed information on the home screens. Android 4.0 makes it easier to place widgets on the desktop; you simply press and hold the screen which opens a menu that reveals all of the widgets.

Guide to Using Your Android Phone

Ready to get started with your Android phone? This walk-through will have you up and running in no time.

Android can do a lot for you-but you have to know where to begin. Compared to the iPhone's cut-and-dried interface, the Android operating system gives you ample room for customization and control. Here's a step-by-step guide to making the most of your Android phone's many features.

The Desktop
The first thing you'll notice about Android is that its desktop differs somewhat from those on other smartphone platforms. You have a lot of freedom to customize the Android desktop-and you aren't limited to four simple rows of perfectly aligned square icons. As a result, you can customize the Android desktop to reflect your interests, and you can make it as full and dynamic as you like.

The Android desktop is composed of multiple homescreen panels. Depending on the version of Android that your phone uses and on whether your device has a specialized overlay such as MotoBlur, you may have five to seven home-screen panels.

When you power up your phone for the first time, you'll see the main homescreen panel. This panel is typically centered, and you can access additional panels on either side of the main one by swiping your finger left or right. What goes on the homescreens is up to you. You can fill the space with any combination of shortcuts, widgets, and folders.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 (Wi-Fi)

Bigger isn't always better. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 is pretty much just the Galaxy Tab 10.1 ($499, 3.5 stars), minus 1.2 inches. It's a shrunk-down version of Samsung's flagship tablet, at a slightly shrunk-down price: $469 instead of $499. We judge it a slightly better deal all around and one of the best Android tablets, although the Apple iPad 2 ($499, 4.5 stars) is still our top tablet choice.

Physical Design and Networking
Samsung is currently making the best-looking Android tablets in the business, although its tablets look too much like the iPad for some Apple lawyers' comfort. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 is no exception; it's a black and silver slab with no physical buttons on the front, just a bright and somewhat-reflective 1280-by-800-pixel display; the same resolution as the larger panel on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Since the 8.9 is a smaller screen, the pixels are denser, which is more pleasing to the eye.


The Tab 8.9 is very slim, and relatively light at 15.7 ounces and 9.1 by 6.2 by .33 inches. There are power and volume buttons on the top, along with a 3.2-megapixel camera on the back and a 2-megapixel camera on the front. The back is a smooth gray plastic; you can't open up the tablet to replace the battery. On the bottom, along with the stereo speakers, is the single port, a proprietary docking port.

A Wi-Fi-only tablet, there's no 3G/4G option for the Tab 8.9. You do get Bluetooth, which supports both mono and stereo audio, and built-in GPS. In my tests, the 6100 mAh battery powered the tablet for a very good 8 hours, 15 minutes hours of video playback.

Performance, OS, and Apps
Just like Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1—and a number of other current Android tablets—the 8.9 runs Honeycomb 3.1 on an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. Benchmark performance is identical to the 10.1 and to many other Tegra 2-based tablets. I didn't encounter any bugs, problems, or major slowdowns in my testing. But there's no schedule for an Android 3.2 update, according to Samsung, so you should treat this as an Android 3.1 device. The company has dressed up the interface with TouchWiz, a set of widgets and interface extensions that seem to slow the tablet down a bit, but make some activities more convenient.

Samsung throws a bunch of default widgets onto the seven home screens, which I like because it makes the tablet appear to be more than just a blank slate. Most of the built-in apps have had subtle aesthetic redesigns. The Mini Apps Tray is especially welcome: It's a set of six frequently used apps/widgets which can pop up from the bottom of the screen. For more on TouchWiz, check out our review of the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Thus far, Google's Android Market for Honeycomb isn't a winner on tablet apps, showing too many apps that run poorly on tablets. So along with the standard Google stuff, Samsung has packed this slate with tablet-centric stores: its own 7digital-powered music store, both Samsung's and Google's video stores, and even Samsung's own app store. As an Nvidia Tegra 2 tablet, the Galaxy Tab also works with Nvidia's Tegra Zone game store.

Unfortunately, none of these stores solve Honeycomb tablets' most critical problem: not enough apps. Samsung's app store, for instance, only has from one to five apps in each of its categories. Samsung insists thousands of phone apps run well on its tablet, but thousands of others don't, and there's no guide to distinguish them. That makes all Honeycomb tablets far inferior to the iPad with its 90,000+ well-tailored, tablet-specific apps.

Seven-inch tablets running Honeycomb 3.2, such as the Acer Iconia Tab A100 ($329, 4 stars), get around this problem somewhat by presenting phone apps better than those with larger screens. But bigger tablets without Honeycomb 3.2's zoom mode give you ugly interfaces when you try to run many apps designed for Android phones.

The Galaxy Tab syncs contacts and calendars with Samsung's Kies software on PCs, and lets you drag and drop files in Windows Explorer onto the tablet. But Mac users should beware: There is no Mac USB compatibility here.

Multimedia
There are lots of media options to fill the Tab 8.9's 13.1GB of free storage. (You get no memory card slot.) Samsung provides the aforementioned 7digital-powered music store where songs average a dollar each, and a more promising video store where TV shows cost $1.99, but you can get a bunch of children's and reality programming for a penny. I downloaded an episode of "Avatar" (the kids' show, not the movie) and it looked sharp.

All of our sample files played on the Tab, both music and video, and sounded unusually good through the device's stereo speakers. The Tab also includes a pair of earbuds, but it has both a standard 3.5-mm headphone jack and Bluetooth, so you can use whatever headphones you have lying around.

There's one false note here, though: There's no video out, so you can't play your movies on a big screen. Samsung advertises a dock with HDMI out but it's not included with the tablet; the only port here is the unique dock port, and the only cable you get in the box ends in a male USB plug.

Streaming video options are mixed. The TV.com app is available, but Hulu and Netflix, notably, aren't.
The Tab's two cameras are both of very good quality. The 3.2-megapixel camera on the back takes razor-sharp, if not terribly quick photos at 1.1 seconds of shutter delay. The 2-megapixel camera on the front is similarly sharp. Both cameras record 720P HD video.

Conclusions
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 is really just a tweak of the existing 10.1-inch Tab, but that tweak makes it a bit more appealing. It's a little more portable and a little less expensive, without losing a pixel of screen resolution, a hertz of processor speed, or a byte of storage.

That said, we have the same problem with this tablet that we do with most high-end Android tablets this size: It's going up directly against the iPad, which has far more apps and a stronger ecosystem. Seven-inch Android 3.2 tablets at least have the benefits of being more portable and having phone apps look decent in zoomed mode. But it's hard to argue why the masses, when presented with this device and an iPad, should pick the Tab 8.9. If you're not an Apple fan, though, and you want the thinnest Android tablet you can get, the Tab 8.9 is a solid choice.

Sync Picasa on Your Android device

Picasa Web is one of the world’s most widely used Cloud application provided by Google to store, retrieve and share your pictures anywhere on any device. But when it comes for Android device which is also powered by Google should have some benefits.



Yes, now you can Sync your Picasa Web Album to your Android devices so that you can upload, share and view picture and videos from your Android device itself. Here we will explain in a step-by-step procedure of doing it.

Note:
1. We are using Samsung Galaxy Tab here to demonstrate but our procedure is the same for all Android Devices.
2. We are using UPPER CASE letters below for making User-Readability efficient.

Step 1: Hit the “MENU” button and then Open “SETTINGS”.
Step 2: Scroll till you come across “ACCOUNT and SYNC” option and select it.

Step 3: You have already set your Google Account during the time of your Android device initialization, so you should now see your Google Account listed there, and do press it.
Step 4: On the following entries search for “SYNC PICASA WEB ALBUMS” and make a check on the checkbox, if it is not already checked. It will take up few minutes to complete the process of Synchronization to your device.

Step 5: That’s it you have done with Synchronization of Picasa Web Album with your Android device and you can find all your images being imported in “GALLERY” Folder available in the Gallery Application on your device.

Now you have got a special power of Uploading, Sharing, Managing from the PC’s Browser or even from the Browser of your Android device and with the help of Google +(Plus) Account.
Exploit your power to the Web World. Let your friends know your powers powered by Google.

Canonical plans to expand its Ubuntu Linux distribution so it could be used on smartphones, tablets and other touch interface consumer electronics, said Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth.

"Everyday computer users are starting to do their computing across a broader array of devices and form factors," Shuttleworth said. Canonical wants to "bring Ubuntu to all the personal computing form factors, on phones, tablets, and smart-screens."

Shuttleworth will introduce his plans Monday at the Ubuntu Developer Summit, being held this week in Orlando. At this conference, he is hoping to raise enthusiasm on the part of volunteer developers, who Canonical will need to help develop the platform and provide applications for the expanded OS.

"An application for Ubuntu in the future will have multiple personalities. When it is running on a desktop computer, it will have a different personality from when it is running on a tablet," Shuttleworth said. "From a developer point of view, there will be a phenomenal amount of coherency and reuse of the core capabilities on the application."

Canonical faces some stiff competition in tablet and smartphone markets, even beyond Apple's current dominance in these arenas. Google's Android smartphone OS, also based on Linux, runs almost 40 percent of the smartphones in the U.S., according to the latest ComScore survey. For tablets, Android hasn't been widely adopted yet, though Microsoft could very well make major inroads with its upcoming release of the tablet-friendly Windows 8 OS.

For developers and users, Ubuntu can provide a number of advantages over more established choices, Shuttleworth argued. Unlike Google, which is acquiring handset manufacturer Motorola, Canonical has no plans to offer its own smartphones, so presumably would be a more neutral party to hardware manufacturers. Shuttleworth also promises a more uniform update process through its Ubuntu One service, thereby potentially reducing the fragmentation and uneven update process that has bedeviled Android to date.

Ubuntu could also provide a unified code base, Shuttleworth argued. A developer can write an application for Ubuntu and have it run, with only minimal modification, on smartphones, tablets and desktop computers.

Canonical has been making moves in preparing Ubuntu for this move for some time, Shuttleworth said. The company's controversial move to the Unity interface was done, in part, because Unity would be better suited to work across different platforms.

"The basic design of Unity puts us in a good position to build a coherent family of interfaces. The basic structure of Unity will be able to reach all of those form factors, retaining some coherence for users, and respecting the unique characteristics of these form factors," Shuttleworth said.

The company also developed a version of Ubuntu to run on Arm processors, a base that will be essential for running Arm-based devices.

Canonical has not established a roadmap of specific release dates for the software, but hopes to have device-ready releases of the new OS editions by 2014. Much of the work on the touch interface has already been completed, and the company is hoping that developers at the conference will identify the work that remains to be done. As recently as April, Shuttleworth expressed little interest in the growing tablet market, preferring instead to prep Ubuntu for netbook computers, in addition to the company's standard desktop and server editions.