[Q] Xoom in a comany environment? - Xoom Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So what are you doing/evaluation to incorporate Xoom into your environments?
I have been asked to test a Xoom for company use, and I'm curious if there are other administrators out there who are doing the same thing atm.
There is little to no "administration" features aside from being able to remote wipe with Exchange 2007.
You can't create user accounts that I am aware of.
The tablet syncs to a gmail account. If I use an account for administration, such as placing purchased apps on the Xoom, how can I keep users from accessing the market or the account? If I remove the Market App are they able to put it back on? So far we don't care if they put Music or Movies on it for when they travel. But since these are a company provided we just don't want unapproved apps.
There are more things, like basic document editing, RDP etc that we are evaluating several apps for.

Phutchi said:
So what are you doing/evaluation to incorporate Xoom into your environments?
I have been asked to test a Xoom for company use, and I'm curious if there are other administrators out there who are doing the same thing atm.
There is little to no "administration" features aside from being able to remote wipe with Exchange 2007.
You can't create user accounts that I am aware of.
The tablet syncs to a gmail account. If I use an account for administration, such as placing purchased apps on the Xoom, how can I keep users from accessing the market or the account? If I remove the Market App are they able to put it back on? So far we don't care if they put Music or Movies on it for when they travel. But since these are a company provided we just don't want unapproved apps.
There are more things, like basic document editing, RDP etc that we are evaluating several apps for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm well I assume you understand that someone could root the device and put whatever they want onto it, which is unlikely if they value their jobs but I was just putting that out there. I don't believe there is a way to remove the market unless you have root access so that makes it a bit more complicated :/
I'm also interested in seeing what others have to say so consider this my subscribing post

I would think the same barriers to using Android phones would exist for the xoom.
Your question about market, paid apps, etc.. would be the same for android phones.
Apps/Products like Touchdown for Tabs, Roadsync (Can't tell if its been updated for tablets or Xoom yet), or something like Good for Enterprise (better for a more "complete" solution, per their site v1.7.1 of the client supports Xoom) could help with some/many of the challenges and obstacles.
But it sounds like some of the control you are looking for will only come from a closed environment like RIM's Blackberry... where when using a BES, you can completely lock down or restrict the devices via IT Policy.

Related

What's available?

My phone is both unlocked and rooted. I couldn't stand the crap. I just froze it since all the apps I want install on the card anyway.
With this leak for Android (which Google is patching) is there any app or ROM that will make password entry required (no saved passwords - I don't save them on the computer, so it's no hardship)
I do have wifi calling, and I will use it over public wifi. I go to places where I get one bar at the most, and the motel has free wifi. I want my pet sitters and house watcher to be able to contact me at any time. My daughter moved to England, so I need Skype, and Skype only works on wifi on Android.
I don't use Picasa, sync the calendar, but I don't want my contacts to be bothered if that is what a hacker has in mind. There is no personal info saved on my phone. I also don't game. I don't watch movies.
Also, I would like a firewall. I have both Bing and Groupon banned in the firewall and in the hosts file. Bing is getting too far ahead of itself. It's allied with Yahoo and I do have a Yahoo mail account.
I use the phone as a PDA reference guide, and the processor speed and screen is why I bought it. I have frozen all the social apps and I might delete them. The phone has been working super since it's been rooted and I enjoy it.
Thanks,
Zuben
I am not sure what you are exactly asking?
You mention password entry? If you are talking about accessing the phone, there is the lockscreen that you can either password enable or choose a pattern to lock the device.
You also mentioned about a firewall? There is webroot security which you can manage things. But, you said that you blocked a few things already? I dont understand.
fknfocused said:
I am not sure what you are exactly asking?
You mention password entry? If you are talking about accessing the phone, there is the lockscreen that you can either password enable or choose a pattern to lock the device.
You also mentioned about a firewall? There is webroot security which you can manage things. But, you said that you blocked a few things already? I dont understand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want the apps to ask for a password - not the phone. If I use app market I want to log in every time - do not save the password.
Google mail and Tmobile I could stop from automatic sync. I don't want them syncing automatically unless it's a needed function.
Example: I got a list of updates today, and I can't block the ones I don't want.
There's one in the list for Youtube and Youtube is frozen. So is Facebook. So I didn't allow the updates.
So does anyone have a custom ROM or an app that does this? And where do you find info on webroot security?
Unfortunately the SGS4G is still in its early stages of development, there are a couple good roms out there but they are still stock and not custom, however they do improve the performance of the phone. As for what your asking for, no there are no roms that do this yet
dsexton702 said:
Unfortunately the SGS4G is still in its early stages of development, there are a couple good roms out there but they are still stock and not custom, however they do improve the performance of the phone. As for what your asking for, no there are no roms that do this yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, do you think there will be one?
How far can developers go to get rid of stuff?
I saw this:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-05-09-emergency-alerts_n.htm
and I don't want it. Especially presidential alerts. I would guess that the final version isn't out yet, but I'm curious. I think it would eventually lead to abuse.
I buy my phones for my own reasons and use them in my own way, so I'm not your typical user. I see the phone as a PDA, only voice/text is communication.
The rest is all my required information at my fingertips, and the new screens and processors on the phones are great.

Beware Firefox Aurora: check the permissions

Firefox Aurora, which will be Firefox 12, has a whole bunch of new permissions. Do you want your browser to take pictures, discover known accounts, administer accounts, etc.? Me, I just want it to render HTML while leaking as little info as possible. So, if you're concerned about privacy and security, heads-up.
This is too bad, because other than the spyware permissions, it's a big improvement over previous non-ndk Fennec, meaning actually usable.
i noticed the camera ..ect prior to installing went and checked official and beta its the same thing
not new
and the whole account ect. this has to do with new firefox sync app that comes with Aurora
so you can set up an account to sync your desktop browser to your phone
cashmundy said:
Firefox Aurora, which will be Firefox 12, has a whole bunch of new permissions. Do you want your browser to take pictures, discover known accounts, administer accounts, etc.? Me, I just want it to render HTML while leaking as little info as possible. So, if you're concerned about privacy and security, heads-up.
This is too bad, because other than the spyware permissions, it's a big improvement over previous non-ndk Fennec, meaning actually usable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are no "spyware permissions".
Permissions are just FYI, they're not telling you that an app is a spyware or not. I know sometimes it's hard to figure out why an app includes certain permissions, as a developer i can tell you that most of the times i have to add a permission in order to include code which is so poorly related to the scary permission's description.
Atm I'm having trouble with a user's review, it argued my app was malware just because new permissions were added.
In my opinion firefox products are safe and i'm using Aurora at the moment.
With this i'm not saying "go and install all the worst stuff you can find", paying attention to privacy and security is obviously a good thing... unless it turns into "android-specific-permissions-fobia", sure, because the other systems (PC, Mac, Linux, iOs, whatever) don't have user permissions so you just install a new app and stay happy.
There are a lot of apps that will request things like "read phone state and identity" that have no plausible reason for doing so except tracking/spying. Many run fine with it disabled.
I don't want to keep my bookmarks in the cloud, so the Aurora perms are just a privacy/security risk for me. Note that if a browser process is hijacked by malware, the malware will presumably inherit the permissions, making the trustworthiness of Mozilla moot.
If Aurora only needed the permissions when attempting to set up sync,
that would be tolerable for me, but it crashes on startup without them.
i set up one time sync to transfer bookmarks
then went to sync under the setting witch brings me to my OS account/sync menu
and disabled from attempting sync it still working fine for me
you can also delete the sync account also and still works fine
sync is not integrated into the browser for some reason maybe because it still alpha
but its integrated into official and beta browser and don't have these permission you're worrying over nothing
Actually Aurora got Sync back a few nightlies ago: now you have an icon in Programs and it's in Settings - Account too. Sync is the main reason I use FF on Android, it's brilliant!
I'm sure a lot of people are not concerned with security, data-harvesting, etc. I am, and some other folks must be also or CM wouldn't have added permissions management. A lot of things work fine with half their permissions disabled (Firefox being one). Others don't. Audible, for example, just won't run without "read phone state." I guess Amazon really wants that IMEI #.
Maybe they will patch Aurora so it will run without accounts access unless you try to set up sync.
Google's whole business model is based on data-harvesting. The ICS stock Music Player won't even work at all until you sign in.
Not everyone wants to be monetized in exchange for convenience.
Mozilla is trustworthy enough, they are a non-profit open source company that has been around for years, I'm sure they have a legit reason for the permissions.
Solution = who uses firwdox anyway?.. Boat browser!
Sent from your bedroom with my GT-I9100
Boat is what I mostly use. It wants a lot of permissions but runs just fine with them disabled. I was using Aurora as much as possible until I discovered the permissions.
Boat also stores bookmarks locally, and can save/restore from sdcard, just what I want. No shipping them off to Google or wherever they go for me, thanks.
Why would anyone use Firefox anyways?
It's slower than the default browser and it STILL doesn't support FLASH!
Odd how suddenly permissions became an issue when android decided to tell you what permissions are requested, yet before when you had your nokia/htc/motorola running other OS's, you would install any crap and not worry about it. What is the developer gonna do? Hack naked pics of your gf from your phone? Phone your friends and prank them? Show your mom you browsing dodgy pornsites from her pretty new android phone? Seriously now, everyone is making such a huge fuss about this its bordering on conspiracy paranoia
I put this posting up as a heads-up for my fellow paranoids, people who actually think about who might get their credit/phone/ssn/email etc., not for the benefit or convenience of app writers. It's like the whining from Swype about how they really needed accurate imeis or whatever so they could count unique installs. And dear Google wants everything they can get, now in one convenient location, so and only so they can serve you the right ads, and you can trust that they will never decide to more directly realize the huge shareholder value locked up there, and that they will never be cracked.
Privacy and security are like a gun: you don't need them until you *really* need them.
cashmundy said:
I put this posting up as a heads-up for my fellow paranoids, people who actually think about who might get their credit/phone/ssn/email etc., not for the benefit or convenience of app writers. It's like the whining from Swype about how they really needed accurate imeis or whatever so they could count unique installs. And dear Google wants everything they can get, now in one convenient location, so and only so they can serve you the right ads, and you can trust that they will never decide to more directly realize the huge shareholder value locked up there, and that they will never be cracked.
Privacy and security are like a gun: you don't need them until you *really* need them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand your point of view, what i can't understand is why some people scream "beware spyware!" while they actually have no proofs at all.
permission + permission = spyware, it's a weird math which tends to damage developers and the whole android's world.
cashmundy said:
I put this posting up as a heads-up for my fellow paranoids, people who actually think about who might get their credit/phone/ssn/email etc., not for the benefit or convenience of app writers. It's like the whining from Swype about how they really needed accurate imeis or whatever so they could count unique installs. And dear Google wants everything they can get, now in one convenient location, so and only so they can serve you the right ads, and you can trust that they will never decide to more directly realize the huge shareholder value locked up there, and that they will never be cracked.
Privacy and security are like a gun: you don't need them until you *really* need them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Scared your mom/wife/girlfriend sees an add for fleshlight while playing angry birds? Seriously this is a joke, 99% of developers dont give a rats ass about your bank account, email, pvt sexts. All we want is to deliver an application that would benefit the the community, and warnings like these would be the reason ppl move to other platforms because it spreads the idea that Android is an unsecure platform. So what if it logs which sites you visit? Firefox is one of the software applications that brought OSS software into the mainstream. It has been long established as more secure than IE. If it wasnt for software like this, we would not have had an open platform for our devices, making them much more affordable
Magnumutz said:
Why would anyone use Firefox anyways?
It's slower than the default browser and it STILL doesn't support FLASH!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 both Firefox and this Aurora are horrible browsers. Firefox team needs to get their **** together. Opera is just SO MUCH better. fast, easy, pretty much all options, hardware acc., flash, , and not once it slowed down or crashed on me.
firefox is supporting HTML5 (without h.264 because of licence) and flash is just added, it's still buggy because of AURORA. Aurora is very buggy as you noticed, lets think why? Oh, yes, it's just an alpha relase not even beta. I'm usin firefox beta in my mba 11" and old school 19" pc and both uses sync (which is amazing) I'm also giving feedback all the time with reports, logs and surveys. In mobile I was using dolphin but I can see posibilities.
Firefox is coming with steady steps. Everyone knows ff, and also chrome. Chrome just relased v.17 for pcs and macs. but still no mobile (except ICS beta) (also chrome is a google product and gathers your datas so many times more than firefox) I want to say people could remember time gaps between 3.5 and 3.6 and 4.0 of firefox and you see, now they are relasing new versions on few months which is very good (because now you don't need to wait new features for 5 months or you don't need to install minefield etc.)
About permissions, yes new permissions could be dangerous but hey, these permissions for give you something new like sync, flash plugin or new features. Mozilla is trustworhty and helpful. They are bringing Free Internet Space for years and you can't say they are spying us. there is versions for qr droid, with/without some permissions, maybe firefox can do samething for paranoids.
Also yes I'm supporting and defending firefox but no, I'm not a fanboy, at least I'm still using dolphin for manything and also safari.
Magnumutz said:
Why would anyone use Firefox anyways?
It's slower than the default browser and it STILL doesn't support FLASH!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The alpha supports flash and is huge improvement over official and beta that is currently on market
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
I use "spyware permissions" in a pretty loose sense of "permissions which are not clearly essential to the core functionality of the app". I agree that Mozilla is trustworthy, moreso because you can read the source. But the browser is the most internet-facing and thus most dangerous app, most likely to be cracked, most likely to have access to lots of personal info, so needs to receive the closest privacy /security scrutiny.
Unlike the Facebook crowd, I look at my info as my property, and ask not why I should not share my info with the world at large, but why should I, what benefit do I receive in exchange for giving away what someone else can monetize (the whole Facebook/Google business model) and which may do me real harm if for example app writers Ivan Ivanovich and his friend Bala Babangida turn out to be not such nice guys, and use my info to send me spam texts or clean out my bank account.
Case in point: Google+ app just added "record audio", but the app doesn't have any audio capability, you can't record and post a sound. I remembered that some years back Google wanted to be able to record audio on laptops, "purely for analytical purposes". That didn't fly back then. I uninstalled Google+.
cashmundy said:
I use "spyware permissions" in a pretty loose sense of "permissions which are not clearly essential to the core functionality of the app". I agree that Mozilla is trustworthy, moreso because you can read the source. But the browser is the most internet-facing and thus most dangerous app, most likely to be cracked, most likely to have access to lots of personal info, so needs to receive the closest privacy /security scrutiny.
Unlike the Facebook crowd, I look at my info as my property, and ask not why I should not share my info with the world at large, but why should I, what benefit do I receive in exchange for giving away what someone else can monetize (the whole Facebook/Google business model) and which may do me real harm if for example app writers Ivan Ivanovich and his friend Bala Babangida turn out to be not such nice guys, and use my info to send me spam texts or clean out my bank account.
Case in point: Google+ app just added "record audio", but the app doesn't have any audio capability, you can't record and post a sound. I remembered that some years back Google wanted to be able to record audio on laptops, "purely for analytical purposes". That didn't fly back then. I uninstalled Google+.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best you can do is contact the developers and ask them about the permissions included. If Ivan Ivanovich & Bala Babangida say their notepad is not able to work without your bank account then ok, let's warn all the other people.
Probably you won't have any reply from google but most of the developers (or app writers, as you prefer) are just glad to answer via email since they're not allowed to reply in the android market.
Instead, the actual scenario is more and more devs who get their clean apps targeted as malware and users who get paranoid by reading too many reckless comments.
In general, devs are not wolfs and users are not sheeps... otherwise there were no open sources (eg Mozilla), no android, no xda-developers!

Couple of queries to help me switch from SGSII to a WP7

Hey all,
I’m thinking of switching from my Galaxy SII to a Windows Phone 7 based phone. As of now, the switch is temporary till SIII comes out but maybe who knows if I like it, I might just stick to WP7 after all.
Major usage of my phone is in Emailing, Messaging, VOIP, Calls, Navigation, Music, Browsing and News reading. I’m dependant on the following apps on the Android :
Swype
Google Reader
Gmail
Google Docs
Google Maps
Google Talk
YouTube
Any.do (Task management Application)
Dropbox
Polaris Office (Full fledged document editor)
IMO (Multi-messenger)
Skype
Teamviewer (Remote desktop)
My Data Manager (App to keep a track on bandwidth consumption)
and some less frequently used :
Zedge (just an easy to use source for wallpapers and ringtones)
SoundHound
Facebook
So given the above usage pattern and apps that I’m on dependant on, do you think I could switch to WP7 painlessly ? Are there any alternatives available for my apps ? (Swype or something similar is a must)
Couple of more queries..
Also, I’m thinking of getting the Samsung Focus so if I get an unclocked device would there be a possible scare of getting it locked again once I update the firmware (either officially or custom) ?
How is the battery life on the Focus ?
I am not much aware of Sideloading/Jailbreaking of a WP7 device and the Custom ROM scene , is it similar to Android ?
Can I debrand Focus or should I consider Omnia 7 instead ? (I’d prefer Focus as its thinner than Omnia)
What is the best ROM out there and when updating to a newer ROM does it wipes all the data ?
Is there any lag in the phone ? Maybe after installing too many apps (like how some Android phones lag)
Is multi-tasking experience (apps/services running in the background) similar to Android ?
are there any other limitations worth mentioning on WP7 / Samsung Focus?
and what about the plus side of WP7 when comparing to iOS and Android ?
Thanks
There is currently nothing remotely similar to Swype on WP7.
WP7, currently being a closed OS, does not have the option of swapping the native keypad for a Swype version. There's an app called Slyde that attempts to be like Swype, but it cannot until the ecosystem changes.
You will have access to document editing for Word and Excel docs via Office. It's quite handy, especially being able to pin files to your home screen.
Dropbox isn't so dandy yet, IIRC, but you will have access to 25GB of SkyDrive storage.
With what you've mentioned, I'm not sure WP7 will be a smooth transition for you. It's definitely worth a shot to see if you might like it, but will take some getting used to. See what you can live with and what would be a deal breaker.
The WP7 software keyboard is much nicer than I expected, expecially on a largish phone (I have an HD7) but it's true that there's currently no Swype or equivalent available.
There are lots of Google Reader apps available, some quite good.
Gmail integrates pretty well with the phone when you add a Google account. My phone is the primary way I access my Gmail now.
You might be able to access Google Docs through the web browser; I haven't tried. For actually reading and editing Microsoft Office documents, Office Mobile wors very well indeed.
Google Maps is available (via apps, or somewhat awkwardly via the web); Bing Maps is built into the phone and works well for me.
There are IM clients that support GTalk on the phone, but the only messenger network currently built into the phone is Live. That said, IM+ handles my GTalk-using friends very well.
There are a multitude of YouTube apps. You can also use HTML5 on YouTube via the browser just fine.
I don't know Any.do. There are a lot of task management apps on WP7, but I don't know how they compare.
Not sure how good Dropbox access is on the phone (obviously, you can download via the browser, and there are apps which use it as a way to transfer data, but I've never looked for a real DropBox client).
I would be quite shocked if Polaris Office is more full-fledged than Office on WP7. It's not impossible, but for a phone-based office suite it would be very impressive.
I don't know IMO, but there are a number of multi-network IM clients on WP7. My preferred choice is IM+ but that's just personal preference.
Skype is (finally) coming to WP7. The current app is actually pretty good, and it's still in beta. Considering MS now owns Skype, the future for Skype on WP7 should be very good.
I don't know if TeamViewer is available for WP7 yet. Remote Desktop (as in, Terminal Services Client, the built-in Windows feature) is, though... Also, SSH clients.
T-Mobile provides an app for tracking usage for my phone. I don't know what's availble for whatever carrier you'd be on.
There are a couple of cool apps that provide wallpapers and ringtones, with frequent updates (weekly or more). Never heard of Zedge, though.
There's a SoundHound-like feature built into WP7. Shazam is also available. SoundHound might be; I'm not sure.
Facebook is definitely available (both as OS integration, and through a now very good app).
Responses to a few select questions:
3. The homebrew and custom ROM scene is smaller than Android (though growing) but the Focus (gen1 phone, not the Focus S or Focus Flash) does support "interop-unlock" hacks through WindowBreak, can run WP7 Root Tools (run any app with full privileges, under your control though), and has custom ROMs.
4. If for some reason you get a branded Focus, yes, it can be de-branded. I'm not convinced that it's a good idea to do so (without just installing a custom ROM or some such anyhow) but it's possible. The update story on WP7 is generally much better than on Android, and you can force updates anyhow if the carrier is taking too long. Not many other reasons to debrand are coming to mind...
5. I can't answer the first part, but as for the second, yes you will completely erase the phone when installing a custom ROM. If you want to do so, I suggest making it one of the first things you do (this will save on trying to back up and later restore things, which - aside from contacts and media files - sadly is not automatic on WP7).
6. No. There are a number of technical reasons, but the simple fact is that a single-core 1GHz WP7 device has a significantly smoother UI than a (for example) 1.5GHz Android device. Since apps are *extremely* limited on what they can do in the background (by default), there's no risk of them slowing the phone's UI down no matter how many you install.
7. Not really. It's much closer to Apple's approach. The advantages are better battery life and no lag. The disadvantages are that apps pretty much can't do anything real-time while backgrounded, and need to resume (although it's very fast on apps built for Mango or later) when returned to the foreground. You can switch between apps quickly, though.
8. SD cards don't work the same as on Android. They are used for permanent increases to device storage. You can't use them to transfer data onto or off of the phone, and if you want to add or remove/replace one, you'll need to hard-reset the phone. That's the main thing not already mentioned that an Android user might find odd. Oh, and stock ROMs don't allow replacing things like the dialer and such (you can install alternates, you just can't replace the built-in one completely).
9. Faster, and smoother UI (even with theoretically slower hardware). Essentially no risk of malware from the Marketplace (apps are checked before approval). Timely updates, even for older phones (of course, "older" for WP7 only means about 18 months so far). Xbox Live games. Zune Pass streaming (costs money but it's awesome). Great integration with Facebook (pretty good with Twitter and can pull LinkedIn contacts, too). Excellent email and calendar, especially if you use any Exchange servers. Hardware-accelerated rendering in the browser. Consistent UI style in apps. All phones have very similar hardware specs, so fragmentation is not a problem. Live Tiles are great for at-a-glance info, and the app list is (for me) much clearer to use than the "grid of icons". Dedicated double-action camera button and dedicated rocker buttons. Local Scout is a pretty cool built-in feature. Really good developer tools make writing apps very easy and quick.
I'm sure there's a lot more, but it's 5AM and I need to sleep.
Swype -None, WP7 native keyboard prediction works impressively!
Google Reader - 6 or more apps available. Fuse seems to be popular.
Gmail - Syncs natively without any glitch.
Google Docs - You might have to save your docs onto Skydrive which integrates natively on the WP7 (free 25GB storage too!)
Google Maps - GMaps Pro or Bingle maps. But Bing works fine, integrated too.
Google Talk - IM+
YouTube - YouTube Pro or Prime Tube.
Any.do (Task management Application) - don't know this app's functionality.
Dropbox - BoxShot for Dropbox, 3rd party client, works without any issues for me.
Polaris Office (Full fledged document editor) - I've heard of this one. But Office built-in won't make you feel the need of Polaris. However, what sort of editing do you normally do?
IMO (Multi-messenger) - again IM+ (?)
Skype - there is a beta that won't run in background, but otherwise very much working, excellent call quality. It should come as an app in a month or two and hopefully integrated with Apollo (rumour).
Teamviewer (Remote desktop) - RemoteDesktop7
My Data Manager (App to keep a track on bandwidth consumption)- Very limited apps, one that might work is - Call Credits, but never tried it. Only read a review.
Zedge (just an easy to use source for wallpapers and ringtones) - Plenty of these sort of apps and can easily sync other websites too other than Zedge. Ringtones is an app that uses 3 different clients in a single app.
SoundHound - Yes, you won't need it though, music search is inbuilt.
Facebook - Yes inbuilt and there is an app.
Plus side of any windows phone in my opinion is, it's rapidly developing new platform which is a fresh UI, security is top-notch, integration works well, it's never frozen on me, I did not have to restart my phone once in last 7 months of using it, Zune and Xbox integration is amazing if you are a music freak or a gamer, 25GB of Skydrive access from your phone for documents, pics, music streaming - will only get better once you start using it. Integrated Bing maps, local scout, music discovery and search, accessing camera without unlocking the phone, search from lockscreen etc.
"You don't need an app for this or that and it just works!"
GoodDayToDie said:
Responses to a few select questions:
The disadvantages are that apps pretty much can't do anything real-time while backgrounded, and need to resume (although it's very fast on apps built for Mango or later) when returned to the foreground. You can switch between apps quickly, though.
I'm sure there's a lot more, but it's 5AM and I need to sleep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for the indepth response, it cleared a lot.
When you say that apps can't do pretty much anything, I hope at least apps like IM+ and Whatsapp can retrieve and send messages in the background.
drupad2drupad said:
Polaris Office (Full fledged document editor) - I've heard of this one. But Office built-in won't make you feel the need of Polaris. However, what sort of editing do you normally do?
Plus side of any windows phone in my opinion is, it's rapidly developing new platform which is a fresh UI, security is top-notch, integration works well, it's never frozen on me, I did not have to restart my phone once in last 7 months of using it, Zune and Xbox integration is amazing if you are a music freak or a gamer, 25GB of Skydrive access from your phone for documents, pics, music streaming - will only get better once you start using it. Integrated Bing maps, local scout, music discovery and search, accessing camera without unlocking the phone, search from lockscreen etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sometimes edit Word and PPTs on the move.
Not much but basic formatting in word and the ability to edit the layout and slide design is what I need.
Yeah thats the most exciting part of WP7. Its a rapidly developing platform and on top there's gonna be a unification of the mobile and desktop OS. I hope they build a deep seamless integration between the two and they play well with each other.
anseio said:
There's an app called Slyde that attempts to be like Swype, but it cannot until the ecosystem changes.
With what you've mentioned, I'm not sure WP7 will be a smooth transition for you. It's definitely worth a shot to see if you might like it, but will take some getting used to. See what you can live with and what would be a deal breaker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't find any info on Slyde app ?
Well, the responses here have cleared a lot for me. I m definitely gonna give it a shot. Now my only gripe is Swype, I'm far too dependent on that. I hope there is something out there in the homebrew community.
Btw, is there a possibility that the current generation phones would get the WP8 update ? Well there are rumors that it wouldn't but then Windows Tango is primarily being released to make sure WP7 can run on lower spec devices.
It is confirmed all WP models will get Apollo update will pretty much be like with iOS some features will not be available. The next major update is no promise but that is over 2 years so if you have not updated your phone by then not much can be said.
tricurious said:
I couldn't find any info on Slyde app ?
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My bad. It's called Slydr, not Slyde.
It is NOTHING like Swype. Since it cannot replace the native keyboard, in order to use it you have launch the app, type what you want, put it on the clipboard or choose an option to send it as sms or email.
It does not work from within SMS or email, so replying while using slydr will mean that you have to leave the message, open the app, type what you what, copy it, return to the email using back arrow long press and then paste.
Looking forward to the options that WP8 may make for.
IM+ and Whatsapp and the like can use Push Notifications to receive messages while the app is not in the the foreground. Technically it's not the app doing the receiving (it's not running); instead the app tells the OS to listen for messages from a specific server, and to mark them as being intended for that app. When the messages arrive, the phone will display a notification and, if the app's tile is pinned to the Start screen, can also show a number of waiting notifications (typically, the number of messages received). When the app is run again (either resumed, or launched anew, or launched directly by tapping on a notification "toast" popup) the app will check with its server for all the messages that arrived while it was "out".
The overall effect is very much like the app continuing to receive messages in the background, except in weird edge cases (for example, if you try to resume the app while there's no data connection available, it won't be able to retrieve the messages that arrived earlier). On the plus side, the push notification system is much easier on the battery than almost any third-party app running in the background would be. It is technically possible to have apps actually run in the background (there are a couple ways, with varying degrees of official support and different limitations) but the battery hit for doing so tends to be pretty harsh (one reason why Android has a reputation for awful battery life).
Everybody is welcome to post their opinions but flame is against the forum rules.
PLEASE USE REPORT BUTTON.

[Q] How do you browse securely and deter hackers?

I am going to be honest, I have never taken computer security seriously and I feel like it is going to bit me in the bum really soon if I don't change my habits. This all started with a few emails I received about forgetting my password on multiple accounts. The first time, I just assumed someone typed in the wrong account. I received a second one a few days later and it started to make me wonder if someone had my email. Then a few days ago I signed into Paypal only to realize that they locked down my account and refused to open it again until I provide some more information. I thought this was strange because I had been using my PayPal account for a few years now to purchase things on eBay. After I submitted my information, they wanted an explanation as to why someone who lived in Iran tried to access my account. I don't know anyone who lives in Iran and so now I am a little freaked out. I want to know what I can use to prevent hackers from getting access to my accounts.
Is it a good idea to pay for a vpn service for daily online activities?
Should I setup a password keychain for my accounts and use long randomly generated passwords?
Should I switch to Ubuntu? (current running Windows 8)
My computer skills are pretty solid so feel free to suggest things that maybe a more advanced user might do.
It is possible but can be done without paying. Tor is very popular and a really good service but it can only provide anonymity, not security. That for install HTTPS everywhere and customize every service you use to provide SSL.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
PayPal are pretty smart, your account should be safe, your account was flagged because of an attempt of a login x amount of miles from your usual common log in region, like you said Iran, so of course, PayPal will do whatever they can to protect your account, even if it bugs you.
You can protect yourself by making sure you have virus protection, free or paid, making sure its up to date, and scan once in a while.
I use Windows 7, so I use Microsoft Security Essentials for real time protection, I also use Malwarebytes but disable it for real time protection as more than one real time scanner would cause performance issues for anyone. keeping both up to date and scanning regularly should keep you virus/adware/malware/spyware free.
As a precaucion, I also use adblock plus for firefox to prevent ads, not just because its annoying, but also because ads sometimes are bad for you and you end up with fake antospyware 20xx and so on.
As for passwords, just try your best to make sure your entering them at the actual website you think your on, check the security certificate on the address bar on the left of the url.

[Q] Has anyone ever managed multiple tabs before?

I work at a K12, and we have 32 tabs to lend out to teachers for use in their classrooms. So far, they've only used them to read books on Amazon's Kindle, but we have requests coming in about "can they do this, and can they do that?" which has me researching, is there a good way to manage these devices?
We have iPads that are managed by Apple's Configurator program, and it's decent, but still lacks a lot of function in itself. I'm wondering if there is a way to manage the Tabs from one computer in such a program where I can tell the tabs what they can and can't do (user access) and what admins can do (install apps/remove permissions/grant permissions, etc). Has anyone ever dealt with this before?
dapana said:
I work at a K12, and we have 32 tabs to lend out to teachers for use in their classrooms. So far, they've only used them to read books on Amazon's Kindle, but we have requests coming in about "can they do this, and can they do that?" which has me researching, is there a good way to manage these devices?
We have iPads that are managed by Apple's Configurator program, and it's decent, but still lacks a lot of function in itself. I'm wondering if there is a way to manage the Tabs from one computer in such a program where I can tell the tabs what they can and can't do (user access) and what admins can do (install apps/remove permissions/grant permissions, etc). Has anyone ever dealt with this before?
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The only app (as far as I know) to remotely manage Android devices is AirDroid. I believe there is also TeamViewer available.

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