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Google Android

Android One Is Anything But Dead, Google Reaffirms With Xiaomi Mi A1 (ndtv.com) 97

Posted by msmash from the resurrection dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Google executives shared the stage with Xiaomi chiefs at a media event in New Delhi on Tuesday as the Chinese phone maker unveiled its "new flagship" Mi A1 smartphone. Google's presence at the event was essential. Xiaomi's Mi A1 is the latest phone to be launched under Google's Android One program, a three-year-old initiative from Google, which in the past year has been presumed dead by many. It's anything but that, Google executives said. The Xiaomi Mi A1 smartphone features a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display. It also offers a duo of 12-megapixel rear cameras, one with telephoto capability and 2X optical zoom feature. On the front, for the selfie enthusiasts is a 5-megapixel shooter. The dual-SIM capable Mi A1 smartphone houses a Snapdragon 625 octa-core SoC, 4GB of RAM, 64GB internal storage, IR blaster, a 3080mAh battery, a fingerprint scanner, modems for 4G LTE bands in its gold- and black-coloured thin, full-metal unibody form factor. It is priced at $235, and will be available in dozens of markets including Mexico, India, Indonesia, Russia, and Singapore.
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Android One Is Anything But Dead, Google Reaffirms With Xiaomi Mi A1 More

Android One Is Anything But Dead, Google Reaffirms With Xiaomi Mi A1

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  • Android, for those who don't care about security (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 05, 2017 @06:21AM (#55140015)

    Android is for those who don't care about security. Just see the recent article about bootloaders not being secure. Add to it that Android generally has poorly designed user interfaces and the user experience is incredibly clunky. App development lags well behind the iOS versions of the same apps. If you don't care about security or having a good experience, Android is fine. For those of us who do care about those things, iOS is a far better choice.

    • People who are serious about security would NEVER buy a propritary device that is single-sourced from a company that is VERY aggressive about remaining the single source, and also very closed source themselves. The 'secure enclave' scheme is 100% pure 'security through obscurity'.

      That emporer isn't wearing a single fucking item of clothing. Fuck Apple.

      • Re: Android, for those who don't care about securi (Score:5, Informative)

        by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Tuesday September 05, 2017 @07:28AM (#55140129) Journal

        The 'secure enclave' scheme is 100% pure 'security through obscurity'.

        Nonsense. The secure enclave is a separate ARM core that has its own private memory and is designed so that you can write keys to it and it will do signing and encryption / decryption on your behalf, but you can't exfiltrate the keys. A similar design appears in a few Android devices, but the lack of uniformity means that most software doesn't make good use of it. There are valid criticisms of iOS device security, but this one just makes you look like an idiot.

        • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

          by Bing Tsher E ( 943915 )

          So it's a separate little room, with obscure methods used to hold it's little secrets.

          I realize that Apple probably has the term 'Secure Enclave' copyrighted, similar to 'Altivec Unit' and various other buzzwords from the past.

          The enclave can and will have it's security penetrated. It's a matter of time.

          But whatever. I'm dumb. You're the Apple shill.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by phayes ( 202222 )

            I realize that Apple probably has the term 'Secure Enclave' copyrighted

            No, you clearly don't "realise". You "imagine" or "hope" or "suppose that because I don't like them then I'll assume the worst -- but won't make the effort to learn the truth".

            But whatever. I'm dumb.

            In any case you're arguing from a position of ignorance which does tend to make you dumber than using facts.

          • I realize that Apple probably has the term 'Secure Enclave' copyrighted, similar to 'Altivec Unit' and various other buzzwords from the past.

            You don't "copyright" a brand name. You "trademark" it. Using "copyright" to mean "trademark" is about as bad as using "copywritten" to mean "encumbered by copyright". "Copywritten" is a word, but it refers to the state of an advertisement once its text has been created.

            So anyway, Android's developer documentation [android.com] appears to refer to a similar hardware device in Android phones called a "Secure Element". Different name, same function.

          • So it's a separate little room, with obscure methods used to hold it's little secrets.

            No. Security by obscurity means that you rely on other people not knowing the implementation details for security. This is not the case for the Apple secure element: its memory is physically inaccessible from the main core. It is not using the normal memory bus and has a simple communication channel with the main core for performing a fixed set of services. This is documented by Apple.

            I realize that Apple probably has the term 'Secure Enclave' copyrighted

            First, you can't copyright a term, though you could trademark it. Second, given that 'Secure Enclave' is an Intel marke

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Karlt1 ( 231423 )

        People who are serious about security would NEVER buy a propritary device that is single-sourced from a company that is VERY aggressive about remaining the single source, and also very closed source themselves.

        You mean like all of the closed source drivers in every Android phone or do you mean all Google Services that make what most people consider "Android" Android?

        The iPhone 5 introduced in 2012 will have had 5 years of updates and security patches. when iOS 11 comes out in September. Can you say the sam

    • Apple has only had 10-20% (depending on how recent their latest device is) market share for the past couple of years. Consumers seem to have a very different idea about what they "care about" than this AC.

      I happen to prefer Android as long as you have a device from a company that provides regular updates.

      • People keep saying that Apple only has 10~20% of the market, however those are world-wide numbers. I'm pretty sure the numbers are different for the U.S.A., Canada, Japan, France, Germany, etc. China alone probably skews the number toward Android.

        • People keep saying that Apple only has 10~20% of the market, however those are world-wide numbers. I'm pretty sure the numbers are different for the U.S.A., Canada, Japan, France, Germany, etc. China alone probably skews the number toward Android.

          Here are numbers as of May [marketwired.com]:

          In the US, Android has 64.8% of the market, iOS 34%.
          In Japan, Android has 58.9% of the market, iOS 48.4%.
          In France, Android has 80.5% of the market, iOS 18.1%
          In Germany, Android has 81.9% of the market, iOS 15.6%.
          In China, Android has 80.5% of the market, iOS 19.2%

          So, no, China doesn't skew the numbers that much. Europe's numbers are quite close to China's. The market share of iOS in the US is higher, but still only 34%. In Japan iOS is very popular, but still lags And

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by hackel ( 10452 )

            Wow, that is shocking WTF, Japan? Are you people really that pathetic in your desperate attempt to glorify anything that appears American?

    • It is the Individual phone makers who don't care about security. The same problem with Windows PC's If you get a PC and put on a straight Windows install without all the PC Vendor Crap your Windows PC runs well and fairly secure for a long time. However if you just run it off of the Vendors preloaded bloat. Then you system is open to all sorts of problems.

      Apple for the most part doesn't differentiate between its OS and its hardware. It is all part of the main experience. Other companies just want to sell

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Karlt1 ( 231423 )

        It is the Individual phone makers who don't care about security. The same problem with Windows PC's

        I don't have to wait on the vendor for security updates -- I get them straight from Microsoft.

    • "App development lags well behind the iOS versions of the same apps." Really? Care to enumerate?

    • Android is for those who don't care about security.

      That may be why you'd use Android; as for the rest of us, feel free to speak for yourself (and only yourself) and you'll be far less likely to have your fragile day ruined by being shown to be a moron. ;)

    • I shouldn't feed the trolls but...

      Actually, Android can be secured. There's nothing insecure about it, just the implementation of many to make things easier. Do you allow your users to download from the Google Play store or lock them down? Do you allow root access?

      Iphones can also be secure, as are the ten remaining Windows phones out there.

      FWIW, I switched from Android to Windows simply because of the UI. I then moved to Iphone after because I can't see going back to the Android UI.

      Still, a blanket "androi
    • Copperhead OS? The new Android-powered Blackberries?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hackel ( 10452 )

      lol, what a surprise, Anonymous Coward is an ignorant troll.

      Out of curiosity, just how secure is the bootloader on your PC? Your precious MacBook certainly isn't more secure. What's worse, you are running *entirely proprietary* technology. It doesn't get more insecure than that. Apple can do whatever it wants with literally all of your data, and you are helpless to do a thing about it. You just have to blindly trust them. That's the worst kind of security imaginable.

    • If you actually gave a shit about security, you'd have a Blackberry. Also, how many fucking jailbreaks on iOS? How many from just fucking visiting a website in the piece of shit Safari browser? GTFO
  • Apparently it's not dead, but for those of us for whom this is the first time that we've heard it (other than as the first version of Android, which, thankfully, is dead), what is it?

  • It also offers a duo of 12-megapixel rear cameras, one with telephoto capability and 2X optical zoom feature. On the front, for the selfie enthusiasts is a 5-megapixel shooter. The dual-SIM capable Mi A1 smartphone houses a Snapdragon 625 octa-core SoC, 4GB of RAM, 64GB internal storage, IR blaster, a 3080mAh battery, a fingerprint scanner, modems for 4G LTE bands in its gold- and black-coloured thin, full-metal unibody form factor....

    Wait, wait wait.. What? Black and Gold? Steelers!

  • New flagship my ass. I see that it's not only in Brazil that brands and operators keep trying to push mid rangers and even budget phones as flagships.
    It's no wonder I keep seeing people getting some crappy old budget Samsung phone with an extremely outdated Android version thinking it's the latest flagship or something.

    • "Good enough" is what people who don't have enough money to be reckless with it purchase.

      In a dystopia we can dream of, nobody dares use an Apple product out in public because the anarchists then shoot them.

  • USA forgotten again? (Score:3)

    by iamacat ( 583406 ) on Tuesday September 05, 2017 @10:26AM (#55140709)

    We need affordable phones that get updates and are not crap. OnePlus and Nexus used to be two such lines, but they have now gone high end.

  • Seriously, the specs make it look about as good as most high-end phones. I assume it's got a slower CPU, but that's certainly not important for most people who don't care about games. 4G of RAM is the biggest flagship-level feature I see that will make a huge difference. I'm having a very hard time coming up with enough of a difference to justify the $415 price difference with a Pixel that only has 32GB of storage, no optical zoom, no IR, a smaller battery. What am I missing here? (Other than marketing

    • My wife has a Moto G5+ with that processor. It's as snapply as the 8xx processor in my phone for most tasks and her phone lasts 2-3 days between charges vs mine that lasts about 6 hours.

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