I surrender to the Borg....

Originally Posted by WebSlave

I still haven't figured out how to rearrange the icons on the screen to move the ones I will actually ever use to the front, and the other ones to the back. Or heck, perhaps I could just create folders to put the really arcane icons out of sight completely?

Doing a long-press on on any given icon on your home screen will allow you to move it around. Same goes for the apps in your app drawer, if you want to put them on your home screen. With Android, long-pressing basically acts like doing a right-click in Windows.

Samsung's stock user interface, Touchwiz, is pretty limited and clunky to me. I highly recommend you use a 3rd-party launcher. I use the free version of Nova Launcher, <---direct link to download it from Play Store. It allows for a great deal of customization - you can change the amount of icons that will fit on your screen, icon size, folder layouts, etc.

Originally Posted by Fangthane

Doing a long-press on on any given icon on your home screen will allow you to move it around. Same goes for the apps in your app drawer, if you want to put them on your home screen. With Android, long-pressing basically acts like doing a right-click in Windows.

Samsung's stock user interface, Touchwiz, is pretty limited and clunky to me. I highly recommend you use a 3rd-party launcher. I use the free version of Nova Launcher, <---direct link to download it from Play Store. It allows for a great deal of customization - you can change the amount of icons that will fit on your screen, icon size, folder layouts, etc.

Yeah, I discovered that long-press feature when Connie somehow accidentally put her finger on two icons and somehow created and dumped them into a folder. I had to figure out how to get them back to the home screen. I haven't tried to do that from the "back 40" screen to the home screen, however.

I'll have to take a look at the launcher you recommend. Have to do it the long way, however, as I am not planning on using the phone for my internet work. I guess there is probably a way to download an app to my desktop PC and transfer it over to the phone to be installed, but that's not something I have even tried to do yet.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

I guess there is probably a way to download an app to my desktop PC and transfer it over to the phone to be installed, but that's not something I have even tried to do yet.

Android apps are in the .apk file format. It's very easy to side-load apps by downloading .apk files to your PC and then manually transferring the file to the phone via usb. You can then use the stock file browser to find and install the .apk. If you plan on not using Play Store to get apps, do be careful about where you download your .apk files - obviously, the ideal situation is to get them directly from the app developer's official website.

http://novalauncher.com Scroll down and select "Direct download APK."

Originally Posted by Fangthane

Android apps are in the .apk file format. It's very easy to side-load apps by downloading .apk files to your PC and then manually transferring the file to the phone via usb. You can then use the stock file browser to find and install the .apk. If you plan on not using Play Store to get apps, do be careful about where you download your .apk files - obviously, the ideal situation is to get them directly from the app developer's official website.

http://novalauncher.com Scroll down and select "Direct download APK."

Yeah, that does bring up a question. How much are the apps offered at the Play Store vetted to prevent exploits? And no, I'm not inclined to just load stuff in helter skelter from basically anonymous sources.

Which brings up another question. What are the major security holes in these devices? I do not intend to do much in the way of internet browsing with it. But do firewalls need to be installed on them to protect against direct intrusions?

In all honesty, the security aspects of Android are well above my pay grade, so take this entire post as nothing more than anecdotal opinions. In the decade or so that I've been using Android, I've yet to have a single virus-type issue with any phone, and I've had a pretty cavalier attitude about just trying things and seeing what happens. Samsung does use a security platform called Knox, which seems to be pretty highly rated.

Here's a for instance regarding Knox: when I rooted my S7, it required flashing a custom "engineering" bootloader to the phone which would set the stage for even allowing me to subsequently flash the actual program that gives root access. After changing bootloaders, it would give an impossible-to-miss security notification every time it boots up. The flashing software I use is called Odin, which, I think, is basically what Samsung uses to load firmware at the factory. Without Odin (or installing a custom recovery), I doubt it'd be a remotely simple matter to even make such significant and potentially dangerous changes to the modern Samsung flagship devices.

If you look hard enough, I'm sure you could possibly dig up someone who's actually had some sort of infection on their phone, but in all my years of nonchalantly taking chances, I've never really had any problems that didn't stem from simply not sweating the minutiae of whatever I was trying to do. IMO, if you're never intending to get into the modding scene, you probably don't really have much to worry about.

The Android wizards at the XDA-Developers website I linked you to would be able to give much more knowledgeable answers about these advanced subjects than I could ever hope to. If you find yourself with some time to kill, it may be worth browsing the non device-specific sections of the website and looking into general Android security.

Addendum: I think that the main "security" complaints/concerns probably stem from app permissions. When you install an app, it'll show you a list of all of its required permissions - everything that it can directly access. Like, if you're trying to install a stupid little calculator app, it may be a bit fishy if it requires access to your GPS location and contacts list. With anything Google, I suspect that there's some degree of collecting/selling certain data for advertising purposes and such. Although I never give them a second thought, you may want to make it a point to keep an eye on what any given app needs to access.

Originally Posted by Fangthane

In all honesty, the security aspects of Android are well above my pay grade, so take this entire post as nothing more than anecdotal opinions. In the decade or so that I've been using Android, I've yet to have a single virus-type issue with any phone, and I've had a pretty cavalier attitude about just trying things and seeing what happens. Samsung does use a security platform called Knox, which seems to be pretty highly rated.

Here's a for instance regarding Knox: when I rooted my S7, it required flashing a custom "engineering" bootloader to the phone which would set the stage for even allowing me to subsequently flash the actual program that gives root access. After changing bootloaders, it would give an impossible-to-miss security notification every time it boots up. The flashing software I use is called Odin, which, I think, is basically what Samsung uses to load firmware at the factory. Without Odin (or installing a custom recovery), I doubt it'd be a remotely simple matter to even make such significant and potentially dangerous changes to the modern Samsung flagship devices.

If you look hard enough, I'm sure you could possibly dig up someone who's actually had some sort of infection on their phone, but in all my years of nonchalantly taking chances, I've never really had any problems that didn't stem from simply not sweating the minutiae of whatever I was trying to do. IMO, if you're never intending to get into the modding scene, you probably don't really have much to worry about.

The Android wizards at the XDA-Developers website I linked you to would be able to give much more knowledgeable answers about these advanced subjects than I could ever hope to. If you find yourself with some time to kill, it may be worth browsing the non device-specific sections of the website and looking into general Android security.

Addendum: I think that the main "security" complaints/concerns probably stem from app permissions. When you install an app, it'll show you a list of all of its required permissions - everything that it can directly access. Like, if you're trying to install a stupid little calculator app, it may be a bit fishy if it requires access to your GPS location and contacts list. With anything Google, I suspect that there's some degree of collecting/selling certain data for advertising purposes and such. Although I never give them a second thought, you may want to make it a point to keep an eye on what any given app needs to access.

Well honestly, I'm not going to be keeping any state secrets on this handheld device that I could easily lose some day. If someone knows my contacts, which honestly will be less than the number of fingers on one hand, then more power to them. I expect the only thing that could possibly happen is that I suddenly get some notice that I bought a $2 item from the Play Store. Even if I couldn't dispute it, it really doesn't look like anyone hacking into these devices could cause me much damage. It's not like I'm going to have it on 24/7 anyway.

So yeah, I guess your own experience could be a pretty good guide for me. And of course this begs the question, has anyone reading this thread had their phone hacked or know directly of anyone who has? And if so, what were the damages done?

BTW, could I just take a backup image of the phone's OS, apps, etc, and store it on my desktop so I could reload the system if something WERE to happen? Honestly, if the phone would get trashed by getting hacked, I would have to consider then whether it is worth buying another, or just take this as an omen that I am better off without one. Of course, in a year, I might think completely differently about this. But for now, heck, I didn't even turn on my phone all day today. I'm betting I lose it in my den before too long. It's too little and my den is too cluttered for that NOT to happen. Is there an app that can locate a lost phone by making it ring when it is turned off? From the way it loses battery charge even when off, there most be something still active inside the thing.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

BTW, could I just take a backup image of the phone's OS, apps, etc, and store it on my desktop so I could reload the system if something WERE to happen?

To do a full backup, you'd need a custom recovery installed. Booting into recovery is probably akin to booting into a PC's BIOS. It just lets you do things that can't happen while the actual OS is booted. It's a moot point, since there doesn't seem to be one available for your phone yet. You could, however, download the factory firmware image and keep that on your PC just in case. In the event of some catastrophic failure, it would completely wipe the phone and install the original Verizon firmware. It gets flashed with the Odin software I mentioned before. It's a pretty simple process, if you'd ever actually need to do it. .

Is there an app that can locate a lost phone by making it ring when it is turned off? From the way it loses battery charge even when off, there most be something still active inside the thing.

There's no such app that I know of. Even if left turned off overnight, I wouldn't think it'd lose more than a few % battery charge. The only time I've had significant battery drain while the phone is turned off has been with my old S5, which I just assume needs a new battery. Do both of your phones have comparable battery drain while powered off?

Paranoia? Or the future coming at us like a bullet?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yObxw0gy7n8

Originally Posted by Fangthane

To do a full backup, you'd need a custom recovery installed. Booting into recovery is probably akin to booting into a PC's BIOS. It just lets you do things that can't happen while the actual OS is booted. It's a moot point, since there doesn't seem to be one available for your phone yet. You could, however, download the factory firmware image and keep that on your PC just in case. In the event of some catastrophic failure, it would completely wipe the phone and install the original Verizon firmware. It gets flashed with the Odin software I mentioned before. It's a pretty simple process, if you'd ever actually need to do it.

Thanks for the link. Hopefully it's something I will never need.

Originally Posted by Fangthane

There's no such app that I know of. Even if left turned off overnight, I wouldn't think it'd lose more than a few % battery charge. The only time I've had significant battery drain while the phone is turned off has been with my old S5, which I just assume needs a new battery. Do both of your phones have comparable battery drain while powered off?

Heck, I haven't paid attention that closely, I just noted that the charge is less after sitting for a while than it was when I last shut it down. As for how much is lost? Perhaps it is normal for these types of batteries. But seems to me that I have had older style batteries that would hold a charge and last up till the day they burst and leaked all over everything as long as whatever they were in did not trickle drain them. Heck, used to be you could check for a trickle drain on a car battery to see if there was a high resistance short somewhere in the wiring. Now, there are electronics modules that are using current, mostly waiting to receive a signal from a FOB to unlock the door, or something of that nature. So yeah, eventually a car battery will go dead unless you put a trickle charger on it if the car is not driven for a couple of months.

I thought I read somewhere a while back that the only way to keep a cell phone from being able to be tracked is to completely remove the battery. If that is true, well, kind of makes you wonder why most of the newer phones have user non-removable batteries.

Yeah, I bought into these smart phones, but there sure seems to be a siren song attached to them.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

I thought I read somewhere a while back that the only way to keep a cell phone from being able to be tracked is to completely remove the battery. If that is true, well, kind of makes you wonder why most of the newer phones have user non-removable batteries.

The ability to be tracked via phone is a concern, but that same ability to track can help find the phone sometimes if it is lost or stolen.
I think increasing camera use may make anonymity increasingly difficult.
Predators both private and governmental are increasingly adept at using technology to find their prey.