Galaxy S II and Note to get 4.1.2 Jelly Bean in January

There is some good news for the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note loyal users. The Jelly Bean update is coming as soon as early January.

As indicated by the leaked test ROM, both devices will skip the initial Jelly Bean 4.1.1 release and move straight to the 4.1.2. The update will also bring some of the Note II features to the two devices.

Canadian carrier Rogers officially confirmed The JB 4.1.2 updates will be hitting the S II LTE and Note LTE versions in late January and given that unlocked models always get new firmwares before carrier-locked ones, early January rollout seems like a safe bet.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S III users are also expecting the 4.1.2 update availability to expand beyond Poland and Germany sometime around Christmas.

Source: gsmarena.com

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Samsung Exynos 4 Exploit Discovered: Root And Full Access To RAM Possible In A Single App

There's some disturbing news today on the Android security front: an vulnerability has been discovered for Samsung's Exynos 4-powered devices. While the related exploit is useful for the mod scene in that it can be harnessed to gain superuser permissions and root pretty much any device running on an Exynos 4 chip, it's also got some rather disturbing implications. According to an XDA member with the handle "alephzain", who developed the exploit, using this security hole can also grant an app access to all physical memory on a given device - basically, anything stored in RAM is fair game. The virtual directory for memory within the kernel, dev/exynos-mem, is wide open, apparently for access to various camera-related functions.

The exploit bypasses system permissions on the kernel level, taking advantage of read/write permissions within the kernel. Affected devices potentially include anything running an Exynos 4210 or 4412 processor, including the international models of the Galaxy SII and SIII, the Galaxy Note and Note II, Galaxy Tab 7.7, Galaxy Note 10.1, and various devices from Meizu, Lenovo, and smaller Asian manufacturers. Most U.S. Samsung models equipped with LTE, including the Galaxy S III for all four major carriers, are not affected.

If it sounds like we're making a big deal about this, that's because it is a big deal. For some reason, when Samsung's software department created the kernels for these two series of processors, they elected to leave read/write permissions open. Theoretically, any app could gain root access to an affected device without any user-facing alert, or even restarting the device. While some have speculated that this is to enable wider access for Samsung's own internal apps, this seems unlikely, and in any case would be a poor reason for doing so.

Well-known XDA member "Chainfire" has released an APK that will root an affected device and patch the vulnerability. You can download it on the first XDA page below. Root is not required, but if your device is not rooted already, it will be after using the app. This could void your warranty, but it would also make your Exynos 4-powered device measurably safer. According to Chainfire, Samsung has been made aware of the issue. Android Police has also contacted Samsung's PR department. They have not issued a statement at the time of writing.

XDA Developers - ExynosAbuse APK v1.10 (Chainfire)

XDA Developers - Root Exploit on Exynos (alephzain's documented exploit)

Source: androidpolice.com

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Facebook native Android app now live

Facebook for Android got native Android app now live and twice as fast.

Keeping up with friends is faster than ever.
• See what friends are up to
• Share updates, photos and videos
• Get notified when friends like and comment on your posts
• Text, chat and have group conversations
• Play games and use your favorite apps

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Google calendar for Android updated

Have an Android phone with Android 4.0.3 or higher installed? If so, you can take advantage of a new update to the Google Calendar app that makes things a little easier. Directly from the notification screen, you can make a phone call, or look up the location to an event if a reminder includes an address.

If you are in the month view on the calendar, you can long press on a time and date to enter an event. Google will fill in some of the blanks based on past history. The update is in the Google Play Store and is free, just waiting for you to install it. It is not an earth shattering update, but it does make life a little easier for Android users.

Source: phonearena.com

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Google Currents updated with UI improvements, widget

Google's own news reading aggregation platform, Currents, is receiving an update today with pretty much a complete UI overhaul. When first launching the app, you're now greeted by your news stream. In new Google design fashion, you have a main page, and a navigation bar comes in from the left side to help you select other stories and categories. You can swipe left or right between panels to switch categories, or within an article view to switch between articles. There's also a new widget that's similar to previous Google widgets (like the YouTube one) that let's you flip through cards of recent stories.

Source: androidcentral.com

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Sound Search widget now available on Google Play

Sound Search (affectionately known as Google Ear to the Android faithful) has landed in Google Play, ready for downloading on devices running 4.0 or higher. In case you're unaware of exactly what this is, it's pretty much like Shazam -- let it listen to a song that is playing, and it will identify what song it is, and in the case of Sound Search, link you to Google Play Music where you can buy a copy.

Source: androidcentral.com

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Samsung Galaxy Note II gets Android 4.1.2 update

The Note II has been selling very well for the Korean tech giant, so it's understandable that Samsung has been hard at work at getting all of the kinks out of the 4.1 Jelly Bean release.

This latest update is being pushed out now to both the international Galaxy Note II and international Galaxy Note II LTE models.

What's included in the JZO54K update are new notification toggles and customizations, smoother browser performance, and the new Ink Effect lockscreen and Group Cast app, among other bug fixes and optimizations.

You can get the latest version either through Samsung's KIES utility, or via OTA software update. Follow our source link to see if the update has gone live in your region.

Source 1 | Source 2

Source: phonearena.com

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Android 4.2 only detects 20% of malware apps

One of the new additions to Android 4.2 was a new scanner designed to check sideloaded apps for potential malware threats. This was seen as a great addition, but the feature has been tested and has not fared well, only detecting about 20% of malicious apps. Of course, as we know by now, only about .5% of all malware is found in the Google Play Store, so Google's Bouncer software has been doing its job. But, that still leaves 95.5% of malware coming from sideloaded apps, which is a concern, especially in places like China where the Play Store isn't always available.

Testing was done by Xuxian Jiang, a professor of computer science at North Carolina State University, who tested 1,260 samples of malicious apps on a Nexus 10 running Android 4.2, and found that the built-in scanner detected only 193, a detection rate of just 15.32%. Jiang then tested Google's malware detection compared to antivirus apps from Avast, Symantec, and Kaspersky, and found the detection rates of the antivirus apps ranged from 51% to 100%, compared with 20% for Google.

There were two reasons that Jiang cites for Google's failure to detect malware that is sideloaded. First, the service uses cryptographic hash signatures to identify apps known to be malicious, but these hash signatures can easily be manipulated and bypassed. Second, the scanner is hosted in the cloud, and doesn't have a client-side option, so if you aren't connected to the web, it can't detect malware at all.

As we said, this isn't much of a concern if you get all of your apps from the Play Store, but if not, you should still be careful about where you get your apps.

Source: phonearena.com

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YouTube update for Google Play Store brings new UI for 10 inch tablets

Say you have a 10 inch Android tablet like the Google Nexus 10. You just might not be happy with the YouTube experience on the larger screen. Well, Google is trying to accommodate you and has issued an update for the streaming video site that includes a new UI for 10 inch tablets. The new interface includes the Android Fragment layout first seen with some Honeycomb applications. This allows two independent windows to open for the app. The smaller window on left is used to navigate the app and allows you to make selections, with the content-in this case the video you've selected-playing on the right.

While the update certainly helps those with a 10 inch tablet more easily select the video they want to view, it also repairs bugs on all devices that have been affecting the app. Earlier this month, Google launched a new YouTube app for iOS that takes advantage of the larger screen on the Apple iPhone 5 and the Apple iPad.

You can find the newly updated YouTube for Android app at the Google Play Store where it is a free download.

Source: phonearena.com

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