The best thing about Google Play Services that nobody is telling you about (this is big)

Is there more to Google Play Services?

If you've been paying attention to your RSS feeds or daily-click tech news sites, you may have seen that Google is now commencing the roll out of Google Play Services. Google Play Services were announced at this years Google I/O conference, and bring a few really nice developer- and user-facing features to Android. Knowing how clued-up the readership is here I expect you're probably already aware of what these changes mean, so I won't waste your time recounting them here. Instead, what I want to do is talk about another really great upcoming feature that will be enabled by the roll out of Play Services.

Google Play hits 25 BILLION downloads, throws an app sale to celebrate

Quick heads-up that the official Android blog has announced that the Play Store has passed the latest app-download milestone, this time crossing the 25 billion mark. If that seems quite soon after the 10 billion mark, hit the graph pictured above to see a good example of an exponential curve... Anyways, to commemorate this there is going to be a 5-day app sale starting later today with lots of the choicest apps selling for 25c. Be sure to check it out.

Finally, and I don't want to be alarmist here, but if that curve keeps going I see a celebratory app sale for a trillion app downloads in our not-to-distant future where individual apps costs $10 each on sale. If you follow that logic forward the only conclusion is mind-numbing wallet agony. I don't want to live in that dystopian vision of the future, so I'm making a start on my protest banner before 25c games distract me from the real issue issue here.

Source: Android official blog

Serious potential security flaw in Samsung Android handsets [UPDATE: New information, HTC handsets also reported vulnerable]

Quick note to inform Samsung users that there is a potentially very serious vulnerability on all Samsung's non-Nexus handsets that would allow a browser link to invoke a remote wipe via an iFrame USSD trigger. What that jargon means is that you could click on a link in the browser and suddenly find yourself staring at a freshly factory reset phone. Bad news.

To avoid this browse in Chrome, which will not automatically dial numbers like USSD triggers.

More technical users should also be aware that revoking CALL_PHONE permissions would serve to block this attack within any HTML-rendering app (via chrisfu at XDA).

On waking this morning we see there have naturally been further developments overnight in relation to this issue.

Firstly, it has become clear that for the most part only handsets running TouchWiz are affected. That said, users have replicated it in CM7 based ROMs, and a number of HTC devices also. It does seem quite solid at this point that if you're happily running a more recent version CM/AOSP/AOKP you're unaffected. Furthermore, it seems the vulnerability is tied at least as much to the dialler as it is to the browser, as the optimistic early advice to just use Chrome appears flawed, with users able to replicate the exploit from within Chrome also.  There are also reports that recent Samsung firmwares, such as the DLIB official Jelly Bean build from Poland are unaffected for this, but it seems slightly premature to suggest this is confirmed.  Bottom line is that the full extent of this vulnerability is not presently known.

To put of this in context lets not forget that the Galaxy SII is affected here: this means the exploit has likely been available for over a year now, and there are ZERO affected users. This could just end of being the a typical "Android security scare" non-event. That said, now that the exploit is widely known that may change, and as always it's better to take preventative measures than suffer the potential consequences.

With that in mind, the best information presently to hand suggests installing Dialler One as a workaround, which doesn't automatically open the codes (also, if you do not set the default dialler after installation you will be offered a choice of which dialler to invoke giving you an opportunity to back out of opening the link).

Source: XDA-Developers

Official Jelly Bean starts rolling out to the Galaxy S3

Jelly Bean.
It has arrived.

The news Galaxy S3 owners have been waiting for is finally here - as of now the official Jelly Bean update is rolling out starting with Poland. It will no doubt roll out over other regions in the coming days, but if you just can't wait to get a taste of Jelly Bean you can naturally download the Polish ROM - PDA I9300XXDLIB CSC I9300OXFDLI1 MODEM I9300XXDLIB - here now and install it to your Galaxy S3 in Odin (or better yet, Mobile Odin using the EverRoot option to make sure that your Root privileges don't evaporate in the update process).

Via: Sammobile.com


UPDATE: Just flashed this to my International S3 minutes ago, can confirm that flashing in Odin with EverRoot/inject Super SU/inject Mobile Odin and wipe went swimmingly. All up and running, completely perfect so far. Just running some benchmarks now and thought I would leave you with this one, a little something to show your iPhone 5 toting friends who seem suddenly to have started caring about benchmarks this week...

[At Your Own Risk] ROM Update - AndroidME CM10 Galaxy Nexus GSM

AndroidME CM10 For the Galaxy Nexus GSM

Release Date: 22 September 2012

Change log:

• Updated to latest CM10 source
• Fixed Wallpaper issue
• Fixed Browser issue
• Removed Centre clock option for now, Causing issues

Download:

AndroidME_CM10_1.8.0.zip

MD5: aaf3dd797de468c162b0d682d2969881

[At Your Own Risk] How to install Jelly Bean to your Huawei MediaPad/T-Mobile Springboard

(Bonus 'beginners guide to Fastboot' included!)

In our MediaPad Rapid Review I mentioned that I was running a near-perfect CM10 build of Jelly Bean on my MediaPad. If you're a present owner of the MediaPad/Springboard, I can imagine that may have grabbed your attention. Since we're giving sorts here at AndroidNZ, you'll find the promised guide for installing the latest flavour of Android on your MediaPad just over the break. 

Rapid Review: The Huawei MediaPad/T-Mobile Springboard

So, as promised a couple of weeks ago, here is our inaugural Rapid Review.

First up? The Huawei MediaPad (also known as the T-Mobile Springboard Stateside).

It might seem an odd choice to review now, being an end-of-life (EOL) product, about to be relegated to the side-lines as Huawei refreshes its tablet line up. But then, it might just be one of those unappreciated gems worth grabbing at EOL prices, mightn't it? You'll have to read on to find out I guess. Well, actually, I know you're clever enough to realise we wouldn't even be here if we didn't like it, but there still might be a few tasty surprises just past the break nevertheless...

[At Your Own Risk] ROM Release: AndroidME CM10 N7 1.0.0 - Nexus 7

Welcome to the latest version of AndroidME CM10 for the Nexus 7 - 1.0.0

Compiled from Cyanogenmod 10 source on a regular basis

Release Date: 01 September 2012

Change log:

• Initial Release 

Download

AndroidME_CM10_N7_1.0.0.zip

Install Instructions:

• Boot into recovery 
• Backup current setup
• FULL WIPE (Data, Dalvik and Cache)
• Flash ROM
• Reboot

See XDA Thread for details