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Google announces Android for Work

googleforwork.blogspot.com

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Re: Google announces Android for Work

#51

Post by patcon »

scottjad wrote: post #40
errantmind wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CyanogenMod's Privacy Guard is useful for dealing with this situation. There is a setting to enable it by default on newly installed apps. No matter what permissions the app says it requires, you are prompted when it actually requests them and can deny them at will or permanently.

When you deny them, roughly how often in your experience does this cause the app to crash or display an error?

Doesn't crash, but sometimes apps seem to be created under the assumption their permission request isn't creating a popup, so there are sometimes like 10 in a row, so the user will often give up and just either blanket deny or accept

EDIT:an "allow for 10 min" option would resolve this

Re: Google announces Android for Work

#52

Post by vilmosi »

vlunkr wrote: post #27
loxs wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually that's the reason I use iOS

I honestly don't understand why this is down-voted, more "sandboxed" apps is one of the reasons I use iOS as well.

It's downvoted because it's a troll comment that doesn't further the discussion at all. It's irrelevant.

I use Android because it let's me have defaults. See? Irrelevant statement.

Everyone has different needs, just drop it.

Re: Google announces Android for Work

#53

Post by ufmace »

maratd wrote: post #16
api wrote: post #9

So we're all going to code, write, etc. on four inch screens? Seriously why hasn't someone made a smart phone that "transforms" into a larger screen form factor when connected to a monitor? I could see Android phones doing this. I could never imagine iOS doing it-- Apple would never cannibalize Mac like that, and iOS is too jailed for anything "real." Of course apps would have to support it. But those that didn't cou…

> Seriously why hasn't someone made a smart phone that "transforms" into a larger screen form factor when connected to a monitor? It has been done repeatedly. Motorola and Ubuntu come to mind. Both were failures. I don't want my phone to turn into a desktop. Desktops are all about muscle, massive storage, gigabit connections, etc. Phones are about saving battery life.

I like the basic idea of it, but I think their implementations were too soon. We aren't too far off now from where the only way high-end phone CPUs are behind low-end laptop CPUs is power consumption and heat dissipation.

Maybe in another 5 years, it'll only be a mobile CPU because the power consumption is ramped so far down. Then you could plug in a big cable and get enough power to run full speed, plus your gigabit connection, massive drives, multiple monitors, mouse, keyboard, etc. Heat might be a tougher one to solve though.

Or maybe we'll stick to syncing the data over the cloud instead and keeping the two platforms separate.

Re: Google announces Android for Work

#54

Post by pjc50 »

r00fus wrote: post #31
pasbesoin wrote: post #19

I suggest that anyone considering sharing a personal device with work activity (other than basic phone calls and messaging, e.g. "I'll be in late") think twice. Comes a security concern or conflict, someone's probably going to want access to the whole thing. If you want me to do "your work" on a phone -- particularly as an employee as opposed to as an independent contractor utilizing their own resources as defined in…

Would secure-wiping the phone if involved in a legal discovery process be considered destruction of evidence? Does your advice apply when you're only using, say Exchange, as your only entry point (e.g. on iOS devices?) - in this case, all discovery can be done server-side. I find it hard pressed to think this issue hasn't been covered more rigorously.

Would secure-wiping the phone if involved in a legal discovery process be considered destruction of evidence?

Yes, if it's not part of a routine process.

Re: Google announces Android for Work

#55

Post by potato »

scottjad wrote: post #40
errantmind wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CyanogenMod's Privacy Guard is useful for dealing with this situation. There is a setting to enable it by default on newly installed apps. No matter what permissions the app says it requires, you are prompted when it actually requests them and can deny them at will or permanently.

When you deny them, roughly how often in your experience does this cause the app to crash or display an error?

Rarely, as it will feed empty data. It doesn't deny permissions.

Re: Google announces Android for Work

#56

Post by jahewson »

sparaker wrote: post #50
pwnna wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your device is rooted, and by that I mean real rooted (bypassing SELinux), then it can get the encryption keys as at some point the data needs to be decrypted and viewable by you.

No you'd still need the crypt key to decode the data. Why do you assume this is stored on the device?

Where else would the key be?

Re: Google announces Android for Work

#57

Post by guelo »

MichaelGG wrote: post #11

> a dedicated work profile that isolates and protects work data Oh wow, can this be used to just create a separate profile for every app? That way I can run Uber or Line without giving them every permission to everything? This is the biggest reason I do not install apps. Every "famous" app requests so many permissions it's just stupid. And not to mention the weirdness of some of them, like "WiFi Device Information".…

Lollipop already added profiles. No reason you couldn't have a profile per app.

Re: Google announces Android for Work

#58

Post by bdcs »

RyJones wrote: post #47
robotresearcher wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Google Play for Work" is as bad as "Playstation" is good. They really shouldn't let this awkward branding stuff happen.

I worked on Windows Live Mobile for Windows Mobile. Thankfully it was renamed.

Good to hear they're working hard in the Department of Redundancy Department.

Re: Google announces Android for Work

#59

Post by O____________O »

dflock wrote: post #12
api wrote: post #9

So we're all going to code, write, etc. on four inch screens? Seriously why hasn't someone made a smart phone that "transforms" into a larger screen form factor when connected to a monitor? I could see Android phones doing this. I could never imagine iOS doing it-- Apple would never cannibalize Mac like that, and iOS is too jailed for anything "real." Of course apps would have to support it. But those that didn't cou…

Android has been able to do this for years - here's video with details of someone using an android phone as a desktop replacement - with an external monitor and keyboard, etc...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB-icTl2J-c Also, ChromeOS is a functional replacement for Windows + Office: ChromeOS + Google Docs. It comes on hardware (ChromeBooks or ChromeBoxes) which are very cheap but capable, because ChromeOS is very…

Interesting video. It looks like the Chromecast can be used to mirror an Android phone's display, which might help with the HDMI vs USB connectivity trade-off.

https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6059461?hl=en

It also appears that Synergy allows you to control an Android phone using your PC mouse and keyboard (requires rooting).

http://synergyandroid.sourceforge.net/ (looks like it's in early development)

So, with a Chromecast and Synergy, it may be possible to use a spare screen and your existing keyboard/mouse setup, keeping all your personal email and browsing off your work machine. And you'd only have to plug in USB for power.

Re: Google announces Android for Work

#60

Post by ChuckMcM »

This would be a lot more compelling if, when I got a Google voice voicemail and saw that in my Gmail app on my "Google Experience" Moto-G and clicked on the "listen to it" link it didn't just vanish leaving me with an open browser and no message.

I like my phone, it works for me, but the sheer disconnectedness of it all is really jarring. Things show up in random places, or not at all, (especially media), and there is no "data connectivity" from anywhere to anywhere else, the same text message appears in my GVoice app, my Gmail app, and as a text message in Messaging.

How do you even begin to make a coherent business tool out of that?

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