Secure Face Unlock - Samsung Galaxy Nexus

I've played with the face unlock feature and find it works quite well so long as you have adequate front lighting, but the main drawback is that it can easily be defeated by someone with a picture of you. But, if you added voice recognition you should be able to improve the security quite a bit.
I'm thinking that if you entered a voice sample of, say, 20 words so that when you press the power button to begin the unlock sequence the display lists two of the words you previously entered and, along with the face recognition, the unlock should be very secure and just about as fast.
So, as a sequence, here's what I'm thinking...
1. Press power button
2. Face recognition recognizes you, then
3. Phone prompts you with two words that you have two seconds to respond with, then
4. If both steps pass the phone is unlocked -- if either step fails you are prompted to enter password.
Allowing only a couple seconds to respond with two words at random should make it all but impossible for someone to use prerecorded voice samples to unlock your phone.
It would be a bit faster to do both steps at the same time but I don't know what effect your moving lips would have on the face unlock.
Brian

Yeah it'd be cool, but how is that more secure or quicker than a strong PIN or alphanumeric password with data encryption?
Not to mention that all the times you're in a dark or loud place and you can't do one or the other (or both) of those to unlock the phone. It will always have to have a backup PIN or passcode that must be strong (or stronger), or its pointless. Having the face/voice unlock super secure doesn't mean anything because it'll always fall back to the PIN when it doesn't work (which you'd hope is the case with an intruder), and the PIN can potentially be defeated.

wow, do people really have other people just dying to get into their phone??? Sorry, I'm just kinda surprised at the concern.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

scottspa74 said:
wow, do people really have other people just dying to get into their phone??? Sorry, I'm just kinda surprised at the concern.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are some people like that. And if its that bad they need to be using a corporate BlackBerry with serious encryption and remote wipe

I had my Evo 4G stolen in August so, yeah, security is an issue.
Using a 4 digit pin/password would likely be as fast as any other method but what if you're wearing gloves. Also, a 4 digit pin is not real secure.
Another option would be the inclusion of a finger print scanner. You'd still have issues with gloves but the security would be quite high and the response pretty fast.
Brian

Raptor1956 said:
I had my Evo 4G stolen in August so, yeah, security is an issue.
Using a 4 digit pin/password would likely be as fast as any other method but what if you're wearing gloves. Also, a 4 digit pin is not real secure.
Another option would be the inclusion of a finger print scanner. You'd still have issues with gloves but the security would be quite high and the response pretty fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure you could unlock the phone with your face/voice while wearing gloves... then what? still have to take off the gloves to use the phone eventually...
There are devices with fingerprint scanners too if you need that.
If you're worried about your phone being stolen, buy handset insurance and run a program like lookout that can offer remote tracking and wipe. Putting face/voice combo lock on the phone isn't gonna stop them from snagging the phone and wiping it though.

with the current generation of speech recognition, talking to the phone almost always ends up looking siri.. i mean silly. i cannot help but laugh at people who try to talk, get misheard and then yell very slow words at their phone instead of just typing. and its not like they are driving (i use voice while driving to navigate), they are sitting in their office cubes.

Face unlock is a convinience feature, not really for high security. I have never used pins or patterns to lock my phone. Personally, i find it annoying and time consuming to have to draw a stupid pattern to unlock my phone. I have never lost my phone and i am very careful with it. So for me face unlock is like the happy medium, it works fast and offers somewhat of security. I mean lets face it, what are the chances of someone finding or stealing your phone having a picture of you?

Wicked4u2c said:
Face unlock is a convinience feature, not really for high security. I have never used pins or patterns to lock my phone. Personally, i find it annoying and time consuming to have to draw a stupid pattern to unlock my phone. I have never lost my phone and i am very careful with it. So for me face unlock is like the happy medium, it works fast and offers somewhat of security. I mean lets face it, what are the chances of someone finding or stealing your phone having a picture of you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THIS.
I went back to just using the slide unlock.
What I'd like to be able to do ultimately is use Tasker to switch between unlock methods. Just slide when I'm at home or at work, but face unlock elsewhere.
Face unlock is good enough for a misplaced or stolen phone. More than likely, a misplaced or stolen phone won't be obtained by a spy who has photos of you. (Unless of course you are some type of important person... most of us are not!) A common thief, or just a dishonest person wouldn't have the means to get past the unlock feature.

Wicked4u2c said:
Face unlock is a convinience feature, not really for high security. I have never used pins or patterns to lock my phone. Personally, i find it annoying and time consuming to have to draw a stupid pattern to unlock my phone. I have never lost my phone and i am very careful with it. So for me face unlock is like the happy medium, it works fast and offers somewhat of security. I mean lets face it, what are the chances of someone finding or stealing your phone having a picture of you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bahahahaha

FrayAdjacent said:
What I'd like to be able to do ultimately is use Tasker to switch between unlock methods. Just slide when I'm at home or at work, but face unlock elsewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would pay for this app.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Wicked4u2c said:
Face unlock is a convinience feature, not really for high security. I have never used pins or patterns to lock my phone. Personally, i find it annoying and time consuming to have to draw a stupid pattern to unlock my phone. I have never lost my phone and i am very careful with it. So for me face unlock is like the happy medium, it works fast and offers somewhat of security. I mean lets face it, what are the chances of someone finding or stealing your phone having a picture of you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. Face unlock is used in place of slide to unlock, with a bonus of having SOME security. Even Google themselves said that this feature is not a foolproof way to secure your phone.

Actually you don't even need a picture, it worked off my dad's face and we don't look anything alike - at least to humans.

wonshikee said:
Actually you don't even need a picture, it worked off my dad's face and we don't look anything alike - at least to humans.
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Click to collapse
That's because you have to train it. Most people complaining that it doesn't work well only set it up one time. When you go back to face unlock, it allows you to train it multiple times in different lighting levels, eyewear, beard, etc to make it better. I have trained it in almost pitch black where all you see is my nose and everything is grainy and it still unlocks.
I barely even look at my phone now at it instantaneously unlocks. But then again I probably have over 30 different profiles with different lighting and clothes to make a fast match with almost no lag.

Related

Face Unlock: Could it be faster?

Hi,
A few months ago while I was watching Samsung announce the Galaxy Nexus for the first time, I remember them saying Face Unlock was so fast that they actually had a delay so that "it didn't look like there was no security at all".
That said, does that mean that there could be a possibility to remove that delay?
On our device face unlock takes a while because the camera needs time to start, then we have to wait for it to recognize our face. Maybe we can get it to work faster?
Discuss.
HanMan5000 said:
Hi,
A few months ago while I was watching Samsung announce the Galaxy Nexus for the first time, I remember them saying Face Unlock was so fast that they actually had a delay so that "it didn't look like there was no security at all".
That said, does that mean that there could be a possibility to remove that delay?
On our device face unlock takes a while because the camera needs time to start, then we have to wait for it to recognize our face. Maybe we can get it to work faster?
Discuss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude mine works fast as hell its just lighting and all that if your saying the time it takes while its black try setting cpu higher see if it makes a difference
I tried the face unlock on the ICS rom and honestly I didn't even notice a delay the thing was fast as hell....
Face unlock is fast at recognizing the face, on our phone it takes 2-3 seconds for the camera to start up, at least for me and that's what the OP is talking about.
As far as I know that's not caused by a delay its just the camera software/hardware limitation maybe it can be improved in the future by Samsung but it could be a hardware limitation.
Also the phone may be waking up at a low frequency which could cause the delay as well.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
It seems to forget my face after a while and I end up using the pin almost every time.
bbedward said:
Also the phone may be waking up at a low frequency which could cause the delay as well.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what makes sense to me, and that's something people are just gonna deal with when you think about battery life of keeping the system able to pull up instantly.
I made a funny face and kept forgetting that I did. lol It was fun for a little while but low lighting it sucks.
Wonder if we could somehow get face unlock for v3.x.x ?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Screenlock as Anti-theft protection (the phone, not the data)

Hi,
The data in my phone has no value to anyone. Mostly because I make sure I don't put anything sensitive on this phone. The physical phone is worth much more. If I setup a screenlock with a tough password, would that make the phone unusable by someone else? What I hope is the phone is completely unusable, even if the theft, root, unlock, reflash ROM, replace SIM or whatever tricks he might attempt. Is it possible?
Thanks for any clarification.
2LoT said:
Hi,
The data in my phone has no value to anyone. Mostly because I make sure I don't put anything sensitive on this phone. The physical phone is worth much more. If I setup a screenlock with a tough password, would that make the phone unusable by someone else? What I hope is the phone is completely unusable, even if the theft, root, unlock, reflash ROM, replace SIM or whatever tricks he might attempt. Is it possible?
Thanks for any clarification.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. The screen lock is removed simply by going into recovery and wiping data. Sadly, securing the phone in that way is impossible on android
the best protection is concealment. they cant steal what they cant find. as with any electronic device, when it is in someone elses hands there is little you can do to completely protect it.
bgdxv said:
No. The screen lock is removed simply by going into recovery and wiping data. Sadly, securing the phone in that way is impossible on android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh crap! too bad. In this case I am going to simplify the screenlock then. The impossible pwd I was using so far hinders me more than a potential theft :crying:
You might want to look into Cerberus https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lsdroid.cerberus&hl=en :good:
Alex1123 said:
You might want to look into Cerberus https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lsdroid.cerberus&hl=en :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh wow cool, probably efficient against the average theft. I'll look at this app. Thanks for the recommendation.

Anti-Theft app idea...

Today while texting in public with my N4, an idiot thief thought it was a good to snatch the phone out my hand and take off running, lucky me being me, I chased him down and got my phone back. (wont go into detail)
To get to the point, when I got my phone back it was still unlocked, leaving the thief to have full control of my phone, I already have the lock-screen activation set to the lowest value (15 seconds), yet for the minute or so where he had my phone, it didn't lock. Presumably because his hand made contact with the screen while running, thus leaving the screen on.
Okay so, the idea is: have a app that uses the accelerometer to detect sudden increases in speed, or certain motions, idea being when the phone is snatched out your hand, the app detects the sudden increase in speed (from the thief running away) or the motion of the phone being snatched out your hand, after which the app would lock the screen.
Sure, its not faultless, though it would be effective. Plus if a dev does pick this up, any faults would be ironed out.. but for now I'm just wondering if its possible at all.
I think it is not a great idea, it is very hard to decide when the movement is strong enough to lock.. and I bet i'd lock very often when you don't want.. Also, those kind of things don't happen very often.. It'd be a useless app for most of the ppl using it, as their phone will never be stolen of their hands..
Meh, just an idea.
MrDarkKV said:
Meh, just an idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought there was an app once that would do something to your device if it detected it was being dropped. Like save opens programs shut down the device or or something. Although now I know that no app could be that fast, unless you dropped it off a building lol. But that would be kinda neat too.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
iPhones in NYC get stolen everyday from snatches....
[LG NEXUS⁴] [LIQUIDSMOOTH] [MATR1X] [POETIC BLK BUMPER] [APEX PRO] [TAPATALK PRO]
dEris said:
iPhones in NYC get stolen everyday from snatches....
[LG NEXUS⁴] [LIQUIDSMOOTH] [MATR1X] [POETIC BLK BUMPER] [APEX PRO] [TAPATALK PRO]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing is in NYC hardly anyone knows what a nexus is
So, ever time you get in a car your phone shuts ?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Then when I do jumping jacks my phone will deactivate
I'll just take my chances
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
AW: Anti-Theft app idea...
I think you could do it by building a Tasker profile that locks the screen when the accelerometer reaches a specific value.
Alternative idea: Make a Tasker profile that when a special SMS is received it locks your screen, sets a password and under the hood sends you the actual GPS coordinates of your phone.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Use Cerberus, flashable in recovery so it'll survive a factory reset. And like the person above said, create a profile in tasker with sensor - gesture. This will do the trick for sure
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Shedao said:
I think you could do it by building a Tasker profile that locks the screen when the accelerometer reaches a specific value.
Alternative idea: Make a Tasker profile that when a special SMS is received it locks your screen, sets a password and under the hood sends you the actual GPS coordinates of your phone.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a million apps that do that exact process.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
I Do not lock my phone
In contrary of you guys, I never lock my phone just because 99% of people who will steal my phone will just remove my sim card, delete what is not interesting for them and start using it. and as i have cerberus(anti theft app) installed ,I have lot of chance to get my phone back without a hassle.
If i had lock t , for sure they will give to a technician who will flash again the firmware and i will never gat my phone back.
What do ou think about it?
malosn said:
In contrary of you guys, I never lock my phone just because 99% of people who will steal my phone will just remove my sim card, delete what is not interesting for them and start using it. and as i have cerberus(anti theft app) installed ,I have lot of chance to get my phone back without a hassle.
If i had lock t , for sure they will give to a technician who will flash again the firmware and i will never gat my phone back.
What do ou think about it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its a possible good tactic. I also never lock mine!
heat361 said:
The thing is in NYC hardly anyone knows what a nexus is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But the app wouldn't be restricted to just the N4. It would be an app for the Play Store....
[LG NEXUS⁴] [LIQUIDSMOOTH] [MATR1X] [POETIC BLK BUMPER] [APEX PRO] [TAPATALK PRO]
Wow. I hope you kicked his ass.
Apple has ideas like this patented already... that is not a joke by the way
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
It would definitely limit the usage of the phone during a drive I'd imagine. It's an interesting concept and I definitely think you'd have a decent group of users, just maybe not from this crowd specifically.
In contrary of you guys, I never lock my phone just because 99% of people who will steal my phone will just remove my sim card, delete what is not interesting for them and start using it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about some form of "reverse SIM card lock"? I actually thought the functionality I'm about to describe is what "SIM Card Lock" meant in many of the security applications available but apparently it's not: what about an application on the phone that securely wipes the phone when it is using any SIM card, or none at all, other than the one it's "assigned" to? Where "SIM Card Lock" locks a SIM Card to the phone; how about locking the phone to the SIM card?
Hey OP
The idea is cool in it self, but unfortunately its not as practical and that doesn't help you much. Imagine you had your idea implemented, and the thief just run away with your phone. What will that serve you? You were lucky to recover it by catching him, but what if you couldn't? This is where you need an app that can get your phone back instead of worrying about it the minute detail of having your screen locked by an action that is indistinguishable from other non-thefts situations from a software/hardware perspective...
There is an app I really recommend everyone to have and its called AndroidLost (many other app similar to it are available). What you can do with it is basically infinite, when you have your phone stollen or lost. From tracking it, locking it, disabling it etc...even if the sim card is changed. You can even take a picture of the thief and have sent to you without them realizing it...
It gave me such a peace of mind and hope it will for you too! Try it, its in the play store.
Cheers
Sent from my Nexus 4
Hash_Map said:
Hey OP
The idea is cool in it self, but unfortunately its not as practical and that doesn't help you much. Imagine you had your idea implemented, and the thief just run away with your phone. What will that serve you? You were lucky to recover it by catching him, but what if you couldn't? This is where you need an app that can get your phone back instead of worrying about it the minute detail of having your screen locked by an action that is indistinguishable from other non-thefts situations from a software/hardware perspective...
There is an app I really recommend everyone to have and its called AndroidLost (many other app similar to it are available). What you can do with it is basically infinite, when you have your phone stollen or lost. From tracking it, locking it, disabling it etc...even if the sim card is changed. You can even take a picture of the thief and have sent to you without them realizing it...
It gave me such a peace of mind and hope it will for you too! Try it, its in the play store.
Cheers
Sent from my Nexus 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, just to clarify.. I do actually use a anti-theft app. (Avest) Its actually really good, you can flash it through recovery thus making it a system service and making it resilient from a wipe. The original idea came about as with my phone I have a unique feature: when the phone is locked, it cant be rebooted, or turned off from the power menu, though it can be soft reset via holding down the power button for 10 seconds, however the phone does boot back up and nothing is effected but when its unlocked it can be turned off, rendering any anti-theft app useless.
Sure its not practical in some situations, like driving.. but there's always a solution to a problem, right?
:good:
Shedao said:
I think you could do it by building a Tasker profile that locks the screen when the accelerometer reaches a specific value.
Alternative idea: Make a Tasker profile that when a special SMS is received it locks your screen, sets a password and under the hood sends you the actual GPS coordinates of your phone.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have mine set up to max the volume and start screaming, light up the led, take photos front/back and email them, and report gps all from different codes in Tasker. There are other apps you could use to do it with, but I already have Tasker as a running process and dont need to duplicate that. Go nuts.
malosn said:
In contrary of you guys, I never lock my phone just because 99% of people who will steal my phone will just remove my sim card, delete what is not interesting for them and start using it. and as i have cerberus(anti theft app) installed ,I have lot of chance to get my phone back without a hassle.
If i had lock t , for sure they will give to a technician who will flash again the firmware and i will never gat my phone back.
What do ou think about it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your coworkers are a lot nicer than mine. If I left my phone unlocked I would soon start coming out on Facebook as a raging homosexual.

Screen looks... awful??

Has anyone noticed that, for all its pixel density, there is some really poor-looking emphasis on edges? Lots of places throughout the stock UI, fonts, icons, etc, will have their edges brighter than the rest of the object. What's more is this is not uniformly applied, so you wind up with some words or icons having this edge detection going on, and in other places, things look properly "flat".
Frankly it makes this "beautiful" screen look really ugly, since the UI it displays looks really ugly.
You may be talking about the over sharpening issue that's been discussed to death on these forums. Hopefully LG fixes it with an OTA update, or we get it fixed with ROMS.
Slash8915 said:
You may be talking about the over sharpening issue that's been discussed to death on these forums. Hopefully LG fixes it with an OTA update, or we get it fixed with ROMS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hoping for an OTA fix is a pipe dream. LG will not fix this since they will consider that they put a lot of hard work in to over sharpen their UI. Not your UI, their UI, for their phone. Not your phone. So that will never get fixed.
That, combined with the hilarious decision to put the buttons on the back, which no software can address, just kind of leaves some glaring issues. Issues? No, too soft a word. Let's just call them what they are. Errors. Errors in judgment, errors in design, whatever. They got it wrong.
courtlandj said:
Hoping for an OTA fix is a pipe dream. LG will not fix this since they will consider that they put a lot of hard work in to over sharpen their UI. Not your UI, their UI, for their phone. Not your phone. So that will never get fixed.
That, combined with the hilarious decision to put the buttons on the back, which no software can address, just kind of leaves some glaring issues. Issues? No, too soft a word. Let's just call them what they are. Errors. Errors in judgment, errors in design, whatever. They got it wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you like it.
americasteam said:
Glad you like it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
courtlandj said:
Hoping for an OTA fix is a pipe dream. LG will not fix this since they will consider that they put a lot of hard work in to over sharpen their UI. Not your UI, their UI, for their phone. Not your phone. So that will never get fixed.
That, combined with the hilarious decision to put the buttons on the back, which no software can address, just kind of leaves some glaring issues. Issues? No, too soft a word. Let's just call them what they are. Errors. Errors in judgment, errors in design, whatever. They got it wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You knew the buttons were on the back before you bought it so the error is yours if you find there placement an issue.
I think the screen is fantastic and don't have the problem you speak of.
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
Lol, buying a device with buttons on the back...just to come on xda and complain about buttons on the back? Okie
As far as the screen sharpness, they do need to address it somehow because black text are indeed awful (not to the point i will complain about them awful though)
Should have done your homework before buying a device that OBVIOUSLY came with buttons on the back though...considering it was flashed all over the internet so you cannot say "oh i bought it and realized buttons were on the back" lol
MaximoMark said:
You knew the buttons were on the back before you bought it so the error is yours if you find there placement an issue.
I think the screen is fantastic and don't have the problem you speak of.
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have it, it just doesn't bother you. Good for you, my eyes are pretty sharp though and don't need LG's help in that regard. Button placement? Sure. Sure I knew that beforehand. That does not mean it's my error. It's still LG's error. See, I can't really use this thing before I purchase it. They have display models in stores, but the backs (and often the sides) are covered in whatever anti-theft anchoring the store uses. It's not until I get the device home, have it in my pocket, that these usability errors can really make themselves felt. It didn't bother me while the device was in my hand, I thought, well, maybe I will just learn, in time, where my fingers should go. Fine.
But then, and imagine this scenario as being one I cannot replicate in a store with a demo model, the phone was laying face side up on my desk, and I wanted to turn the volume down. Or I wanted to turn the screen off. I can do that without picking the phone up with just about all other phones in the world. Inconvenient. This is a small issue! This is not a big deal. But. But I paid $600 for this, I am not supposed to have to put up with some minor inconvenience, is how I see it. For their flagship phone, the top of LG's current heap, they shouldn't have got any "small issues" wrong. But they did. They got this wrong. And while people replying to this thread seem to want to forgive LG, and that is your prerogative, I refuse to do so.
Doesn't your phone have knock code to switch the screen off? Or have volume controls in the notification area?
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
Anyway, the screen looks terrible and the big beautiful screen is the biggest selling point (or am I wrong on this? some argue camera...).
I wouldn't return the phone because the buttons were on the back and yes, "lol", I knew they were there before, during, and after purchasing it.
The big beautiful screen turning out to be not very beautiful, now that, that I could return a phone over. There's not even an option to disable the over-sharpening. Tell me that is not a design failure.
Why is this thread even in existence? This topic been covered elsewhere and not to mention the rest of the post are off topic.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
shook187 said:
Why is this thread even in existence? This topic been covered elsewhere and not to mention the rest of the post are off topic.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not in terms of the screen looking not very great.
courtlandj said:
Not in terms of the screen looking not very great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean the sharpening?
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
shook187 said:
You mean the sharpening?
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have found that the stock theme/wallpapers/icons etc don't do the device any favors. Tweaking these things made the phone much more tolerable for me.
shook187 said:
You mean the sharpening?
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Including but not limited to. Sharpening is an issue, but since you cannot disable it, and since it is not by default enabled across all text rendering, not in all apps, etc, it's not uniform. The UI winds up non uniform. The entire graphical feel of it seems mixed and weird. So it made me feel like the display itself was not that great. I actually wondered if there was something physically wrong with my screen. Or, since it was not a uniform problem, was it only one part of the screen that was perhaps damaged or something.
courtlandj said:
You have it, it just doesn't bother you. Good for you, my eyes are pretty sharp though and don't need LG's help in that regard. Button placement? Sure. Sure I knew that beforehand. That does not mean it's my error. It's still LG's error. See, I can't really use this thing before I purchase it. They have display models in stores, but the backs (and often the sides) are covered in whatever anti-theft anchoring the store uses. It's not until I get the device home, have it in my pocket, that these usability errors can really make themselves felt. It didn't bother me while the device was in my hand, I thought, well, maybe I will just learn, in time, where my fingers should go. Fine.
But then, and imagine this scenario as being one I cannot replicate in a store with a demo model, the phone was laying face side up on my desk, and I wanted to turn the volume down. Or I wanted to turn the screen off. I can do that without picking the phone up with just about all other phones in the world. Inconvenient. This is a small issue! This is not a big deal. But. But I paid $600 for this, I am not supposed to have to put up with some minor inconvenience, is how I see it. For their flagship phone, the top of LG's current heap, they shouldn't have got any "small issues" wrong. But they did. They got this wrong. And while people replying to this thread seem to want to forgive LG, and that is your prerogative, I refuse to do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, to your last post, the hardware buttons no software can address?
Tweaksbox can, they are hardware buttons like all others, it doesn't matter where they are on the device.
Turning the device off while flat on the table? Double tab the statusbar (yes, works with every launcher and in any app).
Sound: volume slider within notifications?!
If it's that much of an issue for you, swap it, simple as that, i do like having the buttons on the back, why? I can't press them by accident while gaming and i love the feel of having just the edges while in hand.
Last but not least, the oversharpening is your point, i don't really notice it and really like the screen, but that doesn't matter, that's just me, but anyways I'm pretty sure there will come an update for it, if not, that's xda, the bootloader unlock is almost released, there will be a fix for that, because, you know what, it's our device and we can mod the hell out of it if we like to. Every flagship has it's flaws, there isn't any perfect device on the market, if those of this device bug you too much, swap it for another, maybe those flaws you can stand.
Gesendet von meinem LG-D855
Buttons on the back is not an ERROR its lg DESIGN go to the lg 2 you will see, it wasn't thought over night...do not place your dislike on lg "error"
over sharpness been talked to death as it is. I never understand why people complain, don't like something return it. Its that much of an issue? return it. since I have gotten the phone I have only touched the volume keys for one, and only one thing....to take screen shot. Knock on puts the phone on for me, a simple double tap. If I want to be fancy, I can use the knock code or w.e the hell they call it. I only need my volume on two things, silent, vibration and sound...if its too loud notification is there to reduce it or voila...the buttons on the back a simple press will fix it.I do not need to move my hand in any weird kind of a way to do anything, I do not accidently have to press on the volume keys like i have done so many times.
The screen is beautiful without auto brightness. The oversharpness is batter of taste...you will either like it or you will hate it. You obviously hate it so very simple, return the phone instead of beating on the same dead horse. The screen is awful? we knoooooooooooooooooow from xda and all over the net and all over google + and every social media....the text are sharp? we knoooooooooooooooooooow...go return the phone.
mgbotoe said:
Buttons on the back is not an ERROR its lg DESIGN go to the lg 2 you will see, it wasn't thought over night...do not place your dislike on lg "error"
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I feel that it is an error.
mgbotoe said:
over sharpness been talked to death as it is. I never understand why people complain, don't like something return it. Its that much of an issue? return it.
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You are complaining about my complaints. I never understand why people complain about other people complaining. Don't like my complaint, ignore it. It's that much of an issue? Close your browser. :silly:
And with that, reported. We don't need another repetitive, argumentative thread that goes nowhere.
Than get rid of the error and return the phone like you said, no custom rom will fix that itch for you. Stop being a statistic of the list of people beating on the same dead horse.
Good luck on your future ventures I HOPE you do far more research on your next phone hunt huh? You rarely post in this forum as it is according to your junior status, member of 2011. Let hope the next post you choose to do about that phone wont result in something like this
Tootles
---------- Post added at 10:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:48 AM ----------
meatlocker said:
And with that, reported. We don't need another repetitive, argumentative post that goes nowhere.
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Thanks, i got lost in this lil banter. Lol see ya

Why I won't be updating to Lollipop

Assuming it even hits our device in an official capacity at some point, I will not be taking the Lollipop update. Why not? Because Google has decided to add a kill switch...
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/15/...includes-kill-switch-factory-reset-protection
Sure, it sounds like a smart idea and a nice feature on the surface, but having spent more than my fair share of time mucking about with various means of remotely (and stealthily) accessing Android devices, the potential for abuse is too great....Not to mention the fact that the NSA and other alphabets must be absolutely thrilled about such a 'feature'. No thanks....
I see your point. There are ups and downs to.. Pretty much everything. I, myself, would be more than thrilled for a 5.0 update. Not like any of my bank info or other personal info has been stolen or used without my consent, nor have I done any really big illegal activities through my device which would give the NSA a reason to look my way.
Interesting. I think it's worth noting, the article claims that Google implemented the ability to remotely lock phones "last year." So that should automatically dispel any notion of anonymity. Besides that, i think the NSA and other "outfits" have had access to personal devices long before the announcement of lollipop. If you really desire to stay off the grid, he prepared to make substantial efforts.
Not that the NSA needs such a feature. They're already capable of going through your phone it's nothing new.
A big issue would be someone maliciously taking over the kill switch and locking you out with no way in.
Yeah that would definitely suck.
The thing that concerns me most isn't privacy or nefarious doings by the NSA. Everyone knows by now (or should) that privacy and anonymity don't exist in the digital world, and the NSA already has their grubby mitts into everything. I'm more concerned about the possibility of other random people being able to lock me out of my phone.
I'm not going to go into detail, as XDA is not the place for such things and the information can easily be gleaned elsewhere, but as I mentioned, there are already fairly simple ways to get full, remote access of somebody's phone. All it takes is 20 seconds or so of physical access to a device, or a little bit of social engineering to get somebody to install a seemingly benign apk (infected Play Store updates were my favorite), and you can do whatever you want, undetected.
Now imagine you install something, and unbeknownst to you it gives someone complete remote access to your device, starts sniffing passwords, and running keyloggers. Before long, they've got your complete Google account (for example). Next, they change your password, associated phone number, and recovery email addresses to their own, and activate your device's 'kill switch'. You would be left holding a paper weight, without ever knowing what happened, and there would be nothing you could do about it...
I tend to be very careful about what I install, but even I have installed the odd apk I've gotten here at XDA, or compiled and installed something from Github without checking through the source. It's almost impossible to be 100% certain everything you install is clean.
Fortunately, such malicious 'attacks' (for lack of a better word) aren't all that common, relatively speaking. The odds of you randomly becoming a victim of such a thing are marginal. Also, I'm sure once Lollipop is out in the wild, people will start finding flaws with the 'kill switch' implementation, and ultimately, ways of circumventing it. Maybe then I'll consider updating. Until then, however, knowing what nefarious things are possible with it, however unlikely, far outweighs any potential reasons to want to update.
Maybe I'm a little over-paranoid, but that's my take on it, for what it's worth....
Morningstar said:
The thing that concerns me most isn't privacy or nefarious doings by the NSA. Everyone knows by now (or should) that privacy and anonymity don't exist in the digital world, and the NSA already has their grubby mitts into everything. I'm more concerned about the possibility of other random people being able to lock me out of my phone.
I'm not going to go into detail, as XDA is not the place for such things and the information can easily be gleaned elsewhere, but as I mentioned, there are already fairly simple ways to get full, remote access of somebody's phone. All it takes is 20 seconds or so of physical access to a device, or a little bit of social engineering to get somebody to install a seemingly benign apk (infected Play Store updates were my favorite), and you can do whatever you want, undetected.
Now imagine you install something, and unbeknownst to you it gives someone complete remote access to your device, starts sniffing passwords, and running keyloggers. Before long, they've got your complete Google account (for example). Next, they change your password, associated phone number, and recovery email addresses to their own, and activate your device's 'kill switch'. You would be left holding a paper weight, without ever knowing what happened, and there would be nothing you could do about it...
I tend to be very careful about what I install, but even I have installed the odd apk I've gotten here at XDA, or compiled and installed something from Github without checking through the source. It's almost impossible to be 100% certain everything you install is clean.
Fortunately, such malicious 'attacks' (for lack of a better word) aren't all that common, relatively speaking. The odds of you randomly becoming a victim of such a thing are marginal. Also, I'm sure once Lollipop is out in the wild, people will start finding flaws with the 'kill switch' implementation, and ultimately, ways of circumventing it. Maybe then I'll consider updating. Until then, however, knowing what nefarious things are possible with it, however unlikely, far outweighs any potential reasons to want to update.
Maybe I'm a little over-paranoid, but that's my take on it, for what it's worth....
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I wouldn't doubt it if people are already considering to do that to a greater extent.
First of all the name itself "kill switch" is totally misleading. "Killing" something or somebody in full meaning of the word means ending it's life permanently. The way I read the article, this thing simply disables the phone remotely until proper password is entered? How is this different from SIM card lock password protection, or log on password most phones have for ages, that now it will be mandated by another useless law? Or maybe that this new method can not be bypassed? It's still not a kill switch, if it can be reversed and it should be called disable switch or something, but it doesn't have the same ring to it.
There has to be way to unlock the phone without password, otherwise there will be a lot of angry people who forgot/lost password especially if set once and forgotten until let's say 6 months later the switch is activated.
For example couple years ago I think I set password for program purchases on my cable box, so kids can't purchase something by accident, I have no idea what that password is. At least I have no intentions of buying anything.
Also what stops the thief from breaking phone apart and selling parts? My wife broke the screen on her GS3, replacement screen is more expensive than brand new GS3.
And who activates the switch? if user, a lot of people won't have a clue, if company, imagine some prankster breaks into Apple servers, steals the codes and kills 3,000,000 iphones, actually come to think of it, that wouldn't be such a bad thing.
I may not update to L either, but for more practical reasons, like are there any benefits for me, is there root method without tripping knox, or will it kill my battery, like update to KK did.
pete4k said:
First of all the name itself "kill switch" is totally misleading. "Killing" something or somebody in full meaning of the word means ending it's life permanently. The way I read the article, this thing simply disables the phone remotely until proper password is entered? How is this different from SIM card lock password protection, or log on password most phones have for ages, that now it will be mandated by another useless law? Or maybe that this new method can not be bypassed?
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I agree that 'kill switch' probably isn't the best term for it. My understanding, from the few articles I've read about it, is that it will lock the phone down until the Google account is verified. I'm not sure if that verification will be done via password entry, email verification, two-factor authentication, or some other means.
For an attacker using the methods I've previously mentioned, a SIM lock would pose a problem, but lockscreen passwords, patterns and pins are trivial to get around.
Like I said, it's not clear yet (from what I've found) how verification will be done to deactivate the 'kill switch', but if it does in fact require verifying the associated Google account in some way, a phone's legitimate owner would be out of luck, as somebody with the means and desire to activate the 'kill switch' in the first place would have no problem in also gaining complete and total control of the associated Google account.
I want to be clear that this is speculation based on my current understanding of a 'feature' that has not yet been released to the public. There may well be safeguards in place to prevent such things, and Google may still make changes before Lollipop is available to the public. I am not suggesting that people refrain from updating to Lollipop when and if an update becomes available. I also want to emphasize that even if the 'feature' is released with such inherent vulnerabilities, that it is not something the average user should every worry about. The odds of anyone randomly being a victim of such an attack are practically non-existant.
That being said, this is XDA. Most members here are fairly technical-minded (at least compared to the general public), and are interested in knowing and realizing the full potential of their devices. As such, I think it should at least be known that such vulnerabilities as I've mentioned do exist, and attacks may be made that much worse, depending on how Google implements the 'kill switch' feature. However remote it may be, it's a possibility, and something that people may or may not want to take into consideration.
Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe....
Not really a sound reason to avoid lollipop in my opinion. If you're concerned about the remote tracking (that already exists) and the upcoming kill switch; after root, find the associated files and freeze or delete them. The mobile tracker came off my phone right after Knox, not for any reason other than the fact it eats battery like crazy. There's always work arounds to their technology, but as far as the nsa, or any other group or morons listening to you; the chances of you as an individual being targeted are 1 in 136,149,000 (in the US). I don't care if you have 50,000 stolen mp3's on your device and like to try and steal old ladies bank account numbers with your tablet, it's chump change to them and having the mindset that they're listening is as bad as these people who prepare for dooms day, zombie apocalypse, and everything else... it's just crazy. If your concerns are a kill switch, then you might as well stay in your house because there's cameras everywhere out there, your ps3 and Xbox cameras can be accessed if you're on the Web, there's hundreds of satellites circling the globe gathering information, and every thought, search or anything you've done on the Web is accessible whether you delete your history or not. If your computer has been there, there's a footprint, if you used a vpn or tried playing shadow games to hide your identity, it can be traced if they want to. Life is too short top worry about such silly things. Live it up and have fun!
Just my 2 cents for the night.
Do you wear a tin foil hat too?? Whether you like it or not, you're on the grid already. There is no getting off. The NSA wants you, they're gonna get you. Good luck running
That is very true. But as more people protest, the companies are actually fighting back against the government. Like Yahoo against the NSA and Facebook against the DEA, people just need to keep letting know that we won't tolerate getting stripped buttass naked of our personal privacy.
Sent from my hlte using XDA Free mobile app
nighthawk626 said:
That is very true. But as more people protest, the companies are actually fighting back against the government. Like Yahoo against the NSA and Facebook against the DEA, people just need to keep letting know that we won't tolerate getting stripped buttass naked of our personal privacy.
Sent from my hlte using XDA Free mobile app
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Just look at Apple. They're getting a lot of heat for the filevault encryption software.
Apple has had their legs spread open and panties dropped for the government since day one.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app
nighthawk626 said:
Apple has had their legs spread open and panties dropped for the government since day one.
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The same and to a greater extent can be said about facebook.
here, http://www.xda-developers.com/android/android-l-lockdown/, right on topic of this thread.
nighthawk626 said:
That is very true. But as more people protest, the companies are actually fighting back against the government. Like Yahoo against the NSA and Facebook against the DEA, people just need to keep letting know that we won't tolerate getting stripped buttass naked of our personal privacy.
Sent from my hlte using XDA Free mobile app
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Click to collapse
Dog and pony show to give a false sense of privacy from these companies to their customers... See the yahoo gag order and the by-the-day increasing fines that the government was imposing to them unless they allowed them to access their data. If the government wants it, they will get it, no matter how 'safe' these clowns make you believe otherwise
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I think a lot of you are missing my point. I'm not worried about the NSA, big brother, or anonymity (or rather the lack thereof). Those are concerns, of course, but I think everyone here knows that if you have any sort of cell phone, they can track and monitor you, and probably are.
What I'm worried about is the potential for random people gaining access to your phone and its' associated accounts and activating this 'kill switch', essentially leaving you with a paper weight. As I've already stated, I am not entirely sure that such a thing will be possible, as I have not seen the source code or all the minute details about how Google is implementing this. However, if it is implemented as described in the articles I've found about it, without any further security measures, there could be a problem.
If it is as described, I would have no problem remotely accessing a device, seizing control of the associated Google account, and activating the 'kill switch', without the device's owner ever having a clue it was happening. Of course I wouldn't do such a thing, especially to random people just for the 'lulz', but we all know there are people that would.
Hopefully that made some sense....I've been awake for too long lol
Not like hackers can't do that already...
Come on man.
Welcome to the 21st century.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Free mobile app
I don't know about you guys but I did have an LG L9 that I completely bricked. Now the thing would not turn on, no lights, nothing. But with some research, .exe file on my computer, and directions from some very savvy people I was able to plug in my phone to the computer while pressing three buttons that got me onto fast boot mode. This is where I was able to delete the system and install each partition bit by bit. Took helluva long time with multiple tries to finally get it working but it did. My two cents.
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