Another good reason to avoid Orange. They don't half stock a lot of crap on top of the stock Android.
Takes ages for updates to trickle through to.
Orange will install freebie mobile security suite Lookout on every Android handset it sells and bundle premium access with selected tariffs. As part of the deal, the EE-owned mobile operator will sink some cash into Lookout, but both companies are adamant there's more to this deal than bundling software. From early next year, …
ICS turned up fairly quick on my Orange branded Galaxy S2 which I was surprised about. Still not fast, but it's way quicker than most updates used to be with operator branded firmware on Nokia phones (most of which would never likely see an update at all, until more recently).
The crap that Orange have given me is not all that bad. None of it sits in the background crippling the phone unless you want it too, and there are two incredibly useful apps... Your Orange and Signal Boost. The latter is excellent when you have next to no signal in your house but a good wifi broadband connection, and saves on battery too. It works pretty flawlessly too unlike a lot of VoIP solutions (including Skype). The rest of the apps are there but I don't have to use them and cause no harm really.
You may jest, but it's still 'more secure' than Android. Thought not by much.
Now witness massive downvotes from the Fandroids who refuse to believe the *deluge* of reports from a wide variety of sources (some completely independent), all documenting massive %age increases in malware variants on the android platform in last 2 years.
More disturbingly, I will also collect downvotes purely because I dare to speak negatively about the 'droid.
You want immunity? Good luck - no platform is 100% safe.
Edit: Just in case I get accused of fanboism, this was written on a Galaxy note, with Nexus ROM. And "protected" by Avast!.
I can't recall seeing any of those reports specifying that Google Play is the source of those malware variants.
Android has a wide range of third party app stores which are much less regulated than the Play store (eg routinely carry obvious rip offs of other developers' work, etc). I would expect them to be the primary sources of Android malware.
Android safety advice remains the same as it always has been:
- Understand permission requests
- Don't install apps that make unexplained requests for permissions they should not need (more and more app publishers have a section in the app details on Play explaining why they need the permissions they request)
- Read reviews
- Check the publisher (do they have a website, is this their only app, etc)
You are correct of course (malware is only 0.5% in play), but it's already been demonstrated that the Play store can be exploited (for balance: as can Apple's) for malware.
re: Advice - and this is exactly the problem. Joe Punter does not do this, and implies some technical knowledge is required. He does not have this, nor does he see the reason why he should have it.
Avast does all lookout premium does (apart from cloud storage) and more, and its free.
This just looks like more bloatware to nag the customer to upgrade to the premium version at every opportunity.
One of the best things about Android is rooting to rid the device of all the bundled preinstalled crap.
I agree that signal boost is a good idea though, wish more networks implemented it.