[digital passport]

Hello Guys,

I just received my passport and have a few questions.

1. The battery was completely dead when i took it out of the box. I had to charge it for a few minutes before I could turn it on. Should I be worried about this? All other phones I have purchased prior to this always had partially charged batteries out of the box.

2. Prior to purchasing the passport, I read a few articles on Blackberry's security. Perhaps do to misunderstanding on my part I was lead to believe that my personal data would be protected. While reading threads on this site i came across comments that stated that apps would have access to my personal data. I don't understand what is the benefit of switching to Blackberry from Google if my data remains unsecured. What am I missing here?

3. In the settings menu, I came across the option to encrypt my personal data. Does this encryption prevent apps from accessing my personal data?

4. Since it is possible to partition the phone, would it not have made sense to also allow the consumer this option? All of the personal data could have been kept on one side and all the apps that were requesting unreasonable access could have been kept on the other side.

5. There are several apps I want to purchase, but not knowing what type of permissions they will request makes me hesitant to spend the money. Is there any way to check permissions before buying an app?

For me BBW is lacking in the apps that i became accustomed to when i was using android devices. And only a very few of them will work without any permissions. A large majority of them want at least location and device ID, which is understandable given their function. But most of them also want access to contacts, camera, and various files. When I deny some of the more intrusive permissions, the apps stop working. Quite the bummer.

Overall I am happy with the phone itself and BB10 is very nice. However, not sure if I would have made the switch given the app issues, particularly, not being able to protect my personal data.

[SmileDahling]

Hello Guys,

I just received my passport and have a few questions.

2. Prior to purchasing the passport, I read a few articles on Blackberry's security. Perhaps do to misunderstanding on my part I was lead to believe that my personal data would be protected. While reading threads on this site i came across comments that stated that apps would have access to my personal data. I don't understand what is the benefit of switching to Blackberry from Google if my data remains unsecured. What am I missing here?

3. In the settings menu, I came across the option to encrypt my personal data. Does this encryption prevent apps from accessing my personal data?

4. Since it is possible to partition the phone, would it not have made sense to also allow the consumer this option? All of the personal data could have been kept on one side and all the apps that were requesting unreasonable access could have been kept on the other side.

5. There are several apps I want to purchase, but not knowing what type of permissions they will request makes me hesitant to spend the money. Is there any way to check permissions before buying an app?

For me BBW is lacking in the apps that i became accustomed to when i was using android devices. And only a very few of them will work without any permissions. A large majority of them want at least location and device ID, which is understandable given their function. But most of them also want access to contacts, camera, and various files. When I deny some of the more intrusive permissions, the apps stop working. Quite the bummer.

I can address some of your issues.

The benefit of BlackBerry versus Android is that you have granular control over apps. It sounds like you've already exercised this control. It's not perfect, of course, since some apps still need access to portions of your phone to work. For instance, you can't block access to your shared files in order to get Connect to Dropbox to work. You can, however, block access to your shared files for your New York Times app.

Encryption does not keep your phone safe from apps. It keeps your phone safe from people trying to hack your phone (if someone steals your device and doesn't have access to your password it would be impossible for them to access your data).

As for knowing what permissions an app needs it is sometimes listed in BlackBerry World. If you don't see it you can always contact the developer or ask other CrackBerry members. I'm sure that's not an answer you want to hear.

Best of luck with BB10!


Posted via my gorgeous red Passport

[digital passport]

I can address some of your issues.

The benefit of BlackBerry versus Android is that you have granular control over apps. It sounds like you've already exercised this control. It's not perfect, of course, since some apps still need access to portions of your phone to work. For instance, you can't block access to your shared files in order to get Connect to Dropbox to work. You can, however, block access to your shared files for your New York Times app.

Encryption does not keep your phone safe from apps. It keeps your phone safe from people trying to hack your phone (if someone steals your device and doesn't have access to your password it would be impossible for them to access your data).

As for knowing what permissions an app needs it is sometimes listed in BlackBerry World. If you don't see it you can always contact the developer or ask other CrackBerry members. I'm sure that's not an answer you want to hear.

Best of luck with BB10!


Posted via my gorgeous red Passport

Thanks for your help.

The whole encryption thing is confusing to me. Blackberry requires a password to encrypt the files, which has to be the same password for the lock screen. So if you can hack the lock screen, you automatically get access to the encrypted files. So why bother encrypting the files?

[John Vieira]

Thanks for your help.

The whole encryption thing is confusing to me. Blackberry requires a password to encrypt the files, which has to be the same password for the lock screen. So if you can hack the lock screen, you automatically get access to the encrypted files. So why bother encrypting the files?

If someone makes a dump of your phone data, then they still can't get access.

It's nor protecting against physical access. Someone determined enough can access your data. It's protecting against data dumps made by over the air methods.

It's pretty sophisticated hacking methods.



Work Wide and Prosper

[aiharkness]

1. I don't know. I would pay close attention for a while. It's probably ok, but if you have doubts after a few weeks, contact the seller.

2. Apps need access in order to do the tasks that they do. An app that needs to read and write to files needs file access. An app that uses the camera needs access to the camera. Don't let the fact that you are being presented with permissions raise all kinds of concerns. Just be judicious about apps.

3. Encryption prevents someone from reading information stored on the device directly from memory hardware. If your memory card is encrypted then it cannot be read by another device. That's it. If someone had your locked device and tried to get information directly off the chip, the information would not be readable.

4. You shouldn't have apps you don't trust. You would probably be surprised at what an individual could do with the information in your calendar and address book that you think is harmless.

5. See above.