[SteinwayTransitCorp]

Well Android is "free"....

I was in the boat of "it should be good for at least a year without patches" now I'm leaning towards, "every patch you miss leads you further and further into the unknown".

If I were a big PKB fan and was holding onto something pre KEY2 or LE..... I think now is the time to upgrade.

Funny the OS for Apple is free, but they upgrade there OS for years. While I love my Priv/Passport and alike, Android is a suckers game. Two upgrades than poof spend another 600 to 800 bucks. At my sons company its Apple now all in, we look forward to many years of updates with no issues.

[conite]

Funny the OS for Apple is free, but they upgrade there OS for years. While I love my Priv/Passport and alike, Android is a suckers game. Two upgrades than poof spend another 600 to 800 bucks. At my sons company its Apple now all in, we look forward to many years of updates with no issues.

It's not free. Probably 1/4 of the price you pay for an iPhone goes to proprietary OS development. Hence the large (on average) price differential.

You pay for Android with your data.

That's why you can get a great Android phone for under $500, and a decent one for under $300.

[IceCreamPlz]

but my decent BlackBerry cost more than a great android

[Chuck Finley69]

Funny the OS for Apple is free, but they upgrade there OS for years. While I love my Priv/Passport and alike, Android is a suckers game. Two upgrades than poof spend another 600 to 800 bucks. At my sons company its Apple now all in, we look forward to many years of updates with no issues.

My daughters’ high school too. At first I thought it was snobbishness but now it really makes sense

[dxvigne]

😆.. But BB KeyOne is the most secured device!

[bb10adopter111]

Funny the OS for Apple is free, but they upgrade there OS for years. While I love my Priv/Passport and alike, Android is a suckers game. Two upgrades than poof spend another 600 to 800 bucks. At my sons company its Apple now all in, we look forward to many years of updates with no issues.

The general consensus in the IT world is that Apple is a much safer choice than Android. It's obviously an oversimplification but the inconsistency of security patching by OEMs is a huge part of that perception.

From the screen of my trusty Z10 using the exceptional BlackBerry VKB.

[bh7171]

My daughters’ high school too. At first I thought it was snobbishness but now it really makes sense

Interesting. Everything here in California and the schools are 6 years supported Chromebooks. Uber easy for school IT departments to administer, safe and each user is sandboxed and easily logged in and logged off. Most of the Classrooms have a large Apple screen but the work horse for the kids are Chromebooks and the software we use to see "what's up" is Google Classroom.

The Los Angeles school district, one of the largest in the country tried a Billion dollar iPad project a few years back and it was a colossal fail. The students could not test on them because they lacked a physical keyboard and theft was a huge issue.

Knowing several teachers and administrators in our local school district of nothing beats the simplicity, security and cost of the Chromebook for classroom needs.

It baffles me that a Chromebook for a fraction of the cost of many Android flagships garners 6 years of official support and security. Its partially why I don't buy an Android device is no longer secure after monthly patching. Google, OEM's, app devs, all would or could be liable for corporate and personal users.

Shoot my Samsung Tab Pro 10.1 Tablet still renders Netflix and Amazon Prime as well (and with arguably better stereo sound) than my son's 6th gen (single speaker) iPad? I simply cannot throw it away for what I primarily use a tablet for.

[Chuck Finley69]

Interesting. Everything here in California and the schools are 6 years supported Chromebooks. Uber easy for school IT departments to administer, safe and each user is sandboxed and easily logged in and logged off. Most of the Classrooms have a large Apple screen but the work horse for the kids are Chromebooks and the software we use to see "what's up" is Google Classroom.

The Los Angeles school district, one of the largest in the country tried a Billion dollar iPad project a few years back and it was a colossal fail. The students could not test on them because they lacked a physical keyboard and theft was a huge issue.

Knowing several teachers and administrators in our local school district of nothing beats the simplicity, security and cost of the Chromebook for classroom needs.

It baffles me that a Chromebook for a fraction of the cost of many Android flagships garners 6 years of official support and security. Its partially why I don't buy an Android device is no longer secure after monthly patching. Google, OEM's, app devs, all would or could be liable for corporate and personal users.

Shoot my Samsung Tab Pro 10.1 Tablet still renders Netflix and Amazon Prime as well (and with arguably better stereo sound) than my son's 6th gen (single speaker) iPad? I simply cannot throw it away for what I primarily use a tablet for.

My daughters’ former elementary/middle school is a Microsoft school that embraced Surface Tablets at introduction. They’ve continued with that program but are phasing out the Surface Pros annually for the less expensive laptops. I believe the OS decision was around the schools current technology and parental concerns about existing technology inside the family being compatible.

At the high school level, it’s based on 24/7 involvement or real-time inclusion. The girls have MacBooks, iPads from the school that are synced with iPhones that parents are expected to not argue providing. At least both schools do spread the cost over 3-4 years so us poor folk can afford.

[conite]

I truly think ChromeBooks are the perfect solution for schools. They are inexpensive, the kids do most of their work in Google Docs anyway, and updates are essentially just browser updates. Everything is sandboxed and security blows away Windows and Mac.

[bh7171]

My daughters’ former elementary/middle school is a Microsoft school that embraced Surface Tablets at introduction. They’ve continued with that program but are phasing out the Surface Pros annually for the less expensive laptops. I believe the OS decision was around the schools current technology and parental concerns about existing technology inside the family being compatible.

At the high school level, it’s based on 24/7 involvement or real-time inclusion. The girls have MacBooks, iPads from the school that are synced with iPhones that parents are expected to not argue providing. At least both schools do spread the cost over 3-4 years so us poor folk can afford.

And each child in both cases you noted has a unit to use? (Middle school and HS classes here in the Capital of CA each have a Chrombook "rack") Must be an unbelievably weathly school district you reside in with extra $$ to spend to utilize Surface Pro tablets and MacBooks and iPads. And required iPhones for students? (Apple based here in Cupertino CA does not provide districts much if any discounts. Google does and Chromebooks are the districts viable, economical, easy and safe solution) The cool thing about Google Docs, Sheets, etc (that they all use here for projects) is that they play awfully nice with Windows 10. I see a few Apple machines in the Video editing and production classes in the middle schools and HS but that's about it. My daughter has an XR and air pods she likes (like most) but her daunting and never ending IB course work and projects primarily resides on her work horse Lenovo Chromebook

[qphone]

Absolutely. That's why I limit the apps I download to only the most established ones (which reduces the likelihood of malware) and why I would only log on to my bank (which would almost certainly credit me for any fraudulent transactions) rather than my brokerage account or other vendors who might not (reducing the impact of a compromise).

Also, I don't keep my banking apps installed on my phone. When I need them, I download them, then I uninstall them after use. I only use my banking app on my phone a couple of times a month, so it's not really a bother, especially since it saves me a trip to the bank.

From the screen of my trusty Z10 using the exceptional BlackBerry VKB.

Since all of my banking apps (all through GPS) are logged through biometrics/finger prints...

Is that much more secure vs. manually entering passwords?

[conite]

Since all of my banking apps (all through GPS) are logged through biometrics/finger prints...

Is that much more secure vs. manually entering passwords?

From a keylogger perspective - yes.

[Chuck Finley69]

And each child in both cases you noted has a unit to use? (Middle school and HS classes here in the Capital of CA each have a Chrombook "rack") Must be an unbelievably weathly school district you reside in with extra $$ to spend to utilize Surface Pro tablets and MacBooks and iPads. And required iPhones for students? (Apple based here in Cupertino CA does not provide districts much if any discounts. Google does and Chromebooks are the districts viable, economical, easy and safe solution) The cool thing about Google Docs, Sheets, etc (that they all use here for projects) is that they play awfully nice with Windows 10. I see a few Apple machines in the Video editing and production classes in the middle schools and HS but that's about it. My daughter has an XR and air pods she likes (like most) but her daunting and never ending IB course work and projects primarily resides on her work horse Lenovo Chromebook

In Florida, many of the schools public and private had rack options before. Due to funding and parental choice, many schools enter into commercial arrangements, negotiate a bulk price, and spread out as monthly tech charge. Each girl is about $600/year in 10 payments over 3 years. Whatever base MacBook and base iPad 6th gen or 5th gen and you buy accessories on your own. The Microsoft program was surface tablet only so it was like $400/year. Younger kids now get Microsoft laptop instead so $300/year.

Keep in mind that my kids aren’t in traditional public school but in Florida but Catholic school partly covered by public school allotment. Public school gives up about 50-60% of their funding and we have to accept that plus all the additional costs of attending the school and transportation. The district likes it because it would cost them far more to have all the kids in public school.

I’m a resident of Hillsborough County which is the eighth largest school district in the country. We don’t and never have funded our public schools well here in Florida so, this kind of system has existed here for the last 50-60 years easily.

The better public schools in the district now also help with bulk purchase of technology under the auspices of the PTA in each school. Our district was technically broke again, in 2017-2018 year. We have a unique way of life here in Floriduh.... not a typo

[qphone]

From a keylogger perspective - yes.

Thanks! That's what I thought! My client's data is not on my phone but...I do however log into my Splashtop (also from GPS) to remotely log into my desktop/clients desktop/laptop.

Since this isn't biometrically secured yet... this is my main concern since KEYᵒⁿᵉ last patch was June '19.

[bb10adopter111]

I truly think ChromeBooks are the perfect solution for schools. They are inexpensive, the kids do most of their work in Google Docs anyway, and updates are essentially just browser updates. Everything is sandboxed and security blows away Windows and Mac.

Technically, I absolutely agree with you, but in practice Google is profiling millions of kids with their personally identifiable information because their student IDs are typically their username. This is a huge security problem.

As always, implementation and policies usually matter a lot more than the merits of the underlying technology. The best practice for schools should be to create aliases for each student so that their real life IDs are completely absent on the system.

From the screen of my trusty Z10 using the exceptional BlackBerry VKB.

[bb10adopter111]

Since all of my banking apps (all through GPS) are logged through biometrics/finger prints...

Is that much more secure vs. manually entering passwords?

It totally depends on your threat model. Generally, biometrics are easier for a determined attacker to fake, but they would need your physical phone, too. But passwords can be stolen through direct observation, watching the user log in.

For public officials and celebrities, or anyone who works under camera surveillance, biometrics are safer, but your face or fingerprint is not terribly difficult to fake.

I prefer to use by fingerprint for my device log in, combined with requiring entering a password manually (using a password manager) to log into my services. So, someone who can access my phone and who fakes my biometric authentication would still need a separate password to log into my sensitive accounts such as my bank account.

From the screen of my trusty Z10 using the exceptional BlackBerry VKB.

[Chuck Finley69]

I truly think ChromeBooks are the perfect solution for schools. They are inexpensive, the kids do most of their work in Google Docs anyway, and updates are essentially just browser updates. Everything is sandboxed and security blows away Windows and Mac.

I would love ChromeBooks or platform agnostic that we saw at different high school. Their high school and others regardless of the OS seem to choose GSuite for platform email and docs... go figure

[bb10adopter111]

I would love ChromeBooks or platform agnostic that we saw at different high school. Their high school and others regardless of the OS seem to choose GSuite for platform email and docs... go figure

GSuite is platform agnostic on PCs. As is Office 365 Web apps. It really doesn't matter what you use with it. But Chromebook users really need to use the built in browser.

From the screen of my trusty Z10 using the exceptional BlackBerry VKB.

[bh7171]

Technically, I absolutely agree with you, but in practice Google is profiling millions of kids with their personally identifiable information because their student IDs are typically their username. This is a huge security problem.

As always, implementation and policies usually matter a lot more than the merits of the underlying technology. The best practice for schools should be to create aliases for each student so that their real life IDs are completely absent on the system.

From the screen of my trusty Z10 using the exceptional BlackBerry VKB.

I agree with you on the log ins. 👍

[muhammri]

So for current situation, is bb10 is much more safer than priv and keyone?

Posted via CB10

[conite]

So for current situation, is bb10 is much more safer than priv and keyone?

Posted via CB10

Depends on the threat vector, and your personal habits.

[muhammri]

Depends on the threat vector, and your personal habits.

Hi Conite
Say I install affected camscanner apk on my bb10, is there any risk? (e.g. Can they access my device like unpatch android?)

Posted via CB10

[conite]

Hi Conite
Say I install affected camscanner apk on my bb10, is there any risk? (e.g. Can they access my device like unpatch android?)

Posted via CB10

No they can't. The Android Runtime doesn't function like a full OS.

[muhammri]

No they can't. The Android Runtime doesn't function like a full OS.

Great and thanks.

Posted via CB10

[bh7171]

I have been thinking more on this and having a 6th Gen Fire OS HD8 that last had an update in November '18 thinking how overblown all of this must be. Respectful to others there is NO possible way your usage on a newer OS version and recent security patch is somehow compromised or dangerous to the point of not using fully. People like myself spends billions annually on products Amazon offers via said devices. And as noted prior if all of these Android devices were such risks on old OS or patches the class action suits against the OS, OEM and app developers would be clogging up the courts.