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STUNNING NEWS: Tethering with Android -ain't going to happen

4phun

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Things have really turned sour in the Android world in just the last four days.

Saturday
Google pulls 'Easy Root' from Android Market. Have they turned evil?

Google pulls 'Easy Root' from Android Market. Have they turned evil? | Android Atlas - CNET Blogs
For the uninitiated, rooting lets users overcome limitations or restrictions imposed by wireless carriers and/or handset manufacturers. It's very much like jailbreaking an iPhone. It may sound like a natural step on an Android phone, but on Saturday pulled Easy Root abruptly disappeared from the Android Market.
Why?
Tethering!
Carriers like Verizon Wireless look past any user benefits and only see developer claims that Easy Root helps users circumvent the $20 (or more) add-on fee your wireless provider has imposed. It's likely the final decision to remove the application came from Google, but only after a little prodding by a carrier or two.
Who cares?
INsano wrote on August 8, 2010Yeah, you are free to install the app in other ways–only wait, didn’t VZ and AT&T just start releasing Android phones with 3rd party installation forbidden?

by KRiedley August 10, 2010 7:09 PM PDT Totally agree. I was thinking of rooting my phone, as some apps in the app store require a rooted phone to work. However, I did not realize until reading this page that it could brick my phone, and call me crazy, but I really do NOT want to do that. I would have installed this unknowingly, like thousands of others, and screwed something up, no doubt. I do think Google realizes people can still download this from the website, and that's probably totally cool with them, but now people can't blame the app market when their $200+ phone stops working.

Monday

Monday, Google even removed, at T-Mobile’s insistence, apps from the market that let Android users use their phones as modems for laptops.​

Read More Why Google Became A Carrier-Humping, Net Neutrality Surrender Monkey (UPDATED) | Epicenter| Wired.com

MORE

SMS Trojan Steals From Android Owners
from the no-way-i-wanted-hott-sexx dept.
posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday August 10, @13:16 (Security)
Slashdot IT Story | SMS Trojan Steals From Android Owners
 
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Matth3w

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Wrong. Root without the market using either ADB shell or a simple program, install WiFi Tether for Root users (not from the market, and it's free) and there is your solution. I've done this on three Android phones, it's not an issue. Even the Droid X works with root and WiFi Tether. The apps in the market are for the people too lazy or too stupid to do the rooting themselves and are completely unnecessary. Frankly I'm glad they removed them from the market. Because the people that are knowledgeable enough to root and WiFi tether on their own don't run into nearly as many problems as the people that can't figure out how to type in an ADB shell and have to resort to using a Market app to do it for them.
 
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pallentx

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As much as I hate them jacking with phones like that, you have to understand where the carriers are coming from. Tethering gives you the potential to use 10x the data of a normal cell phone at the data plan revenue of a normal cell phone. Every carrier is looking at data consumption very rapidly out growing their ability to provide it.
 
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4phun

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Theft of Services

Wrong. Root without the market using either ADB shell or a simple program, install WiFi Tether for Root users (not from the market, and it's free) and there is your solution. I've done this on three Android phones, it's not an issue. Even the Droid X works with root and WiFi Tether. The apps in the market are for the people too lazy or too stupid to do the rooting themselves and are completely unnecessary. Frankly I'm glad they removed them from the market. Because the people that are knowledgeable enough to root and WiFi tether on their own don't run into nearly as many problems as the people that can't figure out how to type in an ADB shell and have to resort to using a Market app to do it for them.

All is fine until you are in some minor traffic stop and the cops realize they are holding a warrant for your arrest based on "Theft of Services" filed by your cell provider. You don't get to go home until you have visited the Gray Bar Hotel and posted a hefty bond.
.
 

Matth3w

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Yeah, whatever, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. The WORST case scenario, and it's almost completely impossible for them to tell, is if your cell carrier charges you for the data usage. There is no warrant, no "theft of services". Nice try, and a complete deflection from the response to the crap article you posted and furthermore a complete fabrication and exaggeration on your part. And in two years of being an active member of the Android community I have never ONCE seen someone get busted for this.

We get it, you love Apple so much that any tidbit of potentially bad news about Android gives you a hard on, but your articles and commentary are not only off base, but frankly getting quite tiring.
 
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4phun

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Verizon Denies Tethering, Hot Spot Features to Droid Customers

Verizon Denies Tethering, Hot Spot Features to Droid Customers



droid-660x439.jpg

Motorola Droid users better not get too excited by Android 2.2, also known as “Froyo.” While Verizon Wireless is set to push out the latest version of the Android operating system to Droid users starting this week, two key features will be missing: tethering and Wi-Fi hot-spot capability.
Verizon says the Droid won’t get these two features, which are built into the Android 2.2 OS, because the device’s hardware isn’t capable of supporting it.
“The Droid by Motorola doesn’t have [the] hardware to support a mobile hot spot,” a Verizon spokesperson told MobileCrunch. “With tethering there is no connection on the PC side that will allow you to tether the device, so the answer is: That option isn’t part of this update.”
But some Android developers are not convinced.
“It’s just a business decision,” says Steven Bird, who creates custom ROMs for the Droid. “People who have a Droid see this news. And Verizon can make them think that hot spot or wired tethering is a reason to now upgrade to a new phone.” When the companies finally do offer that upgrade, they are likely to charge for it, says Bird.
Bird isn’t a conspiracy theorist. Homebrew hot-spot programs are available for Droids that have been rooted –the Android equivalent of jailbreaking the phone to get complete control. Custom flavors of the Android OS such as CyanogenMod also offer Wi-Fi and USB tethering, says a user.
If the hardware is capable of tethering and acting as a hot spot when running rooted firmware, why can’t it do that with the stock firmware?
A Motorola spokesperson says, “The original Droid by Motorola was not offered with a mobile hot-spot feature and will not be upgradable for that feature in the future,” she says. “Our newer devices, such as the Droid X, are enabled for mobile hot spot.”
What also makes Verizon’s claims about the Droid’s hardware capability difficult to believe is that the carrier has a history of disabling features on a phone, only to turn around and charge for it later. For instance, in 2005, a class action lawsuit filed in California claimed Verizon removed some Bluetooth features in Motorola’s v710 phone so it could charge consumers for it separately. More recently, some users have complained about Verizon nickel-and-diming users by charging for the visual voicemail service ($3 a month on Verizon compared to AT&T, which offers it for free on the iPhone) and offering no rollover minutes.
If it is truly a hardware issue with the Droid, Verizon needs to step up and explain the details of what the device’s chipset is capable of what and what it can’t do. Consumers are intelligent and they deserve transparency.
Verizon’s moves with the Android also go against what makes the Google-designed operating system so attractive to consumers. By putting these restrictions and controls on Android, Verizon is turning the OS into a pale shadow of its original self. If Android was created to help give consumers choice, more features and a better OS, it isn’t working now.


Read More Verizon Denies Tethering, Hot Spot Features to Droid Customers | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
 
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Matth3w

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That has nothing to do with what I posted. Root, install WiFi tethering for root users, and you can continue to WiFi tether. Most rooted Droid users are already running 2.2 Froyo with Wifi Tethering ANYHOW because the source code was leaked.

This article was referring to Verizon-Sanctioned WiFi tethering.

Again, you are clueless, and misinformed. It's one thing to copy and paste a silly article, it's another thing entirely to actually know what you're talking about. I ran WiFi tethering on my rooted Droid for 8 months.

http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/

How to Tether Your Android Phone

tether-th.png
thumb160x_first-tether_01.jpg
There are three ways to tether your Android handset and get sweet internet love even where there's no Wi-Fi in sight: the risky-but-free rooting method, the still-geeky-but-not-as-bad free route, and the $30 easy way. Here are the pros and cons of each.
Method 1: Tether Android with Apps that Need Root (Free, heavy configuration)

The Android Wi-Fi Tether application turns your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot—essentially a MiFi—in one tap. The catch? You have to gain root access to your phone, a multi-step process that uses an unofficial Android add-on which can brick your phone if applied incorrectly. Rooting Android is doable for geeks and hackers with experience soft-modding hardware, but it's not something most users could (or should!) do.
If you're up for getting root access in Android, the Android and Me blog runs down how to do it. It's a multi-step process that involves unlocking your phone's bootloader, flashing a recovery image, and flashing an add-on to the default Nexus One firmware. Not for the faint of heart, but definitely doable if you've ever upgraded your router's firmware or hacked your Xbox. Here's a video of the process from Android and Me:


The pros of this method: it's free and it makes your phone act as a Wi-Fi hotspot that any computer can connect to without extra software or messing with your computer's setting. The cons: you can seriously screw up your phone if something goes wrong, and you may be sacrificing over-the-air automatic Android updates in the future. (If OTA updates cease, you can always flash your recovery image—but this just means your rooted phone requires maintenance a non-rooted phone does not.)
 
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4phun

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Android gets its first exclusive trojan horse, bills premium SMS services to your pho

Android gets its first exclusive trojan horse, bills premium SMS services to your phone

from Obsessable by Stephen Schenck
android-logo.png

While Apple users may have a potential security disaster on their hands, at least until Apple releases its next iOS update to fix PDF-related vulnerabilities, Android users are facing an actually realized threat. The first Android-based trojan has shown up in the wild, and it has the ability to seriously rack up charges on your phone bill.
Unlike viruses or worms, trojans don't actively spread on their own, but instead purport to be something they're not. The trojan in this case, dubbed FakePlayer, hides its true intentions of using your Android phone to send out SMS messages to premium numbers, like the kind you'd use to make a donation to charity. There's no charity on the receiving end, here, but likely the author of the trojan. Similar trojans have appeared on the PC, using modems to call expensive international and 900-numbers.
There are simple precautions you can take to avoid falling victim to these attacks, like not granting access to parts of the system that an app may not need; in this case, the ability to send text messages. That said, they're likely to only get more complicated and sneaky as smartphones evolve. It may be too soon now for smartphone-exclusive anti-virus software, but that day's bound to come eventually.
News by company: Google News by glossary term: Trojan horse, virus, Worm, Malware, SMS (Short Message Service) News by brand: Google Android
Conversations:First SMS Trojan detected for smartphones running Android [kaspersky.com] First Trojan for Android Phones Goes Wild [UPDATE] [readwriteweb.com]Kaspersky discovers first Android trojan | Electronista [electronista.com]
 

Matth3w

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What does this have to do with tethering? Are you able to actually do anything but copy and paste articles? How about stay on topic?
 

gentlefury

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I rooted my droid and tether with it, I didn't even know there was a market app to root.
 

ipadfanatic

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If anyone thinks that tethering to a android device without paying extra fees is not going to happen they are sadly mistaken. I am currently on T-Mobile (I have a G1 android phone) and I have it rooted and use Wifi tether (one click and my ipad is connected.

Rooting the phone is just going to get easier. Look at the new "one click" root methods out there popping up. One thing T-Mobile is going to do (in my opinion) is get rid of the unlimited plan for smartphone for new customers (no more unlimited and then they throttle you). Of course that's one reason why I stayed on T-Mobile as you get more bang for your buck and have some of the cheapest data plans around.

If they get highter pricing like Verizon and AT&T, well then there is not reason for me to stay on that ship.
 

KronicKaos

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Wrong. Root without the market using either ADB shell or a simple program, install WiFi Tether for Root users (not from the market, and it's free) and there is your solution. I've done this on three Android phones, it's not an issue. Even the Droid X works with root and WiFi Tether. The apps in the market are for the people too lazy or too stupid to do the rooting themselves and are completely unnecessary. Frankly I'm glad they removed them from the market. Because the people that are knowledgeable enough to root and WiFi tether on their own don't run into nearly as many problems as the people that can't figure out how to type in an ADB shell and have to resort to using a Market app to do it for them.

All is fine until you are in some minor traffic stop and the cops realize they are holding a warrant for your arrest based on "Theft of Services" filed by your cell provider. You don't get to go home until you have visited the Gray Bar Hotel and posted a hefty bond.
.

:rolleyes:

over exaggeration much? LOL, doing time for rooting your Droid and tethering with it. If that were the case, there'd be a lot of iPhone users locked up right now.
 

Matth3w

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A joke of a statement better describes that ridiculous BS.
 

LGgeek

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Wrong. Root without the market using either ADB shell or a simple program, install WiFi Tether for Root users (not from the market, and it's free) and there is your solution. I've done this on three Android phones, it's not an issue. Even the Droid X works with root and WiFi Tether. The apps in the market are for the people too lazy or too stupid to do the rooting themselves and are completely unnecessary. Frankly I'm glad they removed them from the market. Because the people that are knowledgeable enough to root and WiFi tether on their own don't run into nearly as many problems as the people that can't figure out how to type in an ADB shell and have to resort to using a Market app to do it for them.

All is fine until you are in some minor traffic stop and the cops realize they are holding a warrant for your arrest based on "Theft of Services" filed by your cell provider. You don't get to go home until you have visited the Gray Bar Hotel and posted a hefty bond.
.


what kind of stupid crap is this, you have to be charged with a crime ( they have to show you actually did something) then you get a court date and only if you don't show for the court date would there be a warrant out for you.

This is just carrier FUD.
 

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