Complete device MDM and app MAM Mobile Management across Google Apps

Posted by Sumit Chatterjee, Program Manager, Google Apps Mobile Management

Working on the move has gotten pretty easy. With just your phone, you can set up your next meeting in Calendar, keep track of your expenses in Concur and follow up with a new client in Gmail. And as the IT admin, it’s now easier than ever to get your team up and running on their own devices with Google Apps Mobile Management. Starting today, with the new Device Policy app on iOS, employees can easily see which apps are company approved, install them, and keep getting things done. On Android, admins can already use the Device Policy app and Google Play for Work to manage devices and apps (MDM and MAM for alphabet soup lovers), while on iOS, admins can also already manage device policies like requiring passwords and removing company information with account wipe (MDM) directly from the Admin console.

As the admin, you can quickly whitelist any work app from the iOS device management section in the Admin console.

Because security has always been a top priority for Google, were continuously working to stay ahead of those with bad intentions. But the latest security is only as good as the number of people who use it, and that’s why mobile management — including MDM and MAM — is simply a part of Google Apps for Work, so you can just start using it, nothing to buy. We spend a lot of time on those devices in our pocket, so take advantage of everything included with Google Apps for Work, and let us know what’s working and what could be better in the Google for Work Community.

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The HTC M8 to be launched on 25 03 2014

It seems that we finally know the date – 25.03.2014 looks like the day when HTC will launch their new flagship device and the HTC One (M7) successor – HTC One M8 which is rumoured to be called "HTC One+" or "HTC One 2" or just " HTC One (M8)".

About the device itself we know pretty much already. Recently we wrote about the design (The HTC One 2014 (M8) design exposed) and weve seen some popular mock-ups made by hamdir in HTC One 2014 (M8) target renders, a visual compilation of all the leaks. I must say this all looks promising and we still hope to see HTC M8 equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 instead of an already one year old Snapdragon 800 SoC.

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

For latest news / announcements follow Android Revolution HD on popular social platforms:

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App avast! Mobile Security v1 0 1282

Persyaratan minimum: Android 2.1+

avast! Mobile Security berfungsi sebagai proteksi data pribadi sekaligus sebagai antivirus dan melindungi dari website yang berbahaya. Aplikasi ini juga bisa berfungsi sebagai firewall dari tangan hacker. Fungsi-fungsi yang ada misalnya: mengontrol fitur anti-pencurian melalui sms: menghapus memori, mengunci hanphone, mengaktifkan sirine dan GPS, memonitor suara dan masih banyak lagi. Fitur-fitur penting avast! Mobile Security selain disebutkan di atas antara lain:

• Antivirus
• Privacy Report
• SMS/Call Filtering
• App Manager
• Firewall
• avast! Anti-Theft
• App Disguiser
• Stealth Mode
• Self-Protection
• Battery Save
• SIM-Card-Change Notification
• Trusted SIM Cards List
• Remote Settings Change
• Remote Features

Download: filesonic | filepost (1.84 MB)

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HTC M7 next HTC flagship device

Today htcsource.com came up with a nice photo of incoming HTC flagship model - HTC M7.

Source: http://htcsource.com

In a matter of fact, this picture shows not only new, incoming device but also the main screen from HTC Sesne 5.0 UI. Obviously not much can be concluded based only on this photo, but it seems that HTC is following the fashion of angular and edgy graphic elements. The same happened to Microsoft Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. Personally Im not yet sure if I like it. Actually I find HTC Sense 4+ very good UI and Im not really sure if this direction of squares is good one. Maybe its just a matter of habits and in fact HTC Sense 5.0 will be an improvement over Sense 4+ when it comes to the graphic design.

This angularity concerns the overall design of the device as well. As you can see, HTC M7 is very similar to HTC Butterfly. Corners are even more tightened in HTC M7.

What else is interesting? Look at the capacitive buttons. It seems that home button and multi-tasks button are  in reversed order. Isnt it more intuitive to have home button in the middle? Also, based on this photo you can see that no % battery icon will be presented in HTC Sense 5.0. Furthermore, it seems that HTC didnt remove stock Android browser, so out of the box youll have two browsers in the system.

My final thoughts? Well... hard to say. Im excited as everyone when new HTC flagship device is almost to come. Without premature judgment I can only say that if the screen wouldnt be turned on showing HTC Sense 5.0 UI, I would blindly say that its next HTC Windows Phone device.

There are some rumors that this photo might be a fake. I guess we need to wait a bit longer to know if this is a real HTC M7 or not.

Do you have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

For latest news follow Android Revolution HD on popular social platforms:

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How To Flash firmware package on the HTC device

Flashing so called "firmware" is as popular these days as flashing "custom ROM". For HTC old-boys its nothing complicated, but some fresh Android users might find it difficult to understand the differences between "firmware" and a "custom ROM". As a result they might be afraid to upgrade OS on their device or even accidentally hard/soft brick it. Before continuing please read this article: How To: Find the proper firmware variant on the HTC device.

First of all let’s make some definitions clear. Both "Firmware" and "ROM" has their own dictionary definitions, but in this guide we need to use the same context of these words as you can find on popular articles and forums.

Your device is equipped with eMMC memory (embedded MultiMediaCard) - a place where every kind of data is stored. This eMMC memory in Android OS is called mmcblk0. But for a various reasons this memory space has to be divided into several smaller parts (f.g. not every kind of data can be stored on the same type of a filesystem). As a result, the eMMC memory is separated into different partitions (RAW, EXT3, EXT4) - smaller or bigger. To indicate the correct partition, each of them has its own number - p1, p2, p3, p(...) etc. The whole partition name indicates also the eMMC number its located in - mmcblk0p1, mmcblk0p2, mmcblk0p3, mmcblk0p(...) etc.

To see a lit of all the partitions on your device just type cat /proc/emmc in the adb.exe command shell.

Doing that you can also see the original name of each partition. The list you can see above is what we call "firmware", and what "custom ROM" is made of is usually just "boot" and "system" partitions. In other words - custom ROM represents "system", "boot" (sometimes "userdata" too) and everything else you can see on the list is a "firmware".

Important: Every signed and official firmware.zip can be flashed on a particular device only. Information about the device and its variant can be found inside android-info.txt in the firmware.zip package.

Question: Where firmware comes from? There are 2 ways: official and non-official. Usually firmware package comes together with the OTA (.zip) update. Inside the OTA package you can find firmware.zip archive (always signed). The non-official way is based on decrypting and extracting content of the RUU (.exe)

Question: Is everything from the list above always included in the official firmware.zip? No. HTC updates only these components (partitions) where there were changes in the code, usually related to the Android OS update or security changes in the bootloader (hboot). That means firmware.zip might have "adsp", "boot", "radio" inside and weigh 10 MB or it might contain a lot more and weight even 50 MB.

Signed (official) firmware packages can be flashed on both S-ON and S-OFF device. Once modified (unsigned) firmware.zip cant be flashed on the S-ON device. If your device is S-ON then you have to re-lock the bootloader. As long as your device is S-ON you also cant downgrade the firmware version.

Important: Make sure you have a correct MID (Model ID) and CID (Carrier ID). To check that use fastboot getvar all command. Everything you do, including following this guide, you do at your own risk!

Flashing Process

1. Download this mini-sdk package and extract it to c:mini-sdk
2. Copy firmware (.zip) package to c:mini-sdk and rename it to "firmware.zip"
3. Connect your device to the PC
4. Boot your device in fastboot mode (vol down + power ===> fastboot)
5. Open a command prompt on the PC (cmd.exe), type and confirm each command with ENTER:
6. cd /d c:mini-sdk
7. fastboot getvar all (open android-info.txt inside firmware.zip and check if MID and CID matches)
8. <optionally> fastboot oem lock (if your device is not yet re-locked)
9. fastboot oem rebootRUU
10. fastboot flash zip firmware.zip and wait for the process to be completed. Sometimes flashing firmware once doesnt work, so flash firmware.zip again using the same command.
11. fastboot reboot

In case of further questions I prepared a little Q&A part:

• What is firmware.zip?

Firmware.zip is a part of Over The Air (OTA) update from the HTC. It contains important parts of the firmware like radio, bootloader, recovery, kernel etc.

• Why its important to flash firmware.zip and when should I flash it?

It is recommended to have the latest firmware on your device for the best modem performance and overall system stability. Sometimes its necessary to have the latest bootloader too, because otherwise your device might not work well with the new system update.

• Why its important to flash it before flashing custom ROM?

Because firmware.zip contains boot.img (ramdisk and kernel) that will replace custom boot.img from any custom ROM you already have. Thats why you have to flash firmware.zip first, because otherwise boot.img will be overwritten with the stock one. If you already flashed firmware.zip after flashing custom ROM, just flash this particular custom ROM again.

• Does firmware.zip contain recovery?

Yes, it does contain recovery image, thats why after flashing firmware.zip you will have to flash custom recovery again to be able to flash custom ROM afterwards.

• Can I flash any firmware.zip on my device?

Not if your device is S-ON. To be able to flash firmware.zip on the S-ON device, your MID number (example: PN0710000) and CID number (example: HTC__001) must match the firmware.zip version you are about to flash.

• If my MID or CID doesnt match, can I brick my device if I try to flash firmware.zip anyway?

As long as your device is S-ON flashing firmware.zip with non matching MID or CID will result in error and nothing will be flashed, so there is no risk of brick.

• Do I need to have locked, unlocked or relocked bootloader to be able to flash firmware.zip?

Your bootloader needs to be relocked.

• If I cant flash newest firmware.zip because of wrong modeid (MID) or cidnum (CID) does it mean I cant use custom ROM based on the latest HTC update?

In most cases you should be able to use any custom ROM as long as hboot update is not mandatory.

• What if there is no firmware.zip for my MID/CID?

Try to find latest OTA update for your original stock ROM and extract it. Firmware.zip should be inside.

Do you have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

For latest news follow Android Revolution HD on popular social platforms:

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Exploring the Samsung Mobile SDK

  

 As I worked with the Samsung Chord SDK, I came to realise that the Samsung Mobile SDK is an ecosystem in itself for an Android App Developer, with many new add-ons in the true spirit of extending the features of Android SDK in a powerful way.

One such package that is part of the Samsung Mobile SDK is the Pen package. In fact, Samsung has thrown open a new Samsung SmartApp Challenge currently targeting the new devices released by Samsung recently.

 The Challenge (Android Contest) is open from September 5^th to November 30^th with the judgement being pronounced in late February 2014. More details are available on the Samsung Developers site.(developer.samsung.com)

It is targeting the usage of Pen package and Look package of the Samsung Mobile SDK on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and their tablet Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) both of which have been just released!! Wow, this seems like a smart move J Getting the strong Android Developer Community to rally around for the Challenge with their flagship SDK.

The new devices themselves have a lot to offer over the predecessors. It would be essential to understand what is provided as pre-packaged features in these phones before we can understand what the Pen package and Look package have to offer for Android Developers.  

In this post let us see what these devices have to offer with the said packages before I talk about the packages themselves.

The features offered by the usage of S Pen in Note 3 seems to be significantly more and hence gives more options for an app developer. And as I see and hear more about the Note 3, it certainly seems to be a class-leading tablet going to take the mobile market by storm.

 One of the important new features on the Note 3 using S Pen is the “Air Command” feature. If you just hover over the screen and press the screen once with the S Pen (pressing the S Pen button), the Air Command window pops up. And from the Air command window – you have access to the following features:

1. Action Memo
2. Scrapbook
3. Screen Write
4. S Finder
5. Pen Window

The Air Command window looks like this:

Action Memo lets you handwrite a note. It just does not stop there, though!!  This is nothing new, you may say. Even in the 90s there were devices that capture notes written with a stylus! 

But this goes a step beyond and builds intelligence out of what you have written. For e.g. if you jot down a phone number, you can easily save it to you contacts without keying it in again!  If you jot down a valid address, it lets you navigate to Google maps directly to that address! How cool can it get?!! You can do many things like, call a phone number directly from the scribbled number, email to a scribbled email id, send instant text messages, add to a task list etc.

Scrapbook lets you circle content and not just grab a screen shot but actually fetch the content and save it automatically for easy browsing later. This includes even grabbing YouTube content!!

Screen Write captures a screen image and allows you to write comments on an image.

S Finder is the phone’s search engine providing a system-wide search.  It really is very handy in searching the content on the entire phone including chat messages, scrapbook etc.

Pen Window seems to be THE feature that is starting off a new trend in working with multiple windows of varying sizes and allowing for easy interaction between them. It gives your access to eight apps by drawing a box of any size on the screen! It may open up for more apps soon – a window of opportunity there.

The same is available on the Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) tablet as well with a few additional features.

The Look package grows on the basics provided by the Pen Package.  The Look package provides specialized widgets in the Android View System.

In my next few posts, I would look at what these powerful SDKs have to offer.

This article is sponsored by Samsung

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How To Find a proper firmware variant for the HTC device

This guide is related to the previously published article - How To: Flash firmware package on the HTC device. The goal of this guide is to expose the problem of a matching firmware version for the particular HTC device. Please read it carefully and in case of any questions leave a proper comment in the comments section at the end of this article.

Every firmware.zip has 2 main attributes: modelid (MID) and cidnum (CID).

• MID contains a codename of your device. For example the "0P6B1000" is the international version of the HTC One M8, while the "0P6B13000" is the T-Mobile U.S. version of the HTC One M8.
• CID is the carrier software codename. For example the "HTC__J15" code represents the unbranded international version of the HTC One M8, while the "T-MOB010" code represents the T-Mobile U.S. software. Different CID numbers are usually used for mobile operators to include different regional settings, languages or to include some extra software (Wi-Fi Calling, Visual Voice Mail etc.).

Both MID and CID can be found in the android-info.txt inside each firmware.zip. This is how android-info.txt looks like (as an example I used firmware.zip from the international version of the HTC One M8):

Once you know the version of the firmware you have, you need to check if your device can be safely flashed with that particular firmware.zip. To check that:

1. Download this mini-sdk package and extract it to c:mini-sdk
2. Connect your device to the PC
3. Boot your device in fastboot mode (vol down + power ===> fastboot)
4. Open a command prompt on the PC (cmd.exe), type and confirm each command with ENTER:
5. cd /d c:mini-sdk
6. fastboot getvar all

This is an example output from the international version of the HTC One M8:

What you are looking for is the "modelid" and "cidnum".

• If your device is S-ON then both modelid and cidnum must match.
• If your device is S-OFF then modelid is critical to match, but cidnum can be changed either by changing CID of your device or by editing android-info.txt.
• Edited firmware.zip cant be flashed on the S-ON device.
• If your device is S-ON then you cant downgrade your current firmware version.

If both CID and MID numbers match you can safely flash the firmware.zip package - How To: Flash firmware package on the HTC device.

Do you have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

For latest news follow Android Revolution HD on popular social platforms:

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HTC Car Kit for HTC One short review

To be completely honest, Im not a fan of original phone accessories. They are very expensive and this high price is very often overrated. But this time I made an exception and bought original HTC car holder. And I do not regret that decision.

Typical car holder from "nobody knows where this company comes from" costs from $10 to $30, while HTC Car Kit is available for about $50 - $70. This is 3-7 times more expensive, but I believe this is well spent money. Let me explain why.

• Mounting

HTC Car Kit can be mounted in two ways. You can fasten in to the front window of your car, or you can use additional adhesive disk, that comes in the box and attach it on your dashboard. Normally you cant attach regular and cheap car kit on your dashboard because of rough surface of the dashboard. This is a very nice solution, giving you opportunity to choose whether you want your Car Kit to be attached to the window, or to the dashboard without covering up your view. Also, its very easy to mount the entire Car Kit and there is no risk of breaking anything.

• Build quality

Its just perfect. This is one of the biggest positive aspects of having original accessories. There are no crack sounds, the used plastic is very solid and it looks aesthetic. The swivel neck is made of aluminium and you can rotate is in every direction. There are also no plastic hooks you can break accidentally. The resistance of the aluminium neck is very good. The cradle holds the device securely and firmly, so you dont need to be afraid that your device will fall out, unlike with the cheaper solutions I had in the past. However, without the cable attached in the cradle the device looses its stability (because nothing "holds" it inside the cradle) and can fall out. It is a problem, since not every driver want to drive with a cable attached all the time.

• Features

HTC devices comes with preloaded software you can run while driving in the car. With HTC Car Kit this application can be launched automatically every time you connect your device to the holder. Its nothing unique in the cradle itself, but it is the attached USB cable that does the trick. The micro USB part has a special terminal with a clips. Once your HTC One will detect it, HTC Car mode application will be launched. However, this feature can be of course turned off in settings. You cant have this feature working correctly with non-HTC Car Kit.

• Equipment

Like every other original HTC accessory, the HTC Car Kit comes in a very nice box, where you can find the holder itself (made of plastic cradle, aluminium neck and plastic base with wheel and suction pad tab), micro-USB cable with a special terminal, adhesive disk, very nice looking car charger and short, multi-language user guide. The cable is very long, which I find as a drawback, because it has 2m, while 1m should be perfectly enough. Probably I will have to bind the cable and it wont look very cool. Replacing it with a shorter cable is not an option because of missing terminal in regular micro-USB cables.

• General conclusion

HTC Car Kit is worth its price. It looks way better then any regular car holder and I can surely say it is a premium product for a premium device, just like HTC One is. Its easy to use, easy to clean and it gives you additional control over your device with HTC Car mode application. Also, you can mount it however you like - on the window or on the dashboard. If you own HTC One and you are a car driver, I strongly recommend you buying this Car Kit.

+ build quality

+ design

+ alternative mounting methods

+ HTC device detection

+ comes together with micro-USB cable and car charger

+ swivel neck adjustable in every direction

- price (it is worth the price, but for some it sill might be too much)

- too long micro-USB cable (should be 1m instead of 2m)

- the device isnt secured well if the cable is not attached to the cradle

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) down this post!

• Gallery

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Surfacing content from iOS apps in Google Search

Posted by Eli Wald, Product Manager

We’ve been helping users discover relevant content from Android apps in Google search results for a while now. Starting today, we’re bringing App Indexing to iOS apps as well. This means users on both Android and iOS will be able to open mobile app content straight from Google Search.

Indexed links from an initial group of apps we’ve been working with will begin appearing on iOS in search results both in the Google App and Chrome for signed-in users globally in the coming weeks:

How to get your iOS app indexed

While App Indexing for iOS is launching with a small group of test partners initially, we’re working to make this technology available to more app developers as soon as possible. In the meantime, here are the steps to get a head start on App Indexing for iOS:

1. Add deep linking support to your iOS app.
2. Make sure it’s possible to return to Search results with one click.
3. Provide deep link annotations on your site.
4. Let us know you’re interested. Keep in mind that expressing interest does not automatically guarantee getting app deep links in iOS search results.

If you happen to be attending Google I/O this week, stop by our talk titled “Get your app in the Google index” to learn more about App Indexing. You’ll also find detailed documentation on App Indexing for iOS at g.co/AppIndexing. If you’ve got more questions, drop by our Webmaster help forum.

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