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New Facebook-Branded Android Coming?
Earthquake Retrofit writes "The Register reports that 'Facebook has sent out invitations to an event at its Menlo Park headquarters next week that many believe will see the launch of a new, Facebook-branded smartphone...' I have lately become disillusioned with Google having so much power over my phone and the usual privacy concerns, so this announcement means I now have a choice. Oh, wait..."
who actually wants this?
It will probably be one of the only qwerty keyboarded android phones available.
Hilarious, a lot of the creepy Google privacy concerns are there because they've seen how far Facebook pushes the envelope and think they can too.
I'm under no doubt Facebooks phone will be sending constant tracking data to Facebook and they'll sell that data to anyone who wants it for any reason, and simply bury some button down in the privacy settings that defaults to consent.
Seriously though, any young teen who's already Facebook obsessed probably wouldn't think twice....not like some graybeard's privacy concerns matter (until they're that age, sigh..)
I have a Yahoo! Phone!.
I don't care, either.
Discuss.
More tracking.
I'm sure folks at Google are filled with anxiety. You see, with Microsoft as a Facebook investor and Android being "open", Google products could be replaced with Microsoft's very easily. And that can't be good. Remember, we're addressing over a billion human beings at Facebook.
HTC Status released in 2011
Aren't they a couple years late on this front?
I'm sure folks at Google are filled with anxiety. You see, with Microsoft as a Facebook investor and Android being "open", Google products could be replaced with Microsoft's very easily. And that can't be good. Remember, we're addressing over a billion human beings at Facebook.
Google are too busy laughing their asses off right now. Microsoft...you might not have noticed, although I'm somewhat surprised, with their astronomical advertising budget. Have their own Windows Phone OS, its not very popular...but it has very little going for it, facebook was one of those things its what they paid for. Microsoft also have been pushing the idea of third platform (I'm not convinced either), but Facebook sound more credible than Microsoft.
Apple have already cut back their facebook integration after the facephone was announced (they should have started their own social network), and I expect to see much more Google+ all over the place...Google give Apple an Alleged $1Billion.
Personally I love the way Facebook has moved from Allie to Enemy to the benefit of Google, you have to remember that Facebook/Apple is a bigger threat to Google than Microsoft in the world of the Pack of four. Microsoft has more to fear from Chrome+Google Docs.
And the facebook app still crashes all the time because facebook doesn't care about android people.
It is said that people are buying samsung phones, not google phones
No people are buying Android (Which is Googles first Party Applications) phones...and Samsung make some best one [and advertise them successfully] , we have already seen HTC which rose on the back of Android, and fell from grace, because of successful *competition* from Samsung. For Samsung to cut Android (and its value) out of that equation its quite difficult. I suspect they will make a more serious push with Tizen.
This is Facebook showing its more egotistical side...
" Remember, we're addressing over a billion human beings at Facebook."
http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/united-states
I think that's unlikely, Facebooks users represent 71% of US internet users... which is basically impossible, more likely 20% accounts, 20% fake accounts, 20% dead accounts, 11% robots.
Similar problem with their UK numbers, they claim 29 million active users... out of 43 million UK Internet users. Unlikely.
I'm kind of suspicious of FB, their numbers don't add up and they keep getting caught and admitting a little bit of their scams.
e.g. The 'likes' problem, BBC has researched quite a few of these games. e.g. their virtual bagel company seemed to be getting fake likes from the advert despite doing nothing at all, and being a fake company:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18870170
Or the US researcher who spotted they were incrementing likes for comments:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19832043
Why would they need to do that if they have 71% of Internet users???? Dodgy.
So they'll come out with a phone that does Facebook (that would be all phones now), with Microsoft services (Bing etc.) yet that's what the Nokia phone is and its not selling, so why would FB's? I'm sure the phones Facebook page will get a lot of likes mind you!
The Windows phone -- the Zune of smart phones!
I think the Zune comparison is a kindness, Zune never failed through its own merits, it sort of failed by being second best, but it was positively received. I think since then Microsoft has burned through too much karma, but Zune was built on the back of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PlaysForSure PlayForSure betrayal....at least it killed OGG ;). We are still waiting for Microsoft to betray Nokia and produce the Microsoft Windows Phone...which would be the Zune of Smartphones...I give it [and Elop] six months.
They call it "ecosystem", but "Walled Garden" or "Prison" is a more apt term. They're not selling hardware; they're selling a gift-that-keeps-on-giving... to the seller. An Iphone (that isn't jailbroken) can only buy apps from Apple's approved store, with Apple getting its 30% cut. MS and Google and FB etc, etc want in on that scheme.
I'm not repeating myself
I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
FB has to try this because the media says they do, and thus, so do their investors. And when it flops, because it will, this will be the final step in FB's rise to prominence and the first media -identified step on their path to being the next Myspace.
Besides... HTC? Really? That's like betting your future on a brand that may cease to exist any moment. What is FB thinking? Maybe they can blame any flop on the poor choice of partner.
Sig for hire.
Aren't they a couple years late on this front?
Really they are doing this post IPO which is kind of why they did it, and their is still an awful lot of dumbphone to smartphone comparison, and Apples mark share is shrinking; Microsoft if failing to prove itself the third ecosystem(sic); No other serious competition [although lots of it]. The only thing they have missed out on, is I suspect they could have converted those feeing blackberry users faster than Apple or Google.
Google specifically doesn't do it, so I don't know why you're lumping them in the same basket. You can get applications from non-official sources straight off, no rooting or hacking involved. Alternative markets? Sure, there's plenty. Plain and simply download and install an app? Yep, that too. If there's one thing you can't accuse Google of, it's trying to make a walled garden. At worst, it's a slightly overgrown garden with the sign "beware of the leopard" on the unbarred exit.
I use bing now. sadly, it's not as good. but google is just going bad. I actually believe MS when they do the scroogled ads. I'm not saying they are more privacy conscious out of the goodness of their heart, but I believe they see it as a wedge issue and will stick to it for now it least. Needless to say I don't facebook either.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
http://www.microsoft.com/privacystatement/en-gb/bing/default.aspx
"We collect information when you register, sign in and use our sites and services. We may also get information from other companies. We collect this information in a variety of ways, including from web forms, technologies such as cookies, web logging and software on your computer or other device.
When you conduct a search, Microsoft collects the following:
Search term and time and date of your search
IP address, browser configuration and approximate location
Any unique identifiers contained in the cookies"
and...
"we may use search query data for the purpose of personalising the ads we display to you as you use our services or those of our advertising partners."
and...
"Using our sites, applications and services - We collect information that tells us how you interact with our applications or services, including the browser you’re using, your IP address, location, cookies or other unique IDs, the pages you visit and features you use.
Data from other sources - We may get additional information about you, such as demographic data we purchase from other companies. As discussed in the Facebook Personalization section below, we may also obtain certain information from Facebook to enable personalization features."
We all know here than Microsoft is using a Double standard here, and is a more oppressive company.
You might try duck duck go, I suspect they use Bing API too and probably count as Bing usage, but its an extra layer between you and the massive corp hoovering up all the data.
I think Microsoft ownership of Skype (FBI warrant free friendly) and Windows (which discloses VPN connections to them) mean I'd like a layer between them and me on the search data too. Duckduckgo is that layer.
" Is it astoundingly computer-illiterate people buying into MS's 'scroogled' ads"
No, what got me was Googles change of privacy policy linking all the data together and the way their ads became ultra-personal. I think MS's involvement is opportunistic but the problem remains even if MS went away.
I don't want anymore frank discussions with my wife because 'divorce lawyer' targetted adverts start appearing on my PC, and the way Youtube usage got stored and linked to Gmail accounts irritates the hell out of me. Then there's the 'link account' link it offers me at signout, the real names G+ thing, the way I can't like a site using a gmail account unless I agree to sign up to G+, the way I can't have an Android phone unless I also sign in and accept Googles account, why? Why should I have to accept Google terms to use a phone I just bought? Then there's the block workarounds, I started blocking google domains to block the tracking via analytics, and adsense, and then 1e100 started popping up, it seems they keep swapping urls each time to get around users blocking Google snooping.
Really, Google, enough.
Windows Phone
No Windows phone is terrible,in every way. The latest saga of bribing developers to set up RSS web site applications to artificially inflate their App store numbers is a disgrace. Windows phone 7 actually gained some positive reviews and since then its just been burning through that karma. As for Privacy, Microsoft is a disgrace, I think the way they acted in china says it all. http://searchengineland.com/google-china-congressional-praise-38796
While I think a lot of people would want this and buy this (the facebook addicts who are constantly posting that is), Facebookstrikes me as the web company with the worst outlook to privacy out of the lot. They seem to change their T&Cs to suit them and only apologise when they are caught in something nefarious.
The problem is that (I cannot see) a useful alternative. Facebook and Google have integrated themselves so into the general internet that even Slashdot seems to have Google and Facebook login options. Google seems to be slightly better with regards to privacy, but their recent actions have made me actually switch from Chrome back to Firefox. I've even started investigating moving some of my 'services' to smaller brands, running services on my Synology NAS, or even thinking of hosting my own virtual server for privacy.
I even found an extension called Ghostery which disables advert tracking in Firefox and it is quite astounding how much tracking gets done on the internet. Whilst I appreciate you can't get something for nothing, we (as a society) seem to now throw our privacy more and more out the window without realising the implications. Facebook's alledged phone is just another nail in the coffin of our privacy.
Everyday these kind of news get more and more hilarious.Soon the owner of the coffee shop accross the street will make his own smartphone brand.(Because an app was too mainstream)
Everyday these kind of news get more and more hilarious.Soon the owner of the coffee shop accross the street will make his own smartphone brand.(Because an app was too mainstream)
Except a Facebook phone was inevitable; Of the "Pack of four" only Amazon is yet to release a kindle phone that is a done deal, Microsoft don't have a surface phone yet, and that is inevitable [once there is only patents to pick from Nokias Carcass]. Other than that its the same electronics companies that have been around for years. There are a few competing Linux based OS's but those are going to be whittled down very quickly.
It might be helpful here to know that Microsoft was an early investor in Facebook, and retains a significant stake.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Google's "garden" isn't exactly "walled". It's more like a chest-high hedge with broad openings on every side. You know, what with being able to install software not explicitly approved by Google or listed in their marketplace and all -- a system that we should hope makes a comeback in other places.
If you're on Facebook they already have facial data, retina data, associations, extremely accurate psych profile and now you can let them track and store your position with a phone and get a voice sample too.
Maybe they will include a free fingerprint scanner app in the for "security".
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
"so you're upset that you can't use features of G+ without signing up to G+ and wish you could just use your gmail account"
No, not 'can't', 'won't'. I won't accept a G+ account, so I consider the requirement a deal breaker. If I can vote up a youtube video (it use to be possible), why does any other vote up require a G+ profile be created? It doesn't! It's a choice Google made that reduces my privacy in exchange for voting something up. But it's a dealbreaker, and I don't vote stuff up because of it.
" you think it would be better if they just merged the two into say, one single account?"
They did already, for the purpose of tracking and surveillance they did that. For THEIR gain it's been merged, not for mine. Why would I want all the privacy invading g+ stuff for things that use to be possible without it? As I said, why should I face 'divorce lawyer' ads if I get an email about divorce?!
Likewise the Android phone, I went for a Samsung bada phone rather than have a snoopy Google phone and its proved to be a good choice. I have an Android tablet, but I'd like to get rid of the Google part of it and obviously won't be switching to a FB or MS tablet since they're worse. I sort of assume generic Android tablets will become the norm. I don't want to use Google maps if its matching my locations against my details.
My wife has a fake gmail account for her android tablet. Obviously sharing location is turned off, its none of goog's business where she is at any point in time. That was her solution to Google snooping, but its only a partial fix.
Youtube, I don't sign into, when I finally ditch Gmail that should rid me the of the accidental tracking when I forget to log out of gmail. They linked those accounts against my wishes.
That leaves search, currently I mix Google and duckduckgo, I've occasionally forgot to log out from Gmail when searching, and was appalled to see it was logging my searches against my gmail. F-U google, I've never ever signed up for personal search, so why does it share that info?
It's a pity Microsoft have jumped on the Google privacy bandwagon, people don't like MS and so dismiss anything they say. In effect they weakened the arguments about Google privacy problems. But getting past that, there is a huge problem with Google, when Page took over, he seemed to decide that any info they had was fair game, and as a result the company became creepy and tried to match FB's abuse of private info.
Why would Facebook want to "give" it's data mining to Google?
Interesting that you can install nearly anything you want, with the exception of OS updates.
Personally I'm really fed up with the way my android behaves. Compared with Windows and a pre installed IE, that phone is a nightmare. I wouldn't know where to begin the list of pre installed SHIT that you can't remove.
Also. What would you do with your computer if suddenly after an update, your whole system behaves differently.
On, when YOU want to install an other OS, then ok. But this feels like some ass telling me I need a different OS and pushes it down my throat.
So: No thanks.
Privacy is terrorism.
Spyware (Android) + Spyware (Facebook) all bundled into one branded product.
The perfect marriage for privacy invasion.
You can on a Google-controlled Nexus device. Yes, you need to use a computer to do it, but that seems like a reasonable security mechanism.