The Twitter API will make a final change for third-party app developers this morning (8am Pacific time) that will drop Basic Auth for OAuth. Users of applications that haven't kept up with Twitter news will find themselves suddenly out in the cold when Twitter starts rejecting their status updates. Fortunately, most popular Twitter apps--such as TweetDeck, Twitterrific, Seesmic, and Twitter for Androidhave already done this.

The move by Twitter, as explained by Joab Jackson form PCWorld, is to better secure Twitter consumers from spoofing and other identity hijacks. He writes,

On a page explaining the reasons behind the change, Twitter gave several reasons that OAuth is superior to Basic Auth. The new protocol won't ask users to provide the password directly to third-party sites. It makes spoofing of applications more difficult. It will help Twitter fight spam, and it paves the way for more trusted services.

When a user signs onto a third-party application with OAuth, the app itself doesn't get access to the user name and password. Instead, Twitter itself will provide a sign-in module, which in turn provides a key to the application provider should the log-in succeed.

Identity hijacking is a huge problem with a lot of social networkingand has been a gigantic scourge of e-mail. In fact, the ability to spoof the origin of a message has become the core hallmark of spam within communities. Even systems like Twitter must find ways to protect themselves, and their users, from numerous bogus accounts created for the pure purpose of delivering unsolicited advertisements. I know I receive at least two requests a week from throwaway accounts (which, by the time I check them out, Twitter catches and disables) but without better authentication, spammers could instead pretend to be you (or your friends.)

The change from Basic Auth to OAuth, as the Basic Auth shutdown announcement explains, will enable Twitter to keep your username and password (login credentials) out of the hands of the third-party app. This means that you and Twitterand only you and theyget to control your access to Twitter. It will prevent a dishonest third-party application from surreptitiously storing your username and password and passing it along so that some other application can pretend to be you.

That's the upshot of this change.

Most people won't even notice it, of course, if the applications they use have kept up with Twitter news.

However, being that there are still many obscure applications out there that use Twitter, we might see a flood of complaints and concerned troubleshooters today.

Twitter Switches to OAuth This Morning is a post from: SiliconANGLE Subcribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter.

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Not just a salient observation about movie-watching, but a good thing to remember as an IT professional! [source]

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Google Android phones must be popular - they've just been targeted with their first Trojan. An SMS Trojan called Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a has already infected a number of mobile devices, according to security firm Kaspersky Lab. Purporting to be a harmless media player application, the Trojan, once installed, actually sends out SMS text messages without the users' knowledge or consent.

Sponsor

The Trojan penetrates Android-based smartphones disguised as an ordinary application, says Kaspersky. Users are prompted to install a small file of around 13 KB that has the standard Android extension .APK. But once the "app" is installed on the device, the Trojan bundled with it begins texting premium rate phone numbers (those that charge). The criminals are actually the ones operating these numbers, so they end up collecting the money via charges to the victims' accounts.

From Russia, With Love

According to Denis Maslennikov, Senior Malware Researcher at Kaspersky Lab, there's not an exact number of infected devices available at present, but the outbreak is currently regional. For now, only Russian Android users can actually lose money after installing the Trojan, but anyone can be infected.

The Trojan-SMS category of malware is relatively common in the mobile ecosystem, but this is the first to specifically target Android-based devices. However, FakePlayer is not the first malware designed for Android, says the firm, as there have been isolated incidents of Android devices infected with spyware, the earliest occurring in 2009.

The choice of targeting Android devices in particular should come as no surprise to those following mobile industry trends. Given Android's meteoric rise in market share, it's no surprise to Kaspersky, either:

"The IT market research and analysis organization IDC has noted that those selling devices running Android are experiencing the highest growth in sales among smartphone manufacturers," says Maslennikov. "As a result, we can expect to see a corresponding rise in the amount of malware targeting that platform."

Does Android Need AV?

According to a statement from Google, the application installation process is designed to protect users from attacks like these since it details what information and system resources the app has permission to access - such as sending an SMS. "Users must explicitly approve this access in order to continue with the installation," the statement reads. "We consistently advise users to only install apps they trust. In particular, users should exercise caution when installing applications outside of Android Market."

However, the release of a Trojan disguised as an app is an inventive way to get malware onto mobile devices. In this case, the Trojan takes advantage of users' lack of attention to the installation process as well as Google Android's openness - this operating system isn't tied to a closely managed and "curated" marketplace of approved applications like the iPhone is with iTunes. Although Google does step in to remove apps from its Market when security concerns are present, nothing prevents developers - especially nefarious ones like these - from forgoing official channels and publishing their own apps elsewhere, then tricking users into installing them.

But even if the Trojan came through backdoor channels, it's at least a small blow for an OS with security at the forefront of its design.

The security firm says it plans to release a version of Kaspersky Mobile Security for the Android operating system in 2011.

We can already picture the Apple vs. Android TV ads now: "iPhones aren't susceptible to the viruses plaguing Android phones..." Justin Long will smugly state. Now, who will play "Android guy?"

Awhile back, we did a review and giveaway of WaveSecure, an app that allows you to remotelyloss and theft of your Android device. Now, tenCube, maker of WaveSecure, is set to be acquired by McAfee.

According to the official announcement on McAfee's website, they say that the acquirement is set to:

• Further establish itself as the leader in mobile security with the most complete set of mobile technologiesMcAfee now has the technology needed for users and their families to locate, lock, encrypt, protect against malware, wipe, filter, manage, back-up, restore and access their data online
• Leverage its expertise at the endpoint and in the cloud to broaden its existing mobile security portfolio beyond anti-malware, data protection, Web security and family protection
• Expand the addressable device market with best-in-market mobile device platform support, including a wide range of mobile operating systems including Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Mobile, iPhone and Java powered feature phones
• Combine the skills and resources of both companies to develop and deliver scalable solutions through global partnerships with mobile service providers and mobile device manufacturers
• Expand the breadth of its device management solutions available for enterprise IT administrators to implement policies, assist users and enforce compliance for mobile applications across the enterprise

Darius Cheung, chief executive officer of tenCube, has commented on the acquisition, saying Mobile devices have become an extension of our lives. Through this acquisition, McAfee can broaden its security capabilities and offer users protection and remote control of the phone whether it is in their possession or not. This means no more worries about the whereabouts of your phone or losing personal contacts, photos or messages.

The procedure is on track to be complete by the end of August. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

[via McAfee]

For more information on Android and the current Android mobile phones, check out our Android Guides

McAfee acquires tenCube, makers of WaveSecure

Well we kind of already knew this, with the recent wallpaper fiasco, but here is a video interview with Anthony Leinberg (sorry if last name is misspelled!) who is a security researcher with Lookout Mobile Security. Anthony and his associates at Lookout have developed an exploit that can give them root access to a variety of Android phones, including some higher-end devices like the HTC EVO, Droid X and Droid Incredible. Just check out the video and watch for yourself:

[via networkworld]

For more information on Android and the current Android mobile phones, check out our Android Guides

Unhackable Android phones can indeed be hacked

The team behind mobile security firm Lookout have been looking at hundreds of thousands of Android and iPhone apps as part of their new App Genome project. This new initiative was created explicitly to keep mobile users safe from malicious apps. Have they found anything worthwhile to report? You betcha. Try this one on: There is an "app" called Wallpaper, All Categories that steals your data and reports to a server in China.

Looking at the listing in the Android Market, one can see that between 50,000 and 250,000 people have downloaded this app. However, VentureBeat is reporting that the number ranges from 1.1 million to 4.6 million downloads. Either way, that's an awful lot of people out there inadvertently sharing sensitive material. What exactly is being reported to the server? According to Lookout, a user's SIM card number, subscriber identification, text messages, and (potentially) voicemail passwords.

It's not known whether the developers intentionally sought out this information or if it was simple oversight. You may recall a recent incident with Citibank's iPhone app which was storing customer account data on the handset. In that case, the developer quickly plugged the hole and released an updated version of the app. Still, it's hard to imagine the wallpaper situation being accidental. Lookout hesitates to brand it as malicious until the developers intent is known.

So what do you do as an Android user? First, uninstall anything you have from jackeey, wallpaper. At the time this article was drafted there were 72 titles in the Android Market. After you remove the app(s), head to m.myLookout.com and grab a free copy of the mobile security app.

Maybe Google policing the Android Market isn't so bad after all...

Source: CNET, VentureBeat

NOTE: App Genome Project Uncovers Wallpaper App That Steals Your Data originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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A questionable Android mobile wallpaper app that collects your personal data and sends it to a mysterious site in China, has been downloaded millions of times, according to data unearthed by mobile security firm Lookout.

That means that apps that seem good but are really stealing your personal information are a big risk at a time when mobile apps are exploding on smartphones, said John Hering, chief executive, and Kevin MaHaffey, chief technology officer at Lookout, in their talk at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas today.

Even good apps can be modified to turn bad after a lot of people download it, MaHaffey said. Users absolutely have to pay attention to what they download. And developers have to be responsible about the data that they collect and how they use it.

The app in question came from Jackeey Wallpaper, and it was uploaded to the Android Market, where users can download it and use it to decorate their phones that run the Google Android operating system. It includes branded wallpapers from My Little Pony and Star Wars, to name just a couple.

It collects your browsing history, text messages, your phone's SIM card number, subscriber identification, and even your voicemail password. It sends the data to a web site, www.imnet.us. That site is evidently owned by someone in Shenzhen, China. The app has been downloaded anywhere from 1.1 million to 4.6 million times. The exact number isn't known because the Android Market doesn't offer precise data. The search through the data showed that Jackeey Wallpaper and another developer known as iceskysl@1sters! (which could possibly be the same developer, as they use similar code) were collecting personal data. The wallpaper app asks for phone info, but that isn't necessarily a clear warning.

The Lookout executives found the questionable app as part of their App Genome Project. Lookout is a mobile security firm, and it logged data from more than 100,000 free Android and iPhone apps as part of the project to analyze how apps behave. It found that the apps access your personal data quite often. On Android, each user is asked if they give their permission to access an app, but on the iPhone, where Apple approves apps, no permission is needed.

Roughly 47 percent of Android apps access some kind of third-party code, while 23 percent of iPhone apps do. The executives also found that many apps use third-party software programs to do things such as feed ads into an app. Often, developers unquestioningly use the software development kits of those third parties in their apps, even if they don't know what they do. In many cases, there is a good reason for the use of personal information. Ads, for instance, can be better targeted if the app knows a user's location.

Hering said in a press conference afterward that he believes both Google and Apple are on top of policing their app stores, particularly when there are known malware problems with apps. But it's unclear what happens when apps behave as the wallpaper apps do, where it's not clear why they are doing what they are doing.

Tags: Android, iPhone

Companies: Apple, Google, Lookout

People: John Hering, Kevin MaHaffey

The odds are pretty good that if you're a big consumer of mobile apps, the private information on your phone has been collected and sent somewhere without your knowledge.

That's the finding of the App Genome Project mammoth study by Lookout, a mobile security company that has scrutinized more than 300,000 apps on both the iPhone and Android mobile phone platforms.

San Francisco-based Lookout provides security such as anti-malware for mobile phones. It decided to decipher exactly what mobile apps do when they run, and it found that apps are tapping into personal data and accessing other phone resources without telling users. The company is unveiling the survey at the Black Hat security conference this week in Las Vegas (where I will do live reporting). At the conference, mobile security will be a hot topic.

About 29 percent of the free apps on Android access a user's location data, while 33 percent of the tens of thousands of free apps on the iPhone access location data. About 14 percent of iPhone apps access personal contact data, while 8 percent of Android apps do so. The difference is largely due to the different security measures used by the two platforms, said John Hering, chief executive of Lookout. Google, for instance, relies on crowdsourced community policing for its security, while Apple handles security on its own.

Some of the findings are alarming. Hering said that a wallpaper app transmitted the user's phone number to a Chinese developer, for no apparent reason. That app was downloaded by 50,000 people. Another seemingly legit app made phone calls to Somalia, resulting in huge user bills.

The study also found that a large proportion of apps contain third-party code with the capability to interact with sensitive data in a way that may not be apparent to users or the developers of the apps themselves. The third-party code is generally used for advertising or analytics. The project found that 47 percent of free Android apps included this third-party code, while 23 percent of free iPhone apps use it. Third-party code represents a security risk because it is difficult to update (and patch a vulnerability) on a global basis. Apple changed its terms of service for the iPhone recently because of its concerns about what third-party analytics and other companies were doing with private data.

The App Genome Project is an important step in securing our mobile phones against threats. With a real-time database, we can quickly identify threats in the wild and swiftly move to protect consumers, said Hering. Early results show that platform companies can influence how developers access a user's location and contact information, and point to the need for developers to be more aggressive about protecting consumers' personal information.

Lookout will release the full findings of the App Genome project this week and demonstrate some of the vulnerabilities caused by inadvertent developer practices and problems with the platforms themselves. Third-party ad companies typically gather a person's location data to deliver targeted mobile ads, but users may not be aware that their location is being shared with a third party. That means the third parties are going to have to act responsibly, said Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer at Lookout.

Lookout's software protects a million users on 400 mobile networks in 170 countries. The company has raised $17 million to date from Khosla Ventures, Trilogy Equity Partners and Accel Partners. It has 25 employees and was founded in 2007 by Hering, Mahaffey and James Burgess three security researchers who met at the University of Southern California. They drew national attention when they showed how easy it would be to expose the private data on the cell phones of celebrities at the 2005 Academy Awards. Rivals include Symantec and McAfee.

Tags: App Genome Project

Companies: Lookout

People: John Hering

"Experimental Security Analysis of a Modern Automobile," by a whole mess of authors:

Abstract: Modern automobiles are no longer mere mechanical devices; they are pervasively monitored and controlled by dozens of digital computers coordinated via internal vehicular networks. While this transformation has driven major advancements in efficiency and safety, it has also introduced a range of new potential risks. In this paper we experimentally evaluate these issues on a modern automobile and demonstrate the fragility of the underlying system structure. We demonstrate that an attacker who is able to infiltrate virtually any Electronic Control Unit (ECU) can leverage this ability to completely circumvent a broad array of safety-critical systems. Over a range of experiments, both in the lab and in road tests, we demonstrate the ability to adversarially control a wide range of automotive functions and completely ignore driver input--including disabling the brakes, selectively braking individual wheels on demand, stopping the engine, and so on. We find that it is possible to bypass rudimentary network security protections within the car, such as maliciously bridging between our car's two internal subnets. We also present composite attacks that leverage individual weaknesses, including an attack that embeds malicious code in a car's telematics unit and that will completely erase any evidence of its presence after a crash. Looking forward, we discuss the complex challenges in addressing these vulnerabilities while considering the existing automotive ecosystem.

Shared by Chuck
Winners of Google's Android Developer Challenge 2.

We're pleased to announce the overall winners in the Android Developer Challenge 2. These winners were selected after two rounds of scoring by thousands of Android users as well as an official panel of judges. Please see our official page for more information about the challenge.

Overall Winners

	SweetDreams SweetDreams is a revolutionary tool that will finally allow you to go to sleep without worrying about changing your phone settings in order to avoid unwelcome late night calls. You can even use those inactivity periods to save battery power as well, and of course forget about enabling WiFi, Bluetooth or ringtones volume ...
	What the Doodle!? 'WTD!?' is a real-time online multiplayer game where one player tries to draw out a given phrase and others try to guess it. Features FFA and Team games, Global Highscores, Personal Face Doodles, integrated Voice Recognition and more! Real-time drawing!? Built for performance, you'll really see the magic at first doodle!
	WaveSecure WaveSecure is a complete mobile security solution that protects your device, data and privacy. 1. Track your phone's location and who is using it 2. Lock down your phone remotely, making it worthless to the thief 3. Backup all your data 4. Wipe out your data remotely 5. Restore your data May the phone be with you!

Education/Reference Winners

	Plink Art Plink Art is an app for identifying, discovering and sharing art. Take a photo of a painting, and the Plink Art servers will try to identify it. You can also browse our database of artwork by keyword or timeline and share your discoveries with friends.
	Word Puzzle The Word Puzzle is designed to provide a fun way to learn basic English words for preschool children. Kids can study spelling and pronunciation with flash card and check achievement with word puzzle. Interesting visual and sound interaction with awarding system helps kids to keep learning. Let kids play with your Android.
	Celeste An educational augmented reality app that displays the Sun, Moon, planets and their paths through the sky onto your camera view. You can navigate through the sky selecting celestial bodies to display interesting information about our solar system. See the exact spot on your horizon where the sun will rise and set.

Entertainment Winners

	A World of Photo Loosely inspired by the traditional "Spin the bottle", A World of Photo is a casual, geographic worldwide multiplayer online game with a social touch. Players spin their phones and will receive a photo from whomever in the world they pointed to. For best play experience, let the app run in the background.
	SongDNA Need any information on a song? Practicing for a big karaoke gig? Music quiz coming up tomorrow? The SongDNA widget allows you to quickly look up your favorite song's detailed information. It includes the lyrics, artist's bio, homepage, highest chart rank and video. Handy when you're training for your next karaoke gig!!
	Solo Solo is a great, easy to play and feature rich pocket guitar for your phone. A must for all guitar enthusiasts! Features include -Huge chord library with 380+ chords & diagrams -Load/save chord layouts -Play along with music on your phone -Overlay music & lyrics from the internet -Various strum modes, including shake strum

Games: Arcade/Action Winners

	Speed Forge 3D Speed Forge: Heavy duty hover vehicles, normally used for mining are now seen in illegal races organized in abondoned factories and dark Marsian alleys. The rock crushing explosives once used in these machines now serve a different purpose...
	Graviturn Tilt your phone to move the red circles out of the screen while keeping the green circles. Infinite levels from very easy to nearly impossible. Compare your performance with other players after each level (online highscore and statistics).
	Moto X Mayhem Jump, lean, and race through seven levels of amazing motorbike action in the best side scrolling bike game! Lean forward and back on your motorbike as you climb hills and fly through the air using accelerometer technology. Witness realistic physics as your shocks recoil when you land jumps! Or just flick your rider around!!

Games: Casual/Puzzle Winners

	What the Doodle!? 'WTD!?' is a real-time online multiplayer game where one player tries to draw out a given phrase and others try to guess it. Features FFA and Team games, Global Highscores, Personal Face Doodles, integrated Voice Recognition and more! Real-time drawing!? Built for performance, you'll really see the magic at first doodle!
	Totemo Unloose the spirit. Break the spell. Uncover the mystery hidden between the realms in a unique puzzle game. Storm your brain and relax your mind solving over 60 mind-soothing logic tasks. Play the survival mode for extra challenge and write your name into the on-line leaderboards. http://hexage.net
	Mazeness The goal of the game is rather simple - you need to bring all the balls ( up to 4 per level!) to their goals at the same time, with help of barriers, teleports and holders. It seems simple at first, but it's not that easy. The difficulty is growing steadily from level to level.

Lifestyle Winners

	SweetDreams SweetDreams is a revolutionary tool that will finally allow you to go to sleep without worrying about changing your phone settings in order to avoid unwelcome late night calls. You can even use those inactivity periods to save battery power as well, and of course forget about enabling WiFi, Bluetooth or ringtones volume ...
	SpecTrek Improve your fitness with this revolutionary augmented reality ghost hunting game. Walk or run around using GPS and your phone's camera to find and catch virtual ghosts. You will experience a new adventure each SpecTrekking session. The game offers statistics, awards, titles, records, and most of all a whole lot of fun!
	FoxyRing FoxyRing makes your phone smarter by analyzing the ambient noise and adjust the ringer volume. Also: - Sleeping hours to silent your phone during the night. - Geolocated ringer profiles, change ringtone or make your phone vibrate only at work! - Widget to silent your phone for a timed period. - Great interface

Media Winners

	Buzz Deck BuzzDeck is the quick and easy way to get all the web content you care about most. Flick through your daily hit of favourite news topics. And get Twitter & Facebook updates alongside. BuzzDeck learns what you like and recommends cool new stuff. Simple, elegant & fast. NB: No landscape mode yet. http://mippin.com/buzzdeck
	SPB TV SPB TV is a highly usable IP-TV solution, optimized to run on mobile devices. SPB TV provides users with lots of channels in multiple languages with easy-to-use features and settings. No subscription fee! Requires a reliable 3G or WiFi network connection for proper streaming. Full-featured 60-days trial.
	FxCamera FxCamera enables you to take a picture with various effects. - ToyCam (Toy Camera Emulator) - Polandroid - Fisheye - Warhol (Andy Warhol-izer) - Normal *this app requires SD card*

Productivity/Tools Winners

	WaveSecure WaveSecure is a complete mobile security solution that protects your device, data and privacy. 1. Track your phone's location and who is using it 2. Lock down your phone remotely, making it worthless to the thief 3. Backup all your data 4. Wipe out your data remotely 5. Restore your data May the phone be with you!
	Hoccer Hoccer is your application for ad-hoc data exchange. Use gestures to "throw" your data through the air and let the recipients "catch" it. There is no need for prior exchange of contact details.
	Tasker Tasker let's you link any Task (action set) to the Contexts (application, time, day, location, event, widget press) where it should run. Send an SMS at 3:15 Monday, make per-app settings or locks, map camera button to a menu, launch music app on headphone insert, timelapse photos, encrypt on-the-fly, the list is endless!

Social Networking Winners

	Ce:real - Everyday trends Ce:real, What's happening in this world? Are you curious about real world? How about North Pole or an edge of Africa? Also, it can be your neighborhood. It is offering to you hot photo stories with Twitter trends keyword which has speed of lights. Enjoy millions of happenings in real world and you participate in it as well.
	SocialMuse Check out what users on the other side of the world are listening to! Find people with similar musical taste, or just explore the world through music. Browse other users' music libraries, listen to previews of their songs, and buy them if you like them. Check out their profiles on MySpace, Facebook and Last.fm.
	SpotMessage SpotMessage is a communication tool using GPS. Send a message designating a spot with Google Maps then the message will be notified when the recipient arrives at the spot. SpotMsg finds various uses; as an alarm reminding you of a task at a certain spot or for sending your friend a surprise message on his or her arrival.

Travel Winners

	Trip Journal Trip Journal is the ultimate trip tracking and sharing solution currently available on Android powered Smartphones. Impress your friends by sending them real time updates from the places you are visiting. GPS route tracking, record waypoints, photos & notes, trip statistics, KMZ & Picasa exports, incorporated Google Maps.
	iNap: Arrival Alert Ever wanted to get some sleep during a train ride, or a quick powernap on the bus to work? You either hoped to wake just in time not to miss your station, or set an alarm to wake you far too early... Using your phone's GPS it will determine where you are, and wake you when you are close to your destination!
	Car Locator Save your location whenever you park, and Car Locator will navigate you back to your car should you ever have trouble finding it. - Points in direction of your car using GPS and compass - Radar view, map view, and split view - Parking timer alarm GPS and compass must be enabled. This free version expires after 25 runs.

Misc Winners

	Rhythm Guitar Plays like a real 6-string, 5-fret guitar. Strum and pick chords, make new chords, string them together to create songs, transpose songs to fit your vocal range. Great for songwriting, chord reference, learning radio hits, or even plugging into speakers and pedals.
	Andrometer Andrometer allows you to measure the approximate distance from you to an object that you can see. Uses GPS, accelerometer and geomagnetic sensor. Tips: - Keep as steady as possible - The further you walk, the more accurate the measurement - Must be outdoors with clear view of sky - Works best under 1 km
	Calton Hill GPSCaddy GPSCaddy allows golfers to quickly and easily map any golf course either out on the course using GPS or in the comfort of home using satellite imagery. Then, when they are playing the course, it uses GPS to tell them exactly how far they are from the significant features of the hole they are playing (green, bunkers, etc).

You've had it. Maybe with AT&T. Maybe with Apple's crushing, dictatorial grip strangling the App Store. Whatever the reason, you're going to Android: Land of freedom, carriers not named AT&T, and the great Google. Here's what you need to know.

It's All in the Google Cloud

Android phones don't sync with your computer. That's because they don't have to: Your contacts, calendar and mail are all kept up in the great Googleyplex. Unfortunately, Google's Contacts manager, while it's gotten better, is kinda crappy, and all of your Contacts are beamed down to your phone from there.

So even after you get the actual contacts you wanna talk to exported to Google Contacts, one problem is that all of your Google contacts, like everybody you email, show up on your phone. What you have to do is either sort your contacts into different groups and tell the phone's Contacts app to show only the groups you only wanna see, or to only show you people with phone numbers. If you wanna sync your contacts, so you have a master copy on your computer and can manage them from there, that problem takes a bit of legworkat least on Windows.

If you're on a Mac, it's easy to keep your Contacts syncedjust tell Address Book to sync with Google. On Windows, you'll need a third-party app, like GO contact. That way, you can manage your contacts on your desktop, and have a local copy that's always synced up with what Google's got.

Calendars are easier: Google's got an app for that.

Exchange support varies from version to version: Android 2.0 has it, previous vanilla versions of Android don't, but carriers like Sprint and hardware makers like HTC have been rolling their own Exchange solution into Android. Check the box, in other words.

The Gmail App Is Amazing

If your primary email account is Gmail, that's almost reason enough to go Android. Not only is Gmail pushed to your phone, the Gmail app is an absolutely perfect rendition of the Gmail experience for the small screen. Threaded conversations (hurray), full label support, starring, archiving and a true Gmail look-and-feel. It's even better in Android 2.0, which finally includes support for using multiple Google accounts with the Gmail app, and a few interface tweaks to make it easier to use.

For your non-Google accounts, there's a separate email app that's a pretty standard IMAP/POP mobile email app. Not amazing, not bad.

For That Matter, All of the Google Apps Are Amazing

You might be switching to Android for political reasons, or just to get away from AT&T, but what's gonna make switching actually work is that all of the Google services are fantastic, and often, more powerful than their iPhone counterparts.

Google Talk is the non-Gmail killer app for me, and highlights just how badly the iPhone needs a native messaging appit's like BlackBerry Messenger, but for Google. (Or mobile AIM, but less shitty.) Keep in mind, anyone signed in to Gmail on a desktop browser can be reached through Google Talk if they've authorized it, so you've probably got more "buddies" than you might realize.

Latitude is actually built into the Maps app; Google Voice integrates seamlessly; and Google actually frequently releases updates them the Android Marketplace. Oh, and did I mention Google Navigation? Yeah.

What Google hasn't gotten around to yet is integrating Google Docs, but the web version with Android's HTML5-superpowered browser is pretty good.

Not Being on AT&T Is Just as Liberating As You'd Hoped

I've never had full bars on any Android phoneon T-Mobile, Sprint or Verizonand not been able to do something online. End of story.

Multitasking Is All It's Cracked Up to Be, Mostly

"Hey look, someone @replied me on Twitter!" Pull down the window shade, check it out, go back to browsing this month's custard calendar. "Oh hey, an email." Down comes the window shade, I reply, and then instantly return to drooling more over pumpkin-pie custard, before flipping to Google Talk to tell my friend when we're going to slaughter zombies in Left 4 Dead 2 demo. All in 10 seconds, while listening to Pandora radio.

The drop down window shade is pure genius, and what makes the cacophony of background notifications from all the apps you've got running work. See, you don't actually close apps in Android like on the iPhone. You just switch between them, and the OS takes care of closing apps you haven't used in a while in the background. (Unless inside of an app, you explicitly tell it to shutdown, like Twidroid.) Anything a background app wants to tell you goes into the notification windowshade. Sure, there's a bit of lag switching back to the browser and then scrolling is choppy for a second on some phones, but it's a small price to pay. And bigger batteries in more recent hardware, like the Droid, are enough to make it through the day.

Android Takes More Work

Every version of Android gets a little smoother, a little more user-friendly, but stock versions are pretty barebones. Want to read a PDF attached to an email? You need an app. Visual voicemail? Gotta download it unless your carrier preinstalls one. Want a notepad? Find it on the Market. HTC takes care a lot of these little humps with their custom buildswhich includes a PDF viewer out of the box, for exampleand generally speaking, there's an app for the basic holes that need to be filled in, but get ready to do a little bit of legwork.

It's Not Quite as Secure

The lock screen is a series of swipesnot an actual passcodeand there's no remote wipe out of the box. Granted, with the iPhone you need a MobileMe plan to get remote wipe, but you don't have to look for an app to install, like SMobile Security Shield.

It's also less secure in the app department, at least on paper: Under Android, you can opt to install unverified programs through the settings menu. This may be a good thing to youeven your reason for switchingbut it carries obvious extra risks.

The Android Marketplace Isn't as Nice as the App Store (Yet)

The only place to look for apps and install them is directly on your phone, through the Android Marketplace. With Android 1.6, the Marketplace did get a lot nicer to browse, with a new interface and actual app screenshots, but categories are still too broad, and you still can't do any of this on your desktop, where you have a much bigger screen. Updating apps? You've gotta do them one at a time, which is annoying.

The App Situation Is Getting Better, But Isn't There Yet

So here's the thing. The app ecosystem on Android has absolutely exploded, so it's much, much better place to be than it was six months ago, much less a year ago. In fact, for a lot of your everyday iPhone apps, there's now an Android counterpart or equivalent: Facebook, Pandora, Slacker, Remember the Milk, Foursquare, Shazam, Flixster, etc. The problem is, they're universally not as polished or full-featured. Facebook's missing messaging and events entirely; Twidroid, the best Twitter app, is hideous compared to any of the top 5 iPhone Twitter apps; Photoshop's lacks some of the effects it has on the iPhone.

Gaming is probably the single biggest thing you'll miss. There are games, yes. Some of them good. There aren't as many and they're not as fantastic. There's nothing Star Defense caliber. Or Sim City. (Oops.) Partly, this is simply a numbers issue: Android's not as big as the iPhone yet. But the other aspect is that there's a serious storage limitation for appsjust 256MB in some phoneswhich seriously cramps what some games can do, as well as how many apps you can install on you phone. Apps will get better, the app economy will get better, this is true. But for now, be ready for some limitations and possibly, disappointments.

Music and Video? Just Buy a Zune HD

Kidding. Sort of. Getting music and video onto your Android phone is a purely drag and drop operationthere's no official Google sync application to organize and get your 10 gigs of music onto your phone. There is an Amazon MP3 store, and it's okay. There are third-party solutions, like DoubleTwist or Windows Media Player. But once you get the music on there, the music player itself kinda blows. It's ugly and just not very nice to use. On the upside, it plays Ogg Vorbis, open source fans.

Movie watchers are in even worse shape with Android. Your best bet is to avoid the native player that's sort of hidden and to actually use a third party app, Meridian. Or just get a Zune HD for your music and video, and you'll be much happier.

I think that covers the basics guys. Yeah, Android's not as polished or smooth, but you know what? It's actually quite livable over here. If there's something else you wanna knowor want to shareabout switching, drop it into the comments.