Sunday, November 4, 2012

Android Community

Android Community

Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition hits Android tablets November 28

Posted: 02 Nov 2012 01:48 PM PDT

For us, one of the most exciting games of the year has to be Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition, which takes the much-loved computer RPG and adds some all new content to make it even better (we hope). The best part is that Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition won’t just be releasing on PC, but Android too. Today Overhaul Games – the group developing the Enhanced Edition – announced a new release date for the Android tablet version of the game: November 28.


That’s a couple days before the game’s old November 30 release date, so we’re pleased as punch by this news. The folks at Overhaul say that the game might not make it onto mobile platforms right on November 27 due to the fact that they have approvals to deal with, but it should be available around that date. Keep in mind that the November 28 date only applies to the Android tablet version – the regular Android launch will happen at a yet-unannounced date shortly afterward.

In other interesting news, Overhaul also confirmed that Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition will be compatible with the extremely popular Nexus 7, so all of you Nexus 7 owners will be able to get in on the action too. Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition will cost $9.99 on mobile platforms, which certainly isn’t bad for a game that’s widely considered to be one of the best RPGs of all time.

Indeed, Baldur’s Gate is loved by many, and the new Enhanced Edition will give an entirely new generation a shot at checking it out. If you haven’t yet played Baldur’s Gate, we’re going to have to suggest that you pick up the Enhanced Edition when it arrives on November 28. It’s a little expensive as far as mobile games goes, but with hundreds of hours of gameplay on offer, we think it’s worth that $10.

Google working on a fix for Android SMS-phishing vulnerability

Posted: 02 Nov 2012 12:56 PM PDT

Today we’re getting a bit of alarming news, with researchers at NC State University discovering a SMS-phishing flaw in multiple Android platforms. The flaw allows malicious apps to create and “send” fake SMS messages to the user, potentially getting them to hand over personal information. The good news is that Google got to work on a patch for the vulnerability shortly after it became aware of the issue, so at least the big G is acting fast in this case.


NCSU researcher Xuxian Jiang writes that there are major causes for concern with this vulnerability: the first is that the app doesn’t need to ask for permission before performing the exploit, and the second is that it’s been found to affect a number of Android platforms due the fact that the vulnerability is in the Android Open Source Project. Though the researchers have only confirmed its existence on a handful of phones – including the Galaxy S III, Nexus S, and Galaxy Nexus – the vulnerability is present in Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean.

That means the problem could potentially cause headaches for a lot of different users, but thankfully, NCSU says that they “are not aware of any active exploitation of this issue.” NCSU isn’t going to show how to take advantage of this vulnerability, thus proving it exists, until Google has delivered a fix. Instead, the researchers merely wanted to warn people of this vulnerability so no one falls victim to this SMS-phishing schemes.

What’s particularly nerve-wracking about this vulnerability is that it can make these bogus text messages appear to be from people in your phone book or banks. It goes without saying that you should be suspicious of text messages asking you to hand over personal information. Keep it tuned here to Android Community, as we’ll update you once we hear more on the situation.

[via NCSU; via The Abstract]

comScore delivers mobile market share report for September 2012

Posted: 02 Nov 2012 11:57 AM PDT

For many companies, Q3 2012 wrapped up at the end of September, so you know what that means: more financial and analytics reports than you know what to do with. comScore delivered its report on US mobile subscriber market share as of the end of September 2012 today, and there are a few surprises to be found within the write-up. Read on to find out more.


Starting right off with OEM market share, Samsung had the highest at 26%, which probably won’t surprise too many folks. Samsung actually made a 0.4 percentage point gain, but that wasn’t the case for LG, which lost 1.1 points between June and September to come in at 17.7% market share. LG is still in second place as far as OEM market share is concerned, but Apple is following closely behind. Apple gained 2.4 points to settle at 17.5% market share – a mere two-tenths of a percentage point behind LG. Motorola and HTC rounded out the top five OEMs, coming it at 10.9% and 6.2% respectively.

When it comes to smartphone platform market share, Google is still comfortably in first place, nabbing 52.5% market share by the end of September 2102. That’s a 0.9 point gain, and while it was enough to put plenty of distance between Google and Apple, the iPhone maker still managed to make more significant gains of 1.9 points. Apple ended September with 34.3% market share, which greatly outpaces RIM’s third-place market share of 8.4%. Microsoft came in at 3.6% market share, while Symbian is close to the bottom with only 0.6% market share.

So, the war between Android and Apple rages on, though Android is still has a big lead. Apple undoubtedly made the gains it did thanks to the launch of the iPhone 5 toward the end of September, so expect both Android and iOS to make some gains in this quarter – after all, the holiday shopping season is almost here, and we have a feeling that the iPhone and various Android handsets will be big sellers. Stay tuned, and be sure to read through comScore’s very interesting full report!
Posted by at 12:07 AM

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