Company / division: Android
Cyanogen finds another way to flail by shutting down all services Dec 31st – The Verge (Dec 24, 2016)
This story calls this an ignominious end for Cyanogen, which had promised to be one of the more interesting competitors to the official version of Android, and that seems about right. This was a company and product with all kinds of interesting potential, but it was largely squandered, in part due to an excess of hubris. A good summary of all the implications has been posted at Lifehacker.
via Cyanogen finds another way to flail by shutting down all services Dec 31st – The Verge
LG’S Mass-Tier Smartphone Offerings for 2017 to be Unveiled at CES | LG Newsroom (Dec 23, 2016)
It looks like LG has pre-announced lots of their CES smartphone announcements, focused on mid-tier phones. Given how everyone but Apple and Samsung (and more recently the Google Pixel) is struggling in the premium market, it makes sense for LG to focus here, though competition from China is intensifying in this segment. Tough times for Android phone makers.
via LG’S MASS-TIER SMARTPHONE OFFERINGS FOR 2017 TO BE UNVEILED AT CES | LG Newsroom
Hackers can remotely steal fingerprints from Android phones | ZDNet (Aug 5, 2015)
This sort of thing is exactly why Apple makes such a big deal about the secure enclave on iPhones (and the new MacBook Pro) – fingerprint security is only as secure as the encryption and protection for the sensor data on the device. The biggest issue for Android vendors here is that this isn’t really the kind of vulnerability that can easily be patched after the fact.
via Hackers can remotely steal fingerprints from Android phones | ZDNet