The Samsung Galaxy S4 is here.

Courtesy of Samsung

Described as "Mindblowingly thin," by Samsungs director of product marketing Ryan Bidan, the Galaxy S4 handset takes almost every spec to the extreme.

• 5inch Super AMOLED display thats 1920x1080, pushing pixels per inch to a whopping 441.
• 1.9 GHz Quad-Core Processor / 1.6 GHz Octa-Core Processor The selection of AP will be differed by markets.
• Runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, the most up-to-date version of Android you can get right now.
• Ultra sensitive screen that lets you navigate via long fingernails or even gloves.  
• Measures 136.5mm long by 70.6mm wide and weighs only 130 grams.
• It's overall build is a durable plastic, which was selected for several reasons according to Samsung.  Unlike glass the plastic does not smash, its also cheaper and easier to manufacture than aluminum.
• 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash that records 1080p HD video.  
• 2-Megapixel front view camera for high quality video chat.
• 2,600 mAh battery
• 64GB of internal storage with support of another 64GB via the micro SD card slot
• 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE): 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
  3G (HSPA＋ 42Mbps): 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
  4G (LTE Cat 3 100/50Mbps) : up to 6 different band sets(Dependent on market)
• Wifi a/b/g/n/ac, and IR LED(remote control functionality)

Samsung Galaxy S4 to Be Announced Tonight

Courtesy of Samsung

Samsung is set to make it's big announcement regarding the launch of it's next Galaxy smartphone Thursday evening.  The company has dropped some hints that it's the Galaxy S4.  Here's a few of the spec rumors so far.


Bigger Screen:
Many expect Samsung will follow their trend towards bigger screens, with Bloomberg reporting that the phone will measure 5 inches on the diagonal, vs the 4.8-in Galaxy S III.

Software rumors are a bit hazy:
So far in regards to software it's a bit up in the air.  One of the biggest features on the rumor mill is the eye-scrolling software reported by The New York Times, may not be included in the launch versions of the phone.  The report stated the features may show up in later versions of the phone instead.  However, some eye-tracking is expected, like the ability to pause videos when the user looks away.
Plastic Body:
Rumors seem fairly certain that Samsung is going to stick to the plastic shell used in previous Galaxy phones, rather than upgrade to a more expensive aluminum body.  A bit of a disappointment, but possibly a move to keep the price tag lower.

Researchers can crack Android Security By Freezing you phone

In a rather scary, yet highly surprising way researchers have found a flaw in Android's security.  Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander University in Germany have discovered a highly unusual method for cracking the security encryption on Android Phones...Sticking them in the freezer. 

According to the team it even works in part on fully encrypted Android devices that have locked bootloaders.  Naturally the name of their toolkit for the exploit is "FROST" for Forensic Recovery Of Scrambled Telephones.

"Scrambled telephones are a nightmare for IT forensics and law enforcement, because once the power of a scrambled device is cut any chance other than brute force is lost to recover data," the FAU team said.

At the end of 2011, Google released version 4.0 of its Android operating system for smartphones. For the first time, Android smartphone owners were supplied with a disk encryption feature that transparently scrambles user partitions, thus protecting sensitive user information against targeted attacks that bypass screen locks.

Problem is, information stored in RAM remains present for much longer at lower temperatures...which means it's possible to access decryption keys in the phone's memory if done quickly enough.

Researchers found that by chilling a well-charged phone down to about minus 10 degrees Celsius, then turning it off and back on again as fast as possible and booting into recovery mode, data like web history, contacts, and photos can be plucked from the device using their custom software. 

If the phone has an unlocked bootloader, the software can even pull encryption keys from ram, allowing full access to internal storage.

My recommendation, make sure you don't have any photos on your phone you don't want your wife to see...

A big thank you to Jazee's Microblog

I would just like to say thank you to Jazee's for the helpful post.  My Gmail account was recently hacked and required a password change and a little tighter lock down.  Seems like a simple thing yet turned in to a big hassle.  After changing the password on the computer and updating some of the Gmail security settings I went to update the password on my android phone, I typed in the password and hit submit, the software quickly rejected it.  Attempted another password change in case I picked something too long, still rejected.  Dug deep on the internet and found Jazee's post.  If I understand it correctly I locked down Gmail so tight even my android phone couldn't log in.  So anyone struggling with this issue I highly recommend the link below. 

[Solved] Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 — My phone is not accepting my Google Account/Email username and password