TractorByNet on a Windows 8 Phone

[Tul01]

I develop for all three platforms, and differences in browser capability are extremely minor. And MS is by no means on top with their mobile browser -- it's good but not better. As far as apps go, there are quite a few apps that do things websites could never or should never do, and are extremely capable. Based on the number of requests I get from Windows Phone users, they desperately want some of these apps. You may not care about them, but most Windows Phone customers do.

Just curious what you use as your main platform if you have experience in multiple. I am about to dump my work blackberry and get my own smartphone, one of the guys at work loves his windows phone, but it is the only one I have ever seen.

 

[Sysop]

I realize the question might not be directed at me, but I see many phones, often.

I wouldn't make it an iPhone. They are becoming increasingly insecure (in 2014 the iPhone operating system IOS had more vulnerabilities than the last three versions of desktop Windows combined and Apple's desktop OS was even worse): Forget Windows, the most vulnerable operating systems in 2014 were Mac OS X and iOS

I'd only go Google/Android if you can be happy with what comes on the phone, they're doing better at curating their app store, but there is still a lot of garbage that can get users in trouble.

I'd only go with a Windows phone if you can be happy with what comes on the phone, their app store doesn't have the widest selection and causes many "app-junkies" to dislike the platform.

 

[s219]

Just curious what you use as your main platform if you have experience in multiple. I am about to dump my work blackberry and get my own smartphone, one of the guys at work loves his windows phone, but it is the only one I have ever seen.

iOS is my preference for personal use. All the platforms have pros and cons. They are also all very good at this point, so you won't go wrong with any of them. Maybe just look for some of the pros of each platform that line up with your wants/needs.

 

[Tul01]

Thanks guys thats why I posted it here, I give a lot more weight to opinions on this forum than from people who tend not to have similar interests or experiences. One thing I will say about my Blackberry Z30 is the battery life is huge, I can talk on it all day and still only charge it every second day, but it is a large phone to hold a large battery. Oh and to get back to the original thread, there is no TBN app either.

 

[s219]

I wouldn't make it an iPhone. They are becoming increasingly insecure (in 2014 the iPhone operating system IOS had more vulnerabilities than the last three versions of desktop Windows combined and Apple's desktop OS was even worse): Forget Windows, the most vulnerable operating systems in 2014 were Mac OS X and iOS

That is a real bad source to quote (look at who wrote the report being cited). One of my developer tasks is at a government lab, where security is a big deal. iOS is still ahead of the other mobile OSes in this area, and is actually getting stronger in enterprise after IBM teamed with Apple and is now directing their mobile efforts to iOS. Having IBM on board is a big deal. Android has made big improvements in the last year but is still weak in enterprise. Any computing platform has security risks and could be exploited, so nobody should feel absolutely safe on any platform.

 

[Sysop]

GFI?

They do such studies all the time and are in the business of monitoring such things. Just about all the news sources report on their studies and findings, first place I found a story on that study just after it had been released was WSJ, a quick search was what turned up that particular link, but there are thousands about the same GFI study. Unless you can provide some sort of documented reason to do otherwise, I'll take their quotes over a self-proclaimed government lab worker. Sorry.

 

[s219]

Thanks guys thats why I posted it here, I give a lot more weight to opinions on this forum than from people who tend not to have similar interests or experiences. One thing I will say about my Blackberry Z30 is the battery life is huge, I can talk on it all day and still only charge it every second day, but it is a large phone to hold a large battery. Oh and to get back to the original thread, there is no TBN app either.

Android had been weak on battery life in the past, but is pretty good at this point. It may come down to the hardware manufacturer and how much crap they pile on top of stock Android. I know some of the past Android devices I had would run down to 15-20% battery by the end of the day even when I was doing nothing with the phone that day and it was sitting on my desk. Windows and Apple devices of that same era were much better and would still be in the 90% range if sitting unused for a day. But now they are all in the same ballpark and the latest devices are very efficient. There are days when I don't use my personal phone (iPhone 6) for anything but trading text messages with my wife, and it's surprising to see the battery at 95-98% at the end of the day. They are very good with power management now. I generally run my iPhone for weeks between reboots, and it does a good job managing power and memory. What will clobber battery is FaceTime video calls -- each of those eats 10-15% battery for about a 5 minute call.

 

[s219]

GFI?

They do such studies all the time and are in the business of monitoring such things. Just about all the news sources report on their studies and findings, first place I found a story on that study just after it had been released was WSJ, a quick search was what turned up that particular link, but there are thousands about the same GFI study. Unless you can provide some sort of documented reason to do otherwise, I'll take their quotes over a self-proclaimed government lab worker. Sorry.

They are known to be very biased in order to drive interest/support in the products they push. They are not an independent opinion. It would be like a tobacco company giving an opinion on brands of cigars.

NIST has some good publications on mobile security that simply present facts and vulnerabilities, and don't give the false impression that any particular platform is safe. Here's a recent one: http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-163.pdf . Many others on their website.

NIST also does FIPS certifications for mobile OSes and devices, which covers stuff like file system encryption, etc. Using 2014 data, iOS 7 had 36 certs, WP8 had 9 certs, and Android had 5 across Motorola and Samsung. You can find these numbers online.

 

[Sysop]

They are known to be very biased in order to drive interest/support in the products they push. They are not an independent opinion. It would be like a tobacco company giving an opinion on brands of cigars.

NIST has some good publications on mobile security that simply present facts and vulnerabilities, and don't give the false impression that any particular platform is safe. Here's a recent one: http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-163.pdf . Many others on their website.

NIST also does FIPS certifications for mobile OSes and devices, which covers stuff like file system encryption, etc. Using 2014 data, iOS 7 had 36 certs, WP8 had 9 certs, and Android had 5 across Motorola and Samsung. You can find these numbers online.

Known by whom? The products they push are their own, like any good business. They call virtually everything unsecure, but they back stuff up with hard fact numbers to show it. They operate one of the largest threat management companies around and those are their findings from managing threats all over, and from all fronts. They're listing the total number of well documented vulnerabilities, I don't see how this can be biased. Please show me the documentation stating they are not a trustworthy source...

Your document on the other hand is a developer's best practices guide on securing mobile apps for IOS and Android with entire sections devoted to the types of vulnerabilities a developer can have issues with and has no mention of the Windows Phone platform. Are they biased? Are they indicating no such efforts need done on Windows Phone cause it is good enough on it's own? Or are they just not dealing with as wide of range of platforms as GFI and don't have data to provide? I would venture to guess it is due to the ever shifting landscape of the Windows platform, but either way you are comparing apples to oranges.

Just because there are documents telling folk how to secure their apps they create for IOS or Android doesn't mean squat when the total number of detected vulnerabilities out in the real world in 2014 showed a pretty massive shift in the targets of badguys from Windows to IOS and MacOS...

Developers live in the future with what may come to be if all the pieces come together. Users live in the real world and need to be more concerned about what is out there now.

 

[s219]

Known by whom? The products they push are their own, like any good business. They call virtually everything unsecure, but they back stuff up with hard fact numbers to show it. They operate one of the largest threat management companies around and those are their findings from managing threats all over, and from all fronts. They're listing the total number of well documented vulnerabilities, I don't see how this can be biased. Please show me the documentation stating they are not a trustworthy source...

Your document on the other hand is a developer's best practices guide on securing mobile apps for IOS and Android with entire sections devoted to the types of vulnerabilities a developer can have issues with and has no mention of the Windows Phone platform. Are they biased? Are they indicating no such efforts need done on Windows Phone cause it is good enough on it's own? Or are they just not dealing with as wide of range of platforms as GFI and don't have data to provide? I would venture to guess it is due to the ever shifting landscape of the Windows platform, but either way you are comparing apples to oranges.

Just because there are documents telling folk how to secure their apps they create for IOS or Android doesn't mean squat when the total number of detected vulnerabilities out in the real world in 2014 showed a pretty massive shift in the targets of badguys from Windows to IOS and MacOS...

Developers live in the future with what may come to be if all the pieces come together. Users live in the real world and need to be more concerned about what is out there now.

I don't see much in there to reply to that I haven't already said, but I do think developers have to live in the real world too, independent of the time. For example, having FIPS certs is somewhat important to users who need to do the work that is governed/affected by the certs, and developers have to deal with that now. There is a whole bunch of enterprise/secure work that can't even be done on some of the current mobile platforms. It sounds like you are happy with Windows Phone, and it is a great consumer mobile OS right now, despite the lack of market traction. But it is very weak in enterprise, and Microsoft really isn't moving to change that aggressively any time soon. Real world users that need certain levels of security/enterprise support aren't going to find it on Windows Phone. That is a valid real world concern right now for anyone affected, whether a developer or user.