Mobile Network Comparison

Name the number one gripe most iPhone users have and there is a good chance that a large percentage of them will complain about battery life. Trying to squeeze your phone battery to last from breakfast until you get back from the pub at midnight is virtually impossible for most users. And that is the case even without heavy YouTube viewing or passing time on the bus or train with your favourite game. Apple has assured buyers of the new iPhone 6S that battery use will be much better than before. But many users are not confident that this is indeed the case.

Now Facebook has announced that maybe, just maybe, their iOS app could be a silent battery strangler!

It took user complaints to prompt the social media giant to acknowledge there could be a problem with Facebook on iPhones. One such user is entrepreneur Matt Gilligan who found that Facebook was causing a 15% battery drain on his iPhone 6S Plus over a seven day period. As he stated in his blog: “Despite having background app refresh disabled, because the app isn’t ‘sleeping’ properly when I hit the home button, it continues to drain. That extraneous background usage, despite not providing any value to me at all, is keeping the app alive 2x longer than my actual usage.”

It has been reported in other publications that users are finding heavy battery drain by Facebook in spite of having background refresh disabled. One user reported that Facebook was draining 39% of his battery and running for eight hours in the background with the app disabled.

One of the problems could be the auto-play of videos which is enabled by default on both wifi and mobile data. This could be a contributing factor to the heavy battery drain, as well as causing excessive data usage.

Facebook confirmed that they are aware of the problem and that they hope to be able to put out a fix “soon”. However they are not revealing what line of investigation they are following. There is a lot of speculation over what could be causing the battery drain, from suggestions that it might be a case of audio hijacking and/or using VoIP to keep the app awake against the user’s wishes.

What we do know is that Facebook is dealing with the issue and it is likely that an unannounced patch will be part of the next upgrade – hopefully thereafter your phone will wait until you get home from the pub before passing out!

Governments spy. Collectively as a society we have known that for some time, without ever really having proof. The phone tapping and spying scandals that have landed in the US and UK recently have blown the doors off though, and we now know definitively that our government taps into our smartphones to spy. How they do that is not universally known, but a new tool can help teach you to know how those pesky spooks operate.

A UK based security firm spent some time with the BBC and explained the situation, and it all comes down to a simple tool that is popular for spying on devices globally. 4Armed discovered that Hacking Team, a spy tool software sold by an Italian company out of Milan, had been hacked and stolen and upon further investigation the security firm found that it is the tool of choice for spying on mobile phones.

Joe Greenwood, of cybersecurity firm 4Armed, found the source code and ran it to find the full extent of Hacking Team’s capabilities. To say they are extensive is an understatement. The software is able to hack a targeted device (smartphone, tablet, PC) and access just about every nook and see any file or data.

What the software finds (website history, calls, photos, and much more) is displayed on a surveillance console that is being used by the hacker, while this console can also be used to transfer any malware onto the infected device.

“You can download files, record microphones, webcam images, websites visited, see what programmes are running, intercept Skype calls,” he told the BBC.
“We can actually take photos without them realising.

“So the camera in the background is running, taking photos every number of seconds,” he added.

So, why is this software most likely used by governments and not some kid in his bedroom? Well, 4Armed says that despite being simple, the software could cost potential buyers more than £1 million, a figure out of most people’s reach, but easily within the budgets of intelligence agencies working for governments.

Something quite interesting has happened over the last months in the smartphone market. Two major brands (Sony and Motorola) and one cheeky upstart (OnePlus) have shown that we can get flagship quality for a reasonable price. The Motorola Moto X Style, Sony Xperia M5, and OnePlus 2 bring high end specs to the party while carrying unlocked price tags south of £350. So, is this a new trend we can expect other manufacturers to follow and will you see that value in contracts with carriers?

To answer the first question, it depends. It is unlikely that Apple is going to come out with a specced out blockbuster that costs £350 to £400, although the rumoured iPhone 6c will still be a premium metal device. Likewise Samsung, the market leader may well think that its Galaxy A7 and Galaxy A8 smartphones already fit the premium and affordable category. Perhaps they do, but not in the same way as the three aforementioned devices.

Moto X Style

Motorola have already confirmed that the Moto X Style will be coming to the UK. If anything, this ups the flagship quality another notch with its huge 5.7-inch Quad HD screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (six cores) chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB native storage, micro SD card support, a 21MP rear camera, 5MP selfie shooter, and Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. Included in the UK will also be Moto Maker, the pre-purchase design suite that gives you an enviable list of personalization options.

OnePlus 2

The OnePlus 2 is a little more niche, but it is a true flagship that could cost as little as £300, provided you can get one. Yes, the Chinese company is once again employing a frustrating invite system for its “Flagship Killer” so unless you get an invite you will be left wanting. That means you won’t be seeing this device sold through retailers, not in any big numbers anyway, but if you pick one up it will surely impress you. A 5.5-inch screen provides 1080p Full HD resolution, while Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 810 with 4GB of RAM serves as the engine room. Other specs are high end and in some cases unique, such as USB Type-C.

Xperia M5

Finally, the Sony Xperia M5 carries a metal sandwiched by glass body that oozes premium quality, while under the hood the spec sheet would not be out of place in the £500+ price band. The goodies include a 5-inch 1080p Full HD screen, an octa-core 64-bit MediaTek MT6795 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 16GB storage, micro SD card support, a 21.5MP rear camera, a 13MP front facing lens, and Android 5.0 Lollipop. Sony has not confirmed whether the device will be bound for Europe, and despite the company’s rich history launching in the UK, the real question is whether it will see an official release or not.

All the above are fantastic smartphones that if bought unlocked will offer unbelievable value for money. However, what will carriers do with these handsets and at which tier will they be available on contract? Of course, for a flagship device you are looking at a subsidized contract in the region of £30 per month or more (for a free device) depending on your particular tariff configuration. Will carriers decide that these flagship specced devices should be in that top bracket, or will they drop them to the mid-range tier (£22-26 per month) that their unlocked prices suggest they should be? It is worth noting that this will not include the OnePlus One.

It will be very interesting to see what companies do, so we reached out to Carphone Warehouse, EE, Orange, and others to find out. Watch this space for updates.