Just to let you guys know that this is available in the event that you misplace (or lose) your G. I don't know how this compares with the Android Device Manager or whether this is just a repackage of that same functionality, but with the Moto Care website, you just log in with your google ID, and it can help you quickly locate your G for you. I purposely turned off my location access on my G to test this. With the website, it could remotely turn location access on and then, depending on what you want to do next (eg., ring, wipe, etc.,), perform additional services. Just as good, if not better, than what I had access to with my 'find my iPhone' feature from Apple.
Just a heads up!
Related
On my Palm Pre it was possible to enable network-based or network-assisted location without using Google services and without agreeing to let Google collect information about you and your device in the background. On the Shift, this doesn't appear to be the case: apparently, you can have pure GPS satellite location only *or* you can enable network assistance, but to do the latter you have to use Google's services and agree to Google's terms.
So I was wondering whether this is something that developers of custom ROMS and mods are able to do anything about. Would it be possible to tinker with the framework, or whatever part of the firmware controls such things, to allow for more finely-grained control over location services for the end user? Ideally, you would be able to choose:
1) GPS satellites only
2) GPS/aGPS (assisted location or rough triangulation)
3) The above, plus Google's network/Wi-Fi based location services (and agree to whatever terms Google requires for the use of same)
Interestingly, the Galaxy Tab already seems to have the sort of control that I'm talking about.
If I'm misunderstanding something about the way our EVO Shift devices handle location services, please let me know...e.g., could it be the case that selecting only "use GPS satellites" already enables aGPS? If so, you couldn't prove it by me. None of my applications, including Google Maps, seem to be able to use rough network location when I have only "GPS satellites" enabled, although the device itself clearly knows what tower it's registered with at any given time.
Anyway, I just thought I would bring this up to see whether there is any developer interest in tweaking this stuff, and also whether there are other users who are also interested.
BTW, I am aware that this is a "Google phone." No need to point it out. I just want to be able to use the same kind of network-assisted location services that I was able to use on my other, non-Google phones on Sprint.
AnalogXDA said:
On my Palm Pre it was possible to enable network-based or network-assisted location without using Google services and without agreeing to let Google collect information about you and your device in the background. On the Shift, this doesn't appear to be the case: apparently, you can have pure GPS satellite location only *or* you can enable network assistance, but to do the latter you have to use Google's services and agree to Google's terms.
So I was wondering whether this is something that developers of custom ROMS and mods are able to do anything about. Would it be possible to tinker with the framework, or whatever part of the firmware controls such things, to allow for more finely-grained control over location services for the end user? Ideally, you would be able to choose:
1) GPS satellites only
2) GPS/aGPS (assisted location or rough triangulation)
3) The above, plus Google's network/Wi-Fi based location services (and agree to whatever terms Google requires for the use of same)
Interestingly, the Galaxy Tab already seems to have the sort of control that I'm talking about.
If I'm misunderstanding something about the way our EVO Shift devices handle location services, please let me know...e.g., could it be the case that selecting only "use GPS satellites" already enables aGPS? If so, you couldn't prove it by me. None of my applications, including Google Maps, seem to be able to use rough network location when I have only "GPS satellites" enabled, although the device itself clearly knows what tower it's registered with at any given time.
Anyway, I just thought I would bring this up to see whether there is any developer interest in tweaking this stuff, and also whether there are other users who are also interested.
BTW, I am aware that this is a "Google phone." No need to point it out. I just want to be able to use the same kind of network-assisted location services that I was able to use on my other, non-Google phones on Sprint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not much of a help, most likely.
All i know gps wise is theres a couple of ## codes for the dialer in Sense roms. I think one is ##gpsresetx#
There are gps apps too, which GREATLY help lock and accuracy. Check the market.
Hope somebody knows more than me
Sent from my HTC Speedy (Gonzalez)
Well, although I started the topic in the hopes of starting discussion about how to use network location without being locked down by Google...now that you mention it, it would also be cool if Speedy ROM developers could find a way to fix the cycle of "acquire fix, lose fix, acquire fix, lose fix" that is all too common with these devices...
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App
So... what with the hoohah about Idevices tracking location data and storing it locally, what do you think about on Android, location data is uploaded to Google?
If I were to create a ROM, I'd modify the source of Android to politely remove this feature / obsfucate where possible...
Considering Android is open source, if Google were doing that, someone would have found it by now. And technically you CAN do this with Android if you enable Google Latitude and allow it to report your phone's location.
Android is basically doing the same thing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/21/android-phones-record-user-locations
oldblue910 said:
Considering Android is open source, if Google were doing that, someone would have found it by now. And technically you CAN do this with Android if you enable Google Latitude and allow it to report your phone's location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are. Read the TOS.
Can i ask why anybody cares? I mean seriously if you have a cellphone you've always had the potential to be tracked. If google uses it who cares? Personally i like it. It would let someone locate me if i was missing and it would let me locate my phone if i lost it. Google records everything. They scan your email for key words to bring up ads on other sites and on google itself. It's not a big deal it's just one of the things you have to deal with when you have to be in the tech loop.
Google plainly give you the option to opt out when you sign in to your Google account on the phone. You can also disable location in settings at any time. Big difference between that and what iOS is doing.
Security risk!
The android location service cache can be read quite easily with root access or without.
As long as this info isn't transmitted, but only used internally for better connection time and location accuracy, the risk is low (if the phone is stolen there is much more sensitive information).
If it is transmitted, it has to be anonymized, and I have to be able to switch the transmission off without loss of on any other non-dependent functionality (i.e. I don't want to be blackmailed).
Why should we put up with everything? Why should we be like stupid sheep? Only if we care about privacy, there is a chance that we can keep some freedom.
matt2053 said:
Google plainly give you the option to opt out when you sign in to your Google account on the phone. You can also disable location in settings at any time. Big difference between that and what iOS is doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even if you opt out when first signing on, you'll get a warning saying that to use location features you have to agree to uploading location data - in the background.
matt2053 said:
Google plainly give you the option to opt out when you sign in to your Google account on the phone. You can also disable location in settings at any time. Big difference between that and what iOS is doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. CrApple doesn't even say that they collect data.
Agreed!!!!!!
Do you know why android wear smartwatches are cheap ? Because we, the customers, are the product. We are the battery. I supply Motorolla, LG, Sony, whichever watch you have, with so much information. What apps you use, what phone you have, what stores your near, etc. They sell this information to other companys, without your name, of course. (Yes I realize $200-350 isn't exactly cheap for most of us but they would be much more expensive without this).
I want to disable the tracking. I know I will most likely have to root my Moto 360. So, does anyone know a way of doing this?
Thank you!
app ops
If you root your phone then you can use xposed (4.4 or below) or the app ops app(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.findsdk.apppermission&hl=en) for lollipop devices then go to the android wear app and turn off all the permissons you do not approve of, then do the same for the motorola connect app in app ops.
If you are not rooted then you can go into settings and disable location for android wear and motorola connect that about it
From what I understand the watches get all the information from your phone and the applications on it. The magic happens because of the information you feed into your phone everyday. My guess would be you probably want your phone freed up of all the tracking that it does as well. If you want to hide everything, you can't use Google services at all. (which means no companion app). I guess this all depends on what services you personally use. You can root many of the android wear watches today, but all the information is given by your smartphone. Start on your phone first. Google is a company that's all about information and advertising. Keep that in mind.
I read the blog post on XDA about getting rid of Google on an android phone.
http://www.xda-developers.com/setting-up-android-marshmallow-without-google/#comment
It started with install TWRP. I know what it is, but just had a problem with it on a Nexus 4 running CM 10. I could not get to it through recovery. Finally had to install Clockwork Mod, and that got me to where I needed to go to put 12.1 on the Nexus. I had gotten both from Play. Is there a better download for TWRP elsewhere? and a good wiki? (I do read everything)
I've had problems with Play, I have an Oppo and Google told me some of my apps would not run. BULL! i repurchased from Amazon and they ran just fine. Google has also insisted that some of my wifi only tablets belonged to my carrier.
I can't get Carbon to run - tried everything possible and no joy. Can TWRP run a backup if you aren't rooted? I didn't root the Oppo. You could turn everything off so rooting was not necessary.
I've ordered the Moto X Pure, and since I don't use Google for anything except apps, I have no contacts, sms or other goodies stored there.
I don't want to, either. There's other cloud services besides Google. I also have friends that despise Google. They buy a phone and only use what the carrier offers. They just leave phone stock and don't want their names in Google's database via emails. The carriers update the phones. I also don't use Gmail. The account is mostly just to give out to spammers and to buy apps.
If I'm paying for a private mail service, I don't see why Google should get the info.
I'm concerned about the contact list.
Will TWRP help? and which 3rd party is best?
Thanks
I use a fairly fast phone for certain apps. All are reference and I like having them on the phone. All my info is at my fingertips. These apps will not run on anything but a smart phone. I also always buy unlocked phones. TMO is switching bands and the Oppo doesn't have the newer ones that I want to try.
I'd prefer to give the phone a chance, but if I get too annoyed, I'll root it.
I see the info here has improved - it's no longer in phone shorthand where you have to look up all the shortcuts.
So I was wondering how many of you had gone through with implementing the buildprop change that enables Google AI. I decided to do it the other night and have been fiddling around with it since then. If you haven't done it, it basically turns Now-on-Tap into "Voice Search by default," but you can still do screen searches for things like USPS Tracking and Phone/Address Lookup. Voice searches are vastly improved; it will auto-start Navigation, fetch links as a list of cards (for example, miniaturized news feeds), open apps instantly (provided the phone isn't locked), and essentially just be all around snappier than Google Now/Now-on-Tap.
That said, it does bother me that the phone literally had to be rebranded as a Pixel to make this work. A) It's not the most stable change, and 2) that change is now reflected on any device/prompt that interacts with my phone. It managed to be picked up by adware on a sketchy site (don't ask what sketchy sites I go to), and my desktop also mislabels it on USB connection. Does anyone know if Motorola allows you to change the device name for USB connection? I know LG lets you.
But yeah, those are my thoughts on it. I might try it out for a week or two, and if I'm not exactly bowled over by it, I'll probably just go back to Now-on-Tap. But I wanted to hear your guys' thoughts.
I don't even use now-on-tap, and I've done the assistant bulildprop trick before, and it made little to no difference on how often I use both of them. I understand what you mean by having to rebrand it to a pixel though - Google shouldn't make this Pixel exclusive