back to article Samsung left off Google's new official Androids-for-biz list

Google has launched an Android Enterprise Recommended program it says "makes it simple for businesses to confidently select, deploy and manage Android devices and services that meet elevated enterprise requirements validated by Google" and has left Samsung off the list. Android enterprise recommended logo We've got this logo …

  1. Dan 55 Silver badge

    "The Register notes ... that Nokia's kit is made in China."

    Er, it all is?

    1. Mage Silver badge

      Re: "The Register notes ... that Nokia's kit is made in China."

      Apple is certainly mostly Chinese made.

      Android & Android TV is worse spyware than non-Android anything, though MS trying to catch up.

  2. alain williams Silver badge

    Who does Android Enterprise Recommended benefit ?

    Google, the hardware vendor or the purchaser ?

    I don't know, but doubt that it is the purchaser.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Who does Android Enterprise Recommended benefit ?

      I don't see how Android could be recommended for business when calendar, contacts, notes, and app backups are slurped off to Google, unless you're very very careful.

      And even if it is set up by IT right, a user will just add their Google account to it and the settings for that account are set to slurp by default.

      1. Mr Humbug

        That's where the Android for Work bit comes in. The MDM system that you use to deploy settings partitions work data from the consumer side and the Google Slurp can't see it.

        1. Dan 55 Silver badge

          I'm unconvinced that an MDM system's got everything under control, especially when all the basic apps (Dialler, Keyboard, Play Services, etc...) are Google's. Google can push out as many 'new helpful features' as they want and hopefully your MDM system will do something about it sooner rather than later.

          1. Dave 126 Silver badge

            @Dan 55

            That you are unconvinced is irrelevant - the organisations that will pay Google for these services enter into a legally enforceable contract with Google with terms understood by both parties.

            A moment ago you betrayed the fact you were unaware that paid-for Google services even existed, so I'm not sure why you think you're qualified to comment.

            1. Dan 55 Silver badge

              No, you confused Enterprise data management with Google's cloudy services. Why, I have no idea. Wasn't the point to stop Google getting its claws into the data?

              1. Dave 126 Silver badge

                > No, you confused Enterprise data management with Google's cloudy services.

                No, I really haven't. The very services you stated in your OP as being slurpy - calendar, contacts, notes, and app backups - are not slurpy if you pay Google to use them. Its called G Suite:

                Please read about it before commenting again:

                https://gsuite.google.com/intl/en_uk/features/

                1. Dan 55 Silver badge

                  And what about those businesses who don't want slurp and for some reason (whatever it is) don't want to use Google services? They're still fighting those apps on their Android devices. What's your solution for those?

                  1. Dave 126 Silver badge

                    Buying alternative secure app management from Blackberry or someone else is also an option. I won't provide solutions for all situations, since I was merely countering your original assertion that all Google Android devices are slurpy. Nor am I rating them over similar for iOS.

                    If your hypothetical company won't pay for software and services, then they only really have ad-supported or Freeware to choose from.

                    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

                      Paying for non-Google cloud services or taking it in-house doesn't magically stop Android apps uploading to Google.

                      You can lead a horse to water...

                      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

                        Then don't install the free Google apps. There are alternatives. As I said, Blackberry and others will manage an app store of secure apps for you, and allow you to control which ones your users can install. There are options. Whatever.

                        Your original assertion - that all Google Android phones are slurpy - was just incorrect. That is all.

                        If you find iOS a better starting place, then fine. I know the MOD issue Blackberry-controlled iPhones. But it remains true that not all Google Android phones slurp back to Google *if you pay them*.

                        1. Dan 55 Silver badge

                          Then don't install the free Google apps.

                          You haven't seen Android lately, then. Calendar, Contacts, and maybe even Dialler are very often the Google apps. Installing a different calendar and contacts app doesn't change the fact that the back-end calendar and contacts storage can still be synced.

                          There are options. Whatever.

                          There are options, but you may find that settings are reset or new settings are added with the next Play Services, app, or Android update and then stuff is uploaded.

                          But it remains true that not all Google Android phones slurp back to Google *if you pay them*.

                          What part of not wanting Google to hold any business data at all do you not understand? Why would non-US enterprises want to hand it all over to Google (paying them or via Android tricksy slurp) when stuff like the CLOUD Act could become law quite soon?

                  2. Anonymous Coward
                    Anonymous Coward

                    Press cancel when you set the phone up. Its not hard, any idiot can do it, except you it seems

        2. Fuzz

          android for work

          If you configure your devices in work-managed device mode then it only has the apps you push.

          Our devices have about 20 apps in the Google Play store, nothing else is available. The only apps there by default are the browser and the dialler. Everything else, maps, email, SMS etc. has to be specifically approved by the MDM administrator.

          It's quite nice to see a brand new Android load up without any of the non-removable pre-installed rubbish.

          1. Roland6 Silver badge

            Re: android for work

            >It's quite nice to see a brand new Android load up without any of the non-removable pre-installed rubbish.

            So it seems there will be 'vanilla' Android phones that still have loads of non-removable pre-installed rubbish and Enterprise Recommended 'vanilla' phones that don't have the non-removable rubbish.

            Good selling point, as I suspect with many handsets that is potentially another GB or more of memory available for the app's you actually want. Or is it that Enterprise Recommended is going to be a hidden setting, instructing the phone not to load certain pre-installed app's?

      2. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Who does Android Enterprise Recommended benefit ?

        > I don't see how Android could be recommended for business when calendar, contacts, notes, and app backups are slurped off to Google,

        If you are a business and pay Google for email and other services, they don't slurp data for advertising - or display any ads. This has been the case for years.

        1. Dan 55 Silver badge
          WTF?

          Re: Who does Android Enterprise Recommended benefit ?

          If you are a business and pay Google for email and other services, they don't slurp data for advertising - or display any ads. This has been the case for years.

          Nice business data you've got on your Android phone. Be a shame if anybody slurped it. Store it with us to avoid that.

        2. Mage Silver badge

          Re: they don't slurp data for advertising

          Is there any independent audit of what Google stores about users of Android, Chrome, Chrome OS, Android TV, any web site with any Google hosted content (apis, fonts, analytics, adverts), Google services (maps, translate, plus, groups, YouTube)?

          Targeted advert usage is only part of the story.

          Google has too much power & dominance.

          Amazon, Apple, MS, Adobe, Facebook etc all need investigated too over data acquisition and retention. Also what is spent on lobbying and front groups, takeovers etc.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Who does Android Enterprise Recommended benefit ?

          They might just hand it over for good old industrial espionage.

          My old company did plenty of work for the navy and many milatry forces arround the world.. and more than once ppl from my company got stopped at the border so they could clone the hard drive.. (yes, we did use encryption, but they will force you to surrender the codes).. up to a point that is was forbidden to go to the us with a laptop that had any kind of restricted/propietary info.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Who does Android Enterprise Recommended benefit ?

        I don't see how any US Company can be recommended for Business or Personal use.

        see: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/02/22/us_cloud_act_attorneys_general/

      4. Dr Mantis Toboggan
        FAIL

        Re: Who does Android Enterprise Recommended benefit ?

        You know that Google enterprise pay offering doesn't "slurp" right?

        https://support.google.com/googlecloud/answer/6056650?hl=en

        Your rabid fanboy posts are frankly embarrassing...

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      MDM & Android

      ROFL. The last two places I've worked (former not current) gave us Samsung phones 'for business use only' but didn't use MDM. As the last one the IT Director was too much of a cheapskate to impliment it. He was told about the potential problems but nope he said they would be fine.

      He was very embarrassed when his phone (S7) was hacked and everyone in the company started to get dozens of spam emails supposedly from him.

      He 'walked' rather than admit to his mistake. Still he got a nice severance package (6 figures)

      1. tiggity Silver badge

        Re: MDM & Android

        .. precisely sums up the problems - the overpaid and inept make big mistakes and walk away with huge payoffs .. and into another job where the pay is much more than their "talents" deserve.

        1. David Nash Silver badge

          Re: MDM & Android

          "the overpaid and inept make big mistakes"

          And Google get blamed for being "slurpy".

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Another lawsuit in 3....2.....1

    "handset must possess to earn Google's seal of approval, among them offering Google Play as the default app store."

    Can the EU make the fine at least a trillion Euros for the malware that is Googles Binary blob.

    1. tiggity Silver badge

      Re: Another lawsuit in 3....2.....1

      At least on Android other app stores / sideloading is easy, a lot more of a pain on an Apple device

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Funny Huawei is on the list

    Given the US government is recommending they are unsafe for users' data. Ahh, I love the smell of protectionism in the morning.

    1. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: Funny Huawei is on the list

      Well if you want to make money in the Chinese market, it might be helpful to partner with a friendly local manufacturer, particularly if you are otherwise on the wrong side of the great firewall.

    2. mosw

      Re: Funny Huawei is on the list

      Given the resource available to the US government they should be able to conduct forensic analysis of some of the phones sold in US and actually identify any snooping. In the absence of actual evidence, the don't buy recommendations look more like protectionism. Besides, other than maybe some Samsung models, aren't all phones made in China?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It looks as though Google understands the needs of enterprise edge devices even less than Microsoft did with Windows Phone 10. Why would an enterprise device want to have anything at all to do with Google's app store, or anything else run by Google, for that matter? Even if it tried to access a Google server, the request would simply fail as the devices would typically be running on their own VPN with no outside access. And as for frequent updates, that's the last thing you want in an enterprise situation, especially ones being pushed without any oversight or control.

    AC because of previously working for a company that makes REAL enterprise Android devices and has frequent run-ins with Google and their Android T&Cs.

  7. IsJustabloke
    Thumb Up

    lack of a Sammie....

    That's a plus point IMO, I'd take a Sony or Huawei over a Samsung all day long....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: lack of a Sammie....

      Me too. My wife keeps buying them. They're loaded up with all sorts of useless crap and all the settings etc are far more confusing and less user friendly than stock android.

      Can't comment on Sony or Huawei as I've never used them.

  8. Spanners Silver badge
    Boffin

    China seems fine to me

    I like the idea of Chinese manufacturers. This is likely to mean that if some US 3 letter agency wants to spy on the user, they will get the correct level of cooperation from the manufacturer, i.e. none.

    Perhaps Huawei is not a good idea for the MOD and the like. Most people have more to worry about being spied upon by US, big business owned, spooks. The CIA, NSA, HSA are government sponsored criminals. Their function is not even to protect the US populace. It is to protect the wealth of a very small group - mostly middle aged and over, white, males with a high degree of sociopathy.

    1. Baldrickk

      Re: China seems fine to me

      I'd say that any company with important IP would want to stop China snooping on their data as much as the US.

  9. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    US only?

    Sounds like the kind of thing the US market likes, elsewhere companies tend to run their own certification and want more control, ie. whatever the local standard is and not Google Pay.

  10. hellwig

    Motorolla a Chinese concern

    Maybe Google shouldn't have bought them and effectively shut them down. Then maybe they'd still be an American company (probably making their phones in China like everyone else).

    Regarding the US government's suggestions, Google doesn't only do business in the US afterall. I imagine if Google wants to do business in China, they need a chinese partner like Huawei.

  11. Gis Bun

    "Motorola, Huawei, BlackBerry and Nokia" aren't the best bunch of Android makers.

    Huawei I think is banned [or will be] in the US soon.

    Motorola doesn't have the clout it use to have.

    Nokia is owned by Microsoft and they may just kill the phones.

    BlackBerry is small potatoes.

    Oh and Blackberry is still a Canadian company headquartered in Canada.

    If you use the same reasoning then apple is a Chinese company.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Nokia is owned by Microsoft and they may just kill the phones."

      You're dead wrong there, pal.

    2. Rockets

      "Oh and Blackberry is still a Canadian company headquartered in Canada."

      BlackBerry Limited, formerly RIM, exited the handset market in 2016. BlackBerry Mobile which is TCL now makes BlackBerry branded handsets. The KeyOne & Motion are the first BlackBerry Mobile devices. TCL as you'd know is Chinese.

      "Nokia is owned by Microsoft and they may just kill the phones."

      Nokia Android devices are made by Foxconn for the Finish HMD which bought the Nokia feature phone division from Microsoft Mobile in 2016.

      And Google sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo in 2014.

  12. Dragziy1

    Huawei is worrisome for security?

    I'm guessing that the US is saying it's worrisome because it's mainly a Chinese founded company and phone. The problem is though, if China really wanted to breach security in the US they wouldn't have to use a Chinese founded company. China makes all the phones you see whether it's an iPhone, Samsung, One plus, or even Nokia. So if China wanted to get some data they can just put it in the software or in the phones motherboards or whatnot in every phone they make. No one would notice and not only would it be able to go past most security in the US, but pretty much every other country that has access to these phone companies. I don't see what the US is worried about, again, if China wanted to, the US would be fucked inside out without lifting a finger.

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