Who's excited for the new iPhone?

[AimlessWanderer]

Blackberry is the only one that hasn't done anything blatant to piss me off so far. The phone is mediocre, but good enough for my needs, but it hasn't transferred all my contacts onto the net (so far as I know - and I can still access all my contact data even if there's no signal), hasn't tried to get biometrics off me, and hasn't eavesdropped on my every move so it can link my data with potential products and sit there making a gargantuan tax avoiding fortune while I am perpetually bombarded and plagued by adverts for smurf I don't want (I don't know if Gimboid does anything like that - but I don't care because Google does and it's malware is becoming almost omnipotent).

If Blackberry pisses me off to the same extent as the others, then yes I'll probably ditch the smartphone and just go back to calls and text. The biggest irritant is that a few years ago phones were a commodity - now it's the customers that are the commodity, and I resent being treated like that. If Google start offering me a very healthy commision on their parasitic tactics, then I might consider using Gimboid - till then I'll treat them with the same contempt they have for me  To be honest, before I heard of this fingerprint scanner farce, I just thought that Apple was overpriced and overhyped tripe and potentially something I may have to conceed to using if Blackberry nark me off, but scanning my fingerprints has just ruled them right out if that's what they're up to

Someday we probably will see people starting to use biometrics as a mean to do payment, and if using a certain phone will collect our data and mistreating them like commodities, all this probably will blow up in our face one day. 

We have already seen crime committed locally, by thuds exploiting location-based app and chat, I am not least bit surprise.  What's going to be next?

@Whoey  LMAO 

My problem with biometrics isn't all tinfoil hat  it's just an acceptance that there's always folks out there who'll try to skim your passwords/PIN number and defeat any other security measure out there. If my passwords or PIN is compromised, I can change it and therefore re-secure my phone/PC/ banking data - not so easy to do with biometrics 

Yes biometrics will come in, yes they will be compromised, and yes they'll end up having to replace it with something else sharpish. I'd just like to try and skip the biometric stage of the evolution if at all possible

[Grant Lamontagne]

I can't speak for all biometrics, but all you really need to do is change the finger you use to access your account.  It's actually a good idea to use a different finger than what is suggested anyway, just as a good way to defeat anyone who wants to do something truly horrid to get at anything you might have hidden inside.

Def

[Whoey]

Claiming no 2 fingerprints are identical is wrong, it's highly unlikely, but it is possible. Also depends how precise the reader is.

I'm not sure about other Android devices, but my Nexus 4 has 6 lock options:
None, Slide, Face Unlock, Pattern, PIN, Password.

I used pattern for a while, and found it inconvenient when I accidentally locked the screen or made a mistake swiping the pattern I chose. Plus it has "emergency calls" that is a bit too easy to accidentally activate without unlocking the phone. Also some interesting options like Active Notifications didn't work so well with a pattern lock. I'll admit most of the options are either not enough security or inconveniently difficult (first world problem?), and a finger print scan might be a nicer option. Also I wonder how Face Unlock deals with things like haircuts/dyed hair, shaving/beards, tans etc...

[AimlessWanderer]

I can't speak for all biometrics, but all you really need to do is change the finger you use to access your account.  It's actually a good idea to use a different finger than what is suggested anyway, just as a good way to defeat anyone who wants to do something truly horrid to get at anything you might have hidden inside.

Def

I'm far from technically minded (so what I'm going to say next is probably twaddle  ), but I would have thought the biometrics would be more likely to be defeated by someone intercepting the digital keys derived from the biometric scanners and either using that data on some form of fancy printer, or even bypassing scanners completely so that interception isn't as overt as some thug with a Leatherman Genus or Paul Chen Multitasker 

I suppose most people would have 20 chances at having a suitable print if they included their feet, though I wouldn't fancy trying to get my big toe up on the supermarket scanner when going for my bread and milk .... or following someone else who had done likewise  Again there's other pragmatic issues such as dirt, grease, wrinkled skin from water/rain, or indeed accidents which will either modify or obscure dermaglyphics.

I find it all rather silly and needlessly risky, and I will avoid it all so far as is practical - and if that means not buying an iphone - so be it

[Grant Lamontagne]

That depends on how it is done.  What fingerprint reading is in general is identifying a certain number of characteristics in a fingerprint.  Forensic investigators in Canada require 12 corresponding points for a positive match, or at least they did when I studied such things.  With the prevalence of computers nowadays vs the old "by eye" method of my day that may have changed. 

To be honest, if I wanted to get into someone's phone to access their stuff I think biometrics make things easier in some ways as I would simply render them unconscious and use their fingerprints to unlock it.  If they used a PIN, that isn't likely to happen.  Once I was in I'd either access the info I wanted or even disable the security and take the phone.  By the time they woke up I'd be long gone with whatever info I wanted and I'd take their wallet as well making them think it was a simple mugging.  They'd likely feel confident that the phone would be no good to them without the thumb print and probably wouldn't bother changing passwords, especially if I left the phone with them.

Hopefully Apple will have some way of retrieving the fingerprints in case the person stealing the phone is dumb enough to change it so it accepts their fingerprint, thereby identifying the person that stole it.

Def

[Millhouse]

From what I've read, the option to use fingerprint unlocking only becomes available when the phone is set to unlock with a PIN code.

The phone can then be unlocked either by using fingerprint, or the PIN.

To disable fingerprints, you must also disable the PIN code, and to disable the PIN, you need to know the PIN.

[tattoosteve99]

iOS 7 released. I will be upgrading shortly and if it sucks I will be downgrading shortly

[AdmSlc]

I just put the new operating system on my iPhone five and I seem to like it a lot. If you haven't done that already to your older  iPhones I would do that it's great

[tattoosteve99]

I just put the new operating system on my iPhone five and I seem to like it a lot. If you haven't done that already to your older  iPhones I would do that it's great

Done and......it's freaking awesome! So much faster and better IMO.

[AHB]

I just put the new operating system on my iPhone five and I seem to like it a lot. If you haven't done that already to your older  iPhones I would do that it's great

Done and......it's freaking awesome! So much faster and better IMO.

Feels like getting a whole new phone alright..