NAVAYO TECHNOLOGIES LAUNCHES ENCRYPTED VoIP, THROUGH PARTNER, SECFONE.

CeBIT 2010 marked the tipping point of any related Android news that had ever surfaced prior. Forget smart phones, forget apps, forget netbooks – even for just awhile. Our Android has suddenly grown up and its future is looking brighter than ever. Two words takes Android to a whole other level. Encrypted VoIP.

My one day romp through CeBIT found me a gold mine, or rather, platinum. In the wee hours before CeBIT opened to the public, I was walking through the rows when my eyes caught an image of a familiar green bot. Our Android!

I simply thought it was just placed on a wall just for the sake of it but when I got closer I realized that the booth was indeed about Android and more. Navayo Technologies , head quartered in Hungary with offices in Germany, San Francisco and Tokyo is a “hi-tech IT research and development company”. Founded in 2004, its first patented application was for secure closed self-protected network technology – MVCN™ (Manageable Virtual Closed Network). The MVCN™  was soon implemented in their very successful Secbox product line which uses biometric identification.

Now, just a few years later, the team at Navayo Technologies identified the need for an even safer and more secure network for the mobile sphere. Because of their work on Linux, the Android platform was the most logical choice for delivering their encrypted technology to the masses.

Shielding Mobile Communication

Secfone provides hardware based voice and data communication protection for Android phones across all methods of internet access like Wi-Fi, HSDPA, UMTS and EDGE. With Secfone, neither the telephone company or IP provider are involved with your confidential call-and, there will be no record of your call on the phone bill. Calls and data transfer are securely handled via a direct, peer-to-peer Internet connection instead. Secfone shields your mobile communication from man-in-the-middle attacks, eavesdropping attempts or physical attacks.

Because Secfone is an independent and privately owned company without any governmental or political affiliation, they are not regulated concerning crytography technology and therefore can implement their products using the highest level encryption standards without any backdoors or other international weaknesses. What differs Secfone from that of their competitors (apart from running on Android devices) is the implementation of their own MVCN ™ technology for encryption key handling. This means that no third party entity, not even them, can eavesdrop on your calls, where as  most companies that offer secure mobile communications solutions are still able to intercept calls.

Secfone (secure phone) has the identifiable logo of a shell, which depicts protection and security. Currently being in use by a few industry sectors, the HTC Hero and HTC Magic premium smart phones were the devices of choice that were made available for the Secfone Government Product Launch (available for pre-order right now). These phones are customized before delivery and are shipped ready to use; there are no installation requirements or additional setup procedures. This prevents any possible accidental installation of any malware or spy programs on your phone before its use. Secfone is looking forward to partnering with other mobile manufacturers that provide Android devices.

Secfone Goverment Fact Sheet Specifications:

• User-ready Android phone with hardware based integrated security solution using matrix network technology
• Used network/connections: Wi-Fi, HSDPA, UMTS, EDGE
• Based on HTC Magic and HTC Hero premium mobile phones

Features:

• No compromise between voice quality and security, high quality voice enabled at low bandwidth usage – less than 20 Kbps
• Option to securely connect to non-mobile VoIP office equipment
• Fast connection time, easy operation and low calling cost

Security:

• Encryption:

- 2048-bit RSA for server authentication

- 2048-bit RSA for peer authentication

- 448-bit Blowfish CBC for voice communication data flow

• PIN protected MicroSD SmartCard, securely storing authentication and encryption keys
• Patented proprietary security technology MVCN ™

“The world is becoming more and more dynamic and so are the methods of communication. Nowadays it is common in business life to use sensitive corporate resources on the go. Voice communication or data sharing on mobile phones plays an ever increasing role. With interception technology being cheap and widely accessible, rival business entities and criminal organizations possess the tools needed to attach the confidentiality of corporate communication. This is why responsible enterprise add business secrecy to their mobile environment. – Secfone “

Secfone Government is just one of the four Secfone Products that are available. There is also:

Secfone Business (launching in Q3 2010) – Harware security module for Android

Secfone Industrial (available for customer specific implementation) – Secure remote management solution

Secfone Personal (launching in Q4 2010) – Easy-to-install software application

Interestingly enough, the Secfone exhibit was the first stop I came up to while walking the floor and it was all because of that oh so familiar and need I say, “too cute of an android” to pass up. The team behind Navayo Technologies and Secfone were awesome. Professional, funny and very much open to social media and having me do an impromptu video interview with the CEO, Business Unit Director and the man in charge of International Business Development. I love these guys. Their attitude towards a “new way of doing business” – which I call building PR (people relationships), is what makes people like me want to help them succeed in any way I can. Not only that but I know that their products are able to finally fill a need as well as provide solutions for so many industry concerns with regards to secure data, and more especially within the mobile environment. I am also very excited of the fact that all this is on Android!

Watch the impromptu video interview here:

For more information on Secfone and Navayo Technologies please contact:

Johannes Cornelis van Nieuwkerk
International Business Development
johannes@navayo.com

Tel: +36 57 506 000
Fax: +36 57 506 001

Acer Liquid

Liquid …. really now. There’s nothing really fluid’ish about this phone so I’m wondering who the team was or person that thought up the name.

My first contact with this phone was last Christmas at a dinner with one of Frankfurt’s Android Guru’s, @_zero. As usual, he likes teasing me with all the latest gadgets he has (I hate that), and of course, he had to show me his new Acer Liquid (which by the way, he no longer has, and I’m not asking him what happened to it either. He probably ate it).

Well, I got to see it again at the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona and for some reason, it looked a lot better during that Christmas dinner. Maybe it had something to do with the amount of alcohol that was consumed, maybe.

CeBIT HERE WE COME!

The Android PR Gal will be at CeBIT in Hannover Germany on Friday, March 5, 2010.

She’ll be part of a panel discussion on Mobile Computing at the Webciety area. Check out the Program Schedule for Webciety and click on Friday’s 15:00 hr time slot for more details.

She’ll be covering the entire days events on Qik, Twitter, Posterous, Twitpic, flickr, Facebook etc ….

I caught an article a few days back saying how the majority of women preferred the iPhone and that most Android device owners were men. Hmmmm….

It certainly got me thinking again about women and their gadgets … or should I say, accessories. Two years back I started a site called “Tech Savvy Tech Sexy” and it was suppose to feature gadgets that women were drawn to and why. I should really re-vitalize that site …. or put it up again because I feel I am really missing the boat when it comes to women and gadgets.

Of course, I don’t want to be another “Geek girl” with another gadget site. Lord knows, we don’t need another one of those .. or???

Then last week, when I got back from Barcelona, after being surrounded by men and gadgets, I received something Pink and Swarovski Crystal like. It was a Pat Says Now, Special Edition Glamrock Mouse.

Now frankly speaking, I don’t use a mouse, much less, one with Swarovski Crystals glued to the center.  I should really try it out though. I wonder if it would make me feel more of a “accomplished woman” or something like that.  Or maybe it’s meant to make me feel sexy. Hell, if I wanted to feel sexy,  I’d just blog in my thong or something.

Anyway…..

Women always love fashion, even if it’s not considered fashionable. Women always have their own sense of fashion, be it copied, original (often quirky) etc ..  so what does it take for a gadget to be more “female appealing”.

At the Mobile World Congress at the Samsung section, I caught a phone series entitled: The Diva Collection -

You can watch the video of it here:

One thing I did note while on a spy mission with Android to the new Apple store in Frankfurt, was that, there definitely was a lot more accessories for the iPhone than there was for the Nexus One. Firstly, the Nexus One has just barely arrived to Germany (I got mine in Barcelona) and second of all, android phones vary in size and shape, that to make accessories a.k.a., neat little wardrobes for the devices wouldn’t seem to practical from a manufacturer’s stand point. At least with the iPhone, it’s all the same shape. One size fits all, and this makes everyone and his mother, want to design something for the iPhone.

I suppose I’ll need to scout around and start my own Android PR Gal Nexus One accessories. Hmmmm, in fact I WILL!

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll try to blog more on what I saw at the MWC10.

acer beTouch E400

After fondling so many devices, it’s hard to remember which ones felt really good. Of course I’m talking about smartphones, what did you think? Sheesh!

I do remember some devices that were a tad slippery to hold, or maybe that was just some of the grease left over from the burger I had for lunch (oops), but there certainly were devices that were not too ergonomically friendly. I mean, what company does the focus groups for what people best prefer when it comes to the shape, handling and feel of a handheld device?? Since when did our fingers and palms scream out, “Hey handheld manufacturers, give us some flat, slim love!”

I don’t care about what marketing hypes surround some of these gadgets, notice how their descriptions barely mention how the device “feels”.

Look, if you’re going to be holding these babies most of the day or night, while standing in crowded subways or walking down the sidewalk with the gadget in one hand and a grande caramel macchiato in the other, then you better like the way the gadget “feels” in your palm and more over, your fingers and palm better like the way the gadgets are shaped.

Well, you’ll see what I mean when you watch this video … just saying …

While wandering the auditorium halls, I happened to catch Google’s Eric Schmidt, giving his keynote speech. So shoot me for not staying the entire keynote but my tummy was grumbling and when my tummy speaks, I listen.

I did manage to stay for the first 20 minutes, enough to see the demo of Google’s Voice Search and to know that, German was the fourth language to be added to their search. Out of the 20 minutes of EricSpeak time I found one sentence that struck out at me in a good way.

” … mobile first.”

Indeed, developers are no longer placing mobile app development on their roadmap after browsers, but rather developing new apps / software on mobile, FIRST. This statement does not only mark the point of a change in software development but more importantly, signify the start of a truly mobile world – for some, with more possibilities for others.

I’m not going to make a statement that would lock Google as the leader of the mobile world, dare I even think that. I will however,  minutely suggest that Google has definitely upped the anty in terms of “empowerment for the end user”.

Eric Schmidt also mentioned something along the lines of the U.S. being one of the leaders of LTE, in other words, 4G is just a bridge away. I need to emphasize the phrase ‘one of the leaders’ because he also clearly mentioned that the Europeans, who have been known to lead the world in wireless technology, with China close behind, are collaborative partners when it comes to deploying LTE to the world.

I understand that there may be a few snickers at the mention of 4G, as there still needs to be much improvement with 3G, not to mention networks even being able to provide 3G, let alone, reliable 3G, just saying.

But what the world doesn’t know won’t hurt them. One day, humans will wake up to the reality of a standard 4G and perhaps augmented reality apps that have somehow creeped into our devices overnight.

Here’s a video of this keynote:

We’re getting ready to leave for the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. We had such a great response from people wanting “What’s up, Android?” to be present at their exhibit announcements that out heads are spinning on where to go first, since a lot of these presentations take place almost simultaneously. 

We’ll try to cover as much as we can and then of course there are the many “cocktail” invites to try to attend .. so many people to see, so little time. 

There’ll be a separate Mobile World Congress 2010 Category called MWC2010 that will be set up for all things relating to the 4 day event. We’ll have to miss the First day but will be arriving late morning on Tuesday and staying all the way till Thursday.

Do stay tuned for our coverage of the events that are taking place in Barcelona!

Stay tuned for updates, highlights, photos, interviews, tweets and much more.

Seven more days to go and we’re gearing up to take Barcelona by storm. Android PR Gal will be meeting a few other Androidians (@timstrazz @_zero @alsutton @Manupool? @mtrends ) rumored to be invading an area of that Spanish city and who knows what antics will ensue.

First off, definitely a meet up for a much awaited IRL (in real life) #androidcoffee. Next, major hacking and coding in the evening(s) and playing around with some nifty gadgets, slated to make a presence at the designated, rented loft. Third, there’ll be a Mobile Cocktail event .. I don’t know about you, but cocktails .. and mobile? Sounds good to me, just as long as they are not moving at such high velocities, that would make my head spin into unimaginable g-forces (imagined only be me).

We’ll also be attending the Android Developer Lab on the 17th of February. Really looking forward to meeting some of the Barcelona devs as well as others from around the world.  Be sure that there’ll be lots of photos and vids taken during this time.

For the early birds, there will be the 5th annual Mobile Sunday (February 14th) Meet Up – a gathering of mobile bloggers and the like. Be sure to look into attending if you’ll be arriving on Sunday. You’ll need to reserve your tickets on Amiando (€25).

If you plan to attend this years Mobile World Congress, please let us know so that we can meet up!

Ping us at prgal@whatsupandroid.com or send us a tweet at @whatsupandroid

Barcelona, here we come!

Brussels is gathering up local and nearby android developers for their December 13th Android Hackathon.

The team at OpenIntents has really gotten behind the Android Movement and have shown great support and drive in terms of organizing Android Events throughout Europe. The First DroidCon (Android Conferernce) that took place in Berlin early in November of this year was a great success. One month later, there was a DroidCon London and early next year, 2010, there will be a DroidCon in Brussels.

Despite the borders and language barrier(s) that are encountered here in Europe, the Android Movement easily traverses these challenges and helps bring developers together, passionate about the platform and its open source qualities.

If you’re and Android developer this would be a great chance for you to network, learn, have a great time and hack a way!

Do, register for this event here.