Smartphones, most of us want one.  The apps.  The ability to not just text, but email.  Music.  Camera.  There’s almost nothing that a good smartphone can’t do.

Including being a security problem.

I’ve already told you how Symbian smartphones have been turned into a mass-mailing zombie network. But let me tell you, that’s only the beginning.

Palm Pre phones are prone to a vulnerability in receiving malicious messages that can compromise them with a backdoor which can allow hackers to record and transmit audio, effectively “bugging” your Palm Pre, as well as the usual theft of stored data.

Also, Apple has only just recently patched critical security holes in its iOS.  One allowed hackers to install malicious apps on iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches through poisoned PDF files which, by default, open automatically.

Another let attackers break out of the iOS security “sandbox” to access the root account, allowing unlimited access to the device.  This flaw, by the way, was the one used by jailbreaking software to let your iPhone be used how you want it to be used.  So don’t go thinking that this fix was entirely driven by just security over at Apple.

So there you have it, your smartphone is becoming more and more just another computer for hackers to attack.  They contain the same security risks as any Mac or PC.  Be conscious and use good security practices, even with your cute little phones, or you just might be caught unaware by a nasty ol’ hacker.

Apple’s latest iteration of the iPhone, the iPhone 4, has suffered a couple more blows.  First is that Apple’s refusal to admit antenna problems is not holding up well to that little thing we like to call testing.  We may have the esteemed word of Apple’s very own Steve Jobs that, “There is no Antennagate.“  That, however, isn’t enough.  No, we in the real world like to have something other than just someone’s word.  So take, for example, the testing done by PA Consulting Group.  What did independent testing find in regards to Apple’s “Antennagate” problem?

PA Consulting Group found two things.  First, the iPhone 4′s antenna performance is indeed “in range” of other smartphones, albeit at the lower end of performance by comparison, resulting in measurably worse reception and slower download speeds than other smartphones.  And second, the “Death Grip” in which a user bridges the gap between the antennae with their conductive waterfilled meatsack fingers or hand, does indeed render the connectivity of the iPhone 4 so buggered that it couldn’t even be tested for signal strength because it just simply couldn’t connect to anything.  And, the solution to the “Death Grip” problem is quite simple:  Don’t bridge the gap in antennae with something conductive!  Putting a non-conductive material around the phone will do just that for you, such as that rubber bumper sold by Apple.  Or even a simple rubber band can do the trick.

PA Consulting Group even created an entertaining little video to amuse you:

So which do you find more convincing, the word of Steve Jobs and Apple that the iPhone 4′s antenna is perfectly fine and you’re just an idiot for holding it wrong, or the results of independent laboratory testing that say the antenna under-performs at the best of times and when held in a “Death Grip” is rendered phoneus-non-grata?

As if that wasn’t enough of a blow for Apple’s iPhone 4 however, here comes another one.  That whole jailbreaking thing?  Yeah, it’s catching on.  Ever since it was ruled that jailbreaking is no longer an illegal violation of the DMCA, it’s been gaining even more attention.  In fact, jailbreaking your iPhone 4 is now as easy as visiting a website.  Yes, that’s right.  Just use your iPhone 4 (or any other Apple device running a non-beta version of iOS 4) to browse on over to www.jailbreakme.com and you too can begin your journey of an iPhone without borders.  No more downloading questionable software to your phone to begin the process.  It’s now as simple as viewing any web page.  Like this one!

Apple, of course, would like to remind you however that while jailbreaking your iPhone may be legal, it still violates the terms and conditions of your warranty, voiding it.

Tired of not being able to run Adobe Flash scripts to view videos or play games on your Apple iPad?  Well if you don’t mind installing a wild hack based on the very un-Apple Android into your beloved Apple device, you just may have a solution at hand.

From the same comex who brought you the Spirit jailbreak, comes Frash, the Flash-on-an-Apple-using-Android hack.

Frash requires the libflashplayer.so library from Android.  Specifically the armeabi variant, not armeabi-v7a, says comex.  Frash is capable of rendering most Flash-based programs in Safari.  Unfortunately Frash still doesn’t supposed keyboard input – which is planned to be later included – or camera / video input, which may not be included later due to the complexity.  And though as of this moment Frash only works on the Apple iPad, comex does intend to include the iPhone and other such Apple platforms in future versions.

Apple has been seeing a lot of complaints about its latest darling, the iPhone 4.  Reports are in from sensors failing to detect that the phone is positioned to be used as a phone, to antenna / signal problems, to quality issues, things aren’t so peachy for Apple.  Or more to the point, for Apple’s customers.

So far Apple has failed to recognize any issues with the iPhone 4, refusing to accept returns based on defects.  Customers are claiming to even be stuck paying a ten percent restock fee in spite of Apple’s assurances that they don’t have to.  Other reports even indicate that customers are being told to fix their problems they need to also purchase an additional iPhone 4 bumper.

In fact, Apple recently even claimed that the reception problem is in fact not an antenna issue, but a software glitch in the way the bars are displayed.  And that the sensor to detect phone use works just fine, and that it’s the customers who simply don’t know how to hold a phone to their head correctly.

It’s no surprise then that the lawsuits have officially begun.  So you better grab your pitchforks and torches and jump on the bandwagons while you still can.

There’s small reason to rejoice today if you’re a software developer.  Apple has loosened up it’s no-interpreted-code policy in the iPhone SDK used for development of apps on the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the iPad.

The old iPhone SDK end user licensing agreement (EULA) stated quite clearly and adamantly that, “No interpreted code may be downloaded or used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Documented APIs and built-in interpreter(s).“  This prevented anyone from using languages like Adobe’s Flash or Sun/Oracle’s Java.  Or Python.  (My personal favorite language.)  Amongst many others.  It also prevented the use of third-party development tools such as Adobe’s iPhone packager, which converts Flash scripts into native iPhone machine code.  Or third party libraries such as .NET, Mono, Qt, etc.

It’s a limitation that many developers feel is not only senseless and needlessly inhibitive, but even has the government fighting (DoJ and FTC) for the chance of an antitrust investigation into Apple for their non-competitive practices.

The new iPhone SDK however has a change of heart.

Kind of.

Sort of.

Maybe.

Just a little bit.

A few minor changes of wording in the iPhone SDK leave a little bit of theoretical wiggling room.  Such as, “Unless otherwise approved by Apple in writing, no interpreted code may be downloaded or used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Documented APIs and built-in interpreter(s).“  Which makes it sounds as if, theoretically, you could request from Apple a waiver to release your interpreted-code app.

Maybe.

Because then that theoretical possibility of using an interpreted language is further qualified in the iPhone SDK with, “Notwithstanding the foregoing, with Apple’s prior written consent, an Application may use embedded interpreted code in a limited way if such use is solely for providing minor features or functionality that are consistent with the intended and advertised purpose of the Application.“  My own emphasis on the key qualifiers there.  So of course you still need to write the majority of your code in an Apple-approved language.  You still can’t use any third-party development tools, libraries, or languages.

It still doesn’t really fix anything.  Except for perhaps a few rare instances of development, quite possibly in minor things like spam filters, spell checkers, and small pieces of engines used in games.

But maybe it sounds a lot less closed to antitrust investigations perhaps?

We’ll see.

One thing is for certain, Apple does not equal Open.