Honor 7 Provides Best in Class User Data Security Protection

Smartphone data security is becoming more and more important as users are using Smartphones to store most of their personal and confidential data. We believe that most of the common users don’t really understand the different device security features packed in latest Smartphones. In this tech series, we have tried our best to present detailed technical description of security features available in Smart phones which are around 20 to 25K priced brands in Indian market.  In this first technology blog we compare security features of Honor-7 and OnePlus 2 which were launched recently

Let’s first understand the basic security requirements of a Smartphone

1.      Secure locking of device

2.      Personal data hiding when device is shared with Guests and friends. 

3.      Personal Device Data security against malware

4.      Right Protection of internet usage from unknown applications

5.      Protection against Unwanted calls or Spam

Unlock Device

Device locking and unlocking is one of the basic requirement of a Smartphone. In android devices pattern based and password based screen locks are very common which are quite easy to crack by others.

Scenario-1: In case of pattern lock, it’s always possible for others to easily detect the actual pattern by seeing the pattern marks on the screen.

I, myself have seen my 5 years old daughter find my lock pattern in this way.

Scenario 2: As in Password based screen locks, most of the time users keep simple passwords because of the fact that it has to be entered frequently to unlock the device. Few characters in the password makes it easy for strangers /others to detect the password while unlocking the device in public.

These limitations of pattern lock and password lock forces Smartphone vendors to find better security methods to lock and unlock devices.

Fingerprint scanning has given a great solution for this problem. Most of the smart-phones above 20K in India nowadays use fingerprint scanning as device lock for greater security.

We have compared Honor 7 and OnePlus 2 Finger lock. Here are the advantages and disadvantages.

Positing of the finger scanner plays significant role in the convenience of unlocking the device every time. OnePlus 2 integrates the Finger scanner to the standard home screen button, while Honor 7 provides separate Finger scanner at the back of the phone below the Camera.  The positioning of finger scanner along with home button in OnePlus 2 forces the user to use only the Thumb for locking , while the Honor 7 makes it convenient to use other 4 fingers so that unlocking can be done easily with a single hand although both provide maximum of 5 fingers registration

          

 Honor 7 - Finger Print Scanner is Very conveniently placed at the back of the screen

We have also seen major differences in the time taken by Honor 7 and OnePlus 2 to register a new finger. OnePlus take around 30 sec to learn and register a finger while Honor 7 takes around 10 second to register a new finger. We have seen same average difference in the time taken to unlock the device , Honor gives an astonishing < 0.5 sec unlock time , whereas OnePlus 2 takes around  0.75 to 1 sec , we have also noticed that because of home button and finger scan being same , sometimes home button responds slowly. Considering everything Honors finger scanner standsout in performance. 

As we know, android provides Guest mode from L version to enable users to share their Smartphone with others. Honor has added additional security and features to the guest mode with the addition of Finger scan. A Certain finger can be assigned to unlock device in guest mode in which the user can set the configuration to hide important personal data like contacts / call long / App’s and Media content. These settings are found under “Privacy Protection”. We could not find a similar kind of function in OnePlus 2.

On the other hand Oneplus provides creation of multiple accounts which are completely independent and do not share common data or applications. This may be useful only when a device is shared by different members of a family, which we believe is not a practical use case.

Honor 7 Privacy Protection

Privacy Protection in security options of Honor 7, allows you to create 2 different sets of passwords/patterns /fingerprints, one for the host (your-self) and another for the guest account.

The User can then choose what he/she wants to hide from the guest account’s view:

·         Private contacts, msg, call records and notifications

·         Private Albums

·         Private Apps

This is by far the coolest thing we have encountered, Imagine setting up two accounts, one for you mapping to your right hand finger and another for the guest mapping to your left hand finger with all personal apps like album, FB and Whatsapp configured to hide. Now when someone asks for your phone, you can just pass it over with your left hand which will completely hide your personal data with-in no time.

 

Privacy Protection               

Choose Guest Entry Method

Owner Account                    

Setting Up Guest Account                         

 Guest Password   

 Choose Private Apps

We are surprised to see that the data gets hidden so fast; it’s as fast as unlocking your device. We believe this is one of the best features in device security, providing with comfort of sharing your device any time with friends and family members  

Smart Unlock is another feature which we found in Honor 7 which allows you to use Bluetooth devices such as Smart Wrist Band to unlock your device remotely. We have found a similar feature in Xioami devices. We believe the future to be filled with many more wearable devices where this smart way to unlock your device becomes a necessity We were not able to find this smart unlock feature in OnePlus-2 .

  

 Screen Lock & Password                         

Protection of your internet usage from unknown applications

We have seen two more advanced security features in Honor 7 which we believe provide high level of control to users to protect their data usage

1.      Protected apps

2.      Network Apps

Protected Apps , allows the user to configure which apps can run in the background when the device is locked, we believe this feature enables the user to run only few of the most important applications while the devices is locked this means saving a lot of unwanted data costs . one simple example, most of the users may not want Facebook to run all the time expect for the time when the device is being used and may want to run only WhatsApp to get the message notifications all the time. This also optimizes your battery performance while keeping only the important Apps running

  

                        Protected Apps

Network Apps, setting allows the user to configure which of apps are allowed to use mobile data and which apps are permitted to use only WIFI data. Even system apps can be configured in this way. This gives greater control to the user on their data usage.

Annoyed by Unwanted calls or Spam SMS?

In device security one the most important feature is, to control unwanted calls and messages from unknown sources and known spam. Control to configure required filters is a basic need these days. We have seen Honor 7 provide inbuilt features: “Do Not Disturb” & “Harassment Filter”

Harassment Filter, This feature allows the user to block all unwanted calls and messages. It provides a Black:list & a White:list configuration to control unwanted calls and messages. It also provides Interception rules and Interception Notification reminder when a Harassment call or Spam message is received

Do Not Disturb (DND) allows only priority interruptions to ring or vibrate when DND mode is enabled. Honor 7 has easy configuration steps to set what needs to be allowed in DND mode.

DND mode can be configured to be activated automatically at a predefined time. One important use case, most of users do not want to get disturbed during their sleep time (10PM to 9 AM).

User can also define their priority so that calls/messages from important people are not missed even when DND mode is active. It provides configurations like

·         Important Events and Reminders

·         Important  Contacts     

·         mandatory Alarms

DND mode permits to configure in a way that any serious/emergency calls are not missed. We can enable “Repeated calls” in DND mode, in which if a second call is received from the same number within 3 minutes, it will not be muted.

  

   DO NOT DISTURB [DND]                 

Permission Manager

Protection of user data from the dangerous applications needs fine control.  Honor 7 has extended the features of base Android, to provide the next level of privacy and security to allow you to monitor different access rights used by different apps i.e to control app permissions even after it is installed. This enables you to build a strong protective shield against malware.

It provides a dual view feature

·         Permission view  Provides List of apps which can use a certain permission

·         App view gives the list of all permissions an app is using

Permission Manager allows you to manage the right permission to apps, you can choose from:

·         Allow

·         Notify (ask before using)

·         Restrict (do not let use)

  

Permission Manager                      

 Permission Manager Setting      

Manage App Permission

Recommended Permission: Helps you identify which permission to give and which to withhold to keep your privacy protected.

Permission Restriction History: History of apps which has accessed or tried to access restricted permission. It also notifies you when such incident happens.

Conclusion 

Device security	Honor 7	OnePlus 2
Finger Scanner	Yes	Yes
Finger Scanner Placement Advantage	Very Good	Good
Time to learn & record new finger	~10 sec	~30sec
Unlock Time With Screen OFF	<0.5 sec	0.7 to 1 sec
Guest Mode with data and apps hide	Best	NA
Multi Account	Only one Guest	Multi account
Smart Unlock with a wearable	Yes	No
Protected Apps	Yes	No
Apps Network usage control	Yes	N0
Harassment Filter	Best	NA
DND	Best	NA
App permission control	Best	Good
Recommended Permission	Good	NA
Notification control	Good	Very good
Price	22,999	24,999

Considering overall security features and fine control over configuration to protect personal data, Honor 7 stands on top in overall device security for user data protection.