Hello everyone,
I'm new to Android and currently wondering if I should get an Android phone. I primarily want to use it for accessing my eMail (IMAP) and calendar (iCal) on the way.
To protect data on a mobile device, I find it absolutely important to have it encrypted completely. After all, mobile devices easily get lost or stolen, and I certainly don't want all my personal data in someone else's hands. Without encryption, no matter if there are passwords or anything, my data can definitely be read out by a third party when they have my phone.
Since Android is just a modified Linux, I suppose that you could use dm-crypt to transparently encrypt all user data (does Android use a "home folder" for user data just like on Linux?). However I'm unfamiliar if dm-crypt is supported by the Android interface (so that I can e.g. enter my password there when I start the device). I am aware that encryption will have a negative impact on my battery life, but I've learned to live with that and since I won't be moving around big amounts of data on the go, I suspect this won't be such a big problem.
I searched the forums but since even a search for "encryption" doesn't bring up anything useful, I decided to post a new thread.
I'm new to Android and currently wondering if I should get an Android phone. I primarily want to use it for accessing my eMail (IMAP) and calendar (iCal) on the way.
To protect data on a mobile device, I find it absolutely important to have it encrypted completely. After all, mobile devices easily get lost or stolen, and I certainly don't want all my personal data in someone else's hands. Without encryption, no matter if there are passwords or anything, my data can definitely be read out by a third party when they have my phone.
Since Android is just a modified Linux, I suppose that you could use dm-crypt to transparently encrypt all user data (does Android use a "home folder" for user data just like on Linux?). However I'm unfamiliar if dm-crypt is supported by the Android interface (so that I can e.g. enter my password there when I start the device). I am aware that encryption will have a negative impact on my battery life, but I've learned to live with that and since I won't be moving around big amounts of data on the go, I suspect this won't be such a big problem.
I searched the forums but since even a search for "encryption" doesn't bring up anything useful, I decided to post a new thread.