When Tom turns Bluetooth on after having been turned off for awhile, tons of apps start opening up on his phone. What's happening? Leo says that backgrounded apps automatically terminate after a short period. Leo recommends letting the phone manage his apps for him. He doesn't need a third party app to kill them — he should just let the phone do it.
Mark bought a phone on eBay and wants to know if it will work with his carrier. Leo says that it may, but it depends on the radio frequencies it supports and whether or not the phone has been locked to the carrier or not. You can get the carrier unlock it, and they should do it as long as it is in good standing. He'll also need to make sure the phone isn't carrier locked.
Jake bought a new phone on eBay, but he can't activate it because it says he owes money to AT&T — but he's never used it with AT&T. Leo says it's probably the carrier that has flagged the IMEI of that phone and locked it out. Leo advises contacting eBay and getting his money back. He should give the seller a bad review as well. Of course, he could pay the bill. But who wants to do that? This is why you don't buy phones on eBay.
Noah's girlfriend lost her smartphone, but they found it and the screen is shot. The phone still works, but they'd like to get the contacts off. Leo says they can connect it to a computer and use the Android File Transfer app on a Mac, or use it as a hard drive on a PC. The PC will read the phone as a hard drive and then they can hunt around and find all the data. She should look in the Android Data folder, check "SD0", copy all of it to the hard drive, and then root around.
Sergio has a car that uses Android Auto, but after the recent update, he can't use it with his Nissan vehicle. Leo says that it's likely that the Android update isn't supported by his car yet. There's really nothing he can do until the car's Android Auto app gets updated.
Jason's iPhone 6S battery is swelling. It's the third time it's happened. Leo says he'll have to go to Apple and have them escalate the issue. He should do that fast because the battery replacement program is ending. In fact, maybe he should make the case for a new iPhone 6S altogether.
Ed thinks the iPhone is more secure than Android because malware always affects Android, not Apple. Leo says that Apple keeps the iPhone more sandboxed and doesn't allow users to install anything but apps approved by Apple. Google, by contrast, allows alternative Android stores, but they do require all apps in the Google Play to be approved. Apple is only marginally more secure. Bottom line, Apple will protect his information, and Google will sell it.
Gary is about to get an Android phone and is concerned about security. Leo says that mobile phones have enhanced security with apps sandboxed from one another, and as such, are extremely secure. Android also has a mobile kill switch for apps, so if a bad app is installed, Google can kill it. So he doesn't really need an antivirus app for his smartphone. He should just make sure to only install apps from reputable sources.
Chris wants to talk about how good smartphone cameras are getting. They're getting so good that many people have simply stopped using DSLRs and personal cameras. There are three areas that smartphones are chipping away at standalone cameras:
Richard wants to know if apps on his smartphones can track him if it's off. Leo says no. No app can track him if the phone is off. But it's not very useful that way. He can either remove the app, or revoke its permissions. Can the government remotely turn it on? Leo says no. Not yet, anyway.
