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Can the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G replace your digital camera for vacation photos? - USA TODAY

Posted: 08 Aug 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Mike Feibus | Special to USA TODAY

If you're still determined to pack two trips' worth of fun and adventure into your first summer-after-the-summer-of-COVID getaway, then maybe it's time to assess whether your smartphone will do justice to the two years' worth of vacation memories you're about to make.

I did. When we left for our epic island-hopping adventure in the British Virgin Islands earlier this summer, I brought the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G "call-camera" with me, and left my fancy, high-end digital SLR camera at home. And I came back happy.

I like to take good pictures. But I want the camera to do the work. So I never take the time to learn the pro features, whether that's with my DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera and its many lenses or my smartphone. I just leave it in auto-focus.

Truth be told, I only have that fancy, high-end digital DSLR to shoot video, which is something I need to do for work sometimes. And ever since I bought it, I've taken it with me on vacation because it happens to take really nice pictures.

If you're considering upgrading your smartphone before embarking on your first vacation in nearly two years and wondering if it can do the job of your "real" camera, read on.

Latest and greatest

There are three reasons I decided to take only a flagship smartphone like the S21 Ultra to the BVI:

Lots of lenses: Lenses flat enough to fit into a smartphone aren't nearly as flexible as camera lenses, which leverage their length for zooming. So smartphone makers have been closing the gap by building teams of specialist lenses to take quality photos in different conditions. The S21 Ultra has four rear cameras: wide, ultra-wide and two telephotos. Apple's iPhone 12 Pro Max has three, forgoing the second telephoto lens.

Night mode: The S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro Max are much better at low-light photography, which has been a challenge for smartphones. Both feature a specialty Night Mode, which results in better pictures – but also takes longer to focus.

AI performance: It's one thing to pack all those lenses into the rear camera bump of a skinny smartphone. It's quite another to be able to switch lenses on the fly – and even combine two of them for better quality zoom. And today's flagship smartphones are plenty capable.

In fairness to my Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 camera, it is four years old, and the S21 Ultra is barely halfway to its first birthday. Plus, I do handicap the GH5 with my stubborn insistence on auto-mode – that's especially detrimental in low-light situations – as well as with my solitary 5x zoom lens, with its admittedly pedestrian 12-60mm focal length. For comparison, the S21 Ultra's super telephoto lens has an equivalent focal length of 240mm.

With plenty of daylight, and for subjects in range, I do sometimes snap richer, more detailed pictures with the GH5 than the S21 Ultra. The GH5 would obviously compete better if I lugged more lenses along – and in the hands of a better photographer. But that's the whole point here, isn't it? I'm not a better photographer. And I won't carry more lenses. Unless they fit in my pocket.

So how'd I do?

With such beautiful Caribbean subjects, from the breathtaking Devil's Bay on Virgin Gorda to the secluded stretches of beach on remote Anegada Island, everyone came back with pictures to treasure. But as the only one with a flagship phone, I was able to coax more great shots in more situations.

I most often earned oohs and ahs from my boatmates when we compared long-distance shots, and when we looked at pictures taken in low-light conditions. There was also a subtler advantage: My pictures often had more detail than even those from a high-end, two-year-old smartphone. That gave me more flexibility to crop photos later.

I took a few pictures in Night Mode that came out blurry. The gentle rocking of the boat and Night Mode's lengthy focus time clearly conspired against me on those.

What to do?

You'll notice a big improvement in the number of scenes and situations you can capture with a current top-of-the-line smartphone like the S21 Ultra – even if your smartphone is less than four years old.

On the other hand, you'll probably be content with the pictures you take with your existing phone – provided you don't invite anybody along who is taking shots with the latest technology.

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Does your iPhone or iPad have Pegasus spyware? Find out for free - CNET

Posted: 08 Aug 2021 03:18 AM PDT

cybersecurity-2544 — You'll need to connect your iPhone to your computer to check for Pegasus spyware.
Angela Lang/CNET

Every time there's a report about an iPhone or iPad exploit being actively distributed and used, it's unnerving. In July, it was revealed that security researchers discovered evidence of Pegasus spyware being used on the phones of journalists, politicians and activists.

The spyware can be remotely installed on a target's iPhone or iPad without the owner taking any action, granting the person or organization who installed it full access to the device and all the data it holds. That includes text messages, emails and even recording phone calls. Pegasus was originally designed and is marketed by its creator, the NSO Group, to monitor criminals and terrorists.

I think it's only natural to wonder if your devices are infected whenever reports like this surface, even though there's no reason for any government entity to want to monitor my iPhone use. That is, unless they really want to know how much time I spend on TikTok every day. And in that case, they can just ask. (Spoiler: It's a lot.) For those who are curious, like me, there's now a free tool that allows you to check your iPhone or iPad with a few clicks of the mouse.

To be clear, the odds of your iPhone or iPad being infected by the Pegasus Spyware are low, and various reports claim that the most recent update, iOS 14.7.1, fixed the exploit Pegasus was using, but that hasn't been confirmed by Apple. That said, if you want peace of mind -- just in case -- by knowing that your device is free of anyone spying on you, here's what you need to do.

Now playing: Watch this: We go hands-on with Apple's new $99 MagSafe Battery Pack

3:43

Download and install iMazing's app on your Mac or PC

iMazing recently updated its Mac and PC app to include Amnesty International's Mobile Verification Toolkit (MVT) which was built to detect signs of Pegasus on a device and isn't charging users to access the feature.

Download iMazing for your respective computer from the company's website. Don't worry about buying the app, we can run the full spyware test using the free trial.

After it's downloaded, install iMazing and then open it. When prompted, select free trial.

how-to-run-imazing-spyware-tool — The longest part is waiting for the app to make a back up of your iPhone or iPad.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

How to run the Pegasus Spyware test on your iPhone or iPad

With iMazing installed and running, connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer using the appropriate cable. You may have to enter your Lock Screen code on your device to approve the connection before proceeding (something to keep in mind if your iPhone or iPad isn't showing up in iMazing).

Next, scroll down through the action options on the right-hand side of iMazing until you locate Detect Spyware; click on it.

A new window will open, guiding you through the process. The tool works by creating a local backup of your device (so you'll need to make sure you have enough storage space for the backup), and then analyzing that backup. It's an automated task, so you don't have to stick around to monitor it once you click start.

iMazing suggests leaving all of the default settings in place as you click through each screen. There are configuration options built into the tool for advanced users, but for most of us (including myself), the default configuration settings will get the job done.

After going through the basic configuration, you'll need to accept a license for the tool and then click the Start Analysis button.

Once the process starts, make sure you leave your iPhone or iPad connected until it's finished. I ran the test on my iPhone 12 Pro and it took around 30 minutes to create the backup and another 5 minutes for it to be analyzed. After the backup was created, I did have to enter my account password to allow iMazing to begin analyzing the file. Because of that, I recommend starting the tool and checking on it after a while.

Once iMazing begins analyzing your device's backup, it'll show you its progress by displaying each individual app it's checking, starting with iMessage. The app is using a database of known "malicious email addresses, links, process names and file names"

When iMazing finishes, you'll see an alert with the results. In my case, my iPhone 12 Pro did not show any signs of infection and had 0 warnings.

The alert also includes two buttons to either open or reveal the report. I looked through my report and it contained a bunch of random links that meant nothing to me.

At the end of the scan, the results are displayed in an easy to read alert.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

What to do if the iMazing app says your device has signs of an infection

First of all, don't panic. It could be a false positive. iMazing asks that you send the report (click reveal report to go directly to the file) to its customer support team who will then do further analysis.

The company does suggest, however, that if you or a family member are active in a "politically sensitive context" and have a positive report to immediately remove your SIM card and turn your iPhone off.

Again, the odds of getting a true positive report are very low, but at least you'll have some peace of mind. For more security tips, double-check these settings. For added privacy, go through these steps.

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