Review of Secure Data Applications
Data security is one of the most important aspects of your mobile phone usage. If your phone contains confidential documents or specific files, they need to be protected from unauthorized access. This review is about two pretty different applications offering the possibility to protect your media files, confidential documents, messages and contacts.
Here is brief information about the applications to be analyzed:
| App name | Vendor | Price | Size, Kb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Crypto | Smartphoneware | Buy $14.95 | 67 |
| Smart Guard | Aims Migital Technovations | Buy $5.95 | 583 |
We analyzed the following list of aspects and application details:
•Installation
•Trial period
•Settings
•Help and Support
•Application in action
You will easily install both applications following the instructions on the screen of your mobile phone.
| App name | Score |
|---|---|
| Best Crypto | 10 |
| Smart Guard | 10 |
Both Best Crypto and Smart Guard offer a 15-day trial version.
| App name | Score |
|---|---|
| Best Crypto | 9 |
| Smart Guard | 9 |
Smart Guard offers the following list of settings:
• Change password – to change the password
• Remember State – when enabled the application will open in the last active screen of the application
• Auto Exit After – to automatically close the application after a definite time interval specified by you
• Change Hint Question? – to change the Hint Question and the Hint Answer used for Password recovery
The Best Crypto software offers no settings to modify which is a disadvantage for any application.
| App name | Score |
|---|---|
| Best Crypto | 1 |
| Smart Guard | 8 |
Best Crypto doesn’t contain Help; the e-mail to contact a developer – support@smartphoneware.com The support department works efficiently sending the e-mail in the course of 1 business day.
Smart Guard Help file contains comprehensible information to navigate in the application; for additional questions or suggestions turn to cpsupport@migital.com to receive any help from the support department. Unfortunately the support department didn’t respond to our e-mail.
| App name | Score |
|---|---|
| Best Crypto | 4 |
| Smart Guard | 5 |
Smart Guard protects information both in the Internal Memory and on the Memory Card and hides it so that no one else except the phone owner can ever see the content.
The main screen has the following view:
• Applications – contains files which you can protect using the application
• Settings – list of settings available for modifying
• About – brief information about the vendor and the application
To enter Smart Guard for the first time you will have to fill in the Password and Hint Question fields, afterwards to confirm them.
The Applications screen looks as follows:
Any file available in each folder can be:
• Open – to view/read the selected file
• Mark/Unmark – to select file(s) using the Mark/Unmark option
• Hide – to hide the selected file
• Visible – to make the hidden file(s) visible
If you want for example to hide your sent messages, you can open the Messages folder and click left soft key Options → Hide:
You will see a small lock near the hidden file.
Having hidden the messages and opening your phone’s sent messages folder you will see no messages available:
And only after you make them visible in the Smart Guard application, they will be seen in the Sent messages folder of your phone.
The same behaviour occurs with Contacts and Media files from your library.
Disadvantage of the application is that it does not encrypt files other then media files.
Best Crypto – protects your private photos, voice and sound files, videos, confidential documents.
The main screen has the following view:
To start using this application you have to click left soft key:
• Add file(s) to list – to add those files you want to encrypt
• File browser – to select any file on your mobile phone
• Session options – for every file you encrypt you may assign different password. But in some situations users would like to use the same password to encrypt/decrypt several files. If so, select “Keep key” option in “Session options” menu. If you do not need this option select “Don’t keep key” option
• Misc – contains the Memory, disks info, About and Register information
• Exit – to exit the application
The added files have the following view:
To encrypt the selected files you have to click right soft key Encrypt and enter the password:
Afterwards the Safe list will look as follows:
The encrypted file won’t be visible to others.
Best Crypto has more possibilities, as it encrypts any file, but on the other hand it does not encrypt contacts or messages as Smart Guard does.
| App name | Score |
|---|---|
| Best Crypto | 8 |
| Smart Guard | 6 |
Having analyzed all components and settings and given them the scores from 1 to 10, we have multiplied the scores by a corresponding importance factor in order to get the total score value of the application.
We have used the following Importance factor (IF) values:
• Installation: IF 3
• Trial period: IF 4
• Settings: IF 5
• Help and Support: IF 6
• Application in action: IF 10
The total possible score for an application would be 280 points.
Multiplying the score by Importance factors we have got the following table:
| Smart Guard | Best Crypto | |
|---|---|---|
| Installation | 30 | 30 |
| Trial period | 36 | 36 |
| Settings | 40 | 5 |
| Help/Support | 30 | 24 |
| Application in action | 60 | 80 |
| Total | 196 | 175 |
Test winner according to the overall application test is Smart Guard from Aims Migital Technovations.
The reviewed applications are interesting and useful, as they protect your media files and confidential documents safe. I guess you should first choose which data types you would like to protect, as the price of the applications sharply differs. If you wish to protect only your media files, like photos, video, ringtones and messages, contacts, you can download Smart Guard, which has nice interface, and is not as expensive as Best Crypto. But if you do not need to protect your SMS or contacts, but would like rather to protect any file on your mobile,then BestCrypto application is right choice.