Re: Malware, app.... all very similar
Directly make phone calls, read SMS, MMS, send MMS SMS, take pictures and videos (why does a play store need control of the camera?)
"Google Play Services" isn't just the store - it's essentially a layer of OS services. They changed it to this format to try to do something about the manufacturers who wouldn't update the base OS; this way, it's upgradeable through the store. As such, all those permissions are required, because otherwise, they're denied to any OS upgrades delivered in this fashion.
For my money, it would have been better to deliver more modularised chunks, rather than this hulking great megalith - but that's how it is; I didn't get to make the decisions. And the alternative is to go back to what the early flavours of Android did - install once, never update anything...
Vic.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
