text:
Quick Key Problem HTC G2
I have a Google G2 and for some reason the keyboard has set itself to open apps with almost every letter I push. For instance when I push the letter e on my keyboard it opens the email app. How do I turn this off?

The slideout keyboard comes with Quick keys which you can assign to quickly open an app or an item when pressed.

Open the slideout keyboard.
Press and hold Shortcut key #1 to assign the first Quick key . Press and hold Shortcut key #2 to assign the second Quick key .
Tap OK
Tap Apps or Shortcuts, and then tap the app or shortcut that you want to assign to the selected Quick key. If you are assigning a shortcut to an item on your phone, follow the screen instructions to proceed.
Press the Quick key you’ve assigned. The app or item opens.

source: http://www.htc.com/help/www/howto_iframe.aspx?id=18599&type=1&p_id=325

I had this phone, and I had this problem. Your "Search" key is stuck down -- press it a few times to unstick it.
This model has a feature where you can press search+e to open email. (It is, in fact, fully configurable.) When the search button gets stuck, those shortcuts activate, leading to the behavior you describe.


text:
Galaxy Nexus: Disable screen lock during call
My GN Device locks the screen when I start a call.  Most of my calls are made using BT headset, and I don't need the lock in that scenario.
Is there a way to disable the automatic screen lock when a headset is used?

Is this still an issue on JB?

No, it isn't - I will answer it.

This issue was solved under Jelly Beans.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
Is it possible to open a locally saved Flash file on the Ideapad A1?
Is it possible to open a Flash file (.swf) locally on Lenovo A1 tablet? (Something like open it through the Android browser?)
Thanks!

Try the Smart SWF Player app.

Your browser should be able to open a swf directly if you have flash installed.
If clicking on the file doesn't do it, then your file extensions for swf need to be set up, to associate swf with your preferred browser.

The tablet is using Android.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Rooting and unrooting Apex Launcher
I read the ApexLauncher FAQ and there is this line:
Move the APK file to the /system/app directory manually.
Make sure you set the file permission properly.
Please reboot your device if the in-drawer widgets feature does not work.
To uninstall, please remove ApexLauncher.apk from /system/app manually.

My question is, is it really that easy to do? I mean, if I move the .apk to the system directory, I will have a fully-functional ApexLauncher (i.e. a rooted phone) and when I delete the file, I will be back to the OK-state?

No. To move the app to /system/app directory your phone must be already rooted. You would want to install Apex Launcher as system app i.e. install in /system/app because of the following reason.

NOTE: Due to limitations of the Android framework, you won't be able to add widgets from the drawer unless Apex Launcher is installed as a system app (root required). Please read the FAQ for more information.

If I misunderstood your question and if you were asking if installing app as system app in a rooted phone is that easy, then the answer is yes. You can do it as you have said and once you remove it, your phone will be back to the "OK" state. You can also use program like ES File explorer or use adb to install as a system app.

Well, sort of. I understand now, that once the phone is rooted, it is this easy to install / uninstall apps. However, if I decided to unroot the phone, I would have to flash the official ICS ROM? (Would the re-flash be detectable? If I wanted to sell the phone later..)

Well, this is a different topic, but yes you can re flash the stock ROM and any other modification you might have made like 'radio' and the phone will return to original state. The reflash won't be detectable.


text:
Exchange server email sync
I have just upgraded to ICS on my Galaxy s2 and have an Outlook Exchange account that I sync on the device. Prior to the ICS update, when I read emails on my computer it automatically updated the device as that same email being read. Now I have to manually mark all my phone emails as read even though I have read them on my computer.
Is there a setting I can change back to so I don't have to do this?


text:
How does WiFiKill actually work?
There is a program for Android, WifiKill, which disables wifi internet access of some neighbor peers connected to the same wifi AP. How does this program works? ARP poisoning or some other techniques?

The app's author himself explains how it works at the top of the second page of that thread you linked to:

It's the same idea as FaceNiff (I'm a developer of it also), basically
  it sends ARP Reply's to all of the devices in the network fooling them
  to think that your mobile is router. And then all of the devices try
  connecting to network THROUGH your device... and you just drop every
  single packet from them. In this version it's just dropping packets
  but maybe later I'll try adding some sort of primitive REJECT target.

And slightly more on page 5

Originally Posted by Jufjufjuf
Is this using an arpspoofing attack? Just wondering if there was anyway to send out de-auth packets through android like airdrop-ng?

Yes, it's using arp spoofing. I suppose there is a way to send deauth
  packets but it would require modifying kernel drivers for wifi card.
  AFAIK it won't work out-of-the-box because most of android wifi
  drivers don't allow packet injections and even changing the mac
  address of the NIC is super-difficult in a lot of devices.

As far as tools for desktop OSs go, there are a few that will do this kind of thing, MDK3 seems to be a popular one for doing this kind of thing.


text:
Can you damage the proximity sensor if you keep it always on?
If you keep the proximity sensor always on (like for applications that turn on the screen when you tap the sensor a few times) is there a risk to damage it?
I'm assuming that the sensor works only in certain situations (e.g. phone rings and sensor is activated to see if phone is in pocket, during a call to detect proximity to the head etc) so I'm wondering if it's OK to keep the sensor on all the time.

Just one data point... on an older phone I wrote an app that left the proximity sensor on all the time at night (to easy log when I got in and out of bed) and I never had any issues.  On my model it was just a (very dim) red LED which probably has a longer life than the phone as a whole.

The sensor is always on, so there's no higher risk of damage if an app uses it.

It's always on?! No matter the type of sensor or phone?

It wouldn't make much sense to turn it on/off. It's a very low power sensor.


text:
SGS2 running ICS 4.0.3 can't connect to home wifi
I have a Samsung Galaxy S II 9100. I had no problem connecting to wifi while it was running 2.3.4 or 2.3.6 official firmware. 2 days ago I upgraded to official 4.0.3 and now it connects to all other wifi networks except my home wireless. I did a clean flash, wiped data, cache, dalvik cache etc. I'm using a Linksys WRT300N wireless-N router and all other devices are able to connect (my laptop, other Android phones). Also, before I installed ICS I tried MIUI 2.3.16 which is based on Android 4.0.3 and had the same problem. Can anybody help me?

I was having the same problem with this router + phone + firmware combo, I found that setting up a DHCP Reservation (using the mac address of your phone) on the router (Setup/Basic Setup/DHCP Server/DHCP Reservation) allowed my phone to connect successfully.

Try reloading the wifi driver dial *#*#526#*#* (or) install the "wifi-fixer" app from the market.

Here's an issue I had forever!
I fixed it by adjusting the router to use WPA2 only instead of WPA/WPA2.  Now all my Android devices connect without problems.


text:
Google Geolocation Problem with Beautiful Widgets
After boot Beautiful Widgets shows a Google Geolocation Problem notification and tells me that Google can't find my location based on the given GPS coordinates.
Beautiful Widgets suggests that:
"- Android Geolocation system is temporarily down
- A bad GPS fix has been provided by your phone
If that still does not work, disable geolocation in the settings."
How can I fix this? Not only is it bothersome, it is also draining my phone's battery at an alarming rate.


text:
Is there any android epub reader supporting epub3 with audio/video/javascript?
Hi i just developed an epub format ebook (containing a video and a javascript animation).It is working fine on iphone/ipad (running on ibooks)..I was wondering if I could read the same ebook with an Android phone/tablet ?

Might keep an eye on this thread to see if anyone answers there.

Take a look at Infinity Reader. It supports audio, video and all ePub3 features. The reader comes with a free book, which contains youtube video. Moreover, you can download a lot of free books.

From Android Play Store, you can use ASTRI-Bee (full version):

Support for epub3 ebooks, e.g. the RTL epub books which is generally not available for reading in most of the epub readers but a basic feature of epub3 ebooks, also javascript within epub ebooks is enabled.
  Also support pdf, txt, html formatted ebooks.
Support for audio and video content within the epub ebooks, again, this is just a basic feature of epub3 ebooks, but we also extend the support of multimedia to epub2 ebooks using the adobe flash plugin(requiring that the adobe flash preinstalled on your device)

I've highlighted what concerns your question.
Ps: Appears to be a "young app"... only one revision.

Kobo seems to be your best bet, and Gyan looks like it could work too.
Here's a couple others, but they are low-rated or in beta, so use at your own risk.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitalsource.bookshelf
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.easyaccess.epubreader
Source: http://www.mathjax.org/resources/epub-readers/

From the description in the Market, take a look @ Himawari - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.green_fld.himawari
Although the reviews aren't altogether too favourable.
Also, Ibis Reader has recently introduced the epub3 format into its reader - http://epub3.ibisreader.com/

thanks.any opensource classes i could use to read epub 3.0 on android devices as well?

@luca for the Class, check out the github: epublib by psiegman and there also this stackoverflow question .

Please check out Gyan ePub Reader. It is a fully compliant epub3 reader with audio and video support.
No Adobe plugins are required. It renders maths equations, SVG animations and has a read-aloud feature.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Please note that if you are affiliated to the mentioned app you are required to mention this in your post

SkyEpub definitely supports epub3 (audio/video media overlay functions)
See this link enter link description here


text:
"Souper Android Development" app suddenly shown installed on the Play Store, but I can't find the app on my Motorola Droid 3
While traversing the 'installed' list of Google Play, I noticed a very odd app named "Souper Android Development".
What's so suspicious about it is:

It does absolutely nothing to explain what it is, what it does, or what permissions are required
There is no option to open/uninstall
I cannot find it by searching for it
It is dimmed in the list with the other apps
It is not listed when I browse play.google.com/apps
Nobody (in the comments) seems to know where they got it.

Notice the app is dimmed (grayed out)

I scrolled to the top of the page during screen capture.  Notice how many standard features are missing

I have no idea where it came from.  I imagine it was either part of the humongous set of bloatware provided by Verizon or, what I'm thinking is more likely, the method used to root my phone: Pete's Motorola Root Tools.  I have scanned my phone with Lookout but it hasn't found anything.

Can anyone provide any insight as to what this app is?
How should I remove this app?  I am having difficulty locating it in "System App Remover".
Should I be suspicious of the rooting tool I used and take any action? I have been told this is legit.  Whether it is or not, it doesn't seem to be in any way part of the problem.
How can you trace a market app to its package name?

Update
While searching for other complaints on this app, I dug up:

A link to it on Google Play(removed).  I'm still curious as to how someone obtained this link, I couldn't find it in a search or any references to it.
It says it's not compatible with any of my devices but it's installed.
No one has found any traces of it on their phone (probably because it's 'linking' to com.motorola.contacts.preloaded)
It seems to only be affecting Droid 3 users.

Update 3/28/2012
Final update/Brief summary:

3/26: App showed up without user-approved install under the name "Brett Henderson" with no option to open or uninstall.  Later renamed "Souper Android Development".
3/27: Clicked the app's "share" button to view its link to the app on phone (com.motorola.contacts.preloaded).  This confirms Richard's suspicion that it was merely sharing its name with a legit system app as opposed to installing junk on the phone.  Further reading revealed that each app has a unique ID to prevent one app from providing "updates" to another with the same name.
3/28: The app was removed from the app market place.  As pointed out by Matthew Read, a similar bug happened not too long ago.  As of now, I haven't read anything official on this instance.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone exploiting this bug.

@Matthew:  I'm trying to find what this market app is "linked" to on my phone.  From ADB I ran pm list packages -f, but didn't see "SOUPER" anywhere.  Do you know how to see the app's displayed name?

Hmm, not sure.  You could potentially grep in /system/app/*.apk for "souper".

Thanks again Matthew.  Nothing different in *.apk but I believe this app is pretending to be com.motorola.contacts.preloaded.

There's nothing malicious here. A developer uploaded an app to the Play Store that has the same package name as a system app from your phone.
The new Play Store update tweaked the detection of system apps and it linked the apps. This will probably be resolved soon. No need to bring big guns.
Lookout and other "antivirus" tools don't show anything malicious because they couldn't tell Angry Birds apart from a nuclear bomb. They are completely useless against any sophisticated attack.

There could very well be something malicious here.  This doesn't look like an honest mistake (like in the case of the Russian mobile carrier app that Matthew Read linked in his comment.)  This very much looks like a deliberate attempt to fool the Market into "upgrading" a system app with this junk.  Even more suspicious is the fact that this app seems to have already been pulled off the Play Store, mere hours after it's been flagged.

How can I confirm this?  Surely there is a way see this link (ie Trace a market app back to the installed app).  As far as app "antivirus", I know it's a joke to say the least.  The only reason I bothered mentioning it was to prevent someone from asking me if I did it.

Every app is signed with the developers keys. If the keys of the update and the original app don't match Android will refuse to install the update. Unless the attacker somehow managed to get Motorola's private key this attack is not feasible.

That makes sense, but is there a way to see the what the package name is of the app while it's on the market?  What I'd like to do is see [market app with name "abc"] == [phone app with name "abc"].  I know I'm being a little paranoid, but I'm just hoping to have something more tangible than "don't worry about it".

Click on the share icon on the details page. Select gmail or a notes app and you will see a link. The part after id= is the package name.
I'm not sure what would be the best way to find out which of your is this as apks names in the system partition are not the same as their package name. I will get back to you later on that.

Thanks Richard.  I don't have an option to share...  If you look at my second screen shot, it's missing a whole bunch of stuff (I was scrolled to the top when I took the capture).  I do, however, have a +1 option; which fails.

So you no longer have the option marked with red in this picture: http://db.tt/sFzaQ2Ez ?

Dumb moment, sorry about that.  It's there.  I suppose there's no way for me to break this link and I just have to wait for Google to fix it?

No. For the past few versions Google started to handle linking apps on the servers instead of letting the market app do it. This also resulted in apps that you got elsewhere (Amazon) to show up as purchased in market, but unable to download or buy there. Really annoying.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How to tell if your phone is refurbished
Is there a way to tell if an Android phone is an original or a refurbished product?

Wouldnt the packaging most likely be different ?

On some devices, yes, there is a way. I am not certain which specific devices this works on, but there are two methods you can try. The most platform agnostic way to do it is generally the following:

Install a launcher that allows you to create shortcuts to Activities. ADW Launcher and Launcher Pro are both free and allow this.
Long press on an empty space on your home screen and select Shortcut->Activity.
Look for one of the following in the list of Activities. Either:
A. A package named com.android.hiddenmenu which you can expand to reveal the RTN activity OR
B. An activity simply named com.android.RTN (this is what I have on my Galaxy Nexus, CM9).
Create a shortcut to the RTN activity. If given a choice between multiple ones, select the "View" activity.
Launch RTN from the shortcut and look for the "Reconditioned Status" entry in the list. If it says "Yes" then it's a refurb. If it says "No" then it isn't (or it has not been properly noted as one for some reason).

The less portable (manufacturer dependent) way of doing this is to open your dial pad and enter the dialer code ##786#, which will also take you to RTN if the dialer code is supported. On some devices it may also work with *#*#786#*#*. All of the above directions were summarized from this blog post.

Nice, I would never have guessed there was anything like this.

I actually got my replacement phone the other day and the Reconditioned status still said: No , but the call history shown above in this menu showed the phone had been used. So I was able to tell it was recondition through that. All in all very helpful, thanks!

None of the above helped me find the reconditioned status. I used Launcher Pro, and even searched IN most of the files found in the "activity" folder. Then, I tried dialing the ##786#, and then *#*#786#*#*. Both did not work. I even tried pushing send after those different numbers to make the phone run the code. The shorter number indicated the number was an invalid code. The longer number said it was not a valid number. I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 through AT&T with the new JB update. Any suggestions welcomed!

@Marian: Like I noted, this is (unfortunately) not a foolproof method. What exactly do you mean by "searched in the files found in the activity folder", though? Were you looking at files on the filesystem?

do the stats about the number of calls and call time reset if a factory reset is done or the firmware is reflashed?


text:
WiFi Signal drops out every 3 minutes
For several weeks now my Android (Gingerbread 2.3.6) phone has been losing it's WiFi signal momentarily, typically at about 3 minute intervals (about 3 minutes, 1.5 seconds) and occasionally at some longer interval that always seems to be a multiple of just over 3 minutes. This causes an interruption of several seconds while the WiFi connection is re-established and typically fails any kind of download/streaming that is happening, makes web sites "unreachable" and generally makes the phone unusable as a data device due to the frequency. The signal remains down for about a second, but the phone takes a few more seconds to reconnect to the router.
This happens regardless of proximity to the router, which shows a very strong signal - usually -40 to -30 dBm or better in the same room, nowhere in the house less than -70 dBm.  It also happens regardless of whether the phone is plugged in or on battery.
Some specific things I've tried that had no effect:

Changing channels (I've tried 1, 4, 8 and 9).
Turning off the router's guest access.
Turning off the 5.0 GHz band.
Setting the router to Wireless N only (though that did prevent my laptop from connecting, which only supports G).
Changing the phone's wireless advanced settings sleep policy to Never.
Setting the battery mode to Performance mode.

Monitoring the signal on my phone with WiFi analyzer, shows all WiFi signals on all channels drop to nothing when the WiFi connection is lost (there are two other networks on different channels which are strong enough to be relevant, with about 6 others constantly fading in and out). WiFi analyzer shows 3 separate signals for my router, the main 2.4 GHz, the guest 2.4 GHz and the 5.0 GHz.
Using WiFi Analyzer on my wife's phone side-by-side shows no change in signal when my phone drops, nor does her phone drop.
Monitoring the signal using our laptop, side-by-side likewise shows no signal loss and likewise the laptop does not lose it's WiFi connection.
But, at work, the phone seems to not exhibit the same behavior, or, if it does, it's very occasional.  Monitoring it all day at work I only saw the signal drop 3 or 4 times.  The signal strength of the various networks there is comparatively weak.
AT&T were super helpful: "Sorry, we can't help you with WiFi problems. You could try doing a factory reset on your phone". </sarcasm>
The router is relatively new, but has been working fine with this phone since last Dec.
Phone          : Motorola Atrix MB860, System version 4.5.141.MB860.ATT.en.US, Android 2.3.6, Build Number 4.5.141.
Router         : Belkin N750 DB (F9K1103 v1 (01C)).
Router Firmware: 1.00.46 (2011/10/28 6:37:11).
Security       : WPA/WPA2-Personal (PSK)

It looks like I may have found the problem.  The latest update from AT&T (4.5.141.MB860.ATT.en.US) which they pushed a few weeks ago appears to not handle a "Forever" DHCP lease properly or my router does not properly handle a DHCP lease renewal when configured for "Forever".  One does have to wonder why the phone was renewing a lease which had no timeout, and especially after only 150 seconds (allowing for the 30 second network request timeout).
Coincident with the WiFi dropping, the logs show the phone tearing down the WiFi service and restarting it after a failed lease renewal request.  Because the router has always had a "Forever" lease time, my money is on the update introducing a bug in the phone.
From my phone log (note there's a large time between the request and the renewal only because the log captures only a couple of minutes, so I had to capture a number of small log fragments before I tumbled to the DHCP connection):
03-27 20:46:25.928 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): DHCP request started
...
03-27 20:46:27.931 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): DHCP succeeded with lease: -1
...
03-27 21:16:23.938 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): DHCP renewal started
...
03-27 21:16:53.947 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): DHCP renewal failed: Timed out waiting for DHCP Renew to finish
...
03-27 21:16:54.008 V/WifiMonitor( 1637): Event [CTRL-EVENT-STATE-CHANGE id=2 state=8 BSSID=00:00:00:00:00:00]
03-27 21:16:54.018 V/WifiStateTracker( 1637): Changing supplicant state: COMPLETED ==> DORMANT
03-27 21:16:54.018 I/wpa_supplicant(12515): CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys
03-27 21:16:54.018 V/WifiMonitor( 1637): Event [CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys]
03-27 21:16:54.018 I/wpa_supplicant(12515): CTRL-EVENT-STATE-CHANGE id=-1 state=8 BSSID=00:00:00:00:00:00
03-27 21:16:54.018 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): Reset connections and stopping DHCP
03-27 21:16:54.028 V/WifiMonitor( 1637): Event [CTRL-EVENT-STATE-CHANGE id=-1 state=8 BSSID=00:00:00:00:00:00]
03-27 21:16:54.048 W/Smack/Packet( 2186): notify conn break (IOEx), close connection
...
03-27 21:16:55.084 D/WifiStateTracker( 1637): Disabling interface
03-27 21:16:55.088 D/NetworkStateTracker( 1637): setDetailed state, old =CONNECTED and new state=FAILED

Since changing my router to use a two week DHCP lease, the phone has had a stable WiFi connection for an hour and a half, which is considerably longer than I have seen since I started monitoring this condition.
Assuming there are no further problems, I will accept this in a couple of days, indicating that the problem is indeed resolved.
(BTW, the log collector I used is "Log Collector" by Xtralogic Inc, and "WiFi Analyzer" is by farproc).
Update: 2012-03-29 AM: The root cause seems to be an inability to renew a DHCP lease - changing the lease time to 30 minutes caused the connection to drop precisely 30 minutes after connecting the phone to the router.
Update: 2012-03-29 PM: That there is a general problem renewing DHCP leases is born out by testing all day with a short lease time; every (or very nearly every) attempt at renewing the lease fails, and then disconnects and reconnects the WiFi service. Now knowing precisely what the problem is and what to search for, it may be that this is a long-standing problem with the Android WiFi service, present since 2.2 and still a problem even in 4.0.

Changing the lease time from forever to some set value fixed my issues as well.. Haven't browsed the source on this, but I speculate leases set to forever are passing a null value somewhere

I had issues like this with the android phones with my new Belkin Router, that I installed and set up yesterday.
Although not with our samsung galaxy tabs :-)
I tried your suggestion of setting the leasing to two weeks, this did not make any difference :-(
I resolved the issue by taking the channel settings off auto and wacked the channel up to 13.
The problem has resolved.
I double checked and put the lease renewal back to forever, as the galaxy tabs have issues when the lease renews on any router.
The issue is still resolved. :-D
I hope that this helps :-D

Mine does not have channel 13; only goes up to 11.

I suspect this was caused by competing routers on the same channel.  Are you in an area that has lots of WiFi signals, like an apartment complex?

Also, note that this is a bug in Gingerbread, hopefully long since fixed in newer Android versions.

I'm in a similar environment, and didn't really get any complaints from the person who owns our only gingerbread phone of this happening. I wonder if this is somehow specific to certain hardware combinations.


text:
Cyanogenmod 7.2 Install Method
I have a quick question about installing the new Cyanogenmod rom. Would installing it over the current 7.1 rom without wiping data and cache work? Or would I have to do it every time I install a new one?

You can generally install CyanogenMod without wiping as long as you're within the same major release (i.e. 7.1 -> 7.2 is okay, 7.1 -> 9.0 would require a wipe to boot properly). Worst case is that you bootloop, usually, so you can always try it and then go back into recovery and wipe if it doesn't work. It's never caused problems for me before and I put nightlies on my devices on a fairly regular basis (2-3 times per week, usually).
The CyanogenMod team has also noted this in the past on their blog and in other places. The 7.1 announcement, for example, stated:

Upgrading from any previous CM-7 release or nightly build should be
  smooth and no wipe should be required.

If this answer satisfies you, why don't you accept it? :D


text:
What can I do about broken touch input?
Lately a section of my phone's* screen has become unresponsive to touch.  Attempts to tap this untappable section result in a tap registering randomly around the problem area.
I can't draw in the area in Draw Something, and in Angry Birds, I can only aim my birds down as moving my finger down into the untouchable area results in the bird launching and the direction not changing.  Attempting to type with the phone on its side renders the letters around A,S,D,Q,W, and E unusable (virtual keyboard).  It is also impossible to select the "Users" tab on the mobile version of any SE site.
What causes this?  Can I fix it?  If so, how?  How can I prevent it from happening to my next phone?

*Droid Incredible

possible duplicate of Resize screen for Dead touch zone

@MarkBooth That would be applicable were it an area on the edge of my screen.  Seeing as it isn't on the edge of my screen, I don't think this question is the same.


text:
Root hboot 2.18.0001 without computer (HTC EVO 4G)
My EVO 4G's charging port is broken and I am trying to gain root access on my device. Is there anyway to do so without using the USB port to connect to the computer?

There is currently no way to do this. The only way to gain root on HBOOT 2.18 is to use the HTCdev tool to unlock your bootloader which requires a USB cable to work since it uses fastboot commands. Revolutionary and other methods only support HBOOT versions up to 2.16.0001 on the EVO 4G.

is there a way to roll back my HBOOT to an earlier version that will allow me to gain root without a USB/Computer?

@moesef: To my knowledge, no. You can't downgrade HBOOT when it's locked, and you can't unlock without a computer.


text:
New phone: How to transfer game progress?
I'm planning to buy a new Android phone and I'd like to be able to transfer the progress I have made at several games to the new device, so I won't have to play all the levels again from scratch.
I currently have an HTC Desire and will buy an HTC Evo 3D.
There's probably no simple/general solution to this.
But I was wondering if anyone did something similar and could provide some advice (e.g. where to look for files that might hold game progress information).

There are two places you should look for, the external memory (SD card or a directory that is used for similar purpose) and the internal memory (the /data/data directory). You may need to be rooted to access the latter.
In the best case scenario, the game saves all your progresses in the cloud, then you just need to reenter your login and it's all restored. This is typically only the case for online games.
Some games may provide a menu to export the save data or an external app to do so, if they exist then you should preferably use them.

If you are on Android 4.0 or up, you can use the adb backup resp. adb restore command even without rooting your device. The syntax is:
adb backup [-f <file>] [-apk|-noapk] [-shared|-noshared] [-all] [-system|nosystem] [<packages...>]

To do a full backup, this would e.g. mean adb backup –apk –shared –all –f /backup/mybackup.ab (resp. adb restore /backup/mybackup.ab to restore the backup on the new device). But keep in mind this would mean "all-or-nothing" -- you cannot restore single apps this way. So you rather might want to include the package names of the apps to transfer. To find those, e.g. look up the apps on Google Play -- you'll find the package names in the URL (id=<package_name>). Your backup command then would look like:
adb backup –apk –shared –f /backup/mybackup.ab com.foobar.app1 org.foobar.app2 net.foobar.app3

Restore stays the same, as adb restore always restores everything from the backup file (no selection of parts available here).
For a list of available ADB commands, see e.g. here.

Awesome! My EVO3D has Android 4.0, so when I upgrade to another device, this will come in handy.

This is the best answer for those with adb. For instance, backup/transfer Square Enix Final Fantasy 5 game savecan be done without transferring apk or extras: adb backup -f backupfile -noapk -noobb com.square_enix.android_googleplay.FFV_GP and then restore it to another device that has FFV installed already: adb restore backupfile -- the whole file is about 8KB and the game will be right where you left it on your other device.

Exactly. That's the way Koush's Helium Backup and Sync works, by the way. So you start the game on your phone while on the bus, and on reaching home continue on your tabby exactly where you left on the phone :)

If Helium Backup and Sync doesn't work, it might be worthwhile trying out this manual way. I backed up and restored ONE app successfully using this method and from then on, Helium worked...

You might also look into an app like Titanium Backup or MyBackup Pro and choose to save user apps + data and then restore to your new phone.

+1 My Backup Pro looks like a viable option, even for non-rooted devices. However, I'll first try to find and transfer the data manually and if that doesn't work I'll consider purchasing the app.

I recently transferred game progress using my computer from an LG phone to a Droid Maxx. I will use Fallout Shelter as my example because the website said game progress/purchases could not be transferred.

I created a folder on my desktop for files from the LG and looked through the phones files until I found com.bethsoft.falloutshelter.
I moved that to the folder I created on the computer. I had started a new game on the Droid Maxx so I could find where to put the file from the computer.
Once I found the com.bethsoft.falloutshelter file on the Droid Maxx I replaced it with the copy I put on my computer.

I loaded up the game and all of my progress and purchases had been transferred to the Droid. This works for games, photos, and music. I do not know if this works with iPhones.

Honestly, if you don't want to root, you're screwed, and even then it rarely works properly.
You can manually back up some of your games or use non-root backup apps, and the few that use the cloud are a blessing, but most game progress just won't back up and is lost in the process due to lack of root access.
Backup apps work for about 30-40% of games but aren't worth violating your warranty by rooting IMO. If you want to violate your warranty on your new device, go right ahead, but don't say I didn't warn you. If your phone decides to brick on you one day, you lost your money.

This is nonsense -- at least with Android 4.0 and up, a complete backup is possible without rooting (apps as well as their data -- see my answer). And whether one needs root or not is quite subjective. Also the "warranty argument" is relative: it doesn't count in the EU, for example.

If you use Dropbox, Astro File Manager, and APK Extractor apps, you can move games and all saved data to your new device without root.

Open Astro FM, hit the top-left button, then hit location
Open Dropbox and set up an account
Find the game files/folders in Astro FM and long-press, copy files to the new Dropbox account
Download APK Extractor and open it, find your game, and hit extract
Go back into Astro FM and find the extracted file and copy that file to Dropbox
On the new device, open Astro, go into Dropbox, and copy files to new device in the same location they came from on the old device
Finally, copy the extracted APK file to SD
It will ask if you want to install, hit yes, and enjoy

Note: you need to allow outside apps by going in settings then apps, check the box that allows outside apps

You should check out Helium - App Sync and Backup which work's without root. The Google Play Store page for Helium has a video showing you how to use it (or click here).
It's worth mentioning, if you don't want to purchase premium use the PC download feature, which let's you store the backup on your PC, then restore it on another device.

This really deserves more upvotes

I did it with Minecraft, you just have to find your game progress in your old phone storage (I recommend you to do this with a File Manager). If you can't find it, look for it on Google for a specific game (find on Google where is the progress for that game stored).
Then install Wi-Fi file transfer from Google Play on the old phone so you can access your old phone from your new phone. Then download data progress on your new phone. And then just put downloaded data on the place where the game progress is on the new phone.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How would one use the Android accelerometer to measure one's mass?
Pretty much what the title states.
The Android CDD says of the Accelerometer

MUST be able to deliver events at 50 Hz or greater
MUST comply with the Android sensor coordinate system as detailed in the Android APIs  (see [ Resources, 41])
MUST be capable of measuring from freefall up to twice gravity (2g) or more on any three-dimensional vector
MUST have 8-bits of accuracy or more
MUST have a standard deviation no greater than 0.05 m/s^2

So I find myself wondering - would it be possible to measure one's mass by taking a short hop with the device strapped to chest/waist? The raw accelerometer data would provide the duration and acceleration encountered on both upward/downward leg (pun unintended) of the hop.

This doesn't seem to be Android specific, but is a physics question?

Mitthrawnuuruodo, Although there is physics involved we're seeking a match on accelerometer that comply with the Android CDD

The constraints on the problem being provided by the Android CDD don't change the nature of the problem.  This is not an Android question.

Going by that metre-stick, neither is http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/15260/how-does-in-pocket-detection-work

Newton's second law states that Force = Mass * Acceleration.  We can use this formula to solve for Mass:: Mass = Force / Acceleration.  As such, we need a known force in order to take a measurement of acceleration to determine mass.  Hopping into the air is going to be a variable, instantaneous force.  Also, your legs are going to act like variable force springs to absorb your impact with the ground.  All of these variables would really frustrate your attempt to get anything close to a valid mass reading.
NASA has created device that uses the measurement of acceleration to determine mass for astronauts in space.  The Space Linear Acceleration Mass Measurement Device (SLAMMD) uses two springs to generate a known force on the subject and then reads the acceleration to determine mass.  There is a nice video on YouTube explaining how it works and providing a demonstration of the device in action.

You're right. But the mention of springs points me at another idea ... albeit not SmartPhone, or even Android specific. Here, in India, a truck must carry a proof of weight issued by a weigh-bridge over and above the bill of lading. A calibrated transducer at the right point in the suspension could cut down on the long queues/time getting each truck weighed.


text:
Is it ok to charge my Nexus S with an iPhone power adaptor?

Possible Duplicate:
Is my phone liable to explode if I charge it with a charger that came with a different phone?

I have an iPhone charger (produces 5V and 1A output). Is it okay to use this to charge my Nexus S?

As long as it is standard micro USB charger, it should be fine. Per spec, dedicated USB charging ports can supply up to 1.5 A at 5 V.
Check the battery label to see the rated maximum charging current to be extra safe, but it should work properly. USB devices are very common and standardized these days, and USB chargers work without a hitch across multiple devices.
Then again, Apple has been known to use not-quite-standard ports (I'm looking at you, 3.5 mm audio jack!), so take this with a grain of salt.


text:
Is it possible to run flash applet with microphone support on Android?
I have an applet with microphone support which works fine in all desktop browser. But on Android it says "can't obtain microphone".
Is this obstacle principal or can be overcame?

No, you cannot use a microphone on the mobile version of Flash Player.
From the Action Script Reference Documents:

Runtime microphone support
The Microphone class is not supported in Flash Player running in a mobile browser.


text:
Delete an account from Android without affecting the apps related to it
I have three accounts in my Android phone. I have apps installed in the phone via them.
Now I want to delete one of the account (NOT primary) but don't want to lose the apps related to them.
Is there a way to do that?
Or if I can move my apps from one account to another, so that after doing this I can delete the second account?

Are these purchased apps our free ones?

some are purchased and some are free... but more importantly I can not loose the data in them ... its about data of 1.5 yrs ...

If you're worried about losing data, I'd strongly advise getting Titanium Backup and doing a full backup of your phone before you make any changes.  That way if anything happens to go wrong, you can just restore from the backup.

Deleting a secondary account won't delete the already installed apps associated with the account, AFAIK.  However, that's a loophole that Google might plug in the future.
It's not possible to move apps from one account to another.

thanks @Logos ... so Will I be able to update those apps even after I have deleted the account related to them?

Yes, the apps should still update.


text:
Phone mutes ringer when I dismiss alarms
I have a Motorola Electrify (the Photon but on US Cellular) running Android 2.3.5. Sometimes when I dismiss my alarm in the morning, my phone mutes its ringer for some reason. I'm fairly sure it didn't used to do this, but I used Alarm Clock Extreme for a while so I'm not sure.
Why would dismissing my alarm mute my phone and how can I stop it? It's the default "Alarm and Timer" app on my phone which seems to be Motorola's customization. It's intermittent but very annoying.


text:
How can I delete all Winamp playlists at once?
How can I delete all Winamp playlists from an Android device? I currently have to delete them one file at a time.

Long tapping on a playlist brings an option to delete. Looks like you don't want to use it because you've gazillions of playlists.
So, do this: Simply, clear data of Winamp from Settings ~> Applications ~> Manage Applications. It'll make your Winamp install fresh like when it was installed. The only thumbs down thing is that settings of Winamp will be reset to default & you'll need to re-configure them, but its not a big thing.
Update:
After some brainstorming, I found that Winamp stores playlists in a database externally. On my smartphone its: /data/data/com.android.providers.media/databases/external-xxxxxxx.db where xxxxxxx are numbers which are different on two devices I checked.
Use Root Explorer to delete this database after mounting /data partition with R/W access (root access is required).

I tried this and nothing happened

@sultan Now, its interesting. :) Well, check my  answer update..

I use the built-in mp3 Player (Samsung Galaxy S2).
I went into Playlists > right button > Delete > Select all > Delete.
Whatever the playlists were there, they will get deleted


text:
store data partition of an Android device for later flashing
Does anybody know of a procedure where you can essentially take the /data partition off of a device and flash it to another one?
(IE, to generate a userdata.img file from a device.)

You could create a nandroid backup. ClockworkMod does it well. That creates an yaffs2 img of the data & datadata partitions.
I think this might not be a great solution though, if you want to flash to another device. This will contain all the info in data (or data/data) and may cause issues if the version of android is not the same, or even if the device is different.

Ok, I'll try that. The device Android version thing won't be an issue, I want to reset a phone to a default state that includes some settings and an email account. .. so the image will be going back onto the same phone and system image it started out on, or another one that is exactly the same.

titanium backup (if you are rooted) would be a good option too. it lets you pick what what you want to back up.


text:
How to write a script to assign adobe reader as the default application for opening PDFs on Android?
I am distributing locked down tablets to my employees, ~40.
Right now, one application opens a PDF and the user is presented with multiple PDF readers to choose from. This could cause confusion (I know.. I know..).
The two solutions I have come up with are:

Write a script that assigns a default PDF reader for the user
Uninstall all of the other PDF readers (Both AT&T and T-Mobile have their own PDF readers and we may add other carriers with however many PDF readers.) (Could I write a script to uninstall the other PDF readers?)

Are these solutions viable with Android? If so, I would love to here solutions!
Thanks
Note:
I am not using the devices and I do not have physical access to them. The users of this device boot into a locked down home page with an Icon for 'manual' that opens a PDF. The users cannot change anything about the device. They can't open settings, Can't open a browser, etc. Nothing.
Right now, the users in the field are being presented with the option to use 2 or 3 separate PDF readers. I want all of my users using the same reader so that I can test the usability of the PDF.
Because I cannot personally access all of the devices ( we push updates through Soti Mobile), I want to deploy a script that forces the device to use Adboe reader

FYI: holding down the menu button while booting starts the device in safe mode where the user can access anything. Just like without a lock.

Hmmmmm well Soti should be forcing the device into a locked down state. I'll have to test this.

Development questions are off-topic here. Ask at Stack Overflow.

Hahaha! I have been told otherwise at SO: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9913465/how-to-write-a-script-to-assign-adobe-reader-as-the-default-application-for-open#comment12650850_9913465

:D Really laughing situation. Actually, they are wrong. The script needs to interact with API of Android.

Any more guidance you can give?

What you added lately as Note, add that at SO. Without it, question looks like normal question to which I answered.

I think it's also worth noting that it's more than likely that the default PDF readers are system applications so removing them is not an option without root access (which is not viable because it would make it even easier to bypass security)

Do most tablets from a provider not allow root access? If they do, I should be able to get root access.

No it's not allowed by default, in fact it may not even void the warranty. Plus it could be a big security risk on kiosk/locked down devices.

I think option 2 may be your best bet.

I wouldn't say this is totally off-topic.  We've covered shell scripts for users to accomplish tasks before, and this isn't that much different.  However, you need to stop cross-posting.  Keep it on one site -- the SO question is still open so I'm closing this.

There is a deprecated api which allows to set preferred activities for specific intents. So you could for example set the adobe reader as the preferred activity to start when "open pdf" intent is sent
However as it states this api is deprecated so it could be removed in future versions of android
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/pm/PackageManager.html#addPreferredActivity(android.content.IntentFilter, int, android.content.ComponentName[], android.content.ComponentName)

You don't need any type of script.
When user is presented with multiple PDF readers to choose from, one can found a checkbox Use by default for this action at bottom. Check it & tap Adobe Reader. Done!

That's the thing. I don't want the user to be presented with a default app selection. I want to choose for them. This is for a locked down device, ~40 tablets within my company.

@ericf What do you mean by locked down device? If you can bother running a script in all devices, you can do this too. Its not a 10-step solution.

Tick the use by default box like Sachin said.

I am not using the device. The users of this device boot into a locked down home page with an Icon for 'manual' that opens a PDF. The users cannot change anything about the device. They can't open settings, etc. Nothing.
Right now, the users in the field are being presented with the option to use 2 or 3 separate PDF readers. I want all of my users using the same reader so that I can test the usability of the PDF.
Because I cannot personally access all of the devices ( we push updates through Soti Mobile), I want to deploy a script that forces the device to use Adboe reader.

I am sorry to say, such things are off-topic on this site.

SO: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9913465/how-to-write-a-script-to-assign-adobe-reader-as-the-default-application-for-open#comment12650850_9913465


text:
How to recover data from a damaged SD card?
I have an HTC Inspire.  I have had my 8 GB SD Card for three years...needless to say, it has like 5000 pictures and hundreds of videos on it.  It has a lot of music on it too, but I'm not worried about that.  I just want my pictures back more than anything.  I got a message on my phone that told me I should safely unmount my SD card before removing it.  Since I haven't taken it out for months, I didn't think anything of it.  A few hours later, it said "SD Card damaged.  You may have to reformat it."  When I clicked on that, it said "Are you sure you want to format the Sd card?  All data on your card will be lost."
I have tried plugging it into the computer, but there's not an option to view files.  I tried putting it in my dad's phone, and his phone didn't even recognize that it was even in there.  If anyone has ANY ideas, whatsoever, it would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!!

I assume you canceled the format.  Did you try plugging the card (without the phone) in to a PC (via an adapter or what have you)?

Do you have ClockWorkMod installed?

To try to get your pictures back, have a look at the options on this older questions: Data Recovery - How to Restore Deleted / Formatted Files on HD Micro SD Card

I encountered the same problem with my SD card and Samsung Galaxy S a while ago. The solution was to plug the card into a card reader and run chkdsk x: /F /V to repair the file system.
If this doesn't work, you'd have to use some file recovery software to fish out the files from a broken file system. There are many different applications for this, you can find some by googling for "file recovery free", or try PhotoRec.

How successful in recovering files is PhotoRec? This same situation being the use case.

I haven't used it on SD cards, but it was very handy when my external hard drive screwed up it's master file table, recovered every single file.

If you have a damaged SD card that neither programs nor companies\stores can recover the data from, I shipped mine to Germany to a place called RecoverFab: http://recoverfab.com/
1-2 days after they received it, 100% of photos and videos recovered. SUCCESS! I tried Transcend in Taiwan first, the makers of my SD card could not recover data off of it, RecoverFab did.
I'm sold. [answering here b/c it won't let me answer normally, protected?]

Use Card Data Recovery. It can help you recover data from SD card.

Crashes after a while under Windows 7 x64. Installs TenorshareNCDRService crapware service. Does not remove it on uninstall, needs to uninstall it separately.

If you have ClockWorkMod flashed you can try mounting the SD card to USB when you have booted up in the recovery mode.

The most popular free program for data recovery is Recuva. For advanced recovery, you need to upgraded to Pro version. Another available options is Dr.Fone for Android. It has a default function to recover deleted files form SD card. Here is the tutorial.
P.S. For important data, it is highly recommended to backup in different devices or with cloud service.


text:
Installing cert files and connecting to wifi network on Touchpad running CM9
Hi everyone I am trying to connect to my university wifi eduroam using the settings below:
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/it/wireless/technical.html
How can I achieve this? So far I've tried saving the crt file in the root folder of the SD card and installing it via Security > Install from SD card but I'm not sure how to take it from here.
Would appreciate any help on this matter.

What's your actual issue? Have you tried connecting to the network with the suggested settings after installing the certificate? There's also an IT helpline number on that page, have you tried contacting them?

I connect with my Samsung GSII with CM9 to my eduroam network in the university of alicante. Here you have the link with instructions in english I followed on how to configure the wifi network:
http://si.ua.es/en/wifi/eduroam/peap/eduroam-installation-for-android.html
However, the issue is simple, you have to go to wifi settings, and add a new network manually, ssid will have to be "eduroam" and you will see that if you choose "802.1x EAP" security setting, more settings will appear where you can insert the info provided in the link of your question. Of course you will have to choose as CA certificate the one you installed already.
I hope this helps.
cheers

Nothing appears in the CA certificate box


text:
How much power does a Galaxy Tab 10.1 charger need to supply?
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 comes with a special charger which (I'm assuming) provides a higher current output than the USB standard.  Without it, the device can actually die, even if the USB cord is plugged in to a USB port (albeit a little less quickly).
I'm looking for other (cheaper) AC and car adapters, but I don't know the minimum power they need to provide to power the device.  Does anyone know the minimum current needed for a 5V USB connection for the Galaxy Tab 10.1, or perhaps a link that provides this information?

This turns out to be more complicated than just the amperage rating of the power adapter.
This XDA post says that the Tablet itself may 'step down' to 0.5A charging if it cannot detect the right support in the USB host.  There are some additional details in this post but I don't grok them.
That thread led me to this slashdot comment which seems very useful and knowledgeable.  If I understand the story correctly, unless the tablet can negotiate with the host device, the amount of power it can draw is limited.  A physical "hack" (now part of a USB standard) in the adapter can make it clear to the USB client (the tablet) that there is no host device (its a wall wart), so it can charge faster.  Without the hack, the device is limited in the amperage it can use.
More details on the USB charing spec are on wikipedia.
I just verified some of this with my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the no-name 2A USB wall charger I have.  If I plug my tablet into this "unapproved" USB adapter, then I get a little red "x" on the battery charge indicator in the system tray.  Additionally, I get the "media scanner running..." alert (which I think means that the Tablet thinks it might be connected to a computer).  I cannot tell at what rate (2.5mA, 500mA, 2A, etc) the tablet is actually charging at, though.
If I plug the tablet into the 'approved' wall wart, I get no such red "x", nor any "media scanner" alerts.
All that said, in practice, I've found that the tablet will charge up on my no-name USB adapter.  I'm not sure if that's because I tend to turn the screen off (and I don't have 3G), and thus the power draw of the sleeping tablet is less than the 500mA, or if its actually getting the full 2A.
I think the upshot is that any reputable wall charger or anything labeled as "compatible" with an iPhone or iPad will probably support the USB charging spec, and thus will fast-charge a Samsung Galaxy Tab.  But I'm just guessing.  It would be nice if there was an official USB logo or label for chargers that supported this mode ...

This makes sense, but I wish there was a specific technical article on this from samsung.  Thanks!

Oddly enough my Samsung travel power adapter only provides power at 500mA (though it's rated for 2A) my Tab shows the red X on the battery, very slow charging, even when powered down.  But I got lucky, I have some Rocketfish power adapter, and the Tab is happily drawing 2A from that.

I have no idea if there's some kind of separate "minimum" spec for this, but the OEM charger is ~2A (so 4 times the USB2.0 spec's 500mA):

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 original charger provides 2A.  But providing 2A is not all it takes to make your tablet happy.
In order to use the 2A, the tablet needs to recognize the charger as a charger and not a computer's USB port.  The tablet is not allowed to draw more than 0.5A from a USB port.  So if the tablet thinks it is connected to a real USB port, it will display a red cross on the battery and charge slowly at best.
A Samsung charger will signal it is a charger and not a data port by shorting the data lines D+ and D- and pulling these 2 lines up to ~1.2V.
A third party charger is likely to leave the data lines disconnected, so the tablet will assume it is a normal USB port and use only 0.5A, even if the charger can provide 2A or more.
I believe Apple chargers short D+ and D- but without setting a specific voltage for this line.  An "Apple compatible" charger might not work.
To charge a Galaxy Tab using a non-compatible charger or any 5V source, you can reproduce the behaviour of a Samsung charger by adding the following USB adapter between the charger and the USB cable:

I tested this on a P7510.  It probably works also with other Samsung devices.  Note that if you use this to charge your tablet from a PC there could be a risk of frying your USB port.  And of course, it blocks all data transfer.

Is there a way I can charge my tablet in the pc. Right now discharge faster than charge if Im using the tablet.

I don't think so.  The problem is that a standard PC USB port doesn't provide 2A.  Only 0.5A I believe.

Once I have one usb hard drive, and I bought a cable with two usb input to connect in two usb port in the pc and feed twice teh Ampers. I wonders if microusb has a similar one.

The tablet charging current is proportional to the voltage that the power adapter can supply. If the charger has a lower than average voltage output, the tablet takes less charging current. A 6 foot USB cable can drop half a volt or more when the tablet is charging at a high rate. So, if you use a long USB cable, the tablet also drops to a lower charging current. I saw another post that said that that tablets can't charge if the voltage into them is less than 4.5V, so half a volt is a big deal.
The latest tablet charging adapters are rated at 5.3V/2.0A!!! This allows them to charge fast even with a pretty long cable with a big voltage drop (i.e. 5.3V - 0.5V is 4.8V, a lot higher than the 4.5V limit)
USB 2.0 Switches are rated to deliver only 0.5A, as are the USB sockets on most desktop computers. If you plug in your tablet to these, they will only draw 0.5A. If you're watching video, surfing or gaming, the tablets can easily draw twice this amount, which means they will be taking half their power from the battery. USB 3.0 switches might be able to supply more.
If you have a laptop, it can supply 0.5A if plugged into the wall, or only 0.1A if running on batteries.
So, if you want to charge your tablet quickly:

Use a power adapter with a 2.0A rating, preferably with a higher than 5.0V output (warning: higher than 5.5V may damage your tablet)
Use a short cable


text:
Apps to draw on top of a picture or text document?
What apps can be used to draw (like with a finger or stylus) on top of a text document or a picture?
What I envision is being able to send a document to the app (or take a picture/scan the document if necessary and load the image) and then be able to sign in an appropriate place with a finger, and then save/email/print the resulting document.
I would have thought something like Evernote would do this, but apparently not.

Skitch (same developer as Evernote) can draw on top of a picture, but not on a document.

Great suggestion! I can take a screenshot of a document, put it in Evernote and sync with the tablet, then in the Evernote app long-press the image to choose to edit with Skitch. Then I can "draw" a signature on the image (and even type in text over blanks in the form image) and save back to Evernote. So it CAN be done, sort of... but it's still pretty awkward. If Skitch could add to a document it would be great.


text:
Why do I need a Gmail account to use Android?
I am a new user of Android phone. I used to own an iPhone. I don't remember needing an Apple account besides using it to download applications from app store. Now I need a Gmail account to do even some of the basic stuff like finding my location on Google Map. Is Google violating my privacy? Why am I forced to log in to Gmail permanently to use Android?
Update: From Eren Tantekin's comment, it seems that Apple is using it's own application to run Google Map. That may be the reason why a Google Account is not required. From Richard Borcsik's comment, it seems that Apple is collecting location data as well, this I am not aware of.
With the background knowledge above, I would take eldarerathis's comment as the accepted answer. I apologise if this appears to be a rant to anyone. I just want some clarification. Thanks.

Try an Android tablet Kindle Fire on which you'll never be asked to login with Google Account unless you use Google's apps after downloading them.

@SachinShekhar, I am referring to a phone, not tablet. I am never asked to login when using Google apps on an iPhone, why should I do so now, on Android?

I don't understand: on the iPhone you need an Apple account "only" to download apps? Oh, cool. Are there people out there that don't ever download any app and just go with the stock ones?

I doubt there's an answer to this beyond "because that's how Google designed its apps". Android itself does not require a Google account to use, only Google's proprietary applications do. CyanogenMod and other pure source builds of Android are actually forbidden from distributing the Google apps within the firmware package itself because of their proprietary nature, and if you install such a ROM without the associated Google apps add-on you won't even have the ability to add a Google account in your settings.
If you don't want to be tied to Google then don't use the apps they produce, but also don't be surprised that they want you to sign in when using services that they provide. It's really not that different from any other app or website that requires sign in to use the services it provides, in my opinion, but if you don't like it use different apps.
Re: the question about why Maps specifically requires a sign-in on Android but not iOS: the comments about the iOS one being developed by Apple could certainly be correct, and I do agree with those statements. In addition, Apple may not want you to sign in Google's servers with their Maps app. It would create a tie (however loose it may be) between you and Google's services, which I'm sure Apple is trying to discourage as much as possible to prevent customers from jumping ship to Android.
Another angle you have to keep in mind is that Google is pushing pretty hard to tie together all of its online services as much as it possibly can. Based on their priorities and their business model, it makes sense that the Android version would try to integrate as tightly as possible with their other services and with the web. It's in their best interest (from a business perspective) to try to make Android apps and their web counterparts as seamless as possible in order to attract users to Android who are already heavily invested in Google's products. Of course, this is just conjecture on my part, I think only Google could truly say why Maps works the way it does.

Your first sentence should be: "You don't need Gmail Account to use Android." :)

Can you enlighten me why I should log in to a Google account using Android as I need not do so previously on an iPhone using the same apps like Google Map? If it is designed to do so on Android, why not on iPhone?

Because Maps on the iPhone is not a "Google App". It is an app made by Apple. You are not directly using a Google product when you use it. Apple is the one using the Google product so that they can provide you a Maps application.

Of course it's not required on an iPhone because it's not made by Google. However android is developed by Google.
Didn't you worry about privacy when apple kept a record of your location history?

@ErenTantekin: that is a good comment. I didn't know. Now I know. Perhaps you can put it down in your answer?

@RichardBorcsik: I don't remember giving them the permission to do so. Is it the case?

@BenHuh You did give them permission. Remember the ELUA that you agreed to when you first started your phone? It was in there that they could track your location. Google "locationgate" for more.

You need a Google account only if you want to use Google services. If you don't want to use Google services, you are free not to have a Google account. However, it looks like you actually tried to use one of Google services (Google Maps) and you were suprised that it requires a Google account.
By the way, you can use the rest of Android without a Google account since the operating system itself is free and open source.

Yes, I am surprise because there isn't such a requirement when I use Google services on an iPhone.

Because Apple is using the Google service there, not you directly.

A flippant title answer goes: Google is an advertising company, so they want to read your email to help trick you into buying necessary stuff.  ;)
I always use phone without google play services installed, but only for public transit time tables.  I never give google maps or any browsers location access.  I don't want their location based advertising!
Instead, I always use open street maps via OSMAnd~ via F-Droid whenever I want a map that knows my location.  In general, open street maps has more precise information than google maps when your doing things off road, like hiking of mountain biking, so you should try out OSMAnd~ anyways.


text:
Red Star And Green Cross Icons?

Possible Duplicate:
Is this red star icon malware? How to get rid of it?

I have a Motorola Defy and in the notifications bar I am always getting red stars and bright green crosses. The Red Star is advertising 'dating' and 'meet hot couples' and the green cross is advertising 'get free apps now' 'win an ipad' and stupid things like that. The apps I have on my phone are Wheres my water, a flashlight map my run, picsart and two live wallpapes i got for free. Please help me get rid of these.

Not familiar with the green cross one, but the red star notification ad sounds like Airpush. Does it look like the screenshots in this question?

Install Addons Detector or Airpush Detector to find apps which are causing those push notifications. And, uninstall those detected nasty apps.
If you are rooted, you can install Airblocker - Airpush Block. It simply blocks airpush notification and you'll not have to uninstall those nasty apps.

I don't agree with using Airblocker, just uninstall it and find an alternative app unless you want what-ever nasties is in there doing things behind your back. If you really are desperate to use this app, may I suggest the usage of DroidWall to block it also. Just saying :)

DroidWall provides firewall... What if the app needs to go to internet. Just to block Airpush ads, would you like to make the app unusable?

Airblocker blocks airpush ads by adding entries in host file...


text:
Does  the Motorola Droid RAZR support NFC?
Does Motorola RAZR XT910 support NFC with Gingerbread or Android ICS 4.0? Engadget says the device has an NFC controller. What does this really mean?

The RAZR does have an NFC chip in it. Currently the device does not have the drivers so the OS can make use of the chip. Motorola has been quoted to say that the RAZR is getting NFC support when the device gets the ICS update. Basically, the device could support NFC now, but Motorola, for one reason or another, did not include the components that would be needed for the Android OS to communicate with the NFC chip.

What are the benefits of upgrading a device to Ice Cream Sandwich?
Ice Cream Sandwich brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. It has a redesigned user interface with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Wi-Fi hotspot, NFC support and a full web browsing experience.

According to the Engadget link in the question above, the Linux driver is present but the hardware is misplaced/misconfigured. I believe that hardware is missing and the OS driver is present.
So, If I upgrade to Android 4.0 i will be able to use NFC right? Does XT910 & XT912 support NFC?
Nexus vs Razr says Razr support as NO.
I am very confused about this feature.
Thanks

if there was something wrong with the hardware, motorola would not be able to "turn on" NFC with just a software upgrade, which is what they are promising in the link. Your link says no, because the current version of the OS that motorola has on the RAZR does not have support for the NFC chip.

Yes it does have the controller. Now will it act like the nexus in NFC user friendliness? No. Required software is locked because what they are attempting to do is use a sim card as the antennae making Verizon able to control the NFC chips full capabilities. This way limits how much information can be transferred by NFC. Now it will be supported later on but if you truly want full blown NFC without restrictions then get the phones with supporting hardware.

Would you be so kind to add a source for this information, please?


text:
vibrate notifications only when receiving emails from certain addresses?
Is it possible to set vibrate notifications when receiving emails from a list of email addresses but not when receiving emails that don't come from that list? Either using the default Gmail app on a 2.3.5 Android phone or something else.
I have a bunch of labels defined, but on the Gmail App I got the following menu: Notification settings with:
Email notifications [x]
Labels to notify
In Labels to notify I only have:
Inbox off
Priority Inbox Zeta, Always, Notify once for new emails
But I can't add more labels to this menu...

With Gmail if you set up label, you can set different notification sound including vibration per label.
This means in Gmail.com first of all you've to create a filter to apply a label to email address you want different notification.
After that Open Gmail in your phone, go to Menu -> Settings -> Your email address -> Manage Label -> Select created label. Here set the desired notification scheme.

On 2.3.5 I can't see a Label option in the Gmail App settings. Maybe with a different name?

Can you see "Manage label" or something like that.

Nope. This is version 2.3.5.2

Unfortunately, 3 years later, this still appears to be the only way to do this. And the filter needs to be manually edited every time you want to add a new user, since Gmail filters can't use contact groups.


text:
How to reinstall corrupted Android applications with ease?
The other day I woke up, my Android phone was frozen and only removing the battery helped to reset it. It looks like overnight something terribly went wrong as the memory card was not readable anymore and even after formatting it, it got a few bad sectors in the report.
I have about 150 applications installed and some of them which were moved to the memory card obviously do not work anymore. I had backup of my data but not the apps, as I thought I could always download them again. However, I can not find an easy way to do it. First of all, the corrupt applications still show up under settings/applications/manage applications, but the only way I can tell if they are missing or not is that their icon is some default Android robot with an SD card next to it and the names are not human friendly but more like com.biggu.shopsavvy.
I tried different apps to solve the problem, but I could not find any which would be better than doing it manually. What I need is to either reinstall all apps with a tap of a one button or install a list of apps in batch from the market.

with 150 apps you just needed 1 more .  They have apps for android that do "application backup and restore" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.infolife.appbackup&hl=en  Although it is probably to late to apply such things, I thought it was very usefull for me to control what is on at the time, and backup.

The easiest way to install the missing apps would probably to go to the Play Store on a PC and queue them up for install on the device.
You will still have to look on the device and see which ones you need to reinstall; there isn't a way to simplify that process. Looking at them the way you are, for the ones that have the "default icon" and the SD card is probably the easiest way to identify them. The "non-friendly" name that you see can be used to search in the Google Play Store and you will be able to find the app from that.
Or you can append it to the end of the "details" URL like this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.biggu.shopsavvy

That will take you directly to the shop savvy app, then you can install it to the device.

"there isn't a way to simplify that process": Meanwhile there is: My tool Adebar a.o. creates such a list, and even links the apps to their resp. store (i.e. Google Play, F-Droid, etc.). Requires only Bash and ADB. Confirmed to run on Linux, Mac and Windows (via Cygwin).

Download the apk files and re-install them. I recommend this website: www.apkpure.com

What makes that a better choice than simply pushing them from the Play Store's web UI, as Ryan recommended? Installing from "unknown sources" should only be done if you can be sure to trust those sources. You write nothing about how trustable your source is. Could you please [edit] your post an elaborate a little on that? There are far too many "bad sites" out there, where you get "modified APKs" you'd better kept your fingers off.

While I do trust APKPure, I agree on @Izzy 's part that it doesn't solve the problem. It's only a way to get apps when they're not available on Play, not a full-fledged Play alternative.


text:
Google authenticator app says that this version is no longer supported
I'm a bit concerned about the message this app is giving me.  It is saying that my currently installed version is no longer supported.  Why am I getting this message directly from the app, shouldn't the play store be telling me that an update is available to update this app?

Related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/20899/why-does-the-google-authentication-app-have-obsolete-in-its-title-on-play-stor

For some reason Google have created a whole new app for the new version of the Authenticator app:

New version
Old version

See also Why does the Google authentication app have “obsolete” in its title on Play Store? and in the news Android Police: PSA: Google's Authenticator Updated To v2, Except It's A Brand New App, And You Need To Install It To Get Future Updates (Old One Is Dead)
It is worth noting that as long as you still have the old version installed when you install and first open the new version, it will offer to import your old settings and accounts. If you remove the old version before running the new one you'll need to re-add your accounts, which may involve an annoying process of first turning off two step auth, and then re-enabling it on those accounts.


text:
Asus Transformer Slider frequently freezes
I am a not-so-proud owner of an Asus Slider tablet, the one with the slide-out keyboard. I find that whenever I shake the device, open the keyboard, or otherwise move the tablet, it freezes up.
I sent it into ASUS for support, but they said they did not find anything wrong with the tablet. I also tried leaving the tablet out to see if it would unfreeze, but it did not. Please help?

I solved these problems upgrading it. Go to Setup -> Tablet information -> Firmware update.
Using Android 4.0.3 i have no more reboots, nor freezes.
Manual downloads and instructions are available on the Asus site here.

It dutifully reports "There is no update for your device currently."

You could install a 3rd party aftermarket firmware like AOKP or CyanogenMod (originally intended for the TF101 model).
From what I read, one can use ROM images for the almost identical TF101 model (and maybe also flash a SL101 compatibility package on top of it that changes only some minor things (more keyboard models, sound settings, etc.). Even Asus' official update zip for the TF101 is fully compatible with the SL101.
Source: XDA


text:
Do phones have a power supply?
This is definitely a noob question, I'm not an engineer but as far as my knowledge goes, the power supply on a phone would be its battery.  However, my Nexus One stopped turning on recently, the battery charges fine as the LED indicator shows, but when I try to turn it on I get nothing.  This is the result of me taking the phone apart and trying to clean the contacts of the sim slot as it wasn't recognizing sim cards, and after putting it back together I can't seem to turn it on anymore.
I then took the phone to a repair center and the guy told me the power supply is bad that he would have to replace it, the battery is fine but its not getting power to the device.  So my question is, what is this power supply he speaks of?  The battery is fine, and hes obviously not talking about the power adapter... and what could cause this power supply to fail?  I followed the directions here to take apart

It's quite possible you accidentally shorted out a circuit or otherwise damaged some part (ribbon cable, connector, etc.) while disassembling or re-assembling your phone.  The "power supply" line the tech fed you is probably just that, something they said to avoid going into too much technical detail.
It's unlikely that they will bother with figuring out which exact part is fried, and will probably opt for replacing the phone's whole main board instead.  Be mindful of the price they quote you, because these days you can get a used Nexus One for the price close to what some parts retailers charge for a replacement motherboard.

Well thats the thing, he told me it was $45 for the part, which means he is not replacing the entire board.  I guess I will find out when I get it back exactly what part was replaced.

turned out i had loosened a ribbon cable and also damaged a some pins

Power Supply is actually a term with some actual, albeit generic, significance and meaning.
In handsets, the power supply is probably(I'm not an electrical engineer, or expert on device hardware) a component that regulates the power supplied to the device (keeping the voltage constant, for one thing), and manages the physical charging/discharging of the battery.
As far as what could have damaged it, it could be anything from dropping/shaking the device if there is a loose connection, to a short caused by water, to overheating. Unless you can find a connection that got loose, and the power supply is indeed fried, you'll need to get it repaired.
If you think there might have been any water damage, put the phone in rice for a day or three, it will dry out most liquid that may be in the device, and it might just work.

no there is no water damage, the only thing that makes sense to me is that a component got damaged while I was taking the phone apart, maybe I was too rough with it.

It's possible. I wasn't sure about water damage, as you didn't go into detail on how you tried to clean the SIM slot contacts, but it seemed worth mentioning. All it would take is jiggling one wire loose, and who knows what the results will be.


text:
Long delay for Google Voice prompt if dialed from "Contact" home screen shortcut
I have Google Voice set up to prompt me (whether to dial using GV) every time I make a call (in GV app Settings -> Making calls -> Ask every time I make a call.)
When I dial via the Phone app, or via "Direct dial" home screen shortcut, the "Google Voice" prompt appears instantaneously.  However, if I add a "Contact" shortcut to my home screen, tap it and select any number to dial, the same prompt takes over 5 seconds to pop up.  The logs are showing no other activity during this time:
I/ActivityManager(  223): Displayed com.android.contacts/.quickcontact.QuickContactActivity: +332ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {act=android.intent.action.CALL_PRIVILEGED dat=tel:xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx flg=0x14000000 cmp=com.android.phone/.PrivilegedOutgoingCallBroadcaster} from pid 2814
D/PhoneUtils(  636): checkAndCopyPhoneProviderExtras: some or all extras are missing.
D/dalvikvm(  223): GC_EXPLICIT freed 2189K, 18% free 23216K/28103K, paused 2ms+6ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity (has extras)} from pid 1646
D/dalvikvm(  636): GC_EXPLICIT freed 107K, 4% free 13700K/14215K, paused 2ms+4ms
D/OpenGLRenderer(  636): Flushing caches (mode 1)
D/OpenGLRenderer( 2814): Flushing caches (mode 0)
I/ActivityManager(  223): Displayed com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity: +5s25ms (total +5s167ms)

Specifically, the line I/ActivityManager(  223): Displayed com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity:+5s11ms(total +5s302ms) shows the actual "lag" time.
I cannot see anything different than if I try dialing out from a "Direct Dial" type of a shortcut:
D/dalvikvm(  612): GC_CONCURRENT freed 607K, 7% free 15178K/16199K, paused 3ms+16ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {act=android.intent.action.CALL dat=tel:xx-xxx-xxx-xxxx flg=0x14000000 cmp=com.android.phone/.OutgoingCallBroadcaster bnds=[185,50][360,250]} from pid 671
D/PhoneUtils(  636): checkAndCopyPhoneProviderExtras: some or all extras are missing.
D/dalvikvm(  758): GC_CONCURRENT freed 423K, 5% free 13369K/13959K, paused 1ms+4ms
I/ActivityManager(  223): START {flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity (has extras)} from pid 1646
D/dalvikvm(  636): GC_EXPLICIT freed 210K, 4% free 13690K/14215K, paused 3ms+4ms
D/OpenGLRenderer(  636): Flushing caches (mode 1)
I/ActivityManager(  223): Displayed com.google.android.apps.googlevoice/.CallConnectingActivity: +265ms (total +354ms)

I am running CM9 alpha (ICS: Android 4.0.3) on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone, but the same thing was happening on my Atrix 4G running stock Gingerbread (Android 2.3.4) and CM7 (Android 2.3.5.)  This makes me think that this is not a general Android issue, but rather a bug in Google Voice app.
Has anyone else experienced the same problem?  Other than posting on GV feedback forums, how do I go about resolving this?

I went ahead and posted on Google's GV forums as well: https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!category-topic/voice/making-and-receiving-calls/ikNAywCY5q8  Hopefully someone "official" will chime in.

This has been resolved in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.  Still no idea what's causing it on earlier OS versions.

This has been resolved in Android 4.1, a.k.a. "Jelly Bean".  Now Google Voice prompt appears instantly no matter how it's triggered.  Since the Google Voice app has not changed, my original thinking that it's the app's fault was incorrect.
Still no idea what's causing it on earlier OS versions.


text:
Is there a QR code reader with instant sync to PC?
QR codes are a great idea, but often I find that I would be better off reading the content on my PC instead of my phone. What I really would want is an app that would read a QR code and instantly send some kind of notification to the PC where I could access right away. I know I can use the "share" functionality of e.g. Google Goggles, but it's too many steps to achieve what I want. Basically I'd like it to happen in 3 steps:

Start the app
Point your mobile camera at the code
Click something on desktop UI to access it

There are too many QR code readers in the market to go through all and find if any of them has this kind of functionality.

This is not an exact answer, but it can simplify what you want to do..
You can copy results in clipboard & get clipboard data on PC using AirDroid (It doesn't require internet connection; it works over internal Wi-Fi network).

Like you said, this is not the 3-click solution I have in mind, but very worthwhile suggestions at any rate, even considering other use cases. Thanks!

My app Barcode to PC allows you to instantly send barcodes to the computer and type them.
There is also an option to automatically open the URLs in the browser, but it must be enabled in the server settings.


text:
Dual booting a tablet with Honeycomb and Ice Cream sandwich?

Possible Duplicate:
Can I use dual boot in my Android mobile phone?

I want to try convince the company I'm developing Jquerymobile Apps for ATM, to invest in a Android device for testing. The Honeycomb emulators are just too doggish and unreliable despite the tweaks I've made to them.
What I'd like to do is have the ability to dual boot of a tablet into A3 or A4 so we can test both as we already have a A2 device.
Is this possible? Suggestions?
Thanks


text:
Is there anyway to access and write data to the internal storage or System Storage from PC?
I tried to detect my Android storage in Windows. But Windows only detect one storage device, which is my external storage (when activated). How do I actually activate or share the internal storage, so that I could gain access the internal storage and write data onto it?
Final Objective:
Write binary data from PC into both internal and external storage.
Note:
For External: I found several ways of doing it. One is to Remove the external memory and plug it into the PC card reader and start writing. or we could share the storage media.
For Internal: I couldn't even detect the storage from the device nor I don't know how to remove the memory. Should it be while the power is off or on to be able to detect the internal memory from PC? Should I have a root access to the phone before able to do it? (I tried rooting the phone, but no luck)

What device do you have?  Are you talking about an internal "SD card" like the Galaxy S devices have or about the main (system) storage?  The latter just isn't made available to the PC.

I'm using Samsung Galaxy Gio. I didn't know that there's two storage. Yes, if possible I prefer both, because my objective is to write data to all area of the storage available.

There are many storage locations in an Android device (specially in Samsung Galaxy - series)..
Storage Locations which don't require root access:

External SD: If your device supports removable MicroSD card, its mounted on /mnt/sdcard/external_sd (also hard linked at /sdcard/external_sd).
Internal SD (also labeled as USB Storage): This is mounted at /mnt/sdcard (also hard linked at /sdcard).

You can access File System of device over Wi-Fi. To reach storage locations, just follow the paths. Here, you can write anything without problem, but there may be problem deleting files/directories here due to limited FTP permissions (follow last part of answer to remove this limitation). If you access file systems using USB connection, there shouldn't be any permission problem.

Storage Locations which require root access:

System Storage: Its protected storage of system reserved for apps. e.g. /data partition.
ROM: Its the storage where firmware files can be located. e.g. /system partition.

To write here, you do need root access. If your device isn't rooted, you are out of luck. If you are rooted, you can use Root Explorer or ES File Explorer to write anything here. Note: You need to mount some partitions with R/W access to write. e.g. /data partition is already mounted with R/W access, but /system and /dbdata partitions are mounted with R/O access.
Accessing them on PC is somewhat tricky: Use Terminal Emulator to mount the partition with R/W access permanently (if its not). Install a native linux FTP server & execute it under root user. Make sure to configure FTP server for accessing the location you want to access. Done! You can now access this location over wi-fi using any FTP client.

Update:
Its not a concern for questioner, but its worth mentioning: When internal SD is not present, removable MicroSD card might be mounted on /mnt/sdcard (also hard linked at /sdcard). And, all these mount points are decided by manufacturers, firmwares and may be different. So, its always better to check with mount command in Terminal Emulator.

Note that not all phones have both (1) and (2), some may only have one or the other.

@GAThrawn That's true, but Galaxy - series always include (2). When it comes to (1), I am not sure about his Galaxy Gio.. That's why I put if your device supports...

Wow, what a great answer.. (3) is what I am looking for. Thank you very much. I gonna try it out :-)


text:
Screen turns off after a certain time
I have a weird issue on my Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 with baseband s5830XXKPP (bought in Mexico), whenever I'm doing anything (playing a game, using a web browser, etc), after a certain time (like a minute or so), the screen turns off, but whatever app I was using at the time stays there (sometimes I have to lock and unlock the phone to see whatever is on the screen again, and some other times, after blacking out it shows again, but brighter), it's really annoying and I'm not sure what happened (I recently upgraded from 2.3.4 to 2.3.6 and I didn't have that problem before). My brightness is set to the minimum and I've set the Screen timeout to 10 minutes. Does anybody know why this happens and how to fix it?

Ok, I found out the reason for this problem is the band differences on the 3G:
S5830: HSDPA 900 / 2100
S5830B: HSDPA 850 / 2100
S5830L: HSDPA 850 / 1900

And the incompatibility with the current firmware I had (I updated to CyanogenMod 7.2.0 and still had the same issue), so for a quick fix, I went to:
Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks > Use only 2G networks

And that took care of the issue, however, for a full solution, flashing a latin (like the Brazilian one) with a Modem file like the kp7 or kpl should take care of the problem.


text:
How can I reset my phone without losing everything?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S I9000, it keeps lagging; freezing and turning on and off by itself. I want to reset it, if I do will I lose all my photos, contacts etc etc..? I can't figure out how to transfer everything on to my SD card.

This may be useful to you: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/12802/factory-reset-to-restore-performance-what-are-the-disadvantages

If you do a factory reset, your SD card will not be touched.  Your pics, etc will all stay put.  If you've selected your Google account as the default way to store your contacts, they will all repopulated from Google after you set up your phone.
If you want to be sure you're saving settings, etc. download Titanium Backup from the Google Playstore and do a full backup.  After you've reset your phone, reinstall Ti and then do a restore from back up.  Super simple!

BE careful! Some Stock ROM's will offer the option to erase the SDCard if about to perform a factory reset, if that's the case, ensure its unchecked! :)

And keep in mind that Titanium Backup requires root. If your device is not rooted, but runs Android 4.0 or higher, take a look at Full Backup of non-rooted devices.

Resetting your phone to factory settings will clear all the data on your phone memory, that is your contacts, calendars, applications downloaded from android market.
Factory resetting can be done in settings (Navigation: Settings -> Privacy Settings -> Factory data reset)
Data backup can be done in settings (Navigation: Settings -> Privacy Settings -> Backup my data).
Backup data can be restored after resetting.
Certain applications give the option of data backup, if you have installed any apps from market, check for the option.
Data backup can also be done using the software CD provided with the phone.
Your photos, audio mp3s, and videos will USUALLY reside in SD card and will NOT be erased. But its better you take out the memory card, and then go ahead resetting.

Your data backup recommendation is not available on most versions of Android.

There are few ways you can reset your Android phone without losing anything. Backup most your stuff on your SD card, and synchronize your phone with a Gmail account so you won't lose any contacts. If you don't want to do that, there's an app called My Backup Pro that can do the same job. You can read more about how to ensure you don't lose any important information with a factory reset here.

There's an app My Backup Pro which you could use. From the description it allows you to:

Backup (with schedule option) to our online secure servers, or SD card, your Applications, Photos, Music, Videos, Contacts, Call log, Browser Bookmarks, SMS (text messages), MMS (message attachments), Calendar, System Settings, Home Screens (including shortcut positions), Alarms, Dictionary, Music Playlists, APNs, and more...

You can read more about it here.


text:
Installing ICS update
I have a problem - a half year ago I installed the 4.0.3 on my Nexus S. I installed it by placing the 'update.zip' file in the \sdcard folder, restarting phone, holding Power+VolUp buttons, then choosing recovery and install.
However, now I downloaded the 4.0.4 update, did the same, but the phone got stuck - upon choosing recovery an android picture with something like a sphere in his stomach is shown for like a second and then the phone turns black - only buttons are lit.
What could be wrong?
Edit: Here is a YT video of my problem, sorry about the resolution, it's recorded on my laptop

Make sure that you deleted the previous update.zip before updating the new version. (I know that's pretty basic - but it wasn't clear from your post whether you did that or not).

This is a known bug in the Nexus S' 4.0.3 firmware when you apply the i9020 update.zip to the i9023 model. Background: The i9020 sports a self-illuminating amoled while the i9023 has a traditional LCD with a backlight. The recovery fails to switch on the backlight and the screen goes black.
You probably downloaded the update.zip from Google and did not use the official update method, right?
In short:
The screen backlight of the i9023 model is off in recovery mode due to that bug but everything else just works
Here's a thread on XDA that covers just this.
Possible solutions to fix it:

Use a strong LED flashlight and illuminate the LCD just for the installation of the 4.0.4, see images below (both show the same homescreen, except the left has a switched off backlight)
Unlock your Nexus S and install a working custom recovery (guide)

That logo in the background is the recovery mode, it looks like as if recovery binary died for some unknown reason, perhaps the update.zip is corrupted and it could not be parsed.
Might be worth a shot to use dsixda kitchen, to convert that update zip to a flashable zip that can be flashed, not using recovery's update menu option, but choosing the file manually.
But judging the youtubey, it looks recovery got b0rk3d up, you did not state if the handset is still able to boot normally in your posting?

:-) @tomm: see real reason above ^^

@ce4: "Above" and "below" don't have much utility when referring to other answers, since they can be sorted in multiple ways.

erm, yeah. Thanks :) Maybe it was just confidence ;-)


text:
"login with google" via mobile browser - how to use secondary account?
I recently tried to use the Dolphin browser login to my Trello.com account, which I had created by signing up through a Google Apps account. Since I had not set up a Trello-specific account yet, I had to try to login using Google--which automatically used the primary Google Account on my device, successfully logging me in to a different Trello account of mine. I wanted to log in to Trello using a different, secondary Google account on my device, but was not given the choice.
I'm sure the problem happens with different web sites and different mobile web browsers. Is there a solution to this? Is there some specific mobile browser, for example, that when asked to provide Google credentials will allow me to select from the available Google accounts on the device?

When it comes to user authentication, mobile browsers are no different from desktop browsers. Mobile browsers don't get login credentials from local Android accounts.
If your primary google account is used automatically, it means you are logged in with this in Dolphin Browser. Simply, go to google.com and sign out, then try again with Trello.

Ah--I was right, you were wrong. Dolphin was simply going by web-based login. However, apps (including browsers) DO have access to an API to tell what account the user is currently logged into (http://developer.android.com/reference/android/accounts/AccountManager.html for the more technically minded), although, come to think of it, that may not work for logging into non-Google websites. Thanks for correcting me, Sachin.

Apps use this API to generate access tokens for self use. The way it works, browsers can't use it to authenticate third-party service/website because it can pose great security risk. No browser can use it to authenticate even google.com

My apologies, in my comment I meant to say "you were right, I was wrong." Mea culpa!

At least Google Chrome Beta asks before using automatic sign in. I'd recommend the browser anyway, it's much better than any alternative, even though it doesn't include Flash.

Unfortunately, I'm part of the 99%... by which I mean, those that don't have Ice Cream Sandwich. :) Any Gingerbread-compatible browsers that let the user choose which account to use with Google sign in?


text:
enabling java for Lenovo ThinkPad tablet?

Possible Duplicate:
Are there any Android browsers that support loading a Java Applet in-browser?

I am new to the tablet world. I have a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet and I am having trouble on some websites when using the browser that you access through the world icon on the home page. I get a message that says that I have a browser problem and that java support has been turned off. I can't find where to turn this on or download if I need. I am sure this is a simple user error on my part. can someone please help me? I am able to find directions on how to fix this on safari, internet explore etc, but again I am ignorant and not figuring out if I am actually using one of thesesince the icon doesn't match..Please take pity on this naive newbie and help me!
thanks
Ss