text:
How to check which app uses GPS on Galaxy Nexus?
I'm constantly seeing the Searching for GPS... icon in my status bar, and would like to check which app is trying to access my location. I checked the similar questions on the site and all suggested either Spare Parts or the test menu.
However, on my Galaxy Nexus these are out of the question, since Spare Parts crashes with ANR when I try to access the battery stats (there's no com.android.settings.battery_history.BatteryHistory activity), and the test menu doesn't have the necessary menus.
So, any other possibilities?

I have this issue as well. I suspect some of it is due to the GPS not connection quickly so it is more noticeable than it would be if it was able to do it faster. I have opted to use a toggle widget to manually turn GPS when I need to navigate but keep it off otherwise so that the notification doesn't annoy the crap out of me ;-)

I'd be willing to bet it's the Facebook app. I noticed this frequently; I just removed the app and am using the website instead now.

Yeah, I'd be willing to bet on it. But I do have other GPS-hungry apps too, and I like to be certain :)

I'm having a similar issue, only it's just that when I unlock the phone I can see the GPS icon in the notifications bar for a split second, then it disappears. It could be a weather app I guess (1Weather), but I'm not sure. That, or Facebook.

One way, Go to: Settings > Applications > Running Services to see if there are any suspicious services running.  Or check your battery usage in settings and see which apps suspiciously are up top.  GPS usage does suck battery.

Sometimes this notification stays there even after GPS is disabled. In that case battery statistics would not show the guilty app.

The battery usage checking doesn't really work, since I have so many apps that use the network. At the moment my first GPS app is no 8.

That's the first app you know is using GPS. Keep in mind some ad services want geolocation as well. I'm not sure what they would access if GPS and network location are both available -- but some could take the "more accurate" variant. Just a possibility, no certainty.

On current versions of Android (I'm not sure when this was added, but this is available in Android  KitKat), you can go to Location Settings and it will show a list of apps under Recent Location Requests.
You can then kill those off one by one until the GPS notification goes away. Sadly, you can't kill them directly from Location Settings. You'll have to either go to Settings -> Apps, or find them in your recent tasks.
It would be nice if there were a way to actually see what is using the GPS, as sometimes it seems to be some sort of Google service that doesn't show up as an app. (So, even killing everything listed doesn't help, then GPS turns off randomly a while later.)

Please remember that killing apps is not the solution since the apps may restart after you kill them. So it will again use the GPS. Either freeze/disable/uninstall the app(whichever is easier). ;)

@Lucky: How can an app restart itself immediately after it's killed? I mean, it certainly could restart at boot, but in the mean time if it was the app that was using GPS it wouldn't be using it any longer.  Anyway, even if an app did restart itself, you'd see it in the list of running apps, so you'd know it still could be what is using GPS. No need to go uninstalling all the well behaved apps just to figure out what is using GPS.

Read these link on why and how apps keep restarting even after killing should give you an idea. Link 1, Link 2 & Link 3

@Lucky I still don't see how an app can restart itself. I only see people talking about how services will get automatically restarted if they are in use. Are you suggesting someone could create a circular dependency between services? Regardless, it's still a lot easier to kill an app than to uninstall it, reinstall it, and reconfigure all your settings, so killing apps is still useful.

Services are enough to turn on the GPS from the background.

@Lucky: Yes....


text:
Physical (USB) keyboard keeps waking Android ICS tablet from sleep
With (or without) my USB keyboard attached... my tablet will sleep after 1 minute of no activity, or if I manually make it sleep by tapping the power button. However, with my keyboard attached it will wake the tablet again after 30+ seconds. And it will continue to do this sleep..wake..sleep..wake.. until I disconnect the keyboard.
Is there any way to prevent the keyboard from waking the device?
Just to add... if the tablet was already sleeping when I connect the USB keyboard, then the tablet will still wake up after a short period of time. (It is not just when the tablet sleeps having been using the keyboard.) The lights on the keyboard flash just before the tablet wakes up, as if the tablet has sent the signal to 'wake up'?
The only related setting I can find is "Stay awake - Screen will never sleep while charging" (not selected) under Developer options.
EDIT: The tablet is a DGM T-703 7inch - a very generic/vanilla tablet AFAIK. The keyboard is an Afunta(TM) Artificial Leather Keyboard Case, but I have tried another standard USB keyboard and the same thing happens.

What tablet and keyboard are you using?

The tablet is a DGM T-703 7inch - a very generic/vanilla tablet AFAIK. The keyboard is an Afunta(TM) Artificial Leather Keyboard Case, but I have tried another standard USB keyboard and the same thing happens.

Does the tablet support any other USB devices? I'm not really familiar with USB support on Android as I've never used it. If it does support other USB devices, does it have the same behavior if those other USB devices are plugged in or only the keyboard?

I can connect a USB memory stick, but this is OK (it allows the device to go to sleep and it stays asleep). I can also connect it to another PC to transfer files, which also charges the device, but again this is OK. Only the keyboard seems to be an issue.

I now have the same issue using a 7" Sumvison Astro+ after updating the firmware to the manufactures latest ICS listed version. From what i can tell this issue has been introduced as it wasn't present when i first received the tablet with the original firmware.
The details the device lists are
Android version 4.0.3
build version 9F2-D1-H2-H01-2102.20120515
baseband version 1.1
Kernel version 3.0.8+
The release notes list nothing but stability improvements so no clues as to what has been tinkered with. Generally the update was successful a Wi-fi issue i had with streaming music has been cleared and the devices has had it's default CPU speed bumped up which makes it feel snappier, if this keyboard issue wasn't there it would be perfect.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not alone! My tablet (7" DGM T-703) would seem to be very similar spec to yours, and the version numbers all match (build number is slightly different... 97F2-R1-H1-H01-1899.20120401).

Here is a solution! You need to enable screen PIN/password lock. It will disable the physical keyboard in sleep mode. :)

This is not an answer to the question. If you have the same problem, please wait for an answer. If not, create a new question, if you do not find any answer by doing a search.

OK so I did find a solution! You need to enable screen PIN/password lock. It will disable the physical keyboard in sleep mode. :)

You can always edit your own answer, by the way (that's in fact the intended way to improve the quality here) :-)

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
GPRS/Data only starts after reset
I have Karbonn A9, Android 2.3.6.
The GPRS/Data does not switch on occasionally, but once I reboot the phone I can start it.
After deactivating GPRS/Data I have to reboot the phone get either data or GPRS to connect again. What could be causing this?

Try airplane mode, is can appear to be a faster cure than reboot.

Thanks, switching to airplane mode & comae back to normal helped.

Firmware upgrade? BTW just noticed... (Out of curiousity is it GSM in India? Or is it CDMA?)

Both CDMA and GSM phones are available. But GSM is more common.

Backup your data and factory reset your device. If problem is intact, its firmware issue. Fixing it isn't easier than flashing new ROM.
The best way to work around: Disconnect Mobile Data by renaming APN. No need to factory reset or to flash new ROM. You don't need to rename APN manually. Install Widgetsoid and use its mobile data toggle widget. In settings, make sure toggle method is APN renaming. Done!

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


text:
How to make run only a single application with all other application stopped?
I basically want how to stop all other applicationa when my specific apllication is running. It's like in a BITSAT exam, when we log on for the quiz we cannot access internet and we can't access any drives of the computer.  So I bascially want that interface to work on my Android, is there any way to do that?

Development questions are off-topic but we can help you with other solutions.

In BITSAT exam, background applications still run..

sachin may b d background applications run but we cannot access them during the quiz..i want that same interface to run on android..

matthew what are the other solutions?

This is called Kiosk Mode which is hot these days. Try SureLock Kiosk Lockdown app. You can try searching "Kiosk" in Play Store, too.

If you're on Lollipop, its easy to lock down the app.
If you're on an earlier version of android, you need to:

Set your app as a launcher
Root your device
Hide default soft buttons

More on this here: How-To create Kiosk Mode

I don't believe Android works this way.  If you have a task manager of some sort, you can shut down all open applications, but some will automatically come back.  Its just the way it is and how Android works.  Somebody correct me if I'm wrong?  And If I understand the question?

my problem statement means that the other applications may run or may not run but i want that suppose my quiz module is running so the user should not be allowed to run any other application until he gets done with the quiz. So, is there any solution to this problem.?can be either through coding too..??

not just Android, any OS made since the days of DOS are designed such that no single program can take over the system for itself at the exclusion of other programs; at least not unless you have administrator power.

To achieve such a situation, user needs to awake its developer mode. There is an option related to apps. Background Process limit : There you can set how many apps be in background and do you want to leave them.
But proceed with CAUTION! on these settings.

Click to enlarge

Google recently released the Android Management API which allows to easily manage Android devices, lock them on a single application and set various other policies.


text:
Saving a place on Google Maps account
I want to save a place in Google Maps and put description/notes on it..
When I used Symbian, after clicking on the star to add the place as favorite, I could put name and description in the place, and in my Google Maps account, the places get the name and description I put.
In Android I can't find this feature, I can't write notes in a favorite place. Is this feature deprecated? How can I do this?

It seems that feature has been replaced by the Check-In feature that Google is trying to promote, so that you use there location based app (Latitude). When you check-in you can add info and reviews.
Google it trying to promote Latitude as a loaction based social app where you can share your location and interact better with your friends and also provide reviews for the selected starred location.


text:
Adding email address from Gmail to Contacts
Suppose I have a contact in Contacts named John Smith. John's email address is jsmith@gmail.com. I've emailed him in the past, but I've never  added his email to his contact details. Now, suppose I compose an email to John, then as soon as I type js, Gmail guesses that I want to email John and his full email address pops up for me. At this point, I'd like to copy his email address and add it to his contact details in Contacts.
Any way for me to do that easily?
I'm using ICS on the galaxy nexus.

You don't need to copy the email address. Gmail pulls it from an auto-created contact (with only one value). Merge this contact with the contact you created manually.
Procedure: Using stock contacts app, Select the contact in which you want to insert email. Tap Edit from menu. On Edit contact screen, tap Join from menu and choose email address contact.

tip: to view the "auto-created contacts", you may have to change the contacts to display setting in contacts to display all contacts.

@Isaac Isn't this set by default? You would have changed it to "Display Contacts having Phone Number" in past.

@ Sachin: my phone was set to display only "My Contacts" by default.


text:
is there a way to schedule a turn-on-wifi-sync-turn-off-wifi scheduled task for every day at 8am?
I have no 3G.
I use my android phone mostly via wifi home network and read emails and podcasts later offline.
Is there a way to make a scheduled task which will turn on wifi, force sync (or wait for it) and turn off wifi after for example after 20 min?
Force sync is optional. I will just hope that during the 20 min it will occur somehow.
Is there an app which will do this or some smart hack?

Of course there are tons of it. Many of them just supports what you are asking but I'd recommend you llama or tasker. Tasker is paid app but llama is free and uses your cell tower to determine your location to make location based tasks as well. For eg, not only it can do what you have asked but also only when you are at your home.

AutomateIt is also a nice free app...


text:
What are Cyanogenmod's profiles good for?
I just installed ICS CM9 on my Galaxy Note and I am puzzled by the "Profiles" setting. It seems to allow me to set-up different profiles (home, work, etc) and associate settings with them, eg enable Bluetooth and disable GPS at home.
But I didn't see any way to automatically change profiles according to, for example, presence of a given WIFI network. So, my question is: what are those profiles for? Should I manually switch profile from work to home when I come back home? This make no sense!
I searched but didn't find anything relevant, maybe because "profile" is a very generic noun.

Edited the OP to reflect that... Yes, they're CM7+ specific and rather useful (imho), have NFC-trigger-support, CM's forum has more info.

Yes, you'll have to manually switch to Home profile when you come back home. Its what you can find in classic mobile phones.
If you want to automate it, there're plenty of apps for that: Tasker+Profile4Tasker (paid), AutomateIt (free), Llama (free), Locale+Profile4Tasker (paid)

currently researching how to set them with intents not using Profile4tasker (seems with NFC there are random like identifiers involved as "salt" to prevent malicious switching)

Llama is great but it doesn't automate the types of profiles mentioned here. It has its own profiles.

As listed in http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/EndUser.Profiles (already mentioned), the only support for automatic switching provided out-of-the-box with CyanogenMod is via Clock (Alarms) application. Each alarm can also trigger a profile change.
For WiFi-, location-, etc- based changes you'd have to use other options. Some of them are also listed on the above wiki page.

I was looking for the same answers on the same question.
This post from the CM team had all the answers I was looking for:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/EndUser.Profiles

Broken link. Please update it.

When updating to 10.1.3, the Google Maps icon becomes visible at the bottom of the profile being edited. There, you can select triggers based on joining a certain Wi-Fi network, etc.

Actually with no additional applications, they can switch automatically say on a particular WiFi connection/disconnection, but discovering that feature is hiding in a most non-intuitive location.
At the bottom of the profile edit page hiding near your home button you will see a "Google map" placemarker icon.
Click on it.  That takes you to the trigger page, where you can set the profile to automagically activate/deactivate on WiFi or Bluetooth and I think NFC though I've never used that particular tech "feature" looking for a useful purpose.

Are you sure you haven't added an application which can do that? I am running CM 10.1 and I do not have this option in the the Profile edit Setting page. (e.g. System Settings-->Profile-->Work)

the Google maps icon leading to a triggers page is definitely present in CM11 (KitKat).
This allows you to set certain features based on events such as WiFi networks / NFC tags, etc.
I can't recall having seen it before, but as stated - it isn' the most intuitive of locations, I only stumbled on it because I thought my phone was changing* profiles due to some sort of GeoTagging.
*the profile change was actually caused by the clock (alarm), which can be used as a timed profile change every morning (e.g. force your phone into default with your morning alarm clock).... bizarrely, these timed changes are NOT visible/accessible from the profiles config page.


text:
How to fast scroll on Chrome Mobile
I just installed Chrome Mobile on my Galaxy Note (ICS, CM9) and while it has this nice card-like interface, I didn't find how to flick the screen to fast scroll to top or bottom of pages.
In other words, using the Android stock browser, when on a very long page, if I swipe the screen for up to down fast enough with one finger, the page will scroll very fast and continuously from the bottom of page to top of the page. How to do the same with Chrome Mobile?

Probably have to submit a feature request to the Chrome team

The amount of scroll you get on a fling is based on the friction assigned to that flick action.  In the stock browser the friction assigned to the vertical fling is really low.  So your fling isn't a command to get to the top / bottom of the page, there just isn't enough friction to stop you from getting there.  You can test this by finding an insanely long page and giving it a good fling.  You'll go pretty far but you won't reach the bottom.  The Chrome Mobile application applies a bit more friction to the vertical fling, so that same mighty flick you got so much travel from in the stock browser won't get you quite as far in Chrome Mobile.
All that aside, it would probably be worthwhile to send a request via the help page that Google use the same friction coefficient on both apps for consistency.

UC Browser or Maxthon Browser have the quick scroll/page down function.

A PlayStore link would be nice


text:
Issues with automatic update on a rooted Epic 4g touch
So my phone originally had (before the root) Android 2.3.6. After the root process, it ended with 2.3.4 and it keeps telling me to update. A few things aren't working for me anymore, and I'm not sure if that's because of the root process or because of a bad 2.3.4 version.
Anyway, every couple of days my phone will notify me that there is an update available (likely the 2.3.6 I had before) and it asks if I'd like to restart and install. Upon clicking restart, it goes black, starts an update screen (with a progress bar) and goes about 1/4 the way before it stops updating and shows me a warning sign.
My question(s): Am I able to apply an update via a rooted phone? If so, what might be going wrong? If not, is there a way to either turn off that update (or get it via a different method or something)?

Sprint is really nice about forcing these updates. I ended up having to unroot my friends phone because he wanted the Evo update so bad. My personal solution you'll find below ;)

My answer(s): (these are limited to my experiences)
No, you most likely will not be able to apply a standard update to a rooted phone.
As far as turning off the update, this is most likely specific to the phone, and if it's being pushed by your carrier, my guess is you can't just turn it off. I would choose (now that you're rooted) to just flash a new ROM. If you like your stock stuff, you can probably find a ROM that is the same thing you're using now, with the 2.3.6 update.
This ROM may be what you're looking for in the case I described. It doesn't require you to do a wipe either, basically the update for your phone!

I'm considering flashing to an ICS rom, but I don't know if any of them are stable enough for my liking yet, so I decided to just update to 2.3.6 if I could and wait on it a bit.


text:
Unable to factory reset my HTC Desire S
I have a HTC Desire S. I have firmware updates but when i try to update the same. I rebooted in the updating process and the phone hangs there for hour (i waited for 4 hrs once). I tried to factory reset the mobile, still facing the same issue.
Note: The phone is rooted.
Do I need to visit HTC Service center or is there anything that I can do?

Factory reset only resets all user data, not the OS itself. If your update failed for some reason, you'd have to reflash the phone. You can find info on this in the XDA-Developers forum.
Note that since your phone is rooted, your warranty may be void. Take this into consideration before you take your phone to the service center.


text:
Test Accelerometer alignment?
Is there any app around that lets an Android user see the "flat" on the accelerometer? The reason I'm looking for such is because I recently got the Need For Speed Shift game. And I notice that the car is veering to the right even if I have the phone held straight. I have to tilt it a little to the left in order for it to go a straight direction which is an awkward workaround. If there's an app that can show a straight line for me to be able to test if my accelerometer is misaligned, please do share. If there's no such app I'll happily accept any hacks/workarounds available like a live wallpaper with a liquid physics on it perhaps?
The sooner I find this out, the better because I can send it in for replacement / repair while it's still under warranty.

If you have a Samsung Galaxy series device you can try dialing #0# to enter a test mode and select sensor to see the degrees of the accelerometer.

I'm a bit confused as to why you'd want to confirm something that already seems obvious to you rather than try to calibrate the accelerometer :P

@MatthewRead, well I was thinking if I had a far clearer display of the accelerometer other than basing it off of a game, I can easily prove to the techs that the accelerometer is indeed misaligned. But as lenik pointed out below, (and something I didn't know), most accelerometers give little miscalibrated readings.

There was an app that I had a while ago, I think they removed it from the market, but I found it here: Tricorder. It's a little cheesey and geeky, but if you are in the first section ("GRAV") it will show you the direction vectors from the readings it gets from the accelerometer. It does some other cool things too, but for your diagnostic purposes, it should work well!
Update: Here's a screenshot of what you're looking for. I took this while holding my phone horizontally, and you'll notice the "y" vector is 0.040. It kept moving between 0.080 and 0.000. I'd say if it's much more than 0.150 off, you probably have a hardware issue.

Here's the reading I got at ~0.500. To get this reading, I held the phone horizontally and lifted up the left side almost a centimeter.  Here's the screenshot, if it helps:

Awesome! I can see that it really is a bit off. I got 0.459 on the Y part. Is it that bad?

If it's not closer to zero, it's probably off. I'll get that on mine and post another screenshot when I can.

Yay, Tricorder. I liked it so much that when they removed it from the market, I tracked down the source and built it myself.

If your device is laying flat on a table, and Y reads 0.459, that's very bad. Are you sure it wasn't 0.0459?


text:
How do I get Youtube Links to open in the YouTube app and not a browser?
Everytime I click a link to a Youtube clip I have to choose which browser to open it in. I'd like them to open in the YouTube android app. Is there a setting somewhere that I can change ...?

If you're on a device with a newer HTC sense version (3.6 and up), there doesn't appear to be much you can do about it without root (and even then it breaks browser links to phone and maps)

If you have YouTube installed, the YouTube app should be one of the options you get to open the video. When you see this prompt, checking the "Set this option as default" checkbox will make every YouTube link open with the app (you might have to check the option again when opening from multiple browsers, I've had this happen).

To change the option later or if you accidentally chose the wrong one, you'll find the setting under 'Menu->Manage Applications' then find the browser or YouTube app (whichever you set as the default) and choose 'Clear Defaults'.

in my 'Manage Applications' the Browser app doesn't have any defaults set.  Does anybody know where those defaults are stored?


text:
Can I set up my Galaxy Tab to boot from the external SD card?
I'm having some issues with my Samsung Galaxy Tab, model SCH-I800 (VZW).
It started giving me a reboot loop one day (completely stock at this point). I've flashed ROMs and whatnot in the past, so I thought this would be an easy fix.
Based on the symptoms that this thing is exhibiting, I believe that the internal flash storage has gone bad. However, I do not have the desire to take this thing part and desolder the chip. So how do I get this Tab to boot off the external SD card? I've tried everything google has to offer thus far:

Manually (and correctly) partitioned SD card.
Edited /etc/fstab in addition to vold.fstab.
Flashed numerous ROMs.
Data/cache wipe in CWM 3.0.0.5 (for some reason, the newest version won't flash).

Running ls /dev/block in an adb shell shows mmcblk0, mmcblk1p1, and mmcblk1p2. For some reason, after every reboot, mount /sdcard throws an error that references mmcblk0 instead of mmcblk1. I am at my wit's end. I think /etc/fstab isn't sticking after reboot, but I honestly don't know. My knowledge of *nix-based systems is somewhat limited.
Is there any way for me to get this to boot from the external SD card?

Have you looked at trying a stock odin flash first to fix it? You will have to modify the boot.img to boot from sdcard, which still runs from internal NAND, and there is nothing you can do about that

Unless I am misunderstanding you, it isn't the internal NAND that is messed up. It is the internal flash storage that the Tab mounts as /sdcard by default (it's confusing, the internal storage is mounted as /sdcard and the external sd card is mounted as /sdcard/external). Any time I flash with odin, it hangs on hidden.fs. I've tried two stock ROMs (same ROM, different sources) and a few modified ROMs. I am not sure how to modify boot.img but I will certainly google it.
Thanks in advance. Let me know if I can provide more information.

Not totally sure on the workings of ODIN, but I know that devs make custom odin files... can you maybe try one without the hidden.fs? Like have it removed from the archive before flashing? Maybe once booted you could format the internal flash memory in Android itself or in a revocery (CWM, TWRP, whatever)

I've tried manually removing hidden.fs and just picking individual files from the archive to flash with heimdall. Nothing has worked so far. Also I can't mount mmcblk0 (internal storage) to format it. It throws an error when I try. Thanks though.

Sorry but it's not possible to boot from an external sd card since when the phone powers up the processor start to execute code at a fixed adress in the nand, and you can't change that.


text:
Aoson M19 -- Need Device Drivers
Myself and a few others have an extra Aoson M19 android tablet on hand, but can't seem to find any USB device drivers for it. I assume this is because it isn't an overly popular tablet.
Does anyone know where some drivers could be found? Perhaps someone wrote their own?

Found this..

After a few days working with this beautiful tablet i must say it's better than i expected. Great screen, fast enough (i never tested games).
  Now i'm intersting to conect the tablet with a usb cable to my windows 7 desktop.
  Please tell me where i can find drivers so i can synchronize it with the program i use (my phone explorer).
  With the drivers i found i can only see and work with the files on the memory of my tablet.
  Thank you in advance.
ANSWER:
  thank you for taking the time to post a review, please email us at techhelp@merimobiles.com we will send you the windows drivers, thank you

So it looks like they're not publicly available, but try emailing this company and you might get them as well!

no problem! let us know if they're able to help you or not.

I will certainly post back on my experience with Aoson support.

Aoson never replied to my email & I have moved onto using other tablets for development. Good luck to any other Aoson users.

Sorry it did not work out for you :/ but good luck with your new adventures!


text:
How can I restrict a user's ability to modify settings or install apps?
Our team is planning to buy around 10 Android phones for the team members. We don't want them to install any applications other than the ones provided. Is there a method or an application which would allow me to restrict the ability of a user to install apps?
As an analogy, on Windows the admin can configure the system so that other users cannot access Internet settings, task manager, or install new software. We'd basically like to do something similar to that.
One idea I had was to download the Android source code itself and then program it according to my needs and install it on the devices. However, I would prefer to avoid doing that, if possible.

Many of the motives are similar in this question: Securing a young child's tablet

Also you may want to have a lock at Device Policy Administration for Android. But it seem like there is no restriction for Apps when enforcing 'Device Policy'.

You can't... unless you manufacture the device by yourself.
You can't stop power users from flashing ROM which would flush your software based protection (even if you have embedded the solution in ROM to survive factory reset). Unfortunately, almost all devices in Market support it. If not, there are ways to hack bootloaders, too.
If you are still interested in software based solution, try contacting Soti. They provide such type of solutions at a cost.


text:
Android voice search doesn't recognize Exchange contacts
So I'm sure this is primarily because the contacts aren't listed in one of the linked gmail accounts. It's killing me because my dad can't use voice commands to call his contacts like he did on his BlackBerry. The only solution I've found so far is to export the exchange contacts to one of the linked gmail accounts. But obviously this must be redone EVERY time he changes something in outlook.
So, is there some way to get voice commands to recognize the Exchange contacts? Or do I have to look for some sort of 3rd party solution that will sync the contacts between the two services?
Also, he doesn't like how the contacts are listed by the person instead of by the company. Any way to change that?

are you sure you have enabled "Sync Contacts" in the Exchange app?
They should be reachable after that--

I'm 90% certain it is. That should be the default setting.

Ah, but it isn't  -
In the e-mail app, go to settings, the account, and check "Sync Contacts"

I would give it a shot to see if this adds the contacts to the voice search, but it would add more contacts than I care to siphon through --
HTH!

Were you able to solve your problem? Any update? What is your Android version?

To deal with the obscurely picky old dinosaur issue, set up groups. Company 1 > group 1, Company 2 > group 2, etc

Android's voice search is processed by remote servers, not the phone itself. As a result, the contacts must be in a Google account on the phone in order to be searchable.

Contacts>Settings>Contacts to display>Select all the accounts


text:
Unlock Xperia Play R800i for use with CM9
Is there any way I can unlock the bootloader for my O2 Xperia Play so I can install Cyanogen Mod on it? Sony announced today that they will not be releasing ICS for the Xperia Play. Now I want to unlock it and put Cyanogen Mod 9 on it. How would I go about doing this?

so do you just want help unlocking the bootloader or would you like help installing a custom ROM?

unlocking the bootloader

For future readers, ICS never officially came to the Xperia Play :(

Yes I have an O2 Xperia Play and the only way for you to get CM9 is to unlock the boot loader using Omnius or any test point method as I did. Do not use Sony's way as you will lose DRM protected content and that is not what you want, so use Omnius then try and get into fastboot mode and it will work.

Yeah mine says allowed:no does Omnius work? Are there any free methods of unlocking?

I tried omnius and it just freezes at "Waiting for loader response"

Unlocking Your Xperia Play
Known issues
It is currently not possible to unlock the boot loader for CDMA phones.
Some customers with unlocked boot loaders have experienced problems when they are accepting over the air upgrades (FOTA - Firmware upgrade Over The Air). For customers that have unlocked the boot loader, please do not accept any over the air upgrades. For additional information, check out the hints and tips from the community on the XDA forum.
Instructions

First, you should confirm that it is possible to unlock the boot
loader of your phone by checking the service menu.
In your phone,
open the dialler and enter ##7378423## to access the service
menu. In your phone, tap Service info > Configuration > Rooting
Status. If Bootloader unlock allowed says Yes, then you can continue
with the next step. If it says No, or if the status is missing, your
device cannot be unlocked.
On your computer, click Continue at the
bottom of this page to start the unlock boot loader process.
Read
through the information in the pop up window and click Yes, I’m
sure,    if you are still confident you want to unlock the boot
loader.
Read    through and accept the legal terms. Click I Accept.
Enter your name,    email address, the first 14 digits (remove the
last digit) of your    phone’s IMEI number and the two CAPTCHA words
in the input boxes.    Click Submit. You can view the IMEI number by
entering *#06# on your    phone.
The unlock boot loader key is
displayed. Write it down and    save it for later use.
Download and
install the latest Android SDK    from developer.android.com.
Download and unzip this file. This is the    standard
android_winusb.inf-file, with a few lines of code added to    enable
Fastboot to support Sony and Sony Ericsson devices. Make sure    you
are running Google USB Driver package revision 4 or higher in
your Android SDK. You can see current Google USB Driver package
revision in the SDK Manager.
Place the unzipped file in the
usb_driver folder, located in the Android SDK > extras > google
folder on your computer. Accept to replace the old
android_winusb.inf-file with the new file. If you can't find the
usb_driver folder, please install the Google USB Driver Packager
using the Android SDK manager.
Turn off your phone.
On your phone,
push and hold the unlock button* at the same time as you connect the
phone to the computer with a USB-cable. The unlock button may differ
between different phone models. See the note in the bottom of this
page for more information on what button use on your phone.
On your
computer, you will be asked for drivers. Point to the usb_driver
folder where you placed the android_winusb.inf-file, and select the
Android Boot loader Interface-file.
Open a command window and go to
the tools folder within the Android SDK folder.
Enter fastboot.exe
-i    0x0fce getvar version, and verify that you get a response back (for    example "0.3"). This means your phone is connected properly.
Warning! If you perform this step, you will unlock the boot loader.    This may void your warranty and/or any warranty from your
operator.    If you still want to unlock the boot loader of your
phone, enter    fastboot.exe -i 0x0fce oem unlock 0xKEY, where KEY
is the unlock boot    loader key you got in the beginning of this
instruction. The boot    loader should now be successfully unlocked.

Hold the following button while connecting your phone to a computer with a USB-cable:

Menu button (for Xperia™ arc, Xperia™ arc S, Xperia™ neo, Xperia™ neo V, Xperia™ pro).
Search button (for Xperia™ PLAY).
Volume up button (for Xperia™ mini, Xperia™ mini pro, Xperia™ ray, Xperia™ active, Live with Walkman™, Xperia™ S).

This process was found on Sony's unlocking site.

if you want help flashing ROM, we can take that step too.

How do I check its GSM

Also I am unable to get into fastboot mode when booting my phone, it just skips it :O

If somebody wouldn't have edited the title you might have been able to see that i already checked and the bootloader unlock is not allowed.


text:
Calendar in ICS lockscreen
I'm searching for a way to display a couple of calendar events on the lockscreen of Android 4.x ICS.
I found Lockscreen Calendar but it doesn't support ICS.

My personal solution would be to use Widgetlocker and put a widget on the lockscreen, such as the built-in ICS calendar widget. But that's just me :)

I found that one before but I wasn't sure because I didn't see a calendar in the screenshot directly. I'll give it a try. Thanks!


text:
What happened to real time tracking in Latitude?
What happened to the real time tracking of friends in Latitude? The feature used to be there, but I cant find it anymore

Can you be more descriptive because its right here for me.

I can still see where my friends were several minutes ago, but I can't find the option of getting updates every several seconds. There used to be an option "track this person for 15minutes" but I cant find it now

OK I understood. I assumed different thing when I said that.

According tho this post, that feature was removed as of version 5.10 of Google Maps app because it was never properly working.

This is very upsetting for me :( Loved real-time updating, and only now does someone I care for following have an Android :-/

Google rep said that this feature was not working, and most of the time did the opposite, so I wouldn't miss it if I were you :)

I find their reasoning hard to believe

You can just press "refresh"-- and it will really give you second-by-second changes so long as the person you're looking at has their GPS on.
If location is set to "Network"- then it only updates when they change towers.
This is much more battery-efficient, it seems.

Yea, I am aware that GPS is expensive since its an additional chip to be enabled. While using mobile phone towers is given effectively for free, since you're going to be connected to the cell towers already.


text:
How to lower OOM value of an app permanently?
I am not challenging Android's memory management technique (like killers do). I just want to give an app higher priority even when it's not in foreground or visible (with notification).
AutoKiller Memory Optimizer is able to do it on rooted device, but the change lasts for few seconds if I multi-task.
I want to do this permanently: perhaps running a background daemon to do change continuously should work. How to do this?

Same problem here. You can use v6 supercharger for a partial fix to your problems.

You could ask the developer to add an (optional) service with the app. Apps having a service connected are less likely to get killed by OOM.

@Izzy Priority of apps having services is lower than foreground & visible ones. BTW, how many developers you are suggesting me to calculate? Its not a solution...

@SachinShekhar you are right, but with a running service the prio is still higher than that of other "background apps", as far as I remember. And as far as I understood, you where concerned for one specific app -- so I'd suggest that specific developer :) But OK, it was just a suggestion. Sorry it's no help to you -- was worth a try, though.

Did you check Keeping an app in memory? Looks like that would answer your question.

On XDA I found a post discussing how to PIN an app to not get killed by OOM. As your question indicates your device is rooted, this could be useful for you. The principle described there can be applied to your case as well by simply changing the oom_adj value specified (the -17 would permanently PIN it, highest prio -- so use a larger value to "weaken" that).
The script snipped posted there looks like this:
#!/system/bin/sh
sleep 60

PPID=$(pidof com.estrongs.android.safer)
echo "-17" > /proc/$PPID/oom_adj

An anonymous user noted you could also set this file to read-only permissions to prevent Android from updating it, adding chmod 444 /proc/$PPID/oom_adj to the above script (the proposed 444 means nothing but read permission, but doesn't affect the system's ability to remove the file when the process ends). I have not verified that, but this could in fact save you from looping/repeatedly running the script, making the set value permanent for as long as the process lives.
As said, replace the -17 by your chosen value. Also replace the app's package name (com.estrongs.android.safer) by the package name of your target app. You can also lower the sleep value, or even ommit the sleep at all.
Now you need a way to auto-execute this as soon as your app is running. For this part, you could e.g. use Tasker: Context would be "app running" (and your app selected), and the task "run shell", with above script as parameter. Then, as soon as you start your app (and it comes to foreground), Tasker would execute the script -- and the oom_adj value should be applied.

i notice that if i background the app, the oom_adj value changes.  does this mean that the app has actually been unpinned?

It can't be done from a application's code (background service or thread or whatever). Reason is well described in this post, http://debuggingisfun.blogspot.com/2014/03/android-foolproof-low-memory-killer.html

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.

ROM Toolbox Pro by Jrummy has built-in OOM manager.

That's similar to AutoKiller Memory Optimizer.. Read the question again..


text:
Jabber client with old SSL support
The company I'm working for is using a Jabber server which is kind of old. It doesn't support SSL/TLS with SASL but only plain old SSL.
I tried a dozen of Jabber clients for Android but none of them supports this setup.
Are there any alternatives?

Jabiru project has "legacy SSL" option.

IM+ also has the option for "Use old-style SSL" - it appears to be more than just the port 5223, as disabling the option and setting the port manually, doesn't allow authentication.


text:
How to active the RAM memory which is differents with 512 MB when buying

Possible Duplicate:
Why is my device not utilizing all of its available RAM?

I have new problem with my Novo 7 Basic, Android 3.2, 8GB, 512 MB** RAM:
When I go into Tools -> System Info (have CPU, Display, Memory...) in Memory Info:

Total Mem 343.MB + Free Mem   36.048 MB (<512 MB RAM)
Inactive     94.496 MB

When I used : "Android Assitant app ", it shows my Memory info (RAM) is:

Used : 183,96MB
Free:  150,95MB

Total: 334.96 MB
"RAM Manager Free software ", it says that Memory info is:

MemTotal: 343.000 MB & MemFree: 7012 kB

But my tablet is supposed to have 512 MB of RAM. Please explain this to me (for any problems or errors). How do I activate the "inactive mem 94.496 MB"?

This memory is not inactive. It is reserved for the GPU and the radios (wi-fi, bluetooth etc.)
You cannot activate it because it's already in use.


text:
How To Selectively Update Applications On Google Play?
I would like to know how to update manually only apps that I want and not all apps at once when every other day they get updated again. How to checkmark only specific apps I want to manually update?

You could check-mark for automatic updates those apps which you care about or just update each application individually.

Individually is not only time consuming, but frustrating because when update is performed, my smartphone becomes very sluggish that navigating back and forth to update specific apps manually merely become test of patience.

@Boris_yo, is setting specific apps to auto update is not an option for you?

I can set that option but the problem is when Android detects Wi-Fi access and decides to update all applications one after another in case they have not been updated long time. I have even heard story of this process crashing smartphone of somebody, making it fail to boot where the only way left to restore everything is with factory restore.

@Boris_yo, maybe you could disable auto update and perform "update all" when you do not use the phone. There is no other way than those mentioned above using Google Play app. If you're feeling good at scripting you could write your own updater which could download apks on PC and push them to device via adb.


text:
Screen goes blank during or after the call and does not come back
I have an Android 2.3.6 phone.
The problem is the screen goes blank and unresponsive during or after the call.
I can't make or receive any call once the screen goes blank.
In Android 2.3.6, there is no proximity control.
If I do a missed call to my number, then the screen comes back.

Related: Screen goes dark and phone goes unresponsive whenever I make/receive a call

The free app Screebl Lite will fix this problem with phone calls. However, it creates another annoying problem after installation - the screen won't shut off or standby without you physically tapping the phone's power button.
Tested on a Samsung Galaxy Proclaim, running Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread.

Yeah, just hit the power button. Your call won't terminate. It may have been meant to be intuitive, to save juice.  I use Speaker a lot, and need to hit the power button to end a call.


text:
Android mail client not deleting emails on IMAP server
I have a new Samsung Galaxy S2 SkyRocket and the native mail program doesn't delete my IMAP mail from my server. When I view my mail on my PC, I'm still seeing the emails I deleted on the phone.
The Samsung tech told me I needed to uncheck the "Leave a copy on server" option in my mail client on my PC; however, Thunderbird 12.0.1 doesn't have that option (and personally, I fail to see how that has anything to do with my phone's mail client.)
Does anyone have an idea on how to set my phone so that it deletes those emails?
Thanks!

As mentioned in my comments below, "Leave a copy on server" is normally associated with POP3 accounts, not IMAP. There is no corresponding setting on Android mail. Are you able to check your mail on the server (via webmail)? Is it really still on the server? Or is it just stored/cached by Thunderbird?

Also, when you send email (from Android mail), does it appear in the Sent folder on the server? ...And in Thunderbird?

@w3d - Yes, I can check my mail via webmail and the mail I delete via Android mail is still on the server. Also, the mail I send from Android mail is not appearing in my Sent folder on the server nor in Thunderbird.

It is behaving like a POP3 account?! Do you have an "IMAP path prefix" set on Android mail? It is like your mail server is not responding to the IMAP requests (a guess)? Just to confirm... I have an IMAP account set up on Android mail (Version 4.1) and Thunderbird and all appears to work OK.

@w3d - I would say it's behaving like a POP3 account. I don't have an IMAP path prefix set, because I don't have that option. I deleted the account and walked through the automatic setup, without being offered the option to set the path prefix. So, I deleted the account again and walked through the setup manually. It allowed me to setup a path prefix, but sent mails still don't appear in the sent mail online, and deleted emails only appear read in Thunderbird. (I have v3.0.0.1 of Android Email.)

If you delete emails in Thunderbird (IMAP) do they delete from the server (often just moved to the Trash folder)? And sent mail to sent items?

On Thunderbird, deleted mails go to Trash folder. Sent mail goes to local sent mail folder.

CORRECTION - Sent mail goes to sent folder on server.

let us continue this discussion in chat

Unbelievably this bug is still outstanding as of Android 4.0.4.
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1029
The only fix for this is to use a different email app. Most people end up switching to GMail.
Not happy. I miss my Nokia N900.

Android 2.3.6. has got this bug too. It's unbelievable!!! In 2013 you buy a new Android 2.3.6 phome (Samsung Galaxy GT-S7500) and the default email client does not delete messages. Google don't you have other ways to convince people using Gmail?! To whom it may be interested, both K-9 Mail and AquaMail are two cool apps that do not have this ominous bug.

Only App that handled imap well I could find was K-9

You change the "Leave a copy on the server" option on the Android mail client.

@rm-vanda - That is what I would have thought, but that is not what he typed. We were on chat, so had to read it twice to make sure I wasn't just imagining things. Which is why we got into the discussion on how to change it on my Thunderbird client.
Now, supposing I have that option on my Android client, do you know where I can locate it? Thanks!

-1 "Leave a copy on the server" is a setting normally associated with POP3, not IMAP. And neither Thunderbird nor the Android mail client has this setting under IMAP. The Android mail client does not even have this setting under POP3 either.


text:
When making calls the screen turns off
I have Karbonn A9, Android 2.3.6.
When making calls the screen turns off and comes on pressing the power button. But sometimes it fails to come on, forcing me to restart it by removing the battery. Any clues?

Try to disable the proximity sensor, I had similar problem with my Galaxy Ace and it helped.

I don't think there is an option under settings to turn off proximity sensor. (In karbonn A9)

Does the screen not come on when you take the phone away from your face?

I purchased an A9 today and I'm having the same problem. If you have a screen guard, make sure it is not covering the proximity sensor. That worked for me.

I tried Screebl, Screen on and Smartlite but none of them seemed to fix it. Finally tried *#36#. It opened up a screen with a list of items one of which was Proximity Sensor test. I selected it and saw text written in Chinese/Korean language. I tried my luck clicking a button (which showed some Chinese text). It did something and after sometime the button disappeared. I am not getting screen off during call/after call issue anymore.

The *#36# solution worked perfectly for me on my Karbonn A9.

I faced a similar problem, resolved the problem.
It was to do with Proximity sensor and the screen protector blocking the proximity sensor.
You should check for the same and cut off the plastic from the blocking area.
Note that the proximity sensor is at a small circle at the top left of the phone.
let me know if it worked

Does the phone comes with a screen protector on it? I had the same problem and sent the phone for replacement.

@sElanthiraiyan: In general, the screen protectors that come on phones when they are new have cutouts where the proximity sensor and front facing cameras go. However, I have noticed that some screen protectors that you can buy do not have these cutouts, although some do.

I had the same problem, and dialing *#36# to reset the proximity sensor fixed it.

Tried the *#36# proposed solution by dialing that sequence as per a normal call and received the following response "USSD code running..." followed by: "Connection problem or invaild MMI code." Any other suggestions?

@TonyMo dial it with the stock dialer, it will automatically open the options for you, you don't have to press the dial button. If you are trying the code through third party dialer then its won't work. Hope this will help you.

Before cutting the plastic off of the proximity sensor, try cleaning the area out with a damp Q-tip.  I had this problem and it was caused by a bit of dust/whatever accumulation.

Try using Screebl. It fixed the issue for me.

If you are rooted, you could ramp up the minimum CPU voltage when the screen is off.
That will certainly fix your problem--
OR if you have a lot of applications running in the background all the time, you could set your min free mem values a bit higher.
But if you aren't rooted--
Keeping the screen on is not a desirable solution since it will drain your battery very, very quickly.
Since you're on 2.3.6, I would say a bit of patience could do the trick--
Your phone should only freeze once in a blue moon--
Try uninstalling some applications that are high-ranked on your battery usage.

I have Karbonn A9, Android 2.3.6.
When making calls the screen turns off and comes on pressing the power button. But sometimes it fails to come on, forcing me to restart it by removing the battery.
Problem Come Sence i Leminat mobile .. before it was Work Fine..
I got Solution here :
Screebl Lite app install and active it..
proximity sensor Off app install and 'disable accidental lock' Disable IT
it's work on my Karbonn A9 mobile
tommorow i will remove lamination of mobile then ??
should Problem will not come again..

Screebl was already mentioned as a solution in this answer

authors: ابونواف الرويلي


text:
Why does my phone keep forgetting the Default apps?
Am running CM 7.2 on a Nexus One. Have tried resetting defaults with "Default App Manager," but eventually no matter what I do, my device forgets the Defaults for my Browser, images, music, SMS, etc... Is there a way to fix this permanently?

Normally there're four reasons for default apps to reset.

You install an app that can handle that intent.
You uninstall an app that can handle that intent.
You update an app that can handle that intent.
The app is on the sdcard and you rebooted/mounted it on a pc.

The fourth is commonly overlooked. Without source level changes this can't be modified.

I think that #4 maybe the clue here... The apps in question are all installed on my SD card for space management reasons. I've moved these apps back to the phone and have rebooted. For right now, this appears to have solved the problem. I need to let this sit for a bit before I can claim victory.

@Kendor So did it solve the problem?


text:
Is is possible to make a non-rooted Huawei U8110 (T-Mobile Pulse Mini) recognisable by the `adb devices` command on OS X?
Currently, on OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, this is all I get, even with USB debugging enabled on the phone:
$ ./adb devices
List of devices attached

$

The phone shows up under About This Mac, and its SD card mounts and unmounts perfectly on command. I have tried several USB cables.

Have you set the correct udev rules?

I don't think udev exists on OS X. See http://apple.stackexchange.com/a/46954 for instance.

Related: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8439379/android-development-on-win-7-64-bit-with-pulse-mini-huawei


text:
How to uninstall an application without removing the user data?
The title says it all. Say I have an application, a game for instance. Which I wish to uninstall from my phone, and reinstall sometime in the future. However, I don't want my game save to be lost.
Is it possible to uninstall an app but to keep its data?
Thanks in advance.

Eventually, simply uninstalling and reinstalling normally worked! Turns out data is saved this way or another.

I'm pretty sure this isn't true for most apps. When you uninstall an app, everything in /data/data/<packagename> is thrown away. Maybe your app saved to a different location or has cloud saves.

@lunboks: Perhaps, but since it worked for me, I accepted it. It's clear that the better answer would be to use some sort of backup app, just in case, and it reflects by the answer with most votes :)

My technique
If you don't want to root your device, you can use adb and pm instead.  These steps will be hard to follow unless you already are familiar with the use of command-line tools.

Install adb on your computer, and set things up so that it can communicate with your device.  Don't forget to enable USB debugging on your device.  It's a big hassle to get adb working for the first time; the consolation prize is that you only have to do it once.

Use a USB cable to connect your computer with your device.

Use adb shell to connect to your device.

Use pm list packages to see a list of installed package IDs.

Use pm uninstall -k plus your package ID, to remove the package but keep your user data.

See also this related post.

CAUTION: pm uninstall -k leads to being unable to reinstall the app via play store or f-droid. Play store complains that "another user has already installed this app"

@oarfish:  I tried it on my own device (running Android 8 "Oreo") within the past few weeks, and Google Play Store reinstalled the app without any problem.

Try this program SD Maid.
Open program, go to AppControl tab and click the app you want. There is an option called, "Remove app but keep its data".
Edit:
I'm not sure but it might require root.

Seems like the latest version of SD Maid do not have "Remove app but keep its data" option.

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


text:
How can I speed up GPS fixes?
I'm looking for a way to speed up GPS fixes on my Motorola Defy with Cyanogenmod 7. For example today, I started up GPS Status while biking, and it got its initial fix after six minutes. What could cause my GPS to take that long for fixes and how can I speed it up?
By the way, GPS Status is configured to refresh the AGPS data every day.

Download Faster Fix.
Simple enough, right!? =D This helped me a lot on my HTC Sensation after flashing a different European ROM. I think it also helps if you set the Language to your region, even if English is English. It seems to me like I don't even need this app when I set the Language to US English instead of UK English; that could just be superstition, though.

Don't forget that having wifi on is a major assist to Android figuring out where it is, even when it doesn't actually connect to an access point, although this may not be so helpful if you're not near any wifi access points. Also, consider for your next phone one that has a barometer (such as the Galaxy Nexus), as the barometer helps significantly with GPS acquisition by partially eliminating an axis.


text:
Keepass and Chrome Mobile?
is there a way to use something like ChromeIPass on Android for the Chrome Mobile Browser?
I installed the KeepassDroid App but I couldn't figure out a way to integrate it.
Greetings, Steven

Lastpass works, but is quite annoying to use.  (It's still better than nothing, though).
In case you didn't know, Chrome for Android will sync with Chrome for desktop.

Yes, Chrome sync would work for passwords unless one doesn't need cross-browser sync.

LastPass input method is great which works with all apps on Earth, but it's not free...

I forgot that it wasn't free, and I'd dispute that it works "great"; I find it annoying and frustrating every time I use it.


text:
False "Internal memory space is low" on tPAD - need a root access
A friend of mine has a chinese Teclast tPAD with Android 2.3.1. After some time of usage we start to get system notification "Internal memory space is low". Yet there are tons of free space in all types of memory: 14 Gb in SD, 5 Gb in NAND flash, 400 Mb in internal memory, 156 Mb RAM. Apparently something is wrong with the system because we can't install most of programs - installation typically finishes with a notification about insufficient memory.
From what I have read here, this can be caused by overflown hidden system folders, such as /data and /cache. So the question is, how can I get root access for tPAD, or how the cleanup can be done without root access?
This brand is not well supported worldwide, so it's very hard to find drivers and apps applicable. For example, I can't plug the device into a PC's USB in developer mode (if it could help) though the appropriate option is enabled.

You can use Kingroot. License is Chinese, but when you accept it, app changes to English. And you don't need a computer.
Then install ZArchiver. It can get to the system folders, if the device is rooted.

ZArchiver is not a suggested app for use as a root explorer. Other viable options include ES File Explorer and Root Explorer. Please link the apps mentioned in your answer.


text:
ICS (Samsung Nexus) Calendar Default Event Duration
Been trying to change the default duration while creating an event on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus stock calendar. It's defaulted to be 1 hour but I'd like to change to 30 minutes like I can on Google Calendar on Chrome. Thanks.

Doesn't look like it has one.


text:
Aoson M19 -- Device Drivers

Possible Duplicate:
Aoson M19 — Need Device Drivers

Myself and a few others have an extra Aoson M19 android tablet on hand, but can't seem to find any USB device drivers for it. I assume this is because it isn't an overly popular tablet.
Does anyone know where some drivers could be found? Perhaps someone wrote their own?
I have already tried the Google drivers and the drivers providers listed on developer.android.com- please don't point me there.
Thanks.

Wow. That's not great for a company not to have publicly available drivers -- I guess it's one of those off-brand chinese tablets though, isn't it? Good luck, hope you can find them!

For others who might encounter this problem, HERE is where I re-asked this question.
The solution is that you need to email the company at this address: techhelp@merimobiles.com
And you will be helped, supposedly. I will post back on whether this works for me.
UPDATE:
No one ever responded to my email... Good luck other Aoson users.


text:
How to install ROMs without ClockWorkMod in Huawei U8800
I have official Huawei ROM installed on my U8800 (Android 2.3.5) and I want to try some custom ROMs like MIUI. So I researched and find out that I need to replace default recovery.img file in /.cust_backup/image with ClockWorkMod Recovery image file. After I replaced this file successfully tried to boot into Recovery using reboot recovery command (also tried pressing [VOL+]+[Power]) but my phone didn't flash CWM but started to reboot several times instead. After 2 or 3 reboots phone is starting normally without flashing CWM. Then I restored replaced recovery.img with my backed-up one and rebooted, default Recovery screen flashed with no problem. I used official CWM Recovery image (5.0.2.6) for U8800 and some other unofficial CWM images for U8800. But none of them worked. I could neither solve this problem nor find another way to install my ROM Zip from SDCARD. Does anyone know what can I do to solve these?

After trying a lot of different Recovery images finally one of them worked. CWM 5.0.2.7 flashed successfully. People with the same problem can download the working recovery image file from this link


text:
How often app is used?

Possible Duplicate:
What are my most frequently used apps?

Is there any app, that can tell me which applications I use most?
I want to optimize my shortcuts to put most clicked icons first.

EDIT: See  eldarerathis's comment for an app that does this.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3545691/how-to-keep-track-of-which-applications-used-most-in-android-phone
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2114498/is-there-a-way-to-monitor-and-record-which-applications-have-started-recently
Both of these questions and the answers the receive suggests that it isn't possible for an application to monitor which other apps are being used. Quite a shame really, I would be interested to see what I use the most.

See What are my most frequently used apps?


text:
Is it possible to install ICS in BlackBerry Playbook

Possible Duplicate:
Can I install Android on my non-Android device?

Is it possible to install ICS in Blackberry playbook ?
If so is it possible to revert back to Stock ROM ?


text:
setting to unblock installation of applications from PC
I am starting android application development, and connected htc wildfire, started its sync software. And clicked on Application Installer. And it gives following errror message:
your phone is set to block installation of applications not sourced in android market

So I want to know that what settings can I change to unblock installation of applications from my pc. And from eclipse. I actually want to test applications developed by me.
thanks

You need to enable Unknown sources in the android settings (on my device it is in the Security section). Also enable USB debugging in Developer options.


text:
Swapping the "home" button functionality
Currently (2.2) pressing the home button goes to the home app shortcuts, and long-prerssing it opens recently used tasks.
Is it possible to swap these actions? Then quick press would open recent tasks.
(I'm also interested in answers that require root, or a custom rom.)

What device is this?

@cjk Does the device matter? Samsung GT-S5570.

I would look for launcher replacements - I am not aware of any changing long press behavior, but many of them provide options to change the home button behavior.

If you're using the AOKP ICS ROMs, then there is a setting under System Settings->ROM Control->General UI->Long Press Home Action but it seems to only let you choose between different kinds of recent menu lists. I know this is a narrow part of your situation, but information for your taking nonetheless.

Good information, but as you said, only a narrow part of what I'm asking for. Thanks, though!

if I find anything else, you'll be the first to know!

Another method exists, and like you indicated, it requires at the very least root access and possibly a custom ROM.

Hook your device up to a computer via adb.
Pull your keypad.kl file. For my HTC EVO 4G, it was
/system/usr/keylayout/supersonic-keypad.kl, regardless of what it
is called, you should find it somewhere close to
/system/usr/keylayout
Open this file with a text editor, and edit as you please following
the pattern of the file.

For me, the HOME button is 102, so remapping this key to the camera would be key 102     CAMERA       WAKE_DROPPED.
A key marked WAKE will wake the device when it is pressed, WAKE_DROPPED can affect the system without waking the screen.
NOTE: this may only allow you to change the functionality to built-in options, but there are several functions available, including volume options, other softkeys, camera, power, any characters, or playback controls, such as PLAYPAUSE.
This is the Android source and includes example keymaps.

You might be able to assign the required functions to the button with ButtonRemapper: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=850464

From the FAQ in the first post: "Q: can you do also other remappings with the buttons, like for example long pressing, double press, context sensitive remappings etc. A: For now, this is pretty much it." So, unfortunately no.

Then I'm afraid the answer is: no, it's not possible to swap these actions.

ClutchPad can be setup to do pretty much whatever you want.. check it out here

Nice idea to solve the underlying problem, thanks for the recommendation. However, from the description it doesn't seem touch the home button functionality at all, but instead replicates it by adding it's own "home button" to some corner of the screen. A constant visual element obstructing a part of the screen - even if a small part - is pretty much unacceptable for me.


text:
Why does calling my wife's phone go straight to VoiceMail?
When using my Verizon HTC Thunderbolt running CyanogenMod to call my wife's Verizon HTC Incredible, also running CyanogenMod, it always goes straight to Voice Mail.  I can call other Verizon phones with no issue and my wife can call me with no issue and my wife can receive calls from other Verizon lines with no issue and she can call me with no issue.  Issue is only from my phone to hers.  I called Verizon and they said it is not a network issue and suggested an installed application might be causing the issue.  They suggested to put both phones into Safe Mode boot.  I was able to do this for Incredible, but failed using the directions they provided for the Thunderbolt. They said after boot starts, hold down volume down key for boot process on Thunderbolt.
How can I debug this issue of my phone going straight to Voice Mail?  What would cause just my phone to experience this issue?  Any advise and suggestions would be appreciated.

It could be your number being "blacklisted" on your wife's phone. There are a lot of apps on the playstore offering this feature, and some Android versions can do so on their own (just configure the contact in your contacts list correspondingly).
So here's what you could do:

check with your SIM card placed in some other phone (if that option exists; at least here in Europe we can move the SIM card around). Your call should be still blocked/routed to voicemail then, so you know the issue is not with your phone (e.g. dialing some prefix/postfix)
check your wife's phone for installed apps like Advanced Call Blocker etc.
check your wife's phonebook (errm, or let her check ;) for your record there and see whether it is blacklisted. If unsure, just delete it temporarily, then call her again.
At least CyanogenMod lets you manage a separate blacklist. With CM, it is found in the call settings. Check whether your number made it into this place.
if the problem still exists, repeat step 1. with your wife's phone (again, if possible)

My guess is either 2., 3., or 4. will reveal the cause.

cyanogenmod definitely has this feature

@ce4 oh yeah -- a separate blacklist in the call settings. Yikes... Will add this to my answer. Tnx for the hint!

authors: w̢in̡͢g͘̕ed̨p̢͟a͞nt̡͜͝he̸r̴


text:
How do I unlock my bootloader with Omnius?
I want to unlock the bootloader of my Carrier Locked O2-UK Xperia Play. When I go into the service menu and check if my bootloader can be unlocked it says "allowed:no". After further research I found out that there are multiple ways of unlocking it; one of them being Omnius. Which one of the licences do I have to buy to do one unlock? Some of them say "No Xperia" and thats why I am confused.


text:
Once uninstalled, is data stored by an app on SD card also removed simultaneously?
As an example - newer games once downloaded and installed from the Market (Play Store), also subsequently download extra data to a user's SD card. When one opts to uninstall said app/game, is the additional downloaded data also deleted off the SD card?

It depends on where game has downloaded data.
If its under <sdcard_root>/Android/data/<package_name>, the data will be cleared.
If its under some custom directory like <sdcard_root>/GameName/, the data will not be cleared.

So the uninstall is a function of the app developer's ability or is it an internal Android function?

@Sparx There's no uninstaller concept in Android to avoid programmer's mistakes.. So, its handled by Android.. Here, situation isn't like Windows when Add Remove program just triggers uninstaller..

@Sparx You can't find a program's entry in Add Remove program, if there's no uninstaller registered with system. But, in Android.... Have you ever seen an app which isn't listed in Settings? Do you think all Droid dev are smart? This makes Android great... :)

In that case, shouldn't the data also be wiped no matter where it's kept, especially if Android is handling things - after all it's data associated with an uninstalled app..?

@Sparx Ok.. You've taken a photo using a camera app (which has written the image in a file on SD). Do you like Android to remove those images too, when you uninstall the app?

@Sparx It's standard set by Android to avoid the problem I mentioned. Technically, Android doesn't monitor such things..

The photo may have been taken by the app, but that is user data and so mustn't be included in an uninstall. I hope you understand what I'm referring to - data >>installed<< by the app. Thanks for the discussion.

The photo was an example.. There's no way for system to know the difference between data. e. g. A text editor can save a text file created by you as well as a text file having its configuration.

Even with true "Artificial Intelligence", there're chances of mistakes.. :)


text:
Force Google Maps to save cached maps on SD card
I am downloading a large number of map areas in Google Map for offline use. It appears that, by default, Google Map writes its cache to my phone's relatively scarce internal memory. Is there a way to force Google Maps to use SD card instead?
I am using Google Maps 6.7.0 (latest version as of May 2012) on Android 2.3.3.

Were you able to solve this issue eventually?

Update to Maps 6.9.0 (released 2012-06-27) or later if you not already have done so. Google added the feature one you wanted:

What's in this version:
  * Save maps for use offline

Besides this: Cached tiles for Google Maps are saved to the SD card.
To also answer your exact question (for users that cannot upgrade):
Use Android's provided 'move to sdcard' mechanism or install some 3rd party apps to do it (Link2SD, App2SD skripts, most need a custom rom however).
If all above is not an option and you like to do it manually:
Prerequisites:

Root access
Know which directory you want to move
Be sure that directory doesn't contain executables
Awareness: /sdcard/ is world-readable and many apps can write to it.
You might not want to expose sensitive data to other apps
Be sure the app is not running.
If something breaks, you might fix it by clearing the appdata
The app might break if sdcard is not accessible (e.g. phone plugged into PC)

A. You need to find the package name of your desired app (just reverse the steps here, aka go to the Google Play website of the app and see the package name in the browser's URL, for Maps it's 'com.google.android.apps.maps').
The location for the app's internal data is then: /data/data/[PKG_NAME]
B. Find the big subdirectory that you want to move, use a terminal emulator or adb shell access to execute something like this on the device:
me@workstation:~$ adb shell
root@android:/ # cd /data/data/com.google.android.apps.maps
root@android:/data/data/com.google.android.apps.maps # du -sh *
8.5K    app_sslcache
9.0K    cache
55.0K   databases
52.0K   files
2.0K    lib
2.5K    shared_prefs

C. Move & symlink

mkdir -p /sdcard/Android/data/[PKG_NAME]/linked
mv /data/data/[PKG_NAME]/[BIG_DIR] /sdcard/Android/data/[PKG_NAME]/linked/[BIG_DIR]
ln -s /sdcard/Android/data/[PKG_NAME]/linked/[BIG_DIR] /data/data/[PKG_NAME]/[BIG_DIR]

I am having exactly the same problem. My version of Google Maps is 6.14.2, however the app is still trying to save the offline content into the internal memory. The problem is that I cannot find the place in which I could change this behaviour. Any ideas?

You probably need root to find maps' folder (if it's app-internal and not on the sdcard).

You can use Root Browser or ES File Explorer. However, you need a rooted device to access root directory.

Can you elaborate on how this would solve the OP's problem? You could certainly move the files with a file explorer (+root), but Google Maps probably wouldn't know where to look.


text:
How to train the battery
I am trying to find the way to use my battery in the most efficient manner.
I found several suggestions how to achieve the longest life of the battery, and one of these suggestions is quite strange and mysterious. Check it out:

Turn on your phone;
Connect the charger and wait until the battery is full-charged (green indicator is on);
Disconnect the charger;
Wait until the green indicator is off and connect the charger back;
When green indicator is on, turn off the phone.

Now, continue with switched off phone.

Disconnect the charger;
Wait until the green indicator is off;
Connect the charger, wait for green indicator and disconnect the charger again;
Repeat the "3" step 10 times. This might take from 30 seconds to 30 minutes, usual that's about 1 minute.

This procedure takes some time, but it proved to be worth the cost.

The original article is in another language (russian), so it would not be very useful to post it here, but, to be on the safe side, here's original article.
I am pretty unclear about chemical processes going in the battery, so I can't check out what exactly happened during this mysterious actions.
I did not try to do this with my phone because i'm not sure this isn't harmful for the battery. But at least one person confirmed that these actions helped him to enlarge battery life for at least one cycle.
So, the question is: why exactly the battery's lifecycle becomes enlared, and isn't it harmful to battery? Finally, is it good idea to do all this stuff?

Is this really an Android issue?

Well, the original article is about battery saving on Android devices. Maybe these steps is acceptible for other devices, i don't know.

Android doesn't interact with chemical processes, you know. So, it's off-topic here... Voting to close.

This doesn't do anything for your battery, in fact it could be harmful.  It's just messing with Android's battery stats in an attempt to make it charge longer and shut off later.  I wouldn't expect good results.

More than the battery, I believe this is one of the ways that the battery gauge (software) is being "calibrated". As in most situations like these - YMMV.

HTC put out a notice a while back saying this was the best way to fully charge their phones too. i'll see if i can find the article.

I rephrased this question and asked it on Electronics SE - http://electronics.stackexchange.com/q/33003/3552

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_charge_when_to_charge_table

I'm pretty sure this is called trickle charging. It's basically useless in modern LiON battery as the safety mechanism in the battery should have turned off the charging mechanism when the battery is near full capacity to prevent over charging, because over charging a LiON battery could cause explosion.

Should be off topic, here's the real expert answers: http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/33003/is-there-any-sense-in-this-technique-for-charging-li-ion-batteries


text:
Upgrade small-screen phone to Ice Cream Sandwich?
I'm running 2.3 (Gingerbread) on an Xperia mini, and Sony Ericsson recently announced the availability to upgrade to 4.x (Ice Cream Sandwich). My understanding is that ICS is geared more towards tablets and large-screen phones. Would the Xperia mini with its small 3" screen benefit from this upgrade, or would ICS features such as action bars negatively affect usability?

It is my understanding that ICS is the first OS version that is geared towards both phones and tablets (rather than just phones). However, there are slight differences depending on which platform it is installed on to make better use of the different form factors.

If you are getting ICS update from device manufacturer, its Ok to upgrade. It'll be usable on small screen because you'll not get bare vanilla ROM.. Manufacturers put their own skins over it.
So, if Sony Ericsson is pushing upgrade to Xperia Mini, their custom skin would take care of usability.
Other than this, you will get performance boost with ICS upgrade. There're other benefits, too. So, I'd recommend you to upgrade. Best of all, would you like to be out-of-date?


text:
Can't get out of airplane mode: option is greyed out
When I go to bed, I usually put my Samsung Galaxy Ace in airplane mode to use it as an alarm clock/music player, while saving battery. I can enter that mode successfully.
However, after I enter that mode, sometimes I can't leave that mode since the option (the second one in the list) is greyed out: I have to reboot. Any ideas?

I'm using Android 2.3.4 and my phone is rooted.

If you want to go in offline mode, why does title say, get out of offline mode?

@SachinShekhar, I am in offline mode but I can't get out of it. Editing my question to clarify

Offline mode? You mean airplane mode?

@RichardBorcsik exactly ("airplane mode" was translated as "offline mode" in Portuguese). Editing my question.

Can you paste your Logcat here..

@SachinShekhar I will do this when I am able to reproduce the problem (it's completely random).

For what it's worth, I've occasionally seen this too, and at completely random times. Worse, I've had it happen on both my old Droid and my new Galaxy Nexus. I think it's just a hard-to-find bug in Android.

If you either go to airplane mode each night, you might want to try out some automating app like Timeriffic (free) or Tasker (~EUR 5) which could switch on airplane mode at night, and automatically switch it off in the morning. This way you do not get stuck with a grayed-out menu item -- and in case you do and need to get out of it, you may just need to play with some profile in this app.
Another alternative would be using some toggle-switcher (e.g. Elixier or Power Toggles), which provide you with widgets to switch airplane mode and more.
Also, on many Android devices, there's a pre-installed widget available which usually also includes airplane mode -- mostly called something like "Power Widget" or "Energy Widget"; just check the lists of widgets available to be added on your device.

Try getting out of off-line mode while your phone is charging. If that always works the battery might grow old.

I have the same problem on a brand new Samsung Sidekick 4G, so I would think the battery is not at fault.

My Galaxy Ace is not old, either (I have had it for about 45 days), so I don't think the battery is problem.

Well, did you try putting it in and out of offline mode right after restart? I mean without having any applications open? Maybe one of them is in conflict especially since it's rooted.

After restart it always works; this only happen after the phone has been in use for a while.

Could be a glitch in 2.3.4 where Airplane mode takes the wakelock and prevents it from being released..


text:
Transferring Apps from sd card to another sd card(HTC Desire HD)

Possible Duplicate:
How to upgrade / swap SD card without losing data and installed apps?

I have a 2gb sd card and it's full I can't put more music,photos and videos.I will buy an 8gig sd card.I wonder if it will work if I copy all of my apps from the 2 gig to 8 gig I hope it will work

http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/15049/how-to-upgrade-swap-sd-card-without-losing-data-and-installed-apps

It will not work in case you move all your data to PC and then copy it to the new sd-card(it true for Windows,Linux, Mac as ownership of all applications will be changed)
If you have additional slot for sd-cards on your device then copying data to the new card and then replace the old one with this one. It should work with all rooted devices)
Try copying your apps using some special utilities which copy data saving permissions and ownership. I hope dd on linux will work


text:
How can I get videos to play on my Pandigital Multimedia Novel?
YouTube or any other videos won't play. I get music just fine but I can't seem to get videos. I have the Pandigital Multimedia Novel. What can be wrong?

Please give some useful details.  What happens?  Is there an error message?  Has it always failed to work?  Etc.

every time i try to watch youtube videos or any other videos it tells me that the web page is not available. It hasn't played one video i have tried to watch. There is no error message.  Only the web page not available page. It tells me that the webpage might be temporarily down or permanently moved to a new Web adress. It says to try watching a cached version of it by google, reload the webpage later,  or check if my device has network and data connection. I have tried all of those things and nothing works.

Hmm OK.  This is in the browser, I assume?  Do the Youtube app or local video files work?  Do you have the Flash plugin installed?

How do i check the local video files? What is the flash plugin and how would i install it? I am not completely sure if it's in the browser. I haven't tried playing anything offline because I don't know how.

I have one of these awful devices also. I will just put it simply & cut straight to the chase...it cannot play video well at all. I have rooted mine, in hopes it would play video files too, alas it is not possible. The cpu in the device is not powerful enough to handle decoding XviD (a common .avi file format), let alone higher cocmpression H.264 (.mkv files, sometimes .mp4). I use mine for an alarm clock, as it is not much more useful than this duty/task. If you're playing a mp3 file using the built-in player, and hit the HOME icon, it reboots. I had high hopes for this device, but it is just junk. I've considered selling mine on craigslist, but I don't want to dump this nightmare on anyone else either, I'm just not like that. If you want a GOOD tablet, that IS able to play most video's, get an Acer a500. You can find them refurbished now for about $250 or so. They cannot play HD video, but can play almost every regular definition file you throw at it, using BSPlayer, or Mirage beta player. I love my a500 and use it everyday, the whole family uses it in fact, and they all really enjoy it. The pandigital is nothing short of a paperweight. I have heard their other models are just as bad. The Nova is supposed to be capable of playing videos, but it has issues too. Just avoid this brand totally, and go with Acer or Samsung. Acer is much faster than Samsung, whereas the Samsung screen is a little better than the Acer. The Samsung devices are quite expensive, and most of them come with a cellular phone built in, which was something I did not want in my tablet. You can get the Acer devices at Walmart, but your best bet is ecost.com as they have them on sale right now. The 500 is a great dual core 1GHz processor, the 501 is dual core 1GHz with cell phone, the 510 is QUAD core 1Ghz, and 710 will be out soon with 1.3GHz quad core.


text:
How to turn of Google Samsung Nexus Galaxy `3g`/`mobile data usage` warning?
After turning data mobile usage warning on as described here
The exceeded-limit notification stay in my notification list which is very annoying. I cannot remove it - ie. I just need it to notify me then I can remove, later on if I start using and the limit exceeds again, notify me again :)
If you know how to, please share.

Click the notification which will open Data usage settings and move the orange warning bar above data usage level.

Next warning will appear when the warning level is exceeded again.

Very lovely solved. Thank you. Perfectly to be able to swipe it out of the notification list though

@NamG.VU, if it answers your question, please mark the solution as accepted. The swiping out wouldn't make sense because the warning bar is still below data usage level and you wanted be notified of that situation by setting the bar at this position. Displaying the warning is important because if data usage reaches limit you may be charged much more for data transfer.

Not totally agree. Why keep displaying? I don't think that is such important - why don't just re-notify the user again when he use mobile data the next time?

Surely will I tick yours as accepted one - just wanna discuss a little more with you on it.

@NamG.VU, avarage android user may have tens of apps which sync data in the background, so next mobile data usage may happen just a minute after you dismiss the warning. It would be very anoying to hide the notification every minute. Also the notification is defined as "notify me when my mobile data usage level is more than X megabytes" the user than should choose to disable mobile data, set "remind me when usage reaches Y megabytes" or ignore warning. Of course there could be enhancement that swiping notification moves the warning bar by defined amount, but would complicate the interface.


text:
ASUS Slider Sl101 Driver letter access? rather than MTP in Android 4
I know that Android 3 and 4 use MTP on Windows to allow access to the storage, I have tried the developer switch and the only connection you get is still MTP.. I really need a drive letter to enable several programs that I want to use with my ASUS slider (this question has a good chance of being needed on many Android 4 systems). is there any app or driver that will allow mass storage / drive letter access to Android 4

Unfortunately, it's a big problem. Google apparently decided to go MTP only route since it does not require unmounting the storage from the Android side when you connect it to your computer. So:

You cannot assign a drive letter to an MTP device. Here's my answer on superuser.com explaining why.
There is a program named Alt Mounter that supposely solves this problem, and it requires a special software both on the phone and on your computer (Windows/Mac). It is beta and I never tried it.
If your phone is rooted, you can install a Samba Server on your phone, and simply map a network location to a drive on your computer. No USB is needed, simply access your phone using a drive letter via Wi-Fi. This is the method I use, and it works fairly well for me.


text:
Samsung Social Hub: How can I view the sent folder running ICS?
I have 3 email accounts under Social Hub, how can I view sent folder running ICS 4.0.3  on Samsung Galaxy S2?
When I was using Gingerbeard 2.3.6, it was very simple to move the other mail folder as well. But now there is no such option.
Is there a way to see other mail folder like send items/ draft / myfolder?

You can tap the 'Labels' button in Gmail's action bar. From there you can navigate to all labels you have in Gmail, including 'Sent' and 'Draft'.


text:
adb devices doesn't list Samsung Galaxy S Cyanogenmod 7.1
I am unable to list my device under adb devices and my problem is similar to that of Mad Scientist except that in his case Windows took the Google Drivers from the android SDK.
Ever since I have installed the Cyanogenmod 7.1 on my Samsung Galaxy GT-I9000, Win 7 recognizes the device as a Portable Device, Manufacturer as Android and Location on UMBus Enumerator. WUDFRd.sys and WpdFs.dll get loaded as shown in this image
I have tried to uninstall this driver but it automatically gets installed every time I connect the device. My device always looks like a mass storage device. I am unable to install android_winusb.inf from android-sdk\extras\google\usb_driver.
Windows 7 returns an error saying  -

The INF file you selected does not support this method of installation.

How do I install the correct drivers so that my device is listed in adb devices?

Connect your phone
Open the Windows Device Manager
Open each relevant device (if more than one is shown), choose "Update Driver", and select android_winusb.inf

I had tried doing this more than 10 times and it hadn't worked. But today I decided to give a last try. This time my phone didn't show up as a Portable Device. Instead it came up as a Unknown Device and from then on it was a piece of cake (followed the above instructions) to install the driver and get adb up. Thanks @Matthew.

First got to the Driver Installation Settings.  It should ask you if you want Windows Update to automatically install your drivers.  Choose "No"! (You will be turning it back on when done so don't worry.)
Second go to System Properties and in the upper left click on Advanced System Properties.  Click on Environment Variables and create a new one. You want your variable name to be devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices and the value to be 1.
Third head to the Device Manager and under the View tab check "Show Hidden Devices."  Now uninstall all the Android related drivers, especially the ones whose icons are gray.
Restart your computer but do NOT change your settings back yet! Instead open a Command Prompt window in the folder that houses the Android drivers (.inf files) you wish to manually install. Now copy the following and paste it into the Command Prompt and change the part at the end that reads <file> to the name of the driver.
 rundll32 syssetup,SetupInfObjectInstallAction DefaultInstall 128 .\<file>.inf

If your mouse spins for a second and your desktop icons flash it's a successful install.  You get a message if it isn't.
Repeat for all drivers.
Change back your Device Installation Settings to "Yes" and go about your business cause we are done here!
Now you can attach your phone to your computer.

I also contributed a lot of time to the ADB problem. (Galaxy P7510 vs Win7 64bit)
After struggling with non-offical drivers, android_winusb.inf, 64bit JDK, and even having virtualized a 32bit OS..,
finally I found a work-around! just come back to share with anyone concerns.
Reference: Connect to Android with ADB over TCP
The above instruction requires a PC which can ADB to your tablet over usb.
Better work-around is root your device firstly, and then download a adbWireless utility,
so you can switch your tablet to ADB TCP mode even without USB connection at all.
HTH!

An answer which requires the reader to go to another site to get any useful information is not really an answer. Can you at least summarize what will be found on that other site?

Sorry (maybe forgive my English) but actually I mentioned the basic info by the sentence "Connect to Android with ADB over TCP". I just mean there are many posts/threads discussing about "How to adb connect to Android device -- via USB", but in fact "adb connect via TCP" will be a practical solution for those struggled hard (just like me) but failed to solve the problem by the USB way.


text:
Phone intermittently not responding to screen touches
I have a (non-rooted) Samsung Nexus S - Android 2.3.3 phone. It has recently started becoming completely unresponsive to my screen touches, despite many attempts, cleaning the screen etc. But if I put the phone to sleep by pressing the button on the right hand side, then press the button again to wake it up - I find it always immediately works perfectly again. It may then work perfectly for a minute or two until the same happens all over again. The problem can occur regardless of what apps I am using.
I have tried using task killer, just in case it was some side effect of one of my running apps, but it made no difference.
Any suggestions what I could try next? Or could it be an unfixable hardware problem?

There are two possible reasons:
A. Something is wrong with your hardware. Unlikely since you're saying putting device to sleep and resuming fixes this problem for a while.
B. Something is wrong with your software. Most probably it is misbehaving third-party software. You can try to diagnose this as following:

Visit "Developer options" under Settings, and enable the following:
1.1 Show Touches - You'll see if your touches are registered on OS level at all.
1.2 Show CPU usage
If you see that your touches are registered, but CPU usage is high, try the following options, also under debugging:
2.1 Show all ANRs
2.2 Don't keep activities
2.3 Background process limit: No background processes
Setting "Show all ANRs" may point you to a misbehaving background process. and disabling background activities may help you understand if the problem is a background process at all. The settings above are useful only for debugging, disable them as soon as you fixed this issue, as they may interfere badly with legitimate software that needs to run in the background.
Install Android SDK on a computer, connect your phone and use "adb logcat" to see a logging trace of your phone. It may provide invaluable insight into what's going on behind the scenes there.

Sounds like some great ideas - but I can't find "show touches" anywhere in settings. In "applications" -> "development" there are three options "usb debugging", "stay awake" and "allow mock locations"... nothing else.

Looked into this, apparently availability of these settings varies depending on Android version and if the phone vendor enabled them or not... I think logcat is the only easy debugging method then. You can also install a free logcat application from the market, but hooking up phone to a computer is more convenient, especially when the phone is unresponsive.

If it were me, I'd remove apps one at a time to see if that made the problem go away.  I realize this is a huge pain.

I realise it's a little late now, but in case anyone stumbles upon this thread- this was happening with my galaxy s3. Got progressively worse. All I did was go into settings>apps>all apps> samsung keyboard and hit clear data, and it now works perfectly. Hooray


text:
"Failed to detect compatible download-mode device" on Mac Lion with Samsung Galaxy S2
Hi I'm using the cyanmodgen wiki to install it. but I'm stuck on the first step.
Whenever i do sudo heimdall flash --kernel zImage
I get :
Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
Failed to detect compatible download-mode device.

The device is booted in download mode, and everything else is exatly like the wiki
except that my s2 is still on android 2.3 and not ICS.
Thank you for any help or hint.

I had the same problem. Looking at the source of heimdal revealed that this message is send when no USB device is attached.
And this was in fact the case. lsusb showed that the kernel is not aware of any USB device related to the Galaxy S:
flo@flo-pc ~/data/cm9-sgs $ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 046d:0990 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Pro 9000
Bus 003 Device 069: ID 1a40:0101 TERMINUS TECHNOLOGY INC. USB-2.0 4-Port HUB
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 046a:0023 Cherry GmbH CyMotion Master Linux Keyboard
Bus 007 Device 002: ID 058f:6254 Alcor Micro Corp. USB Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 005: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
Bus 007 Device 004: ID 046d:c521 Logitech, Inc. Cordless Mouse Receiver

After I used a different USB cable and a different USB port, my Galaxy S appeared on lsusb while it's in download mode:
flo@flo-pc ~/data/cm9-sgs $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 016: ID 04e8:6601 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd Mobile Phone
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 046d:0990 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Pro 9000
....

And heimdall was able to flash a new kernel!
So I have two suggestions:

try another USB cable, I suspect the original Samsung USB cable to be of low quality
try another USB port, ideally without a USB hub between the devices

I have the same problem as the OP, but do in fact have my device show up when I type lsusb.