text:
Play High-Resolution mp4 Videos on Galaxy Y
When I try to play high resolution videos on my phone I get this error message:

Sorry, this video cannot be played

Is there a way to make these videos play, like an app that can handle these videos or is it a limitation of my device?

mp4 is not a supported format by default in android, your question shows very little research into the matter because a simple google query gave an answer.

@svarog Of course it does, http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html  But it doesn't matter because he's using touchwiz. Also, note that some questions here that could be answered by Google are now among the first results.

Check here. I know it's for only for the Galaxy Pocket, but will work with the Galaxy Y, too.

I'm sorry but your device cannot play high-res videos. Your device should be able to handle videos up to 640*360, this is the resolution of HQ YouTube.
Note that there's absolutely no point in watching HD videos on your phone. It has a screen resolution of 240 x 320. Anything above this will be scaled down to fit the screen.

In General, HD videos need to be decoded by a specialized companion chip (h264 decoder) because the CPU is not powerful enough. For price reasons, only a subset of h264's Features may be supported leaving you without HD support

I can play all videos like 780p HD on Galaxy Y. Download MX Player from Google Play.

If you can, please provide link to the app.

Yes: Galaxy Y can play .mp4 videos. I'll tell you how to do that:
The first thing you should do is download Mx Player from Playstore, install it and open the app. Enjoy your .mp4 videos!

Please fix some typos and check your spelling. Other than that the answer is quite right.

And please avoid txtspeak. Keep in mind that many users here are not native English speakers, already having a hard time without that.

The answer, unfortunately, is not better than the existing answer and instead a dupe. Please avoid adding an answer if there's already a same answer.


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Is there any way to sync a subset of my Google Contacts to my Android?

Possible Duplicate:
How do I sync only “My Contacts” from Google on Samsung Galaxy S?

My phone started responding really slow during sync and I suspect it has something to do with an ever-growing list of Google Contacts (nearly 2K). Is there a way to sync just some contacts? (by group or any other way)
Alternatively, do you suggest I suspect anything other than my contacts' sync to do with slowing the device.
Device is HTC Legend Android 2.1
Thanks for the help!

I don't this the slowness has anything to do with the number of contacts, but with your os version. My phone has the same hardware as yours and when I was on 2.1 syncing made the phone unusable. This was gone after updating to 2.2 And I only had ~200 contacts back than.

I had the same problem often before. I never found a way.
It is possible to only SHOW a part of your contacts, but inevitably they will all get synced.
This is especially frustrating since Google automatically creates a new contact for every person on Google+ you follow and it doesn't delete it when you unfollow that person. So I got stuck with ~7k unused contacts. I have a ROMed HTC Desire and the Contacts app was taking too much memory, so I had to delete all these unused contacts myself.
But as far as I know, this option is not available, you could suggest it as a feature to Google like I did. If you ever find out how to do it, update this question please :)

I was in the same situation regarding G+ contacts. When I upgraded to ICS they're gone, except they still showed up on the website.

You are sure they are gone? I don't see them in my Contacts either because only My Contacts are shown, but they are synced for purposes like the Gmail app auto-completion of e-mail addresses. I didn't see them but had like 40-50MB in contacts...

You can switch off circle -> contacts push in g+

No I'm not :(  No matter what I did in settings. They didn't show up (not even after enabling to show other contacts) so I checked the database, and sure enough there they are. Looks like I'm gonna have to clean them up. How did you remove them? Exported the actual contacts and deleted all?

@ce4 these are the contacts that are already removed.

@RichardBorcsik I actually deleted them manually. I spread the task over a few days few hours a week. I know, this is absolutely not how a geek should do it, but I'd spend multiple hours as well looking for another way to do it, but couldn't find one. I didn't want to risk deleting other Other Contacts that I wanted to keep.

@ce4 How do I do that?

in g+ app on the phone: settings->uncheck "add contacts from g+"

@ce4 I think that option is gone now than. I got the most recent (2.6.1) build and the option you mention is not in my Settings list.

These are my settings on the same version: http://i.stack.imgur.com/paPQr.png

Weird. I have Gingerbread though. This is what I see: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8RTJ69rkfhI/T-XlDFFJeFI/AAAAAAAAP7M/C3Z0dYibC7Y/s645/screenshot-1340466426146.png But the option in your screen looks familiar to mee in some way, maybe I ever did have it...

source: Stack Exchange

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

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How to fix the infamous Nook Color / Nook Tablet charging USB cable for good?
The Barnes&Noble Nook Color / Nook Tablet have a proprietary micro USB charging port which is longer than normal and allows power charging with 2Amps.
The charging/data cable from BN is infamous to break after some time, most probably the cable's primary plastic coating is not very flexible and starts to split at the point where it enters the micro usb connector and leads to a visible secondary shielding. If nothing is done the situation worsens and in the end the internal power cables may short.
I got my used B&N Nook Color with a beginning coating split and cannot get a replacement from B&N because I live outside the US and have no invoice.
Seems like this problem is a common one, there are already discussions about a class action lawsuit.
What can I do besides looking for a replacement?

I did a better fix-- I opened up my Nook and replaced the connector on the PC board with a conventional micro USB connector. I now can use any standard micro USB (even the cheap retractable kind!  Another option if you are not comfortable performing surgery on your Nook is the eForCity Micro USB OTG to USB 2.0 Adapter/dongle available from Best Buy. It will allow you to use a standard full-size USB cable of any length to charge your Nook without worrying about bending and trashing your straight nook charging cable. Linky: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/eforcity-micro-usb-otg-to-usb-2-0-adapter-compatible-with-samsung-galaxy-s3-black-black/1304921534.p?id=mp1304921534&skuId=1304921534

I fixed the cable early before it was too late.
The problem zone is the hard transition from the connector to the cable. Shear force due to moving/bending the cable is very strong there when the cable is inserted into the Nook. This is the place where it starts to break and that needs to be fixed.
I consider this solution permanent as it hasn't broken in 18 months:
Add another coating to this transition to reduce shear force.
Used components:

superglue
2 pieces of heat shrink tube (different diameter)

Before:

Fixed:

Doesn't make sense to use both superglue and heat shrink. Superglue is weakened by heat and flakes off.

Like the other answer, I too re-inforced a NEW cable, as a pre-emptive measure.
I experimented a little with the heat shrink tubing and superglue method, but supergluing the smaller heat shrink tube (which has to be slit in order to put on the cable) is messy, and prone to failure after applying the necessary heat to shrink it tight on the cable.
Better, cheaper, and far easier is to simply use high quality 3/4" BLACK ELECTRICAL TAPE to reinforce that (Nook Color/Tablet) end of the cable, in three steps, as follows:

Wrap the tape tightly around the cable itself, on the area closest to the connector, until it is the same diameter as that first (round) stage of the connector. Cut the tape.
Next wrap more tape over that area, close as possible to the larger (square) part of the connector, so that it covers both the previous tape wrap plus the smaller round (flange) part of the connector. Wrap tightly until it is about level or possibly a little higher than the square part of the connector. Cut the tape.
Next wrap more tape around that last wrap of tape plus part of the square connector, say with the edge right at the "n" LED, with about 3 turns maximum. Cut the tape.  All done.

Advantages to this method include NOT subjecting the cable end to heat high enough to shrink the heat tubing (and possibly causing other damage).  Also you don't need any other equipment or materials besides 3/4" electrical tape and scissors.  Wrapping in 3 separate "level" sections keeps the tape from wrinkling, and if wrapped tightly, looks quite neat when done.
RECOMMENDATION: Wrap in the SAME DIRECTION for each of the 3 sections, and cut the tape such that tape sections end on the opposite side of the connector's "n" LED.

I'd like to add a fun alternative: use some Sugru. It's a flexible silicone rubber which can stick to just about anything and is simply moulded by hand. It air cures to a tough durable rubber. This is a UK invention (I'm sure they now have it in the US), so might be an alternative for us over here.
www.sugru.com

I wasn't smart enough to be preemptive, though I had plenty of warning as the intermittent problem became more frequent and finally failed completely (no wiggling the cord would make it work).
So, I opened up the connector on the Nook end (with the "N") and reconnected with solder the two broken leads.  This was tricky since the circuit board there is only about 5/16 inch square!  There are four conductors: red, green, black and white insulation colors in the cord.  Both the black and the white leads were broken off.
After testing and reassembly, I wrapped the area with black, stretchy electricians tape to provide better strain relief at that vulnerable site.

My problem is not in the cable but in the nook. Looking inside the plug port it appeared at first that some of the male pins were bent, then in time just not there. I called the help line and they said it was non repairable. And of course would give me credited on a new nook. Which amounted to more than just going to Amazon and buying one.

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


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How do I access .img files with yaffs2?
I've tried mounting them in Ubuntu, no luck, mount does not recognize the yaffs2 file system. I've tried yaffs2utils and ./unyaffs2 but it doesn't actually unpack the img files, I've posted an issue about this on the Google Code page here.
The img files were created by CWM Recovery as a backup, and I'm trying to dig into the file system to find old contacts, and if I could just get the .db files I think I got it from there (I'll just run sqlite3 and peek into the db and print the contacts on paper or something).
Any help appreciated!

I'm not sure if this will let you retrieve contacts but it's worth a shot: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.handyandy.appextractor

Titanium Backup v5+ has the capability to extract from CWM backups as well :)

I remember trying AppExtractor on the phone in question, it was unable to find any contacts so nothing was imported. If this was awfully important I'd try paying for TB but for now I'm just curious how to access the img files.

Here's a very similar question which I've tried to answer: http://android.stackexchange.com/a/111010/109855

To unpack a YAFFS2 image, you can use the free unyaffs tool, which is available as pre-build ELF-binary (for Linux) from this page at code.google.com. This page also contains hints on how to obtain the source code, so you could build the binary yourself e.g. with gcc (gcc -o unyaffs unyaffs.c).
I use this tool myself, it works fine on Ubuntu 8.04 32bit as well as Ubuntu 12.04 64bit (with the ia32-libs package installed).
Place the binary e.g. in /usr/local/bin (which is in your $PATH), so you can access it from everywhere. Put the image file you want to extract in an empty directory (unyaffs always seems to extract files directly into the folder the image file is in), and then call unyaffs with the image file name as only parameter, e.g. unyaffs data.img. After that, you will find the contents of that file system/image unpacked, and can investigate them -- e.g.

SMS/MMS in data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
Multimedia Metadata in data/com.android.providers.media/databases/*.db
Calendar data in data/com.android.providers.calendar/databases/calendar.db

As I just investigated a MotoBlur image, contacts in my case have been stored to data/com.motorola.blur.providers.contacts/databases/contacts2.db -- they are probably in a different location in your case (a guess: data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/*.db).
The sqlite3 command works on them, naturally. If you prefer a graphical frontend, I can recommend you the sqliteman package (comes with a binary of the same name, which accepts the database file as parameter).

You can install Titanium Backup and buy the Pro key.
It allows to extract app backups from saved CWM nandroid backups.
Usage: Launch Titanium Backup, Menu > More > "Extract from nandroid backup"

How old does the CWM nandroid backup have to be to be considered old? I'm pretty sure it was a fairly recent version of CWM that made this backup.

sorry, bad wording. fixed.

Ok, I'll inform my friend that this is an option if he keeps nagging me about the lost contacts ;)

What ROM was it in the backup?
If the filesystem was ext4 you could mount the img to loopback like this:
This is on Linux btw,
sudo mount -o loop,ro,noexec,noload system.img ~/mountedImageDir

Then go into that directory ~/mountedImageDir and you should be able to see the directory structure in there :)

He said it was yaffs2...

What version of CWM is the key question.

The filesystem is not ext4 but yaffs2, and I already tried a "clean" mount with just -o loop, no luck.
(I'm pretty sure it was the newest version of CWM, as it was only a week or so ago the backup was made)
The ROM in the backup was some kind of stock Xperia Arc variant, before we installed CyanogenMod.

you can also do this: http://tjworld.net/wiki/Linux/Kernel/SimulateNandMtdDevice

Even easier &free: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.wdscript.yaffsexplorer


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How to backup Swype personal dictionary?
How do I backup my Swype personal dictionary ?
I Googled and found a thread on the Swype forums: Backing up and restoring your user dictionary (ROOT USERS ONLY)
I followed the exact procedure but somehow its not working. I am not able to see old words. Did it work for anyone?
I even used Titanium backup to restore but still of no use.
Can someone tell me how to backup and restore my Swype personal dictionary?

With Version 1.3, this is now an option in Swype. You have to log in with your credentials (I think you probably registered when you downloaded the beta installer). It gives you the option to backup and sync your dictionary across other devices using Swype.
http://www.swype.com/about/specifications/

I have version 2.0.2xxx, and it's a setting that is automatic after it's checked.  It used to be annoying in previous vers; after updates the personal dictionary would get lost, but that is cured now.

this doesn't answer the question clearly ,please consider adding further details like where is this setting ...


text:
How to properly close a program in Samsung Galaxy S3?

Possible Duplicate:
What is the right way to close apps in Android?

After using my Samsung Galaxy S III for a while, closing apps and dialogs with the "back" button (front-right), I pressed and held the front-middle button, which brought up a list of all windows and apps I had been using.
I suppose that means that they were still running in the background. How to close them properly?

What you see there is the list of Last Recent Used apps, they are suspended, but all or most program code is still cached in RAM, so it's fast to restart them. Don't worry about running out of RAM, if a new app needs it, this pages will be freed and used.

The list of most recently used apps has nothing to do with whether the apps are running, suspended, or neither.

Aha. I'm rather worried about running out of battery -- how can I find out if they're still running?

The list of active apps are shown in Settings => Apps => Active

@Anna Apps in the background are suspended.  Services always run, but you (generally) can't exit those anyways!  Best bet is to look at your battery usage and uninstall anything that's behaving particularly badly.


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Battery usage by certain applications
Can I find out how much battery takes running of certain application?
The goal is to minimize using applications that take a lot of battery and maximize battery persistence before having to recharge.

That question makes no sense as all apps and services will one way or another, suck up battery juice, and don't forget including wifi, bluetooth and 3G data. Mileage will vary from one user to the next. Screen display time, running services, what apps are active.. not to mention, is the cpu overclocked, what governor is running in the kernel, etc ... far too many variables in the equation that you just simply cannot pin down..

Whatever you do, don't even think of going down the road of killing the apps that you perceive to be sucking up the most battery juice either! ;)

If you go to Settings -> Battery(settings -> about phone -> battery in < ICS) . You'll see battery usage by everything running on your phone. If some certain application consumes very high battery, it will be listed there along with battery usage. You can then minimize use of such application.

That's strange but in settings -> about phone -> battery use there aren't any applications in my phone, but there are running applications.

I don't remember seeing any application until and unless it eats at least 2 % of the battery.

If you have a newer version of android (Ice Cream Sandwich) you just go to Settings > Battery, and you'll find a list of what's sucking the most battery.

I see.. Your main concern is to save battery life and identify which app consumes the most of your battery.
You can use the hidden built-in android battery usage monitor using the guide below.
Dial this code in your phone dialer * # * # 4636 # * # * then press on Usage statistics

From here you could see how long your app is running even if it's running as service ex.(update gps position, get movement xyz axis for pedometer, compass, wifi/network location, barometer, Ambient Light Sensor or etc).


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ICS Mount SD all EXT4
Want to know if ICS can mount an SD when formatted as EXT4 or does it still need a FAT32 partition like Gingerbread. Googled for 30+ mins, can't find an answer.

PS: Ext4 needs an eMMC chip with a flash translation layer (usually done in hardware) that does wear-leveling, bad-block management, etc. Pure NAND must use an FS designed for pure flash devices like YAFFS2. Most newer devices have an eMMC with an FTL and will use Ext4.

Two separate issues.

Does your current ROM force vfat or not? For example, I'm pretty sure CyanogenMod does not force vfat and will not forcibly reformat an ext4 when it finds it back to vfat. This is what will happen on some stock roms. If it does not force vfat, great.
Ext4 is almost certainly supported, if it's not forced instantly into vfat. I quote from CyanogenMod FAQ: "Is ext3/ext4 safe for my SD card? Probably, unless the SD card is very old and does not support wear leveling."

In short, it's impossible to answer if "ICS" works with ext4. It might work, but force ext4 into vfat instantly. It might not work at all. What's important is that you check if the ROM you are using both supports ext4 and does not force it back to vfat. Only one way to find out, except asking around xda-developers ;)

ICS usually has Ext4 support. The Google Nexus S for example had that already with Gingerbread. It depends on your actual phone model however:
cat /proc/filesystems
This gives you a list of supported file systems. Execute the above command using any terminal app, eg. "System Tuner pro" -> Terminal
You don't need any rooting to view what file system your android kernel supports.
My ICS 4.0.4 shows ext4 support.
Older droids were vFat mostly.
If you don't have support you will need to root and install your own custom kernel and/or ROM.


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How do I sent an "over-sized" video via my Anrdoid?
When I try to e-mail my 10-minute videos to my gmail account, but when I try to attach the videos the phone gives me this error: 'File is too large and cannot be attached'.  Can't reproduce because my Android is hooked up to USB, but I'll edit--
S3x--
What's any convenient way to upload/send a video without having to get out the USB?  Can I do it without using any 3rd-party apps, or at least using safe 3rd-party apps?   Youtube is an option, I believe, but I want to have a hard copy on my PC for editing.  Attachments are more convenient.

I haven't use email attachments as a file-transfer medium since I started using services such as Dropbox. :)

I'd like to have a local copy from a site I frequently visit, like gmail.  I'll look at Dropbox, though.  If there's a workaround to get attachments going, like expanding my memory limit, somehow, that would be ideal; however I'll consider this a work around.  Let's try not to get into a long discussion with suggestions about this app and that, though, please.

Checked out Dropbox.  Looks like 2 gigs free, right off the bat, and an 18 gig limit.  Checked out their license: https://www.dropbox.com/terms.  It's fine.  So, I'd say it's pretty nice.

@iglzvx Send me a PM or a chat with your referral info, please, or put it here if you want--  Thanks.

sure thing! 500MB for both of us. Be sure to also check out the "Get Free Space" page on Dropbox for even more space (+ about 1 GB). http://db.tt/owEaAa2e

The majority of web based email providers have a limit of 10MB for the size of the attachment of every message sent.
Since an email message will often pass through several mail transfer agents to reach the recipient, some or probably all of them impose size limits due to the storage capabilities they have to deal with. This is due to the fact that every message needs to be stored before getting forward.
Applications tend to follow this type of ruling. Although nowadays users tend to use an email like if it was an ftp, thus "forcing" application developers to suppress such limits but given no guaranties that the message will in fact get to its destination.
To resume, you can safely send files up to 10MB between any email providers without the fear of message not being delivered.

My advice to you is the usage of free online services that allow you the transfer or backup of large amount of data between locations:
No payment and no registration:

wetransfer (~2Gb for each transfer)

No payment, just registration: (for the free package)

DropBox
Google Drive
SkyDrive
yousendit
DropSend

Wet trasnfer's pretty good.  thaanks.


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What are the technical differences between bootloader, recovery, kernel and ROM?

Possible Duplicate:
What is the difference between: Rooting, Jailbreak, ROM, Mod, etc.?

I'd love a reference (or an explanation if anyone has the time) on what characterizes these different concepts, in what order they start and what role they play. I think I'm fairly certain of kernel and ROM, but the lines are a bit blurry when it comes to the bootloader and the recovery. Basically I have about ten questions related to this, but I think it would be best if there's just some pedagogical article somewhere that lays it all out :)
All the results I've found on Google basically explain it as "when you choose boot into recovery it boots into CWM if that's installed" and that doesn't really help me to understand the purpose of the different parts and how they work.
Thanks in advance!
edit Some questions I feel wasn't answered in the linked thread:
1) The difference between bootloader and recovery
2) CM states that improper ROM flashing can brick a device, how? Shouldn't recovery be left intact?
3) Can you install a custom recovery (CWM) without unlocking bootloader on any device?
4) Is fastboot the same as recovery?
5) What component is "responsible" for the SIM lock? Why doesn't it go away completely if that part is removed?
Thanks in advance for your patience :)

there was a similar thread http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2885/what-is-the-difference-between-rooting-jailbreak-rom-mod-etc you might take a look

I think this is best contained in that other post, if you have any questions remaining I'd comment on the answer and see if we can get more detail in it.

Added some extra questions up top

I added some more on the bootloader, it should hopefully answer those questions.  For (2) specifically, a bad flash can overwrite recovery or the bootloader or wipe out partitioning information that they rely on.  (5) The SIM lock is usually a proprietary hardware thing that the firmware just interacts with, so you can't "remove" that.

Cool, but I'm still missing a clear distinction between recovery and bootloader (question 3 is related to this).

There is no distinction between bootloader and recovery. Fundamentally, there is two partitions - boot and recovery, it is in the boot loader binary code resident on the boot partition (think of DOS's MBR) is checking if the hardware key, volume down is pressed, if it is, it chain loads on to the recovery partition's boot mechanism and invokes Recovery. If no hardware key is pressed, it bypasses recovery and continues normal boot.

To complement my comment, https://www.codeaurora.org/2010/03/02/little-kernel-based-android-bootloader/ This is common among Qualcomm chipsets... Samsung does it slightly differently..

So if I understand you correctly, there's no way to have a "locked bootloader" (stock) and at the same time run a custom recovery (for example, CWM).

Correct, for the custom recovery to be in place, the locked bootloader must be unlocked which is what I was saying earlier on one of the Q&A's about the Xperia Neo having CWM in a locked bootloader which has me surprised... Well, it must have been unlocked, (http://unlockbootloader.sonymobile.com/)


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How can I share my screen from Android device to another Android device?
I hand my clients an Xoom (Android tablet) and I am holding a Xoom.
How do I simply have them watch what I'm doing on my screen? No video, audio, or anything else fancy needed. All I need is a simple screen share. Will be showing documents, webpages, and such.
Join.me and GoToMeeting only allow view mode, not share mode on Android. There has to be a program to allow this.

Related, but not duplicate: Is there a way to share my mobile screen with another Android phone like Netmeeting or Live Meeting?, How to setup screen sharing for business meetings?

Try this app. It allows you to share the screens between two tablets or two mobile devices of varying dimensions wirelessly and does not require any thing extra as per your requirements.

This is amazing should be accepted as an answer and get a reward :) thanks so much! @user285oo6 do you know of any website that can do this without downloading an app? like https://kosmi.io on PC?

Unfortunately the link is down ;(

There is a TeamViewer app that acts as a server "TeamViewer Quick support" unfortunately it is for samsung devices only

Sounds like some kind of VNC type of solution would be the best, maybe TeamViewer? You might need an enterprise license if you're doing this for commercial purposes.

I'm pretty sure the TeamViewer app is only a client, not a server. You can view a computer running TV, but you can't share your screen.

Oh right, my fault. Seems like something TeamViewer should fix eventually though, as anyone with a rooted Android device surely has the rights to start a server, and there's already a TeamViewer server solution for desktop Linux.


text:
Why sometimes does my lower menu (ADWLauncher - Dockbar) disappears?
I have the following Android Desktop, using Cyanogenmod:

Sometimes, I don't remember how or why, it becomes like this:

As you can see, the lower menu (dockbar) just disappears, and only Browser's icon is shown. I have to restart my phone so I can get my menu back. I'm using ADWLauncher.
What am I doing to lose my lower menu? Where am I clicking? I have no idea how to return to the previous state unless I restart my phone... :/

Have you tried any hot reboot app to fix...

I think there might be a particular swipe gesture that hides the dockbar, but I'm not sure what it is offhand. You may be able to find it in ADW's settings, though.

I had same problem before.
user:eldarerathis was correct. It is swipe gesture that suppose to hide menu when you don't need it, but AFAIK, there's no way to turn it off.
So, to get it back you should do gesture starting roughly a bit above Browser icon and swipe down(or up).
I've fixed that another way - simply installed different launcher. Problem didn't appear

Actually, it's possible to disable it. Settings -> ADWLauncher -> General Behavior -> Swipe down actions | Swipe up action -> NONE. Thanks for at least giving me names of what exactly is that menu (ADW launcher).

Had this as well with the ADW Launcher from CyanogenMod.
What you need to do is sweep downward in the place where the bar disappeared. You also hide it that way, probably accidentally like I did many times :D
I had been thinking why this feature was there but can't think of anything, just to annoy users is my best guess.


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Can I use the latest version of ICS gapps without using the latest ICS?
I'm using AOKP M5 on my SGS (it didn't have a I when I bought it). I'm using the version of gapps that was available when I installed AOKP.
I got a notification that there's a new version of gapps. Is it safe to install it over the current AOKP,or are there any dependencies I should be aware of?

As long as the gapps pack API number requirement is equal or lower then the rom API number they should work

Correct. ICS 4.0 has API level 14 while 4.0.3+ has level 15. If you have the latter, just install them.

or as @bigbadonk420 said, just update them with the market


text:
Regression plan upgrading OS from Froyo on GT-P1010
i want to upgrade my galaxy tab (UK) from 2.2 to 2.3 (or higher) but have read it's risky and i could end up "bricking" it. (I've never upgraded an android OS before.)
If I do mess it up, is it always possible to restore or fix it myself? Or would I have to send it to Samsung for de-bricking in some or all cases? And are there any precautions I can take?
Thanks

If you have a custom recovery already, where Clockwork Mod Recovery is the most popular one, there's an option there to do a complete backup, sometimes called a "nandroid". As long as you have this backup folder lying around (it won't disappear when doing wipes from CWM) and you can enter CWM, you can restore that backup as well. Since the backup includes everything it also includes things like the kernel, the ROM, apps and all that. It basically creates an image of your entire device that you can later return to.
The tricky part is getting a custom recovery on your tab, but when you have that you should be reasonably safe as long as you remember to always backup. It doesn't hurt to put your backups somewhere else as well for safekeeping (like your computer).
I highly recommend you start reading the Samsung Galaxy Tab forums on xda-developers. The Q&A section probably already has all your questions listed, and the "Android Development" section has a ton of different ROMs you can choose from. As long as you have a backup lying around, don't be scared to try a couple of them out :)
(Remember that rooting your device and/or unlocking the bootloader will void the warranty, so if you can't re-lock it before sending it to Samsung they will not replace it)


text:
Losing connectivity with my carrier, how can I reconnect?
I'm not sure why this happens, but I've lost connectivity (phone service, 3G) with my service provider a number of times now. Not just for a short while, I may be off the air for hours. This is worrying, as I'm not aware that this is happening. I have to reset the mobile.

Is there a way to get a notification that I'm off the air?
Is there a way to reconnect without rebooting the phone?
Is this something that happens to others, or am I just lucky?

I have a Samsung Galaxy SII.

I experience the same with my SGS. But only once or so in a month. Sometimes switching to and from Airplane mode reestablishes the connection or I have to reboot the phone.

I've only had this phone for about a month, and it's happened already three times.

In my case, I noticed this happens when I stay connected a long time to a fixed Wi-fi network. At work, I connect to our Wi-fi net, and once I leave, I lose 3G/H/E completely and have to reboot. Happens every day. Using Android 2.3.4 on a Samsung Galaxy Ace. I'll try the suggestions from both answers and see how it goes.

I encountered the same issues sometimes and I couldn't detect it without trying to make a phone call. I then went into the parameters panel, into the Mobile network part. There, I force the phone to select my operator (and remove the auto-detection option).
Since this modification, when I'm disconnected from GSM network I have a little warning sign (grey triangle with a white exclamation point inside) in the notification toolbar.
To force reconnection, I go in the same menu and force the phone to search available networks, I select mine and it is (almost every time) reconnected.

Sounds good, I'll give that a try.

This actually works :-)

Is there a way to get a notification that I'm off the air?

I don't think this is possible, but there might be an app out there for it. I'm not sure. I'm fairly certain that it's not a native function in Android though.

Is there a way to reconnect without rebooting the phone?

Airplane mode on/off seems to be the easiest route. If that doesn't work, you can try going into "More..." on the settings menu and look for available networks manually. Maybe you'll find that you find other networks, just not your carrier, and in that case it's actually a coverage problem, or a problem with their equipment since you can actually see networks, just not the one you want to connect to.

Is this something that happens to others, or am I just lucky?

Connection drops to the network is very common, but it's usually different kinds of drops for different reasons. If you have rooted your phone and you're running a custom ROM, you might need to check out GetRIL. If you're running stock, try a factory reset/reinstall of your device first, or see if there's any updates available from Samsung.
I get drops at times on my Galaxy Nexus as well, but I only lose data connection, I still see my carriers name and I can recieve SMS/phone calls. This sounds completely different from your issue if you are actually losing contact with the GSM network completely.
I'd recommend that you check out if you can find other carriers networks or not (mentioned above), if you can find others you need to notify your carrier first of all. If you can't, it's probably phone-specific but even there your carrier/Samsung should be able to help you if you still have warranty and the device is not rooted.

I'll give that a try. I'm using the factory default.

About the notification, it's strange, but when there's an unknown WIFI network available, I see a WIFI symbol with an interrogation. You'd think something similar could be done for the loss of carrier.

That something "can be done" is very different from it being implemented and ready for use ;)

Airplane mode isn't working. Not reconnecting.

Has anyone found an app which notifies if the connection is lost? Even if it is quite simple to reconnect, I first need to be aware I lost connection :(

I have same problem with my Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos. The second SIM often loses the connection to the GSM network, but the phone fails to notify me about that. It reports network signal strength as usual, but the number is inaccessible. It happens several times a month, the last time I did not notice it for several days - very bad.
It seems this problem is common on Samsung phones. The Galaxy Ace I bought for my mother did it a few times too, but it happens less often on this phone.
I upgraded the software on both phones with no luck. I tried to hard-select the network, so hopefully I will at least get the notification.
On one SIM phones you could try this app; it notifies you when GSM connection is lost. I can't tell if it works though, because it only works with the first SIM and I get trouble with the second one. If it relies on info from Android, then it probably won't work, because Android thinks it is connected all the time (the signal bar is on even if the SIM inaccessible).
I am actually thinking about switching the phone and avoiding Samsung and/or Android in the future, because this is obviously not an isolated problem and neither Samsung or Google seems to care to fix it.


text:
What Google Talk compatible iOS apps can I recommend to my friends?
What good Google Talk (or in general: XMPP) apps can I recommend to my non-Android friends (especially iPhone users)?
I'm fed up using many different apps to chat with some of my contacts. I just want to 'talk' to any of them with that single solution.
Google Talk's usefulness increases by network effects, i.e. can you reach all your contacts (who may use iOS (iPhone), Windows Phone, Blackberry, others) with one single solution?
Existing solutions and what I don't like about them:

WhatsApp (proprietary, paid app, battery hog?, has privacy concerns)
eMail (pretty much ok, but not that realtime)
SMS (needs GSM, costs too much, no added value)
Facebook chat (proprietary, battery hog?, privacy concerns, not all want to sign up)
Skype chat (proprietary, battery hog?, privacy concerns)
iMessage (proprietary, incompatible with Android?)

If you have too many of those apps installed you will see a difference in battery life in the end. Google Talk is already there and connected either way, so I prefer this (and not WhatsApp).
Side note for iOS: iOS' push notification system seems to be the reason why the decent apps there are paid apps. (Need to relogin every 7 days to keep push messages alive and such, i don't really know).
PS:
 - There's a way to encrypt Talk messages, so it's not a privacy concern
 - is Talk open: Yes (it's XMPP). I have friends with accounts on their own servers that i 'talk' to
 - You can use 3rd party Jabber clients to login to Talk

For the record: I know it's not that directly an android question but it bothers me and I haven't found anything decent on iOS (that doesn't cost 10$) that really works. Apple wants iMessage and Google's effort is almost null and void (there's only a web app for talk officially, eww). I just need some arguments and a working path to convice them to switch to talk (the easier the better. WhatsApp is really good at this)

Although Google Talk is certainly well integrated into Android, finding non-Android apps that work with it seems rather out of the scope of this site. If you want iOS specific answers then you may want to craft some version of this over at Ask Different (assuming it falls within their FAQ - I don't know that).

Well, I really anticipated that. In fact, I had rather loved to take this to the chat first however there's only little activity and not many are logged in regularly. Where should I ask (besides on meta) next time I'm unsure a question fits or not next time? Plus: only common thing in the answer is 'talk', WP doesnt fit think different either. Honestly: saying it bothers me as'n android user so much that I want a single answer for all diffrnt OSes for talk. That's why I considered it being a (not so good) but partially fitting android enthusiast question (google talk enthusiast speaking here).

Apple iOS
No official native solution by Google (except for the safari web-app with a subpar user experience)
Beware: All 3rd party providers seem to need your friend's plain google password to be able to offer push support (not just their app)! All have some sort of session timeout for push notifications (when the app is in background): Needs a relogin after that timeout (eww!).
3rd party apps I found:

IM+ Pro, free, ad supported, push with unknown session timeout
IM+, 9.99$, no ads and longer push session timeouts as above. Good reviews.
BeejiveIM for GTalk: free, push session timeout up to 7 days, no voice/video
Chat for Google Talk Pro: 0.99$, push with unknown session timeout, noticed bad reviews in Germany, good in US though

Windows Phone
todo
BlackBerry
has good support, download here
Symbian
todo
Bada
todo
Send me your findings, I'll happily include them here.


text:
Why Headset With Volume Control Functions Different Now And What To Do With Track Skipping Bug?
I am using ZAGGsmartbuds to listen to music and speak with people as it has track switch control and microphone. Pressing track control once activates stock music player to play music and also pauses already playing track, pressing twice skips to next track. When Winamp is launched, it supersedes control from stock music player so I can use Winamp, given application is not killed in RAM. Recently controls changed somehow and now when I try to skip track, it sometimes starts to call last answered number or does not skip to next track. It also starts stock music player even if Winamp is still running. Yesterday I had a bug when tracks randomly started skipping very fast and in the end, audio was gone completely in stock player and when I switched to Winamp, same happened shortly and I had to restart device to regain audio back.
I also had missing audio earlier prior to this until I restarted device but never had tracks skipping.
HTC Desire S
Android 2.3.5 stock

Try uninstalling winamp first, and see if the issue is still there. There seems to be, by the sound of it (no pun intended), conflicts with the stock player and winamp, and both are trying to get a stranglehold on the media playing, competing with each other.


text:
Can Google services be firewall-filtered (market yes, sync no)?
I recently asked about the availability of calendars with limited sandbox permissions, since I felt that most of them ask for access that is too wide, and hence are not as secure as I'd like. I also explored in that question what options were available to sync only to local computers, and to definitively prevent the device from syncing private data (calendar, contacts, todos) to Google. I plan to do my own backups locally.
Side note: not syncing private data with Google is a little trickier than a new user would expect. This is because a Google account is required to use the marketplace, and once the phone has that account, it cannot be removed without a factory reset (at least in version 2.2). The sync to it can be disabled, but if one accidentally turns it on - easily done momentarily, in my view - contacts and calendar are likely to whoosh to the cloud in short order.
One of course has to balance security requirements with usability, and my favourite calendars thus far (Business Calendar, aCalendar) do not offer their own private calendar repositories (they just work with any calendar sync provider). Ergo, they are equally at risk of accidental cloud synching as the stock Calendar application.
So, I am wondering if rooting the device and installing a firewall would be the way to go? I was originally of the view that I could grant application permissions to Market/Play to contact Google, but not Calendar. However I see in the DroidWall FAQ, if one wishes to continue using the market after installing the firewall:

Enable the following applications:

"Market";
"Media Storage, DRM Protected Content Storage, Download Manager" and
"Calendar Sync Adapter, Google Services Framework, Contacts Sync Adapter"

It seems odd that, to use the market one needs to grant permissions to the latter, but would be entirely in keeping with Google's policy of making it hard to avoid their services. Any root owners here have thoughts as to whether it is possible? I'm hoping I can filter+block on calendar.google.com etc whilst permitting play.google.com - or similar.
(I suppose the easiest answer to this Q is "try it!", but I'm looking for expertise before I risk rooting my phone).

To firewall, you need a root, as it modifies the iptables and filters the network stack. The iptables comes with Droidwall which is btw, an excellent tool and a must have if your ROM is rooted :)
Edit: Just checked mine, in theory its possible to create a script to modify the iptables to block the domain calendar.google.com whilst allowing play.google.com to pass through. Droidwall's set of rules are a bit too generic though, but you can most certainly set the custom script by hitting menu from within Droidwall itself and use it to suit your custom needs :)
The IP address for calendar.google.com is 173.194.33.37. and for  play.google.com is 173.194.33.37. Sure they are the same, but you need to find out what port is the calendar using, same for play.
# Block all connections in the TCP port nn for calendar!
$IPTABLES -A "droidwall" -p TCP --destination "173.194.33.37" --destination-port nn -j "droidwall-reject"

Linky here that explains how to do add custom script.

Ah, splendid. I'm a programmer, though quite unfamiliar with iptables - but I should think it's not beyond my wit to figure it out. Is there a danger if I put a bad rule in that I freeze the device and make it unsalvageable? :o

@halfer no, what will happen is iptables will not work properly, you will not freeze the handset as a result of bad rule! :)

NOTE this rule is the top of my head and may not work, maybe might need to tweaked a bit.. :)

Great, and thanks for the example rule. I'll have to do some digging to see what ports are used (and I expect I can use DroidWall's logging feature for this - just block everything by default, and start opening things up so basic services work again). Interesting weekend project :-)

@halfer have fun with it :) and yes you can log with Droidwall :)


text:
How is the internal storage of the Galaxy S III allocated?
I've noticed that Verizon offers 2 versions of the Galaxy S3: 16 GB and 32 GB. I'm trying to determine if it would be worthwhile to get the larger storage.
Is the device storage an extension of the primary device memory, or is it treated as a separate memory area that can only be used for data storage (similar to an SD card) but not for running programs?

If you buy the Galaxy S III 32 GB you get 32 GB of internal memory, I realize that you're worried about getting perhaps 16 GB internal + 16 GB SD-card but that is absolutely not the case, and it would be pretty much false advertising and they would piss a lot of people off. I just looked up the specs and it is indeed 32 GB internal memory for the 32 GB variant.
I don't know how specifically the partitions are set up since i have a Galaxy Nexus myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's the exact same, where /sdcard is a separate partition but still on the internal memory physically.
So, to answer your question:

Is the device storage an extension of the primary device memory, or is it treated as a separate memory area that can only be used for data storage

No, the device storage is not an extension of the primary memory as far as I know, it's all internal flash memory albeit still partitioned to standard Android partitions for obvious reasons, where /sdcard is one of those standard partitions even when no actual sdcard is present. So as far as I understand, you'll have 32 GB of pure internal storage.

In my understanding the question is whether it's partitioned as the Galaxy Nexus or not.

I called both Verizon and Samsung today and, as near as I can tell from my conversations, you are correct.

Some site disassembling the Galaxy S III states a 16GB flash, seems to be the 16GB version. If that's true, I would imagine the 32GB version has a 32GB flash, that's an internal storage.
The tech is MoviNAND that's just work like an MMC card, but it is mounted as the internal storage for Samsung's devices.

The question is whether it's like a Galaxy Nexus or like a Nexus S. So whether it's partitioned as one block or several?

There have been reports of the Sprint version being split into 12gb/12gb partitions.  No news on VZW or Tmobile but I would bet they are split as well.  So regardless of what the other people on here have said it would appear that not all the 32gb is in one partition.
See:
http://www.androidcentral.com/sprint-galaxy-s-iii-review
Robert
Edit:  because of this new news I will be sticking with a 16gb version since I already have a 64gb card ready to use.  No point in dealing with multiple "sdcard" directories.

Well, you're going to have to deal with multiple sdcards anyway, regardless of the size..

two vs three,  i'll deal with two instead

has split the storage at 12GB as internal "phone storage" (for installing apps and whatever else you want), and another 12GB that's recognized as an internal SD card

Thick!   12+12 internal +64 microsd = 3 locations to store data.  I wish they would have just kept it as one internal and one external place instead of splitting up the internal into two partitions.

12GB is not directly accessible. It's only for apps. You can't directly use it.

The difference is in the storage capacity, 32Gb > 16Gb, really, you'll have heaps of space to hold photos, apps, music... :) Go for it if you can afford it :)

Right...I guess my question is does the S3 treat that extra 16 GB as internal memory or as an SD card?

Good question! it may be treated and simulated as external sdcard to keep android happy.. when really there's a trend in that smartphones are produced without external sdcard slot..

Might be best to inquire in the carrier's respective shop or some google-fu will yield the correct answer to it :)

I tried google before Stack Exchange as well as Samsung's and Verizon's web sites and didn't get a clear answer.  Maybe I'm overthinking the question?

Have a tablet here and its treated as /mnt/sdcard if that helps? (yes its samsung running froyo.... ) mileage will vary, GB and upwards would treat it as /sdcard...

Yeah it was usually made to act like an sdcard. But since the Gnexus it might be just one block.  (Are you on modaco? It's nice seeing a familiar face :) )

Yes, am on modaco, in the zte blade forum :)


text:
Xperia x10i complaining "no network connection" in some apps, but not others
I have an Xperia x10i running firmware version 2.1-update1 from 3 (a very annoyingly-named mobile service provider).  After returning from a trip, I have noticed that certain applications are having difficulty recognizing the availability of a network connection, while others function just fine.  The cases I have spotted so far:

After spending a good while on "Loading...", the Facebook app displays "No Internet Connection.  Try Again"
The Youtube app immediately displays a popup stating "Attention: There is no network connection right now. Please try again later." on startup.  Attempting to view any type of information from youtube (e.g., "favorites" or "most viewed" lists, not just videos) causes this same error to be displayed.
The Google+ app can retrieve and display Notifications or members of my Circles just fine, but attempting to view posts leads to a long "Loading..." display, followed by "Google+ connection lost."
Searching and browsing work properly in the Android Marketplace app, but any attempt to install or update apps results in the downloads almost immediately going into "Download paused" status and staying there for hours, aside from the occasional attempt to restart the download (which invariably ends in re-pausing it), until I kill the Marketplace app.

Despite this, other apps work just fine - Browser will run searches and bring up pages, the Google Calendar widget updates properly, etc.  These results are consistent regardless of whether I am on a 3G or wi-fi network.  "Data traffic" is enabled under Mobile Network Settings.  Both "Background data" and "Auto-sync" are enabled in Accounts & Sync Settings.
What do I need to do to get this working again?

Try this:
Menu > Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks > Data Enabled (that should be checked).
Menu > Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names, hit menu, tap on 'Reset to default' :)

My phone calls it "Data Traffic" rather than "Data Enabled", but I flipped that off and back on, then reset AP Names to default. This seems to have gotten Youtube working on 3G, but not on wi-fi. All other apps that I mentioned continue to not work on 3G, nor do they work on wi-fi.

Wow! That's unusual... mind me asking - what was the last app you installed - no need to mention it here on the forum, am trying to get you to think if you installed anything recently during your trip. If not, it sounds like roaming has clobbered something (hard to believe I know) Do you have a recent backup of the APNs prior to the trip?

The latest installed app is either "RD Mute" or "Silent on Charge at Night", but I also installed a few other similar apps at about the same time, then deleted them after deciding that I preferred these two; that was all about a month before my trip, but the apps I'm having problems with aren't ones I use that often, so I can't say for sure whether they worked post-installation/pre-trip or not. Unfortunately, I have no recent backups of my phone.

It sounds like one of the apps have messed up something somewhere or not cleanly un-installed, ie. left some residue data somewhere... last resort (I'm not advocating this) factory reset it to get it back again...unless you have titanium backup and use that to clean up via Menu > More > "Clean up the dalvik cache" (from within Titanium Backup) - one question- is handset rooted?

Yes, it is rooted. OTOH, there's an Android update available that I've been putting off (I haven't looked to see whether it's staying in 2.1 or going to 2.2/2.3) and this would be a decent excuse for getting around to installing that upgrade.

Fair enough, it might be best to do the update then, and it will be all good :)

PS: If you get upgraded to Gingerbread - use the zergRush exploit to gain root ;) (https://github.com/revolutionary/zergRush) and (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1296916)

Check the date and time under Settings. YouTube and some other apps report no network when the date is wrong.

To downvoters: This answer might lack some details, but also contains a valid advice: if the date/time settings are too far off of reality, SSL connections fail as they might encounter certificates which are either "not-yet-valid" (system time too far in the past) or no-longer-valid (system date too far in the future). Apps using "unsecured channels" (http instead of https) would be not affected, so this would perfectly match the in some apps, but not others from the question. This should not be reported as "no network", but error messages might be misleading.


text:
Bluetooth 3G modem
I have a Nokia 6500S-1 which I previously used as a 3G modem (with Windows). Is it possible for an Android device to use this phone as a modem (just like the windows PC does), but expose the modem functionality thru bluetooth instead of USB?

Yes, your phone supports two ways to export its internet connection via bluetooth:

DUN-GW (Dial-Up Networking Gateway)
PAN-AP (Personal Area Networking Access Point)

See also this question (its answer about bluetooth).
In short: PAN is supported from Android 3.0 onwards as client. Android <3.0 users may have luck with Wireless tether for root users. DUN is not supported out of the box, there are apps though. Go for PAN if it works for you (DUN requires parameter and possibly eats more battery).

Thanks for your answer I'll try it first thing in the morning.


text:
Remove TeleNav GPS app from myTouch 4G Slide
After accepting a system update, I found that T-Mobile installed TeleNav GPS on my phone. Tech tier support tells me there is no way to remove it since it is installed as a "system level" app or something.
I'd really like to remove it, because it interferes with the default Google Navigation app, coming up no matter how many times I set the defaults.
I planned to root the phone, following the instructions on rootzwiki, but after running Revolutionary I got this message:

Your device: doubleshot, with HBOOT 1.45.0013 is not supported at this time

I've read elsewhere I can unlock my bootloader with software from HTC, but that this will completely format the phone, erasing all personal data, installed apps, and messages.
Do I have any other options to remove this hostile GPS application?

On rooting this device, also take a look at Working root method for myTouch 4G Slide? (I know it's your own question, axiomx11 -- this is meant as a reference for others stumbling upon this page).

There is an application called Root Uninstaller Pro 2.7, with the sole purpose of allowing users uninstall either SYSTEM or REGULAR applications.
To download it to your phone via WAP:

Visit http://wap.mobiles24.com on your wap enabled handset
Select Download by ID and enter 552004
Click Download Item

Other links:
Root Uninstaller Pro 2.7 Android App Apk
Google Play :: Root Uninstaller Pro (small price)

Appreciate the links, but it appears this app only works if you already have root, which I don't.

If you overcome the issue of your personal data, by performing a backup, a world of solutions should present themselves :) (I've got many solutions, but for your device they require the wipe-clean process)

Ok, if that is what I have to do, I will do it then.  Thanks.

Another user here helped me get root, and I was able to use the uninstaller program you suggested. TeleNav is gone now, thanks!


text:
Are Google Books DRM protected?
In some countries Google Play offers ebooks. I was wondering if those are DRM protected.
Can I export them as e.g. epub? Or are they bound to be read within the Google Play Books application?

Some are DRM protected, others aren't.
One way I'm aware of to find out the ones that are DRM, is when you try to download the file for offline reading:

If the extension is .acsm then its a DRM protected book.
If the extension ends in .epub or .pdf then its not DRM.
protected.

Related reading:
File types for reading on your device
DRM options for downloads of books on Google Play

Related to exporting the eBook to a certain format or have it restricted to be read on Google Play, the above first link answers your doubt, where they stat that you can read or download to read your eBook on other devices or applications.


text:
Can I set a tablet to wake up when moved or when I touch the screen?
I intend to buy a an Android tablet for a single use, as a remote control. It'll run a single app all the time and sit in a dock most of the time, occasionally being carried to another room. I want two features: stay awake while charging (searching this site showed me a few app solutions for this), and for the tablet to wake up when moved or when the screen is touched. Basically, I want as little time and as few manipulations as possible to get from just lying there on a coffee table to being awake and responsive. I expect this will decrease battery life (because the touch detection or accelerometers have to be active), and given my use case, that's ok as long as I still get 3-4 hours out of it.
I don't have a specific tablet picked out yet, but I'm thinking something along the lines of the Galaxy Tab 8.9". The 7" screen size would be fine, but I want to us this in landscape mode all of the time and that works better if the dock connector is on the bottom while in landscape mode.

Most tablets wake up by pushing a single button, why do you want it easier?

That single button is often small and hard to find. Even if it is like the home button on a iDevice, it is much easier to tap or brush the screen. It's even easier than that if the screen wakes up when I pick up the tablet. How many motions do you need to make to wake up your average TV remote control?

"easier to tap or brush the screen" is not a good idea because that means - the app to do that, would be polling in the background monitoring for touches, which in turn has dire negative consequence of draining the battery... just saying :)

Yea, I understand that I've got to have the touch hardware active, the use case is this thing sits in a charging cradle 99% of the time and occasionally gets carried around to different rooms, then put back in the cradle at night. I really only need 3-4 hours of use between charges. Or if I can get the motion unlock stuff working maybe monitoring the accelerometers take less juice.

After searching a bit more, I found Wake Up Screen. It might do what I want. I'll try it out in a few days.

"Wake Up Screen" does what I want.

There is a free app called MotionUnlock, with it your tablet will sense when it is being picked up from a table, etc... and unlock automatically, being ready for use!
MotionUnlock - Tablet Wake Up

Any idea why it's not in the Play store but in that suspicious-looking webstore?

Not a clue as to why it isn't published, but it appears on several other websites.

A quick google search didn't turn up other sites. Also, going to the publisher's site and looking under "apps" doesn't show that software.

The software isn't mine, so can't really tell as to why it is not present on the market, but I use it and works well. Related to other sites Podnova and AndroidPIT can serve as an example!

It appears that the app is no longer available, so this isn't actually an answer to my question.

@StevenRoose apkbrain is the alternative to google play if you do not sign in to all kinds of things associated with google. Have not used it but would be extremely careful with it :) That's not to say its junked with malware, ripoffs, pirated versions etc, its, the alternative to Google Play.

I only knew about AndroidLib, but I know there are plenty more. ApkBrain is not in this top5 list: http://www.howtogeek.com/106175/the-top-5-alternatives-to-the-android-market/ Don't confuse it with AppBrain, which is known to me :)

The MotionUnlock developer direct contact: "Stefan Giesewetter" sgiesew@gmx.de.


text:
Disable Google Play Ads in Notification Area?

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

I'm not sure if everyone has experienced this annoying behavior, I often see ads in my notification area pointing to games in the market.
Is there any way to avoid this annoying feature I never asked for?
Here is what the ad looks like:

A similar question that doesn't specifically relate to the red star icon is Spam alerts in notification bar.

Airpush! A bloody nuisance they are.
Need to figure out which app did you install recently, that is the culprit. Uninstall it, let the developer know that airpush is disastrous and let them see their downloads drop!
If your handset is rooted, you might try Ad-Away to block those pesky adverts. And its open-source and available on Google Play.

It was removed for violating section 4.4 of the Google Play Developers Agreement, but can still be downloaded at F-Droid. Also, the code link to it is broken.


text:
Is this a virus?
When I try and open the "Movies" application on my phone (HTC Vivid w/ Sense 3.6 and ICS), I'm given with this notification (see image):

Screenshot (click image to enlarge)
Now I don't think this is legit, so what do you think? Is this a virus? And if it is (which i think it is), how can I go about removing it?

OP: I think you're jumping to wrong conclusions. Where did you download that from? If its not from Google Play, you will get that message as I've explained in my answer below!

OEM manufacturers tend to bundle apps with new handsets that are sitting there until you install them :)

Viruses don't exist on Android, and I haven't heard about one for any other platform either recently.

Rest assured, that is not a virus, its a warning dialog to make you aware that you may have the app install from outside of Google Play blocked. It is normal! :)
To proceed to check and confirm it is indeed unblocked...
Go into Settings > Security > Device Administration, tap on "Unknown sources", a dialog box appears, tap ok as that's a standard disclaimer, which is normal de-facto thing.
For GB, Menu > Settings > Applications, check "Unknown Sources" and again, similar dialog appears as a disclaimer.
Tap Ok to continue and back out of it.

More likely that the movie App just wants to get installed. It's not uncommon that 3rd party software is installed this way.

The thing that worried me was that it was installed by default my the OEM, but if you say its ok, then I'll give it permissions


text:
Rooting Motorolla X2 adb shell problem
i tried this tutorial and in step 1 i followed method 2. I try step 3, and when i try
adb shell it works fine. but the line after,
sh /sdcard/motoroot-step1.sh, I get
sh: Can't open /sdcard/motoroot-step1.sh
Why is this happening?

I guess it worked after you switched off usb mass storage? please do let us know how you got on :)

You cannot execute either binary or shell script that resides on the external sdcard due to the execute permission bit being blocked.
Either move the script temporarily to a location other than sdcard (if you're not rooted - you're in a bit of a spot there...)
After reading the posting on xda, it would appear that something is amiss, notify the developer of that forum and post it there and see what response you get :)
Edit: You have that external sdcard treated as mass-storage device. Turn that off and see what happens (Had to read all of the thread and some one posted - see #18 there!)


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How to test suspected hardware on Android
I have a problem with my HTC Sensation that I think is either due to problems with the electronics that interfaces to the battery or a memory problem. Basically the phone turns off spontaneously by itself every now and then. Very often - as far as I can see - when the CPU is running 100% (and hence there are a big battery drain)... Turning on the phone again can easily take 2-3 turns before it is running stable (until next time). It seems to be starting first time though if connected to power...
If this occurred on a Windows PC, I would first download a hardware test/diagnostics application and see whether this could find anything...
...but for all the usual security reasons, the Android platform is way more closed than the PC/Windows platform and I suspect that it is not so easy to install a diagnostics app to test the hardware.
So... how do you go about this then? Short of using a full-blown hardware analyser, which I don't have access to :-)
[Note that I have rooted my device and don't mind flashing a new ROM if needed...]

I have edited the question to address your objection... Hope it helps

Are you running some app/widget that you recently installed (cpu 100%) is a dead give-away  to some process that is hogging it up? Try uninstalling that recently installed app and see how it fares. Another question, are you using stock ROM?

There's something else that's is hinting at me... you say "Turning on the phone again can easily take 2-3 turns before it is running stable (until next time). It seems to be starting first time though if connected to power..." That looks suspiciously like either an over-clocked kernel that is running a bit too high or there is a bug in the kernel.. just saying :)

@t0mm13b I'm using http://www.virtuousrom.com/p/inquisition.html - and they state "Stock kernel, not overclocked". So my guess still is a hardware problem in the battery interface. Though, I would love to be proved wrong!

Best to take it back to the carrier's shop to get it checked out or get someone who's an electronic whiz to open it up and check it out for you... If it comes down to that diagnosis and having to return to the carrier's shop, you may have to revert to Stock ROM so not to raise their suspicion and their refusal to test it because it has a rom other than stock on it :) More than likely you suspect right about the battery interface somewhere... :)

Just something caught my eye on the linky to virtuousrom's inquisition site.. the picture of the handset with the logo, states 'OC up to 1.5Ghz' which implies either the description is wrong or there is indeed overclocking in there somewhere?! Unable to confirm :)

StabilityTest is a stress-testing tool for android devices with error
  reporting.

I've cleaned up the comments here just to keep things on-topic.

Tried StabilityTest today for 30 minutes... No problems...


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Forwarding text messages from an android phone to a TCP port of a PC
We are going to have an online poll using SMS in an upcoming ceremony. We also want to show the result of the poll on a large screen using a video projector. The idea that I have is to use an android phone to receive text messages and forward them to a PC using a TCP/IP connection. If the message is forwarded to the PC, I can handle the rest of the things easily. Now, I have two questions regarding the above idea:

Do you know any application of piece of code that forwards any incoming text message to a given ip address/port number?
Is an android phone capable of handling a large number of text messages? That would be 100-200 messages per minute. The latter issue is a more important one since I have no clue about the number and I cannot test the scalability of the system since the day of the ceremony.

What device are you planning to use?

The Android device will probably be able to handle such amounts, but I fear that network speed could be a problem. With my experiences multiple messages arrive with minimum a second between them.

@RichardBorcsik: I have an XPERIA X10 but I can find other devices as well. So, it's not a real problem, I guess.

@StevenRoose: That's a good point. I think I should ask my network operator about it.

@Mohsen Or just wait a minute longer :)

It isn't difficult to create the necessary code to listen to incoming messages, handle their data and send them to a TCP socket. I've done such an app but can't release it's code, unfortunately. All I can say is it's pretty simple, just research incoming SMS handling (for example here) and sockets (for example here).
As to your other question, there is some latency when receiving SMS, but this depends on your carrier. They store the messages in a queue and send them to your phone as fast as they can. So, depending on your carrier they may have some limits on how many messages they accept into the queue.
You can estimate the delay in the messages by sending a SMS to your phone from 2 other phones simultaneously, and check the difference in receiving the messages. You can then estimate the handling speed per minute. For example, if there's a two second delay, it would take (200*2)/60=6m40s to process 200 messages.

I can think of two approaches:
For one, there is android-notifier, which claims to react on events (amongst others: incoming SMS) and sends notifications to a desktop pendant (multi-OS). As the source code is available, it could be investigated (as to replace the pc desktop application by your own processor) and adapted.
And then there always is Tasker (with good documentation and a free 7 day trial available at its project site). It also can react on, amongs others, incoming SMS, and perform different actions (also on the SMS' text), such as e.g. "browse url" (you could urlencode the SMS and send it as parameter, I guess -- the "http get"/"http post" actions is probably smoother, as easier to configure with parameters), "compose email" (again can be processed asynchronously at the PC), and more (see already linked project site for details).

If you just want to see the poll results without addition processing in your computer, I would suggest the following two apps:

Poll-Box
FastFeedbak Lite

With either of these apps you can receive the SMS (text messages) and display the result in the device's screen.  This device screen can be displayed in any larger displays using HDMI connection or  other screen cast apps. If this solves your issue, you can totally avoid your dependency on the computer.


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Samsung p7510 versus p5110 : what are the main differences?
I'm in a tight schedule to buy someone a tablet in the ipad2-range, but I want to buy an Android device.
After some research I decided to buy the Samsung Tab  10.1" P5110 (I don't need 3G).  However the Samsung Tab 10.1" p7510 is much easier to find in a short term.  When comparing both I got a bit confused because I don't get the main differences between both models.
Is there an obvious 'best one' ?

P5110 is the Galaxy Tab 2 while P7510 is the original. The difference is that the newer ships with ICS and has a different SoC along with a slightly larger battery, while it is a lightly ticker. The P7510 came out almost a year ago.
If you want future software upgrades the P5110 is a safer bet. See that datasheets for more info.


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Contacts synchronisation
I synchronized my Samsung S2 with mail Exchange account, and downloaded my contacts from Exchange server, but now I want to upload my contacts to my Gmail account. In my Gmail mail app I created new account but when I click sync my contact, nothing happens, no contact were uploaded to my Gmail acoount.
What to do ?

There are many ways to sync your Exchange contacts to Gmail.  The easiest way is to do this on your computer.  This involves exporting your contacts from Outlook into a CSV file, and then importing that file on https://mail.google.com site.

Export your Outlook contacts to a CSV (Comma Separated Value) file.  Steps to do this vary for different Outlook versions, so search your Outlook's help for exact instructions pertaining to your particular version (e.g. Outlook 2010 instructions are here.)
In your browser open Gmail, and navigate to "Contacts" section (click on the "Gmail" to reveal the drop-down.)
On the main Contacts screen click on More button and select the Import... option.
Click the "Browse" button in the "Choose FIle to Upload" window, and navigate to the folder where you saved the CSV file from step 1.
Click the "Open" button, then select the "Import Contacts", and the contents of the CSV file should import to your Gmail account.
Either wait a bit, or manually force a sync via Settings -> Accounts & sync screen on your phone.


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Picture attachment download keeps using same file name
with my Samusung Galaxy S II Epic 4G (Sprint) every time i go to save an attached picture from a text message the menu pops up with the same file name (everytime!) and a checkbox. i have to remember to go into my downloads picture folder and change the previous picture's file name, which is stupid and tedious. is there anyway to reset this for downloaded pics? or set it to auto assign a different file name each time??

You might have luck with a different text messaging app from the Market.

Always been that way and if you don't change the name it will overwrite the image.
Till now, haven't found any fix or a work around, besides using another APP from the market.
This two have been recommend in the past and work just fine:
GO SMS Pro
Handcent SMS

Just confirmed and this Google Play Search, still gives you the two above app as the best rated ones.

Go SMS was put in the spot, not-so-long ago, there was privacy issues about it when someone raised the issue and yielded, what appeared to be, some iffy code that was transmitting information to china... Do not know if that has been resolved ever since, but do recall a discussion on modaco about this

am still hunting for the thread there on modaco...

Found a related issue at GO SMS Pro website, but was posted under the GO SMS Pro V3.73 on October 25th, 2011... Being from an Anonymous source and having no responses till this day, it's likely to be an isolated case! Ps: Current version for
GO SMS Pro is V4.52.

Ahh cheers mate for that :)


text:
Partial adb restore
ICS devices support creating backups using adb backup, and restoring them using adb restore. Using adb backup, one can select that everything should be backed up, or only a certain package.
However, adb restore lacks all the options of adb backup. When I call adb restore backup.ab, where backup.ab is only the backup of a single package, the phone shows me a warning dialog saying that all settings are going to be lost after restoring the backup. Is it true that restoring a single package backup wipes all data on the phone? If yes, is it somehow possible to restore a single package using adb restore?

I'd say the warning just relates to the settings of the app being restored, as they would be replaced by those from the backup. But I cannot tell for sure, as I have no ICS device (nor the SDK installed).

Izzy should be right-
However, just to be sure, in the future, you could backup your apps and app data with
' $ mkdir ~/backupdir/ && cd backupdir/ && adb pull /data/app/ && adb pull /system/app/ && adb pull /data/data/ && adb pull /system/data/'  - and then adb push it all back over.

@Bob did any of the suggestions get you any further? If so, maybe we could sum it up and place it as answer, which then would be useful for other community members as well.

No, sorry. rm-vanda's comment doesn't work like this on non-rooted devices.

I thought so. But maybe another hint might do: How do you extract an App's data from a full backup made through “adb backup”? -- extracting the backup at least let's you know what the "replacement" looks like. You still could make another backup before restoring from the old, just in case, which you then could extract as well.

Picking up my comment on the question:

Is it true that restoring a single package backup wipes all data on the phone?

No. As I suspected in my comment, the warning just relates to the settings of the app being restored, as they would be replaced by those from the backup. I used adb backup to backup a single app on one device, and restored it to multiple devices. I didn't miss anything afterwards, all other apps (and data) remained untouched.
It wouldn't make any sense the other way, either. And Carbon - App Sync and Backup couldn't offer to restore a single app, as it itself would be gone then as well :)

If you're rooted you can now use Titanium Backup Pro (5.6+) to restore from adb backups.


text:
Does CyanogenMod 7.2 kernel support swap memory?
My current kernel (whatever is built into stock Froyo 2.2 ROM for Verizon Motorola Droid X) does NOT support swap memory.
Does CyanogenMod 7.2 kernel support swap memory? Does that depend on device-specific build?

The cyanogenmod team feels that swap doesn't serve it's purpose on an Android device:

This question is hotly debated, but you almost definitely do not need swap or compcache...

You can read all about it at the Swap and Compcache - CyanogenMod Wiki!

To answer you question directly, by default the swap and Compcache schemes are disabled, but if you still feel the need to use them, above link provides you with a how-to.
So, yes, the CyanogenMod 7.2 supports swap and its usage needs to be activated.
The swap and Compcache schemes usage depends on the device and its support for it.

As a side note, the CyanogenMod 7.x is Gingerbread-based not Froyo, as can be read here:

After 3 rounds of release candidates, and squashing a few more bugs in the stabilization branch of CyanogenMod 7, the newest stable iteration of the Gingerbread-based CM7 is now being released.

Swap is not suitable for Android smartphones/tablets as realistically speaking it could potentially wear and tear of the flash nand storage due to read/write (swapping in/out) to partition.

Agree, and it can be read on the link provided, that close to no gain comes from the swap or Compcache schemes usage!

@Zuul - my main problem is that (1) none of the apps I care about (e.g. stock browser) support the behavior described in CM Wiki linked - when the browser is killed by memory manager, it is next reloaded with empty page instead of whatever tabs I had open. Never mind keeping the page from reloading so that Google Reader does't lose the article I had open. (2) After playing some memory intensive games, it takes forever to re-launch my Zeam launcher. It's possible swap won't help; but I'm interested in trying. VERY helpful answer, thanks!

So we're stuck with apps taking 5 minutes to open every time you switch between them?  They should leave it up to the users to decide whether it's useful for them.  Android's intended behavior of killing apps and apps storing their state so they can be reloaded gracefully is wishful thinking, not reality.

Also that link is dead.  Any mirrors?

@endolith I've updated the link, thank you for the warning!

@Zuul: Thanks.  It seems CM7.2 doesn't support swap at all, though, and a different kernel needs to be installed.

Short answer:
No. Kernel support is missing. You need to replace the kernel.
Longer answer - check answer from Zuul.


text:
How do I delete a single calendar in Android (not just hide it)?
How do I delete a single calendar from the native calendar app (not only the entries: the whole calendar) without wiping out the app or all calendars, in android >4.0?
This feature was available till ICS. In Kitkat, it's still not possible.

Why do you per se want to do it from your phone? No pc browser nearby? I guess you don't need to do this on a weekly basis?

I have to do it just a few times during development. How would a pc help? I am using a mac and the calendar appears just local on the phone.

Ah it's only a local Calendar? It's not synced? Then Chahk's answers makes no sense basically... My default Calendar app on Android 2.3 doesn't seem to support local calendars.

I just ran into the same problem. I created a local calendar with an app and then removed the app before deleting the calendar. I could re-install the app and delete the calendar there. So, for you as a developer, this means you should probably add this functionality to your app.
However, if you need a quick fix or if someone else is running into this problem with a third-party app that does not provide a way to remove its own calendars, you can use the (no longer free) app iCal Import/Export CalDAV by Lukas Aichbauer, as this app allows you to remove any local calendars.
Just start it, select "Edit Calendars", then "Choose Calendar", and select the calendar you want to remove. Then click "Delete Calendar" and confirm if you are certain you have selected the right one.
Maybe use the same app first to pull a backup of the calendars you want to keep.

Thank you very much! This was surprisingly hard to find. SolCalendar had created a calendar named "My Solcalendar" which remained after I had uninstalled the programme. Now I have been able to delete it. Incidentally, why doesn't Android itself have an interface to manage its calendars? Odd.

The app is offline, any other apps that would do that? Insane how google allows third party software to create local calendars that Google Calendar automatically set as default, but does not allow any means of removing it.

Since it seems there is no easy free way to do this, I created my own =)
Here is the app: Calendar Toolbox
If someone needs to create, delete, or update a local calendar, it will do it.

Awesome: Installed your toolbox, removed the default calender, uninstalled the toolbox. Thanks!

"App doesn't have permission to edit this calendar"... How to deal with that?

@Rune Look at what it says in the Account name field for that calendar. That might give you a hint. Try to log out of that account, or remove the app with that name, or something.

I found also ( in year 2022) , "Calendar account delete helper", which helpt me to delete  a calendar from already uninstalled app.

Android devices have a local calendar storage database that is opaque and difficult to modify with app-level programmatic. You can, however, clear all local calendar data, which should remove the calendar entries permanently. Any sync'd calendars will repopulate.
Settings > Apps & Notifications > See all Apps > (... menu) Show System
Navigate to "Calendar Storage", choose "Storage & cache", and then "Clear storage".
All calendar events will disappear, sync'd events will repopulate via account sync over the next few minutes.
Another comment noted a paid app "CalDEV". My guess is that it does a less nuclear version of this.

In "See all Apps" there is a gigantic popup of all apps. Between these Apps, I can not see a "Show System", and it also does not look like an app name.

Calendar Backup lets you backup and delete calendars. I just used it with the Samsung calendar on a Galaxy A6.
Before deleting it, you can export it as an .ics file as backup, and it offers you to save it or directly share it to an email or messaging account.

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


text:
MyTouch 4g MMS over Home Wi-Fi
Why can't I receive or send MMS on my My Touch 4g through my home Wi-Fi? I have bad coverage at home so I have to use my Wi-Fi connection. I'm sure my settings are right - I have it set to T-Mobile Data. Does it have to be set at MMS? It works fine when I'm away from home on the 4g network.

MMS messages can only be received by your carrier's internet service (3g,4g,etc.). Sadly the capabilities to do this over wi-fi are not available yet, hopefully they're working on a fix for this!


text:
Remove credit card from google wallet, will it affect purchased apps?
I use my credit card to buy app on Google Play Store and now that I changed my credit card, I want to remove my credit card info from my account, but Google gives me this message:

You are about to remove the following credit card:
  Visa ending in xxxx
The following orders will be affected by removing this credit card:
  [list of apps I purchased]

What happen when I remove my credit card, will I lose all my purchased apps? Or what will happen exactly?

Yes.
Your in-app subscriptions attached with that card will be disturbed. And, an app developer would be unable to refund money if you've purchased that app using that card (but, this is solved by contacting Google support).
But, you'll not lose any purchased apps. Even pending purchases will not be affected if you attach a new card with the account. Otherwise, it'd be cancelled.

Technically the first word should be "No" because the question is about purchased apps, not in-app purchases. Anyway, is there an official page about this?

@Richard More general answer is really more helpful here. Anyone is interested in paid features, not the paid apps. Plus, what I have wrote is my personal experience which can be verified easily. It should be on Google's support documentations, I think. I haven't searched there by the way.

"Remove credit card from google wallet, will it affect purchased apps?" "Yes." While it doesn't. It affects future purchases, and future manual refunds.

@RichardBorcsik "Remove credit card from google wallet, will it affect purchased apps?" "Yes." Where's the problem? Refunds fall in the affect category. And, just because OP did miss some details of his problem, I shouldn't drop in-app subscriptions.

Of course not. The only way the would be affected is if they were still pending purchases.
I have removed a card previously and all my apps were still intact.
Your purchases are linked to your account, not to your cards.
However common sense still applies. If you have in-app subscriptions set up on the card that you've removed, than the next charge will fail.

Because before I removed another card but had no such message, so that this time this confuses me.

@linkgreencold Just removed another cc to verify. Apps purchased can still be instaled, and show up in transaction history.

Nope, The purchases generally go though, because your bank usually won't clear the funds till the next business day. I think Google simply gives that message for some legal reason.


text:
Touch Sensitivity
Is it possible to change the touch sensitivity of the android? Too often, I find myself working too hard to tap lightly so as not to make accidental selections.
I'm using ICS on the galaxy nexus.

No there is not a way to do this for android, unless root access allows this (which it may). To do something like this you would have to change the size of the capacitive recognition. The screen is not pressurized, but rather interacts with the electrical interference of the screen.
Tapping lightly won't do anything other than reduce the amount of your finger that touches the screen. I would recommend getting a capacitive stylus if you're having problems with this.
Here is a cheap solution for this:
http://www.amazon.com/Capacitive-Cellphone-Motorola-BlackBerry-AMM0101US/dp/B0053NBLFW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340657015&sr=8-1&keywords=capacitive+stylus
Hope this helps!


text:
App to show battery current or rate of change of voltage, short term info
Id like to have quick feedback about how what I do on my phone affects power usage, but cant seem to find a good widget or app for that out of the hundreds out there! Anyone know any?
Thanks

I'm not sure many devices will have support for something like that.

If you have Spare Parts installed there is detailed information in there about the state of the battery. Also, you can find out what is the application that is sucking up most of the battery via Settings > About Phone > Battery Use.


text:
does Cyanogenmod 7.2 Madteam release 16/6 on Vodafone 858 support USB host?
I've a Huawei u8160 which is running Cyanogenmod 7.2.
I saw in the change log that it has better support for USB mouse and keyboard and it was written beside it COMMON.
Quoted from the Cyanogenmod github CHANGELOG.mkdn:

...
Common: Better support for mouse and usb keyboards - Emilio Lopez, Tanguy Pruvot
...

So I was wondering if it supports USB host so I can connect it with a USB mouse and keyboard ?

Can you clarify the title as its misleading and confusing?

Also, can you include the link to where you saw this change log? (Have an account with Madteam and see no reference to CM 7.2?)

The change log is in the settings and I mean that the release of Cyanogenmod is released on 16/6/2012 and there was an error in the title I'll fix it .

The Common: Better support for mouse and usb keyboards found at the changelog refers to all devices supported, meaning that there was an overall improvement on the USB support for mouse and keyboard devices.
But take into account that the words "better support" means that there was an improvement, but it may still be buggy on certain devices under specific situations.
As a side note:
To your particular case, you are referring that you have a Huawei U8160, but on the changelog, the support goes for Huawei U8150. So, it may not be fully supported with or device.

Relevant Links:
The changelog can be found at: github - CyanogenMod
CyanogenMod Forums: CyanogenMod 7.2 Released! (2012-Jun-16)
Wikipedia: List of devices supported by CyanogenMod

You can try because the chipset is the same.

I would say, go for it and try it out and report back here. :)
What the wording 'Common' means is this, common to all devices regardless of platform. Its a CM thing in documenting the changes made.
If there was a specific device in there it would be highlighted, for example, 'OMAP Common' refers to those devices that has ARMv7 media processing embedded on the chip or SoC, by Texas Instruments (generally found in high end devices)


text:
Any way to use another name for the external_sdcard folder?
On my Android tablet, the SD Card is shown as an external_sdcard folder, no matter how I rename the card.
Personally I don't like the auto-assigned folder name. Is there a way to use a different default folder name for the SD card, such that the folder name looks more consistent with my other folders?
(Android 4.0.3 WiFi only)

Do you have a file explorer? If so you could try renaming it from here by long pressing on it. But this may prove to be an issue with mapping to it...

That would not only require root access, but also break mounting the card (you would need to update the "fstab" as well). Further, that's probably not what ohho had in mind -- he was rather thinking of the LABEL being used as mount-point name (as it is with modern Linux systems for removable data mount points dynamically being created), so it's easy to see which card is in the slot.


text:
What is a goldcard and how does it work?
I know how to create a Goldcard, but I'm curious as to what it actually is and how it works. I've done some Googling but can't find any information about the details.
To create a Goldcard one needs the CID, which from what I can gather is an SD identifier for the card. The CID is then reversed and entered into a site which generates a Goldcard image. The image is copied to bytes 0x000 to 0x170 of the device.

Does the CID change when the card is formatted?
If I plug an SD card into my computer, will I get the same CID as when it's in the phone?
Is the Goldcard image a boot sector?
How does it fit in with the FAT32 filesystem on the card?
How is the Goldcard image generated?
Could I generate one myself, or modify an existing image for a different CID?
What does the Goldcard do when the phone boots? Does the phone boot off the card?
How does this bypass the restrictions to allow other firmware to be flashed?

To partially answer my own question, the CID is a unique identifier assigned to the SD card at manufacture time. It is stored in a special register which is accessed using the SEND_CID command. From page 93 of Part 1 Physical Layer Simplified Specification:

The Card IDentification (CID) register is 128 bits wide. It contains the card identification information used during the card identification phase. Every individual Read/Write (RW) card shall have a unique identification number.

The CID therefore does not change when the card is formatted, and will be reported the same regardless of which device the card is plugged into.
The card does have an MBR partition table, and the Goldcard image is inserted into the code area of the MBR (between 0x000 and 0x1b7). There is therefore no direct interaction with the FAT32 filesystem. The first 128 bytes of the image are null however, and so it doesn't seem to actually be executable.