text:
Viewing web pages offline
I have a lot of saved web pages that I want to view whenever I want without the page connecting to the web site (I can do this on WM). How do I do this on Android? Every time I click on the HTML file it says "no connection".

You can try this method if you have the html page saved locally.

Maybe close this as a dupe of How can a complete web page be saved and viewed on an Android device??

You can use OffLine Browser by Nikodroid. It can save web pages (and related links) and then allows you to read them when you are offline.

This seems to work well, allows downloading things that are linked to as well, like photos.

One can use Pocket or Instapaper to save something from your desktop for offline reading on your mobile.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/reading_list/

You could also generate PDF files using the share feature of the Android system. I am currently researching the best way. For now I am using Web2PDF with Chrome on my Nexus 10. Does not work perfectly with all sites though. For those that do no work yet I am using the website PDFmyURL.com.
Today I noticed hat Firefox can save PDF of whole pages by default. It is hidden in Extras...

You can use PaperSpan app to save original page offline to SD Card. Saving links can be done through computer, and app will sync and save offline.

Do you have any connection to this app? You've posted two answers recently with it in.

You can open MHTML files with MHT & MHTML Viewer, Reader app.
I am using my file explorer to open the MHTML files using this app. Sometimes I need to use the option "Open as" to see this app as an option. Another way to open MHTML files is to browse your files using this app.
I am not affiliated to the app in any way though. Opera is also an excellent app to save (and view) MHTML files.


text:
My phone is not transmitting
I have an Htc Desire and I'm using the headset that came with it. During a call yesterday the other party stopped hearing me.  I unplugged the headset and continued with the conversation normally. Today I checked the headphones again before buying a new pair and indeed the other person couldn't hear me. What was really surprising is that I could hear myself,  echo with about a second of delay. So, electronically my headphones work. Is there something broken in my phone?
Update: I just tried the Skype test call and it worked just fine, so it seems to be my headset when making phone calls, which is really weird.

Well, that's hard to say. Its either your phone, your headset or both of them. I'd say: go to a shop, ask to test a new one. If they work: buy them, its just your headset.
If they don't work: Test your headset in another phone. If they work: it's your phone. If they don't: its your phone AND you headset.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How do I replace the default messaging icon in the dock with handcent?
I've a Samsung Galaxy S with 2.2 firmware. I'm using handcent instead of the default messaging application. In the default messaging app settings I have disabled notifications and disabled auto-retrieve. But when I get an SMS now, even after I had read it in handcent, I still get the new message notification overlay on the messaging icon on the homescreen until I click into it. Can i disable this, or better yet replace that icon with handcent?

Assuming you are using the default Samsung TouchWiz launcher:

Open the App Drawer (Applications)
Press Menu, select View Type -> Customizable Grid
Press Menu, choose Edit
Drag off the Messaging icon, and drag on Handcent.

I've replaced it with Gmail, myself.

exactly what I needed, I didn't know those dock icons were customizable in this way.

What home screen application are you using? In Launcher Pro, I can long-press on the dock icon, and change the icon and/or shortcut. I can also disable the overlay from Menu > Preferences > Dock Settings > Missed call count/Unread SMS count/Unread Gmail count

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


text:
My phone hates 2G + Sd Card
my HTC Wildfire with CM7 - RC4, doesn't like a combination of two things:

Data enabled on a 2G Network
SD Card inserted.

When these two conditions are met, either the phone will slow down to a halt or it will reboot. If it reboots, if I don't remove the SD card it will not detect it, unless I reboot without it in. Or, the SD card will just be undetected and sometimes a notifications pops up telling me "SD Card Removed Unexpectedly"
At my school, my phone network's signal isn't very good due to the building being rubbish and 2G signals are the only thing we get inside the building.
On my old SD card it was 4GB and I think it worked, however my SD card is now 16GB and it doesn't like this. It shouldn't be a problem as it's a ScanDisk (a very reputable make) and I've tried another 16GB card which I sent back due to the issue, so I don't think it's that.
Many thanks to people who can figure out what's up with my phone,
Joe

what apps are installed in the phone? Probably there is a bug in an installed app or networking/filesystem drivers. Are you using app2sd? Does this happen on stock ROM?

I'm not using apps2sd. I never had a 16gb SD card before I rooted and the problem is still there on sense based wildpuzzle rom.

I would indeed verify first that this is not related to some 3rd party app or any other than stock ROM. For this do a complete reset and try again. Also try with a smaller SD card since 16GB might not be supported by your phone (need to check specs for that, I don't know).
You can make a backup to get it back to your personalized settings quick.
If you can confirm the stock ROM and default settings do have this bug too you can report this to HTC. Otherwise you'll have to solve it on your own, looking what app/setting is getting this result.

Hmm.... Well HTC do say on their website, "Supports up to 32 GB" which is confusing

Scandisk? you sure? Did you mean SanDisk?
Can you absolutely vouch for the authenticity of the SD card? There are plenty of 'fakes' - usually low grade/slow branded as faster cards.
Theres a good guide to spotting fakes here eBay guide

I bought it from Amazon themselves, so I doubt they would be selling fakes :/

I had exactly the same issue here, on my Asus fonepad tablet.
It happened from the beginning, with few 3rd party apps installed and different SD cards.
My workaround was to set "WCDMA only" in the settings ;)

@Izzy He provided a workaround. So, I suppose that counts as something helpful. :)


text:
Nexus one hack to work on 8500/1900 freqs
I have a nexus one that (by default) does not support 8500/19000 3g frequencies.
That forces me to use EDGE or lower with my carrier.
The question is: Is this something that can be modified or is it a hardware limitation?
Note that I don't mind rooting the phone to get 3g support

This is set in hardware, there is nothing you can do about this. You can learn more about this in http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=395c29e6b9cab6bc&hl=en


text:
google contacts not shown
When I log onto GMail on my HTC Desire, I can't find a way to access my GMail contacts. I read that there was some link on the left of the screen. I see none. I am now at a loss

Make sure your GMail contacts are syncing to the phone. Menu -> Settings -> Accounts & sync -> [your account name] and see if a box next to "Sync Contacts" is checked.

The Gmail app does not have a contacts section -- you only see you contacts when typing in the To field or whatever.  You should have a Contacts app with your Gmail contacts, if you are syncing them.  To change your sync settings, look in Settings -> Accounts and sync.
If you're referring to the website, that's not an Android question.  But the mobile website doesn't have Contacts on the left, you have to view the Full site (there's a link at the bottom of the mobile view).


text:
How to get Banshee to see Xoom via MTP?
I just bought a Canadian region Xoom, and have been able to access it via MTP using Gnomad2, but Banshee refuses to recognize it, despite having the libmtp extension installed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
OS: Fedora 14, amd64

What is Banshee?

@Matthew: It's a media player/manager. Website


text:
Is there a way to edit the Share menu?
It's getting a little crowded with every app having a share option these days.  I'd love to narrow it down to the few I like but haven't been able to figure out how.


text:
Searchify results not showing up
I have installed Searchify on a HTC Legend running Froyo. Unfortunately, it none of the commands are appearing in search. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Have you enabled Searchify as a 'Searchable Item' under the global search settings?

To do this in Froyo, press the search button from the home screen to bring up the Quick Search Box, then press MENU, then Search Settings. You then have to go into Serachable Items and make sure Searchify is checked.


text:
How can I search the contents of the books I added to my Google books?
I want to search the contents of the books I added to my Google Books account.
The Google Books web site offers a search my library option.
But I want to search the contents of the books in my Google Books account from my Android device and from an Android application which is optimized for small screens.

I think your question could be worded better as it seems to ask a couple of questions.
Google books are filed as cryptic alphanumeric IDs, and they seem to be HTML type files it makes it more difficult than with most other book types.

finding books on your device is very easy, use an explorer like File Expert or Astro (both are free, however Astro's search function is better) which contain a search option. You will probably have to use multiple searches depending on how many different types of ebooks you have on your SD card - I know I have epubs, mobi, prcs, pdf, txt and doc files.
If you are looking specifically for just your google books then as long as you have set to store them on the SD card they will be under the following path - Storage Card/Android/Data/com.google.android.apps.books
Searching contents of books within google books - you can't from the library or app itself, unless you are already in the book - in which case press menu and then use search.
However due to the nature of google books you could probably do this much quicker via the website. With other book and file types you could try Astro's search within text - might just pull up what you are looking for as I have had this work on some txt and doc files.


text:
Android: Cannot open apps on SDcard
I accidently deleted some folders on the SDCard, and now I cannot open any apps that were installed on the sdcard like angry birds.. These apps are being shown in the Settings, but I cannot move it back to phone. Only thing I can do is uninstall it. Any idea how to get these apps working? I really dont wana play angry birds from the begining all over again :(

No idea about other apps but Angry Birds save data is stored to /data/data/com.rovio.angrybirds/files
If you copy over the contents to a separate location, then re-install Angry Birds and move back the old save data into the same location after re-installing Angry Birds, you should have the same save state.

I agree, there's no option other than to reinstall what was deleted but the saves can probably be retrieved still.

Im sure I did not delete the applications folder.. or whichever folder the applications are stored in. Like I said the apps show up in the settings. I re-installed all the applications. Now everythings working ok. And I dint lose the saved data.


text:
How can I view and easily delete pictures?
Could you advise me of some way to view pictures and easily delete some of them when viewing (with one or two taps)?
I'm using Android 2.1.

Try QuickPic.


text:
Samsung Galaxy S Camera problem
When taking pictures with the Samsung Galaxy S's camera I get a rather large red spot in from the center of the image outwards. I've uploaded an image showing this.

I just bought my Samsung Galaxy S2, also has a same problem. I just changed it at the shop and the problem is still there. I think there is no solution over the RED SPOT issue. I love SGS2 but it's a shame for such a poor quality made from Samsung.

I have the same problem here in Brazil. Last year, I bought a Galaxy S, and the photos had that red color in the center. I went to the store and exchanged it for another one, which had the same problem. I went to the store and returned it. I decided for an iPhone 4. Now, I got bored with iPhone 4 and this week I bought another Galaxy S, it has the same problem (red color in the center of the photo), but I decided to keep it anyway.
For what I see in your post, the red color is a general problem. I just don’t understand why the Samsung has not already corrected that problem.
I have made some tests with the camera, and noticed that the problem occurs in low light conditions, especially under incandescent light, but outdoors the picture is normal.
Maybe the problem could be correct by some software or an update for Samsung.
I looked over in the internet and didn’t find any solution.
So, if somebody knows a solution, please post it here.

+1 for 'got bored with iPhone4'  :) .  No really, +1 for the extra testing part.

Hi, Nogueira. Thank you for your input. I saw that it only happens in low light conditions and if you look at the glass protecting the camera from a certain angle, you will see a red tint to it. I think it's a physical problem rather than a software one. Where I live we are yet to receive 2.3, but I'll wait until then. Thanks again.

I did a mistake in my post. The red tint appears under low light, especially under incandescent light.

@Nogueira I edited your post after reading your comment. As an FYI you can always edit your own posts, rather than put the edits in a comment.

I would take the phone to where ever you bought it from and have them take a look at it. It's most likely some sort of hardware issue that they will be able to take care of.

Alright, I'll do that then. I just wanted to make sure there is no software issue first or something that I was missing. Thank you, Adam.

It is a hardware fault and it may be unlikely you will find one without it I have only seen one that did not have the issue and it was an early sample. Returned several myself then got my money back Samsung should issue a public statement about this as the camera part of the phone is not fit for its purpose with this fault. probably best to get your money back and wait until Samsung come clean about what is going on with this issue. If you do decide to get a different phone with an 8mpix camera do check it out before buying as it could be to do with the sensor supplier and the same sensor may be used in other phones


text:
correct image orientation from camera
I took a few pictures with the camera on my Galaxy S, and when I viewed them on the PC (via USB) they all were on their side - obviously the camera has taken them in portrait orientation, but why would the images appear sideways when copied to the PC? Is it possible to make them save in the orientation they were taken - ie portrait if taken as portrait shots, landscape if taken when the phone is held 'horizontally'?

The problem is that some systems think of different ways to use the exif information. There are several possiblities, but for the motorola milestone (droid in the US) it was that the picture got a "rotated" mark in the EXIF, but it didn't get the height/width set correctly
(example: lets say you have a hxw = 3x4 camera. If you take a landscape shot, you'll get the normal hxw= 3x4 sized shot, and everything is fine. If you take a portrait shot, you STILL get the hxw = 3x4 (but you would want to see hxw = 4x3), and an extra mark that says "this shot was rotated). Some programs could work with this (twitpic for instance), but some coudn't.
Now you might face the same issue. I would look into your shots, and check what the exif says. If the exif has one of these issues, you might need to change (possibly use some sort of automatic process) the exif. Also, another viewer might help here.

cheers. my viewer is Windows - explorer and image viewer. The fix is easy - open and rotate them, but still annoying.

You might want to watch out with that. I don't know if it differs between windows-versions, but the windows image-viewer does not always do "lossless" rotation: that means you are loosing quality because it is re-saving them and adding another 'layer' of JPG-compression. Consider using another tool for that, one that supports lossless-rotation


text:
Syncing tasks with exchange server
I've recently upgraded from a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone to a desire, and there is one feature that I miss and that's the ability to sync tasks with my exchange server.  What are other people's, low cost solutions to this problem?

I've used Nitrodesk's TouchDown for that. It does the full Exchange experience. Not free, but not too horrible. I really liked it -- but ultimately uninstalled it as my current android phone is a little gimpy on processor power...

Thanks I'll give it a go, at least they do a free trial :)


text:
Why does my Galaxy S keep corrupting and resetting?
My Samsung Galaxy S was working well, but about a month ago it turned itself off, and upon restarting went through the initial setup again (language, keyboard, etc.). At the same time, lots of apps started to fail, and were force closed and relaunched by the OS (Swiftkey, Agenda Widget, and others). All my other data was intact.
Eventually, I reset the phone (losing all the texts and my Angry Birds progress :o) and reinstalled the apps and set up my sync accounts again.
The phone repeated this process three times in a week, so I requested a return, but then as I was waiting for a returns envelope, everything seemed to be fine. I decided to see if it was a glitch and all was well until this afternoon, when it turned off again (I checked and the battery was pretty full) and has started doing the application force closes again.
Running Froyo from the official Samsung update via Kies.
Any theories?
Thanks.

Sounds like a hardware defect to me. You probably need to get it replaced.

Sounds like one of the applications to me. If you installed all applications after your reset, you probably installed the program application again. I would not install all applications but start with the most basic ones.

If it keeps doing this even though you've done a factory reset, I would just go ahead and exchange for a new one.  You could, however, try flashing a ROM via Odin with re-partition, to completely start fresh.  Instructions (assuming you have the i9000 model) are below.
Go to this XDA thread and download the newest firmware for your region (caveat: if you're concerned about warranty, you don't want to use the 2.3 firmware since it wasn't officially released.  To be safest, flash the exact version you already have).  Download Odin for Windows (search for "Heimdall" if you are on Linux).  Then do the following:

Put your phone into Download mode

Remove the battery
Hold VolumeDown plus the Home key plus Power.  While holding,

Reinsert the battery.
Release the power button, still holding the others, about 1 second after the white "GT-I9000" text appears.
After a few seconds a yellow triangle with an android in it should appear, this is Download Mode.  If it doesn't, try this again while holding Power the whole time.

Start up Odin.
Attach the phone to your PC via USB so that Odin recognizes it.
Load the .zip file you downloaded (the ROM/firmware) into the PDA field of Odin.
Load the 512 .pit file into the PIT field of Odin.
Check "Re-partition".
Hit Start.  Odin will tell you when it's done; if it fails, reboot your phone and try again.  (This happens occasionally).

Note that if you need to back anything up, you should do that beforehand and save the backup to your PC, since everything (except probably the external SD card) will be wiped on the phone.  Also note that you do this at your own risk; Odin is very powerful and misusing it can damage your phone.  I've used it dozens of times myself safely.

You should check your warranty details before trying this if your phone is still under warranty. At least in Finland, flashing the phone with Odin voids the warranty and therefore no replacements available if this does not help.

That's true.  Then again, you could just not tell them you used Odin.

Then you should make sure to flash only the newest officially released version, not the newest available. For example, the latest release over here is JS5 (2.2.1), not JVK (2.3.3). They will notice if you're running a leaked ROM.

Oh, I definitely agree on not flashing Gingerbread.  I forgot about the second post in that thread.  Editing, thanks!


text:
How to Put PDF on SD card for use by Adobe Reader
I have phone tethered to PC, and on the "G" drive I can see the phone directories and files.  Another post, said that you have to put PDF files on SD card.  How do I navigate to the SD card, is it the "DCIM" directory?  I tried putting a file there, but Adobe Reader still says "No PDF Files Available".

I gave up on Adobe PDF reader, too bad it doesn't have a simple "file open" option.
I downloaded Beamreader free version, and so far it's working.  It actually allows you to browse the directories and open files, what a concept!
I was going to buy the Speedsoftware Explorer suggested by @Matthew above, but never bought an app before, and got this issue:
buy an app - message: "none of the accounts on your phone are supported"

My Adobe Reader seems to be looking in the download folder, try putting them there.  You could also just browse to them on your phone and open them directly.  Your phone should already have a file manager to use for that, but I recommend Explorer (or Root Explorer if you have root).

I used PC to copy to download folder, and still get same message in Adobe Reader, "No PDF Files Available".  I installed a FileManager, but I don't see any correlation between the files that I see there and the "G" drive I referred to in my original post.  I am not yet very familiar with the directory structure, but ready to learn.

So for example, I do not see "downloads" in the File Manager.

Hmm.  Look at /sdcard/external_sd/ via the file manager, does that look like your G drive?  If so try using the file manager to move the PDFs to /sdcard/download/.


text:
Is copying an .apk into /{system, data}/app sufficient to install an Android application?
If not, what else is done under the covers?
Also, what are the differences when installing applications

From the android market
sideloaded from web download
sideloaded using adb install
sideloaded using adb push

Has anyone tried this, does it work?

Yes, I believe apps can be installed just by placing them in the appropriate directory.  I'm not sure what the app installer does beyond this copying, if anything.  The Market does update the system's list of apps "linked" to the Market however, so that the Market can check for updates and such.  Apps installed by other means won't show up in the Market's list.


text:
Email multiple pictures in one email
When I take a picture with my android phone I can view it then goto "Share" and it will give me the option to email it to someone through gmail but it will only let me send 1 picture at a time. Is there a way to send multiple picture attachments?

Assuming you're using the Gmail app, simply start a new message, then choose Menu | Attach and select what you want to attach. You'll need to repeat for each file, but you can certainly add more than one.


text:
buy an app - message: "none of the accounts on your phone are supported"
I tried to buy my first app on the HTC EVO.  My mail is working fine.
It says "none of the accounts on your phone are supported",
then it offers me to 'add a google account".
I click "Already have a google account/signin", then it tells me
"There is already a "xxx.xxx.com" account on this phone.
My account is a Google App account, is that the problem?
What is the get around, to create yet another Google Account juts for shopping?

This is a known issue with the Market / Apps accounts.  I believe Google has upgraded some Apps accounts to allow Market purchases, but if yours hasn't been upgraded then I believe you're out of luck and should create a regular Google account to use with the Market.


text:
A problem with finding apps in the market on the Phone
I want to install the app Where. But when I did the same search in the Android Market app on my phone, I couldn't find this app. Since my phone does not have service, I cannot install this app through the Android Market website. Does anybody know why this app does not show up on the phone? How can I install this app in this case? I couldn't find its apk file either. Thank you.

In addition to Chahk's answer, there are also geographic or carrier restrictions for some apps.  These are basically up to developer, and we can only speculate as to why.  You should contact the developer.

This is a good point. Carrier restrictions could be the reason, since my phone doesn't have service.

You can try to trick the Market into bypassing the carrier restrictions.  Try the "Market Enabler" app: https://market.android.com/details?id=ch.racic.android.marketenabler

Some apps have certain hardware requirements that your phone might not support (e.g. screen resolution.) The Market has the ability to filter out such apps from search results.

My phone is a Nexus One. Do you happen to know why the "Where" app is not compatible with Nexus One?


text:
Audio dropouts over Bluetooth on Nexus One
Ever since the Gingerbread update, my N1 has been experiencing random audio dropout problems every 5-10 minutes when connected to my car's audio system via Bluetooth. The audio will be streaming normally, then I'll hear a "pop" sound and the volume drops to zero, then immediately fades back in. The whole process lasts about three-quarters of a second, then everything is back to normal until the next dropout. This happens regardless of which audio application I am using. It does not happen when I am listening to the device over headphones or through the internal speaker. It did not happen under Froyo.
Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any idea about what might be causing it or how I can fix it?

This sounds like a typical Bluetooth interference problem. It happens to me from time to time, but I didn't notice any correlation with the Android version I use (neither on N1 nor NS).


text:
find total incoming and outgoing time
I am using HTC WildFire, and what to find how long I have been talking on the phone since purchase?
i.e., I want to find out, my total incoming and outgoing call duration

I found a free app that will track this information for you: Call Meter NG.  I don't know if installing this app right now will give you historical data but it's worth a shot.

Nope, it didn't help me figure out historical data


text:
Sending an SMS message via one click?
Can I send an SMS message via one click or touch?
Can I have an icon or shortcut that would let me send an SMS message to a certain phone number with predefined text?

not exactly a duplicate but pretty close: How can I attach a default SMS template text to a specific contact number?

The Tasker app will let you do this (and much much more)
Once installed, add a "Task" widget to your homescreen, and have it run a "Send SMS" action.  This lets you specify the target of the SMS, as well as the full body of the message.

5 years have past - I think perhaps the app OneClickSMS is a better fit for this task now (unfortunately it has been retired from Google Play but it's still available on mirrors with the original APK name com.utopia.oneclicksms).
It creates an icon on your home screen, and when you hit it, it sends an SMS with a single click. Very convenient.

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


text:
How can I save keypad command numbers like `*#*#4636#*#*` to my contact list?
I learned from a previous question of mine that Android has got several system numbers, or "keypad commands," which produce all kinds of information or invoke a system mode.
As example: one of them is *#*#4636#*#* ( which produces all kinds of usage statistics ).
How can I save these number to my contacts list ?
Or is there some other way that I can create a short cut to enter these numbers ?

Save it as contact; then when you want to use it -> navigate to it; and choose edit before sending.

+1 - works with the HTC Dialer

Hadn't thought of the edit part , great thinking. Thanks. Works on a Samsung Galaxy S.

"edit before..." then sending didn't work on my Moto One Action. I had to copy the code to clipboard and manually paste it into the dialer.


text:
How can I attach a default sms template text to a specific contact number?
I would like to attach a certain text to a specific contact number to used as default text when I want to send a text.
In other words: as soon as I select a contact to send a text message to: some default text should already be inserted.
I am aware that programs like tasker can do this. Although undoubtedly a very impressive program, it seems to me to be an overkill to install a program like this, just to have this one feature.
Is this possible ?

not exactly a duplicate but pretty close: Sending an SMS message via one click?

@Daniel: I saw the question after I posted mine, but I think my question is indeed slightly different (certainly when looking at the question text it self). So I decided to leave me question be.

I kind of agree - I placed the link in case someone was looking for either answer.

I can't actually see a way of doing this with Tasker.  With Go SMS you can set up per-contact Signatures, which is almost what you want, but not quite (you can't edit the signature, it just gets appended to whatever you type)

chompSMS by Delicious Inc. available from Google Play Store.

with lots of extra features like Quick Reply, Quick Compose, Scheduled Messages, Passcode Lock, Privacy, Easy Pick Emoji's, Templates (text snippets), Signatures, heaps of customization options (notifications, ringtones, colors, fonts, wallpapers), Blacklisting and much more!

May diverge a bit from your precise goal, but works like a charm to achieve the same end.
You can use this app to have a ton of templates prepared, and use them when texting someone.
Instead of typing over and over the same thing on different messages, either at the beginning, middle or end of a text, you just long tab the message body and pick up the desired template.


text:
How to capture screenshot of entire webpage in Android browser?
How to capture screenshot of entire webpage in Android browser like I can take in my Desktop with Help of Firefox Addon called "Fireshot"?

You might want to check out the Dolphin browser. It supports many extensions, two of them doing exactly what you want:
Dolphin Screen Cut
Web to PDF

Firefox Mobile or another browser would need to support this directly for such an extension to work.  Do you need a screenshot, or do you just need to view pages offline?  In the latter case, the answers to this question might help: Viewing web pages offline

Firefox Mobile + addon Fennec Screenshot does that job perfectly.

Not working with ffox 40

You can use browsers that support Add-ons. For example, I use Dolphin Browser and use the add-on called "Screen Cut" / "Dolphin Screen Cut" which allows freestyle screenshot so you can rearrange and measure a certain area of the screen if you so choose it over than a whole screen capture.
You can also use Maxthon Browser which supports this.


text:
How can I get the Unknown Sources option on my Dell Streak?
I want to install one application which is not in the Market. I know that if I want to do that I should switch on the "Unknown sources" option, but I don't have "Unknown sources" on my Dell Streak. What should I do to get this option?

What version of Android are you running?  Specific firmware version would be useful too.  I assume you've looked for Unknown Sources in Settings -> Applications?

What is your carrier?

Depending on your firmware version, you might be able to abuse the ability turn-on engineering mode. Taken from StreakSmart:

Dial *#*#307#*#* on your Streak. Other than a quick flash on the screen, it will look like nothing has happened.
Go to your app drawer/program menu and tap a new icon labeled EMList. If the icon is not there, turn off the Streak. It should be there when you turn it on again.
Scroll to the bottom and tap app_security.
Tap update unknown resource property to enable it.

This will be the only way without installing a custom rom (Google StreakDroid)

First you need to enable the option to install application through unknown sources, you can achieve this in
Settings >> Applications >> Unknown Sources

Then you can use ADB to install applications from your PC or use ASTRO File Manger to install applications in your SD card.


text:
Is it possible to update from 2.1 to 2.3?
I've got a galaxy s device and want to update it to latest android releace. I'd like to skip the 2.2 update and just do the 2.3 update. Is it possible?

It's perfectly possible to skip Android versions, but 2.3 has not been released for the Galaxy S.  See When will my phone get the Android 2.3 update (Gingerbread)?
You could try a custom ROM, however; check out XDA's SGS Development forum to find one.

I saw that link, but though it was confirmed couldn't find any information on the matter.

There is a beta version of a custom Gingerbread ROM made by Darky (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=814091), but it's still a bit tricky to install and not a stable release. It works almost flawlessly on my phone, but there are some bugs. If you'd like to have an official or a stable ROM, best to wait.


text:
Samsung Galaxy S Firmware Update
I'm experiencing trouble with the 2.1 to 2.2 update. It looks like this advice doesn't work for me as I have no Software Update button. I also tried this advice but it seems that I'm not able to put it in the download mode (it just doesn't apper). Can someone help me with the issue?
I also have next message in KIES:

As to KIES:

My firmware version is 2.1-update1.

You have installed the latest version of KIES , haven't you ? I had issues with previous versions, but updating to the latest version on my Windows 7 pc allowed me to upgrade to the latest version (2.2.1).

Check out edit.

@den-avamaniac: Ok, that should do it , although I have version 2.0.0.11032_12.

My answer on that other question wasn't quite right -- I have a US variant on the Galaxy S, and the process to get into download mode isn't exactly the same.  I'll update that answer shortly, in the meantime here are the Odin instructions:
Go to this XDA thread and download the newest firmware for your region.  Download Odin for Windows (search for "Heimdall" if you are on Linux).  Then do the following:

Put your phone into Download mode

Remove the battery
Hold VolumeDown plus the Home key plus Power.  While holding,

Reinsert the battery.
Release the Power button, still holding the others, about 1 second after the white "GT-I9000" text appears.
After a few seconds a yellow triangle with an android in it should appear, this is Download Mode.  If it doesn't, try this again while holding Power the whole time.

Start up Odin.
Attach the phone to your PC via USB so that Odin recognizes it.
Load the .zip file you downloaded (the ROM/firmware) into the PDA field of Odin.
Load the 512 .pit file into the PIT field of Odin.
Check "Re-partition".
Hit Start.  Odin will tell you when it's done; if it fails, reboot your phone and try again.  (This happens occasionally).

Note that if you need to back anything up, you should do that beforehand and save the backup to your PC, since everything (except probably the external SD card) will be wiped on the phone.  Also note that you do this at your own risk; Odin is very powerful and misusing it can damage your phone.  I've used it dozens of times myself safely.

What's odin official site?

There is no official site for Odin, it's an internal Samsung tool that has been leaked.  If you're worried about the download, I have downloaded it from the location I linked and used it, with no problems.

What actually worries me is that most people have the Update Software button. And that I shouldn't be going through all this just to get it updated. :)

Understandable.  One would think that Kies would offer you the update, since it's detecting that you don't have 2.2 yet.

Great, the download mode works. That's a real progress. :)

What are the know/possible consequences of inappropriate Odin usage?

The main problem is if you flash a bad ROM (corrupt download or firmware for the wrong device) it can brick your phone.  In most cases when something goes wrong you can still get the phone into Download mode even if it won't boot, and Odin can be used to undo the damage.  I've used Odin lots without problems, but if you're unsure about anything do feel free to ask.

Funny, but it seems that the problem is actually in the network segment, from which I tried to update the system. It's super secure and has extremely filterable traffic, and it allows only certain range of ports to be used. And it looks like Sumsung is trying to be smart and use certain own security. :) Though this way should be working. Thanx.


text:
Which music-ID app uses less data? Soundhound or Shazam?
I've found Shazam and Soundhound to be pretty much identical in terms of accuracy when identifying music, however I tried monitoring each app's usage with 3G Watchdog but couldn't get a clear winner between the two, so the question remains:
Which app uses less data?
I looked at the answers for this question: [ How can I choose between Shazam and SoundHound? ], which compares the two, but no information .was provided on data usage.

I'm not sure I understand.  Are you questioning 3G Watchdog's results?  If so, shouldn't you be asking for a better way to track data usage?

@Matthew-Read Not really, I'm essentially saying that I think other apps are interfering with the results (other apps might be syncing, etc), so it's hard to "isolate" the apps in question.

Only one way to find out. Recognize 10 songs with each and compare results. No way the data traffic results are the same. You'll need some population (more than 1 tests and take average) in order to get some results.
Ideally you would test with the same data but that is just impossible. Unless you have 2 devices checking the same sound at the exact same time... Still I guess you would be able to make a good comparison with different fragments of the same song on a single device, alternating soundhound and shazam.
What you really want is an app that stores the recorded sound to analyze later on when you're on a free (or at least much cheaper) wifi network. Only reason for this question is you have to watch your data traffic, no?

"Ideally you would test with the same data but that is just impossible."  You could get fairly close by playing songs from your computer, one time for each app.

Essentially I ended up using SoundHound (better UI), while blocking it from using mobile data with DroidWall.


text:
Reminders in Google Calendar
I'm confused about synchronization of events between Google Calendar and Android (version 2.2). I used to receive a SMS and/or email reminder about events on Google Calendar (I set them up on PC). However, as I see, I can add ony a pop-up reminders using Android. Moreover official Google calendar application doesn't display SMS and email remainders conected with particular events...
One more thing, I had set up default reminders for specific calendars in Google Calendar. When I add new event on Android and synchronize then, it shows up, that Android override my default calendars' reminders!
Is it a common bug or something? Or maybe it's a Google policy, that I don't understand...

These aren't bugs or policies, Google simply hasn't implemented all of the Google Calendar web features in the Android Calendar app.  You can browse Android Calendar feature requests and bugs, as well as request and report them, here: http://code.google.com/p/android-calendar/issues/list


text:
Why has my Android firmware upgrade been stuck at 0% for an hour? (Samsung Galaxy Ace)
I'm using Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830.
More than an hour ago, Samsung-Kies prompted me to install a firmware update.
It downloaded the required files and then proceeded to the actual upgrade.
Now, since an hour, I'm getting 0% progress on the "Firware update in progress..." screen. It obviously says not to disconnect the phone.
The phone shows "Downloading..."
It's been like this since an hour.
I don't want to brick my phone by pulling the USB cable off.
Please suggest something.

I would suggest pulling it off and trying again.  Usually this happens when Kies wasn't able to properly communicate with the device after putting it into Download Mode.  I've had this happen before and rebooting my device and trying again worked.  You can also try putting the phone into Download Mode manually (may or may not work while plugged into USB):

Remove the battery
Hold VolumeDown plus the Home key plus Power.  While holding,

Reinsert the battery.
Release the Power button, still holding the others, about 1 second after the white logo text appears.
After a few seconds a yellow triangle with an android in it should appear, this is Download Mode.  If it doesn't, try this again while holding Power the whole time.

Thanks, Mat! Pulled it off and the phone started normally. Will try it again tomorrow, gotta go.

@Karan Did this work for you?

It works for me.

I know this sounds silly but press the power button ten times and walla! I read a YouTube comment after an hour of researching trying to find a solution and I tried it even thinking it was just a joke and I can't believe it actually worked !

does not work with Android 6, atleast on LG G4

worked for me with Nexus 5, Android 8

I had this issue and took my battery, sim card, and memory card out for about two hours. When I put it back together, it booted right up and is working fine now.


text:
Gingerbread has drastically reduced my battery life
I have a Nexus One, and since upgrading to 2.3.3, my phone lasts several hours less compared to 2.2.x. I've swapped out to a new battery, which didn't make a difference. In about 14 hours (of nothing more than texting), my phone is at less than 15%. When I check the Battery use under Settings, Android OS is always the top battery consumer.
What can I do about this? Every other update besides this one has been great, but Gingerbread is a total disappointment.
Update: This is 100% an issue with wifi. After disabling it, the battery usage of Android OS has dropped from 40% to 2%.  After 16 hours on battery, it's still more than half charged. I'll keep investigating...or revert, because I think Gingerbread just looks fugly.

FWIW, Gingerbread has also cut my Nexus One battery life (now about 2/3 of what it used to be). Be thankful you even get 14 hours. After my 8 hour day of mostly idle, I go to my phone to discover it has already shutdown.

That's 14 hours without doing anything ... The keyboard also freezes / crashes a lot. All around terrible update.

Unfortunately, I'd have to agree. Are you running the stock update or a 3rd party packaged one? I was having phone reboot issues running a 3rd party ROM. Stock is more stable. But both had poor battery life.

I installed this right from the phone, it said there was an update available, so I just did it. It wasn't from a 3rd party.

Same phone, same build, same problem. In fact, my phone sometimes runs hot! Battery consumption shows a huge amount of CPU being consumed by Android OS, sometimes, 3-4 hours out of 12hours.

Have you reduced the frequency of synchronizations? I reduce most of mine to the lowest possible frequency.

I haven't reduced the frequency of polling/synchronizations, because I really shouldn't have to. I've read about potential problems with wifi, so I've disabled that and will see if the battery lasts any longer than 14 hours today,

I haven't had any problem. I'm running ginger yoshi on my HTC Magic with a two year old battery and haven't seen any degradation.

@wsanville: instead of updating your question to say that this is fixed, please add an answer with that information and "accept" it as the solution.

I have also heavy battery usage since Gingerbread 2.3.6 is on my Samsung Galaxy S I-9000.
Without using the phone and with low use of internet, the battery runs out in less than 10 hours. That used to be about 2 days!
I switched off a lot of software/applications but that didn't help.
The problem must be in the OS itself. If the problem isn't solved by Google or Samsung, I will have to switch to a non Android smartphone. Dinand

As of 2.3.4 this issue is fixed. For other users on previous versions, I temporarily solved this problem by disabling Wifi all together.

Revert?  If the OS itself is not sleeping properly, you can't do much else besides install a kernel or ROM that behaves better.

I would have to root my phone to do so, correct?

I don't think so?  Maybe to prevent an OTA update afterwards.  You should be able to just download an update, name it update.zip, put it in the root of your SD card, and reboot.  The 2.2.2 update is linked here for example: http://www.androidcentral.com/nexus-one-android-222-update-pushing-out-build-frg83g

Alright, and if I want to go back to 2.3.3 (for some strange reason), I just do the same thing with the corresponding zip file?

Yep, exactly that.

If it is a Wi-Fi issue, have the stand by settings changed with the new installation?
Settings->Wireless & Networks->Wi-Fi settings
Menu->Advanced->Wi-Fi sleep policy
Has this setting changed from to Never (Which will keep the Wi-Fi on all the time)?

Thanks for posting how to get to the Wifi sleep policy, I read about that all over the place, but couldn't find it. It's currently set to "Never when plugged in." What I've read suggests there's a bug with the sleep policy, where it malfunctions when trying to sleep and conserve battery, but instead, drains it like crazy. So changing this to "Never" has helped some people. What would you recommend setting it to? I've just disabled wifi entirely, and that helps the battery last longer.

I'm in a different situation where I pay per MB for mobile data so I set Wi-Fi to never sleep.

Have you tried updating the battery statistics? It is said to help with battery life in some cases.

Charge the phone completely.
While still on the charger, boot into recovery.
In recovery, reset the battery statistics.
Reboot the phone.
When it has booted completely, unplug the charger.
Run the phone until the battery is completely flat and the phone turns off.


text:
How do you open an embedded hyperlink in a PDF on an Android device?
I have PDFs with hyperlinks (linking to other pages in the document as well as external websites) and would like to be able to use the links provided.  The Adobe Reader app and other apps I've tried (VuDroid, droidreader, android PDF reader) don't have this functionality.  I did find ezPDF which should work, but it is not free (only 99 cents).  I am looking for a way to do this for free because this is for an app I am writing that will need to display a PDF.  It will be much more appealing to the client - though still not perfect - if their users only have to download a free PDF reader, for example, to use with my app rather than requiring them to purchase a PDF reading app (even if it is only 99 cents).

Actually app recommendations are off-topic here. Try our chat and please read the FAQ

Sorry about that.  The FAQ doesn't mention app recommendations and I can't post in the chat because I just signed up.  Is there a better place I can ask this?

To be honest I'm not sure. Since questions that ask "Is there an app that can do X?" get closed - I suggest you re-write the question to not ask for an app but instead a solution to your 'problem'.  Its one of those things I find odd about this site but makes sense.

Thanks for the advice - still trying to get the feel for things around here.

@Eric The problem is that app recommendations are more often subjective.  We get a lot of "What's the best PDF reader?" type questions, rather than ones with specific criteria like yours.  To make things simpler and to ensure better answers, we ask for "How can I do X?" questions instead which can be objectively answered. Even when the answers are probably going to be apps, it leaves it open to other solutions.  Presumably you would happily use open-source code to read and display PDFs with links inside your app -- but if that existed, it couldn't be provided as an answer to an app request.

The question (as it currently stands) is fine: How to open a link embedded in a PDF.

@Eric: I assume you've tried the usual long-press on the links to try to open them?

@Matt Thanks for the additional clarification.  I would be interested in using code to display and read PDFs with hyperlinks, but I haven't found anything that works/is well documented, so I'm focusing more on opening an app that will read the PDF.  But if there are any suggestions for code to use, I'm open to that as well.

@Al Yes, but with no success.  No context menu appears with a long press and the links do not open.

According to this thread this only works (so far) with Quick Office.

Yeah, it looks like repligo, exPDF Reader, Quick Office and Documents to Go support hyperlinks...unfortunately all paid apps.

Adobe Reader can follow hyperlinks in PDF documents.
The problem (currently, 2014-09-17) is that the default application associated with PDF documents is Quickoffice, and Quickoffice doesn't have this implemented.
Installing Adobe Reader allows you to choose (and optionally remember your choice) what app to use.


text:
Is there a music player can display the song words and scrobble to Last.fm?
Currently, my favourite music player is Winamp for my HTC Incredible S. Because it supports scrobbling with the Last.fm app and syncs with my Winamp in PC.
However, some of my mp3 files saved the song words and I can't find how to display those words (of the playing song) in Winamp. Likes the music player in iPod Touch / iPhone.
Is there a music player that supports those 2 features? Thank you.

Just from the Market description, Astro Player looks like it might.

I have tried about 15 mins. It's a powerful player. It's just what I need!
However, it does not support the lyrics and cover art in m4a files. Also, I can't find shuffle function.
But it's enough for me. Thanks! :)


text:
Applications in notification area
I noticed that some ROMs (mainly HD ones like insertcoin) embed additional row with active applications into sliding notifications area. It's completely useless and makes that small area even smaller. Is there any way to get rid of this "feature"?

The simple answer is no.  You'd have to re-skin that part of the ROM and also dig into the code and remove whatever's doing that, most likely.  If it bothers you enough you should just switch ROMs.


text:
Email client that restricts certain accounts to particular connection types, e.g. company WiFi at work, 3G/GPRS for personal
Is there such an email account whereby in the account settings, one can choose which connection types that the account can use?
Would like this feature so that checking personal email goes through mobile/3G but does not go through e.g Wifi company workplace network or public Cafe Wifi, for privacy reasons.
It would be useful if one or more connection types or WiFi accesspoints could be specified for an account, e.g. if at home using home wifi - this would be allowed for personal.
Another option would be to have different email clients for different purposes but that might not be as manageable.

I will answer my own question - I don't think there is such an email client yet that provides the facility to choose which internet connection(s) is/are used with each account.
Thanks for the DroidWall mention @FoleyIsGood, but I would prefer not to have to root my device for risks of malware, also because I use some backing apps which will not run on rooted devices.

If you have root access then you could use DroidWall to give different apps, including email clients, access to WIFI and or mobile data. This would require you to use a different client for each account and wouldn't automatically differentiate between WIFI at work or at home. :o/
(It's a pretty rough work around but the best I could think of...)

thanks. I'd prefer not to root, I'll have a look around myself.


text:
What does the *#*#4636#*#* dialer code do?
Has anyone tried the *#*#4636#*#* or *#*#7780#*#* dialer codes on HTC phones? They're not working for me.
Secondly, what does it show, means what kind of information? Is it safe to run on brand new phone?

What happens when you try the dialer code? In what sense is it not working?

Also, what are you trying to accomplish? It seems odd to be tinkering with secret star codes without a goal in mind already.

Yes, I have a Samsung Galaxy S and the *#*34636#*#* does actually work.
It gives all sorts of statistics.
You might read my following question: regarding this exact number and contact lists.
-- EDIT --
Sorry, didn't see the HTC phones bit. Just noticed the 'Samsung-Galaxy-tab' tag, and thought you were talking about the Samsung Galaxy S phone.
The part about the statistics , is ok , though.
On my phone.

Phone information
Battery information
Battery history
Usage statistics ( I was very interested in this option )
Wifi information

Usage statistics

Usage time
Launch count

what sort of statistics?

@I-M-JM : see my edits

Are you sure you're dialing it right? I just dialed wrong twice in a row (*#*# not #*#*) and got this error: "Connection problem or invalid MMI code." When I dial it correctly, my HTC G1 reports Phone information, battery info and history, and usage statistics.
Take a look at this more general question about dialer codes (aka secret star codes) for reference, too: Is there an official dialer code resource? There are some good links there for lists of dialer codes and some caveats about using them without adult supervision.

I use this code to change my network type also. While it does display all this information, this code is very useful for changing from 4G to 3G to 2G, and all sorts of other options in between.
If you do get this working, look under phone information, then set preferred network type. You'll have to read up on which type means what for your type of network, but this has allowed me to get better battery life and, at times, better cell service even with a 2G network.


text:
Reconnect Authenticator with Google account for a second time
My account had 2-step verification enabled and associated with the Authenticator App on my phone.
Yesterday I reformatted it and now I'm installing the apps again. Everything is setup but the Google Authenticator App looks for a barcode, and I cannot find in the 2-step verification steps. What I'd like to do is re-associate my account with the Google Authenticator App without turning off 2 step auth and back on again.
Any ideas?

That's why you should always take data backup of Authenticator app using Titanium Backup...

From what I can see, there is no way to re-associate a phone. It looks like your option is to disassociate/re-associate.

I don't see an "add a phone" option?

Hmmm...I guess I mis-parsed the "add a backup" link. I'll edit my answer.

Ah, yeah.  I experimented by trying to add the same phone as the backup, and of course it didn't work.

Since there were no other options, this is what I ended up doing.

Edit: You can re-add the same phone by going to https://www.google.com/accounts/SmsAuthConfig and hitting the Edit link beside "Android" (the Mobile Application field).  Oddly enough, this link didn't work for me in Chrome but it did in Internet Explorer.

Would it? I've already logged into my account on the web browser of my computer. I'd understand if I were logged out and I'd need the authenticator code to login again (and a vicious circle). But if I'm able to turn off 2-step and turn it on again, the security is already bypassed.

@Luciano Your web log in has been verified via the two-step process already, though.  Your phone cannot be re-verified via the two-step process since one of the steps no longer works.  Your web login can safely turn off two-step since it was verified with two-step; that's not bypassing security at all.

Now that I think about it, since your web log-in has been double-checked it should be allowed to authenticate devices.  I experimented further; my answer has been revised.  Apologies for the confusion.

I couldn't do this. I ended up deassociating and reassociating the phone. Luckily it didn't erase my application-specific passwords.


text:
Gmail notification sound only for new mail
I am using the Google Gmail app, which I've configured to play a notification sound for new mail.
However, it actually plays the notification sound when there is any change at all to the account while I use it on the computer -- reading messages, deleting messages, etc -- in addition to when new mail actually arrives.
It's driving me crazy! How can I configure this so it only makes a sound when a new message arrives in my inbox?

What version of the app are you using?  I have v2.3.4.1 and it doesn't do this.

What device and carrier do you have? I don't see (hear) this behavior at all.

Further, what are your Notification settings in the Gmail app?

I get the issue if I mark anything as unread or move an unread archived item back into the inbox (i.e. the notification happens if the number of unread items in the inbox increases)

I think you want to turn on the "Notify once" setting.

You haven't specified the Android OS version nor the Gmail app version, but since the settings are pretty much straightforward, I'll leave here an overview covering the basics for all available versions.
Summary
Three things might be happening:

You are receiving notifications for each email that arrives;
You have the "notify once" active and are receiving notifications for the email that arrived, but also for a label you've setup to notify;
You are receiving notifications from the Gmail app, and from another app where you've also configured the same account.

Below is a summary for the Gmail app settings by version. Try and adjust them to fit your needs.
If you continue to experience the same issue, you're probably facing a bug and the best option is to report it.

Android 4.0.x (Ice cream sandwich)
To change Gmail settings, touch "Menu" > "Settings" from any Gmail screen.
Under "Account settings", you will find:

Email notifications:

When checked, you receive a notification when you have new email.

Ringtone:

Available when "Email notifications" is selected.
Touch to change any of three settings: The ringtone and vibrate settings for notifications, and an option to notify only the first time you have new email since you last read your messages, rather than each time a new message arrives.

Official Gmail app support page by Google for this Android version.

Android 3.0.x (Honeycomb)
To change Gmail settings, touch the Menu button at the top-right of the Application bar and touch Settings.
Under "Account settings", you will find:

Email notifications

When checked, you receive a notification when you have new email.

Notify once

Check to receive a notification from Gmail only the first time you have new email since you last read your messages, rather than each time a new message arrives.

Official Gmail app support page by Google for this Android version.

Android 2.3.x (Gingerbread)
To access the Gmail app's Account settings menu:

Open Gmail.
Press Menu.
Select More > Settings > Select account

Under "Notification settings", you will find:

Email notifications

When checked, you'll receive a notification when you have new email.

Labels to notify

Manage your notification preferences by label. You can only manage notification settings by label for labels that are synced.

You can enable notifications for specific labels, each means additional notifications when emails arrive:

When you enable sync for a particular label, you can also change your notification preferences so that you're notified when you receive new mail for that label.

Press Menu and touch More > Settings. Select the Gmail account whose settings you'd like to modify.
Touch Labels to notify.
Select a labels to change the notification preferences. You can modify the following settings:

Email notifications
Ringtone
Vibrate
Notify once

Only labels that have been set to sync will appear in the notifications menu.

Official Gmail app support page by Google for this Android version.

Good answer but I cant find that screen on 4.0.4. In the gmail app use the left button to get to settings and I have general settings which doesnt have anything about notification or ringtone.


text:
How can i update my experia x10 from 1.6 to 2.1?
Every time i try to upgrade it through PC companion it stuck in middle when of preparing the phone for installation. I have tried deleting, redownloading and reinstalling the PC companion. But still im not able to update my phone. What should be done?

Have you tried rebooting the phone?

Call support. They are really helpful. To the Swedish support it's +46-1-324-4500.


text:
CyanogenMod 7 Stable for Droid
I'm asking this here because the mods at CyanogenMod's forum seem pretty adamant about people not asking about the status of version seven for the Of Droid.
I understand that CM7 hasn't been released for the Droid because of a few lingering instabilities in the ROM and that the CyanogenMod team is working on getting it to a stable state ASAP.  My question is will CM7 automatically show up in ROM Manager as a ROM available to download as soon as they mark it as a stable release, or will I have to do something to have ROM Manager manually check for an update?
If this seems like a fairly entry-level question I apologize, I only ask because I haven't been using ROM Manager long enough to experience an update to the ROM I'm using and don't want to miss out on flashing CM7 as soon as it's up to snuff.

ROM Manager will auto-load the list of available ROMs, yes.  You'll still have to look in that list and see whether CM is there.


text:
Selected notification sound overwritten by default
How do you make sure your selected notification sound (selected by any App) is not overwritten by the default? No matter how I try, and test the sound within the app (Handcent SMS) successfully, the selected sound is overwritten by the Subtle System Ringtone. Thanks!

What app?  Is the setting actually changed, or just ignored?  I think this is a probably a problem with the app not using its own setting, rather than an Android problem.

I use Handcent to set the notification. Handcent also gives you the option to test it within the app as well. As a double check, I go into the App - Settings>Sound>Notification Sound and the desired notification is properly indicated.

Hmm.  Normally I would think the app is erroneously ignoring the setting when it does "real" notifications, rather than tests, but now I'm wondering if it might be because it's for SMS.  The system might be notifying on SMS and drowning out the Handcent notification, or something similar.

Maybe try turning off notifications in the system Messages app, if you can?  Or changing them to the sound you want.

thanks for shedding light to this. i checked the settings under the default program, Messages, and there was the problem. notification was set to subtle. thanks for your help!

Wow OK, glad that worked.  I added that as an answer, you can upvote/accept it if you'd like :)

Maybe try turning off notifications in the system Messages app, if you can? Or changing them to the sound you want.


text:
Good ways of clearing internal space?

Possible Duplicate:
HTC Desire low on internal storage, I'm clueless

I need a good and solid way to find large things which are taking up lots of phone internal memory. My phone really just stops working, sync-wise, when I'm running low on space, which seems to be all the time.
I'm running LeeDroid and have set my default install application as the SD card, but it seems that I can still fill up my internal phone storage quickly. I did try the App2SD+ setup, but couldn't seem to partition my card properly.
So does anyone have any good tips? At the moment I'm clearing Maps data and Browser cache, but now that's gone also. Do apps on the SD card still put data on the phone? Or do I just need to make more effort partitioning my SD card to get App2SD working?
Something which created a list or pie chart or both of internal space with links to clear data or uninstall would be idea.

Closely related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3359/how-can-i-free-up-more-space-on-my-android-2-2-froyo-phone

There are several that should cover this.

Sorry guys. I might have a go at making an app for this!


text:
Can any rooted Android phone be upgraded to version 2.2?
Assuming a given Android phone is root-able, is there any possibility that it cannot be upgraded to Android version 2.2 (or CyanogenMod 6)?
If such an upgrade isn't possible on a certain rooted Android phones, what are the factors that determine that? (hardware specs, other?)

possible duplicate of What is the minimum specification for Android 2.2 (Froyo)

There are more differences between Android devices than between different PC Machines. So you need to know things like which CPU and hardware and version of it you got in the device.  Then look for an Android firmware that supports your phone.  You might be able to compile your own firmware from source for your device, also depending on your devices hardware and how well you can handled fails there.
After an upgrade, your device will end up in different shape with regard to what works and not after the upgrade.  It might even work flawlessly.  You might even get a "bricked" device if you fail the upgrade and are a bit unlucky.
So, it all depends on what hardware you have and how good support Linux and Android has to your device hardware.
That is why the phone manufacturers and your telephone operator test the upgrades in many ways before they push it out to the customers.
But if you know this and are technical skilled and know that you might make your phone usless, you can always try.

This is a remarkably educating answer. The other thread pointed at the comment is very informative as well, but your answer adds a deeper level of understanding. Thanks + 1 + accepting.

Thanks.  It just states that you are on your own when upgradeing a rooted phone. So you should know that.  But it could be fun and usefull if you can find someone who has done this and it works for them (and some other). But I guess that you are still on your own, but the risk is less than making your own firmware :)

It depends on your hardware and the images of roms which may be available. There are many ROMS for many Android handsets out. Cyanogen has allowed many devices see 2.3.3 even if their provide hasn't released an update.
Like Anders said, there are possibilities of bricking your device deeming it unusable.
I know this, because I've done it to my HTC Magic, and half-bricked my HTC Desire Z (It's fine now! :) )


text:
Can a charger not 100% compliant to the USB specification damage my Andoid phone?
I've bought a world adapter which can charge USB devices as well.
According to the packing the usb will be powered with more than the 500mA as per USB specification - 1000mA.
Will charging my HTC Desire with this USB/travel adapter damage my phone?
I know that many main boards don't deliver 500mA per socket esp. when another draining device is attached to the neighboring port.

possible duplicate of http://android.stackexchange.com/q/4494/482

As long as your charger device deliveres the right voltage then you should be safe. The maximum current specification is how much ampare it can deliver before the voltage from your charger goes out of USB voltage specs or blows a fuse.
I don't know how they have constructed the HTC Desire battery chargine part, but I would use your charger. They should have some current limiter for the battery in any case, or you couldn't charge your phone in an ordinary computer USB connection.

Why -1 on this? Where is the error?

I don't get the -1 either. As I said above I will check the specifications. I've head a car charger that would not charge the phone. Feeling wise nothing charges to fast as the original charger. I've tested multiple ways of charging (computer usb, car adapter, travel adapter).

As the phone is desiged to work with USB, it has to take into account that there is some variances in voltage and current from USB ports.
The most important is the voltage, that it doesn't goes up to high. Current sould be of no concern, as long as it can deliver enough.

In most cases your phone will only draw as much power as it needs, and it's OK that the charger can provide more.  However, unless you know that your phone will do this and has other power management safety features, I wouldn't use the charger myself.  I've never had a phone ruined, but I have had batteries ruined by non-official chargers (including one charger that claimed to meet the specifications for my phone).

I will compare specs of the original charger and the travel adapter to decide.


text:
TiddlyWiki + Dropbox + Android
Greetings,
I keep a Tiddlywiki in my Dropbox folders, and I'd really like to be able to open/edit/view it on Android. Currently when I try to open the Tiddlywiki file, I am asked if I want to view it with:

DB HTML Viewer
HTMLViewer

and a few other options which don't seem relevant. Unfortunately, neither of these viewers seem to play real nice with the Tiddlywiki html layout, which makes it rather difficult for me to view/edit notes. Usually when I open my browser, I have useful zooming capabilities, which is what I'm sort of looking for. I'm running CyanogenMod, not sure if this is the default stock browser or not.
Is there any application I can download to get this to work, or any way that I can get my default browser application to show up in Dropbox's list?

Have you tried searching the market: https://market.android.com/search?q=tiddly+wiki&so=1&c=apps

@Lie thanks! I did actually take a look at that app a few months ago, and some comments about the app deterred me from it. I have since installed it, but alas it seems to be about the same as opening the wiki file in my browser. Maybe I should just switch to something like iTW, although this isn't the best solution for when I access it on my PC.

Similar, possibly - Open HTML file from SD Card. Can you navigate to the file in your Dropbox folder manually using a file manager?

@eldarerathis Sounds like it'll do the trick, I'll give it try! Thanks!

Have you tried this
http://tiddlyspot.com/
it basically creates a tiddly on a web server, so you can edit it with every android browser able to render it. You can download it, edit offline and when online sync it with the server version.
Opera Mobile is not able to edit offline a tiddlywiki and save changes. Firefox mobile can. Other browsers i dont know. Normally they need a .jar Java file which the mobile browsers often cant execute afaik.

Seems like a good solution, I'll give it a try later today!

Try AndTidWiki. It's currently in beta, and it works well for me.

Use Firefox. To support saving the wiki, install the "TiddlyFox" Firefox addon.
I tested this works today.  Also it could directly open an .html file with Firefox in file explorer like "ES File Explorer".
Remark: Seems TiddlyWiki v5 displays better than v2.8.1 on Android.

Presently AndTidWiki is the best, or rather the only choice, that allows you to use your wiki straight from Dropbox. However, there are some small issues - like text overlap on zooming, which i hope will improve with further versions.
I haven't been able to find any other tiddly browser that allows editing your wiki from dropbox.


text:
Are ROMs with deodexed programs faster or slower than odexed?
I am a bit confused by the effect of deodexing (or even by terminology).
Based on answers to "What is the difference between odexed and deodexed roms?":

A "deodexed" ROM is one where the .odex files have been more or less merged back into the .apk

This one seems to imply that "deodexed" ROM is an odexed (thus precompiled/optimized) ROM where the .apk package contains the .odex stuff instead of it being in a separate file.
However, the same answer has a seemingly opposite quote:

ROMs are typically released in deodexed form because they can be themed and modified fairly easily, whereas theming/modifying an odexed ROM is basically impossible (at best things would crash like crazy). Some people also choose to release their ROMs in odexed versions for people who would prefer the performance gains.

This second quote seems to imply that the deodexed ROM does NOT have the performance gains of the odexed ROM (based on the last sentence) - I am guessing because it completely removes the .odex info for the sake of portability/theming; whereas the first quote seems to say that deodexed ROM is just as optimized as odexed, but differently packaged.
Which one of these meanings is correct? What am I missing?
Example:

Fission Vanilla: "ROM has root and has been deodexed, and zip alligned"

Deodexed ROMs do not have the .odex files integrated into the .apk's, they are removed.  What eldareathis meant in his answer to the other question is that the reliance of the .apk's on the .odex files is removed; some information is integrated back into the .apk, but not the actual .odex file itself.  This page has some technical details.
Deodexed ROMs may be slightly slower because of this; however I believe that as the Dalvik cache is built up from using the ROM, the performance gap is minimized.

thanks! Would you be able to elaborate on the "performance gap is minimized" piece? Does that mean that the gap is eliminated completely for any .apk after the first use (and mimized applies to "not every .apk has a cache built at once), or does it mean that for a given .apk, odexed version would still be faster than the deodexed even after the cacge is built?

@DVK In general I think the .odex would still be faster, but having cached .dex files eliminates the need to translate all of the .apk at each startup.  I think that overhead is probably much more significant than the optimizations, in most cases.

@DVK: I see how that was unclear in my previous answer, so I went back and tried to clarify a bit. Thanks for pointing that out. Regarding this question, everything Matthew has said in his answer is absolutely correct.


text:
Do odexed programs have any runtime (vs load time) performance gains?
From my understanding, odexed programs are programs that are pre-compiled for specific architecture.
It is obvious that this process would help decrease the startup time for the program.
Am I correct in thinking that odexing would have NO effect on the performance of the program once it is already loaded in memory? What about memory footprint?

I would expect it to have an impact on both.  An odexed app is optimized, not just precompiled.  Android runs on a huge variety of hardware, so platform-specific optimizations could result in significant performance gains.


text:
Modern Combat Sandstorm Texture problem on Acer Liquid Metal
The game works perfectly except many graphical glitches with textures (mainly those in the background).
any hints?
I have Acer Liquid Metal, official Froyo

You should contact GameLoft.  They officially support the Acer Liquid for that game, and thus should be able to help you (or at least take a bug report).  They don't specify which versions of the Liquid they support, so it could just be that they haven't tested on the Metal.


text:
How do I type a tabulation character on an Xperia?
I imported my notes from my Palm Centro into Note Everything and the tab characters in my existing notes show up correctly.
But how do I type a tab character on my Xperia X10?

If you use the Swype keyboard, holding the space key gives you a tab.  Smart Keyboard Pro also has tab, press ?123 twice for it.
Reference: http://androidforums.com/android-applications/151563-softkeyboard-tab-key.html

Didn't know that about the Swype keyboard (not that I use tab often).

I installed Smart Keyboard but didn't find any key for tabulation. Is it only available in the Pro version?

Smart Keyboard Pro is the right answer. It also has arrow keys, so now I don't need to post a second question about that. :-)

On the stock keyboard on my Droid (the soft keyboard, not the slide-out) I see the tab character on the alt-symbol keyboard.
Hit ?123 key, then Alt. The tab key looks like an arrow pointing right to a line.

Unfortunately it isn't present on X10. :-/


text:
Better description of permissions
Is there a list of permissions with more detailed descriptions available? The standard ones doesn't feel good, and I don't trust developers who write that they need permission X only to do Y--if their app requires permission X, this app will be able to do anything permitted by X, not only Y.
For example READ_PHONE_STATE is described as "Allows read only access to phone state" -- but what is included in that phone state? Is it only connected/disconnected? Or maybe it includes phone number I am actually talking to?

Be welcome at our Community wiki on What do the permissions that applications require mean?

Oh: And a little more detailed, at IzzyOnDroid’s permission list (disclosure: that’s my site ;)

I can't find a good complete list, but you can always search for the permission on developer.android.com.  In the case of READ_PHONE_STATE, it does look like the phone number can be read.

I'm a programmer, so I'm OK with this. But it would be much easier if there was a explicit mapping: permission -> list of allowed calls...

I agree.  Maybe if I have time I'll search them all out and compile a list ...

I believe when you install an app it gives a sort of "lay mans" description of what the permission does.

@Bryan Denny: as I wrote, description of some permissions are too vague. For example, what is phone state, actually?

@liori ah, I missed you saying that. I haven't used the read_phone_state permission before but afaik it is used to identify the phone uniquely for advertisers by getting the phone's IMEI: http://strazzere.com/blog/?tag=read_phone_state

@Bryan Denny: again--I know that it is used for this purpose, as many devs are writing about that. My problem is what additional things an app is able to do with this (and other) permissions?

@liori that's just the problem (and I know, this is what you are initially asking).  The dev docs only link to this http://developer.android.com/intl/de/reference/android/Manifest.permission.html which is nothing more than the "lay man" description given. Doesn't say what functions use each permission (that would be nice). So there is no mapping.  @Matthew's idea of searching for what uses it is about all we have to go on.

In addition to Matt's link, http://developer.android.com/intl/de/reference/android/telephony/PhoneStateListener.html uses READ_PHONE_STATE

This blog post tries to explain permission: http://techpp.com/2010/07/30/android-apps-permissions-secure-private-data/
If you really need to know the specifics of each permissions, you can download and grep Android's source code (it's open source, after all). I think that's the best we can do for now.

This does look like a good text. But it doesn't mention the thing found by Matthew Read in the other answer. Thanks!


text:
What does the 'Mark as default' option do in my 'Edit' option of a contact
What does the 'Mark as default' option do you can choose in the menu when you select a contact which is present in the phone memory ?
I am seeing this on a Samsung Galaxy S phone ( if this should make a difference ).
-- background information (for those interested) --
I am still trying to copy phone numbers one at a time from SIM to the phone memory ( see my other question ).
At the moment the easiest way to accomplish this is to send the contact information using the Send via + Gmail to my own Gmail account, press Download in the received email and choose Contacts ).
Having done this for the few numbers I wanted to transfer ( it's main reason being that I now can attach a picture and a ring tone to the important phone numbers, while still retaining these numbers on my SIM card should my phone suddenly die ), I now noticed the 'Mark as default' option in the menu of a phone number saved to the phone memory.
Before selecting this option, I wanted to ask what the option will actually accomplish.

+1. Good question... I don't see that option on the Droid Incredible. I would guess it sets one of that contact's multiple phone numbers as the default when you call that contact.

I'm looking for documentation to back this up, but in my experimentation the "default" phone number for a contact is what's used with voice commands if you don't define a phone "type".
So, if I have three phone numbers for John Smith, if I just use the command Call John Smith the default phone number will be used. Otherwise, I need to use Call John Smith home or Call John Smith mobile.
It's also used if, when looking at a list of contacts, you tap the phone icon next to the contact's name. It will use the default phone number (if defined).

It is also used to dial/text from a home screen shortcut instead of popping up the list of all available phone numbers for the given contact.

The last point is what I usually run into. It's how you pick which name is displayed for the contact.


text:
Minimal Internet usage on an Android phone
I am considering buying an Android phone and hence the question about Internet usage. How much Internet bandwidth can I expect to use if I want to enable syncing of contacts, calendar, email, etc. (assume e.g. I receive 10 short textual emails per day) I am going to need?
Is it possible to automatically connect to WPA protected Wifi's, and do all the syncing only when Wifi is available (hence not use 3G internet at all)?
I will use it in a free country (UK atm)

If you avoid streaming videos and the like, you shouldn't have any trouble. Even with fairly heavy use I seldom have more than a couple hundred MB of data per month.

It also depends on the phone and configuration.  My Motorola DROID out of the box was set to use a lot of data- updating news and weather every 30 minutes, pre-caching news and images.  With very little intentional data usage, I as hitting 2GB for a few months until I tracked down the culprit.

Depends entirely on how many contacts you have, how often they change, how often you set it to sync, etc.  Paying for data as you go is generally a bad idea with an Android phone, they use a lot.
You should be able to shut off 3G though (probably dependent on the phone) and just use WiFi.  Although, it might be more difficult to prevent it from using 2G data.  Some phones let you use WiFi while the phone is in Airplane mode, which would shut off both 3G and 2G.  Android has the ability to store WiFi credentials and connect automatically.

You can definitely connect to WPA protected wireless and your phone will connect automatically when you're within range of a known wireless network.
You can use APNdroid to cut off your 3G altogether. Take a look at:
How can I prevent my phone from using any kind of internet?
If you've got wireless at home and you're there every night, your phone will be able to sync your contacts, etc. over night.

You can turn off all internet data over the mobile network using
Settings->Wireless & Networks->Mobile Networks->Data enabled
Personally, I connect to WIFI at home and with reasonably heavy use of email, chat and web browsing when away from home, I only use about 200M of data a month.


text:
What is safe mode?
My USC "Desire" locked up the other day. I have Android 2.2 installed. It just kept rebooting to the splash screen over and over and over again. Being an old Mac user I thought some "key command" might get it to stop.  So I tried holding the HOME key as it booted, brought it to "safe mode". Ane more reboot
and it was running again.
Is there a log I can look at to see what the issue may have been? What else can one do in "safe mode"?

I'm not sure about logging but, safe mode disables many system services during boot. On some systems it can bypass the security pattern or pin. I haven't found any additional features. It seems to be more for reducing features for the sake of diagnostics. Windows has a similar feature.
I've posted a link on starting safe mode on a variety of devices for others to use; however, it probably won't show up until I gain a bit of rep.
Safe mode for Android

Not only system services -- all user apps as well. Think of it like "safe mode" in Firefox temporarily disables all installed addons.

He is already started into safe mode, why do you think telling him how to get where he is is an answer to the question?

Usually, Safe Mode is an interface to solve issues. IDK about I OS, but in "*inux" W10.

Found this in a Sony Xperia manual:

Safe Mode temporarily disables all applications that have been
  installed via the Android Market. Performing this troubleshooting step
  is necessary to determine whether a 3rd party application is the cause
  of an Operating System / Application issue. Safe Mode should always be
  performed prior to a hard (factory) reset.

The safe mode is there to provide repair in case one of the applications causes the phone to behave strangely or misbehave.
The phone has to be rebooted into safe mode, which can be done by pressing the power button and holding one of the keys.
The second key in some phones:
 - volume down/up button
 - menu button
 - home button
 - back button
 - other type of button

When you enter safe mode there is a label "Safe Mode" at the bottom of the screen (left or right corner).
In some phones the debugging menu has more options in safe mode, all related to application management.

You should really get / find the manual for your phone.  It will have specifics to Android 2.2, (lowliest of the lows).  Yes, you are close remembering those old Mac OS 7/8/9 key commands!  The manipulations for the proper menu are similar.  I'll restate, each phone carrier has their own version (in this case 2.2) of OS.  Then there are the hardware specifics again can differ between carriers.  (I'll stop now before a BetaMax/VHS discussion comes out)


text:
Enforcing no synchronization with Google

Possible Duplicate:
Can I use the Google Market without syncing other Google data?

Hello,
I'd like to setup a personal calendar with Funambol's syncing application. My goal is to never let my calendar items go on Google servers, for privacy reasons. But I do have Google Calendar application (from a stock ROM, so not easily uninstallable).
From what I understand, Funambol Sync Client synchronizes with a system-wide calendar, the same which is used by Google Calendar client. Will this make my items sync with remote Google Calendar if I launch Google's client (f.e. by mistake)?
I still want to use Google account for Market--and only for it. How can I enforce a no-synchronization rule only for calendar items?
I think I could remove /system/app/Calendar.apk (my phone is rooted), but doesn't Google services synchronize using GTalkService?

I'm tackling the same problem, but from a different approach. Some of the available calendar applications are too good to avoid using, so I am looking at rooting & firewalling instead.

Just turn off sync in Settings -> Accounts and sync.  You can specifically turn off Calendar syncing for a particular account in that menu, as well.

I don't see how can I turn off Calendar syncing only. In Account and sync there is Auto-sync checkbox to control syncing globally and my Google account entry. When I tap my account, there is only Sync Contacts, Sync Gmail and Sync Calendar, which allow to sync manually.

I see no checkbox there. Just a text Touch to sync now with each entry. This is a Motorola Milestone with stock 2.1 ROM.

The option definitely exists in 2.2 & 2.3 - might be worth thinking about installing a custom ROM?


text:
How to mount the SD card in T-Mobile G2 from a Linux host (workstation)
This question is similar to Mount disks from Samsung Galaxy S i9000 to Linux System over USB cable but I want to get it to work on my stock T-Mobile G2.  The G2 does not have any USB configuration in Settings>>About Phone.
On the same machine running Windows XP, when connecting the phone via USB, I can see it mounted and made available as disk E:.
I have gone into Settings>>Wireless & Network Settings>>Tethering & Portable Hotspot and enabled "USB tethering" while connected, and I got the "Turn On USB Storage" option.
The phone is charging while connected to Linux, so I know there is some handshake between the host and the device.

It seems to be Debian-specific.  I have connected my phone to a Ubuntu host and it behaves as expected (the 'enable usb storage' button shows up).

When I connect my Samsung Spica to my Gentoo laptop, I get this in dmesg:
[380540.638713] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
[380540.763249] usb 1-3: config 1 has 1 interface, different from the descriptor's value: 3
[380540.763258] usb 1-3: config 1 has no interface number 0
[380540.763745] usb 1-3: New USB device found, idVendor=04e8, idProduct=681d
[380540.763759] usb 1-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[380540.763769] usb 1-3: Product: GT-I5700
[380540.763775] usb 1-3: Manufacturer: Samsung Electronics
[380540.763782] usb 1-3: SerialNumber: 57000da3e1f8
[380540.770454] scsi55 : usb-storage 1-3:1.2
[380541.771209] scsi 55:0:0:0: Direct-Access     GT-I5700  - Card               PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[380541.773123] sd 55:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[380541.778920] sd 55:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

After enabling USB Mass Storage in the phone (the phone should prompt you on the notification bar), I get this messages:
[380708.007194] sd 55:0:0:0: [sdb] 1982464 512-byte logical blocks: (1.01 GB/968 MiB)
[380708.026714] sd 55:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[380708.029668] sd 55:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through

At any rate, these messages pointed me out which device file I should mount to mount the phone, in my case the device file is sdb, I simply create the /mnt/spica/ directory and do mount /dev/sdb/ /mnt/spica/.
Note though, if you used Gnome and the gnome's auto mount is set up correctly (i.e. it should just work out of the box, unless you disable it), then this all should be automatic. When I'm on Gnome environment, Gnome will usually prompt me to mount the phone on /media/ and the phone should show up on Computer like any regular USB stick.

The phone is charging while connected to Linux, so I know there is some handshake between the host and the device.

The phone can charge on any powered USB port, it does not need to do any handshake for charging.

It only does that if I am in the 'usb tethering' menu.  If the phone is locked and I connect it to a Linux host, it does nothing.  If it is locked and I connect it to a Windows host, it beeps and on unlock it prompts to enable USB storage mode.


text:
WiFi high packet loss at home network
I have a mind boggling problem which I have been trying to solve for the last few weeks. I am new to Android and recently bought Huawei Ideos X5 (Android 2.2.1). I haven't found anyone else having this problem.
Problem:
My Android phone will be able to connect to my wireless network, get an IP address from my DHCP server, but when trying to reach anything over the network it won't work. Although it will work sometimes (i.e. some data will get through).
Debugging:
My Android phone is able to connect and use other wireless networks, although I have only tried two (at my university and at a friend). This would indicate that my phone is not broken.
With closer inspection with the Terminal Emulator App when I ping my server I will get a 80% packet loss ratio. This of course makes it impossible to use the wireless network, but it means some packets do get through (even to the Internet) so it is not a DNS problem.
My laptop can connect and use my wireless network flawlessly (in fact, it can download from Internet at 18 Mbps and upload at 10 Mbps with 802.11g, which I presume is good). My USB wireless adapter works well with it as well. One of my friend's Android phone (LG Optimus One) and iPod works with my wireless network as well, and most strangely, another friend's Android phone who have the very same model (Huawei Ideos X5) works with my wireless network. This would indicate that my access point is not faulty.
There are tons of wireless networks in my area. My phone can see 21 including my own. I have no idea whether this can affect anything. I cannot try any of these because they are protected.
It is worth mentioning that I do not have your average wireless network setup. I have a server (stationary computer) that runs DHCP server, and so on. Only recently I added wireless network to my apartment by buying D-Link DIR-300 and flashing it with DD-WRT. I have no idea if it worked or not with the original firmware. The router acts as an access point.
I have tried to change channel, protocol (B, G, N) , security settings from open to encrypted (WPA2 AES), etc. on the AP to no avail.
Even if the phone is just a few centimeters away from the AP it will still have a 80% packet loss. DD-WRT reports 92-98% signal strength. I think there is a software/setting problem and not a hardware one.
And of course, I have tried to both reset my AP and my phone. Neither helped. Android phone's WiFi does not work when the router is using the factory default or AP settings. I am however concerned that some faulty settings for my wireless network are stored on the phone and it seems they might be synchronized to my Google account, and possibly they might still be there even after I "forget" my wireless network or reset the phone (is there a way to be sure everything is wiped?).
At this point, I am out of ideas. I hope I explained my situation sufficiently. Do you have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Edit:
I have done some further testing. I reset the DD-WRT router once again to see if it would work and per Ryan's suggestion try to strip it down to the most basic setup. It did not work even if I tried only b/g mode. Interestingly enough the first two seconds of pinging after changing mode works without any packet loss but after that, it will go back to bad again.
I also tried something I wouldn't believe would work -- flashing the original firmware back. To my surprise it did work and my phone doesn't have any packet loss when pinging. (I actually missed that the original firmware does support AP mode). However, I still cannot understand why it didn't work in DD-WRT and would be very interested in any possible explanation.
As stubborn as I am, I might try to flash back to DD-WRT again tomorrow to see if it works (if it does, I cannot explain why! Blaming it on bad flash seems naïve in my opinion).

it might be a good idea to strip down everything to the simplest possible setup, i.e. use open (unencrypted) IEEE 802.11b/g; then add up encryption from there. Also, make sure to temporarily disable mobile network (2G/3G) so that your test ping does not went through there. What happens when you ping your router/access point through its IP address, do you still have packet losses?

@Lie Ryan Thanks for your comment! When pinging I am using internal IP addresses (192.168.1.1) so it is not possible for the traffic to take any other route. I have tried your suggestion and updated my post.

I might be having similar trouble as you describe. I just posted a question about it.

Unfortunately I still have no clue to why I had the issue. As I updated, flashing back to original firmware fixed my issue which would indicate a software problem. Question is from what end (or both)? I want to say my android phone since the router worked for all other devices. On the other hand, my android phone worked with all other wireless networks as well...

Have you scanned the WLAN frequencies to see how strong is your own AP in relation to the other ones? I used Android program called Wifi Analyzer that does that; it shows you visible APs and their channels, and how badly their signal leaks into other channels. You can also see signal strength of you AP from that.
The mobile phone often has a lot crappier Wifi antenna than laptop, just because it needs to be smaller and lighter. Also, the orientation of the device varies more.
If you problem is signal strength, or other networks overlapping yours, changing channels or installing better antenna can help a lot. In this case I direct you to look at a sister site.
And, to me your setup sounds pretty geek-normal! I, too, use a Linux home server as AP, with PCI-E and USB Wifi adapters and hostapd.

I've been having problems similar to Nommik's with my Samsung Gio S5665. It would connect perfectly to the Wi-Fi at the office, but at home: connects with excellent to good signal strength, but pinging the router produces no response usually; occasional random bursts of return packets for 4 to 10 seconds; disabling and reenabling wifi on my phone results in 100% packet return for about 60-180 seconds, then back to occasional bursts.
All other devices including other phones connect to the home Wi-Fi correctly.
What I tried:
Changing protection on router from WPA/WPA2 to WPA only, WPA2 only, WEP only, none. No difference. Encryption from TKIP to AES: No difference
Changing channels, sideband, power, beacon rate, in short, everything changeable: No difference or worse.
On the phone: Changing ip address to static. No difference.
Solution:
Flashing the router worked. I'm so happy now! This has taken weeks to sort out.

Had this just now with a 'fake' AP set up on a monitor mode interface with airbase-ng, couldn't figure out why with either DHCP or static IP there was 90% packet loss (with tiny bursts of connectivity loosely connected to screen wake up)...rebooting phone and reseting wifi of little help.
--then, after hours of fiddling, i swapped the RT2870/RT3070 USB wireless dongle against a RTL8187 one that was also lying around. Bo0m problem fixed, no more packet loss, with or without screen turned on, what the heck. Reporting with SK17i Xperia Mini Pro on Android 4.0.4 (Build 4.1.B.0.431).