text:
What is the difference between: Rooting, Jailbreaking, ROM, Mod, etc.?
What is the difference between:

Unlocking the bootloader (prerequisite for doing many, though not all, other things below)
Rooting
Jailbreaking
ROM
NAND and Nandroid
Operating System
Mod (e.g. CyanogenMod)
Recovery (ClockworkMod, Amon Ra)
Custom Kernel (e.g. LeshaK's kernel)
Firmware
Driver
Over The Air (OTA) update
Fastboot
SIM unlocking
Flashing
SPL (Second Program Loader)

(any other often-confused terms that I've missed?)

See my two related answers: How do I root my phone I've rooted my phone, now what

Rooting and Jailbreaking are essentially the same things, Jailbreaking is the iPhone users' word for what Android users call Rooting. Rooting is when you gain "Root" access to the phone giving you the power to do anything you want to it (it comes from the Unix Root User, essentially the Unix equivalent to the Windows Administrator account). Normally you're prevented from being Root for your own good, as it's very easy to break your phone once you have root access, and quite hard to break it without. More info: What does “to root a phone” mean? and I've rooted my phone. Now what? What do I gain from rooting?
A Nandroid backup is a backup of your phone that is an exact image of the state of your phone. So you could make an exact copy of your current phone, then do major changes to it, and then restore to your previous backup by flashing the backup back to the phone. Flashing means to copy or to install.... you are essentially wiping the device and restoring a previous state (a backup) or you are flashing a new ROM (see below).  NAND is your device's flash storage, which is why copying files there is called "flashing".
The Android operating system is the software that manages the hardware in an Android phone such as the screen, data communications, storage, camera and GPS. It provides a common layer that allows applications the use of and access to these resources on a range of different devices without the app having to know anything special about the actual hardware that it is running on. The Android Operating System also includes a number of standard apps and services such as the Contacts, Camera, Photo Gallery and web browser apps and allows the user to do such things as control the screen brightness or connect to wifi networks.
Although the real definitions are different, in the Android world, ROM, Mod, and Firmware are all used as if they mean essentially the same thing. They all refer to a customised version of the Android operating system that has been modified to work on a particular brand of phone with a specific set of customisations or changes. This can be done so that an old phone like the G1 can be given a brand new version of Android, such as 2.2 even if the manufacturer has decided not to provide it. Or could be to provide extra functionality not available in the manufacturer's supplied version of Android, or to fix problems in the manufacturer supplied version.  More info: What's the difference between an AOSP ROM and a stock ROM?, What are the advantages of a custom ROM?, Why are there so many different Android kernels and Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?
A Driver is what tells the Android software operating system how to talk to all the different hardware that is in an Android phone. When someone is putting together a ROM for a particular phone model they will need to include of all that phone's drivers inside the ROM (for things like the cellular modem, WiFi access, the particular camera type, the specific processor, etc) otherwise the ROM either won't work on that phone, or will only be able to work certain parts of the phone and, for instance, may not be able to use the front-facing camera, or may not be able to connect to a WiFi network. This is exactly the same as when you plug something new into Windows and it runs the New Hardware Added wizard and goes looking for a new driver before you can use it.  Drivers are loaded by the kernel, the core of the operating system.
An Over The Air (OTA) update is when your phone receives an update to its Android operating system "over the air", ie it is sent the files automatically over the cellular network from either Google or from your phone network without ever needing to be plugged into a PC. This contrasts with the way that, for example, the iPhone was originally updated where it needed to be physically plugged into a computer running iTunes to get its updates.
The bootloader controls how the device boots.  Google's PC-side tool for getting into the bootloader and other related tasks is called Fastboot, and running the bootloader interactively may be called "Fastboot mode".  A locked bootloader will verify the Android system partition and restore it to stock if it doesn't match, whereas an unlocked bootloader doesn't do the same checking, which is why unlocking the bootloader is required to permanently root a device.
The term recovery is often used to mean several different things. It could mean a mode of operation for the phone. For example, to boot into recovery mode on Atrix 4G MB860 olympus, one must:

power-off the phone
hold PWR and VOL DOWN buttons simultaneously until phone display shows "Fastboot"
touch and release VOL DOWN repeatedly (seven times) until "Fastboot" changes to read, "Android Recovery"
touch and release VOL UP button to choose this option
Finally, when the phone displays a triangle surrounding an exclamation point adjacent to a green android robot, then either:

if using Android 2.2 (Froyo), then touch lower-right corner of phone display
if using Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), then hold both VOL UP and VOL DOWN buttons simultaneously

to enter Android Recovery mode.
This is a mode of operation that allows the user to make major changes to the phone. Or recovery could also mean the recovery partition on the phone. Or recovery could also mean the image file (filename.img) that can be flashed to the recovery partition. For example, the Atrix 4G MB860 olympus ships with a stock recovery image flashed to the recovery partition, and booting into recovery mode on such a stock phone allows the user to make some major changes to the phone:

reboot system now
apply sdcard:update.zip
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition

It is possible (though this usually requires an unlocked bootloader) to replace the code that executes in Android Recovery mode by replacing the stock recovery image that the manufacturer installed on the recovery partition with a custom recovery image like ClockworkMod. Installing and executing the code in a custom recovery image often allows the user to make many more comprehensive changes to the phone and also often allows the user to make Nandroid backups and restore these backups to the phone.
The bootloader may also play some part in flashing firmware, though this is usually part of recovery.  While you normally don't want to mess with the bootloader, advanced users will often flash a custom recovery like ClockworkMod (though a locked bootloader may prevent this).  This allows one to flash firmware that hasn't been signed by the manufacturer (such as custom ROMs), since stock recovery usually checks for the signature, and do advanced tasks like complete Nandroid backups.  Recovery is a bit like the BIOS boot screen on PCs in that you get to it by pressing a special combination of buttons as the phone starts up.  Recovery can also do things like run an update file from the phone's SD card, or let you connect from a PC via ADB (Android Debug Bridge) to manage the device from the command line.
More info: What is the relation between ROM Manager, ClockworkMod and Nandroid? Which one(s) do I need?
Many mobile phone networks that sell GSM phones on a contract restrict the phone so that it can only be used on their phone network, this is known as a SIM lock, network lock or subsidy lock. This allows a provider to ensure that a phone that they've subsidised can only be used on a network that will help them them recoup that money. The phone reads the IMSI code of the inserted SIM card and checks that it corresponds with the allowed country or network codes that the phone has been programmed with. SIM unlocking removes this restriction from a phone so that any network's SIM card can be inserted and used. This generally involves typing a code into the phone's dialler that removes the lock. There are different ways to get this code depending on your device and network, some networks will give you the unlock code once you reach the end of your contract's term, some manufacturers publish these codes on their websites, some manufacturers embed these codes into their devices in a way that can be extracted by an app and some require use of special PC software to reprogram the phone. The SIM lock is usually implemented in hardware/read-only firmware, so it's generally not possible to unlock your device without a code.
More info: Can I use my device on a different carrier?

Related: Another question that explains some parts of the Android platform in terms familiar to users of traditional computer systems is:
In normal computer terms, what are the different parts of an Android system?

Jailbreak and rooting are similar but not identical from the perspective of the abstract process. Jailbreaking implies getting around a bootloader (or ignoring Apple's security)  and then getting admin privileges, whereas rooting is purely getting the privileges--nothing else is implied. Also the gain in privileges (freedom!) is arguably greater with jailbreaking, as sideloading is already allowed with android.

@GAThrawn Is it correct to say that driver is part of OS? Or at least some set of basic drivers will be part of OS, and if you want something specific then you need to install its driver before you can start using it?

Rooting and Jailbreaking refers to the same thing. The term Jailbreaking comes from Apple's iPhone community, the preferred term in Android is rooting.
Rooting/Jailbreaking refers to enabling the administrator/superuser/root/user-id-0 user on the phone. In unrooted device, the superuser account is disabled for security purpose. The superuser possess full privilege over the system, including deleting or modifying critical system files.
More about rooting: What does "to root a phone" mean?

Rooting = Gain root access (root user, user 0). Jailbreaking = same as rooting except in android you are never bound by a proprietary bootloader/software so its not jailbreaking per say, same concept though.

Firmware refers to the whole Android Software Stack: Kernel (incl. drivers), Dalvik VM, and the Operating System. However, it does not include applications installed from Market.
Firmware can be official (released by the manufacturer and/or service provider) or it can be unofficial (released by modding community).

CyanogenMod has a good definition of ROM (and a lot of the other terms on that list)

Read Only Memory. In the context of an
  Android device, ROM is the internal
  flash memory where the core operating
  system resides. It can also refer to a
  specific version firmware that can be
  applied to a device through a process
  usually referred to as flashing. An
  improperly flashed ROM can often brick
  the device, rendering it unusable.

This question is already well answered, but one thing I find most non-tech people getting confused about is the difference between rooting/jailbreaking and SIM Unlocking.
This is the simple explanation I use for non-tech people.
A smartphone is essentially 2 things

A phone

Unlocking is relevant to the phone part of the smartphone.
  In some countries (USA typically), the phone part of the smartphone is locked by the carrier so that it cannot be used with other carriers.

A computer

Rooting/Jailbreaking is relevant to the computer part of the smartphone.
  The OS of the phone (Android/IOS/Windows) is locked by the OS writer (Google/Apple/Microsoft) so that you can only access the functionality with the OS and Manufacturer provided interface. You do not have administrator permission on your device (unlike a Windows PC where you can login as an administrator).
  This is done for many reasons
   1. You have to buy through their appstore etc
   2. A lot of users aren't technical enough, hence this is done to protect them from doing something stupid.
   Bypassing these measures to get administrator access to your own device is called rooting or jailbreaking.

But isn't there a difference between SIM unlocking and bootloader unlocking? If so, then I guess there are essentially only 3 major steps involved in bypassing the phone's limitations: 1) SIM unlocking/subsidy unlocking; 2) bootloader unlocking (which, I suppose, allows installation of custom firmware); and 3) rooting the device. Or are (2) and (3) here essentially the same? So confusing...

2 (unlocking bootloader) allows 3 (rooting).

Just to add: but 2 is not always needed for 3 (see root exploits). But most hardcore tweakers want 2 even if it is possible to get 3 without 2. Because 2 lets you do more than 3-- most notably custom ROMs/recoveries. 3 Is just cool for removing bloatware and installing a few niche apps.

TL;DR version:
Unlocking the bootloader

The initial program when you boot is the bootloader. If "locked" it may: 1) block attempts at flashing 2) refuse to boot the phone if something unauthorized was flashed. Unlocking it means changing a setting that affects this behaviour.

Rooting

see what does rooting a phone mean

Jailbreaking

iphone word for rooting. Jailbreak and rooting are similar but not identical from the perspective of the abstract process. Jailbreaking implies getting around a bootloader (or ignoring Apple's security) and then getting admin privileges, whereas rooting is purely getting the privileges--nothing else is implied. Also the gain in privileges (freedom!) is arguably greater with jailbreaking, as sideloading is already allowed with android

ROM

ROM is an umbrella term for any data you can flash to NAND. In most android contexts flashing ROM = installing mobile operating system. In other contexts it may just mean replacing some files to customize your skin. Etc.
While ROM may be a bit of a misnomer (actually refers to non-volatile memory--not data), most people don't know the difference between a kernel, OS, bootloader and etc. So many modifications just get called ROMs, this avoids confusion and flamewars (like when people call linux an OS instead of saying GNU/linux is an OS or even GNU/linux/X).
See also Why can't they make a generic phone OS?

NAND

A type of solid state storage, another example is NOR memory.

MMC/SD

MMC is/was the the competitor of SD. Both are memory card standards that use NAND memory. Apart from physical form these standards decribe the interface/protocol used to access NAND. This means these memory formats come with a different or additional memory controller.
While the MMC format is older, many devices use eMMC instead of eSD. The "e" stands for embedded and just means the storage is non-removable in the typical sense.
Compared to MMC, SD has more pins, is thicker and supports DRM. It is also slightly more expensive. They both use the SPI protocol to access the NAND.

Nandroid

A system image used for backups. Often does not include the bootloader.

Operating System

Android, Windows, other linux distros, Mac OS X, iOS are all operating systems. In a more technincal sense the kernel can be called the operating system. It is a program that provides an environment for other programs to run safely and use its HAL.

Mod (e.g. CyanogenMod)

3rd party files that may be flashed to the phone to provide extra/other features. Could be a complete operating system like CM.

Recovery (ClockworkMod, Amon Ra)

Phones can boot into the main OS or Recovery. This is like a mini OS that allows users to perform maintenance actions such as deleting, backing up or installing files.Often resides in the /recovery partition.

Custom Kernel (e.g. LeshaK's kernel)

Part of the operating system that controls the hardware and all the other programs that run. It is the first non-bootloader code loaded. Often resides in the the /boot partition.

Firmware

Software on embedded devices.

Driver

program used by the kernel to communicate with hardware. Typically written by the manufacturers of the hardware. The android source tree comes without kernel and drivers for most devices. THis is why non-google devices have a harder time keeping up-to-date.

Over The Air (OTA) update

Update you can download and install with your phone only (i.e. no cables/USB needed).

Fastboot

PC Program from the ADK produced by google. Allows bootloaders to flash data to the NAND.

SIM unlocking

Certain mobile providers may offer devices as part of a contract. These devices have software restrictions on what SIM cards you can use--to prevent changing provider.

Flashing

Copying/writing to NAND memory. So even moving a file to your sdcard can be called flashing.

SPL (Second Program Loader)

A bootloader called by a bootloader

Android Kernel refers to the Linux Kernel and the set of drivers that comes with the Linux kernel. The kernel does not include Applications that comes with Android nor the Java/Dalvik Virtual Machine.
Costum Kernel refers to community-made modifications to the Linux Kernel. The Kernel provides low-level services, resource management, and security.
The Driver is a part of the kernel which talks directly with the hardware, it provides a standard interface which hides the intricacies of a particular hardware.
Modifications in the Kernel and Driver typically includes hardware-specific bug fix, optimizing resource management, and unlocking hardware features that was disabled in the driver-level.

Over The Air update refers to an official update from your device manufacturer and carrier, the update being pushed automatically to your device.
OTA update is basically an official firmware update, as it covers the whole Android stack (drivers, firmware, kernel, VM, applications).

my understanding is that different mod/rom is similar to likes of ubuntu and fedora (different variant of linux) in PC world.  Kernel is lower level than this, like both ubuntu 10.10 and fedora 14 are using the same linux kernel 2.6.35

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authors: สุธี ล่องแก้ว


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Is it possible to get Android on a Nokia e65?

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

Does anybody know if it is possible to get android on a nokia e65?
Thanks for your time

The Symbian Series 60 operating system running on most of Nokia's high-end phones is very different from the Linux-based operating systems like Android, so someone would have to put a lot of work in to getting it working on devices designed for that. I haven't yet heard of any projects trying to convert any of Nokia's Symbian based phones. One of the primary problems is that Symbian generally runs on far lower powered devices and is a much smaller, simpler piece of software, so I'm not sure that Android could fit into a phone designed for that.
There is a project that aims to get Android working on Nokia's Internet Tablets (the N800 and N900 ranges) called NITdroid. These devices are already running a customised version of Linux (in their case Nokia's Maemo, rather than our Android) so converting them to Android should be possible.

source: Stack Exchange

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sort: votes


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"No item could be found" error when installing app
I receive 'no item could be found error' when I try to install some apps such as:

Busybox
Gems miner
Springpad

All apps are listed in AppBrainer or on their webpages but not on Market.
What is causing it?

I think that AppBrain lists all apps irrespective of the phone you are using to browse it, whereas the market seems to filter apps to show only ones that are supported by your phone or version of Android (not sure which, but seems most likely version of Android).  Since Wildfire is still on 2.1 I guess the apps you are trying to install are 2.2+.  As far as I am concerned this makes AppBrain pretty useless for the Wildfire.

I have encountered this before when I try to cancel an install from within AppBrain. If you have the FastWeb Installer loaded then it sees that as an indication of wanting to uninstall, even if the application is not really loaded on the phone.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/


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Old ringtones from android 1.0?
I had a Android Dev G1 phone (which has long since bitten the dust). it was running android 1.0 (later updated to 1.5). I have just gotten a HTC Desire running 2.2. There was a nice ringtone on the 1.0 that i'd like to get again. Is there anyway to download the ld ringtones that were on 1.0?

My Android 1.6 phone has the following files in the /system/media/audio/ringtones directory. Are any of these the one you want?

Noises2.ogg
BirdLoop.ogg
Noises1.ogg
Big_Easy.ogg
No_Limits.ogg
BentleyDubs.ogg
NewPlayer.ogg
BeatPlucker.ogg
World.ogg
MildlyAlarming.ogg
VeryAlarmed.ogg
MidEvilJaunt.ogg
TwirlAway.ogg
LoveFlute.ogg
Thunderfoot.ogg
LoopyLounge.ogg
Third_Eye.ogg
InsertCoin.ogg
Terminated.ogg
Growl.ogg
Steppin_Out.ogg
Glacial_Groove.ogg
SpringyJalopy.ogg
Gimme_Mo_Town.ogg
SitarVsSitar.ogg
GameOverGuitar.ogg
Shes_All_That.ogg
Funk_Yall.ogg
Seville.ogg
FriendlyGhost.ogg
Savannah.ogg
EtherShake.ogg
RomancingTheTone.ogg
Eastern_Sky.ogg
Road_Trip.ogg
DreamTheme.ogg
Ring_Synth_04.ogg
CurveBall.ogg
Ring_Synth_02.ogg
CrazyDream.ogg
Ring_Digital_02.ogg
Club_Cubano.ogg
Ring_Classic_02.ogg
Champagne_Edition.ogg
Revelation.ogg
CaribbeanIce.ogg
Paradise_Island.ogg
Calypso_Steel.ogg
OrganDub.ogg
Cairo.ogg
Noises3.ogg
Bollywood.ogg

I can't remember the name of the ringtone. However I think it was a jungle type, upbeat, 'happy' sound. I think it might have been the default ringtone in 1.0


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How to setup screen sharing for business meetings?
I'm wondering if it would be possible to use android-based tablets (or ipads) in business meetings.
The idea would be to have each person in the meeting, with its individual tablet, see what a "meeting-leader" is seeing on his own tablet, navigating through the web or using apps.
I see some solutions that seem to be mostly directed into remote-control, but what I want is just to screencast in realtime to multiple receivers, privately. The ability to let some other person take control would also be nice, but not mandatory.
How could I set this up?

I know this is an old thread but I was wondering if you found a solution to your question. I am facing the same issue; I need to share my android tablet screen with a different android tablet. It would be helpful if I can find any ideas. Thank you!

You may use join.me for this. The organizer installs the client on his/ her machine and rest everyone may join in through their web browser.

Didn't know about it. Seems an interesting utility, but it seems to enforce that the "meeting-leader" has a windows machine, and ideally in my setup, everyone would use tablets, including the "meeting-leader".
I'm hoping for something better, but maybe this is the best there is, who knows.

An Android device can't initiate a meeting using joinme, it can only join a meeting initiated by a windows pc or linux computer.

There is a nice little app by Smart Dog Studio called Remote Control Add On that will let your device act as a VNC server.  You can then connect as many clients as you like using the VNC client of your choice (I usually use Android VNC Viewer).
Frame rate is a little low, but definitely adequate for a presentation that doesn't involve video.

There is an app for this: Screen Stream.
I use it and it works.

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text:
How to help with Android translations?
I'm a Android user. I've used both G1 and my current phone Nexus One. The one problem I see in Android is that it lacks a good translation for my native language (Spanish), so the question is: where do I have to go to help with Android platform translations?
Thanks!

I would start by trying the Android Contributors Google Group.
Here is a thread on reviewing Googles own Catalan translation work, for example.


text:
Should I let Windows "Fix" my SD card?
Windows is popping up a message that my card may have been improperly ejected and is offering to fix it. Should I let it?

Possibly related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2346/my-windows-laptop-wants-to-repair-my-phone-but-my-phone-is-happy

Is your card working? Can you put it back in your phone and access it? If yes, don't "fix" it.


text:
Installing the English (United States) language
I recently got my Desire HD, and it came pre-installed with Deutsch, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, each in a (Spain) or (Portugal) flavor. Is there some way of getting an English (United States) or English (United Kingdom) on it?
 Removing the other languages as well, would be nice.

I think "English" if not otherwise specified is "U.S. English"

Well' at the moment I have English (Spain)

Android's language/locale/internationalization support is pretty bad at the moment.  I'd recommend flashing a US or UK ROM on it, which will have the language built-in.

Download MoreLocale2 from the Market, then you can change the UI language with a push of a button, without reboot.


text:
Knowing which applications to stop
Looking at my currently running apps screen, I see many applications by htc and android, probably running the UI, and sync and stuff like that. Is there a list or a site that explains what each app does, so I can decide whether I should close it?
Is there a way to automate some of this? Using Tasker maybe, and a timeout, to close apps that are not recently used by me?

See also: How can I stop applications and services from running?

The people over at XDA-developers.com will tell you: you don't need a task killer!
Why? Well you see RAM only uses up energy when you change what's in it, so actually the act of 'cleaning' up costs you more than keeping it in memory.
The only apps I would recommend closing are those that require internet access and/or sync often. This includes various games, social networks and your email.
Update: I would add GPS apps to the list of ones you want to keep an eye on, although these generally have explicit "exit" options, and so don't require killing either.
For the rest, it's best to let Froyo decide for you!

I would add GPS apps to the list of ones you want to keep an eye on, although these generally have explicit "exit" options, and so don't require killing either.

You don't need to, by default Android will automatically terminate applications that haven't been used for a long time when another application needs the used memory.
Android prolongs the life of applications, so that when you return to the applications, it will already be in the memory (this improves responsiveness); but applications whose life is prolonged in such manner will be force-killed if another foreground application needs memory.

I agree with the other two answers, but will add suggestions for two apps I find effective at supplementing app management:
Watchdog Task Manager:
This app watches your apps and will notify you if one starts to behave badly and hog too many resources.  This is a good way to identify problems so you can efficiently address them.
AutoKiller Memory Optimizer (root only) or Auto Memory Manager:
Android watches how you use your device and tries to intelligently prioritize which apps get killed when more memory is needed.  If you want a little more control of this decision making process, these apps let you set the out-of-memory priorities that Android will follow when deciding which apps get to stay running and which apps get killed.


text:
Is there any way to change the emoticons in the standard android sms app?
The green robot smilies are incredibly irritating, IMO.
I'm open to suggestions of other SMS apps that have different emoticons as well, but the few I've looked at seem to just skin the standard SMS app, emoticons and all.

From what I've been able to glean - No, it's not possible via any built-in settings in the stock Messaging app.
Handcent SMS, however can disable all smiley icons so all you see is the actual text - the punctuation characters. To do this in handcent press MENU > SETTINGS > CUSTOM STYLE > BUBBLE SETTINGS
Move thru the list of options shown on the bottom (contained within a tab with an arrow) until you see DISABLE SMILEYS. Click that and when prompted SAVE your settings.

If you are willing to root your phone, it is possible to change this. You can go into the mms apk and change the PNG files of the Smileys to whatever you like. Then you recompile the apk, push it to your phone, and restart. If you are running cyanogenmod or any other theme that uses a theme system, this change is possible using this too.

If you want eyecandy then try Handcent SMS.

Handcent STILL uses those d--n robots! grrrrrr....

:S sorry about that, I was sure it used different icons

I just had to figure this out for my girlfriend's phone yesterday because she also doesn't like the standard Android smileys.
After installing Handcent, Go to "Settings" --> "Application settings" --> "Smileys & emoji settings" and there under "Smileys settings" you can choose which type of smileys to use.
So switch from "System default" to "Handcent" then you get the non-Android smileys :)

Seems except of installing third party software like Handcent or probably changing some apk files manually or some other magic for normal users, there is no way to do it. I can't believe it, it is total fail from Android to not have options to disable these smileys. No matter if their look is irritating or not :)

I had this annoying problem on my Galaxy S4.
If you don't use the - , as in smiley :) or sad :(  then it won't convert it to an emoticon or create an MMS.
If you use the menu when in the messaging app (in a thread) and hit the "Insert Smiley" you get a list of the text to emoticon translations. Just don't use any of the exact text sequences and it won't recognize and then convert them!
Way too simple.


text:
What can I expect if I unroot my Droid?
I am thinking about rooting my Moto Droid but I don't know much about the subject, I've been doing some reading, but I'd like to know:

If I were to root and then wanted to unroot later on for some reason would my phone return to the state that it was before I rooted?
Also, if I were to "brick" my Droid is there any means of bringing it back to life?

Check out Are there any risks to rooting a device?
and Unroot a device without wiping
and How easy is it to return to stock after rooting with unrevoked

Also, if i were to "brick" my droid is there any means of bringing it back to life?

It depends. There's bricking, and then there's really bricking.

If i were to root and then wanted to unroot later on for some reason would my phone return to the state that it was before i rooted?

Not completely -- but you can unroot it -- that is, revoke root permissions. If you used root to uninstall OEM apps -- those are still gone. If you installed apps that require root, those will not function w/o root permissions.

Basically you would take a NANDROID backup (which is a image of your device as it is) immediately after you root your phone.  Then at any point in time you can revert back to this backup, and unroot your phone.  Also: Clockwork Recovery will actually let you push an unrooted stock image of Android back onto your Droid phone.
As to bricking: you should be able to get yourself out of any tricky situation you might get yourself into.  But if you follow all instructions, etc. you shouldn't have any problems.  If you do have problems, try googling or referring to the XDA forums (the people there really focus on mods, hacking, etc. for Android phones and might be able to help you out).  There are only a few ways to really brick your phone (installing the wrong cell radio for the phone would be one, for example).

Root access is not permanent, so if you install apps that demand root access, you should know that they are working because the root access is still available. Once you remove root, those apps will fail because they won't find the same access the used earlier, except for removed system apps. It can't come back because root access isn't a recovery or restore point.


text:
How to disable battery full notification sound?
When battery has been charged full, my Galaxy S phone gives the same notification sound that is used when I receive SMS. Is there a way to disable the sound without also disabling sound from SMS? It usually charge the phone during night and wake up easily to the "Battery fully charged. Unplug charger" notification sound :(

Anyone know if this just for the galaxy s?  I don't think I've ever seen this in stock Android or cyanogenmod?

Must be. My Droid doesn't do that.

My Galaxy Tablet turns the screen on after fully charging while I'm trying to sleep at night: pretty stupid!

@PPO1: My Galaxy S phone used to to that too, but that went away after upgrading to Froyo 2.2 ( or 2.2.1 - don't now exactly but it did went away after an upgrade ).

I have a Galaxy Gio running FroYo, and I think this may be a Samsung 'feature.'

my galaxy-fit has the same issue

For the record -- LG L5 with Android 4.0 has also fixed audio notification :-(

I have the same problem. My battery seems to run out so quickly these days that my phone is constantly bouncing from full to low. So strange that it thinks the battery-state-change is as 'important' as a message. My phone is more demanding than a toddler!

From what I can find, there is no way to turn it off:
no solution in the samsung galaxy s forum
no solution in the vodafone forum
Tasker can't suppress it
However, one commenter notes
Some custom ROMs rebuild the framework and rip the notification out entirely.
Check out the XDA forums if you'd like to try that stuff.
Typically requires root and a good working knowledge of how to use
Clockwork Recovery, Odin, etc... not for the faint of heart.

Oh bummer. Well, I used Tasker to suppress notification sounds during night. That is not a perfect solution as I cannot then hear SMS sounds, but at least I can now sleep :D

My Serendipity ROM (http://serendipityrom.weebly.com/) removes the battery full sound.  A lot of work for one simple thing, but if one is considering a custom ROM anyway it's something to consider.

Too bad - I have the same issue with my Samsung Galaxy Gio and I would love to get rid of the notification sound. Will the Gingerbread update help fix this?

Set the global notifications to silent.
Set the notification on messaging to any ringtone (not default).
Repeat (2) for any other app you want notifications for.

You'll still have a tone when you 1st plug the phone in to the charger, but no tone when it's fully charged.  Of course, this isn't a perfect solution since you need to manually set every other app, and presumably some won't have individual notification settings.

I stumbled upon this question because I want to recharge my phone at night next to my bed. Therefore, I do not want it to wake me, but setting the phone to silent does not solve it, as I want to be reachable for emergency calls.
My solution (which isn't strictly a correct answer to the question, but might solve the problem for most people) was using the app "Night Ringer Free", which enables me to enter a whitelist for calls/sms, however, all other sounds are silenced.

From the XDA Developers Forum, I have implemented this solution successfully on my Samsung Galaxy S Epic 4G (with GingerBread.EI22 and also GingerBread.EL30), which has eliminated the "Battery fully charged. Unplug charger" notifications from my phone.  The solution offers the following three features:

Stops the vibration.
Silences the sound.
Prevents the screen from turning on in the middle of the night.

Best of all, you may choose to implement any (or ALL) of the three features above.  Good Luck!

Try Sound Manager. Schedule volumes of types of sounds with it (6 categories). Switch off notification (Battery full, e-mail notification etc.) volume from 12 to 7 while leaving untouched ring and media volumes and you're all set. Works on my brandnew Samsung Galaxy s2.
Slept well  last night without a disturbance! I used to swich to buzz only before going to sleep and to remember to switch it back to ring in the morning.
Sleep well!

Since updating my SGS from 2.2 to 2.3, I no longer get the charged notification sound, so I'm assuming they fixed the issue.

You could use:

'GravityBox' Xposed module (available separately for Lollipop, Kitkat and Jelly Bean) that has an option for exactly that
(Under Power tweaks -> Battery Charge sound tick).
Or an even more dedicated module Disable Battery Full Alert module.

For information on how to install 'xposed' modules, view a similar stack exchange post.

This is the most precise solution, that doesn't involve silencing your phone or whatnot. It disables specifically that notification, because Samsung doesn't care.

I have a Samsung Charge, and was able to disable the annoying "Battery Full" notification by using Tasker.  As others have stated, the Tasker solution I used is not specific to disabling only the BatteryFull notification when reached, but it does limit the amount of time notifications are disabled and when.  What I did with Tasker:

Contexts-Power, Time between 11p-6a, Battery between 99-100% ...Task - disable notification
Contexts - Power, Time between 11p-6a, Battery Full ... Task - enable notification.

This should limit the amount of time notifications are disabled to only a few minutes, since it only takes that long to charge the battery from 99 to 100%.

I found something in these forums that involves rooting your phone to accomplish this task.  Keep in mind this is specifically for the Droid Charge.  However, you may be able to apply it your phone.  The basic principle involves rooting your phone and changing some system sound files with Root Explorer.  There was another answer that involved rooting your phone and installing a custom ROM, but I would wager that this is possible without the custom ROM.  Installing the custom ROM is the much more difficult step in my opinion (although I've personally done it).

It is not clear from your answer what kind of steps are you suggesting to take. Can you be more specific, please?

What is that "some system sound files"?


text:
Samsung Galaxy S stuck upgrading firmware. Should I unplug my phone? Should I keep on waiting?
I tried to upgrade my firmware on my Samsung Galaxy S using Kies
The Firmware upgrade appears to have gotten stuck.
Kies says
Upgradeing firmware... Do not disconnect a mobile device from the PC during upgrade process
Progress Bar has "Upgrade is in progress.." and is stack at about 1/3
The phone screen shows a green triangle with Downloading... below it and "Do not turn off Target!!! at the bottom.
It has been this way for about an hour.
What should I do?
Should I unplug my phone?
Should I keep on waiting?
I really don't want to end up with a brick.

in 30 minutes I am going to unplug it, unless someone has provided an answer before then.

I've noticed that Kies will often display pop-up windows behind other applications and just wait for you to notice them.  Double check that it hasn't done it in this case.

@Niall I couldn't find any hidden pop-up windows

OK, sorry I couldn't help.  Glad to see it recovered OK.

An hour was definitely too long, I'm sure the entire process was about half that when I upgraded (and most of that time was spent in the download from Samsung's servers).

I disconnected the cable
Kies popped up an error message which said, the upgrade failed and offered to try to recover for me.
By following the instructions on screen I was able to recover my device.

What did the instructions say?

I had the exact experience tramster had. I didn't wait nearly as long however. In all I tried about 5 times. My best theory is a loss of connection through a flaky USB connection. I switched from the front USB port on my computer to the back one.
Eventually it crashed during an emergency reset. I thought I was in trouble. I the emergency reset again, which completed. I was shocked to see that it didn't revert to the previous version, but installed the update instead! bonus.
Another Kies problem; long file extensions. Remove or rename all files with a period (.) followed by more than 16 characters. This is particularly common with imported music files. "Dance by Dr. know featuring RX-man" for example has what the device sees as a very long extension. Remove the Dr. and you are good to go.
Connect in USB mode on the computer and do a search for *.?????????????????* to find all the offending files. I found.one.file.that.had lots of periods. That won't be a problem though because none of them are longer than 16 characters.

I did faced the same problem, but resolved successfully in second attempt.

See if you have any USB autorun restrictions for USB devices, I do have USB Security software Installed, which disables autorun feature for all external devices connects to PC either USB or any optical drive.
Try lengthened the display timeout for your mobile device (I set it to 30 minutes) to ensure your device do not got disconnected and system re-connects it during upgrade process.

There was a failure for my first upgrade attempt, I waited for around 40 minutes (after firmware download completed from Samsung server), then I removed the USB cable and Kies asked whether I want to stop upgrade process or not? I chose yes and closed the program. After that I restarted my device and I saw an empty battery and the device went off, I restarted the device after connecting the USB cable and now I saw a Green battery with small dots below showing progress, simultaneously I saw a window showing me to enable emergency repair for firmware, I followed steps and that wasn't successful, but my device was working perfect after that process.
I followed the first 2 steps mentioned above and then ran the upgrade process again and it was a smooth process upgrading the firmware successfully.
Thanks.

I had faced same problem on Windows 7. Then I tried updating firmware from Windows XP and it worked without any problem.

Galaxy S's are nearly unbrickable, I've never heard of one being bricked apart from the (very few) hardware locked ones.  Firmware updates have quite often failed for me and worked the next time I tried.  So I would go ahead and unplug it and retry.  The likely worst case is that you'll need to use Odin.

If you are encountering issues or lack of update make sure that your Kies window is maximized before proceeding with the update. The hidden popups do happen and you will otherwise not be able to find them. Once the window is maximized the popups get focus and you should be able to proceed with the update.

Well, for me it started the download process, and then Kies said it could not recognise the phone, and disconnected it - but the phone (A Galaxy S) was still in the "downloading, do not turn off" screen. No other recovery other than to restart with battery reset. Fingers crossed...
Well it booted at least.
On thing to consider would be to force Kies to run in compatibility mode, given that it is a 2013 program - to Win 7, or even Win XP (above poster gives that clue). I am trying this on a Win 8.1 rig

I had to open task manager and end all processes like skype, icloud, last.fm, spotify. once there was a decent amount of cpu and memory available, the program went from 69% complete, to 85% to 100% within five mins of when i opened task manager.


text:
Integration of twitter-like services (for example identi.ca) with FriendStream
Is there an application that allows integrating identi.ca with FriendStream?  If no is there any docs how to integrate one (I know that second part is off-topic and probably should go on SO but it is conditional)?

Not that I've been able to find.
Seesmic can be configured to connect to StatusNet accounts
There is also a dedicated StatusNet app for Android
HootSuite does not currently support StatusNet accounts The online client can access statusNet via Ping.fm, but not android client.
I used the Seesmic app for a while, but now I'm using HootSuite and the StatusNet standalone client. At the time I switched, I thought I could configure HootSuite to do what I wanted. So it goes.....


text:
How can I see what people are searching for on the Android Market? (i.e. Google Insights for Android Market?)
I'm interested in launching my application to the Android market, however I'm not sure if there is a market for my idea. Is there anyway to see what people are searching for on the android market, and to see how popular various searches are? I'd like to be able to put in a query and see how many searches there are for that query. Google do this for the normal web searches, Google Insights for Search. Is there anything like that for the android market?
Example: I'd like to know which is a more popular search on the android market: "Motorbike" or "Motorcycle". You can do this for Google search engine using Google Insights

AppBrain will show you who is searching for what. They even show broken down by country, age group and many other areas. You can see what is "Hot Today" or even this week or year. If you load the app on your phone it can make recommendations on what you may like based on what you currently have installed.

I asked them (http://twitter.com/#!/TheAppBrain/status/4930324500848640), they said they don't do this.

I don't know about feeds from the google market, but Cyrket aggregates this sort of data.


text:
How to type a pipe "|" on an HTC EVO Android 2.2?
I am using Connect Bot on my HTC EVO Android Version 2.2, and on the keyboard I do not see a "|".  How do I type a pipe, "|" character?  I am trying to run a ps -ef | grep XYZ command.

If you're using stock keyboard, then go to the symbols (?123, bottom left), then press Alt (ALT, vertically second from bottom left), the pipe character is third from top-left.
If on HTC IME, then go to symbols (12#, horizontally second from bottom right), go to the second page (1/2, horizontally second from bottom left), the pipe character is the fifth character in the third row, and the broken pipe character is the sixth character in the second row.

You are correct my friend, except on the HTC EVO you hit the 1/2 key instead of ALT and I see the pipe.

On the Droid slide-out keyboard, it's shift-alt-,

On my HTC Wildfire the broken pipe character is as you described, but on the bottom row of my second symbol page I just have emotion buttons! How can I replace these with the remaining symbols?


text:
How do I download the music from my computer to my samsung moment?
Can someone please give me a straight answer im leaving for Costa Rica in the morning and need my music.

In case you didn't know how to just copy the files onto your phone over USB, see the answers on this previous question http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/962/how-to-copy-a-file-into-micro-sd-via-usb-in-android Just create a folder on your SD card (I called mine Music) and copy the MP3s straight over.

There are many ways to (semi-)automate the process. I'm assuming you don't want to use an app to manage this. (There are dozens. I expect some other answers will suggest some.)
I also assume that you know how to connect to your PC and turn on "USB Storage".
Just copy your music files to your SD card. The music player will find the tracks wherever you have them, but you should probably put them in a "Music" subfolder so that you can find them easily.
It's as simple as that.

You can copy the music to any location on your phone, and the music player will detect the location automatically.
Al has posted how you can transfer your file with a PC and USB cable, if for some reason it doesn't work for you you can install Awesome Drop from the Market and then use Dashwire's awesome drop to transfer the file using internet connection.


text:
Does Nexus One have support for EGNOS?
I wounder if my Nexus One has support for EGNOS? to get better GPS accuracy. If I check the GPS Accuracy value, it's sometimes 2 or 3m which is pretty good.

I don't know whether Nexus One actually uses EGNOS, but I would assume it does, since pure GPS accuracy is about 20 meters, which couldn't possibly reach the 2 meter accuracy you're seeing. It might just be that Nexus One is using other techniques (e.g. dead reckoning using accelerometer) to interpolate the position though.

I'm going to say no.

From the article you linked, EGNOS is primarily designed for airborne use and has limited ground applications.
EGNOS looks to be designed more for commercial applications (e.g. embedded navigation systems in vehicles, airline, etc.), not so much consumer devices
Nexus One's GPS is provided from the QualCom QSD8250 "SnapDragon" chip (specs). The specs for that chip do not mention any WAAS capabilities. Furthermore, there aren't any Qualcom chips listed on the EGNOS registered devices list.

If I'm wrong about the chip, then it should just be a matter of software to enable it. I haven't seen anything like that in the Android source, but that doesn't mean it isn't hiding there or in some third party bolt-on.
What the Nexus DOES use to improve both response time and accurace is A-GPS (Assisted GPS). This basically just means it us using the presence of other location clues (cellular towers, wifi networks, etc) to help triangulate a better/faster position.
You can see this in action with the Google Maps application. If you have GPS enabled and WiFi disabled and open the maps application, it will prompt you to turn on WiFi, even if you're not connected to a network. It uses a location database of wifi hotspots to help get a fix on your position, similar to Skyhook

There is actually an EGNOS test application available from the commission. It can be found at: http://www.gsa.europa.eu/go/news/egnos-gets-an-invite-to-your-smartphone. It's not available through the market, but it does work on the HTC desire (so likely on nexus as well)


text:
Which method of wireless tether uses the least amount of power? Bluetooth or Wifi?
If I'm going to wireless tehter to my Android phone what method drains the battery the least? Wifi or Bluetooth?

I'd guess Bluetooth, as Bluetooth has lower transmission range (and thusly should use less power, at least theoretically), but I have no hard data about it.

I decided to look up some data, and my guess seems to be correct: http://nesl.ee.ucla.edu/fw/documents/reports/2007/PowerAnalysis.pdf
According to the report, Bluetooth takes the least amount of energy.
However your 3G radio will probably take the most energy; maintaining a 3G connection without transferring any data is cheap, but once you start sending/receiving data, then it trumps even Wi-fi.

WiFi radios have a high wakeup and
  connection maintenance energy, but low
  energy per bit transmission cost and
  high bandwidth.
Cellular radios have low connection
  maintenance energy, but high energy
  per bit transmission cost and low
  bandwidth.

Disclaimer: The study might only apply for the particular model that the device they use.


text:
Is it possible to change the swipe unlock screen on the Galaxy S series?
Is there any way to change the default swipe unlock screen on a galaxy S phone? I find that unlocking the screen usually requires a few attempts and is difficult for me to do with just one hand (heh, ironically the screen is too large to swipe across). I'm currently using a Captivate.

I am interested too in the answer.... i want the swipe of that galaxy 5... Is it possible... ?

my samsung mesmerize doesnt have "change screen lock"  Why might this be?  I really want the puzzle unlock to be my standard unlock

Help i tried what matthew reed said to do but i sont seem to have a change screen lock option. Bought phone (galaxy s) 2 weeksago off craigslist. It doesnt seem to have many options unlike my friend who has the same exact phone (his has a bunch load of options)

If I install WidgetLocker, then will I still have the Puzzle Piece lock screen for text and calls?  I really like that part, I just don't like the default unlock swipe.

Unfortunatly no, you will lose those features.

What version of Android are you running?  I believe 2.2.1 has about 5 different options.  All involve some swipe, but I think some require a smaller swipe than others.

WidgetLocker (on the market) provides HTC-like, iPhone-like, Motorola-like, and Rotary style unlock screens.  Really superb app.

You don't need to install an app for this.  Settings -> Location and security -> Change screen lock.  There are 3 other options. I use Pattern because it's cool and easy for one hand, and relatively secure.  The Puzzle lock the easiest though.

thePattern option is , on my Galaxy S phone, situated under the Screen unlock settings - meaning, I think, that this has nothing to do with the swype action of the lock screen (the other options suggest that: None, PIN and Password. Or am I wrong ? Or is the none option the normal screen with the green and red button ?

I can't really speak to what your phone does if it's different, but don't have to swipe anything while I'm using the pattern lock.

Search on the market, there are unlock screens that forces you to do random math puzzle, play a ball game, and there is an app aptly named "No Lock" that simply disables the lock screen, and requiring you to press the hardware lock button to unlock.

Well, the goal was to be able to get access to the phone faster so the no lock was the most help. I still think HTC's down swipe unlock is best though. Any idea if there is anything similar to that on the market?


text:
Is it somehow possible to sync data on two mobiles phones
I am using a Samsung Galaxy S (running Android 2.1) mobile phone and am thinking (only thinking mind you) of bying a Samsung Galaxy tablet (this one running Android 2.2).
I am wondering: is it somehow possible to sync the data used by programs on these two devices so that software (like the marvelous Book catalogue) can be installed twice with the possiblity to copy the databases used by these program to both mobiles/tablets ?
Preferably by copying them over using WiFi or so.

Can you host the sql dbs in dropbox or somewhere else online?

i've one found so far paid solution, but there is a 30 day trial to check it out.
http://www.rerware.com/Android/; android app myBackup; you can backup data and apps, both online and on sd

Don't know which book reader you're planning to use, but the Kindle app automatically syncs your progress through books, along with any notes and annotations you've made between devices and platforms (via its proprietary Whispersync service), and also lets you download the same books onto every device (as long as you sign in wit the same account).

@GA Thrawn: It's not a book reader I am talking about, it's a book catalogue program which I use to catalogue my library. This uses the sql database on my phone. It would be great if I could sync these databases between two devices. Although the question is a general one. I am a developer for Windows, working on 3 pc's, and I have a complete system set up of making sure my development environment and sources are exactly the same on all three pc's. From a user point of view, I think this should be possible in Android too (to sync databases and so on).

If you setup both devices to use the same account(s) (for example the same Google account for the Google apps), then they should both synchronize with that account and thus indirectly with each other.
Theoretically there could be third party apps and accounts that tie their account to a specific device, but I can't say if these actually exist.


text:
Is it possible record videos of my screen?
Suppose that I would like to record some video sessions of Angry Birds on my phone.
Are there any apps that I can use? I have root permissions.

I just read a review of Screen Cast & Screen Recorder that's pretty compelling.  It requires root, like any on-device solution I'm aware of, but can record decent quality video at up to 30 FPS.  The review has example captures from various games and the videos are good enough for most anything you'd want, unless you need HD video for some reason.  The app has a free trial so I definitely recommend trying it out.

Yes you can, even without root, by using adb, ddms, and DroidEx. See: http://answers.oreilly.com/topic/951-how-to-capture-video-of-the-screen-on-android/
The basic idea is to use ddms to capture a screenshot rapidly, and then composing these screenshots into videos.
I haven't actually tried this yet, so I don't know how well it works (or whether it works).
I doubt this can be done practically purely in device-side; problem being that video is extremely memory heavy without compression, and compressing video in real time will be a torture to even the latest phone's CPU.

The link for this is dead.

Airdroid has a "Record Screen" option. It's not a premium feature and doesn't require root. It records the screen along your microphone (warning! As far as I remember this option is set by default!) if you do like to make tutorial videos.

Some of my friend use this app I think it will work you too.
 Here is the link


text:
Are there any video players with variable speed playback?
I am looking for a video player that can play videos on my SD card with variable speed playback
Related Questions

https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2840/comparision-of-video-players-for-android

Looking forward VLC player is released for Android.

Dice player can go up to 1.8X.

A link to the app in the Market would be nice.

Mmmm. No. At least not that i know of.
I tried VPlayer, Rockplayer, the stock player, iMplayer. None of that has control over the play speed.
If i find out I get back to you.

Here are some: VLC for Android, BSPlayer, Dice Player
With BSPlayer you are able to speed up youtube as well if you're interested, as explained here (though as of now, bsplayer shows 'not available in your country' in my app store (USA), hope you can get it)

I can do this nicely on N900 (Maemo 5) using mplayer, but nothing on the Android side yet for fast playback of videos.


text:
Why do some of my apps show "Update" and some show "Update (manual)"?
When I go into the Market app and into my downloads list I can see that 5 of my apps have an available update.
Three of the apps say "Update" in orange, and two of them say "Update (manual)" in dark red. If I click through to the app I just get the normal "Update" button for both the "manual" and otherwise ones.
I assume this is something new with the Froyo version of the Market, but can't work out what the difference is?

You will see Update (Manual) when the app's permissions have changed. So during the Manual update, you should be asked whether you accept the new permissions. Here's a reference from the Android Market forum. I read this somewhere else but this seems to be the only place I can find it right now. Quoting the link:

Froyo added an auto-update feature for
your apps.  If an app has an update
and no new permissions, it will be
marked as the orange "update."  If an
app has changed its permissions, then
it's red and you need to manually
update it (after checking and
verifying the new permissions of
course).
...
One more thing, you can verify this when you update your apps.  If the app was a normal
"orange" update, when you click update, it will start downloading right away.  If the app
was a manual "red' update, when you click update, you have to agree to the new
permissions, then it starts downloading.

Ahhh, so "Manual" just means the update works the same way they all used to pre-Froyo. Nothing scary at all (assuming the permission change isn't outrageous).

Yeah, for example, Google Sky Map has Update (manual) on my phone right now. After I select Update > OK. It lists the permissions: the app has access to Your Location (fine GPS access), Network Communication (full internet access) and System Tools (modify global system settings, prevent phone from sleeping). I can't figure out which features in the app require use of the Internet but the other two updates are OK with me.

@GaThrawn Correct.  Manual is just throwing a red flag at you saying "Hey!  Some permissions have changed!  Look at them before you upgrade me!"


text:
Can I make Home folders close on click?
So, say I have a folder on my home screen. In it I have a bunch of shortcuts. If I click one of those shortcuts it runs the program. Now when I come back to the home screen the folder is still sitting there open. Most of the time I want to go to something else on the home screen when coming back to it, not something in that folder. To that end is it possible to make it so that upon clicking a shortcut in a folder, after launching the app (or before, doesn't really matter) it would also close the folder, so that when I come back to the home screen I am actually AT the home screen without needing to manually close the folder?
Running rooted, but otherwise stock Galaxy S Captivate.

I haven't tried it myself, but from what I am reading in forums, etc, Apps Organizer is a free app that does what you are looking for. When you select an app in a folder, it closes the folder.
EDIT: update - I just tried out Apps Organizer. It does close the folder when you select something. The only problem is that it appears to only allow app shortcuts - not bookmarks, widgets, etc. There appear to be other apps (Folder Organizer) that are able to hold bookmarks, however.

I really like Folder Organizer. The folders feel light-weight, and it has a clean look. Thanks for the tip!

Here is a simple Automate flow i wrote that closes folders when you go to the home screen (not when you open an app, but it still works within a few milliseconds)
(Get "Automate" from the Google Play Store first)
https://llamalab.com/automate/community/flows/36343

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


text:
Automatically connect to Wi-Fi nodes, but route everything through encryption
Related to my question about VPNs, is there any way to get my phone to automatically connect to unencrypted access points, but route all my traffic through my home network?
This would be kind of like an intermittent, but free, alternative to a data plan, to just sync my email and such automatically when it sees an open access point, but without the risk of apps transmitting passwords or cookies in the clear over a rogue password-scraping access point.
If I combine something like Wi-Fi Ruler with a VPN would it do this?  Are there better alternatives?
Can I have the VPN automatically disabled when I'm connected to a trusted (saved) access point for better speed?  (Maybe disabled by a Tasker profile?)  If I have the tunnel enabled, and my home network is offline, I'd like the phone to block everything until I explicitly disable the tunnel.
Wi-Fi Ruler can connect to APs automatically, Orbot and DroidVPN can capture all of a rooted phone's traffic and route it through a proxy, and VPNs and SSH tunnels allow for encrypted connections to a home or work network, so it seems possible, but how to put all this together?

It's truly unbelievable that native Android support for OpenVPN hasn't been added. Mobile phones are incredibly personal devices - under no circumstances should data be transmitted in the clear to an open wi-fi. If only there was some way to lean on Google and the manufacturers to mandate such an essential feature into the base OS.

@PP01 I'm using Cyanogenmod, which has OpenVPN support

I've never used a VPN on Android so I don't know how well they work or how they operate but if they aren't automatic, you could use Tasker to set a profile so anytime you are using We-Fi or any time you are connected to an unsecured AP it turns on the VPN app.  Depending on the VPN app, it may give Tasker more granular control to specific activities that would allow even greater control.

Wi-Fi Ruler can handle the automatic connection aspect. https://market.android.com/details?id=com.hogdex.WifiRuler   Similar: http://superuser.com/questions/53974/is-there-a-way-to-route-all-traffic-from-android-through-a-proxy-tunnel-to-my-tom

Lifehacker suggests an app called SSH Tunnel:

SSH Tunnel is an app that allows an
  Android phone to connect to the
  internet using an ssh tunnel for a
  completely secure connection. It's
  great for those times when you've got
  no data signal, stuck at work or a
  coffee shop that only has public Wi-Fi
  available, and you need to be sure
  that nobody is snooping your sensitive
  personal information as you connect to
  sites.

I was thinking a VPN would be better, but I already have an SSH tunnel set up for other computers, so this should be easy enough to set up.

Confirmed that it works!  It seems a little alpha, though, and not sure if it's possible to automate it yet, but it looks promising.

Actually, this lets data through if the SSH tunnel fails, and the author suggested using a VPN instead.

Is Orbot a reasonable option? Doesn't do what you're describing but does protect your content. Guardian has a decent number of encryption apps.

It does encryption of everything, which is what I want, but accessing the web through a Tor node is like waving your arms around asking to be hacked.  http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/11/swedish-researc/

Sure: clear text content is clear text. But sending encrypted content through a Tor node ought to be fine, no?

@Amanda: If I could force my phone to only send encrypted content, I wouldn't need to tunnel at all.

@endolith, not to get all semantic, but you did start your comment with "It does encryption of everything, which is what I want..."  Looking at Orbot I'm not sure you're right that it does indeed encrypt everything. I probably should have looked that up instead of relying on your comment, but I don't think I was wildly off base here.

@Amanda: If I could force my phone to use end-to-end encryption for everything, I wouldn't need to tunnel at all.  Encrypting between me and the Tor exit node is nice for preventing the AP owner (who is physically nearby) from spying on me, but now I have to worry about the Tor exit node owner (who may just be operating it to snag as many unencrypted logins as possible as they pass).  If I can encrypt everything to my home IP and then go unencrypted from there, I'm not so worried.  Am I wrong?

@endolith, no, you're right.

As for the "Automatically connect to Wi-Fi nodes" part, the Wi-Fi Ruler app is very good.  It will automatically connect to APs, then it will actually try them to see if they have internet connectivity (and blacklist them and try another one if they don't), automatically approve clickwalls (Panera, Starbucks, ...), save APs under different priority profiles, etc.  Combined with something that keeps a persistent tunnel going, this should be a solution.

I am using cyanogen 10 mod and there is an option to set "Always on VPN". I didn't test it but it says "Select a VPN to always stay connected to. Don't allow any network activity unless VPN is connected."
Not sure what version this was added in. I am on 10.1 on Motorola Xoom tablet CDMA.

Where is that option?

I just downgraded to a stable version b/c 3G was brokenand it is gone. I guess it is coming in the next stable release. If you feel experiment-y it was cm nightly build 20130117. Probably the newer ones would have it too but of course YMMV.


text:
How do I change the lock-screen wallpaper?
I've lost the ability to change my lock screen wallpaper (in the course of trigger-happy removal of some phone company apps). I used to be able to do 'Menu > Wallpaper' and be prompted for either the phone or lock screen, but now this stage doesn't appear and I'm taken straight to the 'Select wallpaper from' screen.
I'm looking for a way to get the lock/home screeen prompt back or failing that, possibly the  location where the active wallpaper is stored in the file system if that would work, or an app that would let me change the lock screen wallpaper directly. (No luck with Google.)
I'm using an Orange San Francisco (ZTE Blade) running Android 2.1.1
Edit:   and Launcher Pro.

With the standard Android launcher, and with the launcher modifications made by most manufacturers, the home screen and lock screen wallpaper are the same. I think your problem is Launcher Pro, if you temporarily switch back to your phone's default launcher this should just work.

Yep, it was Launcher Pro.

I also had this issue. I'm using LG GT540. When using default LG home screen, I can change the LockScreen Wallpaper.
But if I use any other Launchers the option is not there.
Now what I'm doing is: I will switch to LG Homescreen just for changing the Wallpaper and then will switch back to LauncherPro.
You should do something like this. I know this is not the answer you are looking for; I'm just giving you some hints.

Thanks Aji. I forgot to mention I'm also running Launcher Pro. I've removed the Orange home screen switcher unfortunately.

I used 'Home Switcher' app to get back to the Android home screen and could then change the lock wallpaper. Feature request for Launcher Pro  to be able to do this I guess.

Go to your gallery select which picture you want to use. Then press set as and it will bring up the choice to set as wallpaper or set as lock screen. Crop the picture and you're done.

On the ZTE axon mini.. Goto your lock screen then swipe from bottom to top while phone is located, that brings up the gallery for the lock screen... Pick a wallpaper and that it.... For Android lollipop...

I have a zte max and I'm also using Launcher pro and found a way to change my wallpaper for my lock screen.
Go to GALLERY
THEN CHOOSE A PHOTO
SELECT "SET AS"
Then you should have a choice between Wallpaper and lock screen wallpaper...
Hope that helps..

If you go to the gallery and choose your picture, there should be an option to set it for the lock screen. Or as someone previously said, try changing back to the default launcher. And usually launchers have their backups which do store whatever changes you have made. If yours has a restore backup option you can do that too

If u swipe up from the vary base of your phone on the lock screen and keep trying periodically, I managed to get the wallpaper options come up eventually

Simply set the lockscreen image from gallery then restart your phone, it'll be there ipon reboot


text:
Google account on HTC desire & galaxy tab
just got my new shiny galaxy tab out of the box and am attempting to add the same google account i have setup on my HTC desire. after entering my username and pass, i am given the worded picture that i have to type in(you know the bot check)
After i put it in, it says please wait for 2 seconds, and gives me another worded picutre. I've done this 100 times at least, so i couldn't have got it wrong everytime.
is there a reason for why i cannot get past this step? I'm going crazy here!

FYI: It's called a CAPTCHA.

Try changing adding either of the following to your user name and try the CAPTCHA again.

@googlemail.com
@gmail.com

Create another account and try logging in with the second account. Perhaps the error is because you're already logged in in another phone.

I just got a windows tablet on black thurs and had the same issue. I currently am logged into Google on my nexus 5 phone and laptop. I downloaded chrome for the tablet because I don't like explorer. logged into Google & was prompted to recover/reset password. No idea why because my password was the same as always. I reset it, then was kicked out of my account on my laptop.. Dist password reset again on the laptop, then logged out of Google on the tablet. Then came the nightmare, my phone kept popping up the password reset prompt in a vicious cycle, it kept popping up so quickly that I couldn't type in the CAPTCHA fast enough. I ended up managing to open my notepad app and copy/pasted my password into the prompt screen. It seriously took like 20 min to do this.
I ended up making a whole new Google/gmail account to use specifically on my tablet. I'm ok with this bc I don't need my browser & photos synching anyway, I plan to use the tablet more for general internet browsing and streaming. The only thing I can think of is maybe Google only allows a max of 2 devices logged in at once? it's super annoying if that's true.. I'm going to research more online & will post here if I find any answers.
EDIT: ok so I realize your issue is with an android device not windows, but it may still be the same issue because it involves Google accounts (the fact that one of my devices is windows is prob irrelevant)

There is no such limit – at least not that low. At times, I have as much as 5 or more devices logged-in at the same time.


text:
How do I delete a draft message (SMS)?
I have created a draft message using the standard HTC Desire message application. However I now want to delete the draft.
When I select the thread I see my previous message, and my draft text below. I select "Menu", "...More", and then "Delete" and am warned I am about to delete entire thread. Which is stupid. I want to delete my draft.
How do I delete a draft?

Just figured this one out having had the same problem myself (HTC Desire HD, Android 2.2)....
From the "All Messages" view, press the Menu button.  A "Drafts" icon appears (a floppy disk icon) - press that, and it takes you to a view of all your drafts.
Press & hold a draft message to View/Delete or press the Menu button again & select Delete Drafts to go to a view where you can bulk mark the drafts you want to delete.
Hope that helps!

Brilliant! Well done, after several weeks of scratching my head you have provided the answer. I hope others upvote you too!

hi i have a same problem too
but i cant' found A "Drafts" icon
i already press the menu button, and i just see compose, delete threads, search, & settings
where's a drafts icon?
please help me

just clear the text of the draft message, and it will automatically disappear

Actually, no. When I delete the text of the draft, and press "back", then next time I select the thread the draft text is back. -1 for untested answer.

actually I've been doing it and it always worked.

What version of Android and manufacturer, Louis Rhys? I am using Android 2.2 on a HTC Sense phone.. that could be the problem..

Doesn't work for me. 2.2 Desire Z

I have T-Mobile G2 (USA), which is supposed to be the same hardware as a Desire Z. My SMS app is called "Messaging" (green, square cartoon talking bubble), version 2.3.4 (Gingerbread version). In this version and in Froyo, when I clear the text, "draft" goes away" in the thread display. I have no "drafts" button in my button bar after pressing "menu".

Have you tried pressing and holding on the text of the draft message and then using the context menu to delete that single draft message?

That's what Louis suggested, and it doesn't work. The draft reappears when you reopen the conversation.
Aaron has it right!


text:
Can I hang up using a button?
When I'm on a phone call nothing is more important than the ability to hang up. If, for whatever reason, I suddenly find myself in an embarrassing situation or interrupted by something important, I must be able to terminate the call.
Currently the only option, that I know of, is a medium sized red button on the touch screen. I think this is deficient for a few reasons:

the touch screen doesn't always behave as you want (too sensitive, or not sensitive enough) - how often do you listen to chat radio shows and the callers are always "accidently" hitting the dial buttons in the middle of conversation
the GUI may be running slowly and be unresponsive

It there a way of mapping a generic button (such as a camera button on the HTC Desire) to perform the hang-up action? Perhaps someone could write such a service!

Not to mention if you happen to navigate away from the call screen it'll take a couple clicks to get back to where you can hang up.

I don't use bluetooth, but can't you use a bluetooth headset to terminate a call?

Settings | Accessibility | Power button ends call

During a call, pressing Power ends call instead of turning off screen.

No such setting on my HTC Desire Z with Froyo 2.2

Too bad. It's one of my favorite hidden features of my Droid.

There is such a setting on the Galaxy Tab.. just not on the HTC..

Actually this setting on the Galaxy Tab is a curse! I tried calling a call centre, and whenever the screen turned off I pressed the power button to turn the screen back on, which aborted the call! I couldn't get through to the call centre to press different numbers on the keypad once the screen powered off! Terrible.. So I had to switch this option OFF on my Galaxy Tab. Who was the "bright spark" that thought a hang up button was unnecessary???

Excellent! This option is present in the LG Optimus One model. Finally! Thanks.

Feature not present in CM6 - Magic

Not present in HTC Wildfire.

@Mob: Unfortunately, that is just one downside of carriers and OEMs "messing" with Android.

My first thought was the same as Al Everett's answer but if you, for some reason, don't have that setting, you can achieve it through Tasker.

New Profile -> Event -> Hardware -> choose the button event you'd like -> Done
+ button on the left bottom corner to add a task
Phone -> End Call -> Done

And you are ready to go ;)

you mean you can or can't?

Yes, it is possible through tasker. I'll update my answer

It seems to me the camera button would be an excellent candidate.


text:
What is the default Android Root Password?
What is the default password for the Android root account? Can I change the root password after rooting my android device by simply typing passwd?
How does the rooting process work? If I use a "one click root" app, what is it doing to my phone?

its not an iPhone there is no password.

root in Linux (or any Unix-like system) is just the user with User ID 0. The su program (which actually stands for "Switch User", not "Super User") is just a program to start another program with a different user ID than the starting program (by default to uid 0, which is to user root). Android does not use the traditional /etc/passwd, however it still uses Linux User ID and Group ID for managing permissions.
If you want to intercept su requests so you can ask for password or enforce other rules, you will need to replace /sbin/su with your own version of su. Alternative approach is the one described here: http://www.koushikdutta.com/2008/11/fixing-su-security-hole-on-modified.html though that will require applications to cooperate by firing an Intent when they want to switch user.
Android security framework is more or less like this: each installed application runs on its own User ID (selected at installation time), and application permissions is implemented as user groups.

Can i change the root password after rooting my android device by simply typing "passwd"?

Android does not use /etc/passwd so it also does not have passwd program.

how is the rooting process working ? i mean what is the "one click root" apps doing to my phone?

I'm not quire sure with the exact process myself, you probably want to ask to rooting developers. However, my guess is it just reverts the security check that originally prevent developer from setuid 0.

And im a developer, so how can i find hidden APIs (like iOS) for rooted app development ?

Since Android is open source, there is no truly hidden API in Android. However, there are some unpublicized or undocumented APIs, you can browse for this in Android's source code. However, these APIs are not about root developments, they're usually in-development APIs that are not ready yet or is too localized for specific purpose that is not useful for public developer (or perhaps Google just haven't realized their usefulness yet). You are not restricted from using these APIs, but since these are not an officially supported APIs, they may disappear or break backward compatibilities in the future. If you need to use these APIs make sure your app breaks gracefully.

Not a dev, but here's my best stab at an explanation as I understand it (assuming I've understood your question). Hopefully I'm not too far off the mark...
All the 'rooted' ROMs I have used manage root access user the SuperUser application - i.e. when you start an app that wants to run with SuperUser privileges, the SuperUser application will prompt the user to grant the 'root' application these permissions. The SuperUser application then maintains a white-list of apps that have been granted these permissions.
This is the same for Console emulators, etc, so you grant access to the console application - you don't need to enter a password within the emulator.
I don't think you need to worry about the root password for this.
With regards to hidden APIs - I don't think they are "hidden" as such, as the Android OS is open sourced in the first place.

is correct.  You don't have to know/need a root password, instead there is a SuperUser app that will prompt you every time you are asked for root access.

i have a rooted phone and i have SU installed,but what if i dont want to use SU app for managing my apps and how to manually manage the password.anything related to android internal security structure will be useful

I'd like to know the same Aji.


text:
Settings - Accessibility warning: "Downloaded accessibility application is required to activate" -- What should I do?
If I choose the 'Settings - Accessibility' option on my Samsung Galaxy S, the following text is displayed: 'Downloaded accessibility application is required to activate'.
I searched the Droid Market for 'accessibility' but am not sure that this is the correct way to install this (system?) application.
Anyone any idea what and where from I should install ? Thx.

*Its probably talking about either Talkback, Soundback, or Kickback.
(Talkback being when you divert to home it with articulate "home"; Soundback producing a ping; Kickback producing a vibration)
But i would make sure to double think which one you prefer or really need being that you will not be able to uninstall once downloaded.
Once downloaded it should give you an option.*

You probably need TalkBack.

@Al Everett: Do be honest , I don't know what this option does. I only saw your answer here http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2972/hang-up-using-button and decided to enable the option you talked about, only to discover that this option gave the above message.

When I go into Accessibility on my Froyo Galaxy S I get this:

No accessibility applications found
You do not have any accessibility
  applications. You can download a
  screen reader from Android Market.
Click OK to install screen reader

Clicking OK takes me to the Market search page for the Talkback app. Specifically the Market has been searched for pname:com.google.android.marvin.talkback


text:
Android Market won't download apps and Google Talk won't sign in after changing to @gmail.com address
I have tried the suggestions here and here with no results.
Google suggest changing back to @googlemail.com, waiting two days and restarting the phone, but that hasn't worked either.
Anyone had any luck with this?

Good question! I want an answer to this, lots of people having the same problem: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Talk/thread?tid=6083ec77fd817408&hl=en

May be silly question, but have you logged your phone in with the new @gmail account? I went through this grief a while back... I'm racking my brains to remember how I got past it - will let you know as soon as I do!

@foleyisgood: Thanks, but yeah I had tried that. Jim posted the 'solution' that I ended up using below.

I had this issue with my old G1. The only resolution I was able to find was to do a factory reset on the phone and re-enter the Google ID with the @gmail.com extension, as OS version I was running does not have the ability to remove your Google account.
Newer OS versions do seem to have the ability to remove your Google account from the phone and re-enter it with the new extension as I've been able to do this on Froyo at least.

Yeah, this is exactly what I ended up doing. It's a real shame it has to come to this though!


text:
How can I see what IP address my android phone has?
I would like to know what IP-address my Android phone has. E.g. if I use my phone over WiFi, how can I get the local IP-address that is assigned to my phone?

The4G-IP can be found under Settings->System->About Phone->IP address

On My fairly stock Android 11 I can see it under Settings-> About Phone

The easy way is to go to your WiFi Settings, and hit Menu > Advanced. It'll show up there, or you can set it to a static IP if you want.
The cool way is to dial *#*#4636#*#* to open the Testing menu. Then click WiFi information, then WiFi Status.

When I call ##4636## I get this message: Connection problem or invalid MMI code. And in the WiFi Settings advanced menu, I can not see the IP-address if it is set by DHCP. But thanks for that menu, I didn't know about it.

Haha, sorry about that, yeah apparently an asterisk resolves to an italic pound sign? So you can't actually see your DHCP address in your WiFi Settings? I'm running Cyanogenmod and I can see mine towards the bottom of the menu. Didn't know that wasn't a standard feature. :O

No, there is no IP-address there on my Nexus One with Android 2.2. but the Testing meny was very good.

ifconfig and ip Android 7
adb shell ifconfig
adb shell ip address show

ifconfig was an annoying implementation that did not show all versions by default on earlier versions as explained below, but now it works fine.
netcfg Android 5.1.1
This tool was removed in later Android, and ifconfig was made more decent and shows all interfaces by default, thus rendering this method useless on newer versions.
adb shell netcfg | grep wlan0

from your desktop is the best option if you're already developing for Android and have adb and an USB connection setup.
Sample output:
wlan0 UP 192.168.0.3/24 [...]

Confirm with:
adb shell ifconfig wlan0

ifconfig on Android (home-brewed?) is different from the one on desktops (net-tools package on Ubuntu 15.10) as it requires the interface to be given.
This is also mentioned at: Is there a command or application similar to ipconfig?
You could also install a terminal emulator like Teriminal Emulator from Jack Palevich, open it and type: netcfg. But in that case you'd be better off with some app that shows the IPs, since typing on devices is a pain (unless you've got an external keyboard...).
If all you want it so SSH into the device, adb shell is the way to go: https://stackoverflow.com/a/34040560/895245
If you are developing a server app, the most user-friendly thing to do would be to show the device's IPs on some TextView, which has a pure-Java method: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/494465 | https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6064510/how-to-get-ip-address-of-the-device
Router browser management
If you are at home, you can:

connect your desktop to the router with an Ethernet cable
access some magic vendor dependent address, often http://192.168.0.1
most vendors have a list of device IPs somewhere in there

nmap
If your device is running a server, e.g. SSHD  on port 2222 as explained at: https://stackoverflow.com/a/34040560/895245, you can portscan it:
sudo nmap -sV --open 192.168.0.0/24 -p2222

Works on Android 4.2.1 as well.

The easiest way is using a tool like e.g. OS Monitor, which shows you (amongst others) also a lot of network details:

OS Monitor showing network interface details (source: Google Play; click image to enlarge)
As the screenshot shows, this app reveals for each network interface:

interface name¹
IPv4 IP address assigned (if 0.0.0.0, this interface is currently unused)
IPv6 address (if available)
MAC address
packet statistics (i.e. transfered data)
a status

¹ interface names might be handled differently on different devices. But in most cases you can tell from the IP where it belongs to. Furthermore, rmnet is mostly used for GPRS (mobile data), while WiFi uses names like tiwlan or eth.

In any terminal emulator app:
~$ ip -o a

Applicable both to WiFi and Mobile Data. Doesn't require root.

This is an old question but I think you can try this command:
adb shell ip addr show rmnet0  | grep 'inet ' | cut -d ' ' -f 6 | cut -d / -f 1

It  will return your IPV4 assigned by the operator

172.22.1.215

Note:
Usually, your phone has two networks one by your telcom operator and the other from your wireless interface. These are called network interfaces.
rmnet0 should be replaced with your interface my case was rmnet0 usually is eth0.
If u want to get the list of interfaces use this command:
ip link show

You will get something like this:
1: lo:  mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0:  mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.1.5/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global eth0
    inet6 fe80::baac:6fff:fe65:31e5/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: wlan0:  mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:21:6a:ca:9b:10 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: pan0:  mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN
    link/ether 92:0a:e7:31:e0:83 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: vmnet1:  mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:50:56:c0:00:01 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.121.1/24 brd 192.168.121.255 scope global vmnet1
    inet6 fe80::250:56ff:fec0:1/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
6: vmnet8:  mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:50:56:c0:00:08 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.179.1/24 brd 192.168.179.255 scope global vmnet8
    inet6 fe80::250:56ff:fec0:8/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

Where usually,

lo – Loopback interface.
eth0 – Your first Ethernet network interface on Linux.
wlan0 – Wireless network interface in Linux.


text:
Need Help in Downloading Applications from Android Market?
I had an android mobile whose version is 1.5 , in that device, can i see the application in the market whose versions are 1.6 and above, is it possible to do this.

No, you can't. Being able to see applications targeted at higher Android version is useless, because it won't install or run anyway.

Can you ensure me, this is any filters in android market, for filtering the Applications

@Tilsan I am 100% sure you cannot see applications targeted for 1.6 or higher from an unmodded version of 1.5

xi: Unmodded version means, in the sense how you said it is unmodded, pls tell clearly

Unmodded means not modified, ie. not rooted.

Only one way to find out. Try it.

It won't matter.  You can only run apps where the developer has either set the target to Android 1.5 or the mintarget to 1.5 (with a target to 1.6+, meaning they'd have to be careful that Android 1.5 doesn't make API calls that do not exist yet for 1.5).


text:
If I root my Android phone, will I lose all of my data?
As the question title implies, if I root my Droid Incredible (or any Android phone), will I lose all of my data? I'm not interested in installing a custom ROM right now so will rooting cause me to lose my data? Also, which tool should I use to root the phone?
Edit #1: Based on a suggestion, I rooted my Incredible using Unrevoked, and I didn't lose any information.

Depending on how you do it you won't lose any data. Which build do you have now?

@Matt Software Information reports 3.26.605.1 as the Build number.

As a follow up to this question, I did root my Incredible using Unrevoked and didn't loose any information.

Short answer: no
Long answer:
Rooting -- if successful -- doesn't change any of your data, it just gives you root access.
Now, if you reflash your phone's ROM -- something you can only do with root access -- then, yeah, you might lose stuff. A lot of people automatically associate rooting with switching ROMs, since rooting is required. But you can root, and then do nothing, if you want.
I'm so lazy, I rooted and installed a screenshot app; but it was so worth it. [Okay, not lazy -- I just don't have the need nor desire for much else, at the moment. But if I want to, I can.]
Caveat: anything done really, really wrong can screw things up. See: Are there any risks to rooting a device?

I'd recommend using Unrevoked to root your device. I don't have a Droid Incredible, but I used this method on my Desire with no probs.
You shouldn't need to wipe your data if you aren't flashing custom ROMs. Even if you do wish to later, you won't necessarily need to wipe your data, and even if you do there are lots of options for backing up and restoring your data (especially once your device is rooted!).
Good luck.

I used Unrevoked on my Incredible. It worked. Eventually. I had to try about three or four times. I should have taken notes....

When you used Unrevoked on your Desire, did it wipe your phone? Looking at the documentation, it mentions re-imaging quite frequently which makes it sound like it's wiping my device.

@wawa no, it didn't wipe my phone. All it changed was 1) added custom recovery image, 2) Enabled root access with Super User White-list app.


text:
Is there a fitness app which can record my workouts across multiple activities?
I've been using MyTracks for tracking my running, and another app (which I forget the name) to record my cycling routes.
I also do gym, swimming and karate, is there an app which lets me keep track of my fitness workouts across multiple activities? I.e, I don't want to have an app for each one, its annoying.
I'd like to record things like time spent training, lengths/laps (for swimming), possibly bike/rowing/treadmill times/speeds/distances for the gym etc.
This will allow me to track myself over a period of time and see how much I've increased the duration/effort in my training.
Any suggestions?

Try out Cardio Trainer.

It is able to record many types of workouts including walking, running, weight lifting, swimming (do you rely on your water-proof case?), yoga. You can also prepare your own custom routine (never tried that, but in your case, it might come handy).


text:
How can I use my device as a wifi keyboard and trackpad for my computer?
I have three different MBP's that run XBMC off and on, connecting to our home theater systems.  Is there an app that I could install on my droid and the mac's that would allow the droid to act as a keyboard and trackpad when the MBP is connected to the TV?
I know about XBMC remote and it's great, however I'd also like to be able to use the machine for web browsing or basically anything I could do with it in my lap (albeit slower with a small keyboard).

Gmote will let you control your computer over wifi via your Android phone.  It basically treats it like a keyboard/mouse.


text:
How to root the Samsung Galaxy 5
Anyone tried to root their Samsung Galaxy 5 (five) device? If so, what is the procedure?

You can root it with Universal Androot.  Install it, run it, follow the instructions.

No need for long procedures, download KingoRoot or any one-click root software on your PC and follow the instructions from there.. Just make sure you turn on developer option from your settings and use a usb cable that wont disconnect during the rooting process to avoid being bricked.

The best way I did for my many devices

Download odin and samusng drivers for windows in your machine

2.get the twrp zip for your device from https://twrp.me/Devices/

From your phone turn on developer options by clicking build number which is in system info.
Turn on usb debugging and unlock oem in phone
Open odin in your windows, connect your phone in download/bootloader mode using power button+ volume down key(may differ)
in ap, select twrp image and select start
You successfully installed custom recovery in your phone.
it will automaticaaly reboot but don't do it since the stock rom will replace recovery so when it power off, remove the battery and on your phone in recovery mode using power button + volume up (may differ)
next,
you have to install the zip file of magisk from their official site https://magiskmanager.com/

Now you have succesfully rooted.
This is the best way to root and stable way since when we install custom recovery then we can easily install custom roms via the custom recovery.
Magisk will allow us to act as non root for google pay and games.
so this is very useful way to root
For Lnux user
If you are in linux
sudo apt install fastboot

Turn on usb debugging and unlock oem in phone
in terminal,

fastboot oem unlock

some steps will show in phone to confirm.. follow them
Download the twrp img file not zip file from the site
fastboot flash recovery 'recovery.img'

7.Below steps are  same as windows