text:
Disable 802.11n on my EVO
How can I disable 802.11n mode on my EVO?  I would like to force it to use B or G.

just for the lower bandwidth? BTW this question should also be tagged with the Evo tag

Not really an answer, but rather a comment.

TRUE ..I didn't find an add comment link on this page though. I'm curious how to know if you negotiated an n connection though!

Due to compatibility issues, I need to disable n.

I can imagine that a pre-n router might fool the phone to attempt an n connection . Fail, & try again...draining the battery!

If you're running the HTC Sense UI, then it should already be disabled.  Otherwise check this blog post for a .zip you can flash to disable it.

My previous comment seems to have gone missing.  The stuff on that blog didn't help me.  In fact, it disabled my card all together.  I'm running 2.2, and it seems the module there is compiled for 2.1.  I have since restored back to the module from the zip file that came with my ROM.


text:
Add NFC functionality (like Nexus S) via SDIO standard in microsd to non-NFC phones?
Google Nexus S is the first Android phone to include NFC (Near-field communication) for wireless hardware for applications such as contactless payment and perhaps proximity based target advertising.
I wonder if the micro SD card slot on other Android phones supports the SD IO standard. The SD card interface also defines an interface for devices as well as storage cards, for example a SD sized WiFi transmitter could be fitted to photo cameras for transmitting pictures to the internet as they were taken.
I wonder if the micro SD card slot also has this capability and if the NFC chip and antenna could be viable in such a form factor (and for some phones underneath the battery, but still user removable)?

A microSD NFC reader has been certified for commercial use (Visa certifies DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay NFC microSD ). We used a Nexus S to read, display, & share a video from an RFID sticker The Internet of Experiences: Consumer-based advertising using the Nexus S.  XtremeSignPost Consumer-based Advertising.

Great answer, with link that shows real working example of what I was looking at: http://bit.ly/hcQBrC "enables them to transform their existing phones into fully functional mobile payment devices."

Quote part 1 of 3: "Once an In2Pay microSD card has been personalised with a cardholder's details it can be inserted into one end of a specially designed plastic 'card' which can then be distributed to customers using a standard bank card mailer." - http://www.nearfieldcommunicationsworld.com/2010/03/11/33044/devicefidelity-signs-up-first-licensees-for-its-in2pay-nfc-microsd-solution/

Quote part 2 of 3: "When the customer receives his new device in the mail, he simply detaches the card from the carrier, removes the NFC microSD device from the card and inserts it into his mobile phone."  - http://www.nearfieldcommunicationsworld.com/2010/03/11/33044/devicefidelity-signs-up-first-licensees-for-its-in2pay-nfc-microsd-solution/

Quote part 3 of 3: "Software then installs and a prompt appears on the phone's screen instructing the customer to enter a password on the mobile phone's keypad. Once that has been done, the customer's phone is NFC-enabled for whatever applications the bank has chosen to install on the In2Pay device." - http://www.nearfieldcommunicationsworld.com/2010/03/11/33044/devicefidelity-signs-up-first-licensees-for-its-in2pay-nfc-microsd-solution/

http://www.nearfieldcommunicationsworld.com/2010/03/11/33044/devicefidelity-signs-up-first-licensees-for-its-in2pay-nfc-microsd-solution/   Great explantion but wish they had used "their" and "the customer" rather than "his" "he". As I would not expect this to be only aimed at a certain 50% of the population, rather both genders :) Politically correct and pedantic I am being I know, but it has to be said, their grammar is outdated. And I'm a bloke!

Accepted answer because this real commercial development does exactly what my question was asking.

The first part of your question is tautological: If the phone supports SDIO then yes, it supports SDIO.  The G1 and the "BeagleBoard" support it, I believe.  As for the NFC chip, I'd say that if it isn't small enough already then it could be shrunk to fit.  It's not a particularly complicated piece of electronics.
I'd see very little benefit in developing something like this, however.  I don't think NFC will take off before the next 2 or 3 generations of phones (if it does at all), so most people will be getting new ones instead of tricking out their old ones.

Edit: A bit early to accept an answer yet. The first paragraph is useful - particularly that the NFC could be small enough to fit in a microsd form factor.

+1 for your answer @Matthew Read, because your second paragraph raises a good point about taking off, this article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/23/oyster_london_nfc/ indicates that NFC is an immature market in some time sensitive applications, i.e. rushing through a London tube gate, so @bulamonto's answer with a microsd is favourable, as this can be replaced as improved faster NFC arrives.

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text:
How do I find a list of open applications / switch to open applications
Where can I find a list of open applications ? Is it possible to switch to them using that ?

Long pressing on the home button will bring up the six most recently accessed apps and you can switch them. How many stay in the memory depends on your phone and the size off the app. Android keeps all opened apps in the memory until it needs space.  There are countless apps that show what apps are running in your memory. Search the market for "app manager" or "task manager".  One I particularly like is Smart Bar.

I've tried the long press home key, but that shows recently accessed apps, not recently open apps. Will have a look at @gary's suggestions as well. Thanks

@Sathya I mentioned a couple potentially helpful apps... @matt makes a good point to just search "app manager" & "task manager". You may try some other ones out that end up working better for you. Post back what you find.

See this similar question. Lots of good suggestions and discussion: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2018/can-you-get-a-list-of-the-running-applicaiton-on-adroid-for-the-purpose-of-activa  Sorry for being short. I'm typing on my droid.

@Matt thanks for that link, I'll explore those apps.

@Matt Smart Taskbar works great. I'll accept this, please edit your answer.. to include Smart Taskbar.

And the list of apps isn't always accurate; when I access gmail from the notication bar, switch to another app, and bring up recent apps to go back to gmail.... it's not there. Aaaaargh! I can't believe I actually think something from WinXP works better!

@MichaelPaulukonis Yeah, it's my experience too that the "recently accessed" list doesn't always show the app I just accessed. Really weird behaviour! Do you know if it's that it shows only the apps that I've actually launched via their own shortcuts, or what's the deal?

As Matt mentions, you can long-press the home button to see the 6 or 8 most recent apps.
I've also seen Itching Thumb suggested here before.
As Matt also mentions, there are task manager apps. One is Advanced Task Killer (or Advanced Task Killer Froyo even) which can be configured to switch to the open app rather than killing it.

BTW, if you search for whether you should use ATK to kill apps, you'll see a lot of advice telling you it's not needed for Froyo. I had not heard of ATK Froyo until now, so I don't know what makes it different than the original ATK.

I'm on Gingerbread, Nexus S if that matters @Matt.

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galaxy tab video conference
I'm confused... the Galaxy Tab commercials make a special point of showing people doing video conferencing on the device, and yet, I have been entirely unable to evoke said functionality from the one I have in my hands here (it's with Verizon)... So... what gives?!

As matt read expressed it would be helpful if you explained what you've tried.

I *tried Skype and then looked around for anything else that would suggest video conferencing... I mean... how much searching am I expected to do, given the amount of time Verizon has dedicated to promoting this feature in their advertising, one would imagine I wouldn't have to do a whole lot!

You're putting too much faith in truth in advertising. Supposedly its possible, and big red implies that its easy.

How are you "evoking" this functionality? Video conferences do no appear from the ether. Try a video conferencing app, perhaps -- like Qik, Fring, or Yahoo! Messenger.

There have been reported problems with qik on the galaxy tab, particularly no option to start a chat. Try to download something from vcast apps or try oovoo. Sorry for not giving any links but I'm on my droid and my latest CM update is acting crazy closing my browser w/o warning.

Don't see anything on vcast apps that would do this.  Do you know of something in particular?  oovoo yields no results in market.

I don't know anything in particular I just read somewhere that there were some different apps.  For oovoo search google.


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Help pairing bluetooth headset/microphone with Samsung Galaxy Tab & Skype?
I have had some difficulty getting a bluetooth headset/microphone to work with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and with Skype.
First, the bluetooth scanner can only find some headsets, not all of them. I tried to get a Motorola H350 headset to work, but it failed. Then I tried a Sprint Jawbone headset and it synced, but in Skype the microphone in it didn't work and it was using the microphone on the Galaxy Tab instead. I mean, I walked away from my tab and said "testing 1, 2, 3", and couldn't hear it. Instead, I heard someone near my tab saying, "testing a, b, c".
Second, I don't know if it's just a Skype issue or the Galaxy Tab hardware that's preventing Skype from picking up my voice over the paired bluetooth headset. Or perhaps it's the headset. Or perhaps I must use only a Samsung-brand headset.
In a nutshell, I want to use Skype calling on my Galaxy tab, and purchase a headset that lets me use the microphone in the headset.
Has anyone gotten this to work? What's the trick?
EDIT: I have since purchased these wireless headphones which also include a built-in mic. These sync'd up for audio output, but in Skype I could not get audio input. So, I then temporarily rooted my device (thank you z4 root tool) and edited /system/etc/bluetooth/audio.conf to enable some settings that Verizon Wireless and/or Samsung disables in the unit. I then reset the unit and did the headset repairing again. In the end, Skype would not do audio input from the headset. But I noticed this, however. The microphone on the Galaxy Tab is outstanding. It collects the audio input in such a way that drowns out background sound. So, in a sense, you can still use the headset with the tab and walk around in your cubicle, or even talk on a crowded bus, and for the most part it will clearly pick up your voice. It's a nice compromise since headsets with mics don't seem to work with the Galaxy Tab. This might be a symptom of Skype. Their tech support says they don't support audio routing through the headset. However, I noticed that headset audio on the Galaxy Tab also doesn't work with every other app I've tried as well.

No answer, but same issue: BT headset not being used by any function but the regular phone.
I would expect it work also for music player, or any sound coming from the system.

We r facing the problem with galaxy tab and blutooth ear phone connectivity. Earphone is not
connecting with galaxy tab p1000. Is it the problem with galaxy or skype.
Pls let me know. Deepak

I also have a similar problem. I have an HTC Desire and I just got a Jabra Arrow blue tooth and to my surprise all worked except for when using Skype! I do not know if it is an adroid/skype or a blue tooth incomparability issue.
Anyone has got any comments?

I also have the proble second problem, and I found the skype staff said :Skype doesnt currently support routing the audio to a bluetooth device.
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=726263&st=0&gopid=3271265&
Maybe this is the reason...

Thanks for letting me know. I think the answer that Skype gives is rather lame. However, I edited my original question (see EDIT) with a compromise.

Glad to see someone else with the same ambition, however, I just received a samsung wep870 headset and it's not behaving any different. According to samsung support, in order to use a headset in the first place, the headset must support a2dp.
Perhaps someone else well have some luck making this work.

Also from the Skype Community Forum Unofficial Android FAQ:

Q. Why wont my bluetooth headset work with Skype.
A. At this time skype doesnt support bluetooth devices. I am unable to comment on when or if this will be added

I have a Sony Stereo bluetooth that is working on all the audio apps so far, including Skype. It's the (Sony) DR-BT10CX. I hope this helps. fardroid

I just got a Jawbone Icon and it is working perfectly with all tab features AND Skype mobile on my tab and my husband's DROID X. Skype even rings to the BT headset. My tab is on Verizon if that matters to anyone.

What I found out is that BT supports two channels.
(And the HTC Desire HD   or  Evo4) supports it well:
1 phone audio (which my android connects to my Navi, which has an built-in phone supporting BT kit and confcall quality speaker)
2 media audio (which my android connects to my FM rebroadcaster so I can pick it up on my cars' older radio, e.g. when I play podcasts, but still being able to have a phonecall: the media automatically stops playing, and I can touch the Navi to pick up the call)
I assume now, that Skype works intimately with the phone, on the media audio channel.
A paired, connected BT audioset , will most likely broadcast phone audio capability,
and Skype will be none the wiser...
floris.

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Is there a stylus-based notepad app for Android?
One of the things I assumed the Android OS could do was let me use a stylus and just record notes in my own handwriting (without handwriting recognition). The goal being that I could remove the need for a notepad and mechanical pencil on my desk.
I found that the Samsung Galaxy Tab sells a cheap stylus that does exactly what I need, but I need to know what app is out there (even if I have to pay for it) that lets me store long notes in my own handwriting. Have you heard of any?

Have you used the stylus yet?  I have one (a pogo) and have found that capacitive styli leave something to be desired.  They tend to be jumpy and weakly responsive.  Also, annoying, you can't write with your palm wresting on the screen like you would a notepad.

Closely related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2053/good-drawing-diagramming-app

Sparx's suggestions seem pretty good.  Here are a few more (also untested):

Genial Handwriting
MyLetter (this one seems if-y)
Graffiti for Android (very cool if it works because it converts the handwritten notes to text)

Seemed among all suggestions that Genial Handwriting would be most suitable. Maybe eventually in my Android programming I can get to a point where I can code some kind of notepad, and also make it not react to most people's handrests -- only working with stylus.

That would be a sweet app, although I don't know if it's possible to isolate the stylus from the hand in a capacitive screen.  How has the stylus worked for you?

Stylus finally arrived in the mail. Got a red Boxwave brand -- red so that I can find it easier if I misplace it. It came with a pin you push into the earplug socket if you want to keep it handy. Anyway, it works as designed, but not like a thin stylus. Ended up using Graffiti for Android to get what I want.

Genial is good, but looking for an input method, Graffiti is decent, but have to learn it's "language"

Untested by me, but check out:
Finger Letter handwriting
There's also HandwritingNote, but it seems a bit limited.
QMemo also seems like an alternative, based on what you require.

Old question, but still an important question out there and all these answers aren't satisfying (anymore). I searched for apps for a couple of hours (october 2017) and this is my list (roughly sorted, first ~= better):
Edit: I improved/sorted/group the list according to testing

Edit2 (Feb 2019): OneNote has improved - it now has a lasso tool. Also now Nebo app is in play store. The list should be still pretty complete, but i don't guarantee anymore for that, because i cannot exclude, that there aren't any other newcomer like nebo (i heared from none).
I myself now switched to OneNote as it is the only good crossplattform app (Nebo is following another concept -> ocr). I would really like to see MS word improved for digitizer/pens. But as ow now OneNote is the crossplattform solution.
Short comparison: What does android app imo really lack in comparison to onenote uwp app and onenote 2016 (last version with local storage saving):

No Forms (also no recognition)
No math formulars (also no recognition)
No Tables
No "insert space"
Only for 4 customizable pens (+2 markers)
Paperbackground quad paper size and color cannot be changed

Many things of that are nice to have. But with lasso tool android app now gives you basic editing features, which are sufficient for me (i first wanted to switch to surface only for better onenote software) as I need crossplattform (and lecturesnotes doesn't provide that).

My best apps for keyboard and handwritten mixture:

LectureNotes (first best)
FiiNote (second best)
MetaMoJi Note (third best)

If your focus is on handwriting, this apps might be very relevant for you as well:

HandWrite Pro Note & Draw
Quill
INKredible

Still other relevant apps:

Squid
Evernote
Genial Writing 2
Handrite Lite

I believe this list is very likely pretty complete to this date and contains the best apps for stylus-based (and maybe keyboard mixed) notes (if you nevertheless think you found a better app, leave it in the comments, I'm curious to get as best as it gets :D). Btw. surprisingly microsoft onenote is not part of my list. Stylus support is a joke. (oneNote for windows is good, but for android...).

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How Do I Know Which Google Account is Used for the Market?
So far I've never purchased anything from the Market but just installed free apps. Now, I'd like to purchase an app and I want to make sure the Market is using the correct Google account, since I have two (one personal @gmail.com and one from a Google Apps account for work). How can I do that? Do I just assume the first account in the list is the one used in the market? Keep in mind that I don't really remember which account I added first.

The Google Play Store allows use of multiple accounts.  In the app, press the "hamburger" menu button in the top-left corner (on the search bar) to select an account to use:

When you buy or install an app, you can expand the dialog to see the email address being used during the payment selection step (after being shown the required permissions).  You can still back out at that point.

It's probably worth noting that standard Google Apps accounts can't use Checkout at all, so you can't put a credit card on them, and so can't pay for Market Apps. Only Apps accounts upgraded over the last couple of months to the upgraded Apps accounts can (if your account was upgraded you should have got an email with the title "Your Google Apps account now works more like a full Google Account." If you haven't then the only account you can use to buy apps on the Market is your personal one.

If you visit play.google.com and click on "My Android Apps", you will be able to see which apps were downloaded for each of your accounts.   On mine, my entire app list shows on my personal Google account, and only the system apps show on my Google Apps account.  If you have a similar scenario, it's probably safe to conclude that your personal account will be used for on-device purchases.

You can buy apps on https://play.google.com/store using a browser. This way you can be sure with which account you are logged in.


text:
Android 2.2 - External SD card not working - says "Blank External SD card" -- Why?
OS: Android 2.2
Device: Samsung Galaxy S
All of a sudden my external SD card has stopped working.
Error Notification:
> Blank External SD card
>
>  SD card blank or has unsupported file system.

The last thing I did before this was to record some video, which was set to record to the external card, and then plugged it into USB.
I also installed USB drivers for the phone from Softpedia as Windows wasn't recognaising it by default. After installation the phone's memory showed up as a removable disk but the external card did not. Then after unplugging the device from the PC I had that error in the notification bar.
How do I recover my SD card? Do I need to format and therefore stand to lose the data on it?

What device and OS version?

Second Matthew Read's question.  It's always a good idea to at least mention what device you are using and what version of Android.

I stated both the device and the version of Android in the tags.

In that case you might want to note the SGS has SD card problems on 2.2: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3437/what-does-the-failed-to-move-application-not-enough-memory-error-means-when-ch

I clicked format on the device, causing the SD card to show up again in Windows.
Format thankfully did not actually format it - in the sense that it didn't wipe the data. I only know this because I have installed the demo of ZAR, which has found image and video files to recover.
My options now are to either buy the full version of ZAR, on the assumption that if it recovered images and video the other data is intact, or to find an alternative program that's free.
Edit: I am currently running PhotoRec, which contrary to its name, has so far found mp3 files and a txt file to recover. I am hoping it's also able to read obscure or non existent file extensions, so that apps which had decided to locate themselves on the SD card can be recovered.

It now shows up in windows.  What happens when you just browse to it in windows explorer?  Also, you shouldn't need a recovery program unless your SD card is corrupted, at which point its a long shot because there is little to no data reminance on flash memory.

Clearly the data is recoverable, or PhotoRec and ZAR would not have been able to recover media files.


text:
When I edit contacts on my Nexus S, it's deleting their birthdays from Google Contacts. Am I doing something wrong?
Is it something I'm doing wrong?
Where do  I report this?

I'm guessing there isn't a field for Birthday in the Android contacts app, and when you edit it's replacing the old info with the info on your phone (which has no birthday due to no field for it).
Here's the process for reporting bugs at Android.com: http://source.android.com/source/report-bugs.html


text:
Best way to bookmark items on Pinboard.in
I recently changed over from using Delicious to http://Pinboard.in. What's the best way to bookmark a page to Pinboard from my Android phone?

Just a note for those who aren't familiar with Pinboard.in, it's basically a slimmed down version of delicious.com, done right.  It's really worth the $8.53 signup fee for the functionality and ease of use.

Here are 4 free options...
1) The PinDroid app:
It's a port from DeliciousDroid and was just added to the market yesterday.  It looks pretty sweet.  Here's some screenshots.
2) Save the Pinboard.in bookmarklet as a bookmark: (this is still my favorite option)
javascript:q=location.href;if(document.getSelection){d=document.getSelection();}else{d='';};p=document.title;void(open('http://pinboard.in/add?url='+encodeURIComponent(q)+'&description='+encodeURIComponent(d)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(p),'Pinboard', 'toolbar=no,width=700,height=350'));

This works particularly well in Dolphin Browser HD (but it'll also work in other browswers).  Just create new bookmark, name it Pinboard Share and paste the above text in as the location.  When you are on a site you want to save, slide open the bookmarks toolbar and click your Pinboard Share and it'll bring up the popup share window with the URL and Title already filled in.  Personally, I like saving it as a gesture in Dolphin to make it even easier.
If you don't want to have to enter anything in, here's the code for the "Read Later" pinboard bookmarklet that'll just save the url automatically to your "Read Later" list without prompting you to enter tags, or a description.  I find this easy to do in a hurry then go back an organize later on my PC:
javascript:q=location.href;p=document.title;void(t=open('http://pinboard.in/add?later=yes&noui=yes&jump=close&url='+encodeURIComponent(q)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(p),'Pinboard','toolbar=no,width=100,height=100'));t.blur();

3) Download Bookmarklet Free
Go to "Custom Services" and add your own.  Name it Pinboard or whatever you want.  In the "Base URL" field enter http://pinboard.in/add? then in the "Title Parameter" field enter title and in the "URL Parameter" field enter url.  Now when you choose to "Share" from your browser, you'll have all the regular options like Email, Twitter and any of the options you chose in Bookmarklet Free, including your new Pinboard bookmarklet. (note: it actually took a little while for the name to take for me, it was listed as "My Service" for a while in my Share menu.)
4) Post by Email
With your formatted Pinboard email you can choose the share option on any page and email to to our pinboard account.  The instructions to do this are on the Pinboard how-to section.  I prefer the first option I shared but this is a decent last resort.

+1 for PinDroid. I use it daily and contact the developer regularly via Google Code issues and Twitter - great contact!

In Chrome Bookmarklets only seem to work from the search bar, not the bookmarks menu

Save to Pinboard.


text:
Wi-Fi Video Conferencing
My daughter will be in Japan soon, studying abroad. And she just got a Macbook Air. Meanwhile, I have Android 2.2 and a Samsung Galaxy Tab. I don't mind paying for an app, but am not too keen on monthly service bills. I want to be able to have video conferencing with her on Wi-Fi only. I imagine SIP would be the way to go.
So what is the best app out there for Android right now for doing Wi-Fi video conferencing between a Mac and a Samsung Galaxy Tab, and which lets me do unlimited calling, not charged by the minute? I don't mind paying even up to $50 for the app on each system, just to not have to pay the monthly fees. I looked at the Tango app, but it said it only installed on iPhone and Android. I didn't see a Mac or PC version for it.

Another option will be ooVoo.
The free version allows 2-way video chat between Android and Mac (plus many other platforms)
They are expected to release a version for the Galaxy Tab in February according to this http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-20025684-251.html

I'd check out Yahoo Messenger.  I haven't used it but it's the only video chat app that I'm aware of that can communicate with a computer.  I believe Fring and Qik only go phone to phone.  Also, keep an eye on Skype, unfortunately at the moment their Android offering is very limited.

Despite being almost the only player in this area, Yahoo messenger is unstable, 1:3 is the up and running rate, 3 is for crashing not running, and it doesn't support the front facing camera, so it's gonna be you videoing something, or you chatting in front of a mirror.

Am using Facebook Messenger. It's safe and quite helpful and easy for me.


text:
Why do I get "not enough space" when I copy an APK file to /system/app?
I recently rooted my HTC Desire Bravo because I needed read/write access to /system/app in order to be able to copy an APK file there.
I wrote here on stackexchange on the best solution to root the Desire and got pointed to Unrevoked. Everything worked fine and typing "su" in the adb shell gives me nice root access.
I re-mounted /system like
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system

That worked. However, trying to copy my APK file using adb push MyApp.apk /system/app/ didn't work and gave me a "permission denied". Alternatively I therefore pushed the app to /sdcard first and wanted to do a
cat /sdcard/MyApp.apk > /system/app/MyApp.apk

That approach has worked just perfectly on my rooted HTC Hero, on the Desire however it gives me

"Cannot create /system/app/MyApp.apk:
  not enough memory"

Does anyone have a clue on what could be the problem here?  How can I push my app to the system folder so that it installs properly?

HTC phones have an extra protection of the /system folder, rooting them is not enough to get write access there.
You need to turn off that protection. This is most easily done with the Revolutionary tool. Follow the instructions closely on the site.

The Revolutionary tool link is dead.

Oh man, @Raptor, my HTC is dead too, almost. Haven't done anything with it in more than a year.

I don't know if cat is the best option to copy a file. Why don't you try the cp command. I can imagine that cat reads the whole file into memory an if it's too big this error happens.

cp won't work within adb shell

are you sure? i recently moved a file to the system/lib folder using clockwordmod recovery and "mv", EDIT: just realized, you didn't specify if you where using recovery...you have to boot into recovery because the system part of the flash is copy protected (called s-on). only in the recovery mode you can write to it

yep, just recognized it myself and it works now. Should be a way to boot it with "s-off", right?

Yes, but it involves flashing a custom/hacked bootloader which can brick your phone.

If you're rooted you should be able to replace "cp" with "busybox cp", you can download Busybox if you don't have it already.

@Juri You might have seen this already, but if not then Google Alpha Rev for the s-off method for Desire, which will give you write access to the system partition within the ROM etc...

Hameno is right. Although adb will appear to work if the phone is booted normally, it actually won't. You need to boot the phone into clockworkmod, then fire up adb, mount /system yourself (something like mount -o rw /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system), and muck around with the filesystem.

Try the app Root Explorer.  It's the best file manager in my opinion and you can easily remount /system and copy files with it.


text:
How can I determine which app is accessing GPS?
I have an Evo 4G with one app that I allow to access GPS periodically so I leave GPS enabled.  However I see the GPS icon show up far more frequently than is scheduled for that app.  I've shut down everything I could find that was a likely source.  Any way to tell which app is accessing the GPS?
I do have some other apps that can be battery hogs at times so watching battery usage isn't really going to cut it on this one without some usage changes.  I'm hoping for either an app, a setting, or a log that will tell me.

Download Spare Parts.
When in the app, tap "Battery history", then in the first dropdown select "GPS usage".
In the second dropdown select whichever you want to see ("Since last unplugged", "Total since boot", or "Total in all time") and you should see which apps have accessed the GPS.

Try the 'Testing' mode.  I'm lead to believe it's a standard part of Android, so should work on your EVO - it works on my HTC Desire HD.
Dial the following number:
*#*#4636#*#*  (or *#*#INFO#*#*)
Then, to see GPS stats, tap Battery History, Other Usage and then GPS Usage.
If I'm reading this right, this then displays a list of all the apps that have caused the GPS to consume battery power, which I think is almost what you're looking for.

Tried it and the number just disappears on my Evo without actually doing anything.  Thanks though.  :)

Sorry about that.  Looks like ToxMox has given you a way of getting to the exact same functionality though, so +1 for him :)

Occasionally the browser will access GPS since the browser on my phone has location turned on. So most likely the application(s) runs in the background and updates data based on your location. Social networking, maps/directions apps and other location-sensing apps could be accessing GPS data as they run in the background. Try to narrow it down by seeing which apps sync and how often.


text:
Reading list manager?
Does anyone know of an app for managing a reading list?
Features I'd like to get include being able search names and authors from some kind of book database, link to common book sellers (Amazon, Barns & Noble, etc.) and add books via an ISBN bar-code.

I have used this Book Catalogue program to enter my book collection. It lets you enter books via ISBN (manually or scanning), has a search feature and works great.
It has bookshelfs where you should create on for a reading list, although there is a checkbox 'have read the book' also ...
Check it out if: maybe it has enough of the features you want to be useful.
I like it very much.

What does it export the data as?  Is there a desktop app you can import data into?

@Bryan Denny: it exports the data as csv. And no, there is nu desktop app , yet - I'm a programmer , you never know :)

If you use good reads here's three apps that sync with the service:

http://www.appbrain.com/app/goodreads-droid/hactar.goodreads
http://www.appbrain.com/app/mybookdroid-%28books-library%29/org.zezula.bookdiary
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.goodreads (Goodreads' official app)


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Calendar Bug in Android 1.6 on LG GT540
On my Wife's LG GT540, the calendar has 2x 3rd of April, as you can see in the following picture:

As funny as it is, it isn't very helpful...
I'm wondering if anyone else has heard of this and/or knows a solution?

That's...weird. What widget is that?

If you install a different calendar app or widget does it happen on those too?

Haven't got the phone near me right now, but it was whatever the default one on the phone was. I'd install another Calendar to check, but the Market won't download... http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3547/market-app-downloads-always-fails-never-starts

If your phone is still running Donut, did you know that an Eclair (Android 2.1) update should be available for that phone, Eclair starting rolling out to the Middle East in September and the rest of the world should have had it by the end of 2010. See the official GT540 update guide on LG's website. You should be able to download the necessary LG Mobile Support Tool software from here.
I would hope that such a glaring bug has been fixed in the updated calendar/widget.


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Manually Updating your OS?
Is it possible to manually update any Android Device?

Do you mean custom ROMs or manually updating with official updates?

Yes, assuming the device has been rooted and someone has engineered the update to work with your specific device.  How fast that happens depends on how hard the devices manufacturer has made it, and how active the community is.  Its not as simple as just loading windows on a computer.
I asked a similar question a while ago. Check out the answers for more detail: What is involved in installing Android onto a device?


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Upgrade Samsung Galaxy 5 I5503 into Android 2.2

Possible Duplicate:
When will my phone get the Android 2.2 update (FroYo)?

I have a Samsung Galaxy 5 I5503 running Android 2.1. Does Android 2.2 is available for my device? If yes, How can I update the firmware and what should I do first before upgrading it? Thanks.


text:
Is it possible to enable the Android default keyboard on an HTC EVO 4G?
I am not much of a fan of the HTC EVO 4g's custom keyboard, but it appears that they have somehow removed or hidden access to the default Android keyboard input method.
Especially now that the default Android keyboard has been enhanced in 2.3 (Gingerbread), does anyone know of a method to enable the default keyboard instead of HTC's customized keyboard?  I haven't seen an application to do this, but I've noticed that some applications (Vlingo in particular) seem to somehow come up with what appears to be the Android default keyboard.

Yes you can - from this thread on XDA-Developers, you can use the APK on unrooted phones, depending on your Android version. Remember to pick the correct version for your phone.

I tried it earlier today and worked good for me :)

I'm pretty sure I tried this version yesterday and it did nothing on the EVO 4G.  Bryan, is yours an EVO?

I found this solution--I'm a little bit nervous about installing it though (it requires flashing the phone.)  Better solutions would be preferred!


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Is Kismet or another WIFI detector available for Android?
I'm a Sysadmin and would like to use my Android phone to detect Wifi networks at my workplace or at home.
Are there any tools like Kismet available for Android? I'm currently using a Samsung Intercept, which runs Android 2.1, but should receive Android 2.2 in the next month.

Looks like there are several options.  Here are a couple of the more popular apps:
WiFiFoFum
AppBrain Description:

WiFiFoFum scans for 802.11 WiFi
  networks and displays information
  about each including: SSID, MAC, RSSI,
  channel, and security. WiFiFoFum also
  allows you to connect to networks you
  find and log the location using the
  GPS. KML logs can be emailed.

WiFi Scanner
AppBrain Description:

*No ads
  *Option to connect added for open networks!!!
  *Update comming soon
A free WiFi Scanner for wireless
  networks for Android.
The WiFi signal is displayed in dBm
  format!

If you are looking to sniff traffic try:
Shark for Root
AppBrain Description:

Traffic sniffer, works on 3G and WiFi
  (works on FroYo tethered mode too). To
  open dump use WireShark or similar
  software, for preview dump on phone
  use Shark Reader. Based on tcpdump.
  Please leave comments/send e-mail if
  you have any problems/suggestions.

I  use Wifi Analyzer, a free tool which gives a good range of Wifi detections. It will show you things like signal strengths, encryption levels, SSIDs on overlapping channels and a few other details.

There are quite a few apps capable of detecting wifi networks, however, Pixie (Root only) is the only passive wifi detector that I'm aware of.

I have been running kismet on an original Droid with a 8 gig micro-SD card. 4 gig is fat32 for the phone pics , videos, and such,  the other 4 gig has Debian Squeeze running on it. Not to hard to setup.
Once the phone is rooted (must have) you can just use the freebee Linux installer from the market. Uncheck the loop box in settings, and change the device install to /sd-ext. Further at the bottom you will need to change the device to mmcblk0p2  or whatever your actual ext2 formatted Linux partition is.
You can type mount into terminal and it will list all the currently mounted directories and partitions. Make sure that mmcblk0p2 or whatever is mounted to /sd-ext. The phones by default will mount the Linux partition on the /sdcard at boot, but do check and make sure.
I suggest connecting to Wi-Fi with fast inets for this, although your 3G with good bars will work just fine for this too.
Just follow the buttons 1) 2) 3):

1 is extract Debian to ****,
2 is install Debian to SD card,
3 is install script.

Be patient,  each step will take time. If you get errors check the log. Each device is a little different, but you will get it.
I have my kismet log dumps going to the fat32 partition on the sdcard. This way it is very easy to get the files you need for things like kismet log viewer or Backtrack.
Enjoy, I hope this sparks some fun for you :)

Sounds interesting, if you do ever write a full tutorial please let us know.


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How can I abort a voice mis-dialed call?
When I use voice dialing, the wrong contact is selected often enough that I'd like a chance to abort the call before it starts.    If I tap the call button on my headset, it seems to transfer the call back to the phone; by the time I reach for the phone, and hang up, I've left a missed call on a random person's phone.
What is the proper way to abort a call from the headset when the dialer picks the wrong contact?   Is there some way to get a bit more delay before the call connects?
Moto Droid (stock), 2.2, Moto H720 headset.

I can't seem to find anything online about a Motorola H20 headset.  Is that definitely the model number?

I would personally treat the problem instead of the symptoms ... see if you can get an app that can better recognize your voice or something :)

@ToxMox It's H720.   Fixed the post.   @Matthew Read -- it's the stock voice dialer.  I do have a number of non-English names in my contact list, I'm not sure if that may be part of the reason for the miscues.

The new Voice Search is supposed to adjust itself to your voice over time.

Grrrr -- called "Mehmet" instead of "Marlene" again.   Not sure how it can adjust to my voice if there's no way to give feedback that it got it wrong.

I ended up compromising on this by setting Google Voice to "Ask on every call", which gave me a chance to cancel the call.    The downside is having to touch "make call without Google Voice" to put the call through.

On my Spica (Samdroid Froyo Mod), there are two stock voice caller, the Android's stock "Voice Dialer" (com.android.voicedialer):

On the stock Android Voice Dialer, when you start the Voice Dialer app and then speak "Call ", this shows up:

the stock Voice Dialer can be cancelled by pressing the highlighted "Cancel" button. The Voice Dialer does not automatically call the contact, it waits for you to tap on the contact's name to start the call.
The other voice caller is using Google-branded "Voice Search" (com.google.android.voicesearch):

when you tap on the Voice Search button on the Google Search Widget and then speak "Call " this screen shows up:

the Google-branded Voice Search automatically dial after a short delay the spoken contact, and you can tap "Cancel" before the spinning highlighting is out to cancel the call without leaving missed calls.
I'm not sure which voice dialer you're using, can you clarify?

It's the stock Bluetooth voice dialer -- which displays a screen like the one on the left if the screen is on and unlocked, except the heading says "Bluetooth Voice Dialer".   I want a way to cancel the call from the headset -- if the phone is in the car dock, I may have to turn on the display, unlock the phone, and then go to the phone app to hang up the call that's connecting.   If the phone is in my jeans pocket under a winter coat, similar problem....

On my "dumb" Moto Razr, if I tap the call button on the headset after it announces who it's calling, it hangs up without completing a call.   I'd really like something similar here.


text:
Can I use an Android phone without an Internet access plan?
I'm interested in buying an Android phone for Xmas. Currently my pick is LG Optimus One.
I will be using it without any Internet access plan, only using Wifi wherever possible.
Some questions that I have:

Can the phone be usable even if I don't have any Internet access plan, or there will be severe usability issues? (eg: features that will not work)
Do I have offline access to Google Calendar and GMail, auto-synchronizing whenever it detects Wifi connection?
Is there an option to block any attempts from apps/phone to connect to Internet through GPRS/3G (thus slashing my credit from the carrier, since I won't have an Internet plan...)?

Thanks.

This isn't quite the same as your question, but you might find this previous question usefu; Can I use a modern Android phone with no phone plan? http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/701/can-i-use-a-modern-android-phone-with-no-phone-plan

YES. You will use it as a regular phone, but will be disconnected from the networks (Facebook, Twitter, IMs, Sync, etc)
YES. You can access your calendar offline. And yes, you can sync when Wi-Fi is available.
Yes, you just disable data traffic.

Great! That's what I needed to go buy the phone. Thanks!

how about you have to sign in to google account, in order to be able to use the phone?

While its physically possible to use a phone without a data plan I don't know a single carrier in the US that will allow a smart phone be activated on their network without a data plan.
Edit: just saw that you're not in the US so this may not apply to you.

For info, I have a friend who's just picked up a Desire HD without a data plan (in the UK). He has Wifi at home and office, and his network allows you to add a short-term data add-on on to the contract as and when needed which he plans to use for holidays, etc.

I've forgot to add info about that. I'm in Portugal, and it's possible to use any phone without data plan. As said by @GAThrawn my network allows me to get 1 day of Internet when needed (but for 1 euro and 10MB of data... not a good deal, but can be useful). Thus my 3rd question. Thanks.

Matt's right about the US though.  I had the reverse situation -- data only, no voice -- and my phone stopped working after 3 days.  T-Mobile somehow detected my device type and claimed regular plans "don't work" with Android smartphones.  Total BS :P it's just an excuse to make you pay for a full voice+data plan.

That's good to know.  I was toying with the idea of getting a Nexus S and only running Data on it (using SIP for calls).

I have an android phone bought SIM free over the Internet. I just walked into a phone network shop, bought a pre-pay SIM and used it. No problems. Whenever I want data access I buy a minimum cost (£5) top-up and get, in addition to voice call credit, 128MB data that expires after 3 months if unused. Most of the time I just rely on WiFi for data.

If you unlock your GSM smartphone, you can use it in the US without a data plan.  I have a smartphone unlocked from AT&T (not Android) now on TMobile with data blocked, so even if a button gets hit accidentally, it won't go through.  No extra charges.  Even if your company "detects" that you have a smartphone, they are not allowed to force you to buy a data plan unless you are getting a new phone from them.


text:
Is there a UK English dictionary for the Swype keyboard?
I've just signed up for Swype beta but there's no option I can see for an UK English keyboard, which means I get incorrect :¬) spellings for 'colour', 'neighbour', 'favourite' etc.
Anyone know if there's a custom UK dictionary available or some other workaround?
Edit:
I've just bulk added 320 UK spellings compiled from the Ubuntu English translation guide.
I put the list of words in a text file, opened and selected all and hit the skype button to add them to the dictionary.
This works pretty well and remembers my preference for words like 'vapour' (which has the same stroke as 'vapor').

There's a non-English forum, but I don't see a solution to UK English. Have you tried adding your specific words using Word Addition? There's a video on that in their Tips & Tricks section.

I've tried adding a few obvious words that way but there are quite a lot in total:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences

Have just added over 80 words in one go using the method suggested by psiko here: http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/57645-swype-can-you-edit-dictionary-easily.html#post2034521

There is now.

Using the version of Swype that comes pre-loaded on a UK Galaxy S, I can long-press on the "Q" in the top-left of the keyboard to get a list of languages pop-up. The top two options here on my phone are "UK English" and "US English".
If I switch between the two, and then swype through "colo[u]r" (obviously you have to swype across the "u" to get from the "o" to the "r") I get "color" as the result in US English, and "colour" as the result when set to UK English, so it would seem that there are two separate dictionaries.

Thanks GAThrawn. I only see the option for 'US English' when I do that (plus French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese  and Japanese). Good to know there is a UK dictionary out there somewhere though.

@pelms Just had a further look and according to a few forum posts like this one http://androidforums.com/android-applications/233981-swype-uk-english.html UK English was in previous Swype versions but isn't in the newer versions for some reason, my Galaxy has v2.4.44.10814 and does have UK ENglish, which fits with that.

@pelms It might be good to contact the Swype people and ask if they have a UK beta version, and tell them to make one if not ;)

Recent versions of Swype (I have 3.26.92.38303) allow you to download additional languages:
Select Settings → Language & inuput → Swype → Language Options → Manage Languages → Download languages and choose the language that you wish to add.


text:
receive/make calls on my pc via my android phone
is it possible to receive / make calls on my pc via my android phone. if so how? i have been searching the internet for a while now to find a solution for this.
I have a rooted HTC Desire and i live in Denmark if that changes anything.

do you also mean by routing your PC's mic and speakers to work with the android's phone call?

Your PC / laptop needs to connect to your phone via Bluetooth. In Windows 7, provided your phone supports the relevant Bluetooth connections, you should be able to use your computer to listen to /speak with calls received on your phone.
You need to PAIR your phone with your computer via Bluetooth to enable this functionality.
In Windows 7, click the Bluetooth icon in the notification area (system tray) and choose your device.

and..? so the mic and speakers of the headphone automatically connect to the android after that?

I believe so. Depends on your device and bluetooth stack. Try and see. :-)

That's weird.. my generic laptop built in bluetooth on windows 7 shows my android device (paired) but it greys out.. (should I open a new question)?


text:
How to upgrade rooted HTC Desire with Unrevoked3 (Clockworkmod) to Froyo 2.2?
I recently rooted my HTC Desire having Froyo 2.2 with Unrevoked3. Rooting was successful, however, after Unrevoked placed the recovery image, the system was back at OS 2.1 again.
How can I upgrade again back to Froyo 2.2? Installing the normal OTA update doesn't work I guess.  At least it didn't when I tried. Can someone provide me some hints on how to do so? (Sorry, but it was my first rooting adventure.)

I'm stuck between posting this question again, or just commenting here: The original question has been asked many times on this forum, and I have yet to see someone actually answer it.
I was sent here by Google, because I want to know how to remove the recovery image that Unrevoked put on my HTC Desire. I want to be able to receive OTA updates again.
Except everytime I find a similar question, someone says to try a different custom rom. Please, if there is anyone out there who knows the answer to the original question, please will you post a reply.
(apologies to FoleyIsGood - this is

If you have succesfully rooted the phone and have the ClockworkMod recovery image, you can easily flash a custom 2.2 ROM.
Have a look on MoDaCo for some good options. You should also install the Rom Manager app from the market for easy flashing, booting to recovery, backups, etc.
You shouldn't have to wait long before there are plenty of 2.3 options too :) (there are a couple already on the XDA forums, but these are very new so you might want to wait just a little while whilst all the kinks are ironed out).


text:
how to get skype to work when the phone sleeps
I got a Samsung Galaxy 3 GT-I5800 with Android 2.1. Installed Skype on it, and when connected to wifi it works. When WiFi is not available it switches to G3. While I use the phone, skype works fine. If the phone sleeps/locks, no one can call me from their PC. I think it's because skype disconnects when the phone sleeps and logs-in as soon as I activate the phone touchscreen.
What do I need to do, to get Skype to work and receive calls at all times?

Could you confirm that Skype stays connected when using 3G (wifi connection turned off) and the phone is not on sleep? Can you make Skype call over 3G?

Android shuts of WiFi after a certain time by default, sometimes as little as 15 seconds after the phone is locked.  To change the timeout period, go to:
Settings -> Wireless and network -> Wi-Fi settings

Then press the menu button, choose Advanced, and change the Wi-Fi sleep policy to "Never".

I don't believe this would be a solution because Skype should stay connected even on 3G. The only thing I could think of is if his provider blocks Skype from its 3G network.

@Matther Read you forgot to mention that after setting Wi-Fi sleep policy to never, you need to press the menu button again and then Save

@YuriKolovsky I don't think I even have that option, it isn't needed on my Galaxy S anyways.

Turn off any Battery saver app,
As I selected the wifi sleep mode to NEVER, but it kept switching off,
I then uninstalled the Battery saver app ..
Voila now skype works un-interrupted.

Normally Skype should stay connected on both networks, wifi or 3G. And it should also stay connected when your phone goes to sleep. So there are two things that could be your problem:
1- Maybe your provider is blocking Skype from the 3G network, in this case follow @Matthew Read answer:

Settings -> Wireless and network -> Wi-Fi settings -> Then press the menu button, choose Advanced, and change the Wi-Fi sleep policy to "Never".

2- Make sure that the background data usage is enabled in Settings -> Data Synchronization -> Background data. If not, applications are not allowed to use data while the phone is on sleep.


text:
Send all calls to Voice Mail
It's seems like it should be a simple thing, but I haven't figured it out yet on my desire.
How do I send all calls to voice mail?  I can disable the mobile data network and put the phone in airplane mode, but how do I keep the data active and send all calls to voice mail?

related: How to set a profile that only allows selected calls through?

If you don't have the option Matthew Read suggested, you could use a call blocking app.  Most of them have an option to block all calls.

I don't know why I didn't think to simple search for an app.  I guess I was stuck on what I thought should be an easy option somewhere obvious.

I went through the same thought process a couple months ago.  It just doesn't make sense that they wouldn't have a built in setting for this.

Settings -> Call -> Call Forwarding -> Always Forward -> Your voicemail number
Every phone I've ever seen has that option.

Would work but is cumbersome.

Turn the ringer volume to zero/set to not even vibrate.
This is slightly facetious answer, as the user will still hear the ring, and have to wait for Voice Mail to pick up, so it is probably not the ideal solution; but it's what I do when I'm in a movie or church or something.

Settings -> Wireless and network -> Mobile networks

or
Settings -> Wireless Controls -> Mobile Network Settings -> Mode of Operation

There should be a "Data only", "EVDO only", or similar option in there, depending on your phone.  My T-Mobile Vibrant does not have this option, for example, but the HTC Hero does.
Another possibility is:
Settings -> Call settings -> Voice call

There should be "Call forwarding" or "Call barring" options there that might do it, though they are greyed out for me.

First two don't exist for me on my phone.  Third works but is cumbersome.

If you use Google Voice, there is a simple "Do Not Disturb" option.

Does that work too if you are using GV for your cell # voicemail too?  I was going to test it out but I assumed that it wouldn't because unlike a real GV number its not being routed through Google system and would be able to head calls off at the pass.  Right?

Good point. No, it doesn't intercept it. But I only give out my GV number, so this is an option that works for me.


text:
Why is Android claiming I have multiple Flickr accounts, and not allowing me to upload to Flickr?
Starting about a week ago, my phone -- rooted HTC Incredible, 2.2 -- stopped being able to upload to Flickr. I can't associate any system/device changes with the problem; I rooted a couple of months ago, and updated happily, since then.
I'm not using any special Flickr apps -- just the default "Share >> Flickr" accessed via the Gallery.
But when I do, I first get prompted to log in to Flickr, then told that I have multiple accounts (I don't) which is not supported.
hunh?

N.B.: Question may be rephrased over time....

Go to:
Settings -> Accounts and sync

Do you see a Flickr account there?  If so, either make sure you are using that account with the Gallery or try deleting that account and trying the Gallery again.

Only one account was listed. I don't know what was wrong, but I deleted the account, re-created it, and gallery was then happy. Bizarre

Good to hear :)

Found this by Googling. I had the exact same problem on an unrooted phone. Strange!
Thanks for the solution. I spotted that account and should have tried this first as well. Guess something updates and broke a link somewhere.


text:
How can I run Android applications on my PC with the Android emulator?
Is it possible to run Android applications on PC (with emulator)? I have Android SDK on my PC and I want to run Angry Bird on it. Can any body help to me?

If the goal is just to play Angry Birds, then you can play it here: http://chrome.angrybirds.com/ It's a HTML5 version of Angry Birds, works like a charm.

I managed to install Google Play using this method, but when I restart the emulator everything is gone and I have to install again. Anyone else have this problem?

I guess what you mean is to install applications from the market on the Android emulator. Well, normally this is not possible and also not suggested. The emulator is mainly intended for development purposes. The problem is also that you'd need to get the Android market in order to be able to download apps (Angry Birds in your case), but the emulator doesn't have the market app installed.
However, there is an interesting article by how-to-geek which describes how to install the Android market application on the emulator:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/21862/how-to-enable-the-android-market-in-the-google-android-emulator/
I didn't try it myself, but you may give it a try. Personally I think the overall user experience of playing Angry Birds on the emulator won't be great :)

would upvote for "Personally I think the overall user experience of playing Angry Birds on the emulator won't be great" alone. !!!

Note that although Android OS itself is free (gratis and libre), Google's Android Market is not a free application (proprietary and device manufacturers have to pay license fee to Google if they want to legally include Market on their device); so installing Market on an emulator have a shady legality  (though I doubt Google would knock on your front door, you don't have enough money to be worth suing, and they wouldn't want to ruin their image of being open-friendly).
However, Angry Bird itself is free (gratis, not libre) application and there is no restriction on installing free application on an Android platform (e.g. emulator). As long as you can get the APK through other means than the Android Market (e.g. developer's site, etc), installing it on the emulator is fine. As it happens, GetJar is one of Rovio's official distribution channel, and you can Angry Bird from there, note that you need to allow third party installation (Settings > Applications > tick "Unknown Sources", this is already ticked by default on the emulator).

i download .APK file but i dont know how to install it on emulator

@mahdi You just open it, there will be a prompt to install it.

If you're not particular about using SDK, then I would suggest using BlueStacks. It allows you to run android apps on your PC without the need for the Android SDK. It's a standalone installer and hence easy to setup and use.

If you wish to install the application on your emulator you need the application's apk file.
Run (online) the emulator on which you want to install the application, then:

Copy the apk to %PATH%\android-sdk\platform-tools
Open a CMD prompt
Type adb install application.apk

This works for me but I don't know about gaming performance.
Note: whitespace characters are not allowed in application.apk file name.
E.g.: application name.apk is not allowed,
the file name must be like this application_name.apk.

BlueStacks has an App Player that should do what you want.

BlueStacks App Player lets you run apps from your phone fast and
  fullscreen on Windows and Mac.

You can download the beta free.


text:
Can I install Android 2.2 or 2.3 on a Samsung Omnia 2?
I would like to install android 2.3 or 2.2 in my Samsung Omnia 2.
Could you tell me how should I do?

is that even possible?

I think the Omnia 2 is a Windows phone normally? So it is very unlikely to have an official Android release for it. You're going to have to wait for someone to put together an unofficial release and hope that it's possible for them to get or write all the drivers, etc.
It looks like there was an attempt by some of the XDA people to port Android to the i8000 Omnia 2 back in February, but they hit problems because there were no Android devices using the i8000's ARM1176 S3C6410 CPU at the time.
Your best bet is going to be to keep an eye on (and offer to help out at) the Omnia II ROM Development sub-forum of XDA's Samsung Omnia II forums.

There is an Omnia II Android Development forum on XDA developers now. Current threads providing installable packages and instructions for Android 2.2 Froyo are:

Omnia II - Automated Installation - Android 2.2 by ChrisMitsis, Beta 2 version as of 5 June 2011.
froyo bundle and how to install (updated) by ritchietos, updated as of 17 May 2011.

There is a beta release for Android 2.2 for your Omnia 2: http://o2droid.phj.hu/index_en.php


text:
Cancel All Market Updates/Downloads at Once
I just re-flashed CM 6.1 and when I opened up the market to download Titanium Backup, 27 apps started to automatically download, simultaneously. I'm not sure why they'd do that, and they never have done this before after flashing a fresh ROM.  Needless to say, is there any way to stop all downloads all at once, or prevent this from happening in the future?
Android 2.2.1, Moto Droid 1.

I think it is the result of a new synchronization option in 2.1 or 2.2. On the first boot it asks whether you want to store some information about your apps online. I found it quite confusingly worded and was surprised by this effect. IIRC you can prevent this from happening by refusing all the synchronization on the first boot. And I learned to only update when on wifi..

That's it. I was so quick to click I didn't notice that change. That would actually be very useful if I wasn't using Titanium Backup.

Interesting ... the Google backup has never worked for me!  Opposite problem :P

Try clearing you data and cache on the Download Manager... Menu button > Settings Applications > Manage Applications (wait 15-30 sec to load)> Download Manager clear cache and clear data.

wow  thanks i tried your way and it worked for me. it was easy now my phone is normal agn and it runs much faster than before thx

Maybe you're flashing an ancient ROM, where the built-in apps all are now outdated?
For a fast way to stop downloads, shut off the Wifi, 3G, and all connectivity?

No, the ROM was released 12 days ago. All the apps that started downloading were apps that were previously installed and had nothing to do with my new ROM.  I wonder if that's a new function of the market?  It basically backs up your app list and reinstalls them after a fresh install?  Anyway, thanks for the "unplug" solution.  I'm still hoping theres a cleaner method.


text:
Is there a black list of applications that drain battery fast?
Many people complain about some applications draining batteries fast because of bugs or misconfiguration. Is there a black list of such applications that are not energy-friendly?

I've not seen such a list, but you can easily see on your own device the apps and processes that are draining your battery.

NB: if such a list exists, this question is a good place to link to it. If such a list does not exist, this question is NOT a good place to create it. Just sayin'.

It's tricky to know which ones drain battery life fast.
Before installing you can check comments to see if there are many complaining of that.
After installing, either if you know your phone well enough and see a clear decrease in battery life then it could be the new software if nothing else change, or you can try and check the battery usage statistics.

I suggest you try this App Greenify , If you got rooted phone that is.
Anyway for general purpose you should check battery usage to find the culprit. And Have them removed perhaps.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oasisfeng.greenify&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5vYXNpc2ZlbmcuZ3JlZW5pZnkiXQ..


text:
Protection from Malicious Intent
Is there an app, or will Google produce a system, where I can protect my Android device?
Imagine a soundboard app that's free, but it asks for your contact information. The average user might be naive and just click OK on permissions. About 24 hours later, they start receiving spam email, telemarketing phonecalls to home or mobile phone, or even direct mail to their street address. Now imagine that same app, but criminals wrote it and they now have access to your cameras or microphone. Sure, you opted in on permissions because you didn't know better, but now the criminals can listen in remotely at any time, or even watch you.
I want to permit apps to do certain tasks including camera or microphone usage, or even contact access, but I want to know exactly what's going on for that access. I want to know if it's selling or marketing with my identity information. I want to know if it's going to spy on me remotely.
EDIT: Bruce Schneier and others have commented on this problem recently here:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/08/eavesdropping_s.html

Rules #1 of internet access: Nothing is private and nothing is safe.

@Read - we can do better than that, can't we? I mean, do you post your street address in your StackExchange profile? You probably don't. Or how about your phone number? Probably not. That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. We need to have levels of control, and to know far more clearly with these apps what we are giving up.

Imagine even a camera app that does what it says it does as far as photos, such as make retro photos with a filter. But then someone makes a version almost like it, but forks it into something malicious, which then posts those photos on a website, exposing nudity and so on. See how this can get serious?

Google does do occasional audits. There were apparently some wallpaper apps recently that were doing nefarious stuff and were pulled from the Market and any phones they'd been installed on.
It's imperative that users pay attention to the permissions that are being requested (Why would a wallpaper need to know "Phone state" or my Contacts?) and simply not install anything that looks wonky. Pay attention to the ratings and the comments and, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Everybody wants everything for free. The price of that is that your marketing demographics are being sold to anyone willing to pay for them. I don't begrudge developers the ability to make a profit.

Wallpaper apps that analyze my contacts. That's scary. Imagine an app activating one's camera or microphone without one knowing it -- even scarier.

The Security Audits in the market only bring advantage when you just pull your apps from the market. Also be careful with Apps from untrusted sources, for example the app could exploit a security bug in the OS and so get root rights. Then it would get all rights without asking you for permission. Probably such an app in the market would be found after a short time. But if you download an apk on the internet from an untrusted source you should be careful and think about if you really need it and can trust the source.
Another great project is Taintdroid Probably what you 're watching for. But at the moment i think you can only use it when you have a Nexus Devloper Phone.

Thanks for pointing out Taintdroid. Sounds like what we need is a Taintdroid device that sits out there, finding issues, and exposing them on the web for a blacklist that people could vote up or down or add comments about.

not a bad idea. But i think the larger problem at the moment for android is the fragmentation of different os versions around on the devices and the problems resulting. Mainly that you can't fix your os bugs because your manufacturer doesn't supply an update or if he does just months later.

I think one of the better ways to "know more" about an app would be to check out its reviews online - there are loads of Android Blogs, plus reviews written by users in the market comments. You can also check them out on sites like http://appbrain.com

It's easy for developers to create fake reviews, and cause negative reviews to scroll off. As well, if no one knows about a security issue because it's not been discovered yet, they won't mention it in a review. And last, you only get so many chars in a review and that limits what can be said.

You can't rely on reviews to tell you about flaws that a small minority of reviewers will be aware of. This XKCD cartoon puts the point pretty well... in reality, that 1 star review would be invisible under hundreds of other reviews http://xkcd.com/937/


text:
Unable to hang up phone call
I'm using a relatively new G2, and when dialing today, the call did not complete. It stayed in dialing forever. The hangup button did not work. I tried to force a connection failure with airplane mode, that did not work either.
Any ideas on what do in this situation? Ideally, I would like to know how to gather more data on the problem, so I can report it to T-Mobile and/or Google.

have you tried looking if anything is suspicious at logcat?

I'm guessing the Dialer froze.  Try holding the Home button, going into Task Manager, and killing the dialier process.
As Matt mentions in the comments,

You can do the same thing from the home screen by pressing menu then going to settings > Applications > Manage Application then choose the "phone" or "dialer" app and click "stop"

If I hold onto the home screen, I get "Add to Home screen"... any other ways to do this?

Haha man, I must have been multitasking when I wrote that.  I meant Home button.

When I hold the home button, I get a Window-style "alt-tab" display, it says "Recent". Is this where I kill the process?

Hmm, maybe your phone doesn't have it.  My "Recent" list has a button at the bottom that says Task Manager.  Perhaps it's a 2.2 feature.  I don't think 2.2 has been officially released for the G2 (?) but have you considered a custom ROM?  It might even solve the dialer problem completely.  http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=512

I think its an OS issue, not a device issue, but on 1.6 Donut there's mos def no task manager in the recent apps shown when you hold down the home button.

You can do the same thing from the home screen by pressing menu then going to settings > Applications > Manage Application then choose the "phone" or "dialer" app and click "stop".

If this is an ongoing issue, it is worth watching your logs to figure out what might be happening. I've got a G1 and every few months it chokes on something and I have to reboot it (which I do by holding down the power button until the phone powers off, or, when that fails, taking the battery out, counting to ten and replacing it.)


text:
Text messaging Force Close issues after OS upgrade
I upgraded my Samsung Galaxy S GT I 9000 to Android 2.2 yesterday...but I just can't open my messages...it says Force Close every time I try...any solutions??
If not, how can I downgrade to the original 2.1 Eclair?

Try clearing the cache of the Messaging app.
From the home screen:
Menu | Settings | Applications | Manage applications | All | Messaging | Clear cache
If that doesn't work, I'd try the following, in this order:

Force Stop
Restart the phone (off then on)
Clear data (will likely lose your SMS messages)

how do i do dat? :(

d messagin app doesnt hav clear cache option highlighted..so can't select it...

Well, you can try "Clear data" but that will probably dump all of your messages. Have you power-cycled the phone?

wats power-cycle? ive no idea how to do dat

Turn the device off then turn it back on.

nope not working...stil force closes..i can't even receive messages now

You should try the Clear Data option, then. The good news is is that won't lose your messages. (I just did it on my Droid.)

tried dat too.. not working..stil can't c messages..how do i put back 2.1 in my fone?

You'd have to root it. Your best bet now is to get in touch with tech support at your carrier.

A last final resort would be to do a factory reset of the phone.  You would, however, lose all data and applications in the process.


text:
How do I attach a PDF file to an email?
I'm trying to attach a PDF file to an e-mail I'm composing, but clicking on attach option shows only image files.
How can I make it show other files / attach other files ?
(Note: I'm using the e-mail client, not the G-mail one).

You need to add another file browser besides the built in Gallery.
ASTRO File Manager should fit the bill nicely.

Go to bottom of attachment list where you see "File" - enter folder. If you downloaded your pdf from "Drive" it will be in the download folder.
Downloading files from "Drive" is easy as well. Enter Drive and locate the pdf file to download. Click on the person icon on the right-hand side of file name. Locate download button. Your on your way.


text:
How to change Android 2.1 themes?
I just bought Xperia x10 and upgraded it to Android 2.1 but I am struggling with themes. I have downloaded couple of them from the market but I do not know how to install them. How do I change themes for Android 2.1?

Can you post a link to which themes you've downloaded. Also, are you using the stock launcher or some other customised one like ADW or Launcher Pro?

here are couple of them: http://www.androidzoom.com/android_themes/themes/adw-ubuntu-theme_jwln.html  and http://www.androidzoom.com/android_themes/themes/adwtheme-one_irwm.html   and I have not idea what the stock launcher is?

Your links are for an ADW theme - you need to install ADW Launcher to use this theme.

In order to use those themes, you'll need to use the alternative launcher ADW.
As it says at the top of the description:

*Must have adw.launcher 1.3.1+ to use*

http://www.appbrain.com/app/adw-launcher/org.adw.launcher


text:
Is there any way to move apps to my SD with Android 2.1?
Is there any possible way to move apps to my SD card on my Droid Eris?  I keep getting that low memory icon in my notification bar and its really annoying.  I'm running Android 2.1

See also: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3436/how-to-install-apk-files-on-sdcard

I have a Motorola Cliq, and same thing, low memory!  Not sure how Froyo plays into the question though, it was more of a HOW do you make it do it ... so that would mean tell us how to root and install Apps2SD

It's a built-in feature of Froyo, as long as the developer has built the app that way.
However, you're mostly out of luck, unless you're willing to root your phone and install Cyanogenmod and APPS2SD or jump through the hoops Bruce details in his answer.
If you do have Android 2.2 or higher, the app SDMove can be a big help in moving apps in bulk. SDWatch is also useful, as it monitors apps you install and alerts you if it can be moved the SD card. (There are, of course, other apps that do the same things. They're just the ones I've used.)

I can't find apps2sd on the market, is it part of the android sdk? or should I be looking somewhere else? Also, the market links to those sd apps is greyed out for my 2.1 phone.

I doubt APPS2SD will be on the Market, because it requires root. Also, the OS support for moving apps to the SD card came in 2.2, so obviously apps that use that functionality will not be available for for previous versions.

so, in short, there's no way to move apps to SD in 2.1 then? :-(

also FWIW, there are apps in the market that require root, the drocap2 screenshot app for example.

@travis: Not without rooting the phone.

@Al, I'm confused :-) So there is a way to do it with a phone that is rooted, but doesn't have a custom ROM? Can you point me somewhere that explains how? The only directions I've seen have installing Cyanogen as the first step. Thanks.

@travis: No, cyanogenmod would appear to be a pre-requisite. http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Apps2SD

I've updated my answer to be clearer.

Actually, turns out there is a way for 2.1, no cyanogenmod required. =)

I've updated my answer.

Actually, there is way. It's not perfectly seamless, and it requires that you partition your SD card yourself. The steps below were provided by Sparx as an answer to this question.
It worked for me, and I'm running stock android 2.1 on a Motorola milestone.

Enter Link2SD - it's freeware and works with Android 1.6 and above.
You will also need a partitioning tool - I used the excellent freeware Easeus Partition Manager (EPM) to ensure no data was erased during the repartitioning / resizing.

First, download and install EPM.
Pop your storage card into your card reader.
Start EPM
Your card should be visible amongst the other drives/partitions in your PC.
Select the partition on your card - it should cover the entire length by default. Right-click & choose RESIZE/MOVE and then REDUCE the Partition Size (this is what shows in Windows) until the Unallocated Space size is of a suitable size. (The Unallocated space will be allocated as the partition on which your apps will be stored.) Click OK.

An aside - even though Link2SD supports the creation of the second partition (in which your apps will reside) in the FAT / FAT32 format, Windows only recognizes the first PRIMARY partition which is why this newly created partition won't show within Windows inspite of it being FAT / FAT32. We shall be using either ext2 / ext3 or ext4 as the file system in any case.
Onward...

Right-click this new Unallocated Space and choose CREATE. Click YES on the warning that describes what I've said above.
Now, in the Partition Label, type in a label like "AndroidApps" or whatever suits you.
This is CRITICAL - the CREATE AS should be PRIMARY
Choose File System as EXT3 and click OK.
Click APPLY in the main window's TOP LEFT corner (big blue check mark icon). EPM will carry out the operations. Congrats! You've just re-partitioned your card and without any data loss too. (Hopefully!)

Assuming you've installed Link2SD in your phone and the SD card has been re-inserted.
11. Reboot your phone.

Start Link2SD and it should detect your partition.
A list of apps is now displayed. Click the app you want to move to the card and then click CREATE LINK.

That's it.

has this method worked for anyone with a metropcs Huawei with Android 2.1?

There is titanium backup. It's description says:

You can move any app (or app data) to/from the SD card.
Requires Android:
      1.0 and up

It has a free version. It requires root: How do I root my Android device?


text:
"SD card is damaged - You may have to reformat." How do I fix this problem?
I had this before, formatted it and now it's happened again.
I suspect it's the problem mentioned here but I don't understand how to apply the fix from that thread.
I thought I had to download the file, rename it to update.zip, stick it on the phone's internal SD card, go into recovery mode and run "apply sdcard:update.zip" but I get an error when I do that which says:

E:signature verification failed / Installation aborted.

I'm not even sure if the fix is the right fix or the process is correct either, but if they are how do I get around this signature error?
It's a Galaxy S, running Froyo.

That fix is only for the Vibrant US variant model of the Galaxy, with this specific problem the internals may be different enough that applying their patch won't work, or could even cause you more problems.

Have you tried another Micro SD card in your phone. It would rule out there being a fault with the phone.

I just put my dads SD card into my phone and it says damaged as well. but when it is put back into his phone it works fine. looks like an issue with my phone :/

it must have to be something with the connector then. Can you read it on the PC after you 'formatted' it on the phone? (Just see if you can at least still write to it via the phone). Has the connector some visible problems from forcibly inserting/removing?

Please also check Micro SD card physically damaged?. Some of the answers there are comparable to advices given here, and some more might prove helpful. If so, please let us know.

This problem started for me after installing "Clean Master Lite" and now I'm wondering if an Android app can damage my boot sector? It appears Clean Master Lite deleted my entire SD card...twice. I'm using Android 5.x. Purchased a new SD card, installed antivirus (found nothing) and encrypted my phone, and I'm hoping my data is safe again. I'm now planning to switch to Cyanogen (or something else) if Android can't protect my sdcard. Lost several hours of work and hope to recover my work templates today after repairing the boot sector.

@PJBrunet Cyanogen is Android, based on AOSP :) Your problem rather was that app you've mentioned. Better keep your fingers off those Cheetah placebos (the guys behind cannot even explain what it does, having been in an interview twice and failed).

Have you tried removing your SD card, putting it in a SD card reader and plugging into a PC? Windows will auto-detect and repair a lot of file system errors if you let it. See also this previous question.

Faced a similar problem with Motorola QUENCH. May be caused due to overcharging of batteries.
Solution
a) Remove microsd card and connect it to a PC using cardreader and copy data on to computer.
b) Mine failed the first time midway during copying.
c) So took a small sandwich snap bag (new and totally dry) wrapped my microsd card in a couple of paper towel or tissues (dry ones, put this tissue wrapped micro SD card in the snap bag and click locked it and put it in the freezer.
d) Took it out after 8 hours.
e) Was able to copy the full contents into PC.
f) Need to try it in the phone tomorrow, or else go for a new SD card

This sounds like the partition entry in the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the SDCard is damaged.
The best thing to do is, to do a low-level destructive format of the said SDCard in question, by using a partition manager such as GParted or Acronis, delete the entire partition on the SDCard, and recreate it again. Once the partition is created then perform a format on it.
Its difficult to pin down where the source of the issue is, the Camera uses FAT32 filesystem, Android uses FAT16 so that could be part of it despite being "compatible" in the sense of the word.
For future reference, go into Settings > Storage > Unmount SD Card, this will take a few seconds, the Android OS will safely eject the card for removal.
Alas, by force removal (intentionally or unintentionally) without unmounting can be catastrophic, because behind the scenes, the Android OS is caching the filesystem's buffers in RAM so it gets out of sync physically.
This explains why, if not, in all desktops, such as Windows, Linux, Mac, you have to safely eject it in order for the filesystem's buffers to be flushed to the disk. This applies also to all kinds of medium, be it hard disks, flash, and yes, it did held true back in the days of 5.25" floppies.

Looks like you have the same problem as from this question.  I recommend using ROM Manager to flash the update.zip instead of the device recovery.  You need root!

Put the update.zip in your downloads folder (/sdcard/downloads)
Install ROM Manager
Open it and choose "Flash ClockworkMod Recovery"
It should prompt for your device, select it
Choose "Reboot into Recovery"
It should reboot the device, select "reinstall packages"
This should boot into Clockwork, you may have to do step 6 twice to get there
Choose "install zip from sdcard"
Find and select /sdcard/downloads/update.zip
Let Clockwork do the update!

Following Step 5, I don't have an option to reinstall packages.

Interesting ... perhaps you have the newer version of device recovery, I don't believe it works with Clockwork yet.  You could try the following: 5) Choose "Install ROM from SD card" (or similar) in ROM Manager and select /sdcard/downloads/update.zip 6) Let Clockwork do the update.

If everthing else fails, I would try to do a factory reset of the phone - you might be in luck and it's just a software glitch that appeared when you removed the SD card the first time, rather than a hardware problem. Otherwise, you will have to send the phone back to Sprint for repair :-(!

Did you try turning your phone off then back on again?
My Mom's SD card kept saying "damaged card, reformat", but then when I hit reformat it didn't work. So I turned off the phone and then back on and it is now working just fine.
She had a 8GB micro SD card and her phone is the LG Marquee.

The problem with the Signature Verification Failed error is as a result of attempting to flash an unsigned .zip file with the stock recovery.  Installable .zip files such as the one in that thread normally require a custom recovery, one that doesn't check to verify that the .zip file is signed with the phone manufacturer's unique key.
The problem with the SD card may just be exactly what it's telling you, it needs to be formatted.  Try popping it out of the phone and into a computer using an adapter, see if you can back up the SD Card's contents to a temp location on your computer, put it back in your phone, let Android format it (which will erase all data in the process) and test it out, make sure you don't get any more errors.  Once that's been verified, you should be able to copy your data back onto the SD card.
If it CONTINUES to happen, you may have the beginnings of an actual hardware failure on the SD card, and you might want to look into getting it replaced, or at least swapping with a known-good card for a while to see how it works.
Good luck!


text:
how do I setup notification rules for email in my exchange inbox?
At my company, I get WAY too much email to endure notification on ALL items. But maybe Boss and team emails are worth getting interupted for. (then again maybe not!)
I don't see a way to do this yet.
I'm on 2.2 with an HTC Evo (powered by the speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon!)
BG: I've been a stack overflow fan for years (and don't like PhBB that much), and Just got my android Phone.
I'd like to help this site get better.

PS I'd really like to help upvote questions or even answers.. But I can't !! I don't recall that 5 rep was needed to upvote back when I started using stack overflow!

I was panicking.  didn't know I just had to wait 20 min after first question.

Try these apps:

Mail Alert by DroidDevWork (on AppBrain)
MailDroid by Flipdog (on AppBrain)

Disclaimer: I have never used any of them.

You can try eNotify or eNotifyLite...It enables you to customize email notificiatons and create your own alerts based on the subject, sender and other properties: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hermes.enotifylite

I notice that both of your posts so far promote this app. Please ensure you are mindful of our [FAQ#promotion].

According to Richard: enotify only works for exchange 2007 and 2010 not for previous versions


text:
Why are there 2 folders SDCard and SDCard2 on a ViewSonic GTablet?
I see that there's a folder named sdcard and another named sdcard2 on a ViewSonic GTablet.  If I put the SD card in my PC, the sdcard2 folder is recognized by the PC.  If I connect the tablet to the PC via a USB cable, the sdcard folder is recognized on the PC.  Neither way allows me to copy any file to the root folder of the tablet (i.e. the folder named /).
Please explain as I'm kind of lost.

According to this thread /sdcard is the internal storage of your device. It is so named because Android counts on a FAT/FAT32 filesystem at that mountpoint for data storage. The optional external sdcard mounts to /sdcard2 and is evidently not available via USB from the tablet. These are the "user serviceable" locations in Android. To work with files outside these paths you will need to have root access on the device and use a 3rd party file explorer.

I believe that the ViewSonic doesn't have any onboard memory and instead has an SD card that can't be removed for internal storage and another removable sd.

The Galaxy S's do something similar but call them "internal" and "External" SD cards.


text:
How do I stop apps from installing themselves to my SD-card?
It seems that some apps default to saving to SD-card when they're first installed on Froyo rather than defaulting to internal memory, this is annoying because whenever I mount the SD Card as storage in Windows the icons for those apps disappear from my home screen, and I have to go into the apps list and find them to add them back onto the home screen. If I even notice they've gone.
I have a Galaxy S with over 1.4GB of internal memory free, so have absolutely no worries about apps taking up space on the internal storage, or running out of memory, so I'd like to use that space and save the SD storage for my files (ie pictures, movies and music).
Apps that had somehow moved themselves onto my SD Card when I checked just now were SliceIt and Open Signal Maps. In the past I remember that both Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons had done this too until I moved them back onto the phone (in fact I thought for a bit that Angry Birds Seasons had replaced Angry Birds as the original disappeared from the home screen around the same time that I installed Seasons, I then got suspicious a few days later when Seasons disappeared too and found them both on the SD).

Thanks to this answer to this question Is moving apps to SD only available to rooted devices?.
I've discovered the getInstallLocation ADB command and set the install location to internal on my un-rooted phone.
With the Android SDK installed, and my phone connected via USB with USB Debugging mode switched on, enter the following commands:
adb devices
(check that ADB can see my phone, and start necessary services)
adb shell
(connects a shell to the phone)
pm getInstallLocation
(returns 0[auto])
pm setInstallLocation 1
(sets the default install location to internal memory)
pm getInstallLocation
(run again to check that it is now set to the correct location, returns 1[internal])
exit
Safely Remove Hardware, unplug phone and all done, without any need for root!

Nice, i prefer option 2 i mean pm setInstallLocation 2 xDDD all to sdcard :(

Interesting, I had to be rooted to do this via Terminal Emulator on my device but I didn't try adb.

I haven't tried it yet myself, but here is an XDA thread featuring a program that lets you move any app on or off your SD card and set the installation default to Internal, SD or Auto. I believe Auto is the default.

Looks like this needs root, and has mainly been tested by people with the opposite wish to me (ie they want everything to go to SD card). As I'm currently unrooted, I'd prefer a non-root method if possible.

The only other method I've seen involved ADB commands on a rooted phone. I will say just once that root isn't something to fear and can open up lots of other capabilities on your device. Still up to you ultimately and I'll keep my eyes peeled for other solutions.


text:
How to buy an app for a friend?
I would like to buy a game (well several copies of it really) for some of my friends for Christmas. Is there any way to do this? Would I have to rely on the publisher, or is there some way to "gift" apps from the market?

As far as I know, there is no way to currently do this with the Android Market. They're missing a business opportunity here. I can't speak to other app stores, but even if they do have such a feature your friends would need to know how to side-load apk files.

@Al: I concur, but I think you should add "Buy, send & side load" as an answer because it is a legit way to accomplish what he's asking and as far as I can see its the only way.

Update: Google Play Gift Cards are now widely available in many countries. Thanks to @Chahk for reminding me to update.
Amazon has released their own Android Appstore which allow you to send Amazon gift cards that are redeemable for Android Apps. This requires a few extra steps, but should let you gift what you want to until this function gets added to the original Android Market Google Play Store.

Gift cards force me to pay 15€ when I want to give away an app for 2€, which is a waste in particular if its not a gift but should rather pass an app to the kids or the partner.