text:
Apps can't see the light sensor but automatic brightness works anyway?
I don't have a toggle for automatic brightness in my phone's settings menu and I cannot install apps like Lux Auto Brightness that depend on the light sensor. I can, however, turn automatic brightness on using Widgetsoid and it works fine. Why do all the apps think I don't have a light sensor and how can I fix this?
Since I have installed Cyanogenmod, I can now install Lux. However it always sees a brightness of -1 Lux.

Could you write what device you have?

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo V.

I also had this problem with Lux, always light reported -1, which I don't know it's a problem either from phone, sensor, Android, or Lux itself! BTW, I solved it by using front camera instead of light sensor. here is how:

go to Lux settings
click on Sample Collection
click on Light reading modes
select Camera instead of Light sensor
select Front camera (it's obvious that its better than rear camera for this purpose)
Now, from main screen of settings, click on Modify Linked Samples
from top, click on Luma (this app uses Lux for sensor readings and Luma for camera readings)
then you can see app reads ambient light value from camera and displays at top.
Now the app should do its job, but you may want to check other settings to match your preferences.

good luck

I figured that the app would work with the camera but this is only supported by the paid version.


text:
Call from Skype with front speaker
My phone has two speakers, one in front that is used during normal call, and one in the back (the "loudspeaker") that is used to play music and in hands-free mode. When I'm using Skype for Android, it uses the loud speaker. This is very uncomfortable if I want to make Skype call in public place. I could use headphones and mic, but I don't always have them with me.
Is there a way to call on Skype just like normal voice call, with the front speaker?
Eventually, any other app would be good, that can make calls to PC using any of major protocols (Skype, GTalk, MSN), and that uses front speaker.

I believe you should be able to switch between Loudspeaker and Earpiece like this in the screenshot at the bottom while in a call. On my Samsung Galaxy 3 running a custom 4.0.3 ROM, it's working fine.
But after searching on Skype Forums I found this - Speaker only on Android device
Looks like a lot of people are having the same issue from initial releases of Skype for Android. Devices and OS are different in each case, so there really is no solution for users other than to wait for a fix from Skype.
You should perhaps look for alternative apps like these-

Fring (Fring Google Play)
SIP  (SIP for Android)
GTalk for Android app. (Supports Video/VoIP from Android 2.3 onwards). See here - xda-develoeprs GTalk w/Video & Voice for 2.3.3 roms

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text:
Can I use my phone as an audio device via Wifi?
Is there any way to stream all audio from my (Windows) PC to my phone via Wifi, so that my phone acts like a sound card? I basically want to use my phone with my headphones as wireless headphones.
It looks like Remote Audio does this, but it is only for Linux.

I have experimented with streaming audio from PC to Android over Bluetooth. Recent versions of BlueZ are able to sink an A2DP stream, but the build I have on my phone (Droid running Sapphire 2.0.2) is outdated and won't do it. You may have better luck.
If that won't work, Android's media player may be able to receive one of the streaming protocols that VLC supports. Another poster may know more about this.

Think of it from another point of view: what do you want to listen to? Using Wifi I doubt that it is possible to acheive a latency suitable for games or movies.
I have a BT A2DP connector on my stereo and even that does not provide enough speed to play movies properly.
This leaves us with music. Then it is in almost every case more useful to play it on the phone, not on the computer and stream the result. What you are looking for, then is a DLNA player on the phone. There are some on the market. Depending on your Windows version, a DLNA server will already be built in.

You can check out Soundwire, there is a paid and free version so you can choose which one of them suits your need by checking out the description.

High latency, 2 secs or more.

CNET has great video here that explains how to do exactly what you want.
Use Skifta, and you can stream from your PC to your phone.

From what I can see, this is not what I was looking for. I don't want to access my computer's media library but stream audio from arbitrary applications. Also it works by sending everything via Skifta's servers and I'd rather avoid that.

In Tschareck's defense, Skifta uses one of the only standards you'll find for accomplishing what you're after: uPnp.  Using Skifta (on your phone) and a uPnp Control Point you should be able to play music from any of your devices (including your PC) on your phone.  I think this is the best you'll find so far for playing audio through your phone.  As far as I know, this does not require a Skifta account and, unless you want to stream over the internet, will transfer media from device to device and not through Skifta's servers.

I basically want to use my phone with my headphones as wireless
  headphones

Instead of one application, I have found more convenient to use two parallel apps, one for controlling the PC from Android phone and the other for sending all PC sound to the phone at the same time:

keep the actual playing on the PC (use PC-OS instead of Android to process the media files)
remote-control the playing with the Android phone (depending on the player: controlling Foobar2000 with FoobarCon (and FoobarCon component setup), Clementine with Clementine remote and VLC with VLC Mobile Remote - PC & Mac)
send all sound to Android with the SoundWire server that should run on the PC:  it is to be found here (the Windows package worked great for me but for whatever reason the Linux one did not: the one that worked for me is this (also uploaded here)). The Android app is SoundWire free.

In order to hear only the sound coming from Android:

in Windows: muting the laptop speakers from the dedicated key or the external speakers keeps the Android sound
in Linux the same key mutes all sounds, including Android. So, open Pulse Audio Volume Control (pavucontrol - install it if it's absent) from the SoundWire window and there go to 'Configuration/Profile' and switch to 'Off' to hear only the sounds from Android.

Foobar2000 and FoobarCon component setup can be used also in Linux (I tested in Playonlinux) and remotely controlled from Android with FoobarCon.

Use Apple Airplay Protocol.
There is plenty of software using that like Airfoil Speakers which works on android, windows, ios...

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text:
How can I use a Bluetooth keyboard with my Android 4.0 phone?
My phone recently received an upgrade to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) over the air and want to connect a Bluetooth keyboard to it.
My phone is a Samsung Nexus S 4G (Sprint) and the keyboard is a Logitech Bluetooth Keyboard for Android 3.0+. I had tried to connect the keyboard earlier, while running Android 2.3.x, with little success. What information I could find at the time suggested that Android lacked a Bluetooth keyboard "driver" prior to Honeycomb, so I was enthusiastic about the upgrade to ICS.
Sadly, however, doing what's obvious isn't working for me:

Enable Bluetooth in my phone settings.
Turn on the keyboard.
(Keyboard appears in list of Bluetooth devices on phone.)
Select keyboard from list of devices.
(Prompt with PIN appears on phone.)
Enter PIN on keyboard.
(Keyboard shows on the phone as paired.)

At this point, however, no further settings present themselves. The configuration for the keyboard only allows renaming and unpairing. The keyboard doesn't appear in the Keyboards and Input settings at all. Nor, of course, does simply typing on the keyboard cause input to appear on my phone.
Can this combination of hardware be made to work? How can I proceed?

Do you have any custom keyboards installed? I've found that when I pair the external Bluetooth keyboard (tried two models) the phone errors and reports you must change back to the standard Samsung IME keyboard before the it will type. You can manually change the input method with the hot key inside any writing app, but the message will reappear and convert the keyboard back to Samsung IME.

I've pared this down quite a bit because your original post was, in all honestly, incredibly difficult to follow due to all of the extraneous commentary and formatting issues. Also, please don't ask questions within answers, they're not an appropriate place to post them (although in answer to your now removed question, see http://android.stackexchange.com/a/11401/981).


text:
Customize date display format?
Is it possible to customize the format in which Android displays the current date?
I'm interested mainly in:

the date format at the top on screen when pulling down the notification menu (currently for me, it's "DD/MM/YYYY")
The date format at the lock screen (currently for me, it's "Weekday, D Month")

I would like to have all dates displayed in ISO 8601 format, YYYY-MM-DD. The global date format can be changed from settings, but the only available options are MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY and YYYY/MM/DD, and it seems there's no way to define a completely custom date format or set - as a custom field separator. This also doesn't affect the lock screen.
I'm using a rooted Android 2.2 (Froyo) with Samsung TouchWiz 3.0. I'm also insterested in answers that require CyanogenMod or other custom ROMs.

Isn't it that for the date in the Notification bar, you can simply change it in the Settings -> Date and Time -> Date Format? However, I have no idea about the Lock Screen format change.

Running CM7 here. (This is Android 2.3 but should apply to 2.2 as well; I'll check on my Replicant phone a little later tonight.) I've set the System date format to ISO 8601. The status bar & lock screen haven't changed.

@SamSPICA There are only three options available, and no way to customize. Sorry for not being clear enough, I added more details to the question.

any updates on this? android 10 doesn't even have date format settings anymore...

The Notification Bar uses the global date format. So, just switch to the desired format from Settings ~> Date and time ~> Select Date Format.
For the lock screen, use a lock screen app. Search the Play Store, you can find many.

You can only select three different options from the settings, no way to customize. I provided more details to the question to make it more clear.

I assume from the second part of your answer that there is no way to change the built-in lock screen format? (I generally try to avoid installing apps unless I'm sure there's use for them.)

@Ilari Then, there's no way to do this.. :( sorry!

On android 6, marshmallow, the same setting works for both.

I ran into same problem. It seems to be in many ROMs that you have to change the language to access other date-time formats. I had to change for instance to German, since none of the options for English supported DD.MM.YYYY format.
Hope this helps. Simply try out languages you would like to use most and see in date time settings, whether they support your desired format.


text:
How do I disable Instagram notifications?
How do I disable push notifications for Instagram? As much as possible, I don't want apps to do any push notifications (except for MMS).

It's quite easy.

Go to Instagram app
Tap on your own name in stream (or the card icon) to go to your profile
Tap the 3 vertical dots next to your name
Tap Edit profile
Scroll down, tap Push notifications
Uncheck what you don't want. Voila!

For some reason, Instagram still pushes notifications when your facebook friends join Instagram, even if you have disabled all notifications in the Instagram app.  To try and actually disable all Instagram notifications, I went to my phone's "Settings", selected "Apps" (under the "Device" category), looked at all downloaded apps, selected "Instagram", and unchecked the "Show notifications" option.  It warned me that I might miss important updates (thank goodness) and I said "ok".

Instructions for Android Samsung S4 (similar but slightly different from what Ponder wrote):

Select "Settings"
then "More"
then select "Application Manager"
Scroll to find the Instagram App and select it.
Then, uncheck the box that reads "Show Notifications."

Launch your Instagram app from the app drawer.
As the app opens up, click on the button for Direct Message, which is often located at the top right corner.
Tap on it and all your direct message conversations you have ever had on Instagram would appear.
Now click on any conversation that you would like to mute.
After you open that very conversation, tap on the ‘i’ button that appears on the top right corner again.
After you click on it, a new screen would appear and it would let you mute that very conversation and in future you wouldn’t have any alerts or notifications from that conversation on Instagram direct messaging.

If you still feel difficult to follow , here is the  clear picture demonstration of the above process in the following link                                   how to mute notifications of instagram notification

OP wants to disable all the notifications from Instagram app.Your post answers to disable a particular conversation. This does not cover  other notifications from instagram such as when someone likes/comments on your photo or someone follows you.


text:
What is Plain Vanilla Android?
I have an HTC Desire (which I enjoy a lot). However, HTC hasnt updated the device to ICS (they say they will update this year, no specific date).
Can I get a plain android version from Google and install it? What is the difference between the Google Android and the HTC (or other brand) Android?

Technically, yes, you can build the "plain version" of Android: http://source.android.com/source/initializing.html
However, it is difficult to do this for all but a handful of devices (official "Google" developer devices, such as the Nexus line of phones) because every Android phone requires its own drivers and these are not freely available.
This is where projects like CyanogenMod step in: they take the vanilla build of Android, add a few minor features to it, and then try to release it for as many devices as possible. Typically way before any manufacturer gets around to updating the phones (if ever). CyanogenMod 9 is the ICS version of Android, and is tba.
In short, the difference between HTC and Google is that HTC takes the vanilla Android version and then "skins" it with HTC Sense. This is one of the many reasons there is a bit of a delay between when Google release a new version of Android (for example, ICS) and when the manufacturers get around to doing it, because they have to fix their changes/skin to the new version of Android.

First of all HTC will not be releasing ICS for HTC Desire.
You can get plain vanilla Android experience, i.e. Android built for HTC desire using ICS source from here. This ROM is built directly using the code from Google. But Google isn't building it. Awesome guy by the name Sandvold is building it. Please note that this is only a beta version and USB tethering, video and panorama aren't working yet.
I've been using this ROM from past few months and its awesome. Its fast and smooth.
In case you want to follow the development, the development thread is here.
As noted by @Brian, you need to root your phone before you can install this.

No you can't.. Google creates the "plain android version" or vanilla, specifically to work with only a couple of phones (Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus), for the other phones the manufacturer has to customize the Operating System to work with their hardware, and the Carrier (AT&T etc) usually has to pay the manufacturer for that OS version and at the same time asking to have their bloatware put in as well.
Your best bet is to buy the most popular phone or the Nexus line of phones.
For your current phone you should check out http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=628 and see if someone has ported over ICS in a custom rom, you'll need to root your phone, but it's worth it :)


text:
Will a stylus work with my HTC Sensation?
I'm interested in buying a stylus pen for my HTC Sensation.
Do these work on the HTC Sensation?

The HTC Sensation uses a capacitive touchscreen, so any standard capacitive stylus will work for touch-based input. Simply be sure you don't purchase a stylus designed for a resistive touchscreen.


text:
Is there any way to check the backup that android does?
Today I have been researching a bit about the Android backup options (since I have seen some people having to lose all their data due to ICS serious bugs).
From now, I prefer to use native options, such as the "default" option or the adb backup -all command.
But my question is about the regular way.
I enabled the Settings->Backup->Backup my data option (on ICS). Now I would like to check on my Google Account Preferences when was the last backup was made, and which data is safely backed up - and which isn't.
I'm not sure if that's possible. Does anybody know?

I believe one's best recourse would be to undertake a nandroid backup as well as use an app like Titanium Backup. Even if one isn't rooted, I believe that's a far more efficient and overall better way of backing up one's device.

I agree with sparkx. I had to restore my phone, so I restored it using a nandroid backup, but it wasn't working right, half my apps wouldn't open, half my settings were missing, and the apps that did open didn't work correctly. So I flashed the Stock ROM back on and restored my apps from a Titanium Backup that I did and that worked pretty well. (Although not perfectly, some of my apps still won't work right. Like Swype and TextPlus)

I should probably follow @Sparx advice, but well, having two backups is safer than one, besides, AFAIK, for a proper Titanium backup you need your phone rooted.

I went to https://www.google.com/dashboard/b/0/ and found the section labeled "Android device"; that had a link labeled "More data stored about this device".  Clicking that opened a popup window that showed a disappointingly short list of apps that had backed up some of their data: just some of the built-in apps from Google.

The above paragraph was written in 2012; five years later the situation seems better: the relevant link is now https://myaccount.google.com/dashboard, and my list of apps is nice and long: 85, and they're not all from Google :-)

Mine doesn't even have anything under Android Devices :/

That was exactly what I was looking for, but I agree, the list is not complete at all.

@mdelolmo: The list shall be complete, but this is a feature that is be provided ('requested') by app's developers. Unfortunately few apps use (provide us) this feature integrated with google backup (look how it works: http://goo.gl/ABvsS)

Now Google seem to have moved the backup info to https://drive.google.com/drive/backups. However they only display the total number of apps that are backed up for each Android device. They no longer provide backup stats - date and size - for each app:(. Does anyone know where to find this now?

Five years later in 2021, looks like Google Dashboard is not showing non-Google apps/services anymore. While there's "Android Backups" entry showing the number of the apps, the last backup time is not there. And for unknown reasons, clicking the header goes to "Find My Device" (while "Delete backup data" goes to the right link, Google Drive's Backups).

If you have Google Drive on your Android device then open it and go to Backups. Tap on the device's name you're interested in to see what's been backed up and when - App data, Call history, Device settings and SMS. Tap on App data to see the when each of your apps was last backed up.

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text:
How can Google Maps accurately locate my phone when GPS is disabled?

Possible Duplicate:
How does Google Maps estimate my location without GPS?

I was wondering how Google Maps on my Android phone can locate me with a good accuracy when my GPS is disabled.
At first I though it was with the cell tower but I'm not sure it can achieve this precision and it is way better when the wireless is enabled.
Experiment that i did.

If GPS is OFF and Wifi is ON = Perfect location
If Wifi is ON GPS OFF = Still Perfect location
If Wifi is OFF and GPS is ON =  location is not precise.

Tested this with 5 -6 Phones
Any Idea why ?

What's the difference between 1 and 2 in your experiment? Are you indoors or outdoors?

Google have a huge database of the approximate locations of a large number of phone network cell towers and wifi access points all around the world. If your phone can "see" one (or more) known cell-tower IDs or Wifi AP SSIDs, then it can query Google's database to ask where that is and use that for your location. The cell network towers have a large range (kilometers in some cases) so that alone won't give a precise location. As Wifi is a very short range signal your phone can locate you very precisely using that, particularly if you're also picking up Wifi signals of different strengths from neighbouring houses to triangulate from.
All of the quoted sections below are from: Google Maps Help - Location-based services

Because GPS is not always available and locations derived from cell
  towers aren’t very accurate, Google (and other Internet companies) use
  publicly broadcast Wi-Fi data from wireless access points to improve
  our location-based services. By using signals from these access
  points, your mobile device is able to fix its general location quickly
  without using too much power.

...

Our Location Server uses only publicly broadcast Wi-Fi information to estimate the location of a device:
The MAC (Media Access Control) address. This is a number that identifies computing devices – whether PCs, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, or wireless access points – interacting with a network. MAC addresses usually look like this: 00:01:02:0A:0B:0C. The number is usually fixed for the life of the device. A MAC address tells you nothing about the owner or user of the equipment concerned. It’s just a string of characters that’s technically necessary for web pages and other content to be properly delivered to your device over the Internet.

This data has been collected in two main ways: as their Google Street View car drives around it always has a precise GPS fix, at the same time it listens out for Wifi APs that broadcast their identity and records where it was when it picked them up, and does the same for phone network cell towers; in addition they "crowd-source" the data from Google Maps users on mobile devices, as the Google Maps users travel around with GPS enabled Google Maps will check which cell-towers they're connected to and which wifi points they can "see" and periodically upload this information.

Google Maps on an Android handset is an example of a reliable channel, since we can be confident that the SSIDs and MAC addresses it sends as part of a location request haven’t been tampered with before being sent.
So, for example, one way to ensure that your changed SSID is submitted to Google quickly, open Google Maps on an Android Device with WiFi enabled, and use the My Location feature to establish a location fix in the vicinity of your WiFi access point.

See also How does Android get the coarse location?

@gathrawn- Its  still Hard to believe that WIFI's AP SSID can tell the location. Is there some Documentation that you could provide please ?  :)
If i get a new WIFI modem then? In that case Googles Database dosnt have my ID , So what would happen in that case?

Google don't just use your WiFi modem's details, it will also check the details of any other WiFi APs it can detect in the area. Changing your WiFi modem means that your non-GPS fix will be slightly less accurate for a while as it has to rely on other sources (like other people's wifi or cell towers), until enough other devices have detected and logged your new AP for Google to get a fix on where it is. Adding references to the answer in a couple of minutes, but I'm pretty sure it's a combination of your WiFi AP's SSID and its MAC address that gives it the unique ID

Android offers two ways (from a developer point of view) to determine your current location:
LOCATION_COARSE
Allows an application to access coarse (e.g., Cell-ID, WiFi) location
LOCATION_FINE
Allows an application to access fine (e.g., GPS) location
So to answer your first question: Yes Android can determine your location just by the cell-broadcast. Keyword here is triangulation and this depends on the density of the broadcast towers. In Berlin you get about 100 m accuracy.
As you can see, the Android documentation says "e.g.", because some phones may also have GLONASS support etc. to determine your location. You have to check your specific phone GPS chip to check what frequency it supports (L2 etc.).
So regarding your second question:
Since GPS falls into the category of LOCATION_FINE it will be picked if available. So Android can not distinguish which position signal is better.
Indoors GPS may be worse, but will still be picked if available, because generally speaking it is a more precise signal.

In My case the GPS doesn't give precise location but WIFI gives it ( Weather GPS is OFF or ON ) :) What is the reason behind that ?

Android does not use triangulation for the location determination. It's just a simple GSM Cell Tower Database.


text:
What happens in background when an app is linked or unlinked to/from Play Store?
If you are rooted, you can use Titanium Backup to link or unlink an app to/from Play Store. What does Titanium Backup do for it? I don't think Android API supports this directly. It alters a file or database or something else?
I am just curious...

It removes the app's entry from the /data/data/com.android.vending/databases/localappstate.db database:
root@android:/data/data/com.android.vending/databases # ls
library.db
library.db-journal
localappstate.db
market_assets.db-journal
suggestions.db
suggestions.db-journal
appstate.db
root@android:/data/data/com.android.vending/databases # sqlite3 localappstate.db
SQLite version 3.7.4
Enter ".help" for instructions
Enter SQL statements terminated with a ";"
sqlite> select * from appstate where package_name='com.android.chrome';
com.android.chrome|2||||0|||<myemail>@gmail.com||

... Here I detached from the Market with Ti ...

sqlite> select * from appstate where package_name='com.android.chrome';
sqlite>

I'm not aware of it making any other modifications to the filesystem (it doesn't touch library.db insofar as I can tell), but it's possible that there's some other magic behind it.


text:
How to stop display turn on and consuming battery power, when using Headphones remote control or volume button?
I don't know if this depends on the music player (I'm using mort player music) or standby screen (I have widgetlocker app as lockscreen), I don't see any options in these apps to change this. In Android 2.3.4 (rooted) I have set turn off Display after 30 sec.
When I jump to next/forward song via remote control button of my headset, every time the display turns on for 30 sec. For the volume buttons the same.
Is there a way to stop this behaviour and save battery power. E.g. only turn on screen when pushing HOME or POWER button when in standby? Any apps like tasker able to manage this?

I believe it depends upon the music player app. Have you tried using another music player?
In my case, I didn't encounter this issue. I have used Samsung Galaxy 3 with several music players including stock player and also with a Bluetooth headset.
I think the app itself is the cause for this, which is causing screen wake-up on next/previous, and in my opinion is a poor implementation.
I don't know of any apps which allow to change the screen on behavior like this. It may be available in Cyanogen-mod perhaps.


text:
How much does an LCD's backlight drain the battery?
The screen tends to be one of the biggest consumers of electricity. How much of this is for the backlight vs the actual screen, particularly in the case of an LCD?

I don't have hard numbers, but it should be nearly all the backlight.  That said, I don't think this is an Android question.

Not strictly, but similar to this question it is still relevant in my opinion. However if there is a more fitting site we could move it too, we definitely should.

Erik, you're right.  I've brought this up on Meta and re-opened this in the meantime.

I think it's one of those edge cases which is valid. Sure, every smartphone has a battery, but maybe there is something peculiar to the way Android uses the display that would come to bear here (although, frankly, it's almost certainly hardware-specific if anything). That said, it's a really open-ended question and I doubt there's a single, correct answer.

Not only the screen is a main consumer. Based on the Motorola Droid, I can give you some data to compare:
Video recording         1557 mW
UMTS Upload             1410 mW
UMTS Download           1349 mW
EGDE Upload             1179 mW
WLAN Download           1158 mW
Video play (fullscreen) 1135 mW (already minus the display)
UMTS phone call          983 mW
Camera                   934 mW
EGDE Download            853 mW
Bluetooth receive        751 mW
Display (at max)         730 mW
GPS Search               550 mW
GSM phone call           511 mW
Bluetooth send           487 mW
WLAN Upload              479 mW
Display (at min)         310 mW
MP3 play                 160 mW
UMTS Standby              18,3 mW
GSM/EDGE Standby          11,6 mW
WLAN Standby               7,8 mW
Bluetooth Standby          2,8 mW
GPS Standby                0,4 mW

As you can see, there are clearly compontents/actions with a much higher energy consumptions -- but the display gives you good potential to reserve some.
Data source is an article at Heise.DE called Energiesparplan (google translate version here).


text:
Gmail app not sending Email with attachments
I have a lot of images I want to send from my phone to an email. I had in the past some error messages about emails being too big, so this time I sent in most emails 3 pics, which all queued in the outbox, and about 3 emails got through after a while. But now I have more than a day 20 emails in the outbox and it seems that nothing is happening. So my questions are:

Whats going wrong?
Is there anything I can do? (beside sending via BT to a computer, and email from there)

I have tried:

Leaving the phone with open Wi-Fi connection all night
Rebooting the phone (and leave another night with Wi-Fi)
Checked at google's documentation and found out that they're limit is 25 MB per mail

Random info that might be relevant:

All mails are going to the same person with the same subject, and no body - gmail could be blocking them because a misuse is suspected.
I can surf the web as usual through the browser. No connection problems.
Each image is about 3MB, so each mail has a total of 9 MB.
There is exactly one email that has 4 images in it - not the first in the list.
First email in the list has only 2 images (both smaller that 2.9 MB)
I get notified about new emails I get.

I've had this problem before, very intermittent however so I don't have a solution. Uploads don't seem to work well...

Did you check with Logcat when sending? Might be some error messages/warnings could indicate what's going on. If unused to this, aLogcat could prove helpful.

I have the same problem, I think also for emails without attachments. The solution is to open the respective email. When I open it (by tapping on it in the Outbox), it gets sent within a few seconds (the caption goes from "Queued" to "Sending" to "Sent" or something like that within seconds).

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text:
How long does a posted review last on the Android store?
I have given reviews before and then came back some time later and noticed they were gone.
What is the duration that the android store displays my reviews?
Thanks!

Questions regarding the Android Market (now Google Play Store) that are about the internal workings of the store and aren't about interacting with the Store app via your Android device aren't really on-topic here.

If you try to leave a review again from the same account, does it let you?  Does it show the previous review, or act like nothing has been input before?
Reviews shouldn't age off (unless they're removed for profanity or other reasons), but some developers have noted that ratings suddenly disappeared from their app.  Maybe it was a one-time bug.


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Android USB data/power over audio jack
Is it possible to connect my Android (Droid 2 Global) to my PC using an USB->Audio converter?

Square is able to interface with their device over the audio jack on Android.
iPod shuffles are accessible through their audio jack as well.

So, I feel that this is possible, but is it implemented/what is required to interact with my Android phone through it's audio jack?

A software modem (modulator-demodulator). We nowadays think of modem as the squeaky card that were used in the days of dial up to connect to the internet, but a modem is simply just a device used to convert digital signal to analog sound signal and back again. The hardware in the receiving end also had to implement a modem with the same protocol.
Needless to say this will probably be a very slow connection, and implementing such modem will involve a lot of programming and so is out of topic for Android SE.
The audio jack carried very little power, it may be possible to use it to power very simple devices like Square and the like, but in general it's too small for general purpose use.
However I doubt that Square actually had a full modem stack for general purpose data transfer, they probably just implemented a custom protocol that are specifically geared for their particular use case. And so is the Shuffle.


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Galaxy S2 no USB Conenction after firmware update
I just got an automatic firmware update for my Galaxy S2
Android 2.3.6
I9100GXXKL4
Kernel 2.6.35.7 dpi@DELL164 #2
GINGERBREAD.XXLB1

Now the USB connection does not work anymore and I cannot continue developing using eclipse. Where can I find new drivers for the new version? Already checked samsung.com but did not find anything!

I don't think this is a driver issue.
Please try the following-

Unplug the USB cable from your phone.
On the phone, dial the following number:   *#7284#

Once the last # is hit, the PhoneUtil application should be launched.

Choose USB -> Modem and then USB -> PDA mode.

The good mode should be PDA. Even if the mode is PDA, switch to Modem and then back to PDA!!!

Now Plug the USB cable back in your phone/PC and check if it works.

(I had the same problem on my Samsung Galaxy 3, and I resolved it like this)

Thanks so much. Sameer Sharma. I've got the same problem on my GalaxyS2, 2.3.6 version of Android. "Android 2.3.6
I9100GXXKL4
Kernel 2.6.35.7 dpi@DELL164 #2
GINGERBREAD.XXLB1" It works.

You are welcome! Glad I could help. :)

I had this same problem:

Uninstall Kies and USB drivers
Restart PC
Install Kies
Restart PC
Finally, connect phone to PC (USB debugging off) then let Windows automatically install drivers for the phone


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Android 4.0 ICS in Samsung galaxy R

Possible Duplicate:
Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

I want to install Android 4.0 in samsung galaxy R. However i have installed ClockWork in my phone by following this link. But i haven't find any ICS ROM for samsung galaxy R phone. I have also remarked that the reference i have found to install ICS is all for Samsung galaxy s2, and i have also downloaded the ROM named ALPHA7.zip of Sam. Galx. S2 . If i will install that rom in my sam. galaxy R phone then will it be cause the problem? If yes then please give me a good reference from which i can install ICS in my sam. galx. R phone and also downloadable link of ICS ROM for sam. galaxy R.
Thanks in advance.

You can look for a Galaxy R custom ROM on xda-developers section of your device. (Link)
Do not flash the Galaxy S II ROMs on your Galaxy R, or you may end up with a unusable device.
From a quick glance I had on your device's section, it seems that it doesn't have a ICS/CM9 port yet, but that may change.
Currently only CM7 is being ported. Though since your device is lined up for Official ICS update, my advice would be to wait for it.
See more here - xda-developers Galaxy R Guide

Thanks sameer sharma. But why custom rom is removed from every multiupload.com link? From where can i actually download that ROM?

Which ROM are you trying to download? Most custom ROM developers now uses Google Code to host their ROMs, so you should have a direct link to download.

I have gone through this site http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1449318, there is a link beside "Download Link :". but when i click on that link i cant find anything except "GT-I9103-Infected.zip" label. Can u pls give me the link of google code link for download?

@AnandSoni i don't know if it made the news where you are, but the MegaUpload case was headline news over here a few months ago. Due to that a lot of anonymous file-hosting services like multiupload.com have stopped sharing anonymous files, like the ROMs you're looking for. This is the site owners' attempts to save themselves from court cases, fines and prison. Unfortunately you'll have to wait while the ROM developers find new places that are happy to host their files.

@AnandSoni Please download from this post, and be sure to read all the tutorials. xda-developers Galaxy R infected ROM download link post

@Sameer Sharma & GAThrwn. Thanks for sharing this link. Thanks a lot!!!!


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Sync only one contact group
I  am using Samsung Galaxy ACE with Android 2.3. Since I have too many email contacts in google I do not want to sync everything to my phone and consume the precious phone memory. Also syncing so many contacts will make them slow, tough I would not even ever call them

Similar questions: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/18053/disable-syncing-of-contact-that-belongs-to-multiple-groups http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/9945/sync-only-gmail-my-contacts-group-on-android-2-3 http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2472/how-do-i-sync-only-my-contacts-from-google-on-samsung-galaxy-s

You can manage My Contacts (it's a system group, it should be there by default, you can create a new one also) in your GMail contacts, and then select those only you want to sync with phone, move everything else to other Groups.
When you will add the Google account to your device, go to contacts and select display options, and choose the My Contacts group only. (or whatever you created)
This will limit the contacts appearing in the contacts list.

Right this will only limit the contacts appearing in the contacts list, I wanted them not to sync at all to save phone memory.

AFAIK, You can't selectively sync the contacts. Only select an option to not show them in contacts list. See here - Google Groups - Contact Sync Issue


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What are the optimal settings for a video that will be played on a Galaxy Tab 10.1?
What are the best size, compression settings, and format for making video for playback on a Galaxy Tab 10.1?

Video
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will work best with MP4 files (H.264 encoding) at 720p (1280x720). Do not use Entropy Coding. I'm noticing a few problems with it; it could be the video / my setup though and not the device itself.
Use a constant bitrate at a reasonable quality level (RF:20 should be good, or around 1000kbps). Maximum B-Frames should be set to 0, and Reference frames to 4 or 5.
Audio
As far as audio goes you should be fine with most anything; a samplerate of 48 and a bitrate of 160 should be good. Make sure to downmix to stereo. AAC is probably you best bet for the codec.
Summary
More information can be found here and here (though you might want to experiment a bit with some of the advanced settings if you feel that you need them—Probably not a big deal though).
Audio: AAC with Bitrate of 160, Samplerate of 48; downmix to stereo
Video: H.264 in an MP4 wrapper at 720p (1280x720) at a constant bit rate

Do not force resolution to 1280x720! Always keep the aspect ratio!

@Richard Borcsik: Well yah; I wasn't suggesting he resize all of his videos to 1280x720; but assuming 16:9 that's what will look best. Just recommended dimensions.

I didn't think that you did, just mentioned it because you didn't, so people don't try to do so.

Great answer! One question: I don't use Handbrake, so I don't know what RF:20 means in terms of bitrate. Can you provide an actual bitrate number that would be ideal?

Thanks; I mentioned Handbrake because that seems to be the standard thing that most people use, but RF isn't specific to it. RF actually corresponds to the compression level, not the bitrate (my answer sounded a bit ambiguous, sorry). RF19 or 20 is about where a DVD is, which is why you'll see that number thrown around a lot. If you have to set bitrate separately, don't skimp. The Galaxy Tab will do fine with higher bitrate video (most things will set it automatically based on the compression level and the original source bitrate).

Oops, forgot to include the actual bitrate... 1000kbps should be a safe upper limit, and maybe more than you'll need. Answer updated.

Tells me everything I needed to know. Thanks very much! A bounty of 50 points for you! :)

Glad I could be of service

Take a look at this thread on XDA-Developers forums.  There's a good discussion with presets for Handbrake (conversion software) that should work well for GTab 10.1.
Basic settings are as follows:
Video: H.264 codec, MP4 container, picture width 1200, constant quality with RF:20, loose anamorphic with modulus 16.
Audio: AAC format, 128 bitrate.

+1 for the Handbrake how-to, that's the path I'd choose.

While there's probably too much information in that thread to include it all here, if that link fails to work this answer is absolutely useless. Can you at least include some of the useful information here?


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How to enable silent mode during calendar events?
I'd like to disable all notification sounds whenever there is a current event in Calendar. How can I do this automatically?

Llama will let you do this, and it is free (Tasker costs money). It has many of the features as Tasker and Locale, and it can even use Locale plugins. I have grown fond of this app and have set up many automated events.
To do this in Llama, you create two events and two profiles.
Profiles

Create a new profile and name it something like "No Notifications". Uncheck all of the volume options except for Change notification volume. Set the volume level to 0.
Create a second profile and name it "Normal". Again, uncheck all volume options except for Change notification volume. This time, set the volume level to whatever you want, like 5/7.

Events

Create a new event.
Under Actions, click Add Condition and select Calendar Event. Use the defaults.
Next, click Add Action. Select Profile and choose your silent profile.
Create a second event. This one will be the opposite of your first event, so change the condition of the calendar to "Event finished/Not current event" and set the action profile to your normal profile.

The developer of Llama is still working on it and adding new features, and you can get details here.

This is, in fact, what I ended up doing.

Tasker will do this for you. It allows you to automate tasks when certain conditions are met (and is a truly awesome app). Tasker works by monitoring Contexts and then performing Tasks when those contexts match the conditions you set. Contexts and Tasks are grouped together to create Profiles.
You can set up a Tasker Profile with the Calendar Event Context (set to whatever conditions meet your needs, e.g. "From my Google Calendar [Calendar]," "When event shows me as [busy]," and/or "With title [Title]") and a Task containing Silent Mode > On.
You can find more information about Tasker from the Tasker Homepage and from the Tasker Wiki.

You can try Silent!. It's a very easy app to put your phone insilent mode.
It has a schedule plus a white list (to prevent you from losing important calls). It also has a location option; so it turns your phone to silent mode only if you're in a specified place.
It's very simple to use and doesn't need a lot of configurations to work.

I wrote an app, Free Busy Silent Mode which will be useful. Very minimal configuration needed, you just need to pick which calendar account to sync, that's it.

That link is dead

I've defined a custom flow in automate app from llama.
I use location based rules in combination with my calendar like:
At work, set ring tone to low level
At work and occuring meeting, enable do not disturb profile
Etc.
Works pretty well!

OP wants to permanently disable those, not just in specific locations. Do you suggest to permanently enable DND mode then? Doesn't sound like a suitable solution to me. Your answer is fine, but it doesn't fit the question I'm afraid…

I also wrote an app Polite which allows you to pick keywords in your calendar events

I do not know why this answer is voted as not useful. The idea in the app is very good and has a very good aspect easy to customize. Unfortunately, there seems to be a problem with recent versions of Android that stops this app frequently and so it renders the app useless. This may be the reason.


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How to play hyperlink to mp3 on Android
When I lick on a link to a mp3 file on in web page on my Android phone. It starts playing it on Google music player, but as soon as I hit home button or back button it stops playing. I know why it is behaving such a way (Activity that is playing the audio file is destroyed when back button is hit or paused when home button is pressed). Problem is I'm not able to figure out a way to work around this limitation.
One thing that I can do is copy and paste a link in a player that accepts hyperlink as input. Unfortunately Google music player does not.
Has any onw figured out a work around for this?

I use MixZing music player. I have set it as default player for music and when I click a mp3 file link in browser, it opens the file in MixZing by default and streaming works well. It plays the mp3 file in background when you press the back button.
This is an alternate solution. I don't thing it is possible to play the mp3 links in background in Android's default music player.

I've run into the same issue. I usually long-press on the link and choose Save Link to save the mp3 file to my phone, then I just play it in my media app of choice.

That trick works if you are on android stock Browser. Chrome for android does not have save link as option. Also I'm using google reader which also does not have this option.

Chrome for Android should have this option available as of v0.18.4409.2396 (this was just resolved a few hours ago as of this post). As for Google Reader for Android you might be out of luck for a Save Link option.


text:
Not enough storage on android device
When I download application from Market I obtain out of memory error.
In fact I have about 2Gb free storage on SD Card and it seems there is out of space of internal phone storage.
How to clear internal storage? E.g. remove some cache files or somewhat else?
How to obtain access to phone storage?
(When I connect my android device to PC without SD card I even have no choice to connect as a disc)
I moved all application which can be moved to Android device with App2SD.
It is really annoying - I have memory of SD Card but in fact I can not use it.
My device is HTC Desire, Android 2.3.3
Thanks a lot!

Have you looked at HTC Desire low on internal storage, I'm clueless — Any help?

I have not found answer there

So you didn't find any of the ten answers there to be of any help? Can you explain a bit what differentiates your case from all of those or what it is that you're looking for? As currently worded this certainly seems like it would be a duplicate of that question.

There are no any accepted answer there. Have you noticed this? Moreover some answers are just describing problem on similar environment. And for some answers I am too stupid to understand them. Or do you beleive that I want to wait for answer here instead of just reading answer which already exist? That answers do not save time for me - as a result I have no sence in this site on such circumstances

Memory or storage? There is a difference.

@Al Everett I meant phone storage, not internal memory. I updated question, seems more clear now

Most probably your internal memory is too low.
You can't access it without rooting your device. And it won't be visible in your PC/desktop anyways with a USB connection. (it can't be mounted)
From what I understand your HTC Desire device has 512 MB of internal ROM which is used for both your stock firmware and user installed apps.
The 512 MB storage may be divided into several partitions. System partition holds your ROM (firmware) and may include apps which came per-installed when you purchased the device.
The data partition is where your apps are stored. To check, how much actual space you have for data partition-

Go to Settings -> Applications menu.

You should get a list of installed apps with available storage at bottom like this,

This will be the actual memory available to you. To increase this, you could try

Moving apps to SD Card (which I believe you have already tried).
Root your device and delete unwanted system apps (bloatware)
Install a custom ROM, with app2sd/data2sd scripts, which enables you to use a ext3/ext4 partition on your SD card to use for installing apps. ( A  1GB partition would do fine.)

Although there is a alternative too, which can help you move some of the apps which are by default not enabled for moving to SD Card.

Requirements

An Android Device (Obviously.. ) (Root not required)
USB Cable
A PC (Any OS will do Windows, Mac or Linux)
Android SDK or replacement for ADB (Install android sdk from official site. Use drivers for your device)

Steps

Run command prompt or terminal use command 'adb devices' (will show
  list of connected devices) (you should have android sdk's
  path/platform-tools in your classpath)
use command 'adb shell' (will open a $ prompt)
use command 'pm setInstallLocation 2' ( will set default install
  location to sd card )
(0 for auto, 1 for internal, 2 for sd card )

Now whatever new apps you install will be installed to sd card. they will still take space on internal memory in data partition though for dalvik cache, app-cache, private-cache etc.
Note-> If you want to revert back to original use option 0 in step 4.
I have seen some weird behavior with this, apps which are set to install in SD Card by default (i.e. games like angry bird), are installed in internal. You could just move them to external though. My advice would be to use this command to enable moving to sd card and then revert back.

My device seems rooted - I asked about this, but I don't know how to check this for sure. Where is "bloatware" located which could be removed paintless? Where is ext3/ext4 on sdcard? I can not find it in ASTRO file manager.

Check your device is rooted or not here - Root Checker Basic - Google Play.  Bloatware is not exactly defined for android phones. I meant to say that there are some android apps and widgets on your devices which you may never use or have better alternatives, in that case those app can be said as bloatware for you because you can't delete them easily as they came pre-installed on your device. The ext3/ext4 partition would have to be created by you with a partitioning tool and your ROM would need app2sd/data2sd support.

Thanks a lot for your explanation! I finally rooted my phone. Used article http://androidpage.ru/htc-desire-poluchaem-prava-root-i-s-off-na-oficialnoj-proshivke-android-2-3-3/ (in Russian though). I have app2sd installed, but I have not found how to move preinstalled software to SD card. Is it something special become available in app2sd after rooting? or something else?

Finally I successfully done this! Moreover. If preinstalled software is upgraded it should be removed completely first. And after execution of "pm setInstallLocation 2" existing software can be moved to SD-card from phone memory.

For those out there with a Samsung S3 like me, the pm set-install-location 2 just doesn't work. At least as far as I could try, and try, and try. Seems like Samsung has changed how that works on its custom ROM, but I couldn’t find more info on that.

BEWARE. There's a dangerous caveat here!
Some apps will start to break and malfunction if they are installed on the external sd card. Such as those that require a background service running all times, like ALL widgets, twitter, instant messages, etc.

The pm command has changed to set-install-location, at least on adb 1.0.31.

Clearing internal storage will probably be a temporary relief only, as it will fill-up again in (probably short) time. However, depending on the action the "temporary span" can be quite long -- so if you are afraid to root and to follow the steps recommended in the other answers, here's a list of possibilities:

uninstall apps you do not need
if possible, move apps rarely used to external storage (App2SD)
cleanup cache (and, optionally, data from apps where you could start-over)

While the first 2 items should be clear, some explanation on the 3rd. You can do that manually without any special app (in case you are already unable to install any) -- but it's a bit wearing:

Go to your homescreen
Hit the "menu" key, select "settings"
Select "Apps" (or "Applications" -- the name differs between devices and Android versions)
Select "Manage Apps" (or "Manage Applications", see above)
Now select each app, one by one, and hit the "Clear Cache" button. If you want to remove the apps data as well, hit the "Clear Data" button, too.

Note that clearing cache is non-destructive, as it only removes temporary files -- while claring data is not, as it will remove all data you stored with the app, including its settings.
If you are still able to install apps, this hairy process can be eased up a lot by some little helpers like e.g. 1-Tap Cleaner or Easy Cache Cleaner.

I rooted it and obtained other issues such as hand up the phone and similar. Concenring memory, it just temporary helped as you said. Finally I switched to iPhone and happy with it.

Oh -- OK, that's a quite different approach to a solution :D Thank you for providing this info, so we know you are no longer "in urgent need" ;)

Certainly worth rooting your phone if you feel capable and are running out of space.
On my Desire, I moved caches to SD and regularly run a cache cleaner.  I also deleted lots of bloatware.
If you want to run lots of apps you have to work at it on a Desire!

How have you moved caches to SD?

It is due to an error in the OS itself. Even some simple apps could not be installed while some bigger apps could.
Reset the device to factory mode and then you must be able to install the same apps which were denied before.


text:
Is it possible to upgrade, without rooting, to a version not specifically released for the device?
I have inherited an Android mobile and would like to upgrade it to the latest version of Android. Having come across posts such as is it possible to upgrade the android OS on all phones?, it appears I won't be able to. However, I am unsure what the definition of carrier is especially if the phone has been imported from overseas. Is there a way I could upgrade without jailbreaking the mobile phone? My question is applicable to all mobile phones running Android.

Note that the terminology is generally "rooting" rather than "jailbreaking" for Android devices.  The carrier that's relevant will be the original network operator that released the software running on the device; the actual network you use the device on (if any) is irrelevant :)

@Matthew Read - Thanks Matthew. Wasn't aware the term rooting is used. Will bear that in mind. Also how do I know it came from a network operator and not directly from the manufacturer?

Normally some kind of branding should be apparent, whether physically on the phone, in the apps or themes on the device, or in the Settings (e.g., About Phone).  It's unlikely to come from the manufacturer directly if it's a phone, at least in North America.  No hard and fast rule, really.  You could probably search for your build number (in About) online to see if it comes up with more info.

@Matthew Read - Thanks Matthew. I had a look at the apps and themes as well as settings and there is no mention of a carrier of any sort. The phone seems to have come from Taiwan directly. It is a HTC.

Most phones can't upgrade (officially) without a signed firmware package designed to upgrade from the existing version of Android that's already on the phone.  In those cases, you can't upgrade without rooting and/or unlocking your bootloader and/or flashing a custom recovery, which all void your warranty.
Some phones may not be as limited; for example, the original software on the original Galaxy S devices allowed unsigned updates to be flashed without needing to unlock the device.  Theoretically you could try to flash a firmware package from a different region; it's hard to say how that would affect your warranty (and besides, that's really off-topic here :P).  You could also of course flash a custom ROM with a newer version of Android, which again will void your warranty just like rooting.

Thanks. Are there security disadvantages of not upgrading?

@PeanutsMonkey Probably.  It's certainly been the case that security issues have been fixed in newer versions of Android, and 4.0 has filesystem encryption whereas 2.3 did not, and so on.

Makes no sense at all to me why upgrades would be restricted to devices and why I have to root a device to get updates.


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Quick capture of www URLs to local LIFO stack of hyperlinks?
I often come across interesting websites while looking for something else, and I want to be able to quickly "push" (i.e. capture) their URLs onto a consolidated stack of clickable links, in LIFO order, for review at a later time.  (It would be great if it were easy to "pop" links from this stack, but this is gravy.)
My current method for capturing URLs is awfully inconvenient: I choose my browser's "share" option, and email the URL to myself.  This is not only slow and cumbersome, but the captured URLs get spread over a bazillion separate email messages.
In fact, the absence of a consolidated "dumping site" for these captured URLs is the weakness of every info capture app I've tried so far: quick capture always results in one link per "node" (or email message, or "note", or whatever) in a way that makes it difficult to review the current LIFO stack of URLs.  With some of them it may be possible to simulate the "LIFO stack" effect, but this is invariably at the expense of speed and ease of capture.
Another feature of many of these apps that I found highly undesirable is that they stored the information remotely.  I definitely want to keep this information exclusively local, i.e. in my phone.  I don't want to find myself in the near future bumping into a "free storage limit" at some remote site (as with, e.g. Evernote).
Does anyone know an app that meets these criteria?

Just Google'd "LIFO" and apparently it stands for "Last In First Out". It might have helped things more if you'd explained what that meant and that one of your core requirements was for an unusual ordering, instead of putting up a huge, barely readable ASCII art banner (that looks like it says "LOOOL UFO")

@GAThrawn: Are you telling me that you did not even understand what the question asking, and answered anyway???  And on top of that all that you are putting the blame on me???  That's rich.

@kjo He has answered after Googling.. And, he is right: LIFO might be Greek for many.. you should elaborate it for clarification.

@SachinShekhar: No, you got the timeline wrong.  He/she Googled only after I posted comments about the absence of any indication that the answers addressed the original question.  As to your second point, if someone asks a question about X, why would he/she want to get answers from those who don't even know what X is?  I, for one, am not interested in those answers.  In any case, I think it is perfectly reasonable for the asker to expect that those who don't even know what the question is asking about would have the common sense, if not the elementary courtesy, not to answer it.

@kjo What if someone knows about X in another way? Here, my target is your way.. Its definitely not wise ask What's the boiling temperature of Hydrogen Dioxide? instead of What's the boiling temperature of Water?... In this example, you can see how an easy question becomes difficult for many. Would you say, those who doesn't know what hydrogen dioxide is, can't tell boiling temperature of Water?

It's your choice how you ask your questions.  I told you what my choice is for mine: I prefer to see the answers coming from people who know the terminology I use, and exclude answers from those who don't know this terminology.  I think the benefits of this preference outweigh its drawbacks.  I can't go into what these are, sorry.  I don't understand your insistence on browbeating me into adopting your viewpoint.  Sorry, but you don't have a case: it all boils down to personal preference.  Ask your questions however you like, and let me ask mine however I like, ok?

I just stumbled upon Pocket -formerly Read It Later. Might be worth a try.

It looks like I may have up-voted this reply prematurely...  I could not find anything saying that bookmarks are stored in LIFO order.  Are they?  Also, it looks like there's no way to keep the bookmarks exclusively local to my device.  Am I wrong?

Install Clipper and start copying your URLs in clipboard.
It creates LIFO stack from clipboard and is exclusively local. To revisit URLs, bring this lightweight app from status bar.. tap URL to copy and paste in address bar. Done!
Free version of Clipper limits user to 20 items in stack. If you don't want to purchase its pro version, you can use aNdClip. But, you may face problems in keeping LIFO structure after copying an URL from stack.

Another way to more literally do what you're asking is to get a browser that supports tabs (for example, Google Chrome for Android, Dolphin Browser, or even the built in one) and open a new tab for each interesting link.  Then you'll literaly have the stack you're looking for.  The cool thing about Google Chrome is that this stack will be persistant across reboots and accessible across devices.
Anyways, hope this helps.

Yeah, but I think there is limitation on number of tabs. Do you know about it?

At least in Google Chrome for Android, I just opened 100 tabs and there's no evidence it cares.  Especially if you're going to be using it as a LIFO, I have my doubts you'd let it get up to 100 tabs, though.

There's certainly a practical limitation: try creating a dozen tabs by right-clicking on YouTube links (for example).  Many websites are very resource-hungry (JavaScript, AJAX, Flash, you name it).  This precludes browser tab creation (which amounts to "website visiting") as a strategy.

@kjo I doubt it keeps all 100 tabs loaded at the same time, though I could be wrong.  Did you try it?

@kjo web browsers unloads inactive tab content from memory in case of memory unavailablity.. So, that's just like bookmark..

@SachinShekhar: not in my experience.  I routinely render my Chrome session unusable because of too many tabs.  Granted, this is very sensitive to what's on those tabs.  Try this: go to YouTube and right-click-open a dozen different videos into separate tabs.  At the very least I expect that you will have to visit each of these tabs to stop the videos, or mute your sound, or endure the cacophony of 12 soundtracks playing simultaneously.  At least this is what I experience when I do something like this.  And...

...my browser becomes as slow as molasses.  A very different experience from "just like bookmarking".

@kjo there's need of BarTab alternative, then.. :)

BTW, my Dolphin does a nice job in this aspect, but yes.. its more than bookmark.. :)


text:
App ratings adjusted for numbers of votes?
Rankings of apps by rating are typically useless because the app ratings are not adjusted for numbers of votes, and therefore the top of the ranking is invariably saturated with many screenfuls of 5-star apps each having only a handful of votes, thus obscuring apps with slightly lower ratings but much higher numbers of votes.  Needless to say, the latter ratings are vastly more reliable.  These are the apps I'm trying to find.
Does anyone know of an Android app search service that allows ranking results by app ratings somehow adjusted for numbers of votes?  (E.g. use the standard rating minus 1 or 2 standard deviations.)


text:
Is it possible to move the status / notification bar or the settings icon?
If I'm using my Smartphone with one Hand (4.3 inch display) its hard to reach the settings button in Android 4. Yes, I'm able to add an icon to the home screen but if I'm using an app this doesn't really help. I need to switch between the screens first.
My idea would be something of the following:
A) moving the status / notification bar to the bottom (lift up instead of lift down)
B) moving the settings icon to the left side of the bar
C) moving the settings icon on the bottom of the notification list
Is there an app available doing this?

As far as I know, there is No app currently available to do this.
You can try CyanogenMod for your device for various customization options.
I have seen options to move status bar to bottom on CyanogenMod 7.2 (Android 2.3.7 GB) port of my device (Samsung Galaxy 3). So it's certainly possible easily on custom ROMs.


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Determining the cause of a strange "the other side can't hear me" issue
Recently I started to notice that a lot of people who call me, can't hear my voice during the call.
The phone is an almost 2 years old Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini pro, so I guess the microphone could just get old and somewhat start to fail.
Also it could be wrong from the beginning. I didn't had that much calls until recently. I think noticing it just now might be reasonable.
According to my experience the problem only occurs during incoming calls, I've never experienced it while I called somebody. And only in the first incoming call, if I was recalled right after the first call, everything was fine. This makes it look like if it is the provider's issue.
And of course some app blocking my microphone also came into my mind, but I don't have many installed and I don't know if any of them would do such a thing anyway. (The phone was never rooted, it has the official 2.1 ROM, etc.)
The question is: because I still have some of the warranty left... how could I determine if my problem is a hardware problem, a software problem or a provider problem to know where should I go with it? (According to my experience if I just say something is wrong without hard evidence, the repair service and the provider will only try to make the other take the blame. Not to mention that they will factory reset the phone, say that they couldn't reproduce the problem, so it had to be one of my apps.)

Do you get the same problem if you use a wired hands-free set? Do you get the same problem if you use a bluetooth hands-free set? If the answer's Yes to ether of those, then it's not the device's microphone that's the problem.

Finally I know what my problem was. But it doesn't answer my question, so if you posted this as an answer, I would accept it.

This doesn't really answer the question, so just for the record if anybody else has the same issue:
I don't know about other phones, but small Sony Ericssons have an interesting feature. They have small buttons in the corners of the screen. One of them is muting the microphone. And... as the user rises the phone to his ear, the screen that was turned off for the call turns on because the phone is moving, and the ear hits the mute button with an 50% chance. The other side swears and hangs the phone, so when I finally see the screen turning on again, the button and the mute sign isn't there yet.

Yes I agree with your response. I am also facing the same issue. To overcome that I touch the Key pad option so it is going to cover the whole area. So even if the ear touches the screen nothing happens..


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How do I disable the on screen keyboard? I have a USB keyboard attached
I have a ZeniThink C91 using Ice Cream.  I also have a case that has a USB keyboard.  How do i disable the android Keyboard so only the USB keyboard is active?  Ice Cream 4.0

I was sure we had a question like this already but I can't find it.  IIRC, the solution was to install a software keyboard that was either a dummy and never showed on-screen or that was smart enough not to show when the USB keyboard was being used.

Actually I found the task and killed, now I can see the whole screen when typing on my USB keyboard.  But thanks.

@Matthew were you thinking of this ?

@jlehenbauer I think so, good find!

Null Keyboard is what you want. I do this same thing with my bluetooth keyboard. It does require you manually switch the input method each time, but keeps the pesky on-screen keyboard from popping up.
Another option I've used is to use the method described here to program one of your keys to a Back button, which you can press to remove the on-screen keyboard each time it pops up.

You might want to search for an alternative to the stock-keyboard delivered with your android device.
There are keyboards that have hardware keyboard detection and settings to explicitly turn off the on-screen keyboard, blueduino soft keyboard for example.


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Samsung Galaxy S2 bricked?
I own a galaxy sII. 3 weeks back, I downloaded and flashed the MIUI ICS rom on my phone. A week later I tried to update the ROM through ROM Manager. Everything went fine except when after flashing the latest ROM, the phone restarted and displayed the error:
[ RST_STAT = Ax20000000 ]
KERNEL PANIC UPLOAD MODE

I entered into Download Mode - ODIN and tried to connect my PC to the phone but the PC failed to recognize my device, throwing the error - 'Device Malfunctioned'. It's been 2 weeks and I'm perplexed as to what to do next.
I can enter ODIN Mode but cannot get my PC to connect to the phone. I installed the drivers manually, but ODIN doesn't recognize my phone. I connected to different PCs with different USB cables, still no luck.
If it does connect, it disconnects immediately. Also, PC fails to recognize the device, but the phone charges through the USB cable.
Any help would be appreciated.
EDIT:
My PC is running on Windows 7 64-bit.

Try installing Kies from here, then reboot your phone and PC and try Odin again.

It turned out that the USB pin of the phone had become faulty and needed to be replaced.


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Kindle on Galaxy tab 7.7 suddenly has no Kindle Store

Possible Duplicate:
Why does the STORE button on Amazon Kindle go to the website instead of the in app store?

Usually when I click the Kindle Store button on my Kindle app I will be taken to a store inside the app. All of a sudden it doesn't work that way anymore. Now when I click the button the browser opens and I am forced to use amazon.com to shop for ebooks. What's going on?


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How do I disable the stock Gallery app?
I just downloaded QuickPic and so far it's all good and fast. It has more features than the stock Gallery including the ability to include / exclude certain folders from view. For this reason, I don't need/want the stock Gallery app to still be open-able. Is there a way to hide it from the list of applications from the grid of icons? I want QuickPic to catch all tasks that Gallery does and at the same time I want to prevent others (namely, friends who borrow my phone from time to time) from opening the Gallery app.
Note:
My phone (Xperia Active) is not rooted and I believe rooting it will void my 1 year warranty with Sony.

If you're rooted, you could remove it, though I don't know if the system depends on it on your device.  If you're worried about your friends though, you ought to encrypt sensitive things or not lend them your device; this won't cut it.

Well, while I do plan on rooting it, I wouln't want to void my warranty especially since I just got it late last week. I'm also going to taking encryption into consideration. :)

You can use an alternative launcher like Launcher Pro / ADW / Go Launcher etc. All of these have options for hiding apps from the app drawer.
Unfortunately, the Gallery app will still appear in SHARE and SEND TO menus in various apps. No way around that. If you would rather certain folders remain invisible to the Gallery app, place a blank file named .nomedia in the folder to keep it from being displayed in the Gallery. Unsure if Quickpic will also have same functionality.

I was already aware of the .nomedia trick, I just wanted to know if there were ways to hide or disable the Gallery app so that noone would be able to use it.

You could use a password protection app so no one can use the gallery without entering the correct pwd. Example - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidpassword.core

Wow @Sparx, that is rather nice. Do you know of an application that does the same but instead, just prevents the app from launching and not showing some password protected sign? Freeware or paid will do.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smartanuj.hideitpro can hide individual files, photos and apps. Try it - fair warning - I don't use it. Always make backups of your data and device.

Stock Gallery is a system app which can't be disabled if you are not rooted. Titanium Backup Pro can freeze it, but only if it gets root access.
Rooting will violate your warranty, but you can always get your warranty back after un-rooting device. There's no way for anyone to catch you after that. In case, you are unable to find an un-rooting method, you can flash original firmware. Its the ultimate solution.
So, you can go ahead to root your device.

When I flash it, does it mean I have to find a specific app to do the flashing on a certain device? -> is a rooting newb

@Shedo Worth a new question... well, there are many methods of flashing: Over USB using desktop software, using android app on rooted device, from recovery mode (partial flashing)..

@Shedo By the way, rooting tools generally provide a way to un-root...

I think I'm going to pass the rooting idea for now. I'm still uneasy with all the rooting shenanigans and I don't see lots of help for mac users with regards to rooting Android phones.

@Shedo Its alright.. but, I answered what you've asked: How to Disable... After freezing, Gallery won't drain your memory and battery... Its an always running app.


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Unable to associate company's Wi-Fi certificate with our Wi-Fi network
I have a tablet running Android 4.0.3 that I'm trying to connect to my company's Wi-Fi that uses a security certificate.  I've obtained the certificate and successfully installed it on my tablet but when I go to the Wi-Fi settings to connect to the cooresponding Wi-Fi network, there is no where for me to specify to use the certificate for authentication.  Is this an issue w/ this version of Android, am I doing something wrong, or is there something wrong at the cert level.  We use the same cert on iPhones/iPads (converted for ios use) and the cert specifies which Wi-Fi network to connect to so I assume that is what's supposed to happen on my tablet.  Any help would be appreciated.

I can't check on ICS right now but on 2.x the popup when you click to connect to a new network has dropdowns for both CA and user certificates.  You should try adding the network rather than relying on the cert to specify it, at least.

unfortunately when I go to manually add the network there is still no option for choosing certificates but I think I see the problem.  The network is showing as secured using WEP.  Another nearby network shows as secured with 802.1x and when I attempt to connect to that one I get the dropdowns for adding a certificate.  Sounds like it's the way our wifi network was set up and secured that's the issue.

so further testing and info from the admin who configured our company's wifi is that I should manually set it up as an 802.1x PEAP type network using PAP as the phase 2 security.  I can then add the cert but once I save the network it shows as out of range.

The option to choose a certificate is available with enterprise encryption (802.1x).
Judging by your comment, your android thinks it is using a different encryption method than it should, so have you attempted manually adding the network, and specifying the encryption type?
Please bear in mind that not all wifi cards and devices support that encryption method.

Try ProxyDroid from the Play Store. It might solve your problem.

Could you please give some more details on how the mentioned app is supposed to solve the issue? Thanks!


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An app that can give a clear overview of what exactly is eating up my phone space?

Possible Duplicate:
What can I do to manage my phone's internal storage?

I'm curious to know how my 2GB memory card could fill up so quickly as well as my internal phone memory. I already cleared up all SMS, taken pictures, taken videos that I can find. But it only changed to mere megabytes of space. I have the Xperia Active and I'm using the Sony Bridge for Mac. From there, it only says that the rest of the space is being occupied by "Others". No specific definition about what those might be.
On Windows, I use an app like http://windirstat.info/ to give myself an easily understandable overview of what's taking up the biggest space, etc. It would be appreciated if there's something like that for the Android or even just a simpler solution.
I just want to look at more detailed statistics as opposed to the one the Sony Bridge is giving me (see below).
https://i.stack.imgur.com/T46FY.png

Use Disk Usage app. It draws nice graphical diagram with directories and files proportional to their size (similar to WinDir Stat).


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Can I "clone" my credit card using the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus's NFC chip? If not, why not?
Can an android app read my credit card's NFC data, store it and then send this data to a contactless pay point (PayPass)?  Thus I would use my Nexus to pay for my coffee, conveniently.
If yes, is there an app for this? If not, why not?

Interesting question.. :)

Never thought of that question. What happens, if say, the data that "represents" the nfc data gets duplicated, or is that tied to the device id to generate an encryption key? (Have no idea as a lot of my handsets do not have NFC built in),Nonetheless, that's a good question :) +1 from me :)

No, you can't. To oversimplify - wireless payments (NFC, RFID chips on cards, etc) aren't a simple 'what's your card number' transaction (because that would be insecure beyond belief), they are more of a 'here, encrypt this block of data with your secret numbers and return it' type of thing.
The block of data to be encrypted changes for each transaction, and there's (supposed to be) no way to get the device to spit out it's secret numbers.
So you can't EASILY clone your cards onto your phone (if you could, then so could anyone else who walked near you).
That's not to say it can't be done at all (if, perhaps, you found a flaw in the way the crypto works, you could perhaps deduce the secret numbers of a device), but it's not something you're going be buying an app for.

Just on a side note up until 2008(ish, in the UK) transactions did used be a 'what's your card number' type and it was possible to clone chip cards. The clones only worked when the point of sale terminal didn't contact the bank to authenticate the card though.

I'm not fully up to date, but the last I heard (last year sometime) there are still issues with chip-and-pin due to the specified fallback behavior of the terminals - if they can't talk to the chip, they fall back to older behaviors, which some attackers may have exploited. That's a rather nasty spec-level bug, unfortunately.

Yeah if the chip is damaged then the terminal will ask for a mag stripe transaction still, even in the UK where we haven't had them for years. It could be got rid of completely but the banks don't seem to mind the small levels of fraud this could cause.

But What about normal RFID/NFC cards, like keys for doors? can they be copied and used from the phone?

@Midhat - if it's intended for security, then you aren't going to be able to easily clone it (unless the vendor was a complete bunch of morons). Normally devices that are used for security are NOT just 'here's my number' kinds of things - they have some info internally, and when the reader asks, they do something and return an answer, so as to avoid just this problem. That's not to say that it's 100% foolproof, but you're not going to just sit it near your phone and clone it.

The NFC hardware in the Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus is technically capable of emulating an NFC tag such as a contactless credit card. This is exactly how Google Wallet works. However, cloning an existing card is not possible, due to how the authentication process between card and payment terminal works (based on secret cryptographic keys). So the simplest way to accomplish what you want is to install Google Wallet on the phone (it comes pre-installed on the Nexus S 4G, there are various tutorials available on the web for plain Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus) and load up some money in a Google prepaid card and off you go to have a coffee.

Any alternatives for non-US folks out there? Google Wallet is not available and Android Pay isn't working if rooted and whatnot.

While the other two answers are basically correct (you cannot create full clones of current contactless credit cards), there are attack scenarios that permit creating limited clones of EMV-based contactless credit cards. This paper, for instance, describes a method to clone MasterCard PayPass cards by abusing a vulnerability caused by the backwards-compatibility of PayPass cards with a (cryptographically) weak protocol and insufficient checking of transactions at the card issuer side. Similarly, this paper describes how to abuse specific weakness of payment terminals to create limited copies of EMV-based credit cards.
In combination with the new host-based card emulation (HCE) feature of Android 4.4 (or the host-based card emulation functionality of CyanogenMod 9.1 and later), you can emulate a pre-played credit card with your phone. However, you have to keep in mind that both cloning methods are attack scenarios and can lead you into serious legal issues ;-) Moreover, at least the first attack will quickly render your original credit card unusable due to draining the transaction counter.

Yes you can, using NFC Proxy on 2 units of NFC enabled phone - one as proxy and the other as server. this application is / was mainly for security researcher to audit and test near-field applications that uses rfid, mifare, etc. as an open source project, i see some progresses made by the community and the developers do maintain the project and update the wiki to keep up with current technology or application trends. i am still currently playing around with this and use my nexus s for exploring the potential, reliability and vulnarabilities in daily applications such as hotel cards or to trigger automation.

however, if you are plan to use your debit/credit card, loyalty/membership or even ez-pass (for toll/subway/bus) cards on your nexus S, applications such as google wallet, square wallet and isis (to name a few) should suffice. ive used paypal, google wallet and square wallet for both making and receive payment. when properly configured, linked and verified these applications have the potential to substitute the content of your wallet. it is edgy, modern and powerful but with great power comes great responsibility because these fancy-schmancy stuff will create soft spot or weak chain on your security and privacy.

let me know if you too are interested in using your nexus S as a playset. it is such an interesting piece of hardware between nfc, obd and sdr there is always new thing to discover with this old device.

Could you explain more how to use this app to achieve OP's request? Providing only an app without any steps is discouraged since users may not know how to use it (and might damage their device). Also, I read that you need to use CyanogenMod for this to work.

not anymore - you can now use other roms.


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init.d doesn't get executed
i am using samsung s2 and a custom rom, external sd card is mounted to /emmc but i want it to mount to /mnt/sdcard/external_sd, how could i mount it using init.d?
i made a file called "99mount" with a the content
mount -o bind /emmc /mnt/sdcard/external_sd

however, it isn't being executed an start tried also
busybox mount -o bind /emmc /mnt/sdcard/external_sd

and no luck, do i need to add 99mount to some xx.rc file?

Would creating a symbolic link from /mnt/sdcard/external_sd to /emmc work for your purposes?

Your SD card isn't prepared at the time that the bind command is executed, because the mounting process hasn't ended yet. To bind, you have to wait several seconds for the mounting of SD card & external SD to be finished.
#!system/bin/sh
sleep 10
n="$(dumpsys mount | grep -c 'external')"
until [ $n -eq 1 ]
do
sleep 1
n="$(dumpsys mount | grep -c 'external')"
done
mount -o bind source target

Note: n="??" is changeable by according to your own system.


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Which downloadable launchers are based on the ICS stock launcher?
After upgrading to ICS, I'd like to use either the stock ICS launcher or an improved version based on it. What are my options?

We don't do lists like this, sorry.  Might be a good question for the chatroom, though.

Nova Launcher
Apex Launcher
Trebuchet (CM9's official launcher)

As far as I know, you must install all of these to /system (which requires root) in order to have widgets appear in the app drawer, and Trebuchet doesn't support being installed to /data at all.


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could someone please post a screenshot of the default file structure of the sd card for Android 2.3.5? I

Possible Duplicate:
Which files/folders on my SDCard are unsafe to delete manually?

I have searched the internet for what I felt would be a simple question.  I have had my Evo for almost 18 months, and I know I will be resetting it soon, probably rooting it also.  But need to clean up the SD card.  Many strange looking folders that were created by apps that were deleted long ago.  If I knew what was supposed to be there by default, then I would have a better chance to figure out what is there that doesn't have to be.

Thanks for searching first, but I believe the dupe should answer your question :)

Wow thats the second question that was closed without an answer.  Was looking for the entire file tree so I could pick out what I had that wasn't supposed to be there.  Would you please post the answer because the referred question didn't answer it.

The SD card starts out empty, there isn't a default file structure.  Any directory listing would be entirely dependent on what someone had done with their device.


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Vpn Client to connect to Windows 7 VPN
I am looking for a third party VPN client that I can use to connect to my home VPN which is setup through Windows 7. I don't want to use built in Android VPN. Many of the VPN clients I've seen on the market solely connect to their own vpns and I haven't seen one that allows for you to enter custom address and information. I have a rooted Verizon Galaxy Nexus running 4.0.2 with the stock ROM.
Any ideas?

Have you tried 5 VPN app in ICS?


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Samsung Galaxy S2 Wifi Hotspot Toggle Widget
I have upgraded to ICS on an i9100, from GB.  Both of these provide wifi tethering by default.  Under GB many of the widgets available could toggle the wifi tethering on and off - a simple switch.
These toggle widgets do not work under ICS on this device - either they do not work and error, or they open the settings / Tethering and Portable Hotpot page rather than directly switching the status.
If I look at the shortcuts available in Settings, this is as deep as it goes - even with AnyCut or llama intents.  Does this mean it simply isn't possible to get a wifi tethering toggle any more, or is it possible there is an unadvertised intent that will trigger it?

I believe this should work  -   Widgetsoid2.x on Google Play
(I have verified that this allows you to create a toggle widget on ICS which does not go into settings app and does it work directly. Although since Wi-Fi Hotspot is not working on my custom ROM of ICS yet, I can't verify the actual working.)

Yeah it does work, thanks!  Now I need to know how it is working if there isn't an intent it can call :)


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Backup on . android_secure - Missing Apps on MicroSD
I Have been Backup and Formatted my MicroSD. After then I Copy again my backup files, But  - Apps on MicroSD is  Disappear, I check on Application Manager its Still There but not show in menu drawer.
As I read related Question on Upgrade SD Card, I Tried to copy all files with command prompt/by windows. But I confuse how I backup on .android_secure that have all asec apps on micro sd. I copy via card reader/usb. its fine, when media scanning running, i check on that folder again an all asec is missing. anybody knew the alternative method on this problems.?
I Use Galaxy Ace on Gingerbread (2.3.3) with Class 10 8GB MicroSD.
Thanks lot. :D

Can you clarify what you're asking? If you didn't backup .android_secure there's not much we can do to help you with that. Windows should copy folder beginning with . just fine, unlike some Linux tools.  Use Explorer if the command line is finicky.

@Matthew He has copied .android_secure, but its not reflected back in device. Once I also faced the same problem with my Galaxy S.

@SachinShekhar is right.. :)

MicroSD is generally hot swappable (unlike SIM card), but this thing screws things up.
First, turn off the device. Remove old MicroSD. Clone it including .android_secure. Insert new MicroSD while device is off. Then, boot the device.

Hi sorry for late reply.. Thanks.. I Tried that, and Its Works.. Many Thanks.. :D


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Why is a Google account required when installing applications from the Market?
I installed an application from the Android Market for the first time today however was informed that I need a Google Account. Why is that?

Because the applications that you download are tied to that Google Account.  That way, if you buy any paid applications, and your phone is wiped, or you buy a new phone, all you need to do is make sure that account is logged in on that phone, and you can re-download any of those paid apps without having to pay for them again.
It also enables you to go the Google Play store with your PC, and choose apps to be directly installed onto your phone without even touching your phone.  I do it all the time and it works great.


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What does it mean when I select to 'clear data'?
If I look at the options to manage an application and select to clear data, what data is specifically being cleared? Is there a way to find out?

All the data stored by the app in the folder /data/data/app_name/ will be cleared. You cant specify which data to clear. The app would be like when it was installed or updated.

What data is stored in the data/data/app_name directory?

usually settings and other app data. For example in a browser data such as history, saved passwords, cache, preferences, etc.

Is there an easy way to access the data or do I need to install developer tools? Also is the data encrypted or stored in plain text?

@PeanutsMonkey: You need root to read the data. Whether or not it's in plaintext is entirely up to the app developer, just like with any other piece of software.


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How does the HTC Sensation know it's in a dock?
I like hacking stuff together and my next project I'd like to make my own dock for my HTC Sensation. It's a fairly simple project, but the bit I can't work out is how the Sensation knows it's in a dock and launch it's dock app.
I've seen other phones that use magnets or switches, but how does the HTC Sensation do it?

On HTC phones I think it often involves connecting pin 4 (ID) on the dock's USB plug to pin 5 (ground) with a resistor, but I'm not sure if that's how it works for the Sensation. There's a bit of discussion on XDA but there's not a lot of definitive information: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1232229


text:
When a Google account is used to access the Android Market, what information is captured by Google?
When I use a Google account which then becomes the primary account on the device, what information is captured by Google e.g. device make, model, IMEI, etc?
Am I able to access any of this information and if so where?

Google Play is covered by the terms of Google's privacy policy, and in fact links you to it when you first launch the app or visit the link in the Play website's footer. The very brief summary is that they divide it into:

"Information you give us" - Any info provided during registration
Device information - Noted to be "...your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information including phone number"
Log information
Location information
Unique application numbers
Local storage
Cookies and anonymous identifiers

Since Google's apps are proprietary I doubt you'll get much more definite information than that unless you ask Google directly. You can read the full text of Google's Privacy Policy to see how they use the information they collect (among other things).

Thanks. So what happens if you perform a factory reset of the phone and use a different account i.e. what happens to the historical data? Can they be linked, etc? So for example I sell my phone after performing a factory reset, the person who purchased the phone uses a different Google Account. Is there a way for them to know the previous details in any form or shape?

@PeanutsMonkey: If you're asking if Google can create a link then I'd suspect yes (using a hardware identifier like IMEI) but I'd imagine they wouldn't link two separate accounts like that in practice specifically because people often sell used phones and the like. If you mean can the new owner get at your historical information then no, unless they somehow obtained access to Google's servers and data. AFAIK there's no way for an end-user to establish such a connection.


text:
If I use free WiFi in a hotspot, can data be easily sniffed?
If I use my mobile device in a Wifi hotspot, can I take it that it bears the same risks as using a laptop in that data can be easily sniffed and that the mobile device is also open to man-in-the-middle attacks?

It's worth to note that in an open wifi every user can easily read all plaintext other users are sending. However, in a WPA-protected network, even if the access key is "public" knowledge, each computer still gets it's own private cryptographic "channel" which makes eavesdropping from other connected computers a much bigger effort. Still, only way to be actually private is to only use client-server -secured connections (HTTPS), and to be really, really sure use pre-stored remote certificates for known sites and use some method to get alerts about certificate changes.

@Ilari Kajaste - How do I get access to pre-stored remote certificates for known sites or can I download them to the mobile device?

Personally, I consider spoofed certificate MITM scenario rare enough to be safely ignored. That said, for desktop there's a Firefox extension called Certificate Patrol. Using that, you can first just visit all of the sites and after that the extension will inform you if their certificates have changed. However, I don't know if there's something similar available for Android.

Not quite an answer, but there's an app called WifiKill that can redirect traffic to your phone if it's on the same network, and "kill" the internet connection. So, I guess it wouldn't be harder to just "sniff" the data if it's not encrypted. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1282900

See also: Security risks of open Wifi and What Android sync'd data is encrypted? which both have lots more on the security risks of open wifi

Yes: Can other people on an encrypted Wi-Fi AP see what you're doing?

Yes, you are subject to the same risks as you would have in a laptop (or any device that connects to a wireless network, for that matter); to avoid them, the standard security procedures apply: do not use unencrypted connections that you do not trust and always prefer HTTPS for browsing.

Would the same principles of security apply or are they different?

The same principles can be applied for any device that connects over wireless: use only HTTPS web pages, don't use untrusted wireless networks etc...

Yes. There are 2 different problems:
A. An attacker sniffing and/or redirecting all traffic via arp-spoofing.
Two different android applications already do this (banned from market of course). Please note that it might be illegal to install and test them in your country!

FaceNiff allows (don't know if it still applies) to snoop on logged in credentials and take over facebook accounts and similar.
Droidsheep does effectively the same

B. An attacker impersonating as the Hotspot.
The more serious one, I suppose. It allows to hijack your phone any time if you previously have connected to a well known hot-spot provider.
Your android phone usually remembers known hotspots by the accesspoints ESSID alone (it's name) and tries to reconnect to it any time it sees such an ESSID again for ease of use. This allows an attacker to set up such a well known ESSID and your phone will happily connect to it then. Because no arp-spoofing will be involved, you cannot detect this behaviour easily.
Just try it yourself, set up your phone as an unencrypted hotspot device using a well known hotspot ESSID and see how many connections you get in no time... It's maybe not even illegal to use such an ESSID and noone is tricked into using your connection either.


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World clock on lock screen
Did anyone meet an app to show the time in several timezones on the lock screen?
Android 2.3.4, Xperia Pro

You could use WidgetLocker to add your favorite World clock widget to the lock screen. You can find these widgets by searching the Play Store.