text:
What alternative browsers are available on Android?
What are the browser alternatives on Android and what are the main features that they offer?

Some options:

Coco
Dolphin
Opera Mini
Skyfire

Here's a quick read on AndroidApps.org that gives overviews on some of the more popular browsers. And a longer one from PC World.
I personally just use the stock Android browser. I've used Dolphin HD for a while, but at times it felt slow (on my Droid). The Opera Mini browser is supposed to be pretty quick at loading pages because it will transfer your requests through Opera's servers first so that they can compress the content and send it back to you. Right now, I'm waiting for the release of Fennec, by Mozilla, which will hopefully be amazing.

An alpha version of Fennec (essentially Firefox mobile) was released recently

The current versions is now beta 2 and the official download is from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/m/beta

Kiwi browser and Yandex browser are both based on Chromium and support extensions.

There is also Xscope Browser it offers Tabbed browsing, Download (YouTube) vids, Multi-touch, easy page sharing.

The Youtube download sounds like a good feature to have.

Opera recently released Opera Mobile 10.1 Beta for Android, which is a full featured browser that renders HTML content locally instead of on Opera's servers:

Opera's phone browsers come in two
  flavors: Mini and Mobile. The Mini
  version, which is primarily intended
  for feature phones, offloads much of
  its workload to Opera's remote
  rendering proxy. The Mobile version
  bundles Opera's Presto rendering
  engine and does all of the HTML
  parsing and page rendering on the
  device itself. Opera launched a port
  of Mini for Android earlier this year,
  but the new Mobile port is a welcome
  addition for users who want the full
  Opera experience on their Android
  smartphone.

It is a large download and takes up to 20MB of storage, but provides a great browsing experience. I used it on my Windows Mobile based Touch Pro previously, and really liked Opera Link for synchronizing bookmarks between devices.


text:
AppBrain offers to update app that marketplace does not
The Appbrain app is offering to update my Maps, Street View and Facebook app. In the Android Marketplace, I can't see any option to update (though I have never updated an app before so I don't know how the update would appear). I am wondering if this difference has something to do with HTC customisations. Should I allow Appbrain to update these applications or not?

What version of the apps are you running and what version is appbrain trying to update you to?

I have maps 4126, street view 1506 and Facebook 121. On AppBrains, I am not sure what it was offering to update me to, but the latest version are Google Maps 4.5.1, street view 1.6.0.6 and Facebook 1.3.2

Were these pre-installed apps? You won't get market update notificatins for apps that are pre-installed, you have to go to the market and manually install any newer versions of the app and then you'll get future updates via the market.
The same thing happened with my Droid.  I heard about an update for Facebook (which came on my phone), but never saw an update in the market until I searched for it and manually installed the app.

They were preinstalled. So is it safe to upgrade them? Could it break HTC sense in any way?

@Casebash you should be good to update :)

Don't seem to have any problems after upgrading, will update if I do

I noticed the same thing when I got appbrain... I don't understand the logic but it's good to know.

In some cases AppBrain does not check app compatibility restrictions correctly when deciding to offer the update. E.g., I have Android 4.0.4 (CM9) with the Google Search app version 1.4.1.299849 installed as a system app (included in gapps-ics-20120429-signed.zip). AppBrain shows that an update (version 2.6.7.721924arm)  is available for this app, but when I attempt to install the update, Play Market shows “Not supported on your device”, because apparently all versions of this app offered on Google Play require Android >= 4.1.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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

sort: votes


text:
Android Market - Want to see Best Applications
Is there any way to see "Top Best (i.e. Top 10/50/100, etc.) applications" in Android Market as we are looking in AppStore ?
I means to say which applications/Games are famous amongst the people as "Angry Bird" is famous game in Appstore, applications may have either higher ratings or higher viewer, how do i come to know about applications in android market?

The web Market and the Honeycomb tablet Market app now have a whole set of pages listing the "Top X Apps" for a whole set of definitions of "Top". I can't see any way to get to all of these categories in the current Gingerbread phone version of the Market app, presumably they have less screen room to show all of these different views.
Here are some direct links to the web Market's pages, if you're on a tablet most of these should show up as links on the Market app's home page:
Apps

Top Free Apps
Top Paid Apps
Top Grossing Apps (see this question regarding confusion over what defines "top grossing")
Top New Free Apps
Top New Paid Apps

Games

Top Free Games
Top Paid Games
Top Grossing Games
Top New Free Games
Top New Paid Games

Apps & Games Combined

Editors' Choice
Trending Apps

To directly answer your question I would guess that most of the "famous" and "must-have" apps and games would show up in the "Trending" and "Editors' Choice" areas.

Appbrain.com allows you to view the android market and which apps are most popular, most downloaded, hottest... all within different time frames.

thanx for the answer, i think this kind of rating, ranking facility should be on Android market , what you say!!

I agree, plus you should be able to browse the market from the cpmputer.

If you go into the Market on your phone, then navigate down to a category (e.g., games | Arcade & Action) there are three tabs: Top paid, Top free, Just in (i.e., new)
I don't know what they use for their algorithm beyond the star ratings, nor if it varies from how things are presented on the official Market website, but it does appear to be offering the top-rated/popular apps in each category.

@AI E. but overthere the applications which are listed at top, are also having 4.5 stars and below that the application has the 5 stars, same as you i am also knowing which algorithm they are using for listing the application in Top Paid, Top free and just in category.  Btw, thanx for the answer

The answers above work, however I want to add another fact. All those results are limited based on your accounts "country setting".
If you want to see for instance, the app overview for Germany,
modify the URL like this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps?hl=de&gl=de
There you can still navigate, top, free, bestseller based on the country parameter
Top Charts, Games, New Zealand:
https://play.google.com/store/games?hl=en&gl=nz
where "hl" would be language in ISO language code ( works on all Google sites btw)
and "gl" is the country you want to load

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

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


text:
how to batch update one's market application?

Possible Duplicate:
Is there a good app that lets me to the app updates in one go?

can I batch update the apps I dowloaded from the market? I receive notifications like "14 updates available", but I don't know how to update them all, usually I just click some important apps and update manually. It's tiring and takes quite some time.

This question has already been asked and answered: Is there a good app that lets me to the app updates in one go?


text:
How to take a screenshot with an Android device?
Is there a way to take a screenshot of an Android device and save it as an image file?

Do you mean on the phone itself, like it is possible on the iPhone (pressing the home and the lock button together) or from a connected pc?

on the phone. Yup, like pressing some button and then you can get a file

Follow this link to learn how to take screenshots on Android.

By using ADB: adb shell screencap -p /sdcard/image.png

If you have Android 4.0 or higher:
You can press the Power button + the Volume Down button at the same time to take a screenshot. It will be saved to your gallery.
Note: You need to keep the buttons pressed for around a second for this to work. This is to avoid the screenshot when this combination is accidentally pressed.
UPDATE 8.3.2021: If you have Android 10, you must press the Power button + Volume Down buttons ONLY BRIEFLY (< 0.5 seconds). If you press them longer, the Power menu will just open and the screenshot will not be captured.
If you have an Android lower than 4.0:
If you're rooted: you can install an app called drocap2. This will let you shake your phone, wait on a timer, or click on a notification in your notification bar to take a screenshot and it'll save it to your phone.
If you're not rooted: you can not run a screenshot app on your phone, period. You'll have to install the Android SDK on your computer, connect you phone via USB, and run a program called DDMS. This program is mainly used for developer debugging, but it has a screenshot utility under one of its menus.  For a tutorial, see this page.
Also, some constructor like Samsung have implemented this function on their phones (the buttons combination change from phone to phone, so search for yours).

Using an application such as ShootMe, you can easily take a screenshot of an unrooted phone.

@VarLogRant - that depends on the phone, some will work without rooting and others will not.

My old phone was froyo and i took a screenshot from a downloaded app, without root.

Screenshot via Volume-Down + Power device keys
Starting with Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich there is finally a possibility to create a screen-shot without 3rd party app or connected computer:
Press the following two keys at the same time: Volume-Down + Power
Note that it is crucial to press both keys nearly the same time. If your press and hold Volume-Down and afterwards press Power it will not work. (tested on Galaxy nexus 4.1.2)
Screenshot via Shutdown/Restart menu
On devices running plain Android 8 to 10 there is also a button for creating a Screenshot in the menu that allows you to power down or restart the device. You can show this menu by pressing the power button ~2 seconds. If the screen shot button is missing your Android version was modified by the manufacturer and thus does not include the button.

Limitations
However some screens are protected and therefore can not be captured, e.g. some system settings dialogs.

Doesn't seem to work on the stock Samsung Nexus. Nothing is displayed in the Gallery application.

I have the same issue: It says that it took a screenshot, there's a file in "My Computer\Galaxy Nexus\Internal Storage\Pictures\Screenshots", but it's 0 bytes, and when I double-click on it, it says "Invalid File". Is there a third-party no-brainer product that takes screenshots? Thank you.

"On newer devices (Android 8+) there is also a button for creating a Screenshot in the menu that allows you to power down or restart the device (usually reachable by pressing the power button ~2 seconds)." - There is no such button in my Samsung Galaxy S7 with Android 8.0. However, I can make a screenshot by pressing Volume-Down + Power device keys for more than one second.

In the Galaxy S Froyo (Android 2.2) you can take screenshots by holding the back key and tapping the home button.

I tried it.  Didn't work on droid running 2.2.

haven't heard, doesn't work (running Froyo)

Does work for me on my Galaxy S running 2.2. The key is to hold (not tap) the back button and then tap the Home button, I then hear the normal shutter sound and there's a new "ScreenCapture" folder in my Gallery with the screenshot in it.

That is a feature of the Galaxy S.

It works but stupid.  When I hold the bac button, the running application exit before I can take a snapshot

Does not work on the Galaxy Tab (2.2)

@Dennis: This does happen to work on my Galaxy S, and the running application doesn't exit.

"Unable to capture screen. Try again" with a vibration on my rooted Samsung GT-i5800, Froyo 2.2

Regarding what @Dennis Cheung says, that's what I do. I keep a finger on screen to prevent exiting the application. Then with other finger I keep the back button and then tap the home button. It works.

Install the Android SDK on your computer, connect the phone and run DDMS from the terminal and then select Device > Screen Capture (or Ctrl+S) and a screenshot will be made.

On a Samsung Galaxy S II, it's simultaneously pressing the Power+Home button. It's tricky though; 9 out of 10 times I can't get it. Obviously that's specific to that model of phone and not the Android OS.
As far as I know, there isn't any native app built-in to the OS for all phones, it's too bad really.
This is also applicable for the:

Samsung Galaxy S4 (I9505 Samsung edition)

It's apparently native to Ice Cream Sandwich.

@AlEverett It was available in Gingerbread for me. Funnily enough, ICS made it worse - in Gingerbread, I could hold home and hit power. In ICS, I have to press both at the same time and hold for a bit. ICS did change the screenshot animations/save location/clipboard, though.

I followed @Bob comment and it worked on the Note 2.  Be sure to hold both of the buttons and it will send the screenshot to the clipboard.

Also applicable to Samsung Galaxy S3 mini (Android 4.1.2).

The following method also requires root, but may be better and easier if you need the screenshots while writing articles, app reviews or documentation.
You do not need complex instructions or the Android SDK, and this works on all rooted devices.

Install droid VNC server.

Print Screen.
Profit!

Note that this only works on a rooted phone, from the app's description: "As of Honeycomb 3.2 there is no non-rooted display grab API... You need a ROOTED device."

On the HTC EVO3D, you may press lock button and home button at same time to capture a screenshot.
FYI the "lock button" is the same thing as the power button

A one line script should do this on a root 'ed handset, be aware that this is for Linux and hard-coded for 800x480 screen resolution and also, if your Android's Linux Kernel has framebuffer support compiled in:
#!/bin/sh
adb pull /dev/graphics/fb0 fb0 && ffmpeg -vframes 1 -vcodec rawvideo -f rawvideo -pix_fmt rgb565le -s 480x800 -i fb0 -f image2 -vcodec png $1.png && mogrify -flip -flop $1.png && rm fb0

And save it as for example, screenshotter.sh, with executable permissions and invoke it like this screenshotter.sh my_picture_of_android_home_screen
End result, is a PNG file called my_picture_of_android_home_screen.png is saved.
Caveat Emptor:
This requires ffmpeg and imagemagick tools :)

Hi, can you do an explanation of that script? Assume that I know what fb0 is. Also, do you really need to copy fb0 to a file, can't you directly feed ffmpeg with it?

Yes you need to copy to file so that ffmpeg/imagemagick can use it. And no you cannot directly feed into ffmpeg.. :)

Once rooted, I've liked working with Screenshot (Cyrket link).
Set the timer, go to your application and wait; or set it to “Shake” mode, go to your application and shake it. Hard. And files show up in a screenshot folder. Happy day.
I mean it. SHAKE IT HARD. Unless there's some trick to shaking and I'm doing it in the wrong direction, this is NOT a sensitive shaker.
UPDATE: yeah, I'm using the timer option. Either the Incredible has a lousy shake sensor, the app is implementing it weirdly, or something else -- but shaking was just ridiculous. Would have been a nice interface, if that worked.
(Variable) Timer to take screenshots works just fine!

Your phone has to be rooted. If it is just search "screenshot" in the market for many options. For an unrooted phone you can use dolphin browser hd with an addon to get screen captures of a website.

ShootMe does work for me on the Galaxy Tab (2.2), even if I did not root it and the ShootMe page says, that it works only for rooted devices.

On the Samsung Galaxy Pocket GT-S53001, you can do it without any third party software.
Follow these instructions:

Go to the screen that you'd like to capture.
Press and hold the Home button (center), then right after that, quickly press the Power button. If you wait too much it won't work and you'll just set the phone block.
If that is done successfully, you should be able to hear the classic click and also see a white border appear in your screen.
Go check your Gallery application.

1: It's possible that this works on all Android phones running Gingerbread, but I didn't try personally.

This works for the Samsung Galaxy S4, stock ROM

On the optimus black you can also use the lock+home button

When I got the 2.3.4 Upgrade on my Sony Ericsson Arc (from 2.3.3) holding down the power button brings up the "airplane mode/power off/silent" menu, and new to 2.3.4 is the presence of a "take screenshot" button as well.

On the Galaxy Note 2 you can also use the S Pen:

Press and hold the button on the S Pen and press it against the screen for a few seconds

What happens next is, a screenshot will be taken. Then you will be able to adjust it before either accepting or discarding the screenshot.

Old question , posting to add alternative using Google Now on Tap on Marshmallow, which does away with failed attempts in getting the right combo of keys correctly pressed (at times I ended up rebooting :-)
This has the advantage of better organising screenshots or sharing directly with contacts using Direct Share, which pops up when you wish to share

Press and hold the Home button until Google Now on Tap appears
Tap the share button in the bottom left-hand corner

(Images above from here)
On Moto X Play Power + Vol Dn  works

The interface has now changed, but if I just simply say or type in "take a screenshot", then Google Now will do it, which is convenient.

Some phones have the functionality built in, such as the previous mentioned Galaxy S. On the Droid Charge, hold the back button and press home. On most new LG Android phones, hold home and press power.
Unfortunately, the only universal method is using the Android SDK to take screenshots with a computer. Rooting and using a screenshot app works on many devices, but sometimes not, and it's not the easiest way to take a screenshot.

On Android 7.1.2, long press Home for OK Google and issue voice command Take Screenshot , it will respond with All right, taking a Screenshot, touch to continue.
On touching, screenshot is captured and Direct Share menu appears to share the screen shot, or if you have a file  explorer ( like ES or Solid Explorer)  that can save it to your device, use that to save it to your device
Only drawback of this is that you need to be online

You can also type the command.

On the xperia z5, you simply hold lock button and that gives you the option of taking screenshot.

The least time consuming method for me is using keyboard through USB OTG.
And then just press Print Screen.

On Android Pie, it is inbuilt with power-options (by pressing Power key)

(Click to enlarge)

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


text:
How to increase music playback volume?
The volume on my headphones (even on maximum) isn't very high at all. Is there any way I can increase the volume higher than the program allows?

Which device are you asking for?

possible duplicate of How can I boost the volume on my Droid's speaker?

@Keyboardsurfer: For HTC legend

I know I may not be understanding your question the way you intend it but Bryan Denny just pointed out AndroidAudioHacks.com which I believe will solve your problem but not mine (because it only works on HTC phones).
via Bryan's answer to another similar question

The AndroidAudioHacks.com link is a 404 (looks like the site got redesigned).  I think its now: http://androidaudiohacks.com/home/louder-volume-hack-pre-nexus

I don't think so. But depends of the application, if it's open source you can submit a patch or ask for bug fix/new feature.


text:
Sleep Tracking App connected with google health
Do you know if there's an app :

Dedicated to sleep tracking
Connected with Google Health

I'm interested in such an application, so if you know one, please share it w/ me.
Thanks.
Rob

Google is discontinuing Google Health so you may want to look for a different option

There's Sleep Bot Tracker Log and Sleep Logger.  They don't seem to directly connect to Google Health, but they let you export data (one does CSV, the other doesn't specify).

I knew both of these apps, but unfortunately, none of the android apps related to sleep seems to connect to google health

I've never used Google Health.  Will it not let you import data via csv?

Huge +1 for mentioning Sleep Bot... so interesting to look at sleep data.

I'm developing an open-source app called ElectricSleep, and it will eventually have this sort of functionality. It is getting close to going into beta.
project website: http://code.google.com/p/electricsleep/

great ! I'll have a look tonight

the beta launched yesterday. you need android 2.2 and an accelerometer. search for "electricsleep" in the market and help test it so I can push out cooler features soon!


text:
Google Nexus One Android 2.2 -- Listen Volume very low
I find that podcasts have very low volume on my nexus one, using the google listen application while using headphones.  My headphones have no volume control, and the nexus one is turned up to the max.  I don't suppose there's any way to up this more?  As it is now, I can't listen to podcasts while I'm on the bus/metro since the ambient noise drowns them out.  Maybe I can talk to the city to see if they will lower the volume on their public transit systems!

Similar question: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1766/increase-music-playback-volume

This website has some audio hacks for some phones (looks like HTC phones).  Also it may not work on Android 2.1+.  You have to rooted to use this.

How does this "let you bypass normal volume levels beyond what the normal UI lets you do"?  You are the second person to recommend this but I don't see where it is indicated that it will allow you to bypass the manufacturer's volume limits. All it does is puts all the stock volume controls in one place.

@Matt strike it, I found something else that I had found before.  Only works on HTC phones tho. I think the other app that as posted was because some (or one specific) phones have a UI bug with the sound volumes?  I believe it is the Droid X, but I can't remember.

authors: Раде Ратковић


text:
How to disable Verizon backup assistant?
My friend has an HTC Droid Incredible and his phone's battery is draining like nothing else. He says Verizon Backup Assistant seems to keep getting hung up while his battery is draining. During this time he also can't get Google to snyc.
From what I can tell Verizon Backup Assistant offers no useful features once your contacts are already in Google so I'm thinking just disable it. Does anyone know how to do this?

Can you uninstall the application?  Or is it one of those pre-installed apps?
If it's preinstalled, you'll have to get root access to remove it completely, see here.
However, removing it can potentially cause a brick if you factory reset your phone.
EDIT: It looks like there are no easy ways to disable this app.  You have two choices:

Factory wipe. During setup process, do NOT enable the backup assistant.
Do some trickery using this method mentioned in this post (quoted below).  It does not require a Factory wipe.

1) Be sure to have all your contacts backed up to your Gmail account. Check
  online before proceeding to step 2.
2) Log into your My Verizon account.
  Go to the contacts tab, sort by list
  view and select all contacts. Delete
  the entire list. There's a deleted
  contacts tab as well. Select that and
  delete anything that's in there.
3) Go into your Incredible settings
  tab, select applications, manage
  applications. Do not sort or filter,
  allow list to populate. Select Sync
  Service, (icon resembles backup
  assistant icon) select clear data.
4) Also in manage applications scroll
  down to backup assistant, select clear
  data. This should do it.
5) To verify backup assistant is now
  disabled, select settings, accounts
  and sync, then under manage accounts,
  select backup assistant. You should be
  looking at a license agreement screen.

Its preinstalled and my friend hasn't rooted his phone. Is there anyway to just disable the functionality of it, stop it from running in the background? Also, thanks for the link on potential brick, that is good to know. What if the app is completely removed from a custom ROM, would the phone still mess up upon factory reset?

I updated my post with some methods to disable the app.  It seems to not be an easy thing to remove.  And from what I gathered from that post, if you had a custom ROM and then did a factory reset (with the backup assistant apk deleted), it would brick your phone.

Perfect, thanks man. That's interesting on the issue of having the app removed. I would think if the app was removed at build time of the ROM, it wouldn't matter, but I will pass that along too.


text:
How do I send SMS from PC through Android Phone or to Android Phone?
I'm looking for an app that will let me type text messages on my PC and send the SMSs directly from the PC through my phone, or save the messages to the phone for later use.
I'm basically looking at something like Nokia PC Suite's equivalent.
EDIT:
Google Voice is only for US, doesn't work in India at least, and also defeats the purpose (it will go through the internet, why, when it's possible through the usb cable/modem/wifi).
DesktopSMS is a good program, but kept crashing, for some reason.
PDANet worked for me.
But I liked the tiny EasySMS. It's weird, and I had to change the bluecove library jar file for Windows 7 x64, but it's compact (a concern for me).

Yes, I also tooked EasySMS, since it does not require a client to be installed and hence also works under Linux.. But for long sms you also have to buy the full version..

I too finally settled on EasySMS.

If you have Google Voice, you could send SMS that way. If not, you could try out DesktopSMS, an app that runs on the phone and a client app on your computer. That app is available on the Market, and then you can download the PC client from that site.

Thanks for your reply, I've updated the question with the programs I tried out.

DesktopSMS can only send sms in free version, for receiving you have to pay.

PDANet (a tethering program) will let you send and receive SMS via a little desktop client when you are connected to your phone via USB or bluetooth
Update as of May 2015: PDAnet apparently no longer offers its sms agent in its latest version.

Thanks for your reply, I've updated the question with the programs I tried out.

Only for MAC and Windows :(

Can anyone confirm that it still work as in 2014 and on KitKat/Lollipop?

MightyText is a Google Chrome extension/Android app that will let you compose, send, and receive text messages in Google Chrome by connecting to your phone.  So it just forwards received messages from your phone to Chrome, and sent messages from Chrome to your phone.

Re-posting from: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1784/send-sms-from-pc-through-android-phone-or-to-android-phone

It looks like this has been renamed to MightyText.

MAXS (Modular Android XMPP Suite) allows you to send SMS messages over XMPP. It also allows you to control various aspects of Android, includes a SMS/Call/Battery notification and reply system. Additionaly it is able to send and receive files to and from your Android device. There are many other features too.
Using XMPP as transport, the "desktop app" can be every XMPP Client. Which is one of the big advantages of MAXS, as it does not need a dedicated desktop app. Although there may be one in the future.
Note: According to the FAQ I have to disclose that I am involved into MAXS. MAXS is an open source GPLv3 licensed Android app. Everyone can contribute.

MAXS is, to the extent of my knowledge, the only Android app to provide a fully decentralized SMS & contacts gateway. It is also open-source and very lightweight. It might be a bit rough to set up initially as the UI is quite bare, but otherwise an excellent (and maintained!) piece of software.

I'm looking for open-source solutions, so this is a good option (+1). However, there is no end-to-end encryption, so security is only as good as the XMPP server you select. In fact, the developers recommend using your own XMPP server, which would further increase setup time.

has there been updated this year? F-droid shows updates but links from the site are mostly showing 404 for me.

MyphoneExplorer is a desktop application which will help you send sms right from your desktop [requires phone to be connected either by usb wire/Bluetooth/wifi]. It is very easy to use and also numerous other features [for other features check website]. To get started you will need to download the desktop app from the website and also the android app which is available in the market for free.

Great app - also allows you to archive your text messages on your PC so you don't have to scroll through 500 messages on your phone if you're someone who doesn't like to delete stuff :)

Yes the features it offers is pretty good.

Edit 2014/07: I've switched to MAXS. See the answer here
Original Answer
GTalkSMS is a alternative for android-notifier which works over XMPP (gtalk). It allows you to control various aspects of Android, includes a SMS/Call/Battery notification system and is able to send and receive SMS from your Android phone.
By using XMPP as transport, the "Desktop App" can be every XMPP Client. Which is one of GTalkSMS big advantages, as it does not need an dedicated desktop App.
Note: According to the FAQ I have to disclose that I am involved into GtalkSMS. GTalkSMS is an open source GPL licensed Android app. Everyone can contribute.

Go SMS Pro now offers that as a feature. When you go into the app, you can make an account on goChat and enable Web Go SMS in the apps tab. Once you have done that, you can log into your gochat account on http://webchat.goforandroid.com, and txt from there. It will send the message through your phone to the person whom you are trying to send the message to. This way, there will still be a record of the conversation on your phone, so you don't look back one day and wonder "what in the world was I talking about?... And why was this person txting me so much if I wasn't txting back?..."
The two things I like about this are that it doesn't require me to plug my phone into my computer, it does it wireless through the internet, and, Since you send the txt messages through a website instead of a program, there is nothing you have to install on your computer, and it makes no difference what operating system you use. In addition, this allows you to txt from any computer, not just the ones you install any given software on.

If you're looking for a solution that uses your normal SMS plan and not your data plan, then try MightyText.
They have a webapp where you can type and manage your messages, but the messages are sent actually from your phone.

It will also use the data plan, because it uses the internet to talk with the central server. (Just a few kb, though)

I use Mobile Cloud to send sms. cl4.mobi It's very easy to use and phonebook must be added soon. Developers promised to allow users to see contacts from your phone on their site and use them. so you won't have to enter phone numbers to send sms.

How about a link? And what do you mean by "phonebook must be added soon"?

cl4.mobi Developers promised to allow users to see contacts from your phone on their site and use them. so you won't have to enter phone numbers to send sms.

Please update your answer with this information.

If you want to do something REAL easy WITHOUT any applications, use the Email-To-SMS Gateway. Service providers basically set up special gateways where if you send an email to them, it forwards the message in the form of an SMS to the user's phone.
Here is the format:
To: [10 digit phone number]@[gateway email]
From: example@example.com
Body: Blah.
The "Blah" will be sent as an SMS to the 10 digit number.
Each Service provider has a different gateway. Here is the link that has a pretty comprehensive list:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130225084136/http://www.mutube.com:80/projects/open-email-to-sms/gateway-list

Interesting alternative, but it requires that you know what carrier your recipient is using.


text:
Why do some apps with no internet features require internet access?
A couple of apps I've installed or considered say they require internet access even though they have no obvious internet features.  One of the most surprising ones was a simple compass app.
Why is this?

Usually apps require internet access for ads, analytical data, or for sending bug reports/stack traces back to the developer.
Other reasons might include using Google's licensing servers to validate legitimate copies of apps with Android market purchases (Google's licensing servers use the CHECK_LICENSE permission).  Similarly, some developers produce their own keys and license servers (prior to Google's implementation).
For instance, I am the developer of a tipping calculator app.  It requires the internet permission to send analytical data back to me via Flurry.  One day I plan to add this remote stack tracing program for more detailed errors (but I haven't yet because so far my app hasn't really generated any bugs/errors).  But the value of this information is worth asking for the internet permission.  I can see exactly how many users of what Android OS are using my app and what are the most popular phones using my app.  However, I also give users an "opt out" in the settings if they choose to not send me this information.

Apps use the CHECK_LICENSE permission for Google's licensing rather than the Internet permission.

@Dan I stand corrected then, thanks for pointing that out.


text:
How to use the front camera with Tango?
Like lots of us, I guess, I discovered Tango today (one the greatest app !)
As I own a Galaxy S, I wonder if we can use the front camera while talking.
I know we can do that using the builtin visiocall app.
Does anybody know the hack ?
http://www.appbrain.com/app/tango-video-calls/com.sgiggle.production
Thanks.

Nobody tried this out ?

There doesn't seem to be a reason you can't use the front-facing camera. It seems that's what the app is designed for. It even says here that you don't need a front-facing camera.
Why you think you need a "hack?" Looks like you just need another person with the Tango app... http://tango.me/product/how_tango.php. Maybe I misunderstood your question...

The Recent Changes list for v1.4.4857 (released around 11/11/10) states:

We added support for front facing cameras on Samsung devices
We fixed an issue that was causing some HTC EVOs to reboot when launching
  Tango

So it looks like they needed to change something specific in their software to let you use the front facing camera, and they've done that now!


text:
Is there a black list for Android apps?
Is there a blacklist yet for Android apps?  After reading things like this on slashdot, I think this sort of thing would be extremely helpful.  As much as I like Android because I'm not censored as to what I can and cannot install, I would like resources that help me censor myself.   I tried googling but I didn't see anything obvious.

Very much needed, IMHO.

with any luck, maybe this will serve as a black list: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1808/which-android-applications-should-be-avoided

The problem with something like this is it's really hard to keep up.  Somethings are easily seen as bad, but others, are harder to judge.  Would you black list a twitter client that has access to your location?  That's a feature since people can attach their location to their tweets.  It's not one I use, but it's one some people do.   What about a note taking app that has location and camera access?  Is there any use case at all for something like that needing your location or the camera?  You would need to create a standard for what's not acceptable and what is.
The sad corollary is, do people installing apps really pay attention to what permissions their applications want?

I know I didn't really pay attention until Froyo's 'Update All' feature of forcing manual updates for changes in permissions.  Pre-froyo, I would have read through the first several comments, but if there was no mention of changes...I went ahead and installed.

Google have removed apps from the Market in the past for security related reasons but this doesn't normally remove them from devices when they're already installed, and there was also a case a few months ago when there was particularly misleading software that Google removed from the Market, and also forcibly removed from people's phones. *
However all of this only protects you if you get your app from the standard Android Market. If you use an alternative market, or side-load the app then you're on your own, I don't believe that there's an in the OS blacklist to block malware, it's all handled at the Market level.
*AndroidGuys.com: Android Team Employs Remote Application Removal
Android Developers Blog: Exercising Our Remote Application Removal Feature

Maybe you want to try a anti-malware app? e.g. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ikarus.mobile.security or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec


text:
Can I sync Firefox bookmarks with Android?
Is there any way to sync my Firefox bookmarks with Android?

I believe Fennec (Firefox mobile) will have this feature, but it is currently only in alpha. You can get a copy of the alpha here.  Note that you'll need about 40mb+ of internal storage space free to install it.

Firefox mobile does support this natively now, via the Mozilla Sync service (built-in to mobile, and a free add-in for the desktop Firefox). Note, that it has been massively slimmed down since the early betas, the current Firefox 4 beta 3, only needs about 6mb and is enabled for app2SD, it's available in the Android Market http://www.appbrain.com/app/mozilla-firefox-web-browser/org.mozilla.firefox

I don't see a FireFox extension that bring bookmarks to your phone permanently. There are a few suggestions in this question but they are designed more for sending links on a one-time basis.
Getting the Del.icio.us FireFox add-on and the Del.icio.us add-on for the Android dolphin browser might be the best bet. (I knew I saw this somewhere on here... props to this answer which mentions Del.icio.us for Android.)

Xmarks Premium allows to synchronize all bookmarks between different PCs (supports Chrome, Firefox and more) and different mobile phones/tablet (Android, iPhone, Blackberry) for 12$/year.

If you have a HTC phone and Windows, then HTC sync will do this.


text:
Is there a way to see the top apps across all categories?
Is there a way to see some stats about the top apps in the Android Market across all categories?
The Google Play Store gives me some top paid and free apps per category.  How do I get the overall stats?

AppBrain can give top apps overall and by cateogry.  It also has filters for Free, Paid, New, Updated and Price Reduced.

Doesn't answer the OP's question. I think he's looking for stats/metrics on the apps in general. Not how to filter them.

Good point.  I see where you're going and I may be completely off on this one.  Since the second part suggests the only problem with android.com is that there's no "all categories" option, I went with the interpretation that it is about top apps, not other stats.

This site gives stats on the App Market in general, as well as distributions of ratings and downloads.


text:
How do I do Skype calls using Fring
I have read that Fring supports doing Skype calls. I have installed Fring it but see no Skype options.
How do I do Skype calls using Fring?

Skype has blocked Fring from using it's services. For more info see http://www.fring.com/blog/?p=2322

So, even though Fring supports Skype calls, Skype won't have any of it. Skype blocks calls from Fring now, so the mobile app no longer includes that functionality. However, there is a Skype for Android app...
Update:
And, now the Skype app is available for everyone except those in China and Japan.

Unfortunately those calls (skype out) still use your cell minutes.

@Matt, Good point.

Verizon wireless only, I live in New Zealand, actually it turns out that most of the world doesn't live in the states.

Sorry, I guess? Actually, it turns out you didn't say where you were...


text:
My Samsung Galaxy S front-facing camera doesn't work in camera app, Gtalk or Skype -- How can I use it?
One of the reasons I brought my Samsung Galaxy S was because it has a front facing camera.
However I have found since buying it:

Camera app can't use it
Gtalk doesn't support video calling on android
Skype isn't supported (Update: skype has announced support, but not working on Galaxy S yet, and is voice only)

So what can I actually do with my front facing camera or did I just waste my money?

What carrier? I have noticed Sprint stating in their advertising that it provides video chat without a wifi connection which is a dig at the iphone.

I thought you could at least take a picture of yourself with the front facing camera...but was unable to set the camera in front facing mode to do so.

The built-in Camera app on the Galaxy S can use the front facing camera. It's called "Self Shot Mode" and I've used it on mine once or twice, easiest way to grab a quick picture of you and a friend when there's no one else around to take the shot.
Open the camera app, press the square symbol at the top-left (the mode button), press Self-Shot, smile at the funny person on the screen!
Update November 2010: As an update, the official Samsung Froyo release has changed the way this works, there is a new icon in the top-left of the camera screen, that looks like a camera with rotating arrows around it, pressing this button swaps between the front and rear cameras. Picture of the new button to swap between cameras
See this table for a list of which Galaxy S models have the front facing camera (and other differences between the models in the range).

I can't find this "Self-shot" mode. I see "Single Shot", "Smile Shot", "Panorama", "Beauty", "Continuous", "Vintage", "Add me", "Action Shot", and "Cartoon".

@GWL Page 51 of the Samsung GT-I9000 Galaxy S manual http://www.samsung.com/download/FileView.aspx?cttfileid=3015199&type=Mobile+Phone&typecode=18&subtype=GSM%283G%29&subtypecode=1802&model=GT-I9000&filetype=UM&language= or if you prefer a (blurry) picture of my phone taken by another phone http://www.jard.co.uk/random/IMG00021-20101013-0152.jpg

The front facing camera button is on the upper right screen of the Epic!!!!!

Well, at least I've been using the front facing camera for video phone calls. Seems to work well enough between Samsung Galaxy S phones, haven't tested with other phones yet.

I wrote an app that uses the front facing camera of the EVO and Epic.  It is silly, but it's free. :-)  Check out "RealMirror".

There is an app just called Mirror it does the same and is free too.

qik and fring both support video chat using that camera, but only to other cell phone users using qik or fring respectively. fring launched with skype support, but that was quickly disabled after a spat between the two companies.
At the moment (October 2010), there doesn't seem to be any way to video chat from android to a PC. :(
Update: There is a leaked version of Yahoo IM that includes video chat: http://phandroid.com/2010/10/19/yahoo-video-chat-app-leaked-thanks-to-mytouch-4ghd-rom/
Update (12/17/2010): http://www.oovoo.com/ now has a client in beta that will allow PC <-> android video chat. Currently the Epic is supported, but they say it's "coming soon" for other Galaxy S phones.

No fring pc version. Thats bs man!

According to their spec THIS is how a developer would take advantage of the camera.  I'd be really surprised if the pre-installed camera application didn't do this, but the point is that it's definitely accessible to the outside world for taking advantage of, so it's just a matter of time before someone does (if no one yet has).
If you have more money you'd like to spend, and can't wait to use it, I can write you an app that takes pictures with that camera for about $500.  :)


text:
Some application sets alarm loudness to zero
For some reason some application sets the alarm loudness over night to zero.
How do I find out which application is to blame?

You might want to look for applications that do require this permission: android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS
Then uninstall it and set the alarm a short while after that. If everything is back to normal you have found the application in question.


text:
Is there a direct repo for various Android Build Numbers' update.zip
I am looking to wipe my phone. I have a motorola droid currently running one of the first Nexus One 2.2 builds (no mod) that could be rooted to the droid. I tried downloading a version of Froyo and using sprecovery to update using the update.zip method; however it wouldn't pick up on there being an update.zip to use, and it would not allow me to specify which file to use (since it wasn't in .tar format; ie not a backup).
According to phandroid (and no anger in the comment section), the two versions I downloaded should have worked. I did not MD5 all three copies, but downloading three copies and not having one of them work due to corruption seems unlikely considering nandroid spits out corrupted copies.
Anyway, I did a factory reset/wipe and I am back to the basic install of the 2.2 build I started with. However, I want to implement the official motorola droid version (either FR22* or FR33*). I would be willing to put up a ROM (likely CM6).

Where can I download this from?
What did I do wrong?
Should I use a .tar ROM or a .tgz instead?

As a follow up, ROM manager is fantastic. It basically provided the functionality I was looking for in various stock builds as well as the bonus of having different modified builds.

Some questions, and hopefully some answers:

So you are currently rooted, running one of the earlier leaks of Froyo for the Droid?
You are willing to switch to a mod CM6?
Or do you want to go back to plain vanilla stock without root?

If you are currently rooted and willing to try out a mod like CM6, then go to the Market and downlaod ROM Manager.  Make a Nandroid backup of your phone before you do anything.  Then download and install CM6 via "Download Rom" -> CyanogenMod.  You want 6.0, not the RC version.  When you download and install it, make sure you include Google Apps and wipe your data and cache.
If you are wanting to go back to plain vanilla stock, be noted that apps like EasyRoot (one click root access) will not work for the latest version of Froyo for the Droid.  You'll have to downgrade to 2.1 to get root access back if you go this route.
With that said, if you are rooted, go get ROM Manager.  Under Download Rom are "Stock Images".  One of those options is 2.2 FRG01B with the option of root/unrooted.  This should put you on the right path of plain vanilla stock.
Hope this helps, let me know if I misunderstood you and I'll try to clarify.

Thanks much; im playing around with the different ROMs now. Tried CM6, but the google apps zip was corrupted so I decided to go after a stock image. Downloading it now...


text:
Is there a media center extender app for Android?
Is there an app that will work as a Windows or Linux media center extender?

HomePipe is one such service.
Subsonic is an open source server / web based solution.
A free alternative solution is ampcache / amdroid


text:
Share 3gp video files as mpeg
Is there a relatively easy way to convert 3gp files to share as mpeg format from an Android device?

No, probably not easily. This SO answer points to using FFmpeg via the command line. It offers examples on Audio and Video conversion. For example:
ffmpeg -i /tmp/a.3gp /tmp/a.mp3

This Android Shell Command app is on the market, which could theoretically call FFmpeg, but it looks sketchy weighing in at only 2.5 stars. Could be worth a try but it's tough to tell.


text:
Any concerns using LED flashlight apps?
I've always wondered with flashlight apps, especially ones that use the LED light(s): Is there any risk of shortening the life of the LEDs?  I noticed one app ("ASettings") gives a warning that doing so can "harm your phone"... which to me sounds even more ominous than burning out the bulb.  I thought LEDs had a crazy long lifespan to begin with, so do I need to worry?

There's a really good thread of discussion about this on AndroidForums here.
In short, LEDs have a long life span (20k+ hours?).  So the concern isn't really the LEDs burning out (although after a long period of time, they will eventually start losing the amount of output and their brightness will dim).
The real concern is to not apply too much voltage to the LED and overheat it.  Another concern would be overheating your battery (due to heat dissipation from draining the battery from powering the LED).
In short, if you're only using the LED for time periods less than half an hour, you should be okay.  If you need to use it longer, go get a real flash light. :)

Voltage is pretty much fixed for a given LED, the amount of light and the heat are determined by the current through the LED.

@BryanDenny     Time for a necroQA.  You mentioned "after a long period of time...", any idea how long?

@rockpaperlizard it's a very gradual process and you won't really notice it. We are talking about tens of thousands of hours. When a bulb reaches its lifespan (20k, 50k, etc hours), the output will most likely be something like 70% or less of the original (new bulb) output.

@BryanDenny Thanks so much.  Does using it as a strobe (flashing on and off repeatedly at 30Hz-50Hz) change anything, or is that actually better for the LED because it's off half the time?

@RockPaperLizard I'm not sure. Might be a better question for the electronics stack exchange site. I would assume that using a light on strobe would be better since the LED is on for less time.

LEDs do have a long lifespan (35K-50K hrs depending on the type of LED) but the issue is heat.  The LEDs are intended to be used as a flash (ultra short duration) and probably don't have very robust heat managment systems if they have any at all. Each phone is going to be different.  I would say that using it as a flashlight for a couple minutes tops is fine, but beyond that you run the risk of overheating which, depending on the type of LED and where it's positioned in the phone in relation to other hardware could damage the LED and possibly other components.

I use my LED for camera shots and also for lights and I have been doing so for almost every day or so and I've had my phone (myTouch Slide) for about 3 months now. Nothing has happened to it. I think if you're an avid user, you should just take care of it externally.

I have burnt my phone's leds with two of my previous phones. Pressumably because of those apps. I have never used flashlight continously not more than five minutes.


text:
Why is Samsung Galaxy S (Captivate) USB not supported in my Honda Pilot?
Any thoughts on how to resolve the "USB not supported" error my vehicle (Honda Pilot) displays when I connect the phone (Galaxy S Captivate) via the USB jack?
Thanks in advance!

Are you using the same USB cable that you use any other time?  The reason I ask is because I have a Captivate and due to how the connection is recessed, it is very picky on the cable - the part of the cable right above the micro USB side, and it will report a bad device.  If you are using the same cable, then nevermind.

Why would'nt you just use a stereo cable?

That USB input in the Honda Pilot only supports certain drivers.  It looks like it has support for standard flash thumb drives and iPod products.  Android comes preloaded with the drivers necessary to communicate with windows so until Honda updates the stereos driver support or someone puts the necessary drivers to interface with the Pilot on your device I believe you will be out of luck.

Thanks for the response... I guess I wrongly assumed that all USB connected devices follow some standard that allows for playing mp3 without additional drivers.

I think that for all intents and purposes it'll operate that way most of the time (when talking about conventional computers) because Android pre-loads driver for most OS's and most OS's probably have the necessary drivers built in to.  Good luck and I hope that Dr.Dredel's suggestion works.

if it has support for standard flash thumb drives, then the mass storage option should work, in theory.  The device behaves like a standard thumb drive in that situation, but of course, Eric is right and at the end of the day, if the driver is wrong then you're going to get bubkis.

I was under the impression that it operated as a standard thumb drive because Android has drivers for all the major os version preloaded.

do you have the USB set to the right setting?
settings->Applications->USB Settings->[Mass Storage or Media Player]
Try all the different settings, it's not obvious which one the car is happy with (if any)
Also under settings -> Applications -> Development try turning on [USB Debugging].

Thanks for the response...i'll give it a try and report back if it works.

After testing...it would appear that drivers are missing as Matt suggested.


text:
Android 2.2 (froyo) update available or not for myTouch Slide?

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

I haven't been able to keep up with the update calendars. But I did some google searches to find if the froyo update is available for T-Mobile's myTouch Slide. I heard the update was going to be live for most HTC devices around august but it's been awhile and I haven't gotten the update. Anyone know what I should do about this?
Is it available? If so, can I install it manually?

See: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2696/when-will-my-phone-get-android-2-2-froyo

According to rumor, Mid October. However, I'm not the guy at that link. I won't swear to it but it's something to hope for

Oh thanks, because I haven't heard anything since the August dates.

There's support for the myTouch Slide since CyanogenMod 6 which is Froyo-based, CyanogenMod Wiki.


text:
High-density RSS reader widget
I've been trying to find a good RSS widget that maximizes the number of entries that will fit in 4x2 or 4x4, especially for titles or sites with short entries like headlines.
Any good ones out there?

TalkAndroid.com has this list of the top 5 RSS readers for andoid here.

gReader (3rd party app requires your google credentials)
FeedR (costs 1.99)
FastReader (3rd party app requires your google credentials)
FeedSquares (3rd party app requires your google credentials)
NewsRob (3rd party app requires your google credentials)

Went with Feedr. Exactly what I'm looking for.  Thanks!

The Complete RSS widget looks like it can get pretty dense. And, the app page says they'll eventually support custom font sizes, which means you could make it denser. The widget isn't free though, about $1.25 (US).


text:
What are the technical differences between 1X and 3G on Verizon's network?
My Android device (on Verizon) will sometimes display 3G in the status area, and sometimes display 1X.  What do these indicate, and what is the difference?

The Verizon network uses a technology called CDMA2000, or CDMA for short.  There are different types of CDMA2000 connections.  The first is 1x, or 1xRTT, which has a potential throughput of 153kbps, but will likely be lower depending on signal strength.  When '1X' is displayed in the status bar, this is the connection type your device has.
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, or EV-DO for short, uses multiplexing to increase throughput.  The Rev.A version of the EV-DO standard has a potential throughput of around 3.1Mbps.  This is the connection type when 3G is displayed in the status bar.
Verizon is in the process of rolling out a technology called LTE which the carrier will market as their 4G service.  This new technology will allow much higher throughput (estimated 12Mbps at launch with the specification capable of delivering rates as high as 50-100Mbps).

tl;dr: 1x is slow as molasses, 3G is fast as a rabbit and 4G will rock your socks off!


text:
How to sync my Facebook contacts?
How do I sync my Facebook contacts with the contacts on my Samsung Galaxy Spica?

Is there a way to choose which of my facebook contacts I want synced?

@Slavo, you should probably make that a new question.

Settings >> Accounts and Sync >> Add account >> Facebook
Enter your facebook info
Check the Sync Contacts checkbox

Your phone has to have the official Facebook app (or perhaps some 3rd-party app supports this too, not sure) installed.

I have the official app and it's not syncing!!!

I had spica back then and it was not working

You can use SyncMyPix to download display pictures off Facebook of your contacts and use those for pre-existing contacts.


text:
Alias place names for use in Voice Actions?
Is it possible to create an alias for a place so that I can use the alias in voice actions? Examples of the type of thing that I'd like to be able to say:

Directions to Home
Navigate to Jim's House

Currently this functionality doesn't seem to be possible using Voice Search.
There is a free app in the market called NavigationPro which is a little funky to figure out at first.
It allows you to save locations and name them in the app.  You can then enable the feature in the preferences for the app so that whenever you run the app it automatically prompts you for a name you can speak.  Once it recognizes the name it automatically goes to Google Maps and starts navigation for the address.

Try starring a place in Google Maps. Sometimes when you say the name of a starred place it will work. However, it can be a bit patchy at times.

I have for example starred my home, but I can't see how I name this location as "Home". Can I enter a name for a starred location? How do I do that?


text:
How can I remove the default Google Account on my phone?
I no longer want to link my default Google Account on my phone. I have a Nexus One runnin 2.2.1.
How can I unlink my Google account?

Set up a new gmail account (you have to have one associated with the phone). Next, on your phone go to settings > applications > manage applications > gmail and choose "clear all data" do this for gtalk and google voice too if you have them set up. This should prompt you to start the account setup on the phone where you'll enter your new gmail acct info.

A method similar to the one that Matt mentions worked in pre-2.0 versions of android, all you had to do was hit the Clear Data button for the Google Apps application in Settings->Applications->Manage Applications
Since 2.0 and the improvements to account management that came with it, this trick no longer works. To the best of my knowledge (G2, myTouch Slide and G1 with Cyanogenmod 6) a master reset is now required.
If you need to backup info, try searching appbrain.com for share my apps, sms backup+ or sms backup and restore, and/or MyBackup Pro

If the "clear all data" trick (as described by Matt) does not work (it didn't with my HTC Magic/Android 1.6) you can change the password to the google account (from a computer) and reboot the phone. Sometimes it will ask you for your account info right away after booting and sometimes you have to access some google app like the calendar or mail to trigger the account questionaire.


text:
How to disable all "home" keys
I would like to disable all my home keys for a specified event. Lets say my daughter is playing a game, she is 3.5 years old so she does not have very good coordination when it comes to not touching one of those keys accidentally.
Is there a known app that (through whatever means) disables home keys, and through some other means enables them again.
I define home keys as:
Home, Back, Menu, Search
Being on an HTC evo, the home keys are "part of the screen" which is what makes it annoying.
Side note: What tags should I use? No idea what is appropriate for this question.

I am going to look further into this and resolve it sometime soon. Been sitting here too long.

This is a common problem with parents giving their phones for children to play with.  See my answer here for some related information.
Essentially, it's a security problem. If I take away your right to use the back button (or more importantly, the home button), then you can't quit my app and therefore I have hi-jacked your phone.
Therefore, the only way you are going to get around this is if there some method to do this with a rooted phone.  Or if an application/game supports some sort of "kid lock" that might not be foolproof.  Developers can override the back/menu/search button intents, but I don't think they can override the home button unless it is a home launcher app.
Take a quick look at this search on the Android market.  There are some games specifically tailored to this problem that you might find interesting.

Security wise, it makes perfect sense, but it makes sense also if asking permissions to hijack the phone (for Good, not Evil). Would be interesting if a Root App existed to do this.

I guess it would be a nice addition to android if we had an ability to make some sort of lock. Like say press power 4 times to unlock. TBH, this is annoying to even me, when playing a game. The Samsung Galaxy S3's hard button helps a lot if games disable menu or back though.


text:
How can I view my Google Analytics data on Android?
I want to view the Google Analytics of my web sites on my Android 2.1 mobile phone. How can I view my Google Analytics data on Android?

I received a very good asnwer from Bryan Denny, but has anyone got a recemondation which application to choose ? There are soo many ... thx

No one ? No experience with one of the applicaitons ? There are so many , it's hard to choose (and you never know what they do in the background ). So I certainly would appreciated some experience of other users.

As an answer to my own question (which I re-discovered just now), I can tell I have installed:

mAnaltyics : gives you several charts and data of all your web sites coupled to you Google account. Very nice.
Analytics Widget : widget which when clicked, will update one count of one of your sites . Different widgets can be created. Very handy to follow the most important data.

Enjoy.

Actually, they now have their very own Google Analytics app. Enjoy!
Description from Google Play:

Essential data for your sites & apps. Anywhere, anytime. The Google
  Analytics app shows what is new and what is important on your Google
  Analytics profiles. See real time statistics, customizable dashboards
  and intelligence events on your phone.

duplicate: same as Al Everett's answer, don't know who was first though...

There is now an official Google Analytics app. It requires Android 2.1 or greater.
Blog announcement

duplicate: same as jlehenbauer's answer, don't know who was first though...

Have you tried any of these applications on the market?
Additionally, you should be able to see most of the data via the web except for their graphs (which uses Flash, you'd need Android 2.2 to view those).

just received my Samsung Galaxy S this week and it's my first Android device. So I'm looking around for all sorts of things (sites where to buy/download applications, good books for develoment and so on ... thanks for pointing me to this site.

@Edelcom congrats on your first Android device and welcome to Android! Appbrain is a good site to search for apps in the market.  Dev books, look at my answer here http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1630/good-getting-started-book/1636#1636


text:
Exchange Email Notification doesn't clear
I have a couple Google Mail (apps and gmail) accounts linked to my phone. If I get email the phone notifies me. If I read the email on a PC, the notification goes away. I like that.
I also am using the "Email" app with an Exchange server for my day job. If I get email the phone notifies me. However, if I read the email on PC (outlook or outlook web access) the notification never clears. So, I see the notification on the phone, tap through and... find nothing new.
Is there a setting that I'm missing?
[edit] running 2.1, if that matters.
[edit] Feb 1, 2011. This is still an issue since the Android 2.2 update as well

I should ask: Has anyone else seen this behavior from the non-gmail email app?

Yes, I see the same thing with the built-in e-mail app.

Don't use the built-in Email app anymore, but I definitely used to see that when I had it connected to a POP account, the notification never went away until I opened the Email app, even if I'd already read the mail via that account's web interface.

You could always use the "Clear" button when you pull down the notification area. That'll get rid of the notification without forcing you to go into the app.

Al E -- that works if I'm sitting at my desk exclusively managing email in Outlook. Which rarely happens. Instead, I find myself looking at that new mail indicator on the phone wondering if that came in since my last look at Outlook or not. Did I remember to clear the phone then? Or was I busy and working and missed a new one.

The problem went away after the ICS update was pushed out.

How often is your Exchange email on your phone syncing to the Exchange server? It may not be going away because the sync isn't set soon enough?  My guess is that it doesn't know that the email was marked as read until it syncs back to the server.

The Account Settings assure me it is in Push mode.

As a side note: I've experimented with  push and various interval times. No diffs.

The issue persisted even after the 2.2 upgrade.
Switching to Touchdown is one reasonably inexpensive alternative.

While I haven't made the switch to Touchdown yet, a coworker has been using it for a while and is very happy with it.

I did the 30 day trial. Liked it quite a bit but haven't yet pulled the trigger on buying.

I'd suggest using K-9 Mail, a much better email app than the built-in. On my IMAP4 accounts, the notifications are cleared when the phone pulls the emails again. Haven't tried this with a push account, but i'd imagine it will work with a possible delay of your pull interval.

K-9 looks interesting, but the "quirky" warning about working with Exchange servers makes me rather nervous. My initial attempts to use it haven't gone well, I'm afraid (we don't have IMAP4 enabled).

Oh yeah, sorry about that, forgot that I didn't test Exchange on K9.


text:
Can you see your groups and pages in the Facebook for Android application?
I just received my mobile (Samsung Galaxy S) this week, so I'm really just playing around with it and the various applications.
On facebook for Android: is there a way to see your groups and pages ? You can see and type messages, see your profile and your inbox, but I can't seem to find the groups I can see on the website.

The Facebook for Android does not currently support groups and pages.  Try accessing these features via http://m.facebook.com or http://touch.facebook.com


text:
Can I install live wallpaper on a Samsung Galaxy 3?
I am proud owner of Samsung galaxy 3 with android 2.1. Unfortunately it doesn't supports live wallpaper. So is there any alternatives/options for installing live wallpaper with or without rooting ?
Thanks,
Ankur Shah

Just curious: why should you want to use live wallpapers ? Doesn't that drain your power much quicker ?

And yes I received my Samsung Galaxy S this week - my first device and I am very impressed.

It looks like it is possible with root.
Here is the relevant thread on how to do it (after you're rooted).
And how to get root here.


text:
Touchscreen Protector and Sensitivity
I have Samsung Spica I5700 that have capacitive touchscreen, and I used a touchscreen protector.
Recently, I've noticed that the touchscreen often produces erratic movements, for example, if I put my still finger on the screen, the "cursor" will shake vigorously (sometimes very far off).
This makes the touchscreen very unusable; countless of times I've accidentally flinged the page when scrolling, while touching the screen for small scrolling; countless of times, the screen registered scrolling as a zooming or unzooming; and worse, it often flings to the wrong direction from my swiping direction (indicating a random erratic sensing). Sometimes, when I tried to touch a button/link on the top-left, the screen will detect a click in some other far away button (i.e. one not under my finger). Any games that uses touch intensively also becomes unplayable.
Could this be caused by the screen protector? Since capacitive touchscreen is operated by soft surface of a finger (instead of a pointy stylus), is there any noticeable benefit of using screen protector? or are they just a waste of time and money? do you think peeling off the protector will have a chance of fixing those problems?

Does it do this all the time or just when it's plugged in or tethered to the computer?  I was having the same problem with my Droid on 2.1, but only when it was plugged into my computer via the USB cable.  I've had a screen protector on since day one (with the exception of a few days here or there) and I have not had any problems with it.  It very well could be the cause of your problems but they are well worth using to protect the screen from scratches.  I recommend removing yours as a trouble shooting method.

Have you tried running through screen calibration?

@Matt: I'll check the effect of plugging when the screen goes awry again. I noticed that the screen is often to be worse off when I'm using the phone inside my room, compared to when I'm outside (maybe the temperature, or humidity, or maybe because it's not plugged in). It seems improbable plugging in could affect the touchscreen, but we never knows.

@gary comtois: Either Spica doesn't come with a screen calibration, or I can't find it I can't find a calibration app in the market either.

@Matt: It seems plugging in to a computer is related to the problem, I don't know what to make of this; perhaps LogCat is doing too much I/O? Since LogCat seems to be unnecessarily verbose in my unit, and I often leave USB debugging on.

I don't know much about LogCat or about what is causing this but I think some relevant questions are: Are you using the stock cable? are you plugging into a laptop or desktop? If it's a laptop is it a powered or non-powered usb port? Is the laptop running off of batter power at the time or is it plugged into a power source?   I can't find a an agreed upon cause for this problem but many out there in the forums are speculating that it has to do with the amperege of the charger, or a cheap connector that is sending info/power to the wrong pins.

@Matt: Confirmed: after installing a screen testing app (and subjective confirmations on other apps); I found that the touch becomes most shaky when I'm plugging into my laptop which is itself connected to the wall charger. The touch is less shaky when the laptop is running on battery or when the phone is directly charged on a wall charger, but they're still not as stable as when the phone is free-standing. This makes me suspect that this is probably some electrical or grounding issue. Since the touchscreen protector is now freed of all charges, I think I'll open a new question sometime soon.

To answer you questions:
Could this be caused by the screen protector?
Possibly.  Take the screen protector off and see if the problem persists.  My screen protector doesn't affect the functioning of my screen at all.  This is going to depend on the particular screen protector (I'm sure there are cheap, bad ones) and the particular phone (they all have different screens and some have calibrations, some dont, some have screen sensitivity adjustment options, some don't).
Is there any noticeable benefit of using screen protector? or are they just a waste of time and money?
Yes there is a benefit, they protect the screen, and no they are not a waste of money. I have scratched/scuffed the hell out of my screen protector and all I had to do was remove it, and put a new one on and my phone was as good as new. Had I not had a screen protector my phone would be unusable now, so for just a few dollars and no performance cost my phones screen is as pristine as the day I got the phone.  That being said, my job and my lifestyle tend to put the phone through a lot of abuse ;o)
My recommendation: Take the screen protector off and go from there.  If that doesn't work and it's under warranty, bring it back.
There are so many factors that can affect the touchscreen because it is the basis for all inputs and outputs of the device and troubleshooting can take a while.  I would be surprised if it was the humidity or heat difference between indoor and out, but there are a number of different things that can change from indoor to out and if theres a bug, they may be affecting how your phone operates: GPS, Wifi, reception, Auto-brightness sensor.
This correlation could also be a coincidence.  It could be a particular app that isn't playing nice with Android and your phones firmware.
You will need to to systematically isolate the conditions that affect the problems with your screen and the ones that don't, but ultimately it could just turn out to be a bad unit.

Note that you have scratched your protector, not the screen. That's because screen protectors are made of soft film susceptible to scratching. Just remove it and enjoy scratch-free uninhibited clear view - free of charge and for the life of your device.

The problem

if I put my still finger on the screen, the "cursor" will shake vigorously

can be caused by the power supply. Touchscreen sensors seem to be very sensitive to power supply ripple. It is easy to check; unplug the power cable (on a phone this is usually also the USB cable) so that you are running from battery, and see if the problem goes away. Be sure your wall charger has enough power (check the output current against the phone/tablet spec).

And one could try a different, higher quality USB power supply. Only the very cheap ones tend to create a lot of RF interference.

Screen protectors seem to have no effect on touchscreen sensitivity.
I carry my phone in a small thick clear plastic bag. Sometimes I take the phone out to operate it but more often I don't - and it works beautifully.
The problem you have is more likely to do with parasitic capacitive coupling sneaking in from somewhere in your setup.


text:
Does Android come with free navigation in non-US contries?
The fact that free gps turn-by-turn navigation is available for new enough Android devices using Google-owned map data is well known.
Does Android offer free navigation in non-US countries as well?

If it makes any difference, it's Italy I am talking about. I'm not specifying it in the question body before somebody decides to go Too Localized on me :)

You're not limited to just Google-owned map data. Do a search for applications & questions referencing OpenStreetMap (OSM) here.

Google Maps Navigation is currently available in the United States, Canada, UK, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland.

Okay, but is it free and bundled with new smartphones?

@badp - Whether or not something is bundled depends on the manufacturer and carrier. However, my dad's new Galaxy S came with it, and it's available on the market.

@badp I got it as a free update (downloadable trough the Market) when it came out here in the Netherlands. and yes, it's free.

I have an unbranded German HTC Desire. It has Google Navigation installed by default (IIRC, it came with the Froyo upgrade -- I don't remember seeing it in the preinstalled Android 2.1.).

It's definitely available for 2.1 phones, if you're in a supported country and don't have Navigation, go to the Market and download the latest version of Maps.

@GAThrawn Yeah, it might actually have come with a Maps update, not the OS upgrade.


text:
What podcast app supports podcasts that require basic authentication?
I subscribe to podcasts that require paid subscriptions.  It works fine on iTunes, but I can't find a (free) Android app that supports Podcasts that require basic authentication.  Does anyone know of one?

BeyondPod supports Feed Authentication.  I use the pro version which costs $7, but if you choose not to go pro there are only a few limitations.  The free lite version should still handle Authentication.


text:
time/clock always on?
I need to have the time/clock on for about 30 mins. Just the time I can see in dark. The screen doesn't turn off.
Is there any application or way I can have the time on for xx minutes in case I need it?
HTC Desire on Android 2.1

Keepscreen can let you choose some applications and select a specific screen timeout for each of them. So you could just set the Clock application with the "no timeout" option.

cool, let me try ....

There's a ClockView App. in google play store.
It's a best-efforted always on clock.
Please read the App. descriptions.
Link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kimscom.clockview

What's your relationship with this app? Are you the publisher, or just a happy customer? (Either answer is fine, as long as you're honest about it.)


text:
How to remove HTC Sync calendar entries?
I made the mistake of sync'ing my PC with my HTC Desire and now my calendar has lots of double entries; From Exchange and from HTC Sync (Outlook)... Any wy to remove all traces of the HTC Sync entries?

Usually everything that's synced uses a corresponding content-provider. Did you check in settings -> accounts & sync whether there's a corresponding account/entry? If so, you could try to remove it.

I'm sorry, but I've had a bunch of phones since my Desire... I'm using a Nokia Lumia 800 (loving it) now, so no idea if your comment is valid or not. :)

Oh -- OK, so we have to wait for another user with the same problem to turn up and leave a comment... Thanks for clarification anyway :)

These are the steps I took on my HTC Desire running Android version 2.2 to delete all calendar data, and in turn the PC Sync calendar:

On the phone, open Settings > Applications > Manage Applications
Click the “All” tab at the top of the screen
Scroll down and tap the Calendar Storage application
Tap the “Clear data” button, and confirm you’d like to proceed.

Now all the calendar data is gone from the phone, running your sync processes again to populate only the calendars you want on your phone.

This may be correct, I have switched phone three times since and wouldn't have a clue if this works. Will mark it as the answer though, looks like the author has done this.

I'm not sure but if you go to Calenendars -> Menu -> More -> Calendars, you can choose which calendar to show. Maybe this will help if you are talking about calendar of phone.

This will hide them, true, but not remove them...

On HTC, go to Settings - App, search for "Calendar Storage", open it, then "Clear data". Done.


text:
Special Wi-Fi authentication
I got access to a Wi-Fi network which claims to use PEAP-MSCHAPv2 authentication. My phone (X10 mini pro with Android 1.6) was able to detect it as a WPA-EAP network. It even asked for the password to connect to it (which I have), but as far as I know I have to use an user name with PEAP-MSCHAPv2 too.
The question is: can I somehow connect to that network with my username+password? If not, will it be possible after the 2.1 update for X10?

I might not be able to be in Wifi range for a week, so I probably can't try any ideas immediately.

Yes, connecting to a PEAP-MSCHAPv2 network with 1.6 is not possible due to a lack in the network manager. After an upgrade to 2.1 or 2.2 it is possible.
Alternatively you might want to root the device and enter your login credentials in your wpa_supplicant.conf file manually.


text:
How to use the Search box on these Stack Exchange sites with the Galaxy S?
When I type something into the search box at the top right of the main page, I get a Next key instead of the Go or enter key.  If I enter text in search, pressing Next takes me to the interesting tags input, then to the ignored tags input; pressing Go from there takes me back to the main page, with my search text sitting in the search box and no way to do anything with it!
My phone is a Galaxy S and I've tried all three of the input methods -- Swype, Samsung and Android -- and all behave the same way.
From https://android.stackexchange.com/search (it's the same text on other SE sites):

To search, type in the box at the top right of every page and press Enter.

How can I provide the Enter that the search functionality depends on?  If I can't do it directly, are there any workarounds?
(I'm certain I've run into this problem on other websites too, but I can't think where right now.)

Works for me on HTC Desire... must be a problem specific to your phone.

@Mark: I wondered why nobody else had noticed it before now. :)

@Niall: I Uber Keyboard on my Moto Droid, and I also tried the stock keyboard and on both I'm given the option to "Go" in the SE search field.

That's odd, I can confirm I'm seeing the same thing on my Vodafone UK Galaxy S (Eclair 2.1 update 1, build JM4). I don't actually search much on StackExchange sites, I'm more of a browser so never noticed before. On the full /search page the only box that's gives me a "Go" button is the DuckDuckGo box.

which browser are you using?

@Michael: the default one on the phone.

Don't if there's something on the StackExchange sites that has changed, or if the Froyo update has fixed this, but I do get the Go button now, not a Next button when I type into this site's search box on my phone.
(Vodafone UK branded official Samsung Galaxy S 2.2 Froyo release JP7)

I'm still seeing Next on 2.1, so it's probably the 2.2 update.  I'll confirm if and when T-Mobile USA gets around to releasing it to their customers.

Even with my hardware keyboard on my Moto Flipside (2.1) pressing the return key doesn't work. :-(

Oops, I completely forgot about this question.  It works now and I'm pretty sure it was after I installed the Froyo update.


text:
Where can I find a good comparison of available custom ROMs?
I'm looking for a good comparison of custom ROMs' features and quality.  I would prefer a comparison that is actively maintained.

The Android Release Matrix at AndroidSpin is pretty comprehensive.
There is also the PDAdb.net Rom Respository, although I don't think it's as user friendsly as the AndroidSpin db.
Last (and least relevant to your question) is theunlockr's list of Android Roms (I just thought it was worth mentioning).


text:
Which versions of Android support VPNs?
Which versions of the OS can be configured to connect to a VPN?

VPN capabilities (PPTP, L2TP and IPSec) for Android were included from version 1.6 (Donut) onwards.


text:
Google voice for voicemail
When a phone is configured to use Google Voice for voicemail, his does that work?  is the call routed to VM by the phone, or is the setting changed at the carrier too?

It's routed by the carrier so even if your phone is off it will get appropriately routed to Google Voice.  With non-android phones you have to type the carrier specific activation code into the keypad and hit send to make the change at the carrier level.  The Google Voice Android App takes care of this for you with a simple toggle in the settings menu.


text:
charging from power outlet or computer? to save battery lifetime
I realized that charging my HTC Desire (Android 2.1) takes longer if connected to computer compare to power outlet.
Does it matter which method I use to charge in terms of battery life time?

I would be interested in whether there is any impact to the life of the battery based on charging using one method over the other. Any suggestions or links?

No, the battery doesn't care how it got charged in terms of a given charge. It just takes longer when using your PC because it's getting less current from the PC than the AC charger.
Here's a post on android forums which suggests that the current coming from the PC is significantly less than the AC charger. The forum posts list 100mA or 500mA for the PC's USB port vs. 1000mA from the AC charger; these numbers could be off but the point is correct. I also found this regarding the same phenomenon with the iPhone 4.
So using the AC charger is just a matter of whether you want the phone to charge quicker or not.

You're welcome. It was a good question, some people might use the AC charger if it's slightly faster although using a PC is more convenient at times.

I'm not sure this is correct.  Charging faster will generate more heat, which affects battery life, as will charging while in use.

I totally agree to @MatthewRead I had similar experiance with my Samsung galaxy. I used to charge from my PC and my wife use to charge her phone from a direct AC adapter. The ac adapter is 1000 mA. After one year my battery lasts longer than hers. We both use the same handsets and our usage is similar. we can consider the fact that women talk much ... even then her phone gets drained of 4 hours before mine.


text:
any application to detect sound tone?
is out there any Android application that would tell me what sound tone makes my Singing bowl?

HTC Desire on Android 2.1

Never heard of a Singing Bowl until now. Thanks Radek.

@gary comtois: never heard about them either. I knew the name Tibetian bowls :-)

Any guitar tuning app should help.
(There should be some.. or else I'll make one.. ;)

I need the application to tell me. :-) I am not music literate at all :-)

Well, a well implemented guitar tuner tells you the tone you're closest to and how far from the perfect pitch it is.

Try Spectral Audio Analyzer

gStrings is an awesome guitar tuning app.  It should do exactly what you want.  You can have it try to match a specific pitch or you can do "Tune auto" to find out what pitch you are currently at.

I guess I need the 'Tune auto' ... so far I am lost and cannot get what I want. Let me try


text:
Android market - Application downloading problem
I am accessing an Android market and trying to download Free applications, when i have tried to download any application by clicking on "Install" button.
When i click on "Download" button, it always shows the downloading application with the message : "Starting Download", i am seeing this message since last 2 hours, but application is not getting donwload to my phone.
Whats the problem ?

Duplicate of: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1204/sometimes-market-update-get-stuck-downloading-how-can-i-cancel

@Bryan Denny that answer was regarding Cancel the download, whereas i want to donwload the applications but remain unsuccessful in downloading applications

That's the catch.  You have to cancel the download then try to run the update again.  See if that resolves your problem.

@Bryan Denny ya i had done the same, cancel the download and try to re-download(update) , but remain unsuccessful on HTC Hero

This question is redundant: Please see this one for a solution.

@Keyboardsurfer not solved my problem

Ok, then you could try signing out of GoogleTalk and back in again.

@Keyboardsurfer ya i already hard-restarted the phone twice

Then there might be an issue with your accout and you should consider asking Google-Support for help.

Did you successfully cancel the download, had it disappear from the "starting download" list, and start it all over again?

Yes, by long clicking the item in the download list and then pressing on cancel.


text:
What does the pressure sensor measure?
What kind of pressure does it measure? Air pressure? Finger pressure on the touchscreen?

Some devices, like the Motorola Xoom, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Active and the Galaxy Nexus, have an air pressure sensor built into them that measures the barometric air pressure. I have the Barometer HD app installed on my Xoom which seems to give roughly the same reading as my Suunto electronic barometer.
Support for a barometer pressure (and other environmental) sensor was added in Android 2.3 To follow the trend of linking to the related developer resource, I believe this is a TYPE_PRESSURE sensor.
See also this related StackOverflow question Android devices with pressure sensor, and this Gizmodo article for some of the possible uses for the barometer, which includes helping the device  to calculate your altitude in GPS apps.
Android Engineer Dan Morrill made a post to Google+ explaining why the Galaxy Nexus had a barometer internally:

I've seen a lot of hay made about the barometer in Galaxy Nexus.
  Here's the skinny; it's not really as dramatic or weird as people
  think.
The primary purpose of the barometer is (at least, I've been told) to
  make GPS lockons faster. Locking on to a GPS involves numerically
  solving a 4-dimensional set of linear equations -- 3 dimensions in
  space, and time. (Yes, you get accurate time for free if you lock on
  to GPS.) Because of the way GPS works, this can take a few minutes.
This goes much faster if you already have an estimate of your
  location. This is why "aGPS" (assisted GPS) services are so popular:
  by starting with a rough city-level coordinate fix through something
  like cell-tower network location, you can reduce the amount of math
  you have to do to lock on. This is where the barometer comes in.
The 3 dimensions in space are latitude, longitude... and altitude. The
  barometer gives you a reasonable first-cut estimate for altitude. This
  gives you a bit of a leg up on one of the dimensions -- especially
  combined with "2D" aGPS -- which can help speed up lock-on in general.
Now of course, the barometer can also be used for things like, well,
  determining atmospheric pressure (although I'm not sure it's really
  weather grade.) But the main reason it's in your phone is to help with
  GPS.

It measures finger pressure on the touchscreen.
Source: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/MotionEvent.html#getPressure(int)

Why do you think that the pressure sensor does the same thing as the getPressure(int) function? Especially since the sensor doesn't take an int to get a specific location.

Yes, if we want to get pedantic, you can have an arbitrary pressure sensor that senses anything and extends android.hardware.Sensor. But in the end, 99.999% of devices out there provide a pressure reading for the pressure of the finger on the touchscreen.


text:
Media Player with Chapters Support
Is there a MediaPlayer with Chapter Marker support?  I want to listen to audio books and the Economist Audio podcast (> 7 hours/episode).

I've got a non-android question: Do you subscribe to the Premium Economist Podcast or something?  I get the free Economist podcasts and they are only 10 to 15 minutes long.

Yes.  The Premium Economist Podcast bundles the audio for the entire "newspaper" edition weekly, word for word, with chapter markers for each article.

I've used MortPlayer and it supports chapters, multiple bookmarks and remembers your place.  As far as chapters go, it depends on how the audio book is setup, most mp3 audio books save each chapter as a different track and that works just fine.  Also, it's free.
While I haven't tried it, it's my understanding that Ambling Book Player Pro is the cats meow of audio book players, although it costs $9.
I don't really listen to audio books much anymore (too many podcasts to keep up with) and I use BeyondPod for my Economist Podcasts.  It remembers the last place you were listening but it doesn't let you set bookmarks.


text:
How to login to Htcsense.com
I heard HTC is providing online services via HTCSense.com. I have HTC Desire phone. How do I login to this site. when I open it it asks for authentication :(
Update: The service is live now. I just checked. Currently only two phones are supported: Desire HD and Desire Z. Heck I need for Desire :(

This isn't much of an Android question. I'm not sure that it belongs on this site.

This is how I got it working:

I registered a new account through my Mobile phone (HTC Desire HD, during phone setup).
I got an email from htc sense with a link in it to confirm my account
clicking the link open a page to htc sense, and tries to complete the registration and log you to your account page, but in my case it kept hanging
While in the confirmation page, I clicked on login again and were able to log in even though registration was still ongoing. Apparently the acocunt gets registered even though the page hangs.


text:
Is there a music player that supports play counts and smart playlists?
I'm looking for a music player for Android that supports smart playlists and play count metadata like the iPod and iTunes.  Ideally I'd like something that:

Keeps track of statistics like last played, play count, last skipped, etc.
Allows rating of songs from Android.
Supports smart playlists that are live updating (for example, if I have a smart playlist to match all songs I haven't played in a month, and I play a song from it, the played song drops off the playlist without having to sync back with my PC since it no longer matches that criteria).
Is supported by a desktop PC media management application such that these statistics are synchronized back to the PC.  (I'm open to switching, so as long as it's supported by a stable, relatively featured desktop app, I don't care which).

I've tried the stock music player, which doesn't support any of these (to my knowledge), and doubleTwist, which supports ratings but doesn't support smart playlists or play counts yet.

I'm right there with you on this. I've had a hard enough time finding a Windows application that supports these features, let alone a companion on Android. Currently using Songbird on Windows and doubleTwist on Android but these leaves much to be desired.

Scrobbling (or simply a file with a list of played songs) would be nice too.  I agree with all the other points.

iSyncr does this. They also do wireless sync. lifehacker article
Unfortunately (for me at least) it uses iTunes and I hate iTunes, but it does work. I think I hated iTunes so much I bought an Android to avoid it, but now have to use it anyway because of the smart playlists. It is the only thing I've found that keeps smart playlists, playcounts, and ratings updated. Everything you said you wanted. Plus you already use iTunes and seem to not hate it.
I think iSyncr could work for you. :)
You should be able to use the stock music player, MixZing, or a half dozen other popular other android players in combination with the sync app which pushes playcounts and ratings to iTunes.

This looks promising; I'll check it out.  Thanks!

iTunes is a no-go, for me.

I haven't looked into it much, but perhaps you should check out Winamp.  They have an android player in beta now that supports wireless and USB synchronization to a PC that is also running Winamp.
The App is currently not available on PlayStore. You can download the apk from the official Winamp forums and download the app under the Android category,
Download WinAmp Page

Nobody mentioned PlayerPro Music Player - which does exactly what you need.
Here's the related PlayStore description,

Music stats and SMART PLAYLISTS: Recently added, Top rated, Most
  played, Recently played, Least played. Build additional custom
  playlists using the SMART PLAYLIST EDITOR and the many different
  criteria it offers: album, artist, genre, title, play/skip count, last
  played/added, rating, is a podcast, duration, year, file path etc. All
  smart playlists are AUTO-UPDATED.

There's also a 10-day trial version of this app available on PlayStore, if you want to try out the features,
PlayerPro Music Player Trial.
Note: The Pro version is standalone. Please uninstall the trial version after purchase.

Could you provide the link to the app? Searching for "Player Pro" returning PlayerPro Music Player which has 10-day free trial version, but last updated on Dec 2014.

Hi, yes, that is the player, and I got the last update date from the "What's New" section. I see now that they released a new version today! I'm very excited!!!

MixZing Music Player, I believe, does both. At the very least, it supports "semi-smart" playlists generated according to your rating tracks.

A commonly recommended app for this is DoubleTwist. Along with the desktop app it will let you import any iTunes playlists, counts, etc. as well.

I will only say that the Winamp player has 'Rating' from android in their 'to-do' list.  I'm hopeful for this.
I will second the op's criteria for what I'm looking for in Android.  At this point, I think Winamp has the potential for really being the iPod/iTunes combo killer.  To make all of the above happen somewhat flawlessly, there needs to be a true "library" type sync, and not this reliance on the last.fm scrobbling.  If it can keep a small version of a library on the phone, and use THAT to sync up to the main computer, it could be AMAZING.

Rocket Player Pro does that exactly.