text:
Wifi access point with USB-OTG ethernet?
I want my phone to act as a ethernet capable wifi access point (WAN via ethernet).
When I use USB-OTG with an ethernet USB adapter attached to my Galaxy Nexus (non-rooted stock Jelly Bean) I get regular internet access just fine. Only thing I'm wondering about is the fact that 3G is shown in the status bar although mobile data connection is disabled. The connection goes over ethernet.
My Problem appears when I want to share this connection via wifi (hotspot). The hotspot is enabled and the other device (or whatever) is connected but it doesn´t get internet access...
Is this a known problem? Any ideas how to get this working?
Edit: It's not about 3G tethering, thats works fine. The problem is tethering while the phone is connected with the LAN over an RJ45-Ethernet adapter.

What adapter are you using? I tried to get internet over Ethernet with the Nexus, but it didn't work.

Just my thought:-While enabling inbuilt WiFi tethering the hotspot interface would have binded with 3G baseband interface normally..In your case you may want to bind your internet providing ethernet interface with hotspot interface.Any private app could help.

@Rilwan do you any app which can help with this?

How to make Ethernet work on Android over OTG?

Some carriers disable 3G tethering in order to make more money, so if your carrier has installed software on your phone before hand to stop tethering the only way to make it work is to root your device and install an application that will allow you to do that.
The reason why it only connects is maybe because creating a hotspot to share files/resources over a LAN is allowed but to access the internet isn't. Right now, the FCC is forcing Verizon in particular to allow users to be able to share their phone's 3G internet.

in general it´s not about 3g tethering, thats works fine. the problem is tethering while the phone is connected with the LAN over an RJ45-Ethernet adapter.

I've finally found a solution, however it's quite complicated to set up and you need to configure the wifi clients (i.e. Chromecast won't work with that). I still hope to find a better solution.

Connect ethernet, start hotspot as usual
Install any HTTP Proxy Server app from Google Play. "Servers Ultimate" does among many others also contain a http proxy.
Start the server on a port of your choosing (default HTTP ports are not available without root), usually leave everything else as it is.
On your wifi client that is connected with your phone's hotspot, go into the proxy settings (Windows: Control panel -> Internet -> Internet options -> Connections -> LAN Settings -> Use Proxy Server; Android: Wifi Settings -> Long press on name -> Change network -> Advanced -> Manual Proxy)
Set the proxy you've just created. The IP adress will be the local ip of your phone which acts as a gateway within your wifi hotspot. It is shown in the "Info" section of the Proxy Server app at the bottom (last IPv4 entry!).
You've finally got internet on your wifi clients!

So I am wondering if it is possible to share phone's internet via usb-ethernet adapter with a PC?

@cpz I've successfully tried that once. If I recall correctly, you can use precisely the setup I described, yet instead of the wifi clients you need to point the ethernet client (the PC) to the proxy server you've set up on your phone. I've actually found an even better & more complicated solution where the clients are configured automatically (proxy script); if you're interested, I'll post it somewhere. However, this still doesn't work with Chromecast (or the like?), as it does not support proxy scripts, alas.


text:
Can I customize the list of text messages that I can send when I slide to 'Text' instead of 'Answer' for an incoming call?
I love the ICS feature that allows you to select 'Text' instead of 'Answer' or 'Ignore' for incoming calls, but I would love to be able to set what the options are for outgoing texts. Is this possible?
I am running ICS on a Droid RAZR MAXX.
Thanks!

1) Go to Phone app

2) Tap Overflow Menu (triple verticle dots) > Settings

3) Tap Quick responses

Thanks! Just want to point out that it's a little different on my phone, although I couldn't have found it without your answer. On mine, I:

Went to the phone app
Went to settings
Quick responses

Thanks again!

Just want to point out that it's a little different from the accepted answer on my phone, although I couldn't have found it without the accepted answer.
On mine, I:

Go to the phone app
Went to settings
Quick responses

Hope that helps.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
sipdroid - Multiple call handling
I just installed SIPDROID. I made three account in sip2sip.(free SIP provider).

Then after I have configured application using one of that account. Application works fine.

Question is: If I make multiple call to the same phone using SIP is there anyway to handle all calls at a same time?

Multiple call on the same phone seems not working. The first call getting picked up but what about the second call which is coming during first call is going on.

Even second call is not displaying on the screen.
Confused !!

Sipdroid that I what started with but after researching on it and from developers reviews I found that application has some missing functionality like multiple call and transferring calls etc...
I don't know but may who is expert in sip stack or have time to do can implement missing functionality but I am neither one of them so my desire to get an application that have all this functionality and by modifying it I can integrate into my application and csipsimple is the answer.

However its not easy job to build csipsimple into windows environment but there is hack how to do it. so carefully read its wiki about building project into window environment.
According to wiki you can build native library or you can go ahead without building the native library. I suggest for windows user to go with  without building the native library.
If you have read wiki then in "without building the native library" section last line is like

"To get the .so files, download latest nightly build from nightly
  build website and unpack the apk file (apk files are just zip files).
  Then get lib/ARCH/.so files and copy it into CSipSimple
  libs/ARCH/.so"

I have to clarify one important thing about that:

First get .apk file of csipsimple. The version of .apk file must same to download version of your csipsimple source code..
Here, you can see the source code version. Download the same version .apk and do further as described in wiki.

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


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Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1 on Galaxy Nexus showing droid
I've been testing the Galaxy Nexus with JB 4.1.1 and this is what happened yesterday. Has anyone seen this screen?

Actually just found out it is a diagnostic tool called Fastboot. Any idea on how I activated this?

probably pressed the volume rocker along with the power button

That screen means your device is in "download" mode, which allows it to be reflashed using Samsung's Odin utility (or the open source alternative Heimdall). It's accessed by holding the volume down button when powering on your Galaxy Nexus.
Also, to clear up some confusion, this is not Fastboot mode - that is different. You access fastboot mode by holding down both volume up and volume down while powering on your device, and it also gives you access to a bootloader menu which you can scroll through using the volume rocker. The image on the screen is also different, and your device will not respond to fastboot commands in Odin mode. This is what the fastboot screen looks like - as I noted, you can see that the most obvious difference is that the background image is not the same:


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If I encrypt my phone will I still be able to load custom ROMs?
Are there any issues with enabling full encryption and loading custom ROMs or will it be seamless?

There's some related discussion here: Will a Custom Recovery work with an encrypted device

Encryption is done on the /data partition (where all app-data is stored).
However, /sdcard is sometimes encrypted too (if the sdcard is actually internal memory of the phone i.e. not removable).
If the sdcard is also encrypted,then you will be unable to flash ROM's from within Recovery (recovery can't read encrypted sdcard).

Updating is possible with some extra steps: You can circumvent the latter problem by using a tmpfs mount for /sdcard and 'adb push update.zip /sdcard' just seconds before flashing. C.f. this answer

TWRP Recovery can read encrypted sdcard. After decrypting /data partition TWRP reads keyfile which contains key to decrypt sdcard.

If you have an unencrypted /sdcard(this is usually true if you have removable SD Card slot), you can install zip from sdcard as always.
If your sdcard is encrypted,too, but you have relatively new device and software(Ice Cream Sandwich or newer), you may be able to use sideload.

Choose install zip from sideload option in your Recovery
Run this command on your computer: adb sideload <filename-of-update.zip>

Then you can continue to flash the ROM. (In my case, the installation process started automatically.)

Encryption it's a software based solution with hardware support. Question is if your custom ROM will support solution. In 2019 I only found one custom ROM which support encryption. It's a AOSP Extended. Other ROMs have encryption options in menu but they didn't work. If you try to enable encryption data partition phone restarts and enter into bootloop. Only formating data partition in TWRP helps getting out of bootloop.

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


text:
Can I get a notification when an email arrives in a sub folder?
I have a number of sub-folders set up on my work email with rules moving certain emails into these folders automatically.  On the Galaxy S3 I can see these folders, and can 'auto-sync' the folder, but how do I set it up so that I get a notification when a new email arrives into it?

which email client are you currently using? The stock Email or Gmail or something else?

Related: Does the ICS Email app allow you to get notifications on folders other than inbox?

There are many email apps for Android, each one should have an option within the app itself where you can check or uncheck to be notified of a new email arrival.
This list covers the most popular ones:
Email
Allows you to have a notification on the status bar, when activated within the application:

Access the application;
Tap your device "home" button;
Tap "Account Settings";
Scroll your way to "Notification settings";
Tick the checkbox for "Email notifications".

Gmail
Allows you to have a notification on the status bar for each one of the configured accounts. Can be activated within the application:

Access the application;
Tap your device "home" button;
Tap "more";
Tap "Settings";
Tap over the desired account;
Scroll your way to "Notification settings";
Tick the checkbox for "Email notifications".

K-9 Mail
Allows you to have a notification on the status bar for each one of the configured accounts. Can be activated within the application:

Access the application;
Tap your device "home" button;
Tap "more";
Tap "Accounts";
Long Tap over the desired account;
From the popup, tap "Account settings";
Scroll your way to "Notifications" and tap it;
Tick the checkbox for "New mail notifications".

MailDroid
Allows you to have a notification on the status bar, when activated within the application:

Access the application;
Tap your device "home" button;
Tap "Preferences";
Scroll your way to "Notifications" and tap it;
Select the icon for the status bar from the dropdown;
Tick the checkbox for "Show separate notification", aditionally you can tick the checkbox for "show once";

Yahoo! Mail
Allows you to have a notification on the status bar for each one of the configured accounts. Can be activated within the application:

Access the application;
Tap your device "home" button;
Tap "Options";
Tap the desirable account;
Tap "Notification Settings";
Tick the checkbox for "Show in Status Bar".

Hotmail
Allows you to have a notification on the status bar, when activated within the application:

Access the application;
Tap your device "home" button;
Tap "Account Settings";
Scroll your way to "General Settings" and tap it;
Scroll your way to "Notifications and Alerts" and tap it;
Tap "Email Notifications";
Tick the checkbox for "Message Notification".

Notes:

Some Email apps, in order to notify you of the arrival of new mail, need to have the "auto-sync" and the "Background Data" active on your phone settings:
This options are found on your device settings, under "Accounts & sync".

"Tick the checkbox" stands for having the checkbox with a green tick on it. The gray tick is the disable status.

If your email app isn't present on the above list, feel free to @Zuul me and I'll be glad to add it to the list.

Only email app with Notification capabilities will be present.

Are these notifications for all folders, inbox only, or folders of your choosing?

From testing the above, I'm not finding his solution working for subfolders in Gmail so I assume it only works with Inbox.

@Will.Beninger I believe that only for inbox, at least for the Gmail App, others I can't say for sure since I'm no longer using them!

This does not answer the question regarding notifications of subfolders on Android for GMail using the stock Gmail App

There is no option to set notifications on sub folders using the stock email app. You can set each folder to sync but only the inbox will throw a notification. There are some email apps that will do it though. Touchdown does for sure but it is a $20 app. K9 is another popular email app but I have not tested for this functionality.

Do you have any reference for your claim? And which email app are you talking about?

This is no longer true

If you are using Gmail App:

Will notify only selected sub-folder

Open "Settings"
Select Account
Select "Manage Labels" Or "Folder sync settings" in Exchange mail
Select Label (Sub-Folder) to get notifications for
Verify Sync is applied (All or last 4 days)
Check "Label notifications"
You can also check "Vibrate" and/or "Notify for every message" as well.

This Information tested with Gmail App in the following versions:

4.5.2-714156
6.11.27.141872707
8.7.1.204805656.release

What does Notify for every message do? How is it different from Label Notifications?

Turns out that when Notify for every message is not turned on, you receive a sound notification only for the 1st message in a messages group (Gmail groups messages in the notification screen and titles them  new messages) until you clear the notifications, and then on a new message you get a sound notification again. If it's turned on, then you'll get a sound notification on every message no matter the grouping.

Confirmed Working

I do not have "Label notifications". Gmail 2019.11.03.280318276.release on Android 9. (This is an Exchange account.)

Since Google didn't seem to work on this feature, I've implemented it myself. You can download my app and my code changes in this XDA thread.

I was able to achieve this on my Droid (running version 4.4.4) by updating the Outlook rule, instructing to flag the messages that were automatically being moved to the sub-folder.  I now receive email notifications on my phone (using the stock app), even though the messages are going to a folder outside of the Inbox.

In the Email app in my Android 4.4.2, there is now an option for Folder sync settings in each e-mail account. By setting a particular folder to Push instead of Manual sync, I receive notifications when e-mails arrive in a sub-folder as well.

K-9 (an open source, very secure free mail client) does exactly this.
In fact, you can specify that certain folders can show up in your primary list, only certain folders receive notifications when messages received, or only certain folders participate in push.
Furthermore, you can specify these settings on an individual basis based on the concepts of tiers (classes). This is kind of like first and second class favorite folders; you can force subfolders to be displayed above your main Inbox, for instance.
For example, you can specify that a folder is a first-tier notification folder, but a second-tier visibility folder. You can also specify push/sync tier membership. (All of these settings are independent and very controllable, but they are just a click away in each folder's settings.)
To go further, you can set certain folders to notify based on their notification tier level (first, second, or none).
See the documentation for K-9 folders here:
https://k9mail.github.io/documentation/settings/folder.html
https://k9mail.github.io/documentation/folders.html
This documentation is OLD! In current versions of K-9, there is now support for Folder Notification classes as well, so you can specify that some folders notify and some do not.
One thing to be aware of: in the main menu (button menu), you will see an entry called "Folders", which takes you to your folder list. That's not what you want. First, select a folder, and then, while viewing on that folder message list, select the menu button again and choose Settings/Folder; that's where you do the individual folder settings. I believe Notification settings for folder tiers are actually under Settings/Account or Settings/Global.
One great feature that is not currently implemented would be setting a different notification sound for different folders.


text:
Reasons for MMS to fail while sending?
I've been trying to send an MMS on a rooted ST17i with the MiniCMSandwich Lite rom but for some reason, I can't send any MMS (no matter how big). It will just say "SENDING" on the messaging app but would stay that way for quite some time (probably around 30 minutes) then it would say that sending has failed. So far, I've already tried the following combinations:

wifi: on
data: on
wifi: off, data: off
wifi: on, data: on

All to no avail. It just won't send. However, I can browse the web without any problems using my data plan (no wifi) and I have assumed that data and MMS are somewhat tied together in a way. So since data is working (it's even on an HSDPA status based on my signal bar), why won't MMS work?
I guess it should be also beneficial that I state that sending MMS worked when I was still on stock. As for my service provider, I'm under a postpaid plan from Sun Cellular. My APN settings is as follows:
Name: Sun MMS
APN: mms
Proxy: Not set
Port: Not set
Username: Not set
Password: Not set
Server: Not set
MMSC: http://mmscenter.suncellular.com.ph
MMS proxy: 202.138.159.78
MMS port: 9201
MCC: 515
MNC: 05
Authentication type: Not set
APN type: mms
APN protocol: IPv4
APN enabled/disable: APN enabled
Bearer: Unspecified

You could check Androids logcat (aLogcat is a nice app to help you with that) while sending an MMS. First start aLogCat, and advise it to write the protocol to your SD-Card. Then send your MMS. Later, stop aLogCat and check for errors. Within the app itself you can filter. This might help you to indicate the source of your problem.

Just to add closure to this question, I finally resolved it by downloading an Mms.apk from a different AOSP ICS build rom. It seems the one that came with the rom I'm using has some issues. Using the Mms.apk from another rom fixed it for me.

As I don't use MMS, I had to check first: Looks like MMS have a APN configuration separate from your (normal) internet APN. Here are some useful ressources:

How to set up Internet and MMS APN on Android for any operator A youtube video
How to: O2 UK APN Settings for Android iPhone iPad just as an example showing you need both APNs (Internet + MMS) -- if O2 UK is your provider, all the better :)
Support: APN settings for data and picture messaging (MMS): Android T-Mobile

Quoting from the t-mobile link:

When you receive errors trying to send picture messages (MMS) or access data or the internet, confirm your Android phone is set up correctly. This is usually a problem with device settings.

Which seems to confirm my initial suspicion :)
So if you let us know your provider, plus your current APN configuration, maybe we can give more detailled help. On the other hand, the easiest was would be asking your carrier for the correct APN data directly (or visit his website, where they are probably held available -- as my examples from O2 and t-mobile show). A Google-Search (for " mms apn") could also prove useful.

I actually have the APN settings already set up for MMS. As far as I know, this APN setup is the same one I used while I was still on stock and it worked quite perfectly well before. I'll update the original question with my APN settings and provider.

Good point. You can verify your settings at Sun Cellular (interactive setup guide), maybe they changed something. I also found example settings here, which look close to yours.


text:
Is there an easy way to switch render effects?
I find myself changing render effects a lot on my Nexus One. During the day brightness is ok, but to read on bed it's extremely bright even on the lowest setting.
I find that going to options, cyanogen, interface (why not under display?), render effects, and selecting either night mode or blue works wonders. Even if still too bright, it's worlds better than before.
But going to that menu all the time is a pain.  Is there a widget or a patch to add to the notifications power bar or something?

@ce4 just looked at the activities list. the best bet is a link to CM options that take me directly to the interface page. so, a little better, but not a huge improvement. Went from 7 "clicks" to 4~5 (depending if the new shortcut is on the last home or you have to press Home twice to find it)

how did i miss that?!?! probably because i have 200 garbage items on the widget list :) awesome man, thanks. and that was a huge Ooops on my part.

No problem, I overlook things too. Made this an answer... better suited. If you want, you can remove these obsolete comments, I already did so too...

I reinstalled CM7 on a spare HTC Desire to check the procedure:

Long press on spare space of homescreen
Select "Widgets"
Select "RenderFX widget"
Choose color (night, red, etc.)
Place Widget.

Results in a toggle switch widget:

here they are called "RenderFX Widget" on #3 and have the cm7 icon in the widget list. thanks again!

There are different apps to change rendering effects, I think, and there's also an app to dim your screen way more if you're rooted:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.pruss.superdim
Otherwise, CyanogenMod does not have widgets for this. I think certain custom launchers (such as LauncherPro or ADWLauncher) have the option to create shortcuts to certain activities, so you could possibly add a shortcut straight to the render effects menu.

nexus one can't dim more than CM7.1 already dims it. unfortunately. Render effects are my only hope. ...Think i will have to delve into the code (which i never looked before) and expose the render effects to some activity.


text:
Minimized Apps: Do they consume more battery?
If I keep one or more app minimized in my Android Phone (Samsung Galaxy Y) will my mobile's battery will be consumed faster than if I had not minimized any application at all?

This seems like it is covered in Background apps and the battery

"Minimized" is a Windows concept. I assume you mean running in the background.

@AlEverett You are correct.

If an app does not run in the foreground, it is usually "frozen"; this means, its memory structure is kept (so you can "recall" it faster, and no additional I/O + CPU is needed to restart it) -- but gets (almost) no CPU-cycles assigned. There might be some exceptions when it needs to do things while backgrounded, but usually that would require the app to use a "service".
Thus, the "overhead" is minimal -- compared to the need of restarting it every time the user needs to access it. As for memory, the Android system is quite efficient in maintaining it: To explain it in easy terms, apps are put into different groups having different "priorities". Together with some other criteria, this decides which app can be killed if the system runs "Out Of Memory": The OOM-Killer (again, "Out Of Memory Killer") comes into action then and checks: Obviously, essential system processes should not be killed at all, the users foreground-session (which he is working in) should be the last to consider. But "closed" apps are first candidates, "background apps" the next, and not-so-essential services come after those.
Again, that is a simplified way to put it -- in reality, this looks a bit more complicated :)
BUT: if you think of task-killers to "improve battery life": Forget about that before starting to think about. They are usually rather contra-productive, as they work against the system. Few exceptions apply in terms of a malfunctioning app (e.g. consuming all your CPU and there's no other way to stop it).

+1 from me. Here's a good picture illustrating the technical lifecycle of foreground apps which are composed of "activities", i.e. viewable components. Only active components (the current viewed activity, e.g. some settings screen) run at a time.


text:
What is the application space limit on Galaxy Nexus?
Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a 16GB internal memory and no external sdcard. I'm wondering if that means I have 16GB (or at least the free space left of that memory) to install applications?

Yes you have full 16GB for apps+data together in a single file system. You won't have to do any moving to SD card any more.
Google merged both partitions. It's just one big file system now with sections for the former parts. It's completely transparent, so no worries for you.

Formerly: /data and /sdcard were separate partitions
Galaxy Nexus / Nexus 7 and others running Jelly Bean: One single partition for both, i.e. no need to decide how to divide the space for both any more.

To make it more generic:
The partition layout will however not change for former phones (most probably), so devices which got upgraded to 4.x+ will still have separate file systems for both /data and /sdcard. If your device has an additional micro SD card this will also be separate still.
By the way: This is the reason why there's no USB-thumbdrive functionality any more for the Galaxy Nexus (because /sdcard is not a single partition any more and also there's no FAT32 formatted partition internally (except for SD cards if existent))


text:
Can USB charging (via mains adapter or from PC/Mac) of Android tablets be the main, primary method of charging? Or are there design issues?
Are there design issues with tablets being charged by USB not seen with Android phones?
I saw this on another forum, what are your thoughts on this with regard to my question?
http://forums.androidcentral.com/acer-iconia-a100/112270-charge-via-usb-port.html#post1696260

An important consideration in the design is the amount of current the
  usb connectors can handle. I figure the designers find that it is
  safer to design a separate charging and power connector because as the
  devices get larger they draw more current to operate and charge the
  battery. I think that is the reason they do that. Is there no 12 volt
  adapter for these devices? I don't own one yet, just leaning towards
  the acer 7 inch tablet.

I would prefer charging via USB (via mains or PC) when considering a tablet so that I don't have to carry around a specific charger.
Many Android phones use their micro USB port for charging - connecting the USB cable to a mains adapter or using the cable to connect to a full size USB port on a computer.
I see that some major brand Android tablet manufacturers (Motorola, Asus) as well as some smaller less know brands either use a separate power input (non micro-USB) or a dock.

Creating a generic "list of things" is typically not a good fit for Stack Exchange sites (and this one seems particularly prone to become outdated). They fall pretty squarely into the every answer is equally valid part of the what not to ask section of the FAQ.

Tablets have larger screens, and often more powerful CPUs, than phones, which vastly increases power consumption.   In order to provide the battery life expected, tablet batteries have much higher capacity than typical phones, and would charge at an unacceptably slow rate with a 5V, 550ma charge provided by a USB 2.0 computer port (some wall chargers are 850ma or 1-2A).  At 550ma and 5V, you are getting 2.75 Watts (Volts x amps), at 2A, you are as high as 10 Watts.
Charging at a higher voltage allows a faster charge while keeping the current down, which minimizes the need for heavier conductors in the cable, etc.
The ASUS charger used with the Transfomer series, for example, uses 1.5A at 15V, which provides 22.5 Watts.   I believe the iPad charger has similar characteristics.  Each of these uses a proprietary connector which provides a signal to the charger that it can safely output the higher voltage, which reduces the risk of damaging other equipment by connecting it to the higher voltage charger.   The ASUS will charge, albeit very slowly, from a computer USB port using the proprietary cable; the same may be true of other tablets.
EDIT:
An additional factor is the maximum current rating of the pins in the USB connector.   This article states that the maximum rated current on pins 1 & 5 of a micro USB connector is 1.8 amps for a total of 9 watts.   Currents beyond that amount run the risk of overheating the pins.

+1 Thanks @TomG your answer corroborates with others here including earlier poster Tom. Credit to you for providing the detail on power data to support the answer. Thank you !

Yeah, I opened the question last night and didn't write the answer until this morning, so I didn't see his, otherwise I would have just added the extra info as a comment.

I've accepted your answer now because of your points about the differences between tablets and phones and the power transmission challenges therein. Not something I'm comfortable with in this wonderful community in transferring accepted status, I seldom do it. But I feel that your answer is the most comprehensive, though credit to the other answer as they are all useful too.

The USB spec specifies that the power supplied over USB shall be ~5V DC, which is fine.
A single USB device (e.g. your tablet) may draw up to 500 mA of power in USB 2 and 900 mA of power in USB 3.  This is the issue - it's workable but not ideal.
Using a USB cable as a power connector between a tablet and the AC adapter that came with the tablet is a different story - they can do anything they want - but charging from a USB port is governed by the above limitations.

@therobyouknow, yes, I've seen devices that do that: allow you to charge via micro-USB port either quickly, when the cable is connected to the supplied AC adapter, or less quickly when same cable is connected to USB host.  I really like that arrangement.

+1 yes @Tom ! Indeed just today, I have received confirmation by email from Ergo Electronics that their GoTab Android Tablet range can charge via microUSB. They also provide a specific power port for charging with their own adapter. So, you can either charge them via the tablets' microUSB port from PC,  standard USB mains adapter or via the tablets' specific power port. Mains adapter options will be faster at recharging however.

+1. My primary goal is to not need a separate charger for the tablet, to be able to use any charger with micro-USB. The secondary goal to be able to charge off of a USB 2 or USB 3 host is also useful. Presumably, if the Android tablet detects the usual handshaking from the host device then it would know that it is being charged from a USB Host where the current is limited compared to from an adapter. In the case of attachment to a USB host then it seems apparent that the Android tablet can accept this lower current and just charge the battery slower.

@TomG expands on this, explaining the greater power demands of a tablet, so I'd like to make his the accepted answer. But I am keeping my upvotes on yours Tom too. I don't like to move accepted answers and appreciate your early response and don't want to disappoint (sorry about that). However I need to choose the answer that provides the answer that has the highest coverage of the issues in the question.

P.S. as a consolation I've also upvoted your answer on USB microphones as I'm interested in that area from a radio producer point of view. See also avp.stackexchange.com for audio/video production discussions.

@therobyouknow No problem - I don't mind you transferring the accepted answer.  I think that users should feel open to contributing new, possibly better, answers even if another answer is already accepted.

The Google Nexus 7 charges from its Micro-USB port. I'm not sure if it'll charge plugged into a computer USB port, but plugged into the wall, it works great.

+1 This is close to what I'm looking for, it satisfies my main requirement whereby at least this a specific charger is not needed for this tablet. The Nexus 7 is a nice tablet - powerful with 4-cores but a pity no microSD input for storage expansion or USB Host/USB On-the-go (OTG) for external storage. These 2 would be particuarly useful to me for backing up photos taken from my DSLR camera and audio recordings made on my Zoom recorder.

I love the fast bootup of an Android device compared to Windows but for it to be serious contender to Windows it needs to be friendly to content creators to connect devices to the tablet. So I couldn't buy the Nexus 7 for that reason, it remains predominantly a content consumption device.

Micromax Funbook, a clone of AllWinner A10 tablet has separate 5V DC input for charging through mains and a mini USB port for PC and interface connectivity. I am able to charge the device both using 5V DC input and mini USB (not concurrently ;) ). I have observed that charging the battery through USB doesn't heat up the battery as the other way do and it seems battery stamina is improved as well,

+1 Thanks @Narayanan good to be aware of another device that supports USB charging.

@Cornholio, FYI, my Nexus 7 (2012, WiFi) will charge, slowly, on a computer USB port while in sleep mode/turned off. With the screen on, but running more or less at idle, it tends to just maintain, or gain or lose charge level at a very slow rate. But if I'm doing anything with 3-D graphics, mid-to-high CPU usage, or active GPS, it will always discharge faster than the computer's USB port can supply it (even with the screen off). This can be a particular problem with certain apps that don't exit properly (I'm talking to you, Candy Crush!), preventing the tablet from ever sleeping.


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Restore Android Samsung Galaxy S Captivate SGH-I896 back to original installation
I have a Android Samsung Galaxy S Captivate SGH-I896 and I have some problems with the sound. My provider sent me a new one and expect the old one back in it's original state.
So I have one that is rooted and unlocked and a clean one.
Can someone help me unroot it knowing I already did a factory reset on it.
I'm trying to root it again (thinking the unroot will work) and I'm trying the same way I did it the first time but it doesn't work.
Is it possible to format the old one with some image made from the new one?
Any suggestions?

I'd say use Kies to update your old one (or use Odin/Heimdall to install some firmware from here). Afaik the Galaxy S (Captivate) does not have a custom rom flash counter (that was introduced with the S2 to see if one had installed custom roms before, so you don't have to apply 'Triangle Away' to reset it before sending back your old phone)
You basically have 2 options for your new one:

Root the standard firmware using CF-Root by Chainfire
Install an aftermarket firmware like CyanogenMod (ICS already available, JB also)

To install CyanogenMod-9 (an Android-4.0/Ice-Cream-Sandwich based custom rom), here are some infos:
Here's their Wiki FAQ for your phone and here's the full update guide, here are downloads for the Captivate


text:
How do I prevent a system update from occurring?
We have 150 new XOOM Wifi tablets (MZ604) that we are distributing to high school students in 2 weeks. The tablets have stock ICS 4.0.4 on them, unrooted.
The requirement is the tablets run Adobe Flash Player 11 in order to interact with math and science curriculum that coincides with our textbooks.  Adobe Flash Player does not work with Jelly Bean, therefore we need to prevent the devices from going past the 4.0.4 update. The students can take the devices off-campus and use them with their home wifi connections, so doing anything to block the devices at the school network is not going to work.

There's an app for this. You can use it to install Flash Player on a Jelly Bean device.
You can also try installing Flash Player and then upgrading the device to Jelly Bean.

This gets me where I wanted to go in that I could download and save the APK for Flash Player that I could sideload (Adobe_Flash_Player_11.1.115.12.apk). This requires "unknown sources", which is less optimal than having the installer in Google Play, but better than trying to keep 130 kids from updating their devices. From a survey of the curriculum, it seems to be working under 4.1.1. Thanks for the pointer.

Why not use adb shell and look for the process id of that update manager software and uninstall it or even disable it?
Do you know the name of the package responsible for the update?
Two ways I can think of

pm uninstall com.motorola.xxxxx OR
pm disable com.motorola.xxxxx

Trouble is, if the student in question is extremely inquisitive and leans towards Android hacking... well, this will be the weakest thing you can do, since the tablet would be outside of your control and all hell breaks loose if some student happened to allow the upgrade to proceed!
Another way that has its advantage/dis-advantage:
pro: Reliable!
con: temporary root under ICS, un-heard of!
Why not use a temporary rooting procedure (its temporary and will disappear on reboot - z4root is one I know of that will allow it but 100% uncertain if it will work with ICS), the idea is - to obtain root temporarily, and nuke the updater from the /system/app directory and cleanly dispose of trailing data and what-nots associated with the updater apk.
Then that should put your mind at ease.
Trouble is, really, you're dealing with such inquisitive minds and they will invariably find a way around the lock-downs, unfortunately... :D
It sounds like a lose-lose case here which is outside of your control since those tablets are coming in and going out of school into the student's home that has wifi etc.
One thing though as a recommendation, by-pass whatever powers-that-be that has approved the budget for the tablets and go direct to Motorola and ask them is there a solution and explain the situation to them to see if they can knock up something to prevent it from happening? Surely on their end, they can blacklist certain known serial numbers or something...

I'm comfortable doing the whole root routine given that I work for Motorola and I write apps, but I really don't want to do this 150 times. The kids might get to this point, but the most likely candidate sleeps down the hall from me. I can keep him in line. ;-) Thanks for the ideas. I'll give them a try.


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Make calls directly from contacts
There are many contacts in which I have more than one phone number listed. I want to call the default number of the contact directly without going to the Infinity view and select the number to call. How to do this?

As there are several dialer apps around, a 3rd party app might offer this feature to you. Would you consider that a solution -- or would you prefer to work with the built-in apps? (of course, if possible that is preferable most times -- so my question should rather read: are you open to an approach involving 3rd party apps?)

Yes, Im ok if this can be done with a third party app... but the few apps that I tried on the market were not able to do this and I was under the impression that this should be a part of any phone's default contact app... otherwise whats the use of designating a number as default if You cannot make calls to it directly?

I fully agree with you on that -- but this won't help you at all, I guess. There are a few apps on the Playstore which look promising. I'll sum up my findings in a separate answer -- though I cannot promise they are fully solving your request, they might come close.

As 3rd party apps are acceptable, there are some available which look promising. Not sure, though, that they completely fulfill the request, they should still be worth a look:

GO Contacts EX -- from the well-known GO-Team, and with an excellent rating. Feature list mentions two things: "Smart dialing" (just type a part of the number, and it will be found) -- and "speed dial". The former is not what you look for, the latter is probably something like "favorites on 0 to 9".
DW Contacts & Phone & Dialer promises the dialer "has many options to make it exactly to your wishes"
exDialer offers "speed dial" and promises a lot of flexibility
Dialer One is also worth a try -- feature-rich, high rated and regularly updated
Angel Dialer seems to be highly configurable (and again is high rated)
Eir Fast Dialer -- as the name suggest, this one promises fast dialing, and seems a promising candate indeed

As said, I cannot promise any of those will do exactly what you wish. But having checked many of them, these seem to be the best candidates. Personally, I'm not initiating too many calls, so I'm still contend with the default dialer...

Thanks a lot...  Dialer One has this feature... If you have a default number for a contact, you can touch the name of the contact and it will directly dial the number!!! Exactly what I wanted!!

Ah, thank you for the confirmation! I thought I remembered that, but was not sure (I used DialerOne on my old phone when it still had stock 2.1 -- more than a year ago).

You can create a "Direct Dial" shortcut on your home screen to do this:

On Android 1.x through 2.x (and on some replacement Launcher apps on newer OS versions) long-press on empty home screen space, and select Shortcuts -> Direct dial.  On Android 3.x and above, open the app tray, and swipe to Widgets.  Then find the Direct dial widget and drag/drop it to the home screen.
Select the contact's phone number from the list.

Now by tapping on the created shortcut you will call the number directly, as opposed to having to select the number from drop-down.

Thanks for your answer, but by creating a direct dial shortcut on the home screen, I can create a shortcut to call only that particular contact. However, I wish call the default number of any contact directly instead of opening the contact details and choosing the number to dial

Open the contact and:

Option 1: long press the desired phone number. A pop up will appear. Select Set Default.
Option 2: press menu button and select Mark as default.

My phone uses Android 4.0.3.

In my rooted LG Optimus One (P500) I did the following in my stock contact application:

Added an existing contact with more than one phone number to my favourite list.
Opened that contact and long pressed on the phone number which I would like to make it as default.  This is not required, if there a number is already assigned as default.
In my favourites list, I see the contact name and a button with phone icon. Touching the phone icon now calls the default number.

This is also verified with default contact app of Sony Ericsson SK17i running 4.0.3 (stock and unrooted)
The same can also be done without adding to favourites. Long press of the contact in the contact list opens up a menu. In that menu, touching "call contact" calls the default number.

I am quite surprised this has not been said here yet...
You can slide the list item of your contact to the right to directly call the default number. Also, you can slide it left to send a message to that number.
To set the default, long press on the number and "mark as default" or via the menu button, in the desired contact view.
I saw this on Android 2.2 and 2.3 on my Samsung Galaxy Fit. I'm not sure the same dialer app is used on other phones...


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Missing Exchange Mail Sub-folders
I used to be able to access my company's exchange email, main folders and subfolders on my Samsung Galaxy S3. Sometimes, it is in tree format, sometimes it becomes alphabetical order. it is quite inconsistent (I did not change any settings).
But it sync all the emails and contacts. I left the subfolder issue as it is.
About 2 weeks ago, I realised the sub-folders "disappear". Not sure if there were any update as all my updates are auto. Now only the main folders is accessible.
My S3 Android version is 4.0.4.

Possible duplicate: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/25232/how-can-i-get-exchange-email-subfolders-on-my-samsung-galaxy-s3
The folders view for exchange is a bit awkward in the S3, but it is there (for me at least).


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Android devices shows up in wrong account on Google Dashboard
I noticed today that my Android device shows up in the Google Dashboard for my work (Google Apps) address, as opposed to the Google Dashboard for my personal address.
I am wondering if this is even an issue? Of course I would prefer to have it associated with my personal account dashboard.
I have not tried to remedy the issue yet. Maybe my first step would be to delete the work account on my Android and see if it would default to a different account. As far as I can tell there is no option for changing a "default account" with which your Android associates.
Thoughts?

The default account is the one that you logged in with first. If this was your Apps account and the "Remove account" option doesn't work than on a non-rooted device the only way to remedy this I to perform a Factory reset. However the device will still show up on your dashboard, I have devices I stopped using two years ago still there.
One other thing to note is that your phone should show up on all accounts that you're logged in with. If it doesn't, try downloading a free app with that account.


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How to make "poor man's roaming" by proxying cell calls to SIP or Skype?
What applications should I use to make the Android device to forward calls from cell network to SIP or Skype and back?
One device ("Home") is expected to be left at home, serving as proxy; other device ("Travel") is just using data connection to connect to the first device, so it works like this:

Someone is calling you using cell network.
Home device receives the call and calls Travel using SIP.
Travel device sees the incoming SIP call.
You answer the call.
Home device is proxying between SIP and cell network for you until you drop the call.

How to do it? How to workaround greedy cell providers?

There is an opensource application Sipdroid, which theoretically could be modified to do proxying. But, judging from the poor general Android SIP experience, I'd think it would be very unreliable solution.
Easier way to workaround greedy cell providers seems to set up an IP PBX on the home computer, or get a free account at freepbxes.org and get a cheap SIP-connected phone number to eventually route your calls thru while using your "Travel" device's SIP connection to terminate calls.

http://freepbxes.org fail to reply. Also I don't sure it will be available in my country (where state telecom monopolist protects itself with lawsuits against VoIP).

Oh, I see. I've got a few friends in Belarus, and telephony communications with them is the most difficult amongst all I'm calling nationally and internationally. Well, looks like Android won't do for this. Have a look here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4723453/android-as-sip-to-gsm-gateway So your solution seems to be a computer-based PBX, e.g. Asterisk, with a cheap GSM voice-capable modem - that will be able to forward calls via SIP to your "Travel" handset.

Can I use Android itself as voice-capable modem? For example, what will happen if I call with GSM and CSipSimple simultaneously (will it de-facto route the sound)?

I'm afraid CSipSimple (or any other user-level app for that matter) doesn't have access to GSM audio. Someone more knowledgeable should confirm if this is the case.

CallRecorder applications does record calls, for example; and it even does not require the root access AFAIR. Also just recording from microphone should have some effect (poor quality although).

Can I setup IP PBX with GSM connection ?


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Installing G2X firmware on the LG P990 O2X?
I saw that EaglesBlood released a pre-alpha of Jelly Bean for the P999. Is it possible to make this boot on the O2X P990? I live in Europe.

You may be able to boot, but the likely hood that things like the camera, wifi and other things, working are slim. Even when it is "the same device", just a variant (like the vibrant, captivate, galaxy s, fascinate, for example) flashing a ROM not made for the specific device will not work.
The differences in the hardware causes modifications to the ROM. Everything from the wifi chip, to the camera can require custom drivers.
Most likely, you wont even be able to boot though.

Thanks, I think that I will run EB ICS until Jelly Bean reaches my phone before I attempt to flash


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How can I upload photos from my Android (4.1) to Picasa without resizing to 2048 resolution?
I am paying for additional storage, so the storage limit doesn't concern me.  I would like to upload full-resolution pics from my phone to my Picasa albums, but when I choose to upload a picture from my Android to a Picasa album, the picture ends up being resized to 2048 pixel max resolution.  Is there any way to disable this or bypass it without using something like Dropbox instead?
Using Nexus S running Jelly Bean.

That is described at the Google Support page for Picasa as a limitation, even if you're currently paying for extra space, that doesn't allow you to have image files larger than 2048 pixels on their longest edge:

Picasa and Picasa Web Albums - Free storage limits

Free storage limits
Photos up to 2048 x 2048 pixels and videos up to 15 minutes won't count towards your free storage.
Automatic resizing
All photos uploaded in Google+ will be automatically resized to 2048 pixels (on their longest edge) and won't count towards your free storage quota.
All photos uploaded from the Picasa software or in Picasa Web Albums over the free size limit will count towards your 1 GB of free storage. When you reach your storage limit, any new photos you upload larger than the free size limit will be automatically resized to 2048 pixels (on their longest edge).

Picasa and Picasa Web Albums - Account upload limits

Maximum photo size: Each image can be no larger than 20 megabytes and are restricted to 50 megapixels or less.
Maximum video size: Each video uploaded can be no larger than 1GB in size.
Maximum number of web albums: 10,000
Maximum number of photos and videos per web album: 1,000
Total storage space: Picasa Web provides 1 GB for photos and videos. Files under certain sizes don't count towards this limit.

You can refer to the How Google storage plans work, to confirm that what you pay only affects the space you have, not the service characteristics.
As a side note: Try and talk to their customers service to work a solution.

Thanks for the quick response.  This doesn't make sense, though, because when I use the picasa program to upload the photos are not resized (so it has nothing to do with the 1GB limit).  It's only when I upload from my phone that I get trimmed to 2048 pixels.  I'm not uploading via google+ so I wouldn't think that rule would apply.

@KdawgUD Don't kill the messenger ;) You can read from Google's support page: All photos uploaded from the Picasa software or in Picasa Web Albums ... will be automatically resized to 2048 pixels This happens if you've already overcome the free storage of 1Gb. Follow my advice, contact their support and ask for clarification on this subject. Ps: I'll be doing the same because I agree that is an absurd limitation. :)


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Does ROM Manager need S-OFF?
I want to try the CyanogenMod9 Alpha builds for the T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide [MT4GS/Doubleshot] and all the instructions say I need S-OFF.  The problem is that I have HBOOT 1.55 so software solutions like Revolutionary do not work and I am left with the JuopunutBear wire trick.  I am not up for that so I will stay S-ON for now.
Then, I found ROM Manager that claims to easily install custom ROMs easily, but I can not find if ROM Manager requires S-OFF for HTC devices.  Does anyone know if I can install custom ROMs through ROM Manager with S-ON?

ROM Manager doesn't do anything particularly special to install a custom ROM. It essentially makes a call to the recovery binary that allows it to save instructions for your recovery partition to run the next time it boots, thereby automating the process of flashing whatever zip file you choose. You could do the exact same thing manually.
Therefore, if your device needs to be S-OFF to flash a custom ROM from recovery, it will also need to be S-OFF in order for ROM Manager to flash a ROM. It will not work on an S-ON device since it won't be able to write to the NAND, and you won't even be able to get a custom recovery to stick in the first place, most likely, which it will ultimately need to flash the ROM.

After reading several forums I found that some ROMs need S-Off to work properly.  For those that don't you still need to manually flash the boot image.  Extract the boot.img from *.zip/kernel/<<device>>/boot.img then reboot into bootloader and flash with fastboot flash boot /path/to/boot.img
In short rom manager will install the ROM but not the boot image.


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Still visible after I deleted my WhatsApp account
I've deleted my WhatsApp account according to the official instructions.
Unfortunately I'm still visible to my friends and they can still send me messages. But with a deleted account that shouldn't be the case — at least in my opinion.
I've already contacted WhatsApp's support but to no avail. Until now I haven't gotten a response.
Do you know what I could do about this issue? Have you already experienced such a problem yourself?

Yes happens same with me as well.

@roxan OK. Good to know that I'm not the only one with that problem. Embarrassing that they deliver functionality that doesn't work.

For BB users there's a similar glitch where 3month old conversations that have been deleted numerous times still reappears everytime I launch whatsapp. I mean yes the app was free and allows me to talk with my friends but for about a year there hasn't been any updates to fix this neither via whatsapp nor BB.

PS: I've just talked to some of my friends and on their phone I disappeared from their Favourites list automatically without manually refreshing.

I've just received the following answer from WhatsApp's support team:

Hi there,
Thanks for confirming your account to be deleted within the WhatsApp
  settings. Your phone number has been deactivated and it is scheduled
  to be deleted within 30 days. Therefore, please have your contacts
  refresh their Favorites List so that you no longer appear as a
  WhatsApp user.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to
  contact us. We would be happy to help!

Sad that my friends have to refresh their Favourites list manually for me to be deleted. Especially when exactly this is described by WhatsApp's FAQ to be done seemingly automatically when you delete your account:

Deleting your account will do the following:
  […]
Delete you from your friends' WhatsApp Favorites lists.
  […]


text:
How do I remove corporate administrator settings?
I have an HTC Desire C, just a couple of weeks old. I also have a new job and decided to add my work email account via Exchange activeSync, however once it became apparent that I was giving up rights and functionality (such as the screen pattern lock) for my own phone I decided to remove it.
I removed the administrator, which automatically removed the email account, however I am still unable to restore the screen pattern lock. I've restarted the handset a couple of times, no help.
I seem to have no options to view or delete and administrator accounts (presumably, and hopefully, because there are none now).
I've read the similar question posted here and the answers but they don't help me sadly. Any ideas?

Which version of Android?

Possibly relevant: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1568/how-to-remove-corporate-settings

Hi Al, it's Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.3)

Thanks Bryan, yes that's the posting that brought me to this site but sadly it doesn't help me. Thank you all the same.

You don't clarify, so I'm asking: Have you tried to access Notifications > settings > Security > Screen lock, and personalize one?

Hi Zuul, yes. I only have the option to set a pin lock or password. The options to have no lock or a pattern lock are greyed out, saying on both: 'disabled by administrator, encryption policy or credential storage'.

In a thread at XDA, a user states: I had the same problem when i tried to setup an exchange email account and installed a certificate.
Fixed it by deleting all certificates.
Settings>Security>Clear credintials -- surely worth a try. Some more hints over there as well. This thread at Android-Forums might prove helpful as well.

Converting my comment into an answer, as it proofed according to its follow-ups:
In a thread at XDA, a user states:

I had the same problem when i tried to setup an exchange email account and installed a certificate. Fixed it by deleting all certificates. Settings>Security>Clear credintials

So I'd suggest you just do that.
For additional information, also take a look at this thread at Android-Forums, which deals with the same problem you mention as example in your question ("screen pattern lock" -- here: disable lock screen).

Doing "Settings->Security->Clear credentials" worked for me too.

You'll need to follow some simple steps to remove Exchange Active Sync password from Android.
Steps:

Settings
Backup & reset
Settings reset (resets phone to its original settings without erasing user data)
reset phone.

Mobile restarts automatically and you get happy.

I went to Security - Device Maintenance and deleted the corporate email setting

Go to settings, find themail "Accounts" section and click on the "Google" sub section. Your Google accounts should be displayed. Click on the account you don't want and the. In the bottom right corner of your phone screen there should be an option to " Remove Account". Click this and youp problem should be solved ^-^

The question isn't related to the user's Google account in any way, she used an Exchange account.


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Do I need to "unroot" my Evo 3D to get the ICS update?
Android 4.0 just came out for my phone today (a Sprint-version HTC Evo 3D). I didn't get the update yet, but I guess Sprint is doing it in phases. Anyway, I'm wondering whether I need to unroot my phone before installing the update. I used HTC's method to root it.
Another thing I should mention is that I currently do not have the ability to install "Firmware updates" from the "System Updates" settings menu. There is a pending update now (not the ICS update), but when I try to install it, the phone restarts, then shows an error (what seems to be a green robot with a triangular warning sign above).
Does this mean I need to unroot before installing any firmware updates? If so, how can I unroot it, when it still has HTC's bootloader?
I am aware that there are ICS ROMs I can download and install, but these all have problems, and I'd rather stick with the update from HTC. What do you guys think I can do?

ROM Updates from vendors/manufacturers/carriers usually evaluate checksums of at least the system partition -- which fails in case of applied modifications, such as required by rooting (rooting needs to place at least the superuser apk on the system partition, and other root-apps may then add to it). I'm not sure how this is handĺed by HTC for devices "unlocked" via their "service" -- but in all cases I experienced, OTA-Updates failed due to the CRC check.
"Un-rooting" will probably not help much: the system partition remains "tainted". The only thing I know which should definitely help is flashing the original ROM locally.
As for me, I ended up using CyanogenMod on my devices, which runs quite smoothly (HTC Buzz as well as Motorola Droid 2). If you either have to flash (the original stock ROM), you might want to give CM a try. A good backup with Titanium Backup should take care for your data and make migration easier.

Would flashing the original ROM completely restore the device? (to its original state)

Of course -- but to factory defaults. So all your data are lost then. Which is why I placed the hint to Titanium Backup in my answer: Your device is rooted, so you can use this excellent software. It even offers a "migration mode" for critical data (be careful when restoring system stuff like SMS messages, call logs, and the like -- if you do so on a different ROM as you backed them up from (careful! Avoid that when possible, do it when necessary), always have that mode activated.

Okay I rebooted my phone and did a factory reset, and it's still not allowing me to update. I also followed this guide to re-lock the phone, but still no luck. Any idea why it's not working?

@Hassan a factory reset is not enough, as that only "deletes" the user data (/data partition) and wipes the caches. But rooting changed the /system partition -- which usually is mounted read-only and not supposed to be changed. So its checksum still doesn't match the expectation of the updater, which is why it still refuses. As I wrote above: Flashing the original stock firmware should solve this, which probably includes a factory reset -- the factory reset alone isn't sufficient.

I put PG86IMG.zip on my SD and rebooted to let it "flash", as per that guide. Is this what you mean by flashing the stock ROM? Sorry for my ignorance here!

I do not own an Evo -- but maybe the following 3 links will provide some help: How can I flash back to the stock rom for HTC EVO 4G, Unroot and return to stock, How to return your HTC EVO 3D with 1.50 HBOOT S-ON to stock unrooted condition

The links look promising. I will try this when I get a chance. Thanks for your help!

Good luck! And let us know then (so maybe I have to update my answer and add some information, depending on your feedback).


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Can't figure out how to play steaming video from a url with MoboPlayer
How can a video player like MoBo Player play content from a URL?
I am not seeing any option after installing the app. Also, the search icon does nothing.

Four steps:

Open the MoboPlayer app;
If you don't see a small menu with icons at the bottom of your screen, tap "home" to bring that up, then tap "...";
From the white extra options board, scroll to see the far right side. There you will find "Streaming", tap to access;
Enter URL and enjoy the show.


text:
PIM alternative to Outlook that syncs through USB?
I find Outlook 2007 slow and bloated. Before I check Outlook 2010 to see if it's any better, I was curious to know if there's a PIM (Personal Information Manager) that can sync with Android smartphones through USB.
At this point, EssentialPIM can only sync through wifi. Ditto for MyLifeOrganized, which only handles to-do lists anyway.
Is there just no USB-capable alternative to MS Outlook?
Thank you.

As you are obviously running Windows, you might want to take a look at MyPhoneExplorer and the MyPhoneExplorer Client. This allows you to sync your contacts with Outlook, GMail, Windows contacts, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, Lotus Notes and Tobit David, your calendars with Outlook, Google, Sunbird, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, Windows calendar(Vista), Rainlendar, Lotus Notes, Tobit David and net shared calendars (WebDAV, FTP, local), SMS and more as well, and offers many additional features.

I use Companionlink as my PIM. Don't get why it only gets 3.6 from reviews on Google Play, because it works great between my Outlook 2103 and my Android Phone (Zopo C2). I guess it may be that people won't read how to correctly set it up. If you have problems syncing it through USB because of driver problems (and yes there's so many Android flavors out there you'll get driver problems some times) just use the network feature to sync.
I haven't used other solutions since this work really great for me.
/JJ


text:
Restore contacts from nandroid backup
I got a nandroid backup of a stock android froyo firmware. The device (GT-I9003, Galaxy SL) is now running cyanogenmod 9. how can i transfer the contacts (and sms/mms optionally) from the backup to the running system?

TitaniumBackup pro has an 'extract from nandroid backup' feature

If you had contact sync enabled and you added the account on this rom too your contacts should appear. If they don't, try Titanium Backup Pro. It's a terrific backup solution and it's pro version allows you to restore individual items from CWM backups.
It costs more than your average app but it's super well worth it.


text:
Samsung Galaxy Ace - Disconnects from some networks
I have a rooted Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830L with Android 2.3.4, with factory ROM. It works pretty well with most WEP/WPA2 wifi hotspots. When I try to connect to an open one, no matter the signal intensity, it connects for a couple of seconds then disconnects and keeps doing so. I can't state for a fact that this is only restricted to open hotspots but so far thats the pattern I have identified.
I have heard that Galaxy phones have some wireless issues but I'm not sure how to deal with mine.
Any ideas?
This might be related to: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/20921/why-smartphone-disconnects-from-certain-hotspots-sometimes

For what it's worth, I have seen the same problem in my Galaxy Ace. I can be standing under certain routers, yet the connection will fail.

I think I can guess what is happening. When I first started using free hotspots I was connecting with no problem and often they will have a logon screen to insert the locale password.  Some places however like hotels seem to give free access for a limited time or for first use without logging in and then later they will expect you to register. When I have returned to these places a second time I find that the phone finds the network and claims to be connected but every use returns a network error or appears to connect and get cut off. In fact I am getting rerouted to their logon page, only it seems to often only open in background in gingerbread so you don't know it is happening. After fiddling around you can sometimes get the logon page to show and then register. Often I can only do this by attempting a google search. Google somehow seems to know to route via the logon pages whereas other apps play ignorant.


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How do you find out what changes there are in new firmware?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 running ICS 4.0.3. It has desktop software with it called Kies for managing the phone and when I plugged it in today it told me that there was new firmware available:

Current firmware version: PDA:LPB / PHONE:LPB / CSC:LPC (TMU)
Latest firmware version:  PDA:LPD / PHONE:LPB / CSC:LPD (TMU)

How do I find out what changes there are in the new firmware version? I'd rather not make any changes to my phone (which is already flaky enough after the upgrade to ICS) without knowing what the changes are.
Plugging the firmware string into Google produces only a few results and none of them explain what the update contains.
A similar question suggests checking with my carrier's website but that only produced one result(*) which I had already found via Google. It is a person saying they did the upgrade, thinking it was 4.0.4 but it wasn't. That page doesn't help me to understand what the changes are.
So to reiterate the question, how do I find out what changes there are in the new firmware version?

Similar question: What's in an update?

UPDATE
Looking as samfirmware.com as mentioned in the comments and answer, I can see that T-Mobile released two firmwares with the lable 4.0.3:
GT-I9100 - United Kingdom (T-Mobile)
PDA: I9100BVLPB
CSC: I9100TMULPC
Version: 4.0.3
Date: 2012-04-10
Regions:

GT-I9100 - United Kingdom (T-Mobile)
PDA: I9100BVLPD
CSC: I9100TMULPD
Version: 4.0.3
Date: 2012-05-25
Regions:

The first is the one I have and the second is the one on offer. Apart from what is written there, I could find no further information on that site about what they might contain. (As an aside, I think that's a useful website and should come in handy in the future)

Not all manufacturers are open about what changes made, its usually along the PR lines of "minor bug fixes", might be best to check on samfirmware on their forums...

@t0mm13b lol, I just spent one hour reading to reach that website... I must pay better attention to the question updates! :)

@Zuul heh! yeah, would be surprised what is out there on the intertubez ;) xda is another source but its awful since the recent facelift on that site and resembles geocities to me... :P :D

Firmware update
A firmware update usually brings to your device bug fixes or new features. This is good because insures your device security and readiness for a stable usage.

After spending one hour trying to find a changelog for Samsung firmwares, the best I could came up with was this website:
SamFirmware

What is this? The firmware page of SamMobile is specially for the die-hard Samsung owner.

Since firmware are country related, and I don't know yours, you can try to locate the firmware there:
Your new version:

PDA:LPD / PHONE:LPB / CSC:LPD (TMU)

Marked at bold what's relevant to find that firmware.
Enter LPD in the search box and look at the column "CSC", than locate the row with the firmware released for your country.
Note: Nonetheless, there's not much information available.

There's also:
This two websites provide a comprehensive list of the firmwares released:

Samsung Galaxy S2 Firmware Updates via Kies Official Releases compiled list

How To Update Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II Firmware

Locate your current firmware

Touch Menu;

Touch Settings;

Scroll to and touch About phone;

The software version will be displayed.

Thanks for the information about updating firmware but that was not what I was after. I know what a firmware update is and its purpose (I even make reference to upgrading to ICS). I went to samfirmware.com as suggested and have updated the question with the information from there. The second link you gave only listed firmware numbers and didn't actually have the LPD version listed. The third link was about how to do an update and therefore not relevant to the question. I'm from the UK by the way if that helps.

@BurhanAli By your current firmware I already knew that you were from UK, and that's about it when we talk about firmware detailled information! There's no comprehensive and detailed information about every firmware released and what changes do they carry when compared to the previous version. That's the reason as to why my answer provided a broad overview on this subject and I've mentioned that "there's not much information available." on it.

@BurhanAli I will dig deeper into this matter and try to locate more intelligence on this subject. I will return to update the answer with the new findings. PS: I to would like to have a revision history for firmware updates, since I have it for other pieces of hardware that I don't even update :D


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Samsung GS3 (SPH-i710) exchange server repeated security update notification
I just connected my Samsung Galaxy S 3 (SPH-i710) to my exchange email server at work. It synced up and my email and calendars show on my device, however every few minutes I get a notification that says "Update Security Settings" when I click on it, it shows an alert dialog that says "Security Update Required" "Update Security Settings to use ". Clicking OK will allow my email box to refresh. However if I ignore the notification it won't receive push updates.
Does anybody know what the cause of this may be?

Exchange is trying to apply your organization's default ActiveSync policy to your device.  More than likely, the refresh interval setting on the ActiveSync policy has a number set in hours.  Unchecking this box may resolve the issue.
We're having this issue with a couple of our Android devices after publishing a new ActiveSync policy.
Here is Microsoft's official response on the issue.


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How to preserve BTEP data when switching from Amazon App Store to Play Store?
I want to replace as many as possible of the apps that I got though the Amazon Appstore app (AAa) with apps from, say, Google's Play Store.1
Of these "Amazon-purveyed apps" the most important one (by a very wide margin) is Better Terminal Emulator Pro (BTEP), which I purchased from the Amazon Appstore many months ago, and have used extensively ever since.

Is there an easy way to save my current (Amazon) BTEP's data, and restore this data once I have installed a new (non-Amazon) BTEP?

Now, as it happens, I have Titanium backups ("app+data") of all these apps.

How can I restore the BTEP data alone from my BTEP Titanium backup?

(As far as have been able to find, Titanium offers the option of restoring the app alone, or restoring the apps data along with the app, but I have not found any option to restore the data alone.)
Thanks!
1Why?  Because the Amazon Appstore app (AAa) I have on my phone has to go.  I never use it anymore, and yet it starts on its own, and causes all manner of grief.

+1. This is a much broader question, I see BNEP just as an example here. Could you formulate your question more generic so that other user will find it even if they don't search for BNEP?

Make a backup
Uninstall the Amazon copy
Install BTEP from the Play Store
Open Titanium Backup and select your BTEP backup. As long as the app is installed at the time, it will give you the option to restore data only:


text:
How to create a safe copy of every new photo/video right after shooting?
Is there any app that can secretly duplicate every photo/video right after it was taken?
Maybe using inotify?
Update:
I was thinking about this while reading a story about a journalist whose phone was taken by the politician's bodyguards when he was trying to film their illegal bahavior.

I just added 2 tags to your question to make your intention more clear -- as your point obviously is not "secretly duplicate", but rather "safely duplicate" (i.e. to a safe location), pointing to "backup and data safety" rather than to "spying at my partner" ;)

That very much depends how and where you place the "secret", and what other conditions/restrictions are in place. Network storage (such as cloud services or email) e.g. require a network connection to be present, and the transfer might be noticed. A local copy might not have the copy-process noticed, but the copies could be found, in most times easily when using a file explorer. Your "secret act" might also indicate infringment on a 3rd persons privacy (if only your own photos are involved, then why the secrecy?), which not only would be indecent, but also may incur a penalty (no accusing, just a hint).
But assuming completely legal application, there might be a few options available:

photoCopy backups photos to email. The app's description states: "when the program runs, there is no indication at all"
Photo Auto Uploader automatically uploads pictures to Picasa or Facebook after pictures are captured
Auto Uploader does the same for configured services
FolderSync can synchronize your photo's folder (and of course others) periodically in the background -- to cloud services as well as to your home computer

There are more apps for each of the mentioned categories. There may also be some to create local copies, but I'm not aware of any at this time.

Thanks, will try them :) I've added the situation to the question.

Good idea, thank you! As said, I was not accusing -- just mentioning the fact, as people might think this the reason behind ;) But now it becomes quite clear; the word "secretly" was causing a bit confusion -- but secrecy was not your real point I see, rather "safely and automatically".

If I'm not mistaken Dropbox automatically synchronizes all your photos as soon as you take them. I dont think there is an app that saves the photo in two places. What you can also do is set up a cron job every 5 minutes or so to copy new photos in another directory.
Personally I think the Dropbox solution is better to do. On the other hand you can always create your own application to do so :)

Also G+ client does auto-upload of pictures (I don't know if it does it on videos also)

I've added the situation in question, please check it :)

I have Google+ and Dropbox, and all of my photos are automatically synced up with both my Google Photos and the "Camera Uploads" folder in my Dropbox. It works perfectly for photos taken with the stock camera, but I've had mixed results with other camera apps.

Now there's also Auto Backup from Google.


text:
Push notification on Samsung Galaxy Note (GT-I717)
Why is there no push notification or some notification for incoming messages in the screen when the phone is in locked state? I am using Samsung Galaxy Note. When my phone is in locked state, and when I click the power button I see the pattern unlocking screen. When new messages flow in, I just see a mail icon in the top status bar, but no other notifications in the screen. What needs to be done for that?

What other notifications do you expect?

If you would like something on your screen in addition to the notification in your notification bar, I would suggest using something like GoSMS with WidgetLocker.
If I'm correct in your understanding, this will do what you want: Set up WidgetLocker to be your unlock screen and then place a GoSMS messaging widget on your lock screen, so you can read the messages immediately.
I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but I hope it helps!


text:
Motorola Atrix 4g force close error
I am using Motorola Atrix 4g and it's Android 2.3.6 . It worked like a boss for almost 6/7 months. Recently it started showing Force close com.motorola.service.main and restart the phone, then again force close and restart. After restarting almost 10 times it showed the screen. Then I factory reset the set, thought it will solve the problem.
But after resetting the phone it still gives error "com.motorola.service.main has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again" and then force close, but it doesn't restart now. So I can still use the phone. And I live in Bangladesh, so there is no servicing center available for this.
Anyone faced this before? or does anyone have any clue how to fix it?

didn't anyone face it before? what should I do? and it's not rooted device

I had the Force Close problem the error was "The process com.motorola.service.main has stopped unexpectedly please try again". Motorola support couldn't solve it so they had me send it for repair. Sent it to them 2X. When i got it back the 3rd time still had the problem so Motorola provided a replacement phone. When i received the replacement the problem occurred again. This only left 2 possibilities, sim card (unlikely) and MotoBlur. I created a new MotoBlur account instead of using my existing one. PROBLEM SOLVED.

Solved mine too, thanks a lot. Motorola should give a better support :(


text:
How can I replace stock download manager that Google Play uses?
Yesterday I upgraded my rooted LG Optimus One (P500) running v20g 2.3.3 to CM10 (unofficial) 4.1.1 through this post.
Since the new ROM is unofficial and is in alpha/beta stage there are few known problems. I am able to live up with those problems just to enjoy the new Jelly Bean.  However one undocumented problem about download manager was discovered yesterday, which proved to me nasty.
When I attempt to install any app from Google Play Store, a progress bar appears saying "Downloading..." and the numerical progress indicator 'x/y Kb done' does not come up. At first I thought it should be problem with my WiFi, but other application seems to access Internet correctly.  In concurrence to this behavior, the LEDs in my WiFi modem does not blink, which it usually does when there is a WiFi activity.  Even small apps in the order of 150 Kb takes long time and eventually ends with error.  However, I accidentally noticed that a combination of simultaneous downloads of more than one app, cancelling and starting again etc, made FEW of the downloads to actually progress while other still linger.  So, it is clear that the download manager that Google Play Store relies on is trouble some in my case.
My question is how can I replace that download manager? Installing other download manager does not help as Google Play still uses the troublesome native one only.
Any ideas on how I can use some other download manager for Google Play or to mend the troublesome one?
BTW, I had tried: Turbo Download Manager, Download Manager for Android. They do not detect the download when i press "install" button in Google Play Store for an app. Trying other download manager is still a big pain as I have to download APK from other sites and transfer to my SD card to install.

BTW, if some one is curious about how Jellybean performs on LG P500 (600Mhz, 512Mb): it rocks! I could not tell difference between Gingerbread and Jellybean in terms of speed. Other usual UI enhancements are great too...

Did you find the answer? I also want to replace the Download Manager in order to be able to have control over what is actually downloading. Basically to be able to use App Store and "disable" automatic system updates.

While you intend to replace the stock download manager, but keep access to Google Play Store, since it's your trusted market, before that, you should try to find the reason as to why are you having troubles downloading apps:
Troubleshooting Download Issues

Is the device supported by Google Play Store?
You can confirm this from the Supported Devices List last updated 2012/06/29
Common quick checks:

Restart your phone, then try downloading the app again.
Confirm there is connectivity to either wireless or cellular networks on your device.

If behind a firewall, ensure that TCP and UDP 5228 ports aren’t blocked (they are required for Google Play).
Clear cache and data of both the Google Play Store app and the Download manager:

Visit Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage applications;
Tab over to "All";
Select the Google Play Store app, and then tap "Clear data" and "Clear cache";
Select Download manager and tap "Clear data" and "Clear cache".

Aditional information for troubleshooting can be found at Google Play: Troubleshoot an issue.

Alternatives

Other App discovery Method
Appbrain, an app discovery service that as per your request still uses Google Play Store as the source for the downloads provide.
It features a great instant download tool (AppBrain App Market), a nice search function, a very clear interface and you can sign-in with your Google account.
One side note: This app still downloads via the stock download manager.

Alternative Markets
Alternative markets have their own download manager. They may be a solution, provided the issue does not lie with your current unofficial ROM:

Amazon Appstore for Android
While an alternative market, I've received a notice from the website stating:

The Amazon Appstore is only available to customers located in the United States.

GetJar
Launched in 2004, it grows every day, counts 600.000+ apps, and 450.000+ registered developers. As an independent app store, not tied to any particular handset or carrier, it comes as an alternative solution for you.
AndroidPIT
AndroidPIT is a Web 2.0 network and Android blog. Was created to bring together Android experts, enthusiasts and developers. Apps are tested, at least one every day and reviews are published to help users on their decisions.
SlideME
Founded back in 2008, SlideME provides a 'Managed App-Store Service' and builds solutions as per market requirements.

Thanks @Zuul, appreciate your input. I am bit skeptic about other markets. Hence I would like to stick to Google Play Store. I will rather download the APK through my computer and transfer to my phone's SD card.

yesterday I installed the tool from AppBrain App Market and attempted to download an app. The app takes me through few screens and finally it lands in app's page of Google Play Store where it asks me to accept terms and conditions. After agreeing the download takes place through the same troublesome download manager. Just FYI

@Narayan: AppBrain is app discovery, not alternative market, it still uses Play Market for installations, try another alternative that does have their own download server, like Amazon AppStore or GetJar or SlideME.

@LieRyan There, as requested, a more extended solution, covering all from troubleshooting to alternative markets, to app discoveries services! Tks by the "push" :)

You can try dettach your google play account from your device in settings accounts, then relog in,
Some custom roms you will not get ota updates via google in a rooted device.


text:
The size of the MMS message
What is the maximum size for an MMS message that any Android phone can handle? and is there a way to increase this size?

Short Answer:
The maximum size for MMS is rather carrier-dependent, and usually is set to 300kB. For your second question, you might want to check Manually edit your max MMS size limit.
More details:
As for changing the limit, there are several consideration to be taken. Sure one can alter any limits, but usually there's a good reason for their presence. As Zuul pointed out (see comment below), you may then be able to successfully send a message of, say, 1MB size -- but that doesn't necessarily mean the recipient is able to receive (let alone read) it. Consider the 300kB limit as "smallest common denominator" between your phones capability, your carriers capability/configuration and the receivers capability.
So if you are pretty sure what you are doing (say, you know your phone can handle 500k at least, the recipients phone can do so as well, and both your carriers support it), increasing the limit might enable you to exchange MMS up to 500k with that recipient -- while failing to do so with others.
To me, this was never a question. If I need send some message, I use email. It's cheaper than MMS, and works between phones and PCs and Macs and... Exception: the recipient has an "older phone model" without email capabilities. But then chances are good it cannot handle MMS either -- so I have to stick to 160 chars with SMS telling him to lookup his mail :)

Manipulating the size limit is an "wasted effort", since you may increase your limit, but and about the person who sends you an MMS or the person who will receive an MMS from you? (I'm just pointing out some important considerations)

@Zuul You are absolutely correct with that -- there's a good reason for such limits. I thought it too obvious to mention it (see also my comment on the question itself). But thanks for mentioning it -- I will include it with my answer.

Basically the size of an MMS message depends on:

The size that the operator can handle;
The size that the phone can handle.

From Wikipedia:

Although the standard does not specify a maximum size for a message, 300 kB is the current recommended size used by networks due to some limitations on the WAP gateway side.

There's no definitive answer to this subject due to the dependencies mentioned above. You can contact your operator and try to get a more accurate answer from them. Alternatively you can always test ;)

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


text:
Is there a way to turn off translation in Google Play
I have HTC Desire with Norwegian language set up. In Google play, all program descriptions are translated to Norwegian. I find this quite annoying because most of the translations are bad, and looks quite silly in Norwegian. Sometimes I need to imagine what it would be in English to understand what it say!
Is it possible to force the Google Play app to display all texts in original language?
EDIT:
I have realized that the issue is different for different apps.
Examples:

AppLock by DoMobile Lab. This one is the description shown as badly translated to Norwegian in Google Play on my phone. When I go to Google Play in a browser on my PC, it shows description in English (My PC has English system language, and I have set up Google settings to use English).
MindFeud by MonkeyBin Studios. This is shown with English description in Google Play on my phone, but it has a button next to the description header you can click on to translate (which is a function in Google Play, probably using Google Translate). This is exactly how I want it to be.
TvGuiden by MeeTV AS. This is a Norwegian app, and of course has good Norwegian description in Google Play on my phone. This is also fine with me, since it is a proper translation. When I go to Google Play in a browser on my PC, it shows description in English, which is evidence that it provides description both in English and Norwegian. In this case it's most likely written in Norwegian and additionally translated to English.

In example 1, I suspect the app vendor have translated using automatic tool and reports to Google Play having a translation for that language.
In example 2, the app vendor does not claim to have a translation to Norwegian, so in this case, it is shown in Google Play in English, with a button that the user can choose to get it translated.
Example 3 has a truly proper Norwegian translation done by humans, so the app vendor reports correctly to have a translation for Norwegian. It would be interesting to get experience from others on this app if it will be shown in English for users that has phone language set to other than Norwegian (example Hungarian).
Is this the result of some app vendors (ref. example 1) misunderstand how the translation system in Google Play is supposed to work?

You could try to login to your Google Account Page with your web browser, and set the language there to e.g. "English". Not sure if that is persistent, or if the app respects this (which is why I didn't post it as answer) -- but it's worth a try. There's obviously no way to tell the playstore to use the "original language" -- rather it's a decision the developer makes (to have his description auto-translated).

This is a very irresponsible decision on Google's part. Bad translation on a grand scale like this is an insult to the language and the culture. It is appalling to see a drawing app called "draw!" being translated to "lottery!" in Chinese store (and I'm sure in other stores too). At least in the US bad Engrish signs are limited to small ethnic shops. This is as bad as walking into Walmart and finding every product's label being machine translated by the importer.

@ytk: I'm not sure it's Google that does this translation. I suspect it is the app vendor that use some translation tool to translate the text before publishing on Google. The reason I think this is that there are some apps that is shown in English text with a button in the Google Play you can press to translate. This means that Google Play does not translate automatically without you asking for it. See my 3 examples for different approaches that the app vendors have chosen.

When authors publish their apps to the store they have an option to auto translate their product details, hence there are so many badly translated app description causing eyesore. Understandably an app developer would enable the option hoping their app would reach a wider audience. Hence I said Google is irresponsible for allowing it to be over(mis)used.

With the latest Google Play update, now every app is being auto-translated to my language. This is just disgusting. Yes, Google Translate sucks monkey balls. Machine translation just doesn't work at all. It might work for English->Spanish, but other non-latin languages? No. The translation isn't even close to the original meaning.

Three methods available, depending from where are you accessing Google:

Google Play app usually uses the language defined on your device settings:

Tap your device "home";
Tap "settings";
Locate "Language & keyboard" and tap;
Under "Select language" you can define the language for your device that is also used by the Google Play App as to present you the information on your language.

Accessing from a browser: The Google Play Store sets the language by your IP address, you can update that definition by changing it at the footer (it will persist):

For all Google Products: From Gmail, you can access your account settings and set the language that you prefer for Google Products:

Login to your Gmail account;
On the top right corner, click "account";
On the left vertical menu, click "language".

I do not want to set the phone language to english, because I like that the phone interface is norwegian, but the other two options seems to have fixed it regarding the app content for the various apps in Play Store (the texts for the static parts in the Play Store app itself is still Norwegian, but that's how I like it anyway. That's translated properly...)

I'd answer this as a separate answer, but question is protected and apparently earning reputation on other sites doesn't count. Anyway, to avoid google translating play store in browser you can also change hl=pl (for polish) to hl=en

This also annoyed me. My language is Hungarian, a hard-to-translate language. For example Google translated the "loop-device" to Hungarian as "rotating-device", which is a different thing. I think it is a really bad idea. The app, which does not have the user's native language built-in and the user doesn't speak any language of that app, then that user will not be able to understand and use that app normally. Also 9 of 10 translations aren't understandable.
So after that beginning I solved my problem. I installed Xposed and that appinfo module. Than I changed the language setting in the appinfo for Google Play. Lastly I cleared the cache of Google Play. And voilà! All in English and I can understand everything!


text:
Should I run a factory reset on my phone to speed it up?

Possible Duplicate:
Factory reset to restore performance? What are the disadvantages?

I have a Motorola Droid 2 Global phone, but it has become somewhat slow. It sometimes takes it a couple seconds to do simple things like calling someone.
Would it speed things up if I did a factory reset on my phone? Is there a simpler way to get everything working quickly?

I am assuming you have had your Droid 2 for a while; and have installed a lot of applications on it. I also assume that it is out-of-warranty.
Performing a factory reset will remove all your apps and data - and without apps to run, yes your system will feel faster.
However, as you add more apps over time, it will slow down again. Some apps like to run in the background, silently using up your devices available RAM.
From a quick search, I found that the Droid 2 comes with standard Motorola Bloatware. This software runs (and uses RAM) even if you have never launched it.
Since you are probably out-of-warranty for your device, you can root your it without fear. Software like Titanium Backup can "Freeze" the applications so that they do not run, allowing more RAM for you and your apps.

Dylan has a point here as well. I own a Droid 2 (not global), rooted it, and finally installed CyanogenMod 7.2 on it. That gave it a huge performance burst! So why didn't I include that with my answer? Because it involves rooting and flashing, which many people are afraid of. It's worth it -- but one should have a little background knowledge, and at least know what's that all about ;)

I would have included installing Cyanogenmod; but when I checked the site it said that the Global version was not supported.

It was just an example. The point is: Once the bloatware is out, a lot of background-processes are gone, a lot of ressources freed... (see my answer's part on the apps no longer needed or to be replaced). Any other custom ROM will probably do, as long as it strips off the "extra presents" nobody wants ;)

Thanks, but it seems its pretty difficult to root Android 2.3.4.

A factory reset might help here. But so does an atomic bomb help killing a mouse. You could also first check a couple of other things, as e.g.

uninstall apps you no longer use
Clean the cache of apps, which can free up a lot of precious internal storage (and as a side effect prevent some long scans there)
check for apps which are running continuously (and even start at boot time), see if this behaviour is really needed. If it's not, see if you can change that in the settings of those apps. If not, either ask the developer for help -- or look out for an alternative/replacement.

Doing a factory reset will help you short-term -- but as soon as all the old stuff has been re-installed, your problems come back. Better to look for a long-term improvement.

Clearing cache is only a temporary solution; reducing background services is where you'll cut the most weight.

Check other ways first, often older phone's get slower because of the number of background services and/or widgets that are running. If this is the case, resetting may improve performance, but only temporarily until you reinstall all those apps or widgets you needed. Remove less important widgets, and avoid apps that uses persistent background services.
Another possible reason is that you have lots of data and one of the various database in the system are accessed in sub optimal way. Updating apps or replacing it with an alternative may improve performance, trimming the amount of data is another possibility.
Another common issue is the home screen apps. Having seven screens is nice, but they also consume more memory and causes performance degradation, because you inevitably put more things into it.