text:
Dashboard/Home Screen icons take up to 10 seconds to load after pressing the Home button
I have an issue where the Home Screen (dashboard?) icons can take over 10 seconds to load when I press the home key. After this happens once, the icons will stay there if I open a program and then press the home key again. But, after some time has passed, I'll see this issue again.
Phone restart does not fix this issue. I don't have a lot of Services running and I keep things tidy with Advanced Task Killer.
This question looks similar, but that user's icons never load. Mine will always load, it just takes way too long.
Any thoughts are welcome.
Phone: Motorola Droid; Android 2.2.1; No Root/Mod
Apps: 1 Widget; 27 total icons
Modes: Normal; Desk Charger Mode (whatever that's called)
EDIT:
I uninstalled my Task Killer and a couple other apps that I don't use anymore. The problem isn't as severe, but still occurs. I will try removing the 1 widget I have and perhaps install an alternate launcher.

I have the same phone and pretty much the same issue(s).
First of all, you shouldn't be using a task killer. It's unnecessary and counter productive. (See this question and this other question.)
One thing that will help is using a Home Screen replacement. There are several, but I've been using Zeam. While it doesn't remove the homescreen redraw delay completely, it's much better than without it.
Another thing that will help is reducing or eliminating the number of widgets you're using.

Thanks for the note about Task Killers. I'll stop using that. I'd rather not install a Home Screen replacement, but I'm open to that. I'm also only using 1 widget.

@EndangeredMassa Using a home replacement will also let you reduce the number of home screens you have, which will also help with performance.  Personally I use LauncherPro. It has a setting to try and force/keep the home launcher in memory. It also has a debug option see how much memory the launcher is using to help you reduce usage.

I have the same Droid 1 and I was having this happen all of the time. Now I run LauncherPro with no widgets, and I occasionally clear the cache of apps (using Apps2sd) to keep my available memory around 50MB. That seems to keep the behavior you describe down to a minimum (maybe once a week vs. almost every time).

I have a similar experience on my Droid, usually after a long time away from the home screen (either in the car or home dock, for example).  I found that it seemed to improve quite a bit when I ditched the Google stock price widget (don't remember the exact name), even though I'd reduced its update frequency to 2 hours.

The delay that you are seeing is the Android operating system "opening" the home screen application after it has been stopped. Unlike most other phone platforms, the Android home screen is nothing more than an application (like Messaging or Email) which is triggered when you press the home button (or back button enough).
The Android OS will often stop applications which are running in the background but not being used in order to free up more resources for the ones you are currently using. If you spend an extended amount of time within an application such as a game or Messaging, the Android OS might stop the home screen activity to allow the current application to function better. When you press the home screen button to exit, it has to start up the home screen from scratch. The delay you see is the home screen starting up from a completely stopped state, much like the delay you would see when opening a large application for the first time since booting.
There is no (easy) way to prevent this from happening and in reality you shouldn't. The Android OS is built on a very robust platform that has been designed to handle resources much better than a human being. This is also the reasoning behind not using a task killer. The OS knows best.
To mitigate the problem, an alternative home screen might be worth a try. Three popular ones are LauncherPro, ADW.Launcher, and Zeam. Reducing the number of applications that run in the background will also help free up resources and allow the home application to stay loaded for much longer. Applications like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and most multiplayer games all keep services running in the background which consume resources.
Hopefully some of this can help you!

"OS knows best" is not a good answer for a bad user experience. This is annoying enough to make me consider a different platform for my next phone purchase. Alternative launchers shouldn't be the answer.

They are not the answer, there is no answer. An alternative launcher might be lighter on memory which allows it to stay loaded longer. This functionality is by design and you should not want to change it. The extreme delay seen is a direct result of an aging device as well as other resources being eaten up which will cause a slow startup for ANY application. If I manually kill my launcher there is a 2-3 second delay when pressing the home button before it appears. If I manually kill GMail there is a 2-3 second delay before it appears. This is the nature of how Android works on a system level.

@EndangeredMassa, it may be reasonable to say that "OS knows best" but it could be that the designer of Droid's home launcher does not.  I would echo Jake's recommendation of trying a different home launcher.  And if you don't like it, you can always switch back.

I also have a Moto DROID rev. 1 that has been OTA updated to 2.2.1.  I was also seeing the extreme delay (10 seconds and longer) in displaying the launcher after removing the phone from either my car or multimedia dock.  I found that after performing a factory reset of my phone, the launcher was much, much more responsive.  It has been several weeks since I reset my device, and while the launcher does lag from time to time, it is usually available in less than 2 seconds.

Switch off auto sync, things will improve immediately.

authors: Татьяна Ажмякова


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Default email app is always on
Before Android 2.2, the default email app would only show notifications if it was "off". That is, if I used Advanced Task Killer to kill it.
After Android 2.2, the default email app will show notifications regardless of me killing it.
Is there a way to get the old functionality back?
I want it to always show notifications, but only when I tell it to be "on". I know that I can change the notification settings, but that's annoying and clunky.
If there is a good alternative email app that provides this functionaly and can sync with Exchange, that would work.

In my samsung i5500 I use a 'sync shortcut' placed on the home screen.
It is a one click on/off sync. You can add the power control widget by long pressing the home screen>Add widget>Power Control

Or there are some such one click utility in the market.

This appears to stop syncing of all programs. I was interested in an email-specific solution, but I think this will work for me as well.

After using this, I realized that this will not prevent the email app from grabbing emails and creating notifications. Boo.

Not sure if you checked this: Settings>Accounts&Sync>Check/Uncheck Auto-Sync then specifically manage each application to sync or not to sync..

source: Stack Exchange

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sort: votes


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Troubleshooting why my Android phone is rebooting (Nexus S)
It seems to happen when I'm using Pandora. But then again, I'm always using Pandora. It also reboots so quickly that sometimes, I do not notice.
Is there a way to see what caused the last reboot?

(Just thought I'd add.) My milestone reboots randomly about thrice a week. I've noticed it can happen at any moment with any app (sometimes even while it's sleeping). And the reboot is almost instant: it doesn't shut down smoothly, it simply blacks out and immediately starts booting again.

Engadget has just reported that the Nexus S is having issues with random reboots (http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/15/nexus-s-suffering-from-random-data-loss-reboots/) and apparently fixes are coming.
To see the log you can get the following app:
aLogCat

Thanks. However, I'd still like to know what were the causes of the last reboots. Is there not a log of this?

@Nimmy You can make your own log, google "android logcat"

alogcat was removed, do you know of any alternative? Maybe Logcat Reader?

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why do some apps not appear when adding app to home screen?
I have HTC Desire HD. I want to add an app (ColorNotes) to the home screen to quickly launch it. But when I try to add it, it is not in the Apps list. Is there a way to add it?

Long tap the ColorNotes app, then it should be in the Home Screen. Let me know if you already tried this.


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What is the meaning of "flashing a custom ROM"?

Possible Duplicate:
What is the difference between: Rooting, Jailbreak, ROM, Mod, etc.?

What is a custom ROM, and what does "flashing a custom ROM" mean?

Here's a good question about the rooting part of your question: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1184/how-do-i-root-my-phone  (the top answer includes the whats and whys of rooting as well as the how)

Note: the CyanogenMod and Fresh 3.5 links below are links to EVO Roms as an example - you need to find the correct ROM for your device
"Flashing a custom ROM" basically means to load a different version of the Android OS.  This site actually explains it very well.  A custom ROM is the full Android OS customized by the ROM builder usually to make it faster, provide better battery-life or add new features.
AOSP ROMs like CyanogenMod offer stock Android which will remove things like HTC's Sense or Sprint's Apps.  CyanogenMod's ROM is one of the more popular ROM.
Other Roms like Fresh 3.5 offer a ROM very similar to the default experience (with added speed and battery-life) by leaving Sense (or whatever skin your device has) and incorporating over the air updates into an updated version of the ROM.
In order to flash a custom ROM you must first root your device. For information about rooting see Matt's comment on the OP or my original answer below:
When I had the same question this is where I found it:
http://www.talkandroid.com/7686-what-is-rooting-and-why-should-i-do-it-the-pros-cons-of-android-rooting/
Depending on what device you have the rooting method will be different though.  Personally I suggest reading up on your device at XDA.

"In order to flash a custom ROM you must first root your device." Why is this the case? I believe this is a common misconception about flashing?

@jiggunjer You're right, it's not the case.  Generally you just need to unlock your bootloader and/or install a custom recovery.  The latter can be easier if you are rooted, however.

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text:
Backup link between gmail, facebook, twitter contacts
I have contacts from my GMail, Facebook and Twitter account. In my GMail accounts, I've saved my contacts with their first names or nicknames, so I end up having to manually link most of my Facebook & Twitter contacts with my GMail contacts. If I do a factory reset I have to repeat this process all over again. Is there a way I can backup/maintain the link between my contacts so that, after a factory reset, I can simply restore the links between contacts?

I believe backing up the data for the Contacts Storage and restoring it should restore linked-up contacts.  You can do this with an app such as Titanium Backup (requires root).

Will gmail/facebook syncing work perfectly after restoring the contacts storage using Titanium Backup?

This doesn't work. I tried it.

OK, that's unfortunate.  I wonder how the heck the linkage is stored ...

Yes it should work.
If you look at your contacts in GMail you'll see an extra piece of data that stores the link information.  At least mine have that for my HTC Desire.
This is what I see.
<HTCData><Facebook>id:123456789/friendof:123456789</Facebook></HTCData>

This means the sync data isn't stored on your phone at all, just as part of the contact info in Google.

That looks like it's HTC Sense doing the linking there, not the built-in Android Contacts app. I don't see anything like that on my GMail contacts and mine are linked using the standard Android linking.

My Nexus One with CyanogenMod 7 RC2 does not produce any such extra data, tough it should really be a built in feature of Android.

Haven't tried, but this seems to be the solution:

If you use Titanium Backup, after you've re-synced your gmail/Facebook/etc. contacts, restore the "[CONTACTS/CALLS] Contacts Storage", reboot and done.
  This of course assumes you also back this same setting up prior to wiping/loading a new ROM

It doesn't work either.


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How to fix internal sd mounting error?
I have a T-Mobile Vibrant i9000 SGH-T959 variant phone,
phone suddenly stops working error message:
movinand open fail

 E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (or
 /dev/block/mmcblk0) (No such file or
 directory) E:copy_dbdata_media:Can't
 mount SDCARD: copy default media
 content failed

Is there anything to fix this ?
I tried various odin roms, only one working: Eugene_2E_JK2_Froyo.tar.md5
phone booting up but, settings → sdcard and phone storage says: unavailable

It does sound like your internal storage has been corrupted, but I don't know if I would try to format it via your PC. this is not actually an "SDCard", it is the internal storage on the device (which is a SGH-T959, not an I9000).
I would revert back to STOCK ROM using ODIN and return the phone under warranty. If you are already having issue with the internal storage, I would want a new device.
Now I guess you could try and format it via your pc (I dont know if you can even access it when its mounted via USB because I never mount it) but I, personally, would not, I would get a new device.
For reference, the i9000 is the international version of the Galaxy S phones. None of the US carriers sell the i9000. They sell different versions of the the Galaxy S phones. For example, the T-Mobile Vibrant is the SGH-T959, The Verzion Fascinate is SCH-i500, the AT&T Captivate is SGH-I897. While they are ALL Galaxy S phones, they are all also different devices. They have different hardware, like some have a front facing camera, led flash, 4 buttons, etc.

is there way to format internal sd? phone options unclickable. adb format possible ? and there is no way to send warranty, I'm in different country

I think you can format the sdcard in ODIN... been a while since I flashed with ODIN though, so I could be wrong.

Check the "Re-Partition" option in ODIN.

already tryed, result same :(

It definitely sounds like there is something seriously wrong with your internal storage. I would see if there is any way you can send it in under warrenty

I just had this same issue on my Droid 3 after I installed a Deoxded Stock ROM.  I was able to install Titanium Backup, but could never access my backup directory.
Ended up that I never disconnected my phone from my PC and while connected it would not allow bidirectional access (from PC and from phone).  Disconnected it from my PC and volia, my Internal SD Storage showed up.

On my I9000 (galaxy S) this just means that something has changed the file-system within the phone like ext2>ext4 and the current kernel doesn't support it..
Normally happens when flashing custom roms without checking the kernel requirements.... like I did :-(
The only way round it is to reflash using odin with a 512.pit file and make sure you select re-partition..

I think your internal SDCARD was corrupted, you can try connecting the device to the PC in external disk mode and try formatting the sd card from windows.

nope, not work. says: insert disk and try again

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text:
Proper PC Suite for android?
I was expecting Android Phones to have some powerful PC Suite, but apparently not.
I'm looking for application that can:

manage my phone files (audio/photo),
calendar (ms outlook independent)
add/remove applications,
access/edit/merge/remove contacts (ms outlook independent)
send SMS messages

This features are pretty common for most mobiles, and I'm wondering is there anything like that available for Android phones?

MoboPlay has a really user-friendly UI and lots of features. I recommend it!
http://www.moboplay.com

If you're looking for an app that behaves like the Suites of yesteryear ;-), try MyPhoneExplorer. Here's a short list of features:
Features:

Addressbook - with direct sync to Outlook, GMail, Windows contacts, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, Lotus Notes and Tobit David
Organizer with calendarview and direct sync to Outlook, Google, Sunbird, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, Windows calendar(Vista), Rainlendar, Lotus Notes, Tobit David and net shared calendars (WebDAV, FTP, local)
SMS - archive, export, import, excessive messages,...
Filebrowser with cachesystem to minimize datatransfer, automatic photosync...
Set phoneclock based on atomtime
and much more. such as : calllists, edit profiles, control phone, memorystatus, phonemonitor,...

That is awesome piece of software

That's the beauty of Android. You don't need a separate piece of software for your PC. It's designed from the ground up to do everything within the Cloud.

manage my phone files (audio/photo),

Connect via USB, turn on USB drive mode, and use Windows Explorer to manage your files.

calendar (ms outlook independent)

Sync over-the-air (OTA) to Google Calendar.

add/remove applications,

You do that right on the device or in the Google Play Store.

access/edit/merge/remove contacts (ms outlook independent)

Sync OTA with Google Contacts.

send SMS messages

There are some apps that allow you to do that.

Winamp will let you sync music to your phone (even wirelessly).

Having everything on mobile is great, but nothing would replace big screen and proper keyboard. Storing all your private data online is doubtfully good idea.

Then an Android probably isn't for you. It's a fundamental part of the design.

Just to add, you can now also install applications from the web from https://market.android.com/.

@Lie: Indeed, although you can't uninstall from there.

@Nazariy: Syncing in Android works both way, this means you can add/edit/delete your Calendar/Contact on the web version of Google Calendar or Gmail Contact on a browser in a big screen and big keyboard and it will sync seamlessly with Android.

Using the new Android Market Website http://market.android.com it is possible to install new apps onto the phone (and see all installed apps)

Desktop Apps

PandaApp PC Suite
This is a full fledge PC Suite for android (much like nokia pc suite). And has interface better the myphoneexplorer
It has all features you need.
File manager,
Sms Manager
Screen Capture
Application Installer
etc..

Hi Suit
This is for Huawei IDEOS phones, I don't know if it can work with other phones as well.
It can be downloaded from Huawei IDEOS page, link
Direct Link

HiAPK PC Suit

Webapps
AirDroid

This link lists 10 good PC Suites for Android.

I'm using this Android PC suite:

Please confirm whether you're associated with this product or its vendor. Promoting your own (relevant) products on this site is fine only if you are honest about it, and I'll note that the vendors of this product have spammed this site before.


text:
copy text in froyo from web page including newlines?
I have just bought a new HTC Desire HD running Android 2.2 (Froyo).
I am trying to copy text from a rather vast archive of notes which I had built up on my old phone, which was running Symbian. The notes were saved using the ActiveNotes application, which is not available on Android, only on Symbian. ActiveNotes saves the notes as HTML files, which I can easily view on Android using the HTML viewer or web browser, or any other html reader (such as Dolphin).
I have tried to use the built-in copy/paste functionality by touch-and-hold then "select all" and copy. This does not seem to work in HTML viewer, but does work in the browser or Dolphin. However, ActiveNotes stores the newlines in my notes using paragraph tags (HTML <p> tags) and these are not correctly copied by the built-in text copier. Because of this, all the text appears as one long string, without any line breaks, when I paste it into my Android notes application (or indeed any Android notes application such as Messaging). This is very annoying as many of my notes are in excess of 100 lines long.
A number of copy/paste apps seem to be available which use the "Share Page" option on the menu. I use this when accessing my page through a URL through Astro, so the URL looks something like "content://com.metago.astro.filesystem/mnt/sdcard/Activenotes/NoteNameHere.html?text/plain". The two copy/paste apps I tried were "Any Web Copy" and "Copy To Clipboard". The latter seems to always copy just the URL (rather than the page content) to the clipboard. The former copies the web page text to the clipboard for "http://" links but refuses to for these "content://" links. Even when the web page text is copied to the clipboard (e.g. from an internet page), it still seems to be devoid of any newlines for much of the page.
Since the source of these files is actually viewable (e.g. in the plain text editor) there MUST be a way to copy the content of the pages including newlines. I could do this conversion myself on PC manually for every single file, but this would take a very long time and I would much rather be able to convert files on-demand on my phone using the above method. However, I am at a bit of a loss as to how to preserve the newlines. I hope that someone more experienced might be able to help or recommend an application that could help.

While I can't help you with the copy-paste, I do recommend using an automatic solution to convert the files.  Conversion to PDF might help if Adobe Reader for Android will let you copy newlines, or you could have a <br /> tag inserted after every paragraph, etc.


text:
I checked 'use as default' when choosing the default launcher, but now I can't start ADW.Launcher any more
I installed ADW.Launcher on my Galaxy S running Froyo (2.2) to check it out.
When it was installed, every time I pressed the 'home' button, I got a choice which launcher to start.
In the end I found this irritating, I choose the default installed one, and checked the 'use as default' check box.
All fine, but now, I can't seem to be able to start the ADW.Launcher any more.
No icon in my application list and none on my home screens.
How do I start ADW.Launcher again ( without re-installing it ). I verified that it is still installed on my device.

You need to remove the default setting for the Launcher application.
Menu | Settings | Applications | Manage applications | "All" | Launcher | Clear defaults

There is an app on the market called Home Switcher (or if your on Froyo 2.2). It allows you to easily switch or launch another Launcher.

This is a great app, I've used it with my NookColor quite often


text:
What limitations does rooting and/or installing a ROM put on my phone?
I have an Evo and I'm kind of frustrated at the space limitations on the internal memory, the crapware that came pre-installed (Blockbuster and Nascar, Really?) and some performance issues.  I was thinking that the right ROM might solve those problems.  It seems like I read somewhere a while back that rooting/ROMs cause some dealbreaker problems that I didn't want to have.  I can't find that article again, so I figured I'd ask you.
If I root my phone and install a custom ROM, can I:

Use the Android Market like normal?
Use the standard GMail, Google Maps, GTalk, and other social networking apps without a problem?
Use the Google Voice app fully integrated like I do on the stock ROM?

I know this will void the warranty.  Are there any other limitations I should be aware of?

UPDATE:  I rooted with Unrevoked3 and installed MikFroyo, and everything seems to be working just fine.  Google Voice, Android Market, Swype, and all of my other apps are working better than they were before.  My Evo is now running much better overall.

I can't speak for the Google Voice App being fully integrated - I only use it for the voicemail feature.  However I have a fully rooted Evo (Fresh Rom 3.5) and I still have access to the market and all the normal Google Android Apps.  In fact I find that rooting gives me more features like free wireless tether and with Fresh 3.5 the power manager is integrated into the notification drop down (which I find really cool).  Google Voice still works perfectly for voice mail.
As far as I know the only limitation is the one you have listed: it will void the warranty.  However if something goes wrong there is a huge community over at XDA to help you out or you can unroot and see what happens when you bring your device in to Sprint ( I haven't had to do this yet so I can't speak on that part).
Rooting (for me) has also made my battery life WAY better and gotten rid of those Sprint apps that I don't want.
Edit:
I can't comment on eldarerathis's post otherwise this would have gone there: I had forgotten about hardware limitations of using AOSP Roms like CM.  eldarerathis is correct though that with certain roms HDMI and 4G won't work.  When I had the HTC Hero and first loaded CM I think the Camera didn't work but in time this was fixed and this is why I have avoided the CM Rom so far for my Evo.
If you want the HTC Sense experience though don't go with CM or AOSP roms - these are essentially stock Android.
Hope this helps

Thanks for the info.  It helps a lot.  I've been researching it this morning and I think I'm going to try MikFroyo when I get home from work.  If the other stuff all works I don't see why the Google Voice dialer would not.

@J.W. Mosley You're Welcome. I agree about the GV - I don't see why not. Good luck with rooting and MikFroyo

You might be thinking of the limitations on ROMs that are based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) such as CyanogenMod. The difficulty for these developers is that they don't have access to the source code for some of the device drivers of the EVO, and use only code that is available from the AOSP (as well as home-built modifications and code, of course). These drivers are also closely coupled with HTC's proprietary Sense UI, which was a contributing factor to some of the difficulties.
The big dealbreakers for these have always been WiMax/4G and HDMI output. These have actually seen a lot of development as of late, however. For instance, you can get an alpha/test version of CM7 which supports WiMax now. I personally run this on my EVO and it has been very stable, albeit buggy in a few fairly trivial ways. It's definitely fine for daily use at this point, and I have been using it since it came out without any actual issues. It's also slated as a feature for the final release of CM7.
HDMI is a very different beast, and didn't see as much development from the start because there was seemingly less demand for it. However, a few pictures have been posted by devs recently that seem to indicate that progress might be gaining momentum. One such picture can be found here.
If you flash a custom ROM that is based on an HTC ROM, then these concerns essentially go away. The basic rule of thumb is that any Sense UI ROM will support both WiMax and HDMI out, and any AOSP ROM will not (excepting the recent test versions of CM7).
Also, CyanogenMod doesn't come with Google's applications pre-installed due to licensing issues. They are permitted to distribute a separate package, however, so you just have to flash them separately after you flash the ROM itself. Beyond that, everything else functions as normal, and many additional things become possible with root.

Thanks for this.  I'm not married to the idea of an open source rom, so I'm gonna try MikFroyo, which I understand is just a modified stock Evo ROM.

@J.W.: I've never heard of anyone complaining about it not working on a custom ROM, so I'd imagine you're probably in the clear on that one. I use GV for my Voicemail on CyanogenMod 7 and it works just like it did on the Sense ROMs I tried, but I don't use it for calling.


text:
How do I clean up the "search people"/new message contact list?
I recently purchased a Droid Incredible, and linked it to my Google account. Now the list of contacts to choose from when creating a new message is huge (click the "contact" icon next to the To field of the message, which seems to be the same as the "search people" app).
It appears to be including every contact from every aspect of my Google account, mixed in with everything on my phone: every email I've ever contacted, plus everyone on my GTalk contact list, plus everyone in my phone contacts.
Is there any way to cut this list down? In its present state, the list itself is useless (forcing me to rely on typing the name in). Ideally I'd like to see only a specific group by default. Also acceptable would be limiting it to only phone contacts, or only contacts in my Gmail My Contacts list.
Update: It seems that this feature is available in the default Android contacts app (the sync groups setting supposedly allows you to only synchronize contacts from specific groups), but not the HTC Incredible's version of Sense (http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=0ff2b08f98943ccb&hl=en).
Is there a simple way to get back to the stock contacts app? Or a solid replacement that includes the sync groups feature?

This answer may help if you don't mind sending messages via the Contact app.  I was able to go to my Contacts app, hit the Settings button, then go to More -> Display options and check Only contacts with phone.  From Contacts you can still search, and you can still access your recent contacts.

Thanks, Chance. I've actually seen that setting already (see my comment on Daniel's answer)... Unfortunately there are a few instances where that doesn't help. The main example that gives me issues being cases where I need to send a text to multiple recipients.

yeah, you're right.  It's only good for sending messages to one person.

It may depend on what phone you are using.  For the HTC Evo (and most likely any other HTC phone with Sense) it seems you can't change the the list in "Search People" but you can change the list in your "People" app. If this is what you want to do open the "People" app and you'll see all your contacts.  The open the menu and select "View" - here you can change some of the contacts that will be viewed in your "People" app.
I tried changing my contacts list this way and then checked if the "People Search" app would also remove the same contacts but it would seem it doesn't work that way.  For example I added and removed Twitter contacts but either way they still appeared in the "Peaople Search" list.
Hope this helps

Mine is the HTC Incredible (for now, at least) and seems to behave the way you describe. I was hoping I was just missing something :/

@AceCalhoon One thing I do is used Gmail's Contact Groups and group some of my contacts in that way (Family, Work, etc.) then when you in the "People" app you can slide to the "Groups" section and have a smaller set of contacts to view - not sure if this will actually help with what you want but it may be helpful to someone. You can also add a contact to a group directly from Android but doing this in Gmail should be faster.

@Daniel Thanks, I saw that one... You can also set the People app to only show contacts with phone numbers via the menu hardware button. Unfortunately those settings don't seem to apply to the search people app :(

@AceCalhoon Bummer - sorry I don't have a better answer. Good luck though

@AceC I have noticed that HTC's customized apps have a bug where they show you all  messaging types for all contacts from every app, where the built-in apps (on a non-HTC phone) only show you the relevant contact types. Eg in the EMail app you're only shown email addresses from contacts who have them, and from the Messaging app you're only shown phone numbers from contacts who have them. While on other people's HTC phones I've seen them go into the text message app to send a message and they're offered all contact details for all contacts, which is crazy.

@GAThrawn That's good to know... If I could switch to the default ones, it'd solve the problem then. I guess I need to get around to looking into rooting at some point soon.

If you're creating a new message it might be easier to just go into the Contacts/People app, set up your desired filtering there (as others have already pointed out).
Then instead of going into the Messaging/Email/GMail app to send your message stay in the Contacts/People app, find the person you want to send the message to and just press on the relevant contact detail (eg phone number or email address) to send to them. This should give you a much more manageable list.

Unfortunately there are a few instances where that doesn't help. The main example that gives me issues being cases where I need to send a text to multiple recipients.


text:
How can I make Google Maps cache the map for my entire city?
The Google Maps app for android caches the map tiles of areas you visit. Also, the GM Brut mod allows you to cache map tiles to the SD card. I'm on a very limited data plan, so I'd like to have my entire city cached to my phone memory/SDcard. So far, the only way I can think of is to manually scroll all over the city using different zoom levels.
My question is: is there a better way to do that? Again, I want to be able to use GM anywhere in the city without having to download the maps on-the-fly over my data plan. Is there a practical way to achieve this, so I won't have to scroll several times (once for each zoom level) over the entire city?

This won't answer your question for Google Maps, specifically, but have you tried using an offline map application such as MapDroyd?  Would that suit your needs? You download the entire map beforehand and therefore wouldn't have to use your data to view the map.

Since you asked this question, Google has added a "pre-cache map area" feature to Google Maps's experimental Labs features. You first have to go into Settings > Labs and enable "Pre-cache Map Area", then visit a place page (either by clicking on a POI or long-pressing somewhere on the map), look at the list of "More Options", and click "Pre-cache Map Area". It will cache the area within 10 miles of the point and keep it cached for 30 days. Depending on the size of your city, you might have to cache a few different points to get the coverage you want.
Here's more from the Google blog:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/download-map-area-added-to-labs-in.html

Google Maps was developed to be used when connected to the network so I don't believe there is a possibility to make it cache a complete area.
You should then take a look for an alternative mapping application that supports offline mode. For instance, the OsmAnd application might do everything you are looking for.

The recent version of Google Maps does cache tiles for your routes and places you visit. I'm still trying to get more details.

From the announcement for Google Maps 5: Since Google no longer has to download map images from its servers and vector-based maps require 100 times less data for all zoom levels, it's feasible to cache data. "Rather than having a static set of maps when installed, Maps will automatically start caching the areas you visit the most when your device is plugged in and connected to WiFi (e.g., the nightly charge)." You can't manually control caching, but it's an important first step toward an offline Google Maps.

So, there's currently no way to manually manage what local caching Google Maps does. As suggested in other answers you'll need to look for an alternate solution.

What works for me (most of the times) is to browse around the area of interest when connected to internet, allow all interesting tiles to load, and then the cache should work when you go offline (unless cleared, that is).


text:
How use Escape, directional keys on the virtual keyboard?
I recently bought Better Terminal Emulator Pro, and I like it, but how do I use the Escape key and directional keys? For instance, I'd like to switch between modes in vi or use the up and down arrows to cycle through my command history.
I have a Samsung Fascinate. No D-pad.

BTEP has a "Using Better Terminal Emulator Pro" page on their wiki which explains most of the special shortcuts and keys. The basic breakdown of what you're looking for is:
For directional input: Either use a keyboard that supports this or use BTEP's virtual direction pad feature. You can access it by tapping the screen when the keyboard is visible, long-pressing the screen when it isn't, or pressing the Search button. The cursor should change to a > character to indicate you're in VDP mode, and you can swipe your directional input (i.e. swipe up for the up key).
For ESC: This is usually mapped by default to the volume up key, but you can remap it to any of the available programmable shortcut keys. You can also press the Search button then press [, since Search is mapped to the control character on devices that lack a trackball or dpad (as well as activating VDP mode) and ^[ (CTRL-[) is the ESC character.

Hacker's Keyboard - use a full soft keyboard on Android
You can use the free, open source, app call Hacker's Keyboard to gain access to the buttons of a full keyboard:

“Are you missing the key layout you're used to from your computer?
  This keyboard has separate number keys, punctuation in the usual
  places, and arrow keys. It is based on the AOSP Gingerbread soft
  keyboard, so it supports multitouch for the modifier keys.
This keyboard is especially useful if you use ConnectBot for SSH
  access. It provides working Tab/Ctrl/Esc keys, and the arrow keys are
  essential for devices such as the Xoom tablet or Nexus S that don't
  have a trackball or D-Pad.”

http://code.google.com/p/hackerskeyboard/

The Android keyboard does not have directional keys; you need a keyboard that has them.
Your Fascinate should have both the Samsung keyboard and the Swype keyboard, which do have arrow keys.  Press and hold the 123 button (Samsung) or swipe from the Swype key to the SYM key (Swype).

There are useful answers here, but have you considered mapping something like "jj" in insert mode to the escape key? Here's how:
Assuming you are in "termux" or similar terminal emulator and you're using vim as installed there.
In the home folder (type pwd to see current directory), create a file called ".vimrc" and put the following text into it, without quotes:
"inoremap jj <esc>"
And save. Next time you are in insert mode in vim, simply press "j" twice in quick succession. Presto :)
Now add other keybindings to simulate other commands.


text:
Can I play DRM music from iTunes on my Android?
I thought that DRM content on iTunes could only be played on iTunes, but then I saw SongBird, a non-Apple application that can play DRM protected music.
Is there an app for that uses similar technology that can play my old iTunes purchases?
Is there any other ways I can play my music on my Android (Wildfire)?

Related question: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1351/android-and-itunes

I'll just leave this as a comment as I don't know a full answer.  Short answer: you're going to need to remove the DRM from the music to get most (all?) Android players to play it.

IIRC, Songbird basically calls up an instance of Quicktime to play the file, then routes the audio through itself. This isn't really the same as playing the DRM'd file on its own, and it requires Quicktime to be installed (which also means it won't work on e.g. a Desktop Linux install or Android).

This has basically been answered in the comments above but I'll wrap it all up into an answer:
No, you can't play songs that have Apple's Fairplay DRM protection on your Android phone without removing the DRM protection (which technically violates Apple's toc).  As Edarerathis pointed out, Songbird doesn't actually support Fairplay DRM'd media, Quicktime does, so SongBird (like RealPlayer) uses Quicktime to decode the songs and play them.  It wont work without Quicktime installed and so you can't use this functionality in Linux or Android.

As far as "removing the DRM protection", can you not do this legally by burning the mp3 to CD, then ripping the CD to an mp3 or other DRM free format?  This does take a while if you have a large library, as it requires you to burn to an actual audio CD, not an mp3 one.

Try going to the Play Store and looking for 'M4P players for Android'. There are about a dozen choices.
I'm using Video Player for Android to play my older Rolling Stones and Traffic purchases.  Works fine.  Even comes with an equalizer.

Note that M4P is the extension for iTunes Audio File. It's different than MP4.

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


text:
How do I copy pictures onto a folder on the home screen?
I have some pictures that I want to copy to a folder on the home screen, but I can't see any way to do that.  The home screen isn't a directory like all the others, so I can't copy files there.  Is there any way to do that?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S with Froyo.

The only things you can add to folders on the home screen are app shortcuts.

If you install a file manager app like Astro File Manager you can put any files into any directory you create, including pictures.  Then all you have to do is make a shortcut to that directory on the home screen.

I can already put any files into any directory without a special file manager app.  The question is, how do I make a shortcut to a directory on the home screen?

Just like I said in the answer, the app adds the shortcut action to the shortcut context menu.

gotcha! accepted!

I know an answer has already been accepted but I just wanted to add that you can also use ES File Explorer (I am not the developer I just know some prefer it to Astro) however you must download the ES Bookmark Manager in order for it to work.
In order to create the shortcut just long-click on a folder from within the app and select "Shortcut" from the context menu.  A shortcut to that folder will appear on your home screen.  If you don't already have the "Bookmark Manager" installed it will prompt you to download it from the Market
Hope this helps

The File Jump app provides the functionality to create shortcuts to files directly. You can create home-screen shortcuts to your images and then drag them into home-screen folders - just an option!


text:
Book library management solutions, that allows adding titles with a upc reader?
What would be a good easy way to catalog my physical book library with a UPC reader on android? Would you have suggestions for a simple individual library management solutions?

Have a look at this application Book Catalogue

Goodreads has an app for this that works with their website, which includes book reviews and recommendations as well.
You can sort books by shelves, which can correspond to physical shelves if you choose (e.g. living room, bedroom, lent out to a friend).


text:
Is it possible to have a TCP/IP network using bluetooth?
I have my Android U8220 and I need to have a network with my laptop as if it was an ad-hoc wifi connection (tcp/ip). Is that even possible? If you want to know, I'm using bluez as manager in my Linux box.
EDIT
To clear doubts, I'll be more specific. There's a music program in my laptop called mpd. It is controlled by different clients in the network. One of this clients is in my Android and it works perfectly when I'm connected to the wi-fi network in my house.
I wanted to make a direct connection with my laptop, without the need of a router, so there are 2 options:

Ad-Hoc, which is not available for my phone (I don't know why)
Bluethooth which is the last option.

This is the link of the player, for those who want to know (although it doesn't have to much to do with the question.)

If you're talking about using your mobile phone as a tethering device over Bluetooth then sure this is:
PdaNet

Is Linux (Ubuntu etc.) supported?
Meanwhile only Bluetooth DUN is
  supported (requires android 2.0) on
  Linux.
We are working on a linux port for USB
  Tether but it may take a while.
via junefabrics.com

EDIT
Sorry for misunderstanding you. Could any of the following MPD control applications on the Android Market help you?

Please, read EDITS

TCP/IP and Bluetooth are different protocols. Although, technically this would be WiFi vs Bluetooth. A WiFi device (which uses TCP/IP) cannot communicate with a Bluetooth device, they essentially speak different languages.
It would be possible to have an application on your phone and computer which communicate via bluetooth and then the computer side could then send the necessary commands to the music player. You'd have to develop, or get someone to develop, the apps though.

To avoid confusion the hypothetical app wouldn't use TCP/IP at any point.

I've never said I wanted to connect a wifi device with a bluetooth device, even a child would know that's not possible. What I want is the bluetooth of my phone and the bluetooth of my laptop talking to each one, using the upper layer as a TCP/IP protocol.

Oh right. Sorry. This may help and I guess concludes that you can - http://giovanni.wordpress.com/2007/04/06/how-to-use-tcpip-over-bluetooth/

That link is very helpful, +1 for that!

According to the OSI model, you can use any transfer protocol in any medium. So, it is possible. In fact, the standard transfer protocol for bluetooth is very similar to TCP.
Anyhow, I can't find any Android application able to do it.


text:
Disable updates when at work?
How can I disable various social apps from updating while I'm at work (where I work with my laptop anyway)? The main point is conserving battery. (I have HTC Desire HD)
I don't want to turn off wifi completely since I might want to work with the phone occasionally

The 'Power Control' widget has five buttons for turning various functions on and off - including one controlling updating of applications (the circular one with two arrows on it). You can add this widget by long pressing (press and hold) somewhere on your home screen, then selecting 'Widget' from the menu that pops up, then 'Power Control'. I believe that if you press the 'refresh' button to turn it off, it should stop applications updating automatically, but they can still be refreshed manually if needed.
The widget also has handy buttons for easily turning on and off wifi, bluetooth and gps, and changing screen brightness. It takes up a whole row on the home screen though, so you might need to make some room.
edit - the below image shows the power control widget with updating turned on, and all other functions turned off, taken from: HTC Desire review at android.marvinlee.net:

FYI, the Power Control Widget is a part of the stock widget and is available in all(?) Android phones.

Ah, excellent - didn't realise that. New to this - I'm guessing that it would be good to edit the answer to remove incorrect info?

The only problem with this solution is that not all the applications follow the "Auto-Update" state of the phone, so some applications will probably continue to send notifications.

Since you do not want to disable wifi or data use, I would check each of the social apps to see if each of them have a setting to disable updates that you can turn on/off or set a time limit on.  Getting a task killer which can permanently disable apps from starting would also help.  You could always turn off wifi and/or data use until you need it since these settings are easy to get to in the phone.

That will get very annoying after a couple times going through every app to turn them on/off.

I disable 3G data. I still receive/make calls and receive/send sms using "beautiful widgets".

Apps will still update over WiFi whether 3G is on or not.

I put my phone in "Airplane Mode" to save battery and prevent annoying notifications.

He doesn't want to shut off WiFi.

Can you make calls in Airplane Mode?


text:
Is there a way to move the caret in a text box without using the hard keyboard and without a bunch of single touches?
Often when I'm editing in a text box, I'm trying to insert text and specific location or delete text from a specific location.  It usually takes me a few touches to get it right, but sometimes I just say screw it, delete the word and and retype.
Since I'm usually off by just one character, is there a way to move the caret to left or right by 1 character?  Maybe a gesture of some sort?
I'm a little unsure if this falls under keyboard software functions(If it does then I'll take a closer look @ the alternative keyboard questions).
My device is a Droid which does have a hard keyboard, but I want to be prepared for the day I decide to get phone that doesn't have one.

In Froyo and later, there is a "cursor handle" that you can grab and drag to the right location.

Now this photo doesnt show  it, but the actual cursor is still there blinking too. that handle will also bring up a quick action menu to select text or paste. and once text is selected, you can copy and cut too.

I'm quite sure that the text handle is added in Gingerbread, since my Froyo does not have the handle

That looks exactly what I'm looking for.  I have Froyo, but i don't have that cursor handle. How do I enable it?  Or does is it not available when a hard keyboard is available to the device?

oh, well maybe its part of TouchWiz then, or a "hack" added to my Rom... because I have it in my TouchWiz froyo Rom... i just assumed that it was part of froyo already...

I am running Froyo on my Galaxy S and the cursor handle is there too.

Motoblur has something like this.  A long press and hold in a text field will bring up a small, magnified view of the cursor and text, allowing you to move it around the field freely.

I have Froyo on my SGS (Nero v5) but am using the Gingerbread Android keyboard.  I'm not sure whether the handle was present when I was using the Froyo kb.

@Mathew read are you using the one that has working vibrate? That's probably my mod :-)

@Ryan I have the one built into Nero and vibrate shut off ;)

yes, the one built in to nero is my mod :)

Cool times! +1.

This depends on the phone you're using, on my Spica, for example, I can use the directional keypad to adjust the position of the cursor. On phones that have trackballs, the trackball does the same job.
Otherwise, the backspace key can be used as a workaround for left-arrow key (delete a few chars, then retype the word you're inserting and retype the deleted chars.
Another alternative, if you're typing in English or in one of the supported languages, you can try Swype. Swype is a word-based text input (as opposed to character based), and you typically delete or swipe one word at a time and the correction mode (double tap on the word you want to correct and pick or swipe the new word) make correcting errors a breeze.

I use the optical trackball on my HTC Desire to adjust the cursor position.

Alastair, that should be an answer! Thanks for the tip, I'm using the Desire as well and didn't know about this.

Providing this as an answer for those who don't want to install a custom ROM and want something close to the stock soft keyboard.
I installed Anysoft Keyboard (found it on this question).  The android market doesn't have the current screenshots, but here's one that shows the small left/right arrows at the top of the keyboard:

The Samsung keyboard and the Swype keyboard have arrow keys you can use for this; see this question.

...as does the HTC Touch Input keyboard on my Desire HD.

I did try Swype for a while and I love the idea,but I couldn't adjust to it.

As of 2017 and since 2016, in Gboard (previously known as Google Keyboard), you can swipe along the space-bar to navigate text and move the cursor.
Source (CNET)

MultiLing keyboard has arrow keys in there somewhere.


text:
Google calendar syncing problem
I have a problem with syncing with the Google calendar. Although the syncing in most cases does work, for some events it just doesn't sync. I create events on Google Calendar, but they don't show up on the phone. Actually, I create them over iCal, which is also synced to Google Calendar, but that shouldn't matter. I checked and all events are online on Google's servers.
Do you have any idea what could be wrong and how I can force it to sync?
(HTC Desire)

Check in accounts and sync that you have Calendar set to actually sync. if force sync works, that makes me think that it's not syncing any other time.

But the thing is that it does sync. I created an event, a minute later it was in the phone calendar. But some events are just not there...

are they in a different "calendar", or set to private or something? I have 5 different calendars that all sync to my phone. i haven't noticed any events not showing up as long as they are "my events" in my calendars.

I don't have a solution, but I'm seeing some similar issues with calendars I share with my wife. If she enters events in GCal on the web everything is fine, but if she creates an event on her phone, we can both see it on the web, but it doesn't sync properly to my phone.

@Ivan: What happens if you edit one of these events in GCal (even just open and save)? Will it then sync properly?

I see the same thing (also HTC desire), for me it's mostly contact's birthdays that don't (always) show up. Some do, some don't.

I had similar problem. I had to clear calendar cache - than re-sync worked for me.
The cache clear method is very similar like in this answer, but I clear the official Calendar storage:
Go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications. In the top of the screen select All. Scrool down to Calendar Storage, then open it, tap to Clear cache button.
Re-sync (Google) Calendar. You're done.
Maybe you have no Calendar Storage app, than I sorry, I have HTC Wildfire.

Try clearing the calendar's cache (Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications, choose the application, then Clear Data) and then re-sync (how to do that depends on the app).

If you have multiple calendars, it would be worth checking that the calendars you expect are enabled on the handset. In Calendar, Menu button -> More -> Calendars -> Menu button -> Add calendars then check all the calendars you want displayed.

I can't find Menu button -> More -> Calendars -> Menu button -> Add calendars on my 2.3.7 Android. Is this a menu option from a newer Android version?

I had a similar problem where one of my calendars stopped syncing. (The whole calendar, not just some events.) Toggling the show/hide setting didn't have any effect, but removing and re-adding the calendar fixed the problem.

i had the same problem, some events from colledge iCal format just wouldn't sync, first time it happened, I force closed it an turned off my phone and it seemed to work, now it happened for the second time and now I tried what somebody suggested here as well as on the other sites, cleared data from the phone because I have everything backed up on my gmail calendar and it seems to be working... for now...


text:
Set equalizer settings that works for all sounds from any programs?
Can we set equalizer sound settings in some program, then go to any other program that produces sound knowing that those settings would apply?  For example, set it so that bass is enhanced across the board.

DSP Manager (root only) is an app that's incorporated into a number of custom ROMs.  I have it in my CyanogenMod but I know it's available in others or as a stand alone (that you have to flash over your current ROM) depending on your device.  Search XDA for "DSP Manager" in relation to your specific device as there are numerous device specific threads and downloads.

So if i want to add my own equalizer to the app that support all the devices then that all  devices should be root only right ?

Not without a custom kernel, AFAIK.  Equalisation across the board is controlled by the kernel and I don't believe the settings are accessible to apps.  So an app needs its own equaliser to apply to the sound before it's played.
If you're using a Galaxy S, one such custom kernel is called Voodoo Sound.
Edit: The paid version of Voodoo Sound now only requires root, rather than a custom kernel.

So to make Equalizer in My app, It must that my device has been rooted. right ?


text:
Media Player starts playing when I unplug headphones
The stock media player on my phone has an annoying behaviour. Whenever I unplug the headphones, if the media player is paused or not running, it immediately starts running and playing my playlist. This is very annoying because everyone in the room is forced to listen to my songs until I manage to tap (twice) the Music Widget.
Has this been happening to anyone else? And what did you do to fix it?
Note: I'm not sure if it's Android's stock player or if it's Motorola's stock player, it's just called "Music".
Note 2: From the comments, it seems this is Android's stock music app.
Motorola-Milestone, firmware 2.1-update1.

Could you specify what phone and Android version you have?

And FYI the Music app is the stock Android music player.

@jmbouffard: My bad. Added it now.

related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/379/how-can-i-stop-the-music-app-from-launching-when-headphone-is-plugged-in

related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4940/random-music-playback-winamp-cubed

This is a known bug in Android (even in certain Eclair systems).
There's a widget called Headset Blocker that when added to any of your homescreens and activated prevents the music player from playing whenever you unplug your headest. Freeware and it works. See if it helps.

That seems to have fixed it for now.

Headset Blocker is not available for my phone. Where from I can see alternative app ?

Since you mentioned Motorola in the question, this might be your problem: The Droid and Milestone were having this problem on Android 2.0.1 or less. It was corrected on Android 2.1. So update your phone to the latest version and it should be corrected.

I should have specified, I'm running 2.1-update1.

It's really odd because I have the exact same configuration and it corrected the music auto start behavior.

I used to have this problem on my Motorola Droid 1.  I used Tasker to "stop music" on certain headset events.  See my answer here.


text:
Share (through share menu) directly to own email address
I often send over images etc to my own email for forwarding or printing or what ever.
Problem is I have many contacts, and I have to type quite a bit to find my own email address.
I would really like to have a share-menu option that says "Share to [specific email address]".
Is there any application that provides such option??

You could rename the contact for yourself to "zz Me" or something, so that you can get it quickly by typing "zz".

@aioobe: Do you really have that many contacts with names similar to yours? If I start typing my name or e-mail address in the field my name is isolated within about three characters. As suggested in other comments, a good workaround may be to make the contact entry for yourself have a unique set of characters.

Al Everett, yes. I have a fairly common name, and I have to punch in at least 5-6 chars to get my name in the list.

your email address is that common too? because if you start typing that, you will show up that way.

You'd have to develop a (small) app to handle the "share to my email address" unless one already exists.  I'd append a symbol - or similar to bump your name to the top of the list.

The following is a solution that will work if you are sharing images from the browser.  This won't work in the gallery though.  Unfortunately I'm not aware of any custom share apps that add to the Gallery's share menu.
Install Bookmarklet Free (it allows you to add services to the "Share" menu, including custom ones).
To make a custom "Mail to yourself" bookmarklet just open the app and create a custom bookmarklet that has the following for the Starting URL:
https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=YOUR@EMAIL.COM&su=SUBJECT

Replace YOUR@EMAIL.COM with the email you want to default send to and replace SUBJECT with the subject.  Leave the rest of the fields alone.
Now in the browser if you are looking at an image you can long click it and choose share and choose your custom bookmarklet.

This doesn't work on DroidX Froyo stock. Opens up gmail web site but NOT the email with the link

The Autoshare app in the Android Market can do this.

Once this app is set up, it is 100% non-interactive — you do NOT have to edit the email or click a "Send" button. Everything gets filled out and sent in the background. This is a major benefit!
However, the app requires you to set up an email server/password/userid to do that. With Gmail it was a breeze to set up. I don't think this app uses the Gmmail app — it connects straight to Google's SMTP server.

Why not provide a link to the Market page or website for the app? Telling someone to "go search the Market" is not particularly helpful.

@eldarerathis - there was a URL in the post - somehow the formatting made it invisible! Whoever downvoted - please upvote

As a note - I have tried both this method and "Bookmarklet Free" from the highest voted answer. This worked beautifully, with zero interaction from me, whereas the other one didn't work at all


text:
Is there any good micro USB cable (not loose)?
I'm not sure if this could be considered as an Android question, but it's definetely related to Android, since this kind of cable became a standard for mobile devices recently.
The thing is, I have to work plugging and unplugging pretty often (I'm a developer), and I noticed most of the cables (or device/cable pairs) seem to be loose, some of them even lose the connectivity sometimes, and I've been looking for different kind of cables, and I really didn't find anything satisfying.
I feel there isn't much I can do, I just wanted to know if my cables are "bad", or most of micro usb connectors are just that way.
Edited to try to meet the requirements of the FAQ.

With my HTC Desire all the 3rd party cables I have bought seem to make a looser connection than the one supplied with the phone.

This really isn't a question suited for this site. This sort of question is, in fact, expressly discouraged. Please see the FAQ. If you can re-word the question to be less soliciting discussion, please do so. Otherwise it will be closed.

The micro USB cables that come with BlackBerries are great, the connection is not loose at all.  (I've tried one with my Android phone).  So I'd have to say that your cables are indeed "bad".

I agree it probably fine for day to day charging etc. But for dev work you may be wiser to use the big end to connect reconnect the device.

it would be wiser, but not practical... since there are few developers, few devices, and we all have to try different models. And actually there aren't so many cables, I wonder where they go...

I wonder if a USB extension or port multiplier would be a decent workaround? If you used an extension cable, you can avoid damaging the mini-USB port on the phone since you generally plug/remove the extension plug instead of the mini-plug.

This is more or less, what the other answer is about, if I understood you correctly, but that would be good just if the devices were standing at my desk most of the times. Otherwise I would need something to "lock" the cable to the device... not really nice


text:
Enabling GPS flag on android preferences: what is the battery impact?
Even if there are many questions regarding Android and GPS my doubt is really specific to the user level location settings.
Supposing I've enabled the GPS settings, say from the Power Control widget, and no application is actually requesting location updates.. what is the impact of this situation on battery life?

Does the settings location flag start some activity in background, maybe a location service?. Is some radio activity initiated by having the flag on? or can I assume that if no app will register for updates my battery life will be more or less the same?

Normally your battery life will be the same. Only if applications start requesting GPS updates the battery will be affected. The switch from the Power Control is just a shortcut to prohibit / allow applications to enable GPS location updates.

It should not have any impact on your battery life if you don't use any GPS enabled application. However there is nothing that forbids apps to use the GPS in background if it is enabled.
It is the case with Google Latitude. So if Latitude is enabled it will use the GPS in background in some occasions to find your location. In this case you will see an impact on your battery life.
Don't know of any other apps that does that.

When an application uses the GPS in the background, will the GPS icon be shown in the top bar?

I believe that it will always show the GPS icon. With Latitude enabled my phone was showing the GPS icon from time to time when a location update was triggered.

Enabling GPS does not actually activate GPS. It just allows applications to activate the GPS.  So leaving the GPS flag on all the time will not consume battery power unless applications activate the GPS and ask for the current location.

I don't know the actual impact, since a lot of applications use the location-service (either GPS or just phone-antenna)
But you can test this by using CurrentWidget for example. This tool will give you the ability to log the battery usage at an interval.

Menu | Settings | About phone | Battery use will show you what has been using your battery.
I very seldom see GPS in there, unless I've been doing a lot of heavy Google Maps work, and even then not that much.
Try keeping an eye on that and see how much battery your GPS is really using.

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


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How does Android Market WebStore's Silent Install work?
I have been thinking a lot about this, and came to a point that since the silent install requires the user to give his google id, it might fix a notification against that google id, to let the device associated with that id know that an application installation has to be done, and it has to start download of a particular app from the market. So that, when the device syncs the google id, it knows that it has to do some installation.
Since the device keeps polling the server for sync quite frequently, thus it knows about the installation almost instantly. In other words, the delays are negligible.
On the other note, I also thought that C2DM might have been used to do this, but since my personal device uses 2.1 and C2DM is available to devices having 2.2+, the possibility of use of C2DM is quite less.
Can anyone explain how it is being done?
Am I correct with my thoughts?
Update
I disabled Syncs in my phone and tried to install using Silent Install, and nothing happened. this way, I am coming closer to realise that my first opinion is correct.

@Aman this may be a Wiki question as it requires discussion

Oops.. I tried doing so by editing the question, but it didn't happen.

I'm not so sure this should have been migrated. What is it exactly you're after?

I really dont think it falls under programming, since he just asked "how" it works, not how to do it.

On the other note, I also thought that
  C2DM might have been used to do this,
  but since my personal device uses 2.1
  and C2DM is available to devices
  having 2.2+, the possibility of use of
  C2DM is quite less.

It is actually quite plausible for 2.1 Market to use C2DM. GTalk, Gmail, and many other Google apps have always used C2DM internally (even before it's named C2DM). In 2.1, C2DM exist as GTalk Service. In 2.2, Google opened the C2DM API for external developers since they realized that 1) most app developers does not have the resources to create a reliable Push notification service, 2) a unified Push service would save battery, 3) Reliable instant Push service is a good selling point for Android.

That's correct -- the new market uses GTalk to push new apps to your phone; if you are signed off from GTalk, your app install won't start until you do. This has been recommended as a troubleshoot measure when the Web market first appeared, the push install didn't work.

I would think that the market has its "own" push notifications implemented. When i installed a couple apps from the page, they installed almost immediately. This isn't the phone asking if there are installs pending, this is the market site pushing the info directly to the device.
If you disable sync, it will stop push notifications too.

That's because C2DM actually exists in 2.1 (and previous versions) under the guise of GTalk Service.


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Open source app for remote wiping Android phone?
I recently lost my android phone, and regretted not having a remote wipe app installed. However, I do not trust 3rd party compiled apps with such power (too many weak links).
Does anyone know of an existing open source app to do a remote wipe?

Dev questions and soliciting are offtopic.  I've modified your question to just be asking about an existing solution.

See also Application for remote-wiping a lost phone without handing access to my data to a third-party?

Are you asking about wiping the phone that you lost, or is this for any future phone?

For non-rooted phones.
Up until 2.1 it is not possible. Regular apps do not have the permission to perform full wipes or factory restores. I believe there are apps that erase your call/sms records and your contacts.
Starting with 2.2, it seems Google is granting limited root powers to apps that use Device Administration. It is supposedly a way for enterprises to policy their employee's phones, and requires an extra confirmation by the owner. But I believe it could be used by anyone writing an app. In fact, the code for wiping seems so simple that I think you could write an open-source app yourself if you have some programming background. ;-)
For rooted phones.
There are remote wipe apps, but I don't believe any of them is open source (that I've heard of).
Remote Wipe for root users is possibly the simplest one, and it's in the market, but I've never tried it myself. This app is no longer on the market.

@bruce-connor: I do not see why this should require root. The dev page at [http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/admin/device-admin.html] does not seem to state that requirement.

@Animesh: You're right. It seems Google is granting some extra power to these Device Admin apps, by allowing them to run functions that were previously system only. I guess I'm just stuck in the past with my 2.1 phone =)

It looks like this app has been removed from the play store.

One open-source remote security app is Prey, although I don't think it does remote wipe.

looking at the options under my Prey account, I don't think it does do remote wipe, no. It will track your phone however, and can lock the phone so it can't be used.

The link seems broken...

@NoBugs Thanks, I've updated with a current link,

Without question the security best app that also does remote wiping is Cerberus.  I reviewed Cerberus and a bunch of other security apps some little while ago, and haven't seen anything to change my opinion yet.
Short answer as to why Cerberus is better: it is controllable both by SMS and by a web dashboard, can be integrated into the kernel so that a reset doesn't wipe it, and has a boatload of well implemented features.  Well worth the $5 it costs.
@nicolas-raoul asked me to post my thoughts about the open source app Prey, so here they are my review:

Some redditors asked about Prey as a phone security app.  I just tried
  it out, and it’s missing most features I would consider important.
  The most vital was that while you can trigger it via a text message, I
  didn’t see any way to trigger a “report” from the website.  In fact,
  you have to subscribe to the Pro version at US$5.oo/month in order to
  be able to request the geolocation whenever you want it as opposed to
  whenever the Prey app runs at some unspecified interval, which pretty
  much kills the utility of the app as an anti-theft utility.
The only features I could find were obtaining the current location
  (but no real time tracking, and it doesn’t specify whether it gets the
  info from GPS or by cell tower triangulation so it may not resolve
  very far), getting phone network info, triggering an audio alarm,
  triggering a message box alert, and locking the phone.  While it’s
  great that it’s open source and that it supports so many mobile
  computing platforms and so might be good for protecting laptops or
  tablets, I wouldn’t recommend it as a phone anti-theft device.

Thanks for the review! This question is about open source apps though. So Cerberus is off-topic, but your feedback about Prey would be great to paste here.

If the need for an open source app is purely down to your lack of trust in opaque, pre-compiled apps, then there are remote wipe apps that you don't need to keep permanently installed on your phone, but you can just push-install from the Market when needed. This way you would only need to have the app installed on the phone for seconds before it's wiped.
Some options for that are in this previous question Is there any way to erase personal information from my phone that has already been stolen?


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Will the Samsung Fascinate work without a battery?
Can I use a Samsung Fascinate with no battery powered only by the power cable?
(I'm assuming this is a handset specific question, but let me know if I'm wrong and the answer applies to all Android handsets and I'll edit the question to be more general)

It's definitely handset-specific, unless Google has some sort of bizarre requirement about it.

No.  I have another SGS model and it works with no battery for a second, as long as the battery's in when you start it up, but quickly shuts off.

Any way you could try it without the battery all together and let me know?  I have the opportunity to buy one cheap with no battery or battery cover which would make a great gps/media player for the car but I don't want to have to buy a replacement battery.

Yeah it won't boot without the battery.  I got a second battery for myself on eBay for $15 new though, no issues with it.  I also have to amend my answer -- I just tried my phone again and while it stayed on with the battery out, it shut off when I started an app.

Same guy is still selling them: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300453894480&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:AU:1123


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Milestone rooted with the Universal Androot, can I install ROMs?
I rooted my Motorola Milestone 2.1-update1 with the latest beta of Universal Androot, and it seems to have worked fine. I've installed busybox, used titanium backup, and installed a couple root-only apps.
Now I'm thinking about using ROM Manager to see what custom ROMs can be installed. However, I'm worried because I've read the milestone has some sort of lock in the bootloader, and I never actually unlocked the bootloader while rooting it. Am talking sense? Will I run into problems if I simply install ROM Manager and try to install a custom ROM?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that rooting and unlocking are separate issues. And so I'm wondering if I don't have to unlock my phone before messing with ROM Manager.

In short, your phone has a locked bootloader.  There is no way to unlock it (currently).  What does that mean to you?  Basically it means you can flash "ROMs", but you cannot flash a new kernel on the phone.  The kernel is what controls what clockspeed slots are available on your phone to over/underclock to.
For example, if someone made a Gingerbread ROM for the Milestone, you could flash it.  But you will always be stuck with the same kernel that originally came with your phone.
As far as I know, you should be able to use ROM manager to flash ROMs on your phone so long as it is rooted.  It's just that none of these ROMs will be able to change your kernel.

Thank you for the clarification. What kind of features can I expect to miss due to not being able to change the kernel?

@Bruce The main thing you will miss without changing the kernel is being able to change the different clockspeeds that your phone can be set to.  For example, let's say your stock kernel gives you the options of 125mhz, 250mhz, 600 mhz and 800 mhz.  You will always be stuck with those on a locked bootloader. A new kernel could give you something like 250mhz, 600mhz, 800mhz, 1 ghz clockspeeds.  Or the kernel could undervolt the processor to conserve battery power.  Etc, etc.


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User experience difference among Nexus S and Samsung Galaxy S
Currently, I am considering 1 out of the following 2 android phones.

Samsung Galaxy S
Nexus S (Not available in my country yet)

I was wondering, has anyone used the above 2 android phones before? What is the significant difference of these 2 phones, in term of software and hardware?
p/s Is there any online store where I can buy Nexus S from if I decide to have one? I am from Malaysia.

Hardware wise, they are almost identical (at least to some of the US versions of the Galaxy S) but there are some differences
Some of the differences are:

The Galaxy S has 3 hardware buttons (Menu, Home and Back), the Nexus S has 4 (Back, Menu, Search and Home). These are the buttons below the screen.
The Nexus S has slightly curved glass
The Nexus S has an NFC chip
The Nexus S DOES NOT have a microSD slot.
The Nexus S has a Flash for the rear 5MP camera
The Galaxy S supports Bluetooth 3.0, Nexus S, Bluetooth 2.1

In terms of Software:

The Galaxy S uses the Samsung RFS for a lot of the file system, the Nexus S uses EXT4

EXT4 performs a lot better then RFS does

The Galaxy S runs the Samsung TouchWiz 2.2 (Froyo) modified version of android, the Nexus S runs "Stock" Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

Here is a screenshot of the i9000

My SGS Vibrant has 4 hardware buttons, and no d-pad.  I assume it's the Epic 4G that has the d-pad, since the others don't have physical keyboards.

the international SGS (i9000) has the d-pad. which i assumed what was meant by Galaxy S, because the the poster is from Malaysia.

Hmm, good to know.

May I know what do you mean by D-Pad? I thought D-Pad is a controller used in Video Game? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-pad

It's NOT a d-pad (on the international version at the very least). It's a single "home" button. (@Yan - a d-pad implies 4 directional buttons, so yes, like in a video game controller.)

@Ryan Conrad
If by D-PAD you mean that square-ish button in the center, to my knowledge it is not a D-PAD, but a single (home) button. The Canadian Bell Vibrant (which is the variant I own), is more or less identical to the International galaxy S (there may be a few differing internal components, based on the SD card failure rate in this version), and on it that center button most definitely is not a D-PAD...
Oh by the way, the touchwiz version is actually 3.0, because I guess previous samsung phones had older iterations of the interface or something.
But everything else you said stan

@Ryan Conrad: After the last update to Froyo 2.2.1, I think the performance issues of the Galaxy S are complete gone. At least, I don't notice any lag any more.


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Is there an iOS GUI skin/theme for Android?
Is there an iOS-like skin for Android and/or a launcher with an iOS theme?

Dev questions are offtopic.  Please see the FAQ.

Just edit out the dev-part if it's not allowed? The first question still remains unanswered.

You can edit your own question, but I have done so and voted to reopen.

will ROM be OK?

Espier Launcher is a homescreen replacement that mimics iOS quite well, and still allows for some of Android's features to shine through (Widgets, customization, etc).
Unfortunately, it's apparently built by a small Chinese dev shop, so it does have a few quirks. For one, it intalls some bloatware app store that's all in Chinese, although it's easy enough to hide it from the launcher. There's also some weird mis-translations in the app's settings. Despite these shortcomings, it's a faithful reproduction of iOS's homescreen, and the folder/scrolling/long press animations are spot-on.

There's MIUI:

MIUI is one of the most popular Android ROMs in the world. It is based on Android 2.3 and 4.0, featuring better experience and richer themes. MIUI is updated every Friday based on the feedback from its users.

Regarding the themes:

Over 500 themes created by fans available
Original third-party theme-changing program
Massive online themes for your choice

Themes can be found at miuithemes

For your specific request, concerning an iOS-like theme if you can't find it at the provided link, you can find it here:

xda-developers Thread: Theme for MIUI to mimic iOS
droidforums Thread: [Theme] iOS Theme Port (based on the previous)


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Problem playing large MP4 (500 MB) video files in Android 2.1
When I try to play a large MP4 video file (500 MB), say a film on my phone, it plays the audio but not the video.
I have checked running a smaller MP4 file (5 MB), and it plays fine.
Even when the video is listed in the video gallery, the video thumbnail is not displayed. LogCat shows that video frame cannot be obtained with a status -24.
What changes are needed to fix this problem?

Are you using a stock ROM?

Try converting the video using in the same format using Pc suite for your mobile

Does the .mp4 play as a video on a desktop OS? Can you 'vouch' for the source?
.mp4 is a container format and may well only contain audio, or is corrupt and the player can only salvage the audio...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_14

Yes the .mp4 plays correctly on the desktop OS (ubuntu).
I even tried changing the resolution of the video using converter to match that to my mobile device but i still have the same problem.
I also see that No thumbnail is getting created for this file and an error is returned by the opencore layer for getting a video frame as "PVMFErrMaxReached" . Is there a limitation set on the size of the file.
@Onik: No the codec is fine as I am able to play the mp4 video file with same codec properties but of shorter duration. The video Codec is H264/AVC.

Please add the replys as comments to the answer, this way the user gets notified of the reply. Just to make sure, both of the videos use only the baseline profile of AVC?

Maybe the MP4 file contains video packed with a wrong/unsupported codec. Try recoding the video to a format that's supported by your phone.
A quick search showed Videora Android Converter. It seems easy to use and converts to formats supported by Android.

The MX Player app is the best one I've found for playing a variety of file formats and codecs.  I suspect that the problem might be, as @onik suggested, that the codec used is not supported by your video player.  There's also an "app" that supplies additional codecs.


text:
Shortcut to the notifications panel?
Many applications place an icon on the notification bar. But then to get to the action I need to long tap the notification bar (taking care not to tap the screen area below it) and then pull it down (at least this is how i do it in my htc desire hd)
Is there an easier way? Maybe assign this to a long press on the menu button (same as long press on the home button shows recent apps)?

Similar question here - http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4724/bigger-notification-bar/

To answer your questions, yes - there is an app that will allow you to invoke the notification panel:
exsbar allows you to assign the long-press search button or long-press camera button to this function.
Whether or not this is "an easier way" depends on you, the end-user. :-)

You shouldn't need to long tap the notification bar, just tap and swipe down.

I know it works that way in general, but is it the same for the HTC Sense UI?

I use the Desire HD myself, though I've put CyanogenMod on now, I did use Sense UI for a bit and I'm certain the behaviour was the same.

You can also press the Menu button and then "Notifications" to pull down the notification screen. It will not be shorter but you will not risk pressing the shortcuts on the top of the screen.
And on some phone when holding it with one hand it is easier to use the Menu button than to reach the top of the screen.


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Please check your user name and password error message when I am trying to log in andFBChat1.3.0
I installed andFBChat app on android emulator and when I am traying to log in using my facebook account , it says wrong username and password although they are right
why !!

If you're sure they're right, the app is buggy and we can't help you, Facebook has changed their protocol/accessibility (and the app is out of date/won't work anymore) and we can't help you, or possibly you aren't connected to the internet and you should connect, or the port the app uses is blocked and we can't help you.

So any one can help me to find source code for android facebook chatting ?

No, we can't help you with app development-related issues.  But the official Facebook app is in the Market and supports chat, can you not use that?

I need to code simple one, I don't want to install one from the market

StackOverflow is the place for development questions.  You'll have to post a specific question about what you're trying to do, however -- "How can I code a Facebook chat app for Android?" won't work.


text:
Is it normal for Android System to be the top battery user?
Over the past couple of days, the battery usage of my new phone has been as follows:

34% - Android System
  28% - Cell Standby
  21% - Phone idle
  10% - Display
  03% - Google Goggles
  02% - Angry Birds
  02% - Majesty

This feels very off to me. I would have expected the games and display to rank much higher in terms of battery use. Could the high usage of Android System indicate a potential problem, or is this fairly normal?
Additional information:
I typically end up with around 15:00 hours uptime and 3:45 hours awake by the end of the day. Daily use so far includes short bursts of playing games and Internet use, but no listening to music. I haven't had a day of heavy calls/texting with the phone yet.
These numbers are all from the built in battery use screen under settings.

The battery usage meters reset each time the phone is plugged in. Was your phone unplugged for the entire 15 hours?

@Gary Comtois Yes. The above is after approximately 15 hours unplugged.

Ocasionally I notice my battery dying quicker than normal and it will show Android system as the top user. If I shut it off and turn it back on it usually fixes it. I am still not sure what is causing this though.

Those seem to be awfully high numbers for Cell Standby and Phone Idle too -- what's your signal strength like?  Being in an area with poor reception can cause your radios to use a lot of extra power.

@afrazier Reception seems decent. It varies from 1 to four (full) bars. It's good enough that I don't notice it (no dropped calls, static, etc.). Going to the details for Cell Standby, it shows that "Time without a signal" is 0%.

It all depends on your usage.  Android System includes Sync, so if you're not using your phone a lot then I would assume Sync and Standby would use the most battery -- so your details make sense.
Edit: As per the comments, I think the battery usage is being recorded wrong.

I think I'm using my phone a fair amount. You can see Angry Birds and Majesty on the list there. I typically end up with around 15:00 hours uptime and 3:45 hours awake by the end of the day. Does that still fit with your answer?

Hmm no, I don't think that fits.  How drained is your battery after that?  I am thinking the battery use is not being tracked properly as well, what app are you using (or is it built in)?

15:00 hours is about when the battery dies. It's a potential problem for me, since that isn't quite all day. I'm using the built in battery usage meter (settings->About Phone->Battery->Battery Use).

OK.  Well I do think the usage meter is wrong, but 15 hours is about normal without any tweaks.  I recommend the XDA forum if you want to find a custom ROM that will give you better battery life (http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=638) and you can also take a look at http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/476/what-can-i-do-to-increase-battery-life-on-my-android-phone


text:
How can I get "Always on when USB connected" back on Samsung Vibrant (Android Froyo 2.2)?
How can I get "Always on when USB connected" display feature on Samsung Vibrant running Android Froyo 2.2? I used to love it on 2.1 Eclair but when I upgraded to 2.2 it is gone. Any trick to get it back?

After some research I found some app on Market that sets this global setting ('StayAwake'). Missing setting looks like Samsung or TMO customization. I'm running official TMO 2.2 update (T959UVKA6) installed via miniKies

What app did you find?

@AlexMSU: If you associate your AndroidSE and Stack Overflow accounts, you should recover ownership of this question.

@Al Everett: thanks
@Matthew Read: 'StayAwake' but I think that should be part of standard settings. Is this Samsung or TMO customization?

@AlexMSU: Please update your answer with that information and, when you can, accept it as the answer.

Link to the StayAwake application: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.gmail.developer.runks.enji&feature=search_result . Seems to work on my Galaxy S

If it is not in that menu it is probably no longer supported by default. You could likely achieve the same effect with either Tasker or Android scripting environment though.

Somewhat related to developing, though...
Homescreen>Menu button>Settings>Applications>Development>Stay awake
That's what it is like for AOSP phones, not sure about the vibrant.

Under 'Development' I see only 'USB debugging' and 'Allow mock locations'

I have this option on my 2.2 Vibrant.  Are you running a custom ROM?

@Matthew Read, are you using T959UVKA6 or something else?

@somehume Modded KB1 (Bionix).  Pretty sure it's been the same on all the 2.2 builds I've had though.


text:
How does the gmail Android App compare to the Webmail experience when using multiple gmail accounts?
This is a "pre-sales" question as I don't currently have an Android device. I did try out one when Android was version 1.6, but was dissappointed. I am interested to know if 2.2 or 2.3 is better.
In particular, I use Gmail as my only email client. It operates all my email accounts (3 corporate and 2 personal). Every email is sent and received via the gmail server and is therefore filed and searchable in gmail. When I compose and email, I can choose which account to send it from and it comes via the domain server (i.e. not from gmail).
My impresssion of android is that is can set up seperate email (pop, imap etc) inboxes and operate them directly with each domain server as pop/imap - but I don't want that as emails will not be kept on the gmail server and therefore filed, backed up and searchable from the webmail client.
How does email account aggregation actually work in Android - is it true Gmail Webmail handling or is it just multi-account handling direct with domainemail servers missing Gmails servers in the process?
Thanks

Thanks again for these valuable answers. I have just taken the plunge, having lost my trusty Nokia E51 in the park. Amazon are delivering an HTC Desire S in the next few days.

Just use the GMail app and not the Email app.  You can select what email to send from -- it shows all the addresses you have set up in GMail -- and has a surprising number of GMail's features for a mobile app.  It does go through GMail's servers and you will have your archive.  I don't think you can set up and manage POP accounts from it, but if you're not abandoning the web interface entirely then it doesn't matter.

There are three ways to access Gmail in Android:

Setup an POP/IMAP account using Email app. This is not recommended, since you lose many of Gmails' unique feature.
Use the Browser and Gmail's mobile view. This is not recommended, since you don't get mail notifications.
Setup Gmail account in the Gmail app. This is the preferred way of using Gmail on Android, the Gmail app works well with many of Gmail's unique features, such as mail search, label, archives, conversations, stars, "Send As", muting, priority inbox, etc.

Every email is sent and received via the gmail server and is therefore filed and searchable in gmail

The Gmail app does that.

When I compose and email, I can choose which account to send it from and it comes via the domain server (i.e. not from gmail).

I don't think you can setup "Send As" from Gmail app, but you can send an email with any "Send As" address you have configured in the webmail.
I don't think there is any major Gmail webmail features that the Android Gmail missed.


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What type of headset will work for my Droid X?
I'm shopping around for a nice pair of earbuds for my Droid X since I lost my other ones, and I was curious if I could get ones with a microphone to use as a headset.
What do I need to look for to make sure they're compatible?  Are all the 4-pin 3.5mm stereo jacks alike?  If it's iPhone-compatible will it not be with the Droid (especially ones with remote volume buttons)?

Any 4-pin 3.5 mm stereo jack should work fine for straight sound but headsets with controls are a little more difficult.  Many are proprietary.  If it claims to be universal it may work but if it's designed for Apple or Nokia it probably wont.
Basically, on a 4-pin jack it all depends on which ring the headset maps to which control.  I couldn't find a Droid X pinout diagram but I believe Motorola uses the standard layout.  This site has a pretty comprehensive list of the different pinout mappings and a lot of them are the same but a lot are proprietary.
If in doubt, I'd look for a set advertised to work with the Droid X.

Here in India, we have Philips branded wired handsfree kits which are designed to be used with all modern phones. Certain phones require the jack to be plugged into a supplied female/male adapter which is then plugged into the 3.5mm jack of your phone.
This is the one I'm using with my Spica (the adapter also needs to be used) after the Samsung supplied ones conked out after a year of heavy duty use. ;-)
Perhaps you could find something similar...


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Android Force Stop Button Not Working Samsung Captivate (A Galaxy S)
Settings -> Manage Applications -> Third Party App -> Force Stop is not working.  On clicking, the Force Stop Button does not change.  No Messages either. I can however uninstall the app.  What could be wrong?   This is with a Samsung Captivate on AT&T. Thanks

What app?  Or is it all of them?

See also http://android.stackexchange.com/q/33801/12442 for a discussion of when the Force stop button is enabled and disabled.

The Force Stop button is only applicable to apps which are currently actually running. In general, Android apps will stay in an idle state on the assumption that you might want to switch back to them soon, but the OS will kill apps you haven't used for a while as it gets short on memory. Some apps also have an actual "exit" option, of course.
So, are you sure the app you're trying to Force Stop is actually running? In your applications settings, there should be a "Running" tab, which should show all of the apps currently running on your device. Alternatively there are apps in the Market that can show you what's currently going on on your device. I use "OS Monitor" but I'm sure there are others.


text:
How can I view Google My Maps on my phone (Nexus One)?
I have a collection of locations in Google My Maps but I don't know how to access it from my phone. Using the browser and go to google map site doesn't help at all. Do you have any idea?

Bearing in mind I'm using CyanogenMod6 + Google Apps your mileage may vary - but I can access my My Maps as follows:

Open Google Maps (the application, not the full site)
Click menu
Select Layers
Select More Layers
Select My Maps and your maps should be displayed

Job done
[Edit] Looks like I'd installed the wrong Google Apps package when I flash my ROM last night, (tiny instead of medium), and the updated version has the Layers button up next to the search bar - so I don't need to open the menu (step 2) anymore.

You can use the official 'Google Maps' app to view your collections. If you click on the 'Pin' next to the search box to bring up the Places screen, then press 'Menu', you'll see an option for 'My Maps' so you can access any of your previously created collections.
Google Maps app -> Pin Button (next to search box) -> Menu Key -> 'My Maps'
Link to Google Maps just in case you don't have it installed
(Alternatively, you can skip a couple of steps by opening Google Maps using the 'Places' shortcut, which takes you directly to the Places screen, from where you can press the Menu button, then select 'My Maps')


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Persistent lines on screen
This morning I noticed my phone has several light grey horizontal lines on the display, that don't go away when I change applications, or restart the phone. They don't rotate when I rotate the display - it reminds me of when we were warned about images "burning" into the display of PCs, hence screensavers.
Last night I went to bed with Winamp running while the phone was charging, and I have noticed it doesn't always seem to go to screensaver/black with Winamp. But the lines don't seem to correspond to anything in the Winamp UI, so...I have no idea.
What else should I try to get rid of these lines?

Sounds like a hardware problem (assuming the lines extend all the way across the screen).  Could just be a bad connection.

Agreed, but "just" a bad connection would be pretty hard to fix ;)

True.  This is where you're glad for (or miss) a warranty.

I doubt it's burn-in. It might be stuck pixels. But, yes, definitely sounds like hardware.

It's somewhat been coming and going, which makes a bad connection seem fairly plausible. Boo :(


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What do "root," "flash," and "ROM" mean?

Possible Duplicate:
What is the meaning of “flashing a custom ROM”?

I have been looking for some good explanations of some words that have been frequently used the android developer communities like the XDA forums.
Some words I've seen but do not understand are:
root - (as far as I know it's the way of getting the super user access)
flash - don't know what this is
ROM - don't know either
I need a more descriptive explanation about these words and the related tools, mechanisms, etc.

Looking around the site will give you lots of answers.
Rooting:

What does "to root a phone" mean?
How do I root my Android device?

ROMs and Flashing:

What is the meaning of "flashing a custom ROM"?
Does flashing a custom ROM require root access?
Does rooting require a custom ROM?

root - you are correct
flash - is to replace the OS that is installed on your phone with a custom ROM.
ROM - is a 3rd party created custom version of the Android OS.