text:
How to disable Gtalk chat history?
Am I missing something or is there no way to disable Gtalk history by default? Clearing separate conversations is a pain. If history can't be turned off, is there at least a way to wipe the whole Gtalk history at once somehow?
(using android2.2)
thank you

What version of Talk do you have?

it's gtalk version 1.3

I think the only way is to do it for each conversation, alternatively next time you start a new chat you could use the option do go off the record (haven't try that though).

@janfsd - off the record means something like 'off the server record'.. unfortunately has nothing to do local history.. oh well, we'll just have to wait for some better days I guess =)

Oh, good to know that it will still be in the local history. I have tried wiping the data for talk also but still did not work :(

Signing out and exiting (may need to check the task manager to make sure it's closed) should clear the local history.

nope, does not work.

Updated my answer.

works :D thnx =)

Check ReChat (Android chat): http://refineandroid.doodlekit.com/
- Facebook, Google Talk, basic Jabber/XMPP;
- multiple accounts at once;
- plain/bubble views. Customize avatar/font sizes.
- font packs (download separate apk to keep memory).
- full Unicode support;
- favorites (always in contact list);
- customize income message notification: default sound/your sound file, LED, vibration, status bar notification.
- chat history. Export (email) selected messages, open chat messages, whole history for a contact, whole history for all contacts. Archive attachment with 7zip.

Facebook features:
- all non-chat permissions are revoked, customize period, "revoke now".
- upload image/short video (several share options)
- send image/short video to a contact (private wall post).
- send message to a contact (as a private event or private wall post).
- set status message.

Google Talk features:
- showing total count of unread emails;
- marking contacts with unread emails;
- new email notification;
- list of unread emails subjects (without content);
- add/remove contacts.

Basic Jabber/XMPP features:
- add/remove contacts.

You can turn off gtalk logging via Gmail, Settings > Chat > Never save chat history. To close all chat windows, you can use (in the gtalk application) option button > More > Close all chats.

chat history is already turned of in my gmail account, and when I use gtalk app on android - it still keeps history logs

You'd think Google would've made the app check for this setting or something.


text:
Can I set an alternative time source?
If I set the time manually on my Desire (rooted, CM7) it appears to lose up to a couple of minutes every day.
Unfortunately, since the latter part of last year (possibly since the change to UK daylight savings time) T-mobile UK seem to be running around four minutes behind the rest of the UK. At least it's consistent, so my best option at present, but I have still missed a couple of trains as a result :(
Is there a way to configure a different time source so it can sync to something on the net? Or do you have any other ideas?

Indeed. Since you're rooted, I suggest you use the freeware Sytrant. It also allows you to choose which time server you wish to sync from as well as allowing a user to specify a daily interval at which the time can be updated automatically.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Share memory access on SD card between a PC and an Android App
When you connect an Android Phone with an SD Flash card to a PC, with the Disk Drive option selected, it temporarily will be impossible to access the flash from the an Android App. What about phones with internal Flash?
I am looking for a way to share memory between an android phone and a pc.

If you have a wireless LAN and you just want to copy files around while the phone can still access the card then the simplest way is to install an FTP server on your phone like https://market.android.com/details?id=lutey.FTPServer
There are probably similar solutions using Bluetooth, 3G, etc.

I really need a usb solution.  My ultimate goal is to connect to a GPS USB host device, and pass info back to my android phone.

There is apparently an app in the Market that does this.  I do not know the name.  It probably requires root.
However, doing so is a terrible idea.  Two operating systems should NEVER access the same disk at the same time, because they do not know about each other's writes.  If you do this you will lose data, possibly everything on your card.  There is no advantage to this anyways unless you are doing something extremely bizarre.

I am doing something fairly odd.  I have a GPS device that acts as a USB host.  I currently connect to is via a WM 6.5 phone.  I create a USB serial port, and pass data/commands back and forth.  I just bought a Android phone, and the SDK does not support USB serial.  I thought that I might be able to pass data back and forth via the mass storage feature.  I don't have the option of using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

You'd probable need the phone in Media mode and a custom application on both Android and your PC to synchronize with each other and transfer the info.

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


text:
Why does Android have such problems remembering last know location?
I've never been able to figure out the manner in which Android remembers its last know location. If seems to remember the location from several hours ago but not several seconds ago. I think its best to give an example of what I mean.
I was recently in the Bay Area. I was using Google maps on my Android and I happened to be around the Google Campus in Mountain View. I was using maps with GPS enabled and after a while I got a proper GPS lock which I used to navigate around the area.
When I went back to San Francisco later on I was using it to get around the city. Every time I turned on the maps it put my location back in Mountain view. About 10 seconds later after it got the GPS lock I got my real location. If I turned the phone off and on again a few seconds later the same thing happened - it thinks I am in somewhere I was hours earlier and then kicks in with my actual location. This happens all the time - remembering where I was hours ago, not where I was a few moments ago. Once I have been around an area for a certain amount of time this now becomes the new "last know location".
Why, once I get an accurate GPS lock, does Android not register this as the "last known location" instead of one from earlier?

Not a complete answer, but some background information:

Your device can have more than 1 location provider, e.g. one based on GPS and one based on which mobile phone towers it can see.
Android does not have a one single last known position. Each location provider has its own last known position.
A location has additional metrics, like accuracy, when it was recorded, what was recorded (e.g. does it have an altitude component etc)

So it depends on which location provider the app uses and that can depend on or even change based on dynamic parameters. E.g. on start-up it could ask Android for the fastest location provider to get going and then switch to the most accurate one to gradually get a better fix.

This is a really good, concise explanation. Thank you.

This also makes sense as when I was back in the city I didn't have wifi/mobile data. At the Google campus there was wifi. So maps must have been initially using the 'coarse' (ie wifi) lastknownlocation (which was in Google) and then when the GPS kicked in a few seconds later it updates. I would have thought still that the GPS lasknownlocation would have been a fresher/better reading.

this answer is more like a comment. and if coarse location have less priority, it would explain even less why the phone returned mnt view later on.

It is my understanding that Android uses coarse and fine grained type location updates and these updates can have different quality metrics too. It could be that the Google Maps application didn't have GPS and Wifi signal long enough at your new location to be a high enough quality to be the last know location.
The developer docs at http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/location/obtaining-user-location.html give some example models for obtaining user locations that might give some insight to how it works. But I would guess Google Maps, and probably other maps, do their own thing.

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


text:
how to completely disable lockscreen?

Possible Duplicate:
How to disable screen lock on my HTC desire Z?

is there any way to do this ?
kinda unnecessary on android

I wouldn't say it's unnecessary.  Without the lock screen you could potentially "butt dial" if the screen came on for any reason

Appears to be a duplicate of: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4099/how-to-disable-screen-lock-on-my-htc-desire-z

Go to Settings --> Location & security settings --> Set up screen lock -->  None.
Note: this may be a CyanogenMod feature.  I can't remember if Stock Android allows this or not (can someone verify this for me?)

On my HTC Hero with regular Android 2.1 there is no such option; on Security I can only add/remove a screen unlock pattern, but nothing about the screen lock.

On my HTC Desire HD, with Android 2.2, the option is at Settings > Security > Set up screen lock > None

Use the app called "no lock". It will allow you to toggle between having a lock screen and having none.


text:
Are there any notification widgets for android that show the number of missed calls, messages, etc. just like on the regular notification screen?
Are there any notification widgets for android that show the number of missed calls, messages, etc. just like on the regular notification screen?
I'm currently using widget locker to customize my home screen but it also means that i can't tell if i have missed any calls or messages without having to unlock the phone. I would love to have a widget that i could put only on the widget locker lock screen just to quickly see if I've missed anything.
Edit: I'm on a captivate, 2.1 unrooted.

What version of Android are you using? Which phone? Are you rooted?

Take a look at GOTO Lock Screen- supposedly it is fast. It lets you stay on top of your text messages, missed calls, and Gmail notifications all with a simple slide gesture.
A detailed feature list is available here.
Re-reading your question, I see you want widgets to use in conjunction with WidgetLocker - what sms app are you using? Handcent has a medium sized widget which shows unread sms as does GoSMS. You can show missed calls using this Call Log widget.
UPDATE: I do believe I've found something that might interest you - PureMessenger widget will show the following:

Gmail
Emails (POP3+IMAP / need K9FP)
SMS
Facebook
Twitter
Calls

I was wondering if there was a simple widget that just showed 3 or 4 customizable icons that displayed how many sms, phone calls, emails, or calender events i've missed. Every time my phone vibrates I have to unlock it to figure out what just happened. Widgets because I love how widget locker allows for so much lock screen customization by allowing widgets to be displayed but not interactable.

I'd suggest NoLed, a pretty handy and battery-efficient way to see notifications of missed events while the phone is locked. Minimal battery drain on AMOLED screens and pretty customizable.


text:
Music Player with a smart Shuffle option
One of the feature that I love on Amaro (Linux) or Winamp (Windows) is the ability to shuffle the playlist, ie take all the songs in the playlist and shuffle them like a deck of playing cards. That way, when I play the list, the same song never repeat after the whole playlist have been played once.
In the basic music player on Android, and the few ones I've tried from the market, the behavior is the classical "Pick a random song" each time the previous one is ended, meaning sometimes the same song gets played 10 times in an hour, and others never get played.
Is there an app that provide this feature?

Since you mentioned Winamp - there is a version of Winamp for Android. Have you tried that? I am admittedly not sure of how exactly the shuffle feature works because I haven't used it yet.

It's the first thing I tried, as I was pretty confident to find this feature. But the shuffle in winamp for Android is just " play a random song each time" and not "shuffle the playlist then play it".

There's an App called "Just Playlists" that states the "none repeating shuffle" as one of its features:
http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/media_and_video/just-playlists_byqz.html

This is great, it's exactly the kind of feature I was looking for !

It's working great, I bought the paid version, only thing missing is a lock screen, but i'll write the developper about that

Try checking this link out there are a list of media players that may work for you if you have not tried them already.
Top 10 Media Players for Android Phones

Thanks for the link, unfortunately none of them has the feature i look for. But one of them let me edit Id3 tags, so i didn't completely waste my time trying them all

Try VLC player, It has a shuffle option that creates a shuffled list of your playlist.

try TRMP Random Music PLayer. It has a great shuffle engine !

Can you provide a link to the app's website/download?

I tried it but got severall problems with it, the main one being that it doesn't allow custom playlist. My music is split in different style, classical and rock, and sometimes I want to listen to all my rock random, or all my classical random. TRMP only allow all my music random...


text:
how to post a pic I took to someone's wall on fb?

I took a pic on my HTC Desire 2.1
I want to post it to somebody's else wall on facebook so facebook stores the picture?
any easy way how to do this?

I guess I can find the pic on my mobile and then upload it using full site facebook interface. It's bit too complicated, isn't it.

You're not going to be able to do this via the Facebook app as it currently exists. Even the mobile interface (m.facebook.com) doesn't offer image upload. You'll need to do it via the full site.

I thought so but I hoped that there would be a nice solution to that. Could you create an answer from that? I will accept it.

Upload it to a generic image hosting site. Copy the url and put it in a comment on 'someone's' wall.

good suggestion but I want fb only solution ...

How about uploading it to your own profile, then sharing that link on the other person's page? At the bottom, below a picture you've posted you should see "Share this photo with anyone by sending them this public link:" followed by a url.

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


text:
Is there a way to open an m3u8 playlist on android
I'm using Android 2.2. Trying to open an m3u8 playlist file directly from a http source. Dolphin browser just asks me to save the file.
Any ideas on how I can stream the content.... is there a market app for this?
Jason

Without doing any research about it at all, this sounds like something that's right up WinAmp's alley.  I know it supports streaming audio, but streaming video might be a different matter.
Edit: Also, this guy suggests renaming .m3u8 files to .m3u as .m3u has wider support in apps.  Perhaps save the .m3u8 file you want from the web, rename the extension, and play it that way?

M3U8 is the Unicode version of M3U, which is simply a playlist file, providing a media player a list of media files to play.  Open it up in a text editor & you'll see from the contents.
It's a very simple format & most media players will pick it up.  The default media player included in the Android OS uses M3U for its internal playlists.  More info here.
I suspect that's not what you're asking though, since you mentioned streaming.  You don't "play" an M3U file, you play the content it refers to within.  Your best chance of success is to open the M3U[8] file on your PC and look at the actual video content URL(s) and try to load one directly in your media player of choice.  If that doesn't work, ask back here but provide the media URL so we can attempt to work out its format.
If you do find the underlying video stream format, this handy reference lists the supported stream types.

Thanks, I basically wanted my android phone to open up the m3u8 file and play all the contents. If i find a link i'll post it. cheers.

I think VPlayer can stream it for you. They have a free trial but after the trial it is like 4USD to unlock the full version.

How about a link?

You can find "NX Streaming Player" on Playstore. It supports any URL that finishes with .m3u8  - for example:
http://www.domain.net/video/abc123/playlist.m3u8
There is a lot of apps like it, but I think this is the best to play one URL each time, manually inserting the address.

its been 7 years passed since you posted. I believe you have got several options to do play m3u8. Even currently android builtin media player is able to play live urls inside an m3u8. Basically m3u8 is nothing else but text file  to android. So you have to make m3u parser. If you are just looking for application, you can try and iptv which is free to use. However if you need help for development, bump to this answer so i can get back to you . I could already give you instruction but it will be like digging a grave!
Cheers

Link not found may be it is expired


text:
Will the HTC Thunderbolt be able to use AT&T's network?
I'm speaking from a hardware perspective. It supports the 850 and 1900 network bands that AT&T uses, but will it work? The phone is amazing, absolutely destroys the Inspire 4G (which is a complete joke in my opinion).

No.  It's a CDMA phone using 800 and 1900 mhz bands. CDMA phones can't be used on GSM networks (AT&T, Tmobile...). GSM and CDMA are completely different technologies.

We don't do shopping recommendations here but if we did and I was on AT&T I'd get the Atrix.

Nope. I'm currently running a N1 and I ain't sacrificing my freedom for a Motorola. Plus the Atrix is only a 4.0 inch screen. What I'm really looking for is a 4.3" screen, front-facing camera, 4G, kickstand, and 8-32GB onboard memory with a SD card :)

@TK Check out the Samsung Galaxy S2 phones due soon, or the Vibrant 4G just out.

Bad luck. AT&T quote-on-quote "4G" is merely an upgraded 3G network (HSPA+), not actual 4G (LTE or WiMax)
The Atrix runs Android, so no different from the Thunderbolt except no HTC Sense dumped on top of Android.


text:
Is there any documentation on the correct/expected directory structure of the external memory card?
There's a couple of issues that i have with the way Android sees my card...

The Gallery App shows CD artwork as a separate photo album.
I want to exclude some things from shuffle playback by the music player.
there's probably more thing that could appear better if we new what Media Scanner was doing....

I've found this: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/data-storage.html#filesExternal but Gallery App still reads pictures from music folder

Seems Gallery ignores Folder.jpg, AlbumArt.jpg, AlbumArtSmall.jpg - so just using windows search with *.jpg and delete the non matches... 'fixes' the gallery

you can also add a file called ".nomedia", minus the quotes, in any directory you want the media scanner to ignore. it does not include sub-directories though, so you cannot just do /sdcard, for example, and have it not scan the entire structure. you would have to put a file in every folder you want ignored.

i gather .nomedia is for app developers to hide their media files from the media scanner, When they don't sound effects etc to appear in the music player/gallery. If you use it you will NOT be able to play music from that folder.

.nomedia prevents the automatic media scanner from finding the files, you would still be able to browse to and open the file from a file browser though.

Summing up from the comments, and adding a little.
Directory structure
There's no complete documentation for the entire cards structure, that seems not to be fixed. However, some directories seem to be more or less common:

the developers guide suggests app specific data should be stored below /sdcard/Android/data/<package_name>/files/ (<package_name> represending the name of the package the data belongs to, which looks like com.example.android.app), and /Android/data/<package_name>/cache/ for external cache files (basically, this corresponds to the /data/data/<package_name>/ directory on internal storage)
same source recommends a bunch of directories to store files intended to be shared among apps. All of those directories are located in the root of the card, and include:

Music/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as user music.
Podcasts/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a podcast.
Ringtones/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a ringtone.
Alarms/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as an alarm sound.
Notifications/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a notification sound.
Pictures/ - All photos (excluding those taken with the camera).
Movies/ - All movies (excluding those taken with the camcorder).
Download/ - Miscellaneous downloads.

Excluding directories from Media Scan
If you wish to exclude a directory from the media scan (i.e. from being indexed for the gallery), you can place a file named .nomedia there. This will tell the media scanner to skip this directory (including all files and subdirectories) from a scan -- thus neither images, nor audio or video files stored here will turn up in the gallery. You however can still access them by looking them up manually. Up to my knowledge, there's no way to restrict this to a certain media type (i.e. having the media scanner index audio/video, but skip images). Important: Note the "dot" at the beginning of the file name (making it a "hidden file"). This must be included with its name.


text:
How can I make a shortcut to the "Recent Apps" dialog?
Do you know if there is any way to create a shortcut or widget on the homescreen to access to the "Recent Apps" list?
Basically, is there any way to access to this list without having to hold the Home button?

Which launcher do you use ?

GoLauncher has a 'recent' tab in the apps pane, if that's any help. Not really desktop though

I use ADW Launcher EX and I actually don't want to change it :/

Launcher Pro has a swipe gesture that shows recently used apps.

Related: How to simulate long press home button?

Here you go. Just move the icon to your homepage as a shortcut and you're good to go :)
MoreRecent

via droidforums.net

Thanks! Well it's not a shortcut to the real Recent Apps dialog but it seems this is the closest thing I will get.

@Leimi It's not your inbuilt OS Recent Apps dialog but I believe apps can retrieve the list of the latest apps used so therefore the list should be the same but a little longer.

Yeah the apps are the same but the application style/theme isn't :p

The link is dead. An update is required to the answer.

I made a free widget to do this, you can get it from the Play Store here.

There is a Recent Apps Widget available on Google Play.

App Bar Widgets just what you're looking for.

The link is dead. An update is required here.

Check out  Recent Task 2 on Play Store.

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


text:
Installing Android on an Ipaq

Possible Duplicate:
Can I install Android on my non-Android device?

Is it possible to install Android on an Ipaq rx1950?
And in general, what is the process of installing android
on different gadgets?

Check out this more general post http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2575/what-is-involved-in-installing-android-onto-a-device

In general, installing an OS to a new platform involves writing a compiler for the processor architecture, writing the drivers, finding a way to write to a bootable storage and booting the new OS.
Nowadays, the first step (writing a compiler) is usually unnecessary since the free GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) supports nearly every processor architecture that you care about.
In many cases, the second step (writing drivers) can be leveraged since Linux kernel have drivers for many hardware configurations and Google and some manufacturers releases their driver to the open source. On some really esoteric hardware though, you might need to write your own drivers (this is often difficult since such esoteric hardware usually comes with little or no publicly available documentation). It usually helps if a device is popular, since that will increase the number of potential developers that are willing to spend their time writing drivers.
On regular computer architecture, you usually have privilege to write anything anywhere on the primary storage and full privilege on configuring the bootloader; but on mobile devices, the third step and fourth step (writing the OS to a bootable storage and booting it) may involve finding a security hole in the currently running OS since such devices often locks down the bootloader.

What a singularly helpful answer, @Lie. That should be a FAQ.


text:
How to reply to an ics invitiation without using googlemail
I'm using the htc mail widget/app with an email account other than googlemail.com.
When an .ics invitation is attached to an email I can import the event into the phone's calendar but apparently I cannot confirm or reject the appointment.
Is there e.g. an app that you can recommend to send such repsonses - and maybe even display the list of participants (minor issue)?

I've successfully accepted .ics invitations from w/in K9 mail. I'm surprised that this isn't possible in the built in email app. when you view the invitation in a regular email client (not on your phone) do you see accept/reject links?

Haven't tried with a "regular" email client, but both mail.google.com and the outlook web frontend let me accept/reject those invitations.

It looks like this is a known issue. I'm using K9 mail and, while I would swear I've replied to meeting invites in the past,but I just tried sending my non-gmail IMAP self an invite from my google calendar and I get an ICS attachment and K9 Mail complains that it is "Unable to find a viewer for application/ics"
It looks like there are a couple of apps in the market that will handle this, though. Take a look at iscer and ICS Bot -- I haven't tried either but both profess do to do what you need.

Try Invitation Processor Free.

Do you have anything to do with this app, or are you just a keen user? Your answer might be more useful with a link to the app on Google Play.

...plus with a few more details why/how this solves the issue.


text:
Copying files from web to phone?
Is there a reliable way to move files from the web to my phone?
I am with Orange/T-Mobile (Everything Everywhere) and my 3g coverage is really patchy. When we had wifi in the office I used to use Astro to browse a share on my work computer and copy files that way. We have no wifi now.
I've also tried using Dropbox, but when I hold and download, the image doesn't seem to be anywhere on my phone. I thought it copied them into my gallery, but I can't seem to see them any more.
I've also tried emailing images to myself and then trying to download them on the phone.
All of these seem to fail for me, can this just be an issue with my diabolical mobile carrier? Or is there a better way to copy stuff onto the phone without cable or wifi?
Maybe I'll have to buy a cheap cable from ebay? Any suggests for solutions?
Ta

It ties you down, but can you use a USB connection?

Yeah my thoughts also, I purchased one for 99p from ebay :@)

You can get apps which will rescan you SD card to pickup any new files downloaded from DropBox. For example http://www.appbrain.com/app/sdrescan/com.bero.sdrescan

I am using Dropbox and it works fine for me. When you click on a file to see it, Dropbox downloads the content probably in a temp file and it will launch in the right viewer. If you long click an item and select download it will put the file in its own folder on the SD card (SDcard/dropbox) and the file will be available to a file manager such as Astro. If it is not already visible from the gallery application, you can add it by moving the file to the right folder.
I know you already used Dropbox but I would definitely give it another try.

This would be my preferred solution. I use Dropbox all the time.

Ah, yes, I'm halfway there. I will reinstall Astro, thanks!


text:
Is there a way for me to run Adb shell as root without typing in 'su'?
Is there a way for me to run Adb shell as root without typing in su? I want to be able to have root access without going into the shell.

If I'm understanding your question correctly, you're asking how to get root access automatically when you run adb shell, so that you don't have to go into the shell and type su to execute a command as root on your phone.
This is controlled by a flag in your boot partition, which most custom ROMs have modified to allow root permission by default. If you get dropped to a $ when you use adb shell then you have two permanent options and one temporary one (temporary meaning that it doesn't stick if you reboot):

Flash a ROM that includes the modification
Create a custom boot.img and flash it to your phone
Restart adbd on your device with root permissions

Number 2 is actually not that difficult, but it can be somewhat dangerous if you're careless. There is a wiki article here which explains the process and includes a couple of Perl scripts to help you. These instructions assume a Linux/Unix environment. I have personally used these instructions on Fedora Linux and can tell you that they work, but I do not know about other *nix environments like Macs. I also do not know of any similar Windows instructions, but I could try to track some down if you are on Windows. The exact commands will vary somewhat from phone to phone since different devices use different partition tables.
Generally speaking, though, you need to pull your current boot.img from your phone, unpack it, extract the ramdisk, and find the default.prop file. This is a plaintext file, which you need to open in a text editor and then find the line that contains the value ro.secure. If the line says ro.secure=1 then you need to change it to ro.secure=0. After that you can re-pack the ramdisk and boot.img, then flash it to your phone. Once you reboot, you will be greeted with a # prompt whenever you perform adb shell without having to run su.
Alternatively, if you are using a custom ROM but it doesn't have this modification, you can just unzip the ROM and modify the boot.img that is included with it using the above steps. Then you can zip up the ROM with the newly modified boot.img and flash the zip file as you normally would.
This probably goes without saying, but be careful when doing this. Messing with your boot partition can quite easily wreck your phone and force you to recover via HBoot. I would highly recommend testing Fastboot to makes sure you can use extended Fastboot commands and perform a recovery. This varies a bit based on your model, but most phones have some sort of desktop software that can be run to reflash the phone as well.

The third option is that in many cases it may be possible to restart adbd on your device with root privileges. One possibility is to execute adb root from a PC terminal, although this will not work on all ROM configurations (the ROM must be built as a "userdebug" one). You can also try Chainfire's adbd insecure app. This will not persist across a reboot, so you would need to use either the app or adb root again any time you restarted your phone.

Does the phone also boot with root permissions? Could be a security issue.

@Matthew: AFAIK, it only allows adbd to have root permission on the phone by default. There's a post from a member of the Android team that implies this, but does not say it explicitly. This commit to the AOSP also implies that it is simply a flag that adbd checks on startup (I don't see it elsewhere in the source). As I mentioned, the majority of custom ROMs that I've seen (CM included) have it set to 0.

I will say that I'm not 100% on the above, though. I can't find any official documentation related to the default.prop file, though perhaps my Google-fu is just weak tonight...

Just discovered the adb root command to restart adbd in auto-su mode, apparently it relies on this.  I do think you were right about it being just a flag, though.

@MatthewRead: The source code in the commit I linked to actually has a comment to that effect :) // ... except we allow running as root in userdebug builds if the service.adb.root property has been set by the "adb root" command". Incidentally, that's how the first version of BurritoRoot for the Kindle Fire worked, IIRC.

With the defult.prop edits, what is need to be allowed in sepolicy so adb root can work in permissive allowing for a root shell

@eldarerathis, the link you posted for the second option you listed looks broken. However, I've found an XDA thread with the same title, which I guess is the same article as the one you linked, so I'm editing your answer to update that link.

Well if you phone is rooted you can run commands with the "su -c" command.
Here is an example of a cat command on the build.prop file to get a phones product information.
adb shell "su -c 'cat /system/build.prop |grep "product"'"

This invokes root permission and runs the command inside the '  '
Notice the 5 end quotes, that is required that you close ALL your end quotes or you will get an error.
For clarification the format is like this.
adb shell "su -c '[your command goes here]'"

Make sure you enter the command EXACTLY the way that you normally would when running it in shell.
Give it a try, hope this helps.

For example you can use adb shell -t "su -c 'sh'" to run a shell as root.  The -t is needed to get the prompt.

Simply install adbd Insecure.

What are you trying to run as root for?  You're saying that you want to run ADB shell with root but you don't want to use ADB shell?  Can you clarify?
If the application requests for root access, then the SuperUser application on your phone should handle giving it permission or not. The process in which you rooted your phone should have included a SuperUser application.

I want to run adb shell gdbserver from my terminal instead of going into shell to run it

@Hank: a terminal almost always need to be connected to a shell to do any useful work; perhaps you should clarify your definition of "terminal" and "shell" since you seems to have a different idea of what they were than in standard Linux/Android parlance

so you can do adb shell ps or adb shell and then ps to get the running process list. So somethings require root access, I want to be able to do the former.

The reason  "why" (especially where gdbserver is concerned) would be to be able to use the capability in a script running on the development machine.  However, it's possible for a script to pipe commands into what adb thinks of as an interactive shell, so having adb default to root really isn't necessary for that reason.

As an alternative, you could write your script on the phone and simply have adb execute it, for example:
adb shell sh /sdcard/myscript.sh

The script can elevate itself without your intervention (assuming SuperUser is set to remember the approval), for example:
su
pm setInstallLocation 1

I just did this on my phone with success, the only problem being that I haven't quite figured out how to cleanly end the adb shell session.  I have to Ctrl-C in my Windows shell to return to the Windows command prompt -- otherwise adb just sits at the # prompt and doesn't accept input.

You can also set the suid bit on your 'sh'.
I'm using BusyBox so instructions may not match your setup:

adb shell
su
mount -o remount,rw /system     (or: adb remount)
ls -la /system/bin/sh
lrwxr-xr-x root     shell             2012-11-10 15:20 sh -> mksh
chmod 4755 /system/bin/sh
ls -la /system/bin/mksh
-rwsr-xr-x root     shell      157520 2012-11-10 09:54 mksh
(notice the suid bit is set)
^D
adb shell

and you should have the root prompt

-1 from me. This is insecure and opens a huge hole. Any APP could become root and wreak havoc.

Absolutely do not do that, this is a catastrophic security hole. (Disclaimer: I’m the mksh maintainer.)

i use for repair home button issue failure

adb devices
adb shell su -c commands
or
adb root shell sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db "INSERT INTO secure (name,value) VALUES ('device_provisioned','1');"
adb kill-server


text:
Poor performance with portable wifi hot spot. Is this normal?
I'm using an HTC Desire HD to create a portable wifi hotspot on a 2G connection (yes, I know, but its all I got sometimes) so I can use my laptop for simple internet based tasks.  My 2G connection on the phone seems to max out at about 40kbps (unrelated, but is this normal?).  However, the connection is pretty much unusable by my laptop which seems to gain a maximum of about 300 bytes/sec download speed (strangely though, it gets almost 4kbps upload).
So,
1) Any idea what's wrong?
2) If the phone's 2g connection is capable of 40kpbs, is it reasonable to expect a portable wifi hotspot client to be able to use all of this capacity?
Thanks!

40 kbps is fast enough to load the full facebook.com in about a minute.  Is that even worth it?

:) indeed not for any normal browsing, but then I only need it to send emails and other light http communication when I'm travelling which I prefer to use my laptop for.

In theory you should get full speed but this things can be dodgy sometimes. Make sure you make these speedtests at the same spot and at the same time to avoid congestion and diffrent signal strenghts effecting the test.
You can try USB tethering and see if the speed improves. If you can't find usb tethering in settings there are apps that should allow you to try this.
You can also try to put the phone to a better spot (signal wise) when using the wifi tether.
On an unrelated note, please try to be more precise when using units such as kbps. You used bits 3 times and byte once. A small(normal) b means a bit and a large(capital) B a Byte. One Byte is 8 bits. 40 kbps (kilo bits per seconds) is 5kB/s(kilo bytes per seconds). Please do the tests again and edit your question with the correct numbers with correct units or post in a comment.
It is also possible that your computer is doing some stuff (such as cheking for windows updates or antivirus definitions) that might effect your speedtest. Also the compter might show the results in a diffent unit than your phone, so the numbers are smaller but the speed is the same.

No, this does not seems to be normal. When I use my phone for tethering I get the full 100% speed my phone is normally capable of. Maybe you network supplier is slowing down the connection or the tethering isnt working all that great.

Or the provider doesn't like tethering and thus limits the speed.


text:
Android and .mov files
How can I play .mov files on Android 2.2+ without converting them?
EDIT:
I am looking for a way to install Codecs rather than find a video player on the market if possible.
Thank you.

Rockplayer supports .mov files (at least the ones that I've attempted to view). The GUI isn't fantastic, it's basically just a file manager look, but I don't find myself watching video on my phone much. There could be additional options as well.

According to this forum post, there are a few media players on the Android Market that will play them (possibly with a little chop and jitter?) natively on the phone.


text:
Can't get past the pulsating boot screen after complete battery drain
My phone ran out of charge this morning after I made a couple of phone calls in bed. I was too lazy to get out of bed to plug it in. When I plugged it in later, and pushed the power button, the phone is continously looping the pulsating X loading animation. The only way to switch it off at this point is to replace the battery.
I read about the hard reset and tried that too. It didn't help.
Update:
I also tried setting the battery aside for over 15 mins before replacing and trying it again.
I was able to get into recovery by holding down the POWER + VOL UP buttons. Tried the "wipe cache partition" option thinking that the phone refused to start due to some stale cache. It didn't help either.
What else can I do to revive the phone? I would like not to lose data, if I can. But it's more important to get the phone working.

Try using adb from the Android SDK tools.  I'd try going into fastboot and restarting from there ... if all else faios you can also re-flash your ROM from there.

Oh, and did you make sure you charged the battery a bit?  Voltage can be unstable below ~20% charge.

Charged the battery completely before attempting to turn it on again after a few failed attempts. It didn't help.

The only option I had was to do a factory reset and reinstall all the apps using appbrain.

That's a bummer. I hope for you that this was a one-time thing. (Please remember to "accept" this answer.)


text:
Why do certain non-Latin characters show up as empty boxes, and how can I fix them?
See this screenshot for an example (view the original page here):

As you can see, most of the missing characters have some sort of accent/breathing mark on them. This occurs in all applications that I've tried (such as opening a text file in Dropbox), not just in the browser.
Does anyone know what is going on, and how I can fix it? I am running Android 2.1 on a Samsung Fascinate (not rooted).

Looks like your standard charset problem.  The file's in UTF-16 and the app only supports UTF-8, or you don't have the font for the "weird" characters, etc.  More than likely there is nothing you can do; Android internationalization support is pretty bad and most apps don't even try.

How can I install a font for the "weird" characters? It seems strange that the default Android browser wouldn't have internationalization support, even if third party apps don't.

I don't know how Android handles fonts or if you can install them.  You might try temporarily changing your system language.


text:
Does AVG have any features that Lookout doesn't have, or vice versa?
I'm trying to decide which antivirus/malware protection I should use on my android phone.
It looks like the best options are either Lookout or AVG.  Where can I find a list of features that the one has and the other doesn't, or vice versa?

Lookout
Free

Security

Anti-Virus, Anti-Malware, Anti-Spyware

Backup

Contacts Backup
Restore Data to Existing Phone

Missing Device

Find Phone (Locate & Scream)

Support

Standard Support

Paid ($2.99/Month or $29.99/year)

Security

Block phishing and malicious websites
Protect your privacy with Privacy Advisor

Backup

Photo, Call History Backup
Transfer Data to New Phone

Missing Device

Remote Wipe
Remote Lock

Support

Premium Support

AVG
Free

Security

Scan whole device and identify and remove viruses with a simple click
Automatic scans can be run weekly, daily, or on demand
Check apps for malware before downloading from app stores
Check web content, emails, and SMS for malware before downloading to device

Theft protection

Locate lost or stolen device using GPS
Create and display onscreen message remotely
Lock device and wipe content
Manage applications remotely

SMS spam protection

Basic protection from SMS spammers

Paid ($9.99 One time charge ???)

Premium SMS security

All text messages checked for malicious content and spam in real time
Text message spam blocked at source

VIP support

Anti-Virus PRO customers receive premium level support whenever they need it

No disruption

Anti-Virus PRO is free of advertising and other disruptions


text:
are there any lag fixes for Samsung Galaxy S that don't require rooting the phone?
It seems like the Samsung Galaxy S is notorious for its occasional lag.  Various lag fixes are out, but most of them require me to root my phone.
I am reluctant to void the warranty on my phone, so I would like to avoid rooting it if possible.
Are there any lag fixes out there that don't require me to root the phone?

Yes
You can lagfix without rooting by flashing a kernel like Voodoo through Odin.
But
This will void your warranty anyways.
If it helps, the SGS phones are very easy to unroot and revert to stock to hide what you did.

So the question should be if there are any lagfixes out that won't void my warranty, right?

@Nathan Anything that goes beyond what is possible for regular non-root apps voids your warranty, in most cases. And I doubt a regular app can do a real lagfix. The problem on the SGS is the filesystem; changing that is pretty heavy-duty.


text:
How do I download an app from the market that is restricted in my location?

Possible Duplicate:
How can I use the Android Paid Market from a region where it's not available yet?

I want to download the Kindle for Android app, but it is not available in my region. I tried to mock my GPS location to be inside the United States, but I still cannot find the Kindle app in the Android market.
How do I download an app form the market that is restricted in my locatioon?   Also, how does the android market know where I am? Does it using the GPS location?

This is not official android market, but if you link you can download it from this link: kindle android app

Well what you might be looking for is an app called, MarketEnabler, it changes somenthing like the location of the market so you can access other countries markets.
MarketEnabler: https://market.android.com/details?id=ch.racic.android.marketenabler
With that you could change your locale and get access to market apps in another country, If I'm correct if also includes a list with countries.

this tool works like a charm, thank you very much!


text:
Google Reader is "de-syncing"
I've noticed that for the last couple of days any time I open or refresh the Google Reader app (the official one from Google) it marks the last 200+ items that are in my feed as Unread (which it then syncs out to my account! So viewing them online shows the same unread count), and seemingly refuses to sync out which articles I have read (though it does seem to sync starred articles correctly.) I've made sure that syncing is turned on, but this doesn't seem to affect it one way or another. Any idea's for how to fix this behavior? Anyone else seeing it too?
Beyond that, I'd be open to suggestions for an alternate reader app. My wishlist is for one that allows me to easily star an article from the list, only shows me unread articles unless otherwise requested (sorry, Pulse) and preferably has a widget that notifies me when there are unread items.

I've had the same problem, combined with some other buggy behavior.  Most frustrating is the fact that after reading an article and clicking back to the feed it will randomly tell me I have no items to display and I have to go out and back in to read them.  It's made the app pretty unusable so I just use the webapp which works pretty well, and haven't bother trying to find a solution.  Matthew Reads answer may help if you aren't experiencing the other bugs that I have.

This question appears to be off-topic because the Google Reader app and service are no longer available.

Try clearing the data and cache for the app (Settings -> Applications -> Manage apllications) and then syncing. Hopefully it will work after that.

As near as I can tell, this seems to have done the trick. Unfortunately though I also ended up getting an automatic update to the reader app at about the same time that I cleared the cache, so I can't say with 100% certainty that it was the cache clear.


text:
Android affiliate programme
I'm new to the Android world having lived in iOS for a long time. Does Google have an affiliate programme like the Apple store does with LinkShare?
If not, is there a reason why?
If not, is there one coming/rumoured?
Do site reviewing Android apps make no money on referrals at all?
Sorry for the multi-part question. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

We can't provide a good objective answer to the speculative parts, I suggest removing them.

No there is no affiliate program for the Android Market.
Some individual apps that need to be side-loaded or have a seperate sign up for paid service offer affiliate programs but nothing through the official market.  Lots of people ask about it at the Google support threads but Google has not announced any plans to start an affiliate program nor have they commented on why they don't have one.
I don't believe anyone is earning money for referrals if they are sending people to the Official Market, Appbrain, Cryket, AndroLib or SlideMe.  If they are a commercial review site they are probably making money with display advertising, which incidentally improves the credibility of their reviews (because their income isn't dependent on you buying what they reviewed).


text:
How can I see the full charge capacity of my battery?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S running Android 2.2.
Is there any way for me to see the full charge capacity of the phone's battery, so that I can compare it to the spec?
What I have in mind is something like what Lenovo's Power Manager tells me about my laptop's battery:

Is there anything like this for Android?

Without special measuring equipment and some kind of a reference - no you can't (not in mAh). There is no app that would provide you with that kind of information, at least not accurate enough.

There is an app in the market that claims to do this for HTC phones (search "battery mAh" to find it) so I believe its theoretically possible.  I'd guess that instead of actually measuring the enery stored, its making estimates based on the phones specs and actual use.  I don't know how accurate it is and I'm pretty sure it would not be accurate on your phone.  One problem is that even an estimated battery capacity in mAh is very hardware dependent so you'd need an app specifically for your device and there isn't one at the moment.

Open the case and look at the battery.  It should say 1500 mAh.

That would be the spec. I'm asking about the actual current full charge capacity.  It deteriorates over time.

I don't think there's any way to check how much energy is stored in a battery, that's why the charge is measured in percent.  You could approximate it by hooking the battery up to something with a constant current draw and timing how long it took to drain, but the phone can't do that.  You can gain an even rougher approximation by comparing your current average battery life on one charge to that of when you first got it.

I use 3C Battery Monitor Widget to measure what is my real capacity. It monitors the state of charge of the battery (charging and discharging).
I can check that the original capacity was 2100 mAh, and the current capacity it's about 1400 mAh, two thirds of the specification.


text:
Can someone explain how slots work when overclocking?
I have been trying to use the DX/D2 Overclocker app on a rooted Droid X and I have been having a hard time finding good sources of information about overclocking.  The app provides preset profiles for stock settings and other overclock speeds, but not much information besides that.  For instance, here are settings for the stock Droid X:

Slot 1: 400000 / 27
Slot 2: 700000 / 38
Slot 3: 900000 / 50
Slot 4: 1100000 / 56

As I have come to understand, slot 1 refers to the minimum speed and slot 4 is the max speed.  I assume that the other slots are for levels in between the min and max, but what are these sections for?  How can I figure out how to set these slots in order to get better performance out of the device?

Each slot refers to a specific clock speed that your phone's kernel allows (in your case, 400mhz to 1.1 ghz). Therefore, these clock speeds can vary between different kernels (different values or even more slots).  In the case of the Droid X or Droid 2, you are stuck with the stock kernel due to the locked bootloader.
I'm more familiar with using SetCPU.  SetCPU lets you manually choose which clock speeds you want your phone to run at.  You choose a min clock speed, a max clock speed, and how you want it to scale (ondemand, performance, etc.).  You can also setup profiles with SetCPU that allows your phone to run at certain clock speeds under certain conditions.  For example, you would want to lower you clock speed when the phone's screen is turned off.  You may also want to lower the clock speed when your battery is below a certain battery % to try and pro long battery life as long as possible.
If you're wanting to conserve more power, set the clock min and max clock speeds low.  If you're wanting better performance, then set them higher.  On my phone (Droid 1), I use an undervolted kernel and typically run at a 250mhz min, 600 mhz max clock speed to conserve battery.
If my answer doesn't fully answer your questions, leave a comment and I'll try to help you further.


text:
Pinch-zoom not pure zoom in Web browser on HTC Desire Z because text is auto-re-formatted: irritating / layouts break
When I (multi-touch) pinch to zoom and release my fingers from touching the screen to see the zoomed display, the Android web browser on the HTC Desire Z performs a shrink-to-fit re-format of the page (or a block of text).
This re-formatting is unsatisfactory because:

the original page layout is not retained, for example horizontal navigations get squashed e.g: from

ABOUT SHOP FORUM SUPPORT

to

ABOUTSHOPFORUMSUPPORT

or worse the text overlaps
when pinching to zoom photos on a site, the zoom occurs but on releasing the fingers to complete the pinch, the photos shift as if they are anchored to a spot.
the shifting affect of the reformat is irritating at best and confusing at worse, because the user's eyes lose track of where they were reading once they release their fingers from the screen to complete the pinch

Is there anyway to turn off the auto reformatting?
I notice that this "feature" of reformatting is not present on my iPod Touch - this device performs a "pure zoom" whereby the multi-touch pinch simply zooms in without reformatting/shrinking to fit the text block to the screen, this flows better and feels more natural. (Please note: No this is not an Apple Fan-boi rant, remember I am an owner of a HTC Desire Z Android phone as well as an ipod touch and would like to see my suggested improvedments in the Android phone).
I suspect that this occurs on other Android 2.2 phones but can't be sure.

I believe this feature is called text reflow and is not an actual a feature of Android but more of HTC. The HTC browser reflows the text as you zoom in. This can get very annoying especially because after reflowing it can move your focus area to the closesr text not what you were zooming into.
My personal pick for an alternative browser is Dolphin Browser™ Mini. It has both the functionality you're missing in the stock HTC browser but also the speed you expect when loading webpages and launching the browser.
Dolphin Browser™ Mini

It looks like you can't turn off this feature.  Just as an "other-side-of-the-coin" perspective, I find that the reformatting does what I want and expect nearly all of the time, in that when I finish zooming, the text I'm looking at fills the screen at the size I've zoomed to.
Your options seem limited, then, to:

Trying one of the other browsers available in the market, or
Lobbying HTC to fix their browser, or
Learning to love the way the HTC browser does it...

Edit: This does appear to be an HTC feature, not stock Android. Amusingly, the first site I've noticed where the feature doesn't work right is HTC.com itself, on the very page describing its benefits...

+1 For taking the time to answer and expressing your view. Another annoyance of the HTC browser's non-proportionate-retaining zoom/reflow is when filling in forms - if you've begun entering text in a textbox and then zoom (for example to be able to more accurately re-position the cursor to go back and edit something you wrote), all the characters get bigger and you can only see some of what you wrote in the text box.

@Rob - Have a look at Lie's question here: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/5999/android-browsers-aboutdebug-what-do-those-settings-do If the same trick works for you, there should be a new "use GEP zoom" option that turns HTC's reflow feature off.


text:
htc g1 cannot discover/connect to a 802.11 n/b/g wifi
My G1 was able to connect to a WiFi (not sure about its mode). But after I moved to a new house, I found it cannot discover/connect to the WiFi in the house, but it can discover the WiFi signal from other house.
My laptop is able to discover and connect to the WiFi in my house, so does my Galaxy P1000. I checked my WiFi setting of my router, and the WiFi mode is 802.11 n/b/g. I then checked the HTC G1 specification, and it says it supports 802.11 b/g. Do I have to change the WiFi setting of my router to b/g? I think the device should be able to detect the mode and choose the best available one.
Thanks!

I had the same issue with my HTC Hero.  I never got around to fixing it but I remember reading that the router needs to be forced to stay in b/g mode.
Check this post seems to confirm that idea:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-492536.html

Yes, I confirm that Daniel is right. I changed my router to b/g mode, and my g1 is able to discover and connect to the router. Is it a bug in g1?


text:
Android G2 touchscreen is left-right reversed
The touch screen on my Android G2 is suddenly reversed. I touch an icon on one side of the screen and an icon on the opposite side is selected. I slide to pick up the phone and instead the sound is turned off.
I scoured the web for an answer but all I found was this question.
http://community.htc.com/na/htc-forums/android/f/99/p/8610/37534.aspx#37534
Anyone know how to fix this?

That's crazy. Are you using any sort of home screen replacement?

I tried to do a factory reset to my G2 to fix the exact same problem. I was at one of those cell phone repair shops, and the employee there told me a factory reset would fix the issue. It didn't. So, he took the phone to the back of the store for a few minutes, I guess he took it apart and gave it a look over, and came out saying that it must be a problem a hardware problem, and he couldn't fix it.

A friend had this issue with his new HTC Desire Z. It had this issue right out of the box. The only solution he found was resetting the device to the factory settings. If you try that, make sure you have a backup of your data! The app MyBackup Pro (non free) has always worked for me....


text:
Is there any undo command when editing any field
When editing text fields, is there an UNDO command ?
If you paste something in a text field by accident, the only way you can delete this, is to backspace over it ( or highlight and cut ).
So I was wondering whether there was an UNDO command I haven'f found yet.
I am running Froyo on a Samsung Galaxy S.

It seems there is not, star this issue and pray that it gets Google's attention: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6458

@Lie Ryan: added my request to the issue . Thanks.

@Lie Ryan: Maybe you should repost this as an answer?

@onik: I've reposted it as an answer

Dang, 2+ years on and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and there is still no common UNDO (Ctrl+Z like) feature?!

It seems there is not, star this issue and pray that it gets Google's attention: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6458


text:
Google Latitude update every 1 hour
my question is it possible to configure Google Latitude on a Android OS phone to update its location more often then every hour? for example, every 30 minutes? or every 15 minutes? I check where my wife is located while I'm at work by opening the latitude website, but it updates her location only every 1 hour. I would be very happy to make it update more often. Thank you for your time.

now I see it updates when she moves around the city... how does Latitude get triggered to update?

If you didn't try this already Latitude has a "Real-time updating" feature since Maps 4.6.
To enable this: click on the person you want real-time updates from, on their Latitude profile you should see an option to get "Real-time updating".  Click that and you'll get another dialog asking how long you want the real-time update (15, 30, or 60 min).  When you go back to the map that that person will be orange instead of blue now.

Latitude is working fine but I have often observed update delays like you mentioned. There is no way to change the update behavior of the software. On the other hand, Latitude has the advantage of having a low impact on battery life when it is activated.
Another solution that lets share location information is Glympse. This software lets you share your location with anyone and the updates are mostly in real-time. For this to work you need to send a glympse to someone and you chose a delay during which the location is shared. The main drawback is the high power usage.

+1 for Glympse. Happy user.

There are a few reasons that immediately pop into my head.

Available power plays an important role in whether or not Latitude updates your position. When the battery is fully charged, you will find an insane amount of updates. When the battery power starts to go down, updates become more infrequent. Driving around with the phone plugged in to the cigarette lighter keeps giving me updates around every minute (with Maps in foreground).
The Google Maps app is not in the foreground. If the app is the primary thing running, the updates are frequent.
Settings. See the other response about making sure your settings are correct when it come to updating location.

NOTE: After a lot of searching, I found a paper describing that Google Maps improves itself by having people walking/driving around with Google Maps in the foreground (as well as GPS and WiFi turned on). It takes measurements of signal strength from cell towers and private WiFi networks to determine location.

Latify allows you to specify a location polling update interval towards Google Latitude. It will sync to Google Latitude using that interval. You can choose to do GPS or WIFI updates. Also runs in the background so you don't need to know it's running. Can also store your location changes on your phone (when no data connection is available), and syncup with Google Latitude when a connection becomes available.

If those don't work for you, there's also Backitude

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. You are obviously affiliated with the app you are recommending. That's okay, but whenever you promote an app/site/whatever, you need to disclose this affiliation with your answer. Please see the [FAQ#promotion] for more information.


text:
Paste number into Dialer
Is it possible to paste a number into the dialer? (or get another dialer that has this feature). I have Android 2.2 (HTC Desire HD)

A solution is to use Number Saver which automatically suggests to call a number if the clipboard contains it.

Sounds spot on. How about a link?

link :) Wait, I put it straight to the answer...

Sure can.
Assuming you have already copied the phone number you're looking to dial, just long press on the area of the dialer where the number appears and choose "Paste".
(Tested on a stock Motorola Droid with Android 2.2.1)

doesn't work: long press shows me the "smart dial" tip

That's a bummer. Boo on HTC for screwing up some useful functionality.

Tested the solution and it works for me on Android 2.1

@jmbouffard: Which device, though?

Good point, it's a 1st gen Motorola Milestone so mostly a "google experience" device.

I can confirm it doesn't work with the HTC Dialler. A very very annoying decision HTC made.

My solution to your other question at Save a number during a phone call could also be a shortcut to this problem: Paste the number in a note application that supports phone hyperlinks and click on it.

We can use the standard copy paste mechanism. Type any digit, say 0. Long tap on it to select. Now the copy paste options should appear. On my samsung s duos 2, just long tap too works, but i have to choose the exact area where the numbers appear.

I don't know if I've ever used two fingers to copy or paste. Trying that on my phone did nothing. I've always used a single finger. What phone do you use that it uses double finger touches to select/copy/paste?

@stephen, you are right, i think the 2 fingers is really just the 1 finger long tap, since it does not work always, and selects one word when it does. I have removed it from the post. I am using samsung s duos 2.


text:
Save a number during a phone call
How can I save a number during a phone call? The scenario is that I'm calling someone to get the phone number of someone else. If I just type the number in the dialer, it disappears when the call ends.
Opening some kind of notepad application is cumbersome both saving and retrieving: tap home, tap applications, find the application, start a new note, type number, end call, copy number, paste number into the dialer (how to do the last step is another question)

Can you ask the other party to text you the number?

...or, even, text yourself?

I found that Number Saver is the closest to a solution. It adds an icon to the notification area when on call and will even automatically switch to speakers when run during a call

I was also looking for something like this, but then found out a solution that works for me.
While on call, click Home button and go to contacts and add new contact. The active call stays in notifications and you can bring it back up anytime.

I have a Samsung Galaxy, and when I am in a call I have the ability to create a memo by pressing the menu key, and selecting the memo option.

Call writer app can do the trick.You can easily take notes and also save numbers during a call.

What's the logic in reverting my edit? Do see Why can people edit my posts? How does editing work?

It is not a perfect answer but most note applications should support automatic hyperlink creation with phone numbers. In my case I use ColoreNote and the process would be "open app" -> "create new note" -> "write #" -> "hangup" -> "click on number" and the call starts...

On my phone (Nexus S), all outgoing calls are logged in the call log -- from which you can long-press to add the number to your contacts.


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Is it possible to temporarily disable the screen timeout?
Often, during updates/downloads or backup operations I would like to temporarily disable the screen time ( found under the 'menu - settings - Display - Screen timeout' ) without having to navigate to the above menu setting .
Anybody knows of a good widget which does just that : either disable the screen time ( by just clicking the widget ) , or by setting it to a high value / back to short value ( also by just clicking the widget ).
Or is there any other easy way I have missed ?
I am running Froyo on Samsung Galaxy S.

You can use a Developer setting to keep the screen always on when charging. Menu | Settings | Manage applications | Development Not ideal, perhaps, but maybe sufficient for your needs.

If you are using a profile application to set your volumes in different situations, I guest most of them have the option of changing your screen timeout as well. In my case I'm using Setting Profiles and I can add a new profile that does exactly that in two key press.
In Setting Profiles, there is a widget to set profiles and you can even select a timer with the profiles you set, for instance, to enable the profile "no screen timeout" for the next 5 minutes.

Tasker is a great app for this.  It can change the screen timeout value to whatever you need depending on a phone state (there are several from phone orientation to a specific app being active).  For instance, I have it set to change the screen timeout value to 23 hours when it is in Navigation mode.  You can also define this task in Tasker and create a widget for it.

Do you have to set it back to the default again in Tasker?

Fast forward to now, Tasker has Keep Screen On project on Tasker Share, with description: "Will make your second Tasker quick tile into a toggle that will set your screen time out alternately to 10 minutes and your normal timeout setting."

LineageOS features a preinstalled FOSS app Caffeine (that can also be installed to any other Android), that will present you a way to turn off the timeout for some time or indefinitely with a button on top of your notification shade.

Just a small clarification, "Caffeine" is a built-in feature of LineageOS, not a preinstalled app. This app is mimicking the feature instead.


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Hide applications from Apps menu
I don't want to root my phone to delete some applications installed by the provider, but I would like to hide them from the menu, since I know that I won't use them often. I know that it is possible to do that with the alternative launcher, but I'm using the original one. Is there an application that can do that?
If it matters, I'm using a HTC Desire.

The only ways I know to remove it are the two ways you listed (that you don't want to do):

Root phone.  Freeze application with Titanium Backup
Install a different launcher such as Launcher Pro which lets you hide apps.

Only a home launcher can disable what is show in the app drawer.  If your current launcher doesn't support it, then you are unfortunately out of luck.

+1 for the Launcher Pro option. It is the least risky (not everyone likes to attempt to root) and easily reversible.

Almost all laucher apps support hiding of apps..On my experience Apex lets you do it..

I use ADW Launcher. I made a drawer with apps I use. Then I removed shortcut to main app menu, and placed instead a shortcut to my custom drawer.
This way I don't see apps I don't usually use, but I still have access to them in case I really want (I just edit my custom drawer).
And ADW Launcher isn't something that voids your warranty.

The way I organize my Home Screen is that it contains everything I needed, and my App Menu contains everything else that I never needed to see. This way, I almost never need to use the App Menu, except when using a new application.

You can hide your any of the apps from app launcher and can use them any time.
You can use Nova Launcher to hide apps from the main screen and later access them whenever required.
This article will clearly explain to you about how to do this with nova launcher : How to hide apps in Android
You can also use apex launcher and few other freely available apps on play store. But I would prefer the Nova Launcher. I'm personally using it to hide apps from my wife and I would recommend it to you. It's smooth and easy.


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Is it possible to put a micro sim from an iPhone 4 into the Nexus S?
I have an iPhone 4 with micro sim, and am wondering if it is possible to put my micro sim into the unlocked nexus s, to function as my phone (for development purposes). If not, is there an alternative android phone that would work better for this?

Every time you put a iPhone sim into an Android phone, Steve Jobs beats up a kitten.

The Nexus S uses a traditional SIM card slot, but you should be able to do this provided that you get a proper micro-SIM to SIM adapter. Here's what I got from a quick Google search, and as you can see they are relatively inexpensive.
Also be aware that the Nexus S will not have 3G capability on the AT&T network, as I explained in this question. This may or may not matter to you, of course.


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Stop auto-scroll in Android browser!
I'm on a web page on my Android phone.  When I select a text input, the browser scrolls (about a quarter-screen every 10 seconds).  I don't know what causes this -- it doesn't look like any keys are stuck.
Further, it cancels the on-screen keyboard, so it's very hard to type.
This is highly bothersome.  Can anyone help me before I destroy my phone out of pure aggravation?

Can you provide some more info?  What phone?  Are you using the stock browser?

Is it only one webpage?

@Matthew Read: No, every webpage.

Have you tried using different browsers like Firefox, Dolphin etc etc

This almost sounds like it should be a bug report or a call to the device manufacturer. Have you tried factory resetting the phone?

Same issue on an HTC Desire (Android 2.3.3)
I had a crazy scrolling when tapping a text input field (the field get the focus but was scrolled out of the screen) and even worst: when entering values from the native keypad, each keytap was creating an arbitrary scroll..
After seeing this article I looked for some specific -webkit-transform tags and after removing them the issue is gone!
The lines were not even used, it was leftovers from previous attempts staying aside in a css file!!!


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Are the HTC Desire HD video issues solved yet/solvable by the end user?
I'm considering getting an Android phone, and at the moment, my choice is between the HTC Desire and the HTC Desire HD. As the price difference is minimal, the obvious choice would be the newer one, but some reviews have mentioned video issues on the device.
Since that looks like an issue that could be solved in software, and that review was written at the time of release. Are these issues still present on fully update HTC Desires, and can they be solved if they are?

I guess these issues are solved as I have never encountered such on my Desire HD.

There are solutions if you encounter problems (which I did myself).
One thing to try if you get "laggy" or "jagged" video is to disable USB debugging or uninstall the flash updates from market.
I'd imagine this issue doesn't occur on the latest batch of devices; my friend's just got the DHD and it's working fine.


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is it possible to use a CA-Cert for serverauthentification in WPA enterprise networks with android 2.2+?
I just wanted to know if it is possible with android 2.2+ to use a ca-cert for server auth in WPA-Enterprise networks?
A fried told me it is not possible, but this would mean there would be a mayor security hole in every android device, so I would like to know it for sure now: did they removed this important security feature or not?
I would check it by myself, but unfortunately I don't have a android 2.2 or 2.3 device.

I'm pretty sure I've done this but I don't exactly remember.  Android certainly lets you use certificates.

At least on 2.2.1 I can see the options to use certificates. First you have to install the certificates by placing them on your sdcard and using Settings -> Location and security -> Install encrypted certificates. Then you can add the network from Settings -> Wireless and network -> Wi-Fi settings -> Add Wi-Fi network. Select 802.1x EAP as the security mode and then just configure the settings to work for your network. Can't test myself since we don't use WPA-Enterprise class security, but it should be this straightforward.


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Why can I tether to Ubuntu for free but not Windows?
I have a Motorola Droid 1 with Android 2.2 on it. I found something odd that I don't understand why it works.
If I plug my phone into my home computer which is Windows 7 and I turn on the tethering ability, I am met with a Verizon captive portal and it tells me I need to pay for a tethering plan (which I don't have).
Now the weird thing, if I plug the same phone into my Ubuntu 10.10 laptop and enable tethering it works and can get on the internet with no captive portal showing up.
The only thing I could notice that was different about the connections was Windows connected to the phone with an NDIS driver and Linux connected to the phone with what I think is a raw device mapping.
Would that have anything to do with it?

Yes, that would likely have everything to do with it. When you set the phone up in Linux, what distro and what steps did you go through to set it up? Now, let's commence to the legalspeak shall we? You do realize that they expect you to pay for tethering (regardless of your moral mindset or expectations to obligations regarding the payment for such a service). So they'll be very glad to see this question relegated to the dustbin, regardless of how neat the trick is. Just thought I would share that.

Yeah I don't really have much need for tethering but being that I am a geek at heart this was just an interesting little "loophole". I was actually thinking about reporting it to Verizon maybe around the time contract is up. See maybe if a few "fees" might disappear from my new phone. Except I think that is sorta of extortion and they may not like that. So what makes the loophole work? Is the captive portal inside the NDIS driver?

I am using Ubuntu 10.10 x86 edition. I simply plugged in the phone and turned on tethering in the network setting of Android, no hacks no special tools. That is what I thought was odd.

A lot of mobile network operators perform network analysis (deep packet inspection) of all transfered data. In that way they are able to identify which protocols are used.
Identifiable protocols that indicate a desktop PC are for example:

Windows Update
Virus scanner update
Broadcasts sent by Windows

Another very easy and common way to identify the system is to read the UserAgent string the web-browser sends in each request. There are add-ons available for Firefox to fake the user-agent may you should try it and fake your browser to something unknown.

The UA string's a nice thought. CyanogenMod allows an Android phone to fake being a Linux desktop, after all.

WARNING: THIS IS COMPLETELY SPECULATIVE - I DON'T USE WINDOWS
It's possible that Verizon is using OS Fingerprinting to determine that you're tethering.
Windows 7 (and possibly Vista) also connects to a particular Microsoft site to attempt to determine if an "additional log on" is required - if it doesn't get an expected response back, it surmises you're in a captive portal and warns you. Verizon can look for that network request.
(You can configure this behavior to ping any site you want instead of Microsoft's; see the KB article.)
With Ubuntu...the OS fingerprint would show the system as Linux, which is no different than Android.
Another guess: Verizon can see that the TTL of your packets has increased by one , so that it could figure out there's a hop beyond your phone. This would have to depend on how the OS uses the phone as a network device - it's possible Windows treats the phone as a gateway. I know Linux treats the phone as a network card.


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What is a widget?
What distinguishes a widget from an app or a shortcut? I can understand the concept of an app, as something that runs on Android to provide a particular use or function. I can also understand the concept of a shortcut, to provide a way of accessing an app.
Is a widget a special type of app or a special type of shortcut or is it characterised in a way that is distinct from both an app and a shortcut?

There are two different kinds of Widget in Android:

AppWidget: a small view of an application (e.g. Weather widget) that can be embedded inside another application (e.g. Home Screen)
GUI Widget: buttons, textbox, etc; any visual interface element.

I believe you're talking about the former (AppWidget). An AppWidget always belongs to an App. An App that acts as a AppWidgetHost (e.g. HomeScreen apps) can lend a part of its UI to be managed by the App that provides an AppWidget.
In short, it is a way of embedding an application inside another application.
An AppWidget is usually used as a "smart shortcut"; a shortcut that provides additional logic other than just being clickable and launching an Activity. Typical examples of AppWidget is Recent Email/SMS/Facebook/Twitter/whatever-your-favorite-messaging-app Widgets, Astrid's Task List, Calendar Widget, etc.
An AppWidget is conceptually a GUI Widget, except that AppWidget is a GUI Widget that is not provided by Android's framework, instead it is provided by some other application installed in the system.

Yes, I’m talking about AppWidgets. That is, the type of component that ranks equally alongside apps and shortcuts, when it comes to considering components that the user can choose to add to the home screen.


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What are the pros/cons of using the JIT (Just-in-Time) compiler on an older phone?
On an older phone originally designed to run Android 1.5 or 1.6, what are the pros and cons of using a newer Android feature like the JIT compiler?

As an example, I have an HTC Dream running CyanogenMod 6 and within the options you are able to choose whether to use the JIT or not.  Elsewhere I have seen conflicting information on whether the JIT compiler will help or hurt the performance of an older phone.  I tried to keep this question from being too phone-specific, as I think an answer to this could help clarify the issue on any older model phone, not just the Dream.

Great question. The only thing I know about JIT is from my experience with Java/C#. Mostly that it waits to compile some code until run time and the JIT "smartly" caches code that it sees that repeats itself. Wiki might help explain better: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-time_compilation

JIT typically causes an app to use more RAM due to the JIT cache, although Android's JIT was specifically designed so the additional memory usage was minimal (compared to a typical Java JIT). On phones that are already very RAM-starved to begin with, JIT may result in a decrease in performance.

This makes sense to me - my Dream is so limited when it comes to RAM that turning the JIT on really killed performance.  However, I wonder about other older phones that aren't so short on RAM.


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NTLM authorization proxy on Android
Is it possible to run NTLM authorization proxy on Android? It is written in Python, and should provide proxy compatibility.
See also this question:
How to set HTTP proxy and proxy authentication credentials in wifi?

This is an awfully open-ended question. This isn't a discussion forum. How will you choose the one, best answer? Please see the FAQ and rephrase this into a question that could have a single correct answer.

I've made the changes.

Not an answer to your question exactly, but it solves the main issue. I have coded a solution for this, you can download the apk on http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1083284. It uses a cntlm binary to process the authentication.

You can find a non-root NTLM proxy here: http://humanos.uci.cu/2015/03/humancode-llega-la-version-3-9-de-ucintlm/ The site is in spanish but the app works for english too. I'm the developer of this app.

I made it to upload it to google play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uci.ucintlm


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How can I make the button on my headphones control something other than the stock music player?
When I press this button, it plays/pauses the stock music player. I don't use the stock music player--I use a comination of Last.fm, Grooveshark, and Winamp. I would like to make the button play/pause whichever player I am currently using. If this isn't possible, I would like it to simply control Winamp, instead of the default player.
I am using Android 2.1 (unrooted) on a Samsung Fascinate.

To get the headset to control only one application:
The application has to support receiving headset control events.
In the case of Winamp, press menu --> Settings --> Enable "Control headset"
If there are multiple apps that accept headset controls, you may have to disable the feature on the other apps (I'm not certain which app gets priority over another).

I can't seem to figure out how to disable it in the stock music player. Does anyone know how to disable it (fyi, I believe the stock player in Galaxy S phones is different from stock Android).

I've found that I don't have to disable it on other apps, it seems to work with whichever I've activated most recently.  I generally toggle between Meridian and BeyondPod.
If I toggle Meridian in as accepting headphone button commands (without disabling BeyondPod first), it works for Meridian.  to get BeyondPod Back, I have to disable and re-enable it.
More notes here: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/7190/change-default-application-for-handling-headset-controls


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Can I put a widget inside a folder?
I have a number of widgets that I really like, but my Droid takes an awful long time to draw the home screen, even using the Zeam launcher replacement.
Can I use folders on my home screen to hold widgets (and keep them handy) and will that improve my performance any?

I think it would only work if the "folder" was a widget that you could put other widgets inside of?

I can also recommend reducing the number of homescreens you use.  I went from 7 screens to 4 with Launcher Pro and noticed a significant performance boost.

I'm already limiting Zeam to 3 screens. I suppose if put to it I could reduce it to two.

Provided that the issue is relevant to you or somebody else and ready for a small compromise, one can launch a widget from a shortcut and we all know a shortcut can always be dragged into a folder, that's what the latter is meant for. In such case, see my answer(s) for How do I launch a widget from a shortcut on Home screen?

After much experimenting, it is apparent that you cannot put a widget inside a folder. Folders will only hold shortcuts.
I have a stock Motorola Droid with Android 2.2.1. Admittedly, there may be a ROM out there that lets this happen, and perhaps even a customized version from some carrier/manufacturer that allows it. But without significant modification, this just can't be done.

There is a widget that allows you to combine widgets into a 1x1 square, called WidgetFolder. Unfortunately, it's not as sleek as even the standard folders, as clicking on it doesn't slide out a pop-up with the contained widgets (or files, apps, contacts etc), but opens up a separate screen where you can open, arrange and add widgets (or other folder items). Opening up that screen takes a good one or two seconds, which can become quite frustrating in the long run. It also crashes to force close every now and then, especially when you're arranging or deleting icons from it. But so far it's the only one I've found. Sadly, it's definitely not good enough for me to stop looking.

This might be a late answer, but Lightning Launcher is free, and allows you to put any widget inside a folder. You can even put more than one widget in a single folder if you like.
The downside to this launcher is that when you restart your phone, the widgets don't reload, but it could just be my phone.

Yandex launcher.It's free and I'm using it. It have some pretty cool features and nice clean looking. Its fast and can put widgets inside folders.
this is the play store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yandex.launcher&hl=en

Almost 6 years since the question was asked, but posting it here since I myself had been here on this page looking for a way to put widgets in folders, about 2 years back.
Frustrated by the lack of a proper solution for this, I set out implementing my own launcher app.
After about 1.5 years of development (Everyday after my dayjob), today we have released
Launcher++(Currently in Beta). Lpp can support full sized, resizable widgets in folders. Get more details here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/118333464355905775192

Plus is no longer active so your link is broken. Are you still developing this?


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Android browser's about:debug, what do those settings do?
I have just found this hidden setting:

Open Stock browser (Not Chrome on ICS. about:debug doesn't work in Chrome. Use remote debugging instead.)
In the address bar, type about:debug, nothing should happen, there will be no confirmation screen or flashing green box telling you that you've done anything.
However, there should now be a few new options in the browser's Settings page.

(Click image to enlarge)
In Menu > More > Settings:

(Click image to enlarge)
In Menu > More, there is also:

(Click image to enlarge)
probably there are other new menus showing up that I haven't noted and the menus are very likely to be version specific.
While, I understand some of these settings, there are many of these settings that I don't understand, like where can I find the Javascript Console, what is being traced, what light touch and nav cache dump does, where do the dump files being saved to, what are the valid JS (Javascript?) flags, etc.
I find it difficult to Google what these setting do. I'd like help from others to play/experiment/Google with about:debug and write up what these settings do. Any bits of info you can gather is helpful.
Please have one answer per setting, unless you're describing interrelated settings.

V8 is part of WebM video, isn't it?

@Al Everett: as far as I know, V8 is the javascript engine used in Chrome and by Android's Browser since Froyo(?) and above.

I'm misremembering something, then. Happening a lot today.

@Al Everett: You're probably referring to VP8 Codec, which is part of WebM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VP8

"Use remote debugging instead."  Nobody seems to get this.  Remote debugging requires a PC to debug.  This is unacceptable. There are situations where you need to debug and all you have is a tablet with the power of a PC but without the software to actually debug

Javascript Console is this thing:

For some reason, the "Show JavaScript console" bar will only show up in android.com website. Not sure whether the Syntax Error triggers the console or if there is another reason why it shows in android.com and none of the other sites I've been checking.

I can confirm that the console option shows up only when a JS error is triggered. Here's a simple jsbin that triggers an error (and loads a lot faster): http://jsbin.com/owecey

I am unable to see the console on my HTC thunderbolt after doing about:debug and going to http://jsbin.com/owecey .
Does anyone have any suggestions?
My Android Version is 2.3.4,
and my HTC Sense Version (if it matteres) is 2.1

The about:debug menu on the HTC Desire HD has an option under Menu > More > Settings called "Enable GEP Zoom". This turns off HTC's Text reflow feature and uses the default Google zoom.

UAString will change the User Agent String that Browser sends when requesting page. User Agent String is a short string (text) that the Browser sends to identify itself to the server. Many websites tries to detect the browser that is connecting to the website, and will serve different pages that is optimized for the browser. One of the most common method for such browser detection is by checking the UAString. The UAString setting basically spoofs the UAString and makes the server believes that Android Browser is really another browser.
There are three options for UAString:

Android (default)
Desktop
iPhone

The Android UAString is the default UAString that is sent by Android, websites may serve a mobile version of their site when detecting this UAString. Desktop can be used to force the server to serve the Desktop version of the site instead of serving up mobile-friendly version. On the other hand, iPhone UAString can be used if you know that the server have a mobile friendly version optimized for iPhone, but is not detecting Android as a mobile phone and so is falsely serving a desktop version.
For example, this is what http://www.useragentstring.com detects when my Samsung Spica used the various settings:

when using Android: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2.2; en-au; GT-I5700 Build/Froyo) AppleWebkit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1
when using Desktop: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_5_7; en-us) AppleWebkit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Safari/530.17
when using iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebkit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16

On the Desire HD you can also choose from "iPad" and "Manual". Manual pops up a text box so you can pretend to be any browser you like.

You can access this setting directly by entering about:useragent in the url bar. On my Smsung Galaxy S I have a choice of Android, Iphone, Desktop, Lismore, Custom

CyanogenMod 7 has quite a few options for UAString, but it's available from the menus & you don't need about:debug.

There are more than just those three user agents. The box that displays them, in horizontal mode, only shows 3, but in vertical mode, shows many more. The box does not have scroll bars :/ atleast on 2.2.3 Webkit based stock browser.

Single Column Rendering causes Browser to use a different layouting algorithm.
I'm not exactly sure what the algorithm's logic is, but it seems to be an attempt to force a website that were not designed for mobile to render in a single column for easier viewing on small screens. Not sure if that's the case though, since enabling single-column view breaks the layout of android.stackexchange.com and disables text reflow, which makes reading much more painful than when using the default layouting. It seems this feature is not used for a reason, I cannot find a single web page that looks better when rendered in Single column rendering mode; even pages optimized for mobile views looks better in default than in Single-column mode.
The following are some screenshots comparing default and single-column rendering, the screenshot on the left are in no-single-column the screenshot on the right are the same page with single-column:
android.stackexchange.com

android.com

Wikipedia today's front page Mobile View:

Wikipedia today's front page disable Mobile View:

The word and the picture overlap one another. Is this website specific or browser specific settings? Can word wrap make the page look better?


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Security risks of rooting your android smartphone

Possible Duplicate:
Are there any risks to rooting a device?

What are the security risks specific to rooting your android smartphone? Are there any security exploits available because you have a rooted android that are prevented on non rooted androids? Examples or links to more info would be greatly appreciated.