text:
Why do I get dropped calls and weak signal with Samsung Galaxy 3 5801 mobile?
Samsung Galaxy 3 5801 phone with android 2.1 OS.
When I enable GPRS I am getting dropped calls and weak signal. When I disable GPRS I find my calls don't drop and the signal much better.
Is it a hardware issue or service provider issue or a software issue? How can I fix it?

GPRS? Do you mean GPS?

Perhaps he means GPRS data.

Poor Battery just last 7-8 hrs.
Severe call drops
No front camera.
A bad buy for me, I would never rec

It's almost certainly a software issue, I have read forum posts saying that the call gets dropped when apps/accounts try to sync over the data connection.  As a temporary solution you can turn off account sync/background data.  Hopefully it will be fixed in 2.2.

hi,
Thx a lot for u'r reply, really appreciate u'r prompt response...
Can i update software 2.1 to 2.2. how can i do that. is it available for Galaxy 3..
Thanks in advance....
joby

Yes, you can get 2.2 via Kies.  Get it from http://www.samsung.com/in/consumer/mobile-phone/mobile-phone/touch-phone/GT-I5801DKAINU/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&tab=support

I'm excited! My latest Kies download is under progress now.... Please tell me, is 2.2 official upgrade released?

Yes, Kies will get you the official upgrade.


text:
Open source / trusted rooting app for Android / Motorola Defy?
I found a lot of compiled rooting exploits for Android, but not a lot of source code.
So, how can I trust an exploit able to take SU rights on my mobile device? How can I be sure there is no root-kit/bot/spyware inside?
I'm maybe a little paranoid, but this is a very serious issue for me:
My PDA contain a lot of private/secret informations (personal and professional), so, is there a trusted/secure way to root an Android device? (A Motorola Defy in particular)

[EDIT]
I insist on this last point:

is there a trusted/secure way to root an Android device? (A Motorola Defy in particular)

Does anybody know an open source or trusted rooting app for Android, and Motorola Defy in particular?

The source code for the adb exploit used in the superoneclickroot tool is available:
http://stealth.openwall.net/xSports/RageAgainstTheCage.tgz.
You would have to crosscompile RageAgainstTheCage.c (after reviewing it of course...) for arm5 and then do the whole adb thing, descibed for example here in thread no. 844966 at xda-dev (my one link was already used up, sorry).
I do not speak from experience however.

Perhaps a simple answer but if the author doesn't provide the sourcecode of the App und you know that it doesn't originate of a trusted source, you can't be sure that it's clean.
If it's a high risk for you you probably should not use it.

There are many devs who at least explain their methods though, so hopefully one could develop rooting software oneself from that.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
What exact purpose has the sync option "Background data"?
What exact purpose has the sync option "Background data"?

From the developer page, background data is used for "an application that uses the network in the background." For example, a quick search tells me the market requires this to be turned on. Keeping background data set to on is what enables you to keep data from GMail, Weather, Facebook, Twitter, etc. up to date without having to manually refresh/sync each of them. Also realize that battery usage increases with each app or account that is utilizing background data. I notice Twitter has several time increments to choose from in terms of synchronization rate - this helps balance between having the latest data and preserving battery. Hope it helps.

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


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What is causing music playback to stop/pause unexpectedly?
Moto DROID v1
Android 2.2.1
Is anyone else experiencing random music playback stopping/pausing on their handset?  Do you know what is causing it, or how to prevent it?
I've been trying to get to the root of the issue, and I think it has to do with the music playback service.  I've tried several apps (stock Music app, DoubleTwist, Cubed (3)).  In each case the behavior is the same.  Seemingly at random, and with now obvious trigger, music playback will pause/stop.  I've seen this both with and without bluetooth, wifi, Last.FM scrobbling, and headphones.  It does not correlate to notifications, as I get e-mail, text, and other notifications and playback continues.  My music files are stored on the MicroSD card.  Could this be due to latency in loading a portion of a file?

Moto DROID v1 Android 2.2.1 I too have been experiencing this since the Froyo update. I thought it may have something to do if the accelerometer detected a bump as it usually happend in my car or out for a walk. Pandora however has also been randomly pausing when just sitting on my desk.

Update: I'm still getting this behavior.  I tried Winamp.  I tried deleting all of my music with iTunes DRM.  Still pausing though. Just happened with the default music app playing a track at the 1:49 of 2:37 mark of a Beck track.  Music app was in the foreground, phone is in the multimedia dock, and I'm using wired headphones.  The music arrow is no longer in the system tray, but the app is shown.  The 1:49 indicator is blinking.  When I press play, the music continues.

I have a milestone 2 with this issue. Does it more on bluetooth speakers and headset, less in car with cable. Sometimes play icon is there sometimes not. Removed ticks to download lyrics and info, still happens. Happens on different songs and different memory cards. Was even worse when song's were in separate folders I.e. by artist/ album etc, this caused phone to freeze and had to take battery out. Now mp3 are in 1 folder just get this stopping issue. Have 2000 mp3. Checked all songs with two different mp3 checkers. All tags ok I think. Use card reader to transfer onto blank card phone format

I.m running into the same behaviour with the stock music player on a Dell Streak running 2.2 from OTA update. Phone came loaded with 1.6. Have performed factory reset with no luck. Happens when using either built in speaker or plugin headphones. Has anyone pinned anything down on this?

Just tried the new version of the Music app with cloud beta.  It still mysteriously pauses -_-
WinAmp app seems to be free of this defect.

My HTC Desire running Cyanogenmod 7 also does this. It just randomly pauses every now and again. Unpausing it causes it to carry on as it was without a problem, but it is still annoying!

I've found what causes it. i think its a "feature". If i turn my phone when NOT locked, to be horizontal, my music pauses. no headphones in.

I believe I have resolved the issue by resetting my phone to factory defaults.  After resetting to factory default, I am no longer experiencing the mysterious pauses when playing music.
My rev. 1 Moto DROID came loaded with Android 2.1.  I ran the OTA update to 2.2, and then the OTA update to 2.2.1.  In addition to the music playback issue, I was also experiencing extreme delays when displaying the launcher after the phone had been in a dock. I hadn't performed a factory reset since loading the two OTA updates, so I went through the factory reset process.  The home screen now displays much, much more quickly when removing the phone from a dock, and I have not experienced the music pause issue.

I was hoping this wouldn't be the solution :)

Maybe that resolved because the reset "cleaned" your unused apps that were consuming memory?

Are you actually in the music app when it happens or is it when it is running in the background and you are doing something else?
If it's the latter, it is most likely because your phone is running out of memory and is killing the music player's service.
Go to Settings --> Applications --> Running Services and see if there are any running services that you can remove that would free up some memory.
To confirm if it is a memory problem, run a logger app right after the app gets killed and see if there are out of memory messages being logged or garbage collection going on.

It happens regardless of whether the app is in the foreground or background, I have seen it happen in both scenarios. The app screen shows thay the song is just paused at some random point. I checked memory usage and I have plenty of room to spare. It is a really irritating bug.

It could be a bad music file. One that has errors in it. Does it happen to specific files?
Otherwise it can be that Android is running out of memory. This is evident when the play arrow icon at the top left corner disappears when the music stops.

I have seen both scenarios (music arrow disappears, music arrow persists).  The music file currently being played is fine, as hitting the play button again to unpause the song will continue playing the rest of the song.  I recently cleared out all of my music files that had iTunes DRM to see if that might be causing it.  Will see if that solves the issue.

Have you tried different headsets, if that's what your using?
it sounds like your headset is signalling pause/resume, you mention it happens on BT as well so I'm wondering if its something to do with the headphone jack socket, either dirt in the socket or a wiring fail inside...

Yes, I've tried different headsets (a Rocketfish bluetooth headset and skull candy wired headphones).  The behavior occurred with both headsets.


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How to create a "pipe character" with the HTC Incredible (ConnectBot)?
I am trying to use the | (pipe) character in ConnectBot on my HTC Incredible, but everyone says to use Shift + Alt + ',' but that doesn't seem to work.  I have tried multiple different combinations to no avail.  Any solutions for this?
Thanks in advance!

What keyboard are you using?

I am using the standard keyboard

No worky. HTC is not calling the correct ASCII code for the "pipe" symbol. It seems there are two of them in existence. One is a straight vertical bar (|) (supposed to be ASCII #124 in base-10 and 7C in hex) and one has a small gap in the center, it is also called the broken line or the broken bar and was used in the old IBM EBCDIC character set.
The confusion is that I have seen UNIX keyboards with the broken line representing the pipe symbol. However, the broken bar is not part of the ASCII set and I have no clue what HTC used for its ASCII representation.
On second thought they must be using an ISO/IEC 8859-1 representation: the vertical bar is 7C (hex) and the broken bar is A6 (hex). There you have it.
All I can say is that my invisible wireless network has | in it and as long as I hide it, I can't link to it with my Incredible. Making it visible and joining and then making it invisible again does not work as a trick.
Annoying!

Hopefully it's the same as on the EVO: How to type a pipe "|" on an HTC EVO Android 2.2?
Edit: Looks like they may have used the wrong ASCII / UTF-8 code for the pipe, so it looks the same/similar but isn't actually the right character.  (Reference: Verizon forums)
I suggest replacing the keyboard then.  XDA has a 2.3 keyboard that should work, it requires root and ROM Manager to flash it.

The Incredible doesn't have the same layout looks like :(  As for the IME, only the broken pipe is available on the second row, the third row is smiley, sad, etc faces.

Darn, I assume the broken pipe doesn't work for you?  Updated my answer.

The broken pipe does indeed not work. ls | cat produces something along the lines of ls: |: No such file or directory ls: cat: No such file or directory. A hexdump of my .bash_history reveals that it is sending a two-byte sequence, 0xc2a6. I wonder if maybe my terminfo file could be updated to account for this.

Try activating the numeric keys (I believe this is done by tapping on the "12#" key to the right of the Spacebar), then hit the shift (or ↑) and that should bring up some alt. symbol keys.

You can use chrome to phone and copy the character from the a web page and send it to the clipboard on the phone. Then you just paste.

Yep, good idea. As Brian suggested, you can try to copy the pipe symbol from any other application (like browser) and then paste it to ConnectBot. I tried it and it works. Still better than nothing when you really need it...

The wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_bar has a nice, big pipe symbol right near the top, easy for copy & paste. Bookmark that page.

Another good choice: You could e.g. install (and use) Hacker's Keyboard, which has special ConnectBot support even for function keys etc.:

This keyboard is especially useful if you use ConnectBot for SSH access. It provides working Tab/Ctrl/Esc keys, and the arrow keys are essential for devices such as the Xoom tablet or Nexus S that don't have a trackball or D-Pad.

See e.g. the following screenshot, and have a closer look at the "\" key:

Another screenshot is quite self-explaining:

So no need to freak around with copy/pasting from web pages, entering cryptic codes, or the like. Simply use the right keyboard, relax, and enjoy :)

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


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Backup of my Droid X
How (What App) do I use in order to do backup? What is good backup apps out there? I primarily want to save calling logs & SMSs, as all of Applications I can just re-download from Market.
I use Droid X!

You should probably tag this question as motorola-droid-x since that's what it's referring to.  I'd update it myself if I had the rep.

I've used BackItUp Pro successfully -- it's one of very few apps I've found that can backup/restore MMS across ROMs.  MyBackup Pro is another popular app.  I've no experience with it personally though.
Titanium Backup is very nice for a lot of things, but for call logs & SMS, I'm not sure it's portable across ROMs.  It looks like it's simply backing up the sqlite DBs directly.  There's a "Data Migration" option that's been added recently, but it looks like it's a Pro-only feature.  Perhaps someone who's tried it can chime in with their experience.
There's also Call Log Backup & Restore and SMS Backup & Restore, which are free apps.  They back up to XML files, so should be highly portable across ROMs.
Edit: I had a chance to test the "restore" features last night with my wife's Droid.  I switched her from Ruby 1.1.1 to CyanogenMod 6.1.0, and took the opportunity to wipe her phone and start it fresh.  The Call Log Backup & Restore and SMS Backup & Restore apps worked perfectly.
Finally, there's SMS Backup+, which copies SMS/MMS & Calls Logs to your Gmail Account.

Titanium Backup is probably the best.  It can back up and restore data like SMSs and call logs.  It can back up the apps themselves too, which is much easier than making a list (or trying to remember) and manually restoring them.  There are others but I don't think any can compare to TB.

As afrazier also said I use SMS Backup+ to automatically backup my SMS/MMS and Call Log to GMail. This has the side benefit that it's very easy to access all your messages, etc and search through them when you're sitting at a PC. Great for finding those directions that you know a friend sent you a few months ago!
I also use LifeSaver every now and then, which does a one-click backup of your messages and calls to your SD card. It's very handy to get your history back if you change phones, or need to factory reset yours, or wipe it for any other reason (like putting custom ROMs on).


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Security risks of "Open Wi-Fi Networks"
How paranoid do I need to be about allowing my phone to connect to open/unencrypted WiFi hotspots?
I don't really care if other people see my data (email being received or sent, stock quotes, whatever).  I think all I really care about is whether they see my passwords (Gmail, Facebook, etc).
I understand I probably don't want to initiate a connection to a financial institution, and that I'm potentially subject to man-in-the-middle attacks even if my passwords aren't cleartext.
Please note that I am aware of this question and its answer, and it doesn't really answer my question because it's just about the data:
What Android sync'd data is encrypted?
If this question has already been asked and answered, please point me to it.  I searched with the built-in engine and Google and couldn't find it.

If you're concerned about twitter at all, I know that Touiteur has an option to always use an SSL connection, and it's one of the best clients anyways.  (Full disclosure: I have recently flopped between Touiteur and Tweetcaster due to small bugs in both)

Basically yes, you should be paranoid. I really wish there were a simple way to encrypt all the phone's traffic: http://android.stackexchange.com/q/2962/693

If you use the Android web browser to access any sites that you've logged into and that don't use an SSL encrypted page while you're browsing them, then you should be very paranoid.
Have a read up about the Firesheep add-on to Firefox, it uses the fact that on an open, unencrypted Wifi connection anyone can listen to anyone else who is connected's network traffic. It listens out for cookies that other people's laptops and phones send out while they're browsing, grabs those cookies and lets you use them to log into a vast list of websites as that person. It doesn't need to capture login names or passwords, so it doesn't matter if you're careful about not entering your password into anything over an open connection. All it needs is your cookie and then it can log someone else into your Facebook, or GMail, or Twitter, Amazon (they can even place One-Click orders on your behalf) etc. BoingBoing has slightly more on what this demonstrates about web security.
The scary thing is that Firesheep doesn't do anything magic. It just makes a process that anyone could do (listening to open WiFi traffic, and spotting the interesting bits) and makes it one-click easy.

Very very interesting.  I'd heard of Firesheep but didn't know what it did.
But I would imagine that the Firesheep cookies are typically session cookies.  Or even if they're not, most sites with some reasonable level of security make saved credentials expire periodically, say in 2 weeks.  I'm not really concerned about someone in a coffee shop posting some stupid Facebook status for me.  I'm concerned about hackers selling my accounts, which requires transferrable credentials with some level of durability.  Or am I missing something?

@Paul You're right that this only gives the attacker access to your session, if you're aware of this and not worried about Facebook spoofing then OK. However web mail is one thing you're missing. Temporary access to that is incredibly useful for an attacker. When you register for websites your logins are often emailed to you, that's very easy to search for in someone's email. Or an attacker can go to various sites and click the "Forgot password" button to get the password emailed to the account they can now access. For longer term access they can set up a rule that forwards all mail onto them.

Mmmm.  Thanks.  Security is so complex sometimes.  Still, the bar is now much higher for them.  Few sites with reasonable security are going to email them the actual password;  instead they will reset it, at which point I will see something is broken.  Also, I can see the forwarding rule.  I just want to be secure enough that people steal from somewhere else instead of hacking me.  It sounds to me like my usage is sufficient to meet that criterion, although I could be wrong.

After investigating the question I linked above, I found the following page (translating from Germain), where the authors determined that the majority of common Android apps they tested did not send passwords in the cleartext:
http://www.heise.de/mobil/artikel/Sicherheit-von-Apps-fuer-Android-und-iPhone-1103681.html?artikelseite=6
Turns out this isn't as helpful as GAThrawn's answer above;  I didn't understand the full ramifications of cookies.

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


text:
Do I need network's SIM in in order to receive OTA update
I have a UK HTC Magic which is from Vodafone - I am in France for the time being and don't have the Vodafone SIM in. The phone is on the internet via wifi a lot.
Do I need to have Vodafone's sim in the phone in order to receive the Froyo OTA update that was announced today?

No, you don't. The updates are received from the Servers of the Provider/Manufacturer. This adress is saved in the ROM. So you just need an internet connection via 3g or wifi.


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What LauncherPro Shortcuts Have You Used?
If you have LauncherPro you may be familiar with one of it's powerful features: LauncherPro Shortcuts.
By using the LauncherPro Shortcut Generator, you can create powerful custom "shortcuts" that can access almost any function in your device that has an Intent (see also Open Intents).
The shortcuts are almost mini apps in their ability to perform complex function like activating settings on your device, adding events in your calendar, sending to a particular email...  I believe that LauncherPro Shortcuts may be able to solve Dmitriy's problem here.
It basically opens the door to accomplishing things and accessing functions that you normally would need to be a developer to do.  Unfortunately due to the lack of documentation, it's still pretty difficult to use.  The author has a thread on his forum for people to post their Custom Shortcuts, as forums go, out of the 210 posts, 99.99% of them are people asking how to use it.  It is very frustrating finding the actual shortcuts.
I think the SE format will serve as a better mechanism for listing the Custom Shortcuts, and cutting out all the noise.
In order to keep this orderly please follow the following guidelines:

One Shortcut per Answer
Only post working LauncherPro Shortcuts (anything else will be deleted)
If you have questions or comments about a shortcut, post it in the comments.

Post it in the following format that will allow others to recreate the shortcut:
Shortcut Name (make it descriptive)
Notes:  Any notes about what it does and how it works.  Also, anything else that needs to be explained.
Form Fields:

Action:
Package Name:
Class Name:
MIME Type:
Data:
Categories:
Extras (Type / Name / Value):

(not all fields are required so you can delete the ones you don't use)

In order to make it easy you can cut and paste the following template code into your answer:
##Shortcut Name

**Notes:**  Type notes here...

**Form Fields:**

 - Action:
 - Package Name:
 - Class Name:
 - MIME Type:
 - Data:
 - Categories:
 - Extras (Type / Name / Value):

I thought about making this a Community Wiki, but decided to keep it a normal question so people can get rep for the useful shortcuts they post (and encourage people to create useful shortcuts that don't already exist).

Yikes, these LauncherPro shortcuts are harder than I thought.  I can't get any to work.

LauncherPro Preferences
Notes:  Here's one to get us started that I took from Fede's forum post.  It opens up the LauncherPro preferences screen.
Form Fields:

Action:  android.intent.action.MAIN
Package Name:  com.fede.launcher
Class Name:  com.fede.launcher.LauncherPreferencesActivity


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Is there any Android 2.2 updrate available for Samsung Galaxy S?

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

if yes, how to upgrade it with out going service center.

duplicate of: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2696/when-will-my-phone-get-the-android-2-2-update-froyo

What model do you have?  There are a billion (hyperbole) Galaxy S models.  There is a 2.2 update for the US Captivate, for the international i9000, and for others.
You can get the update OTA (over the air) if you have stock (unaltered) 2.1, a notification will show on your phone (on most carriers).  You can also download it through Samsung Kies (see my answer here).  Finally, you can find an upload of it and flash it to your phone through a Windows tool called Odin.
You can also use ROM Manager to flash a custom ROM, which will get you 2.2 early if it hasn't been officially released yet.  Search XDA if you want one of those ROMs.

I have SAmsung Galaxy GT-19000

I have upgrade my Samsung Galaxy S from 2.1 to 2.2 without problems a few weeks ago.
If you connect your phone to the pc and start KIES, it should inform you if an upgrade is available.

Yesterday i was trying to update my galaxy s GT i9000, when i connect it to kies it shows message for to upgrade and the i clicked on firmware upgrade, it started with an progress bar and when it went to 100% it tried to reconnect mobile and the again it show "firmware available want to upgrade" and this time when i click on upgrade it does not any progress bar but tried to reconnect and then same message displayed. So basically i am not able to upgrade it.

@Jeevan Bhatt: Make sure you have the very latest of KIES installed. A previous version of KIES did not work on my pc either.

yes i have latest.


text:
how to force the phone not to use wi-fi to upload video to youtube?
I do not have wi-fi at home and I want to upload video I took into my youtube account. I have generouse data plan so I don't have to use wi-fi to upload larger files like the application forces me.
I am on HTC Desire 2.1

Use the mobile YouTube interface instead of the YouTube app?

@Al Everett: I cannot find upload in the mobile interface. After switching to desktop the 'upload' button does nothing in my browser.

Apps like Tasker or Locale should be able to allow you to turn off WiFi based on what application is running.
See Also: Useful or cool Tasker recipes

How will that prevent YouTube from detecting there's no WiFi connection?

If the WiFi connection is turned off when the app starts up, there is no WiFi connection to be detected when the app is running. If there is no WiFi connection, WiFi cannot be used for uploading. Or for anything else.

As I understand the question, the problem isn't WiFi being used for uploading, it's YouTube refusing to use 3G.

yes @Matthew Read is right. I don't think that YouTube (site) is refusing to use 3G but HTC uploader (program/application) requires the upload to happen only through wireless. Although the video file is just little one.


text:
How do I configure Google Latitude to auto-update with location regularly on a Motorola Droid?
On the surface, this is same question as this question, but I've made the changes according to that question's accepted answer and I still cannot get latitude to auto-update unless I have an app using GPS open.
If I fire up Google maps or MyTracks, a location is sent.  but once I close or switch to a new application, my location no longer transmits.  It has been like this for several weeks.
My Android version is 2.2.1.   GPS is on, but the GPS icon doesn't appear until I start an app that uses GPS.
I actually seem to remember that being a requested feature for an earlier version of android (1.something).
Am I missing something else?
More data: Google maps version 4.5.0 (#4519) 5.0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAh4yiCzgKw I guess I'll need to retest and see if I still have the issue)

You know that you can just post the full address here, there's no need to use a URL shortening service, particularly when you send people straight to a video with no warning.

sorry...you're right.  youtube is blocked where i work and i hate it when people do that to me.  link replaced.

My issue was resolved by upgrading Google Maps to v5.0.
For those troubleshooting this issue, also see this question (which should probably be your first step):   How do I set Google Latitude to auto-update with location regularly?


text:
Can I send IMs to an AIM user through the Google Talk app?
I linked my Google Talk and AIM accounts on the GMail website, but it doesn't look like my AIM buddies are showing up in the Android Google Talk application. Is there something I'm missing or is this not possible?

I don't believe the Google Chat client supports this. Here are some alternatives:

Nimbuzz
Meebo
eBuddy Messager (via @Matt)

eBuddy Messenger is another good one.

Try chatting with your AIM contacts through the web interface first.  Make sure your Google contacts list contains them and that they are set to show in chat "Always".


text:
How do I type umlauts and other special characters with Swype?
I can change the swype-interpreting language, but the keyboard doesn't show me any special symbols.
HTC Incredible with Swype 2.4.44.10912.t100 (have not updated to Dec beta, yet).
I just want to swipe "Blue Öyster Cult" -- is that so wrong?

tag-soup. Not sure where to go with this one

This question needs more cowbell

Press and hold the 'o' key.  At first you'll get a pop-up showing the left parenthesis.  Hold it longer and you'll get another popup showing accents for the character.

And once you've entered the word once with the accent in it, next time you can just swipe through and it'll add the accent automatically (or offer the accented word as one of the popup alternatives) without needing to long-press on anything again.

Durrr! I remember this from the stock keyboard app, but I didn't know it was available in Swype... I'm so used to just swooshing my fingertip around...

I hadn't tried it yet so I had to open a new message and check.  BTW, please mark this as the answer, thanks.


text:
Disable ActiveSync Remote Wipe in Froyo
In short:
Is there a way to disable remote wipe for Android Phones (specifically in Froyo)?
Background:
I recently upgraded my G1 to a G2, and was about to set up my company e-mail account. But the problem is, it notified me I'd have to allow the company to set my security settings. Looking into it, Froyo (Android 2.2) added support for things like remote wipe and user access controls from the admin. I understand this is a great move, but we've had problems in the past with our IT team accidentally sending these messages to the wrong phones, and the last thing I want is an accidental bricking while I'm at a conference.
Is there a way to connect to ActiveSync so I can still get push notifications of work email, but not allow remote wipe messages to wipe my phone?
I'm fine with them setting security policy like requiring a PIN or something, but I don't want a remote wipe unless it's sent by me from a security app that I installed at will.

Rather than updating the post I'll comment here: I've rooted my phone and I'm going to see if there's any way to modify it from here. If I do, I'll post the answer.

I have a similar issue - I don't want to connect my personal Google Nexus S phone (running Android 2.3) to my work email if it grants them ability to wipe it.
Can this be changed on the server side - i.e. configure exchange to no longer require this permission?

From what I understand (anyone correct me if I'm wrong), the way the protocol works at the moment is that Froyo and newer now just accept those special "meta" emails if they're sent. From the Exchange server configuration, your IT department may never send them, and may have it configured so they can't, but that doesn't stop them from doing it in the future.

This seems more like a social issue rather than security issue. If your IT admin are trigger-happy people who remotely wipes someone else's phone for no reason whatsoever, then he is not qualified to be an admin. The fact that he had accidentally sent one previously should be a lesson for him, and it's unlikely to happen the second time (well, unless he is truly trigger happy).

@lieryan Honestly it's a question of personal preference. It's my personal phone, not a company phone, so I don't want my company being able to wipe it ever.
That being said, I might end up doing this : http://www.taranfx.com/vmware-virtualization-on-android
Because of the fact I could potentially just have an entire OS dedicated to work, I wouldn't mind setting up a fully functional exchange setup there. But I don't like the idea that just to get company mail I have to subject myself to frankly draconian security policies.

I had the same issue with a company I'm working with now.  I'm a consultant, and my current client has given me a corporate email address, which I synched to my phone so I'm able to view and respond to messages when I'm not at the client site.  They have a script that runs when your contract expires to send the remote wipe command.  However, I've been extended several times, and their system treats extensions as a brand new contract, thus wiping my phone every time.
Touchdown worked like a charm... it keeps your data completely seperate from the rest of your phone.  That's really the only negative, as you can't view all of your appointments (personal and corporate) on one central calendar.  This applies BOTH to the pin code AND to the remote wipe command... Since I've been extended several times, they've sent the wipe command each time and touchdown is simply wiped, not the rest of the phone.  Best 20 bucks I've ever spent.
On a social note though I do agree since this is my personal phone, they shouldn't be able to wipe ALL of my data unless the command is coming from me.  I think this is a huge miss within the native email client.

I can't make up my mind about it. I think the big thing would be that your company should provide IMAP access for mail. It may not be as secure or provide quite as quick/easy integration with calendars, but it removes the need for you to brick your phone over a bad e-mail.

I believe the Remote Wipe feature is now required for ActiveSync.  If you setup the account as a POP or IMAP account you won't have the remote wipe "threat" but the functionality is of course limited.
Maybe there is, or should be, a way to do it with a rooted device.

From what people have told me, there's a way to use Touchdown which allows you to set permissions on syncing, but what I'm trying to figure out is if there's a mechanism by which you can disable this with your ActiveSync. If nothing else, finding a way to block the e-mail that causes the wipe with internal filtering. But I imagine most of that is bypassed intentionally by the system. Anyway, +1 for response, thanks.

This is correct.  If you set it up as a POP or IMAP account, then you'll get your emails, but other MS Exchange functionality won't work, like shared work calendars and remote wipe.

I too feel the same way that a remote wipe of the whole phone is way too much power to be handed over, especially in the case of our personal phones.  Unfortunately I don't think there is anything you can do about the built-in Email app.
I have a Nexus S, and I decided to try TouchDown because it does not allow a remote Exchange administrator to wipe the phone, but rather only wipe the data associated with the Exchange account (i.e., your work emails and appointments).  (There is a box you can check for "enable wipe SD card" if you really want to grant them this power.  There is also a feature where you can create a one-time code to self-destruct your own phone with an email, but neither of these things interest me.)
For Exchange email and calendar appointments, I found that touchdown was able to connect via "ActiveSync" without too much trouble, and it supports push email.  The interface is not as smooth or simple (or good-looking) as the built-in app, but it seems like a small price to pay to know that my phone won't be wiped all of the sudden for any number of bad reasons.
Also the 30-day trial is fully functional (except you can't change email sig, which mentions the app of course), and for $20 you can upgrade to the normal version (which lets you change the email sig).
Hope this helps!

this is great news! Touchdown was around back when I had my G1 but I heard a lot of bad stuff about it, I assumed it was disappear, but it looks like it's getting a lot more traction, so I'll look into it. Thanks!

Yeah I've had good success with it so far, and no issues.  I like the fact that you can see unread emails + upcoming calendar events on one screen too.  I tried a ton of "Exchange-compatible" Android email apps before settling on this one.  The other ones, such as K9, are good clients, but just don't support active sync.  With Touchdown you can actually search the exchange address book which is awesome.

i've found two different strategies work for this

root the phone and install cyanogenmod.  this has a setting under Tablet Enhancements that allows you to disable the lock screen, this negating the PIN code entry
install an email app from the market that is compatible with exchange, such as Moxier Mail.  this still respects the security/PIN code stuff for Exchange, but only when launching that app, not unlocking the phone.

I'm not worried about the pin code entry, I'm worried about the ability for the sysadmin to send a remote wipe command (special type of meta e-mai) that will basically brick the phone.

There is a lockpick app that will enter a pin automatically every time you turn on the phone's screen to get around being required to enter a pin. Someone was working on modifying the email files to accept the remote admin input and send the success replies while not actually performing an action. That would remove the need to use a pin and prevent remote wipe, but I haven't seen that modded email come out into the light.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm mostly worried about the remote wipe feature, which isn't about a pin lock wiping your phone but a function wherein the admin can send a special meta-email to your inbox which causes the phone to be wiped.


text:
How do I get my rooted Incredible to install the latest Verizon update?
Leaving aside the question of whether the update is a good idea or not -- I'm tired of seeing "update available. Install?" show up every other day. I click "Yes", and it tells me rebooting in 10..9..8...1 ..... only it never reboots.
This incredible forum post suggests that being rooted is why it won't install. But.... is there some way to force it anyway?
Or do I have to unroot, update, re-root?

Being rooted is not the cause; my Incredible is having the same problems and I'm not rom'd or rooted.

Are you running the stock ROM, only rooted?  If so, you have a few options.

RUU to the latest OTA & reroot.  Available Here.  (Requires Unrevoked 3.22)
Install a pre-rooted ROM.  Available Here.

If you're running a different ROM, you should be able to do a build.prop edit to keep from seeing OTA notifications (and burning your battery, redownloading the OTA constantly, etc.).  This post describes what needs modified.
Finally, you can flash a ROM based on the latest OTA.

Yes, it's the stock ROM. I rooted so I could take screenshots, basically. And so I could say I rooted my phone. !!! Srsly, have to re-install the ROMs for all of this? Ouch.

Are you already running Froyo?  If so, grab the pre-rooted ROM, toss it on your SD card, reboot into recovery, wipe cache/Davlik cache (Davlik is under the advanced menu), then flash the new ROM.  No need to wipe data and have to go about reconfiguring everything.  This will probably take less time than unrooting, dealing with the OTA, then rerooting.

If you have uninstalled any of the stock apps, including any of the bloatware, the OTA update will not work as it also updates those apps.  I know of quite a few people that have been bitten by this.
If you don't want certain stock apps running, you're better off freezing them with Titanium Backup than removing them.

This happened to me and I had to boot into the recovery menu and clear the system install cache.


text:
Why am I getting a "Low on Space" warning and having other weird problems?
Yesterday I got a warning that the "phone storage space is low." Because of that I can't receive SMS messages. I tried to uninstall applications - the system shows me that the application is being uninstalled but after restart I see the application again (i.e. I tried to remove Adobe AIR - 16 MB). Also when I try to delete threads of messages, it doesn't delete theme. The weirdest thing is that after I "free" space and I check the internal storage in the system phone storage setting, I see that the available space in the internal phone storage is lower than before...
Moreover I can't install any application that can help me: cache cleaner or something else.
Does someone know how to overcome this problem?

One of these three similar questions should help:  http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3359/how-can-i-free-up-more-space-on-my-android-2-2-froyo-phone http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2065/what-can-i-do-to-manage-my-phones-internal-storage http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3219/cant-receive-sms-on-my-motorola-milestone-when-internal-storage-is-almost-full

See here how Android calculates your personal space limit: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4991#c145

first thing you should check is if you can move large applications to SD.
Go to

Settings, Applications, Manage applications, All

There you can select applications and check if they can be moved to your SD card.
After you've moved some applications to your SD card you will be able to install other applications and get back the functionality you've been missing.
A similar question to have a look at is question 5519

I've had similar issues with my Droid Incredible. What I've found is that unmounting and then remounting the SD card (Settings->SD & phone storage->Unmount SD card) usually resolves the issue.

Since you can't install those cache cleaner apps, sometimes clearing the Browser's cache would help. However, you will keep getting this problem.


text:
Froyo - Gmail - Can you delete by message, or only by thread?
Running on a out-of-box, unupgraded T-Mobile G2, which is running Froyo, if I'm correct.
This version of the Gmail application has a delete button, which is undocumented in their web help.
When I use it, it appears to delete the entire thread/conversation, rather than a single message. Is this the expected behavior?
UPDATE:
Found the verison number -> "Version 2.3"

I'd say it's expected behavior. I mean, the big "Delete" button in the Gmail web app tosses the whole conversation to the dust bin. You have to dig a little deeper on the individual message to delete it out of the conversation. (Also, unlike the web app there is no option to view individual messages like a classical e-mail client.)
By the way, have you downloaded the latest Gmail app from the Market? There are quite a number of significant improvements over the stock app.

It would be really nice if they added this feature though!

I couldn't find a way to get the delete button to target one message in the thread, and when you actually press the button it does say:

Don't leave us in suspense!

(eek...) Confirm Deletion -> Do you want to delete this conversation?

I updated to 2.3.2 from the market, and it still behaves the same. So I checked this as the answer.


text:
Can my Android device replace a heart monitor watch?
Can my Android device replace a heart monitor watch? Maybe there are good apps out there for monitoring heart rates?
Many people use special watches, so I wonder if their phone can do it already instead.

I use an app called Instant Heart Rate which uses the phone's camera to measure your pulse.

+1 It's a neat app. I offered some tech info on it in this answer http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2626/best-scientific-apps-for-android/2753#2753. (Not affiliated with the app, just think it's a great idea).

I haven't tried any of these but Android Heart Monitor sounds like it could be the sort of thing you're after?
Then there's also Endomondo Sports Tracker which is apparently compatible with the Polar Wearlink heart rate monitor (more at Endomondo.com).
And also Sports Track Live which is apparently compatible with Zephyr Hxm, BioHarness and Polar Wearlink.
Obviously with all of these even if the software's free you still need to buy the heart rate monitor itself.

What's My Heart Rate
This app is slightly different from the rest in the market. It does not require you to pressed on camera lens. Hence, you will not dirty your camera lens.
The product description is as follow.

Measure your heart rate by just looking at your screen. Easy and
  convenient without needed to finger press on your camera lens.
Your heartbeat causes micro color changes on your face. Our software
  uses front camera and advanced software algorithm to detect these
  micro changes, with beat-to-beat accuracy. The algorithm is built
  based on realiable non-contact photoplethysmography concept
  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoplethysmograph).
This breakthrough technology allows you to measure your heart rate in
  an easy and unobtrusive way.

It is using computer vision technology. Hence, its result is more sensitive to environment lighting, and face motion. I cannot comment much on its accuracy, as no further detailed data being published. But I can see there is different in my heartbeat reading, before and after sports.
Here is one of the screenshot pick from the product site.

There are options that may let you use a standard ANT+ heart rate belt so you can easaly get continuas recording while exercising.  You either need a phone with built in ANT support which is mainly some of the Sony Xperias but not all.  Or with a modern phone you can use a Usb Ant stick I have some details about this on my website.


text:
Is there a way to workaround the phone memory limit for installed apps?
..without rooting my phone.
Does this mean I really can't keep all the apps I want, and I have to clear data or uninstall apps when I want to install a new app that doesn't fit the phone memory?
Does anyone know if Google has any plans of doing away with this restriction?

See these older questions for help on clearing up your phone's memory http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2065/what-can-i-do-to-manage-my-phones-internal-storage http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3219/cant-receive-sms-on-my-motorola-milestone-when-internal-storage-is-almost-full http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3359/how-can-i-free-up-more-space-on-my-android-2-2-froyo-phone

Your phone needs space for upgrades, temp files, and the like.  You can't fill it up to the brim any more than you can fill the hard drive a computer OS is on.  Google will not do away with it.
If you are out of space and your phone doesn't take an SD card, then yes you will have to clear up space for new apps.  If it takes an SD card and you have root or 2.2+, you should be able to move many of your apps onto it (search for how), and App2SD support is being encouraged.

You can only move to SD if you're running Froyo.

rooted phones can move to SD as well before Froyo.


text:
What makes the Polar Bear and Black Hole color palettes dynamic?
When using the Polar Clock live wallpaper, there are two color palettes labelled "(dynamic)": Polar Bear and Black Hole. What's dynamic about them? How long does it take to see it?

The colors of the rings will change gradually as they move around the clock. If you have seconds enabled you can see it pretty easily over the course of the minute.
Specifically, the color of the ring seems to progress through the spectrum of visible light in order from lowest frequency to highest. That is, it goes in the same pattern as a rainbow's colors: Red->Orange->Yellow->Green->Blue->Indigo->Violet (ROYGBIV). Then the cycle starts over again near the top of the clock.
That's how it looks on my phone, anyway. I'm not 100% positive if the other rings follow the same color pattern or if it's just the seconds ring, but the inner rings seem to be properly colored for their lengths (as in, at the point where the seconds ring reaches the end of one of the inner rings, they are both the same color).


text:
If I format my SD card or replace with a new SD card, what will I lose?
If I format my SD card or replace with a new SD card, what will I lose?

What Personal data
What Application data
What downloads

In short I want to find what, where and how data is stored on SD.

Go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> SD Card to see what apps are on the SD card.  Other things that might be on it include pictures and videos.  There aren't a lot of things that default to the SD card, but it depends on your device and software.  The easiest way to find out what's there is just to look!

To see what's on your SD card, you can use an app like ASTRO.
Or, you can hook your device to your USB port and enable mounting and look at with your computer's file explorer. Or pop the card into a card reader.


text:
Why doesn't my Samsung Galaxy S Captivate have self shot mode?
I just bought my Samsung Galaxy S (Captivate).
My self shot mode is missing from the camera options. How do I get it? What should I do?

The Captivate does not have a front-facing camera, thus no self-shot mode.  You'll have to turn it around and try to tap the on-screen button without seeing it to take a picture of yourself (or use a mirror, etc.).

For confirmation see this table that compares the features available in the different Galaxy S variants http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Samsung_Galaxy_S_Series#Comparison_Table


text:
Is there a command or application similar to ipconfig?
I would like to see my network addresses on my phone. On Windows I can use ipconfig for this and ifconfig on Linux. But how can I see this information on my Android device? Is there an application or command for this?
More specifically I would like to see what IPv4 address I get and what IPv6 address I get or if I don't get one.

You won't get an IPv6 address, Android doesn't support it: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3718/does-android-have-support-for-ipv6

@Matthew: I actually get an IPv6 address, but it must be some kind of IPv4toIPv6 or some kind of local address, since it's not the same as when I visit an website. And I can't visit http://ipv6.google.com/

Ah, my bad.  That must be the "partial support" mentioned on the Google forum.

@Matthew: There may be something with my network operator too. I actually get a local IPv4 address from them too, it's not the same as I see if I visit an What is my IP service. Here is an interesting blog post T-Mobile: Clever or Insane? but I don't have T-Mobile as network operator.

Android comes with ifconfig, install Terminal Emulator and type "ifconfig eth0", or use "netcfg" to list all available devices. You need root to use ifconfig though.

I have tried with Android Terminal Emulator but nothing happens if I execute ifconfig and if I run ifconfig eth0 I get eth0: No such device. I tested with netcfg now and it prints a list with IPv4, but there is no information about IPv6. Thanks anyway.

The default interface for 3G seems to be named rmnet0 instead of eth0 on my Android, so ifconfig rmnet0 works better.

you may use "ifconfig wlan0" in your terminal if you have connected with WiFi

Use netcfg to get the list of available devices. Find the short name of the most likely device (it should have the network IP address of your device listed next to it). Then use ifconfig <shortname>. For example if netcfg shows that wlan0 has your device's actual network IP address (not bogus IP like 0.0.0.0), then you should execute ifconfig wlan0 to get more details.

@Ziana Mitchell: Thanks for the proposed edit, however I have rejected your proposed edit. Your edit is good information, however you should put it in your own answer rather than editing this one.

just type netcfg
it will lists the interface, and work on any terminal emulator. running on the phone itself, or remotely via adb.

adb shell netcfg oh yeah

No netcfg on my 6.0.1 device, not on busybox either.

This is no longer on modern android versions.

NetGenie Lite can do that.

I installed it but I find nothing about IPv6. Thanks anyway, it was an interesting app.

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


text:
how to close an application in android

Possible Duplicate:
What is the right way to close apps in Android?

Is there any proper way as suggested by google or android official documentation to close an application in android with out using any task killer tools ....
I ask this question as a android use not as developer.....

Android keeps closed applications on memory as long as possible so that when you return to the application it will still be on memory and will load faster than loading from the internal memory or SD card; but if another applications needs memory, unused applications and background applications will be automatically force killed to give way to the foreground activity.
In short, Android is not Windows, don't treat them the same.
You should only force close misbehaving applications, not for freeing memory; without a dedicated task killer, you can do this from Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > *name of application* > Force Stop

Does this consume more battery power ......

@prassee: No, applications that simply sleeps in the background does not consume more battery or use any CPU; however some applications that runs ongoing services (IM, Mails, etc) do need to wake up from time to time.

in your application home/first/main page, press your back key/soft-key/icon.
this is the only common way for closing applications not suspending it.

But that is not closing the application, it's still running in the background.

Yes, I agree with Jonas .... But I have used some application in which the application closes when we double-press back key/soft-key/icon...


text:
Does Android have support for IPv6?
I wonder if Android has support for IPv6? I have heard that the phone company I use has support for IPv6 and I have a IPv6 address if I visit http://ipv6.whatismyipv6.net.ipv4.sixxs.org/.
But I can not visit IPv6-only sites like http://ipv6.google.com, why is that? Does Android have support for IPv6?

For a plethora of IPv6 (and IPv4) tools on Android check out my highly rated app. Its been the topmost app for IPv6 since 2011.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tsts.ipv6&hl=en

As of Android 6.0, the majority of the IPv6 protocol seems to be supported with significant parts missing such as DHCPv6.
Check Issue #36908577 Support IPv6 for more info, specifically the issues listed in comment #105:

Enhancement: Support for DHCPv6 (RFC 3315) Won't Fix (Intended behavior)
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=32621
Enhancement: Support for Recursive DNS Server Option in ICMPv6 Router Advertisements (RFC 6106) Fixed
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=32629
Enhancement: Support connecting to IPv6-only wireless networks Fixed
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=32630
Defect: APN Protocol ignored when roaming Fixed
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=32631
Enhancement: Automatic fallback from IPv4/IPv6 APN Protocol to parallel IPv4 + IPv6 Won't Fix (Obsolete)
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=32632
Defect: Frequently ignores ICMPv6 RAs and other multicast traffic Won't Fix (Obsolete)
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=32662

(Consider reading the issues and their comments carefully, because while some of them have their status updated to "fixed", some users were reporting they still have the same issues.)

As of android 7.0, issue is still the same.

Updating this question to say that as of Android 4.0, IPv6 is fairly well supported. There are still no visual indicators that it is running/working, but devices pick up IPv6 addresses and try to use them by default.

"fairly well supported" is quite off. It support obtaining addresses and routes, but has no support for obtaining DNS (either via RA or DHCP), so it's unusable for an average user.

No, as of late 2013, even the newest Android devices still don't support IPv6-only WiFi networks.
Source: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=32630

It should be fully supported since Lollipop, except for DHCPv6 - see the thread Matthew referred to

Android 5.1.1 supports IPv6.
Here you han a screenshot of the console ‘netstat’ command (https://twitter.com/juan_domenech/status/732535218662412288).
You can also check this typing ‘what is my ip’ on Google and observing whether you have an IPv4 or an IPv6 coming back (only in IPv6 WiFi networks obviously).
Turns out that DHCPv6 is not necessary after all (SLAAC might be in place here).


text:
Google Reader Not Available in International Market
I was excited when they announced the official Google Reader app but I can't get it on the market.
I am using my Android Device from Kenya, Africa and would want to know whether being in this region affect availability of apps on the market and if so, how to work around it.
I tried searching on the market as pub:"Google Inc." and this did not help

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

you can download it from here then copy the apk file on your handset and install it from there.
but I would still recommend Newsrob as a better reader even than the official google reader application

You should move that first sentence into a comment on GAThrawn's answer and keep your answer strictly as an Answer not an Answer + a comment on another persons answer.

According to the announcement on the Google Reader blog it should be avaiable for phones running donut (Android 1.6) and above, so you're covered for that.
The blog doesn't mention any geographical restrictions and I'm in Europe (UK) and I've got it, so it's definitely available outside the US.
If you've got a barcode reader, then you can just point your phone at the QR barcode on the blog and it should take you straight to the Market page for the app (if it is in your Market).
According to Reader's Androlib page, it's currently available in the US, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, Japanese, Swiss and Russion markets.
There are ways to change the settings on your device so that it looks at the US (or another region's) Market, see this previous question for more How do I use the US Android Market.

if he searched for it on the market and came with no result, the QR scanning thing won't do the job at all.

It removes all doubt of spelling mistakes and similar, but that is why that's only one option I gave. See also where I mention that you can make your phone use the US Market, if that's done then the barcode scanning should work with no problem.


text:
How to root HTC Desire (Froyo 2.2) without putting in a custom ROM (flashing)?
for research purposes I'd need to root a HTC Desire phone without flashing it. I did it already on the HTC Hero, where it was quite simple.
Basically all I would need is to get r/w access to the /system/app folder for copying my custom apk file there. Obviously this needs root access.
Is there a way to easily root the Desire without the need to completely flash and place a custom ROM on it?
Some details about the phone:

OS: Froyo 2.2
Software number: 2.12.110.4
Kernel version: 2.6.32.15

Thx for your help

See also: How to root a HTC Desire running official Android 2.3?

Unrevoked 3 will root the HTC Desire without replacing the ROM, however it does reflash the recovery ROM: http://unrevoked.com/#desire

What does it mean it does reflash the recovery ROM?

Does Unrevoked 3 wipe the phone during the process? Will I require to install and use a backup app before I do the rooting?

@Alastair Yes, apparently it wipes the phone and installs Android v2.1-update1

@Matt I got root access on my Desire, however also after successfully mounting /system with rw, when I copy an apk there, I get "cannot create /system/app/myapp.apk: not enough memory". Do you happen to know a possible solution to this? Booting in recovery and copying there just works fine...

Sorry Juri, I'm stumped.  Post it as a new question and hopefully some of the more savvy users will be able to help.

@Matt nop, posted it here (as future reference for others): http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3852/copy-apk-file-to-system-app-getting-not-enough-space

HTC phones have an extra protection for /system


text:
Is there a way to sync my personal files to my Nook Color & G2 phone?

I just got a Nook Color which runs on Android.
I also have an Android G2 phone with the Nook app running on it.
If I purchase a book from Barnes & Nobles I see the book online in my "My NOOK Library" at the Barnes & Nobles web site.
I can also read such books on my Nook Color & G2 phone (this is great).

The problem is that I also have PDF documents  that I would like to sync between both the Nook Color & G2 phone.
I was hoping that the Barnes & Nobles "My NOOK Library" at the web site in the cloud would allow me to upload my personal PDFs so that they could sync to my phone and Nook.
Does anyone know:

If Barnes & Nobles currently supports this?
If not, will they support it?
If not, any ideas how I could accomplish this (other than doing it manually which I currently do)?

If it's any consolation, it's the same situation with Kindle. Anything from the Kindle bookstore is available to the apps on every device and syncs reading positions, but PDFs, DOCs, texts, pictures are only on the device you put them on (even if you used Amazon's Whispernet to deliver them to that device).

I don't believe that functionality works yet.  I have tried to sideload PDFs and plain .txt files and they don't register in "My Library" or under "My Files" and obviously they don't sync between my devices.  I also can't find a web interface for loading non-nook files.
I did a little searching around a couple months ago and I found a few unsubstantiated forum posts that claim that it's planned functionality but the Android app currently only supports sideloaded ePub files.

If not, any ideas how I could
  accomplish this (other than doing it
  manually which I currently do)?

I'd say your best bet right now is to do this outside the Nook app.  Sideload (or wait till Jan for the Market) a PDF reader and Dropbox or SugarSync onto your Nook Color to keep your PDFs synced and accessable.
*For full disclosure: those Dropbox and SugarSync links are my referral links so if you don't already have them and you use those links both you and I get some free extra storage ;o)

I was able to access my dropbox account via the web browser but it would be nice to have the actual drop box Android app installed. I hope Barnes & Nobles offers this in it's custom app store when it comes out in January.

Does the Nook allow you to sideload apps?  You can download the Dropbox app directly from the dropbox site.  There's a link at the bottom for "Mobile" then from there choose "Android"...

not sure, I'll have to look into it. Thanks...

Evernote will allow you to add pdfs to your notebooks. Evernote is available for the NC as well as for Android and iOS. Once the pdf is in a notebook, it'll sync via Evernote.

It seems you cannot achieve this on built-in Nook app. Fortunately, you are using two android
devices since there are many solutions for reading on android devices.
Install Moon + reader under the assistance of Dropbox on your android phone and Nook color.
You can also keep the same reading progress in this method.
guide


text:
How do I assign cover art to songs? (Archos 43)
I have an Archos 43 Internet Tablet running Android 2.2.
Has anyone figured out how to assign cover art to songs in the Music player?  Some of my songs work just fine, others don't.  What should I be doing to ensure that cover art displays properly in the music player?

I don't know if Archos have modified the music player at all, but on most Android devices and players, the most reliable way to ensure that all your music shows its album art in the player is to embed the album art directly in the MP3 file, rather than relying on a "folder.jpg" or a "AlbumArt.jpg" being in the folder.
As far as I know most music selling websites embed the album art directly in the file, and a lot of popular CD ripping software does too these days, so it's probably only your older files, or ones you've got from elsewhere that don't have the art embedded in the file.
I use a Windows program called MP3Tag to embed the album art directly into the file amongst other things, but there's lots of other software that will do this, see these answers on our SuperUser sister site for some suggestions: What's the easiest way to update album art?, or Bulk fix Album artwork in iTunes library for display


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Is it possible to upgrade my HTC Legend to Froyo without waiting for over the air updates?
I've heard that HTC has released its version of Froyo already on some other phones.

HTC now has an official way for Vodafone users to do this

Use ROM Manager to install this ROM from XDA.  You need to have root.  Otherwise just wait, I'm sure it won't be long till you get the OTA update since it was supposed to be released by all carriers yesterday.

So, if I want to keep Sense UI, I have to wait for my carrier to get round to deploying it?

There's probably a ROM with Sense too, just search XDA :)


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On a Nexus S, how do I activate the front facing camera in a Fring video call?
video calling in Fring is working but the video is only showing the rear-facing camera, how do activate the front-facing camera?

From the Fring for Android user manual, do this after starting a video chat:

To switch camera, press the switch button on the left side.

If it doesn't work on the Nexus S, it's probably because they haven't had time to fix it since yesterday.  You can report a bug on their forum.

Yea I see in the manual that there should be an additional button, it isn't there yet in the Nexus S. Thanks =)


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Automatically load a text file a few minutes after the alarm goes off - is there an app for that?
Is there a way (presumably via a 3rd party app) that I can set a particular text file to open at a set time, i.e. something I need to read on a daily basis can be set to load at 6.03 after the alarm has finished going off?

You should be able to do this through an app called Tasker.  Check out Useful or cool Tasker recipes, you may be able to modify one of those scripts to do what you want.

You could also use alarm clock plus, it allows you to set an app to launch when the alarm goes off. http://www.appbrain.com/app/alarm-clock-plusv2%E2%98%85/com.vp.alarmClockPlusDock

as @MatthewRead said, it is possible using 'Tasker' and 'AutoAlarm'. Need some customised scripts/Tasks need to be set!

authors: саша гридько

authors: جمال جابر حنفى


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What is the best way to read PDFs on Android?
What is the best way to convert PDF's to some kind of format that is easily readable? For example can you convert it to ebook format?

Related questions: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2188/best-way-to-read-programming-technical-math-pdfs-on-android-device http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2736/is-there-an-app-which-supports-both-pdf-and-epub-ebook-formats

I ended up using epub2go.com to convert the pdfs to epub format then used Aldiko to read them.

Such conversions aren't reliable..

PDFs are easily readable, in my books.  Adobe's Reader app is actually pretty good, not bloated like the desktop version.
As for conversion, Google probably does a better job of giving you info that I could.  The first result for this search is a site that will convert to the ePub format, for example.
Adobe Reader for Android:

Thanks for the suggestion but I didn't like how Adobe's reader tried to make the pdf's readable on a smaller screen.

@aboes81: you can disable the "Text Reflow" feature, press "Menu > View Mode".

Can't find the "goto page" function? It baffled me too, almost junked the product.. but there is a way: tap the bottom of a PDF page, it will bring a slider up which you can use to navigate pages - yes.. stupid I know.. why not just include it in the menu?!

Reader doesn't save your place in the book, does it?  That's the most basic thing you need in an ebook reader.

If you have a PC, try the Calibre program. I converts almost every kind of ebook into every other format of ebook.
So you can convert any pdf into any format our Android device can read in whatever program you have or are accustomed with.
Best of all, it's free !
The pdf reader from Adobe is a big program to install on the phone ... and aside from that: I don't like the attitude of Adobe to install updates every day ( mind you that's on the pc, but still - we are not living into an Android only world, are we ? ).

You don't like it when software manufacturers keep their products free of bugs and vulnerabilities? o_O

@endolith Do you really think Adobe finds vulnerabilities every day ? They just change some algorithm so that a group of hackers has to hack it again every time (this is told to me by a person who programs quicker in assembler than in a high level language - so someone who knows how to disassemble code).


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Why does my phone occasionally show the boot animation?
I have a Motorola XT720 on eclair. A couple times, I've seen it show the boot animation (mystical Motorola logo), usually it's while it's sleeping. After I see the boot animation, I am on Emergency calls only, just like when I first boot my phone. (I'm not sure if this is normal either.)
I just saw this now, and it was plugged into my computer (usb debugging enabled). I had it set to memory card access and ejected it and switched to portal & tools. It sat for a couple minutes and then I saw the logo. I touched the screen and it showed my lock screen.
I'd assume this is a crash and reboot, except that if I goto Settings > About phone > Status, I see the uptime listed as 116 hours.
What is the phone doing? Does anyone else see this behaviour?

Update: I read elsewhere that it may be related to the SD card and I've started fscking whenever it happens.
First I find out where my device is connected (I'm on /dev/sdb1) and then I fsck.
grep fat /etc/mtab
sudo fsck.vfat -r /dev/sdb1

fsck will do interactive repair and ask you how to fix the errors. After I get one of these crashes, there are errors to repair. I think this has reduced the crash frequency.

Update 2: I put in an old 1 GB SD card awhile ago and I don't remember the last time I saw one of these crashes.

Bizarre, it does sound like a crash and reboot.  I see lots of freezing when I search for info on this, but not what you describe.

This happened once on my Droid 1, I freaked out at first but after entering my Gmail account info it came back exactly how it was before.

My Garmin-Asus exhibits this behavior quite frequently since the upgrade, usually right in the middle of a call.  When it comes back it declares that I have no service.  A manual reboot and it's happy again.
I dumped my IPhone because it kept dropping calls, only to move to a phone that keeps rebooting.  Very frustrated with the level of quality on smart phones in general.

This is a crash and restart of the android runtime, without a crash and reboot of the underlying linux operating system kernel.   The uptime refers to the underlying linux, so it is maintained across the framework restart.
The difference between a framework crash and restart vs. a kernel crash and reboot is not very apparent to the end user, since there's no visual console while the gui is down; from a debugging perspective though they are very different and imply bugs in different parts of the system.
For point of comparison, if you connect to a device by adb (and I think this even works on a secured, ie not rooted one), you can cause a framework restart by typing
stop ; start

and a reboot by typing
reboot

You may or may not see any difference in sequence of splash screens, though the framework restart may be a little faster than a reboot.

Do you type those in adb shell? None of those commands have any effect. (On my unrooted phone.) adb reboot does what you describe, but there's no adb stop or adb start.

Yes, from the shell rather than the desktop shell.  In which case you would not type adb, just reboot, stop, or start.  You can probably do it from the desktop shell by typing 'adb shell stop' etc

If I type adb shell I get a prompt where ls shows the contents of my Android filesystem. If I type stop ; start nothing happens. (Not even a command not found or permission denied.) Maybe they're not supported on 2.1 or only work with root?

I thought they didn't require root (in that they could be run by the semi-privileged shell user), but perhaps they do.  At any rate, this is just a demonstration of what a runtime restart (without a kernel reboot) would look like.  Kernel uptime would confirm the difference.

This may not be exactly what you are seeing, but I have seen situations where the "home"/launcher app will be garbage collected. The next time the phone returns to the home screen, it shows a loading screen as it restarts the launcher app.
Depending on the model of phone, ROM, and launcher you use, this initialization screen may be different, and it may go through the process of re-detecting the current signal/connection, etc.  So it could be a question of which parts of the boot sequence are actually the boot sequence and which parts are the launcher startup which happens immediately after bootup, but which can occur at other times too.
On my Droid Incredible with Skyraider, I see the Skyraider launcher splash screen (which is different from the boot animation) and then I see all the widgets and shortcuts on my home screen load from scratch when this happens.


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Problem upgrading N1 to Android 2.3
I have a once-rooted Nexus one. Since then I unrooted it to enable automatic upgrades, and currently have a stock 2.2.
I got the notification to upgrade my OS (to 2.3 I assume), but after my phone restarts, I am presented with the following text in the recovery screen:
Build : RA-nexus-v1.5.3
Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
E:No signature (8 files)
E:Verification failed
Installation aborted.

How do I fix this?

2.3 isn't out for any phone right now except the Nexus S (officially, at least).

Sounds like a bad download.  I'd delete it if you can and try again, or download and upgrade manually.  For 2.2.1, try following this post at androidandme.  If it was 2.3 you might want to wait, Google has said it wouldn't be released for the N1 till after the holidays (example) so it might have been a mistake.

I was just guessing that the suggested upgrade is to 2.3, it could be just a minor patch. Do you know how I do a clean update manually, and where I can find the latest official image?

Makes sense.  I'm not sure how to clean out the update, but I've updated my answer with how to manually get 2.2.1.


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How is the default PATH set?
On another linux system I might expect to find a .profile file, or something in /etc used by default. I'm unable to determine what sets the system path for processes not running in a shell.

I'm not sure either, but you can create /etc/profile and use it.

It appears to be defined in /init.rc, at least on my device:
export PATH /sbin:/system/sbin:/system/bin:/system/xbin
I don't think you can edit this file directly though, even with root access, because it is part of the read-only boot image, not the /system partition. If you want to edit it then I guess you would have to unpack, edit and re-pack the boot image as described here:
http://android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=HOWTO:_Unpack%2C_Edit%2C_and_Re-Pack_Boot_Images
I haven't tried this though.

Thanks. I'm going to continue looking for a solution that doesn't involve modifying the boot image, such as possibly union mounting a replacement copy of the file on top of the boot image late in the process. I'll update this if I find a solution.


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What special phone numbers can be used to display (hidden) info on Android phones?

Possible Duplicate:
Do you know other Android keypad commands ?

In another post someone mentioned the special phone number #*#4636#*# to list CPU specific information.
I would like to ask you to list such special phone numbers in this post.
Mind you, I am not looking for a list on a web page (I'm sure that such a list is available somewhere).
I am looking for special numbers you actually used yourself, so you can vouch for the fact that they actually work.
Please mention your phone, because I can imagine some of them are phone specific, no ?

See also this previous question Do you know other Android keypad commands? http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1468/do-you-know-other-android-keypad-commands

@GATHrawn: I searched the website for something like that, but obviously used the wrong search words :)  Nevertheless, I specifically ask for commands the writer has used. Not some sort of web site with a list of commands.

I'm running 2.1 Eclair on a Samsung Spica.
Well... the universal *#06# will display your IMEI - always a good idea to store this in a safe offline place in case your device is misplaced / stolen.
*#*#7780#*#*

will take you a screen where you can Factory Reset your device - you need to press an additional button to confirm or BACK to exit.

*#*#7594#*#*

will show you Shutdown App configuration - you can choose to have the device power off directly instead of showing the menu for Airplane Mode / Power Off etc. when you long-press the power button. There's also an option for keeping the LCD on during the duration of a call - also useful to some people!

*#*#197328640#*#*

shows a SERVICE MENU where different diagnostics can be carried out.

*#*#526#*#* OR *#*#528#*#*

takes you to a WLAN test screen where you can check Transmit (TX) and Receive (RX) capabilities - press MENU for options.

*#*#0*#*#*

LCD test

*#*#0842#*#*

Vibration test
Naturally, some of these may be specific to certain device models only.


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Quickly send file from phone to PC via internet?
Is there a service/app that provide this functionality? I imagine the inversion of Awesome Drop.

A service like Dropbox should be able to do this for you. It'll sync the files up to the web, and then your PC (with Dropbox installed) should pull them down.

The usual caveat applies: "you are copying your files who-knows-where into the cloud, do you trust the file-sync provider?"

GTalkSMS is able to send, browse and download files from your android phone via XMPP (gTalk). It's also a remote SMS notifier and has various other features.
Note: According to the FAQ I have to disclose that I am involved in GTalkSMS. GTalkSMS is an open source GPL licensed Android app. Everyone can contribute.

Via email
Well of course this works, but I hope there is a quicker, better, more straightforward way.

With so many alternatives this days, the best options tends to be an application that allows us to work with multiple solutions.
FolderSync and the free version FolderSync Lite, both by Tacit Dynamics available from Google Play Store, allows us to do just that:

FolderSync enables easy sync of files between cloud storage and Android devices.
FolderSync is a application that enables simple sync to cloud based storage to and from local folders on the device memory card. It currently support multiple SkyDrive, Dropbox, SugarSync, Ubuntu One, Box.net, LiveDrive, HiDrive, Google Drive, Google Docs, NetDocuments, Amazon S3, FTP, FTPS, SFTP, WebDAV or windows share (Samba/CIFS) accounts, and support for more platforms are planned.

MAXS (Modular Android XMPP Suite) is able to exchange files over XMPP.
Note: According to the FAQ I have to disclose that I am involved into MAXS. MAXS is an open source GPLv3 licensed Android app. Everyone can contribute.

If your Android device and the PC are in the same local network, e.g. connected to the same Wi-Fi access point or the same router/switch, and you have Total Commander installed + WiFi/WLAN plugin, then you simply long tap the > Send To > Send via Wi-Fi (Total Commander), and then enter the displayed URL in your browser. Or use the QR code if you want to share to another mobile device with a camera.

the easiest way is this little software named Sego for me : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nex.sego

Could you explain why? And how to send files with this to a Mac or Linux PC?


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What is the largest HTC Desire card size?
Anyone know what the largest size of card the HTC Desire will take? I saw this question,
Maximum (micro) SD card speed class for HTC EVO? Which says a class4, so that's okay as the 32gb card is class 2.
Curious to know how well this will work, as my iPod recently died and I'd like to use my phone as a part time replacement. Anyone experimented with larger cards? I have a 4gb in my phone at the moment and it's okay, I have an 8gb card I'll test when I get home, but would be keen to know results with 16gb and 32gb

ankajoma: @HTCdesire @davidyell Yes it does. Only 32GB Class 2
Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/ankajoma/statuses/15722162732142592
Sent via TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com)

The desire supports sdhc which is upto 32gb so it should work fine. I have a 16gb in my droid and there's no difference noticable from a smaller card (other than it having more capacity).
If you were to find a bigger card (I'm not sure they have any in micro) you'd need a phone that supports SDXC.

can you provide a reference for your information? I have just got the 64gb SDXC in my desire [cyanogenmod] and it seems to be supported, but slow.


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Is there a weather widget/app that has both very good location support and supports multiple locations?
Is there a weather widget or app that has good location support (Central Europe) and support for multiple configured locations?

WeatherBug (free) seems to meet your criteria.  Has nice widgets, multiple location support, and tons of weather stations.
There is also a pay version (WeatherBug Elite) which removes ads and adds several additional features such as radar in motion and detailed hourly forecasts.

There's also The Weather Channel official app - which some users claim is more accurate than WeatherBug. Try both and see which suits you better.

This app requires calling permissions, I'm not installing that.


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Where can I download Google Maps 5.0?
Google Maps 5.0 looks like a great upgrade, with offline maps and 3D. However, I can't find it in the market. The direct download link on Google does't work as well.
Do you know where I can download it directly?

Did you try appbrain.com or slideme.org?

@gary - not working. Since I already have maps installed, appbrains  doesn't allow me to download it. I also can't uninstall maps.

So your google maps app doesn't show that an update is available? Are you sure it wasn't allowed to auto-update and you already have it? :P Out of curiosity what phone are you using?

You are probably not in the US, right? Seems that Google Maps 5.0 is not yet available in many countries (just like Google Reader for Android). Meanwhile, you can use a link to the .apk file here: http://thegadgets.net/technology-news/download-google-maps-5-0-apk/
Download the apk file, copy to the SD card, and open with e.g. Linda File Manager. Hope this helps.

Yeah, I'm in Israel. Thanks for the link, the new app looks amazing!

I just successfully downloaded the update from the Android market:

http://appaware.org/app/com.google.android.apps.maps
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/cell-phones/google-maps-50-rolls-out-for-android-with-3d-and-offline-mapping/5145?utm_campaign=Android+-+Google+News&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_source=SNS.analytics


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switching from unlimited data plan to pay-per-data. what to watch out?
I have been using unlimited data plan, but it is about to finish and after that I'll pay my data charge per data usage. Any particular settings should I change or anything I should take note in order to avoid suddenly paying a lot of money?
My phone is Galaxy S with Froyo.

possible duplicate of How to monitor the amount of data traffic?

You want to monitor any apps that use data in the background.  It's hard to say which ones because there are so many and I have no idea what you have installed.  I recommend installing two apps to help you monitor and control your data so you don't go over:

Phone Usage - This app allows you to monitor how much data you are using and set daily, weekly and monthly limits (it does this for voice and text too) and it will notify you when you go over the limits.  There are a number of others like this, some will tell you when you are getting close, other put a widget on your homescreen to show your data usage.  I test a couple out to see which ones work best with your phone.
Quick Settings - This app will allow you to manually control your data.  With it you can turn off/on auto-syncing.  You can also toggle the APN so you it turns off all 3G data without affecting the phone or wifi, so you can still get auto updates when you are connected to wifi but only use 3g data when you choose to.

Finally, if you really want to take control of things you can get Tasker and set different rules about when you use wifi and when you use 3g and what apps are allowed to sync...

DroidWall would also be good for allowing certain applications access to data and restricting others.

@afrazier: Good find, you should add that as an answer.

Both great apps. I'm surprised I couldn't find a way to toggle the APN from the phone settings.

DroidWall is an application (for rooted phones) that will let you select which applications are allowed to use which data networks (WiFi vs. Cellular/2G/3G/4G).  You can use it to make sure that certain applications always have data access when needed and restrict other applications to WiFi (or even no acess).


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Rooting HTC Hero GSM 2.1-update-1 (3.41.61.31)
So I've been trying to root my HTC (Hero GSM 2.1-update-1 (3.41.61.31), originally Orange Spain, but unlocked by code) for few hours now, haven't managed yet.
All the articles I've found about rooting this phone seems to be quite old and none seem to be more recent than the latest OTA update they've sent.
Even the latest version of Androot (1.6.2 beta 5) doesn't seem to work; I keep getting a Failed ! No ~~~ Fu goo ~~~ seemingly clueless error.
Found some more hardcore ways to do it, but then again, all of them quite old and no one confirming if for the current version - I don't want to end up with an expensive paperweight :(
I want to root it in order to install the latest Froyo ROM (Oh, and if anyone have serious reason for opposing to the villainrom 1.7, I'd appreciate a headsup)
Please, could anyone refer me to the definite how-to-root-this-thing?
cheers mates,
f.

See also: How do I root my HTC Hero?

It sounds like no one has cracked the latest version of your firmware to allow for root access so you will have to downgrade to an earlier version of your stock ROM.  You may have already seen all this in your travels but if not, it may help.
Warning, this is by no means a definitive guide, but it's my best shot:
Downgrade your firmware:

Here is an old guide on how to downgrade, but it still should be relevant.
Here are old ROMs for your phone.

Root:
This guide over at XDA is pretty comprehensive.  It was last updated in August, but it looks like it was edited just two weeks ago so it should still be good info.  I'd read through the thread and to see how it's been working for people.  There may actually be more relevant instructions later on in the thread.
Again, I have no idea if this will work, so proceed at your own risk.

Thanks mate. That's what I've been working into. Let's see if it works. Quite a hassle actually the whole downgrade thing :(


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How to help Android users with reduced ability to see
What can we do in Android phone to help users whose ability to see is reduced?
To be clear they are not blind persons, they are just 55+ years old and with age they have reduced ability to see.
When my father has seen Xperia with 4.0 inch display he thought that his troubles with using the phone were over. Trouble came again when he realized that font size is still small because of large resolution.
Most of them are just simple users and they have needs only for seeing time, date, contacts, missed calls, incoming caller id, and dialer.  They're not even using SMS.
What can I do to increase size of these functions on display, and make it simplified to access as it can be?
Is there any app or theme or something similar already made for helping "older" people using phone?

You could try using LCD Density Changer to decrease the density (effectively increase the size of everything on-screen).  This will probably result in the bottom and right side of screens being cut off, however.
There are also (limited) accessibility options in Settings -> Accessibility.  I think it might be limited to a screen reader.
If the problem is really just things on-screen being too small, may I suggest eyeglasses?

You can make text larger by going to the Settings app and clicking on Display and then Font size. Unfortunately, not all developers test their apps with different font size settings, so you may find some apps look bad or have their buttons in the wrong place. If you find an app like this you should always complain to the developer.
Newer Android devices have more options for vision-impaired users, found in Accessibility in the Settings app (find it in the System section, near the bottom of the list). There you can find an additional Large text setting, as well as an option to read out on-screen text and describe GUI elements, as Matthew describes. You can also change how long a long-tap is: your father might find this useful if he has arthritis and sometimes long-taps by accident.


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Is there a Word Lens alternative/port for Android?
Any idea how we can do this in Android?
For those of you at work who can't watch the video, it's a demo of an iPhone app that came out today called Word Lens, which in translates language in real-time through the camera.  If you point it at a sign in Spanish, it doesn't just output a translated text, it makes it look as though the sign were in English.  Un-freaking-believable!
The closest thing I have seen is Google Goggles but I don't think it even comes close to Word Lens.  Am I missing anything?  Do we have any awesomeness like this yet?

Not an answer, just a comment - my coworker promptly downloaded the app on his iPhone4 and we started experimenting -- The OCR was very slow and unreliable and the text overlay was glaringly obvious when it was occasionally in the correct spot -- often it was randomly placed halfway across the viewfinder. In other words -- Don't fall in love with that demo just yet, it was clearly idealized. :) I found that Google Goggles, while not realtime, was far more accurate at OCR in our handful of informal tests this afternoon.

I actually have friends who worked on a virtually identical app.  I don't think it worked in real-time, though.  I'll ask them if they've seen this.

Google Goggles is pretty close, not real time, but I've had it translate a Japanese symbol for me before.

@Saiboogu: I suspected that might be the case.  Thanks for quelling my brief bout of iphone-envy.

@Matthew Read:  Was it an Android app or was it also for iOS?

@Matt Not sure, I'll check back when I know.

Looks like Google Goggles is as good as it's going to get for now.  From what I've read in the comments and around the web it sounds like that Word Lens video makes the app look a lot better than it actually is.  For now it looks like Goggles, while it may not be in real-time is a more accurate option.

There is slightly more about its translation capabilities on the official page http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/#text and http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=181356&cbid=-1o9yv01p3rz4g&src=cb&lev=%20answer

Google acquired the company behind the app "Word Lens".
Now Google Translate incorporates the functionality of real time camera translation.

UPDATE:
CamTranslator seems to be a good app that can recognize and translate up to 14 languages, including Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Hungarian and etc.


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Can I pair 2 Android Devices via Bluetooth for internet access?
This is pretty much hypothetical at this point but I'm curious...
Let's say I get one of the Android tablets likely to be coming out in the spring and get one that only has WiFi and no WWAN access built in...
I've got a Moto Droid running stock 2.2.1 and unrooted.  I know I can obviously tether via wifi if I root the device, but there is also the application PDANet that allows you to tether with your computer via USB or Bluetooth.  USB is probably out of the question on most tablets, but is there any way that I would be able to tether the phone to the tablet via Bluetooth?
From what I've read, PDANet uses the DUN (Dial Up Networking) BT profile for tethering, which Android can obviously host, but is there any support in android for BT DUN client mode?
In all likelyhood I will just root (again actually... CyanogenMod almost bricked my phone) and go with that... but I'm also trying to look to the future when I will hopefully replace the Droid next summer and I don't want to become used to WiFi tethering, and then have no option upon purchasing a new phone unless I make sure that whatever I get can be rooted and run wifi-tether.

Turns out that it is possible with a stock (unrooted) Android 3.0 tablet and a rooted android phone, using android-wifi-tether and bluetooth tethering.
details here: http://www.droid-life.com/2011/03/01/how-to-bluetooth-tether-to-motorola-xoom-using-original-droid/

Well...Maybe, I just got an Acer Iconia A500 which runs stock Honeycomb and cannot get it to work :(

It's all possible, but it's is going to depend a lot on the particular tablet you buy.  I can tell you right now that PDANet is not going to work Android to Android.  I emailed them about this and that was their answer.
Bluetooth tether is possible and again is going to depend on the device.  All the Archos Gen 8 tablets have BT Tethering capability (to use your phones internet) baked into the stock os, however, people are getting mixed results (by and large, this seems to be the most successful way to do it).  They had USB tether ( also to use your phones internet) but then removed it, but it is possible, it must may require some hacking.
As far as rooting and using the Wifi tether, again this is possible but people are also getting mixed results with this, myself included.  I am rooted and use Wireless Tether but my Archos 70 can't see the connection because all of the wireless tether apps create an Ad Hoc network and Android supposedly doesn't support Ad Hoc.  From what I've been told in other forums I just need to experiment with other kernels.
If you have one of the phones with "Hotspot" capability and you pay for it through your service provider that signal is discoverable because it's an actual AP and not Ad Hoc.
Long story short, it is possible, but there's no sure bet.  Before you buy, go to the forums for the particular tablet your interested in and read up on what it takes to get the tethering going.

Depending on your phone, the newest versions of Wireless Tether do support infrastructure mode but it's basically limited to one particular chipset + driver. It works on my EVO, for example. The Market version is out-of-date, however, and can't do it on any device. I don't think the Droid is one of the supported phones, though (different chipset), so it's probably a moot point for the OP.


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Destination host unreachable while using WiFi on 2.2
I upgraded my HTC EVO to 2.2 using a ROM I found online. (Sprint's OTA update wouldn't work)  All has been well, but I have been having troubles with my WiFi. I can connect to any AP, security or not, and I get an IP from DHCP no problem. However, I can't get online.  Using a ping tool to try to ping things on my LAN returns destination host unreachable.
The IP settings are correct. Seems my EVO's routing table is messed up. Thought's on how to narrow down the problem and/or fix it?

I figured out that if I disable 802.11n mode and just leave b/g enabled, then my phone works on WiFi just fine.  It seems that there was an issue using 802.11n on my phone.
I don't yet know if the issue was my AP or my phone, but I guess I will need to find a way to disable 802.11n on Froyo.


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Looking for an ePub reader that works without an SD card
I'm looking for a ePub reader to read a collection of .epub files I have but so far each one I've tried has had problems because I don't have an SD card in my phone or I haven't been able to figured out how to get it to read a file that I uploaded to the device.
Anyone know of anything I can use?

Assuming, you have a Nexus, the internal memory should show up as a normal SD card would in other phones. When you connect your phone to a PC and then MOUNT it, it ought to show up as a removable drive.
You can use Aldiko - it's an eBook reader (currently freeware) that works well with epubs.

Copy the .epub file and drop it in your phone (after mounting)
Place the .epub file in * phone_directory/ebooks/import
Unmount, and start Aldiko
Press the menu key, and hit import, give it some time to copy the file, and you're done!

The newly imported book should now show up on your bookshelf.
The official FAQ might also help.

EDIT: An alternative (easier) method using the same app, available on Google Play.
I found that I could import the .epub without connecting the device to a PC. This was verified with a Nexus 7, which does not have an SD card.

Navigate to Aldiko's main page. After selecting Files, you can browse the files on your device.
Select the .epub file you want to read and select Import.
The .epub will show up in the Aldiko library.


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App that translate text from your camera?

Possible Duplicate:
Word Lens Alternative/Port for Android

Basically, I'm interested whether there is an Android app that does what Word Lens does for the iPhone.

Duplicate of: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/3799/word-lens-alternative-port-for-android

Let's close it then. (I can't vote to close my own question :()


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Unroot an SLCD Droid Incredible
I remember when I first rooted my SLCD Droid Incredible I had to use a special version of ClockworkMod because the original version would "Screen Brick" SLCD Incredibles.
If I were to unroot, are there any precautions I should take? Specifically following these or similar instructions.
Although I'm sure it doesn't make a difference, I used Unrevoked3 to root my phone.

If you need to do s-on, flash that before flashing the RUU. Other than that, just keep in mind that the RUU will wipe your phone.

Does RUU also replace ClockworkMod with the official recovery? My goal is to go back to a completely normal phone.

Yes it does. The phone will be completely stock.