text:
Walking between Wi-Fi access points causes network to be disabled
Testing my new Motorola Triumph the last couple of days, I've noticed issues with the Wi-Fi.
Aside from connection attempts to the 802.1x EAP network at school causing reboots (a known problem with the Triumph's software and/or wireless chipset), I've run into a problem where if I walk between buildings, it won't reconnect automatically. When I go into the Wi-Fi settings, the network is "Disabled", presumably because there were issues reconnecting while I was outside on the sidewalk.
My LG Optimus V never had this problem; I used it all semester and it always reconnected within a minute or two of settling into a new room. It occasionally disabled the network, but I can count those occurrences on one hand (in decimal ;-). The Triumph did it half a dozen times in one day. (I change buildings a lot.)
Is this something that can be fixed? Perhaps by rooting and tweaking some system settings file(s)? If I can work out most of the software issues by tweaking the phone myself, I'll live with the few that will undoubtedly be unfixable without an update from Motorola.
Meanwhile I've tested with the insecure campus network. The unauthenticated network reconnected within 30 seconds of my entering a new building. (How fortunate that IT maintains a network that dumb devices can use for Internet access.)
(Note: I have no desire to use a custom ROM unless it fully supports all the features of the phone. That includes HDMI output and the ability to have Wi-Fi & Bluetooth turned on simultaneously without pegging the CPU. Unfortunately that lets out ever using CM7 unless those known issues are fixed.)

This appears to be a bug related to the underlying issues with 802.1x EAP authentication in the Motorola Triumph's software / Wi-Fi firmware or wherever the bug is that causes the reboots I mentioned in my original question.
Short answer: Don't use 802.1x EAP networks. They will cause problems with the Triumph.

Try changing your WiFi sleep settings.  While I don't know specifically how Motorola works, if it's anything like Samsung, if you hit the menu button and go to
Settings -> Wireless and Network -> Wi-Fi settings
then hit your Menu button and select
Wi-Fi sleep policy.
If it isn't on the setting already, change it to
When screen turns off.
What I have found is that when I have my sleep policy set to "Never", I have issues when I get home from work.  It's almost like the Wi-Fi doesn't know that it should look for a new network, but whenever the Wi-Fi sleeps and comes back up, it will find the network.

What that change does is essentially turn the Wi-Fi off whenever the screen is off, letting the phone switch back to (more power-intensive) 3G while you're not using it. Battery life on my old LG Optimus V was much shorter when I let it turn the Wi-Fi off, and Wi-Fi sleep was one of the first things I told my new Triumph NOT to do. This also doesn't happen on the unencrypted network I use now.

@dgw, This is good to know.  I may change mine back based on my not so great battery life.  Hopefully I don't see the problem of not picking up my home network when I get home.

it's definitely a driver thing. If your phone has the issue, then it has a bug. It so happens that my phone can't handle the network that had problems anyway, but if yours can it'll be a definite trade-off. :-/


text:
Sync Hotmail with Android so it recognize read status
All the email it pulls are currently unread, it's really annoying, how do I set it up so Hotmail and Android know a email has been read?

This seems to primarily be a problem on a Galaxy S3.  Are you having this issue w/ a different Android phone?

I know the built-in Android mail client doesn't sync read status with Hotmail.
Have you tried the official Hotmail client? It does seem to support most of Hotmail's more advanced features.

Yes, this is what I use now.  The interface is not the most convinent, but at least it works.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Can I set up Wi-Fi and USB tethering on the Galaxy Nexus without rooting it?
I am about to buy the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and I need to tether with the following connections

USB to my Windows PC
Wi-Fi with my Mac, iPad or iPhone (to download apps over 20MB)

I will be using Verizon Wireless's LTE 4G connection to my smartphone
I also don't want to root my phone, install a custom rom or pay Verizon $20/GB
I heard of PDANet and EasyTether and Tether.com but they only provide USB connectivity to the Mac or PC (I won't be able to use it with iPhone's or iPads)
Any help is greatly appreciated.
I am willing to pay for the software if it provides Wi-Fi and USB. (Bluetooth is optional but not needed)

I would assume that just like with previous devices if you want wifi tethering you're going to have to root it (unless Verizon did not disable it).

Is it hard to root a "Pure" google phone?

No, it's pretty straightforward since the bootloader is unlockable, and much easier than other devices. Koushik Dutta has instructions up on his Google+ page.

Is verizon so bad? I can do all this without rooting or applications in Belgium: http://cl.ly/1V0h2x1s2r2M1p35230z

ClockworkMod Tether does USB tethering without root and Bluetooth tethering is planned (it's still in alpha).  Unfortunately, from what I understand only Windows, Linux & Mac OS will be supported, but who knows what will happen in the future (maybe Wi-Fi support).  Koush's apps are great.

I use PDAnet for the USB tether (which is something like $16) and FoxFi (Free on the Android Market)  FoxFi enables Wi-Fi WITHOUT rooting.  I use it all the time, even for running my kids Wii.  Should work fine for running your tablets, iPhones, and iPads, etc.  Works great for using my laptop while traveling also.
They both work awesome for me.

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


text:
Why does phone reset to Gingerbread instead of the version of Android that came with the OS when it was purchased?
When I first purchased an Android phone over a year ago the installed OS was Android 2.1 (Eclair). The OS has been updated twice by the carrier since then and now runs Gingerbread.  However, I had to restore my phone to factory settings recently and the OS that was reinstalled was Gingerbread. I was expecting it to restore back to 2.1 (Eclair).  Is this expected behavior and was the phone reset properly to factory settings?  I followed the hard reset instructions here and everything looked correct. However, this was not the factory restore I expected.  If this was correct does anyone know how the Gingerbread OS "replaced" the OS that was installed from the factory?  I thought the factory settings were "read only."  Thank you very much.
This is all from a stock Android phone that has never been rooted.

Resetting to factory settings removes all personal settings, data and installed apps from the phone.
It doesn't uninstall operating system updates and doesn't remove apps that your manufacturer or service provider have included in the system.
It also (normally) doesn't delete data from your SD card.
Installing operating system updates on an Android phone overwrites the previous version of the Android operating system and doesn't keep any of the old OS files. It's the same as if you upgraded a Windows Vista PC to Windows 7, you can't go back to Vista on that PC without finding the original install disks, as it has overwritten and deleted the old Vista files. The only way to go back to the previous version is if your manufacturer/network has made a copy of the old OS files public that you can download and install.

when you reset factory settings, it will not downgrade firmware (gingerbread to eclair). this is normal and expected bahavior


text:
How can I have 'Next homescreen' and 'Previous homescreen' buttons in ADW EX on the dockbar like LauncherPro?
I'm using ADW EX (purchased in the recent 10 billion, 10 day sale). How can I have buttons for next homescreen and previous homescreen on the bottom dockbar like in LauncherPro Plus?
Currently using ADW 1.3.3.56

I'm not sure that this functionality exists, unfortunately. It does have launcher actions/icons that take you directly to any screen (i.e. if you have 5 screens you can put a "Screen 4" icon somewhere to jump straight to it).

Dang ! Seems a rather basic feature to have, doesn't it?

Would it be easier to use than swiping?

Personal preference, I guess. Mustn't be a very "wanted" feature judging by the fact that it's not available in newer launchers like Apex and Nova too.

I know this question has been asked a while ago, but on the CyanogenMod 7 version of ADW, you have to go in ui settings, then set the dock size to 3 or less and enable "Desktop dots". I think there's similar option on the original version...

What version of CM? CM9 uses trebuchet by default.

CM7 sorry, forgot to mention it.


text:
How can I configure my phone to show random background wallpapers from my pictures galery?
I know how to set a static picture from my photo gallery as a background wallpaper picture. However, I would like to see a new picture every time I turn the screen on. Is there a way to configure my Android smartphone to do this? Or maybe some app that does something like this?
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy 551, with Android 2.2 (Froyo).

You could try an app like WallSwitch, which can be set to change your wallpaper every time you unlock the device or on a timer. I don't know that there's a way to tell it to pull from "the gallery" in general, but you can just specify that you want to pull from the folders your gallery images are in (works out effectively the same).


text:
How do I unlock the bootloader on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus?
I have a LTE (Verizon) Samsung Galaxy Nexus. How do I go about unlocking the bootloader such that I can root the device?

Full instructions can be found here.
In short:

Install SDK
Get the Fastboot.exe and place in your SDK/tools
Turn on USB debugging on phone
Connect to PC via USB
Using adb, run adb reboot bootloader
At the bootloader, run fastboot oem unlock
Accept dialog to unlock bootloader
Start phone, phone will reboot, do not battery pull!

Afterwards, you can get root access.


text:
Does rooting Kindle Fire disable your default Kindle Fire functionality?
I am thinking on getting a Kindle Fire due to the good reviews and the price tag.
I see that there are a lot of links showing you how to root your Kindle Fire so that you can have regular Android OS and be able to benefit from the Android Market.
My objective is to be able to have both worlds running side by side. I was planning following these tutorials:
http://www.gizmowatch.com/install-android-sdk-root-kindle-fire.html
http://www.androidauthority.com/how-to-root-the-amazon-kindle-fire-36015/
My questions are as follows:

If I root Kindle Fire, do I lose all the functionality that the Fire was designed to do?
If I root Kindle Fire, do I lose access to the Amazon Appstore?
Will following this instructions above leave me in a situation where I cannot revert back to the original functionality?
Does anybody know if the Fire will be upgradable to ICS (Android 4.0)?
Why is Kindle Fire running a 2.3 version of Android rather than the latest Honeycomb?

The Kindle Fire will function as it normally would, but you cannot use the Video on Demand service while you are rooted.
The Amazon Appstore functions fine even if you're rooted.
You can revert to the "original functionality" with the "Unroot" button provided by SuperOneClick.
Nobody knows this but Amazon.
Honeycomb was not open-sourced when the Fire was being developed, and Amazon forked the Android open source code to create the Kindle Fire's codebase. Thus, the Fire was built using the newest available source at the time of development - Gingerbread.

I rooted my Kindle Fire ~30 minutes after I got it, largely because I wanted access to the Market but also to ease any development I do with it. Everything works like normal except VOD (as noted above).

Thanks a lot for the response, this is music to my ears. I am getting the Fire.

After you "revert" with SuperOneClick, will the Android Market continue to function?  Or can I only have either Video On Demand or Android Market working at once?

@Vaccano: Easiest thing to do is use OTA Rootkeeper to temp unroot when you wan to use VoD. I'm not positive, but I think the Market will still function, though an OTA could break it (the Market doesn't need su, so it seems like it should still work).


text:
Phone will not vibrate for incoming text messages
No matter what I do, I can't get my phone to vibrate for text messages anymore.
I am running Cyanogenmod 7.1.0.
It vibrates for phone calls and for haptic feedback, so there's obviously nothing wrong with the hardware or notifications in general.

Settings → Sound → Vibrate: Always
Stock messaging app → Settings → Notification settings → Vibrate: Also vibrate when notified, Always, and Vibrate Pattern: Multiple short (which used to work)

I don't get it.

Looks like you're not the only guy who's having these issues: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1314047

@geff_chang mine doesn't even work when set to "Always" though.

I had a rom that failed to vibrate certain "very short duration vibrations" (or those of low strength vibrations). I am not sure if its just a hardware limitation of my phone or the rom in particular, but you could try an app like Handcent for now and play around the vibration settings in there. Handcent SMS allows you to fine tune the vibrations, adjust the intervals between each vibrations in milliseconds etc..

Uhhh....  I had it on "multiple short".  I changed it to "normal", and it vibrated!  I changed it back to "multiple short", and it still vibrates.  Soooo, I guess I just had to change the vibrate pattern and then change it back?  Whatever, you fixed it.

@endolith Thats weird I had a similar problem too.. I think the "multiple short" vibration patterns are quite unstable and in some cases it vibrates while otherwise it won't. Probably due to a bad quality vibration module inside the phone I guess.

I don't think it has anything to do with the hardware.  My phone uses haptic feedback for the button presses, which is just a very short vibration.  It has never had any problems with that.  I think there's just a bug in the vibration software for that app or CM.

There's a workaround here that might work for you: Vibrate still not working for SMS/MMS notification

Doesn't work for me.  :/

Do check the battery settings or profile settings as you might have selected the profile while is restricting the vibration notifications.
If still dosen't work it maybe due to some hardware fault ( assuming you have already checked the above settings ) but i would recommend flashing the ROM to customer CM7 roms and then check if you still have the same issue.
P.S.
You could try using the Hardware Reset Method also.


text:
My Droid phone won't sync my email subfolders automatically
In order to read or even know I have emails in my Outlook subfolders, I have to open each subfolder individually and allow it to sync.  This is very time consuming.  Is there a way to set up the email so it auto synchs my subfolders?  I tried the select all option but it doesn't work.

possible duplicate of How do I sync all mail folders on my HTC Desire?

Auto-Syncing subfolders means additional network traffic, and eats more of your battery -- which is why it's not generally to recommend. But if you insist, for selected folders it might be sometimes useful. What you need for this is an email app supporting the sync of subfolders. One such app is K-9 Mail.
Speaking of "Outlook subfolders": Outlook is a client, not a server -- so it's hard to tell what you're using. Aforementioned K-9 supports IMAP (recommended), POP3 (only if needed), and also Exchange (via WebDAV -- only for those who have no alternative, but that's my personal opinion). Guess one of them should cover your demands.


text:
Is there a widget available that duplicates the Launcher Pro Calendar Agenda widget?
Here's what I'm talking about:

I want a widget that shows me an agenda of my Google calendar just like this. But I'm not using Launcher Pro anymore, I'm now on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus and am using the stock ICS launcher, so I need a new widget to replace the widget from Launcher Pro.

Indeed - there are a few but I'd recommend Rolf's Agenda Widget. Lots of options and highly configurable.
Scrolling support is present, although the launcher must support scrollabel widgets like ADW / LPP / GoLauncher do.

Thanks! I think this is what I'm looking for. I installed it and will try it out and let you know.


text:
I don't know what my credential storage password is. Can anybody help?
I want to change the VPN on my Samsung Galaxy S but it keeps asking me for my credential storage password. Does anybody know how I get this?

It's been two and a half years. Is there still no answer to this for recent Android versions?

I know this is six years old, but the password (which I don't ever remember setting) ended up being the pin I used to have on the phone, if that ever helps anyone.

Go to Settings -> Location and security -> Credential storage -> Set password to change it.

Do you know what the correlate for this is on recent Android versions? The menu items are not at all the same anymore.

On recent versions of Android (since 4.3, at least) you have to set a password as your device unlock method. If you have a pin or pattern unlock configured, it seems that there is no way to access VPNs. Dumb, but it is what it is.
Just go to settings > security > screen lock, and choose password.

argh, this didn't work for me either. Any other ideas?


text:
How to root my new Galaxy SII
I just bought my Galaxy SII. Can anyone here tell me how to root my phone with Lite'Ning?
Baseband:I9100GDZKH5
Kernel: 2.6.35.7 root@DELL81 #2
Build: GINGERBREAD.JPKH8

You can find a detailed guide with screenshots and all here. It's done with odin.

Step 1: Install Odin v1.85 on your computer then download and unrar
  the Lite'ning Rom rar file.
Step 2: Make sure that your phone is in USB debugging mode: Settings
  -> Applications -> Development -> USB debugging.
Step 3: Reboot your phone into download mode. To do so: Turn the
  device off, then power it on again by pressing and holding the Volume
  Down + Home + Power on simultaneously.
Step 4: Start Odin.
Step 5: Connect the phone to your computer using the USB cable.
Step 6: Wait a few seconds, the Odin screen will show that a device is
  now connected... Added!!

Make sure that in Odin nothing is checked, except the "Auto reboot" and "F. Reset Time" checkboxes.
Press the "PDA" button, and select the md5 file.
Press "Start". Odin will now flash the Lite'ning Rom, after flashing your phone should reboot.

Step 7: Done! Now you have a fully rooted SGS II with the Lite'ning
  Rom installed!


text:
fastboot flash recovery doesn't work on HTC Desire
I'm trying to update ClockworkMod recovery on HTC Desire.
Fastboot recognizes the device:
$fastboot devices
HT03PPL04520    fastboot

But flash recovery fails:
$fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
sending 'recovery' (3054 KB)...
FAILED (status malformed (1 bytes))
finished. total time: 0.002s

P.S. The reason why I want to update the recovery is that when I try to install zip from sd card I get something like this: "error can't open /sdcard/update.zip (bad)"

Have you verified the checksum of the recovery.img file (one is typically provided)? The error seems to indicate that it's corrupt, or not actually a recovery image.

Checksum was not povided but I tried to download it twice.

Well, if flashing your device fails and you also can't run things from the SD card that you have no reason believing should be corrupt, maybe you have some kind of hardware malfunction in your phone. Can you try another USB cable/port?

Download a clockworkmod recovery from offsite and firstly try to use fastboot boot. If it works correctly, flash recovery.

Try fastboot flash --RECOVERY recovery.img --no-reboot

As Penguinolog said, try to "fastboot boot" into the recovery using "fastboot boot recovery.img".
If you can,the recovery is not to blame. Rather, the recovery partition may have accumulated some bad blocks which might have to be cleared beforehand flashing the recovery.


text:
Is it reasonably safe to use PIN code for encryption?
On the Android 4.0 (Samsung Galaxy Nexus) there is a posibilty to encrypt the phone.
I found this about the encryption on Android 3.0, is the same algorithms used in Android 4? http://source.android.com/tech/encryption/android_crypto_implementation.html
My main question concerns the use of a PIN code to decrypt your phone.
Why am I forced to use the same password to unlock my screen and to decrypt my phone?
This restriction will only allow me to use a password of low complexity (like a PIN number) since it would be to hard to write in i.e. 17 characters to unlock my phone for a simple phone call.
Brute force attempts against the screen unlock could be prevented i.e. by a force reboot every 5 tries. So there is not any need for a very strong password there, a PIN might be good enough.
This type of protection can not be used on the disc, thus there is a greater need for stronger passwords here.
(It doesn't help much that the entropi of passwords have increased since there will be very few users with a complex password, so an attacker could simply try most passwords with low complexity).
What is the reasoning behind being forced to use the same password for both features?

I says you must use a lockscreen PIN or password. The password can be up to 17 characters long and can contain any letters, numbers or symbols (based on a quick test). That's much more entropy. Of course it would be more secure with no maximum limit, but still.

Yes, but if I use the password I would need to use that to simply unlock my screen. Not very handy to type in 17 characters to give a quick call. Thus most users will make due with the PIN numbers and that would be the first thing an attacker would try.
A better approache would perhaps be to allow passphrases for the disk encryption and allow simple PIN numbers on the lock screen. To avoid bruteforce attempts on the lockscreen there could be a force reboot after 3 failed attempts resulting in a request for the password.

It sounds like what you're looking for just doesn't exist, then.

Well, I am looking for an answer to whether there is some reasoning behind this. If anyone one knows a way around this.
If not, where is a good place to turn to drop a feature request. The google android team or Samsung (running clean install of Android 4.0.1)?

I don't know that anyone other than Google could tell you the reasoning, unfortunately. You could try the Android bug tracker to file a feature request, probably. This seems like a sensible thing to file there.

well, the current behaviour for unlocking the screen (on android gingerbread 2.3.6) is that every five tries it makes you wait 30 seconds. It would kinda put off any brute-force attack, don't you think?

Yes, against login attempt on the unlock screen, but not against decrypting the harddrive. That is what I am trying to say, the screen unlock doesn't need to be as long as the harddrive encryption (which needs to be much longer than 4 numbers) and thus one shouldn't be forced to use the same for both.

I think I have found the solution. Check this link. It's a hack and it requires a phone to be rooted, but it does allow you to use alphanumeric password for encryption and PIN for screen unlock.

You're asking in the wrong place, this is a question for [security.se]. Most of the Android expert here would not be qualified to answer or make an informed vote to the answers on this question.

@lie_ryan Well, the question I was looking for was rather a android-y/software-dev reason why they would share password for the different tasks.
I know that it is unsafe to use 4 digits as a disc encryption password.

@Christopher: but you're basing your decision on incorrect premise, the on-disk encryption was 128-bit AES, not the 4 digit PIN. Determining whether this scheme is secure or inherently faulty, is not the expertise of Android.SE.

@LieRyan They still share password undependant of the encryption scheme used for the disc encryption. The problem is that users will not choose a long passphrase if they also need to use the same long passphrase to simply unlock the screen. Which I am -very- convinced is unsafe.
So what can the reason be that the user is forced to use the same passcode for both features? Some limitation in the OS?

@Christopher: There is no limitation on what can be done with software. You should ask security question at [security.se]. It could be that it turns out that using different keys would not actually be more secure, or it could simply be an oversight or practical tradeoff. Either way, you'll get much better answers there instead of here. As I see it here, there are 5 mediocre answers; GAThrawn's answer comes closest to being the most informed answer, but it isn't a complete answer.

You can use this command on a root shell to change the encryption password:
su -c vdc cryptfs changepw <new_password>

Where <new_password> should be replaced by your password.
Source: http://nelenkov.blogspot.be/2012/08/changing-androids-disk-encryption.html

By using a password/phrase vs four digit pin, you are increasing the security of your device.  The trick of it is, even by having a four character password, you've just increased your security for two reasons:

You've increased the available characters.
You've taken away the attackers knowledge of your pw length.

If an attacker knows your password is 14 characters, it is more secure than a four or eight character password, but typical statistics use ranges (1-4, 1-8, 1-14) and not the reality (which would be simply calculating one length's available combinations).
Currently, it is simply WAY TO EASY to access your phone's data.  Your grandmother has the capability of doing so (No offense to you or your family :P).  So, while you're right that there are limitations of this encryption, the 'broken' version works A LOT better than non-encrypted data currently practiced.
It is up to you to judge how sensitive and private your data is, as well as how much of a target you are for such data to be stolen.  Choosing an appropriate password is your responsibility once you've assessed these risk.

Yes, but I feel like it would be a simple solution to the problem to have different passwords for unlocking screen and for decrypting the device (as I mentioned here http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/17086/is-it-reasonably-safe-to-use-pin-code-for-encryption/19754?iemail=1#comment20004_17086) since they are used in different senarios and need to have different attributes.

If you're trying to crack the disk encryption, independent of the rest of the device in a scenario where you have a powered off device, or just the memory chips, then this is a different attack vector than that used on a powered-on password protected device where the decryption key may be held in memory (leading to vulnerabilities used by things like the Firewire encryption key stealers prevalent on PCs using older FDE encryption software and not a TPM-type module), or the unlock screen could be brute-forced (or have its own vulnerabilities).
If you're attacking the disk directly then in this case you're not attacking the 4-digit PIN or user password that's encrypting the device, what you're attacking is the 128 bit AES key:

The master key is a 128 bit number created by reading from
  /dev/urandom. It is encrypted with a hash of the user password created
  with the PBKDF2 function from the SSL library. The footer also
  contains a random salt (also read from /dev/urandom) used to add
  entropy to the hash from PBKDF2, and prevent rainbow table attacks on
  the password.

From point 4 under "Enabling encryption on the device" of the Notes on the implementation of encryption in Android 3.0 that you linked to.
(was going to be a comment but ended up far too long)

Thank you for this nice comment!
One thing though; am I not looking for the user password (which most probably will be a 4 digit pin, because you are forced to share key with screen unlock and anything else will be a hassle to type in to make a phone call) to decrypt the 128 bit AES key? (instead of searching for the key directly). If I hash all 10000 pins with the PBKDF2 function + salt, isn't there just 10000 decryption attempts for me to try then?

@Melpomene The "rainbow table attack" that they talk about is where you pre-encrypt all 10,000 combinations to see what they look like encrypted and then just compare what's on disk to what's in your rainbow table. The "random salt" is what's used to help prevent this by creating far more than 10,000 combinations that you'll have to guess through (unless you manage to work out the "salt" first).

A rainbow is a smart way of storing encrypted passwords yes. And if a salt is used it would probably need to be specially constructed just for cracking passwords with that salt. This is not a very hard operation when there are only 10,000 passwords to choose from. Note that the Salt is always considered known to the attacker (since it seems to be read from /dev/urandom in the docs this is most likley stored either in clear text or encrypted with the user password). Either way the the user password is the weak link.

But I wouldn't even need to construct a rainbowtable since storing (or calculating) 10,000 hashes is not that hard on my memory (processor).

Using a key derivation function like PBKDF2 does seem like good news, but a typical 4 digit pin is still only 10000 possible combinations.

To clear up some confusion: the salt is stored unencrypted in a 16KB footer of the encrypted partition. http://nelenkov.blogspot.be/2012/08/changing-androids-disk-encryption.html

One possible solution for this is to use whispercore, but it requires you to root your device.
I have also filled a feature request at the android project page.

If you have remote wipe enabled (assuming it still works with encrypted device), the PIN may not secure your device forever, but it may do so long enough to give you time to wipe your device.

The problem is that a short PIN can only secure the device when it is on. Therefore switching a stolen device off prevents the device from being wiped and additionally the PIN can be broken in an offline brute-force attack. Hence a short PIN doesn't help you in this situation.

@Robert, I'm not too familiar with how remote wipe works.  If it's done via Exchange, does the phone have to be on the same moment the remote wipe command is issued?  My thought is that if I can issue a remote wipe within 30 minutes or so of losing my phone that's good enough for me, but I don't have any financial data, my main concern is my GMail work email.

The phone has to be on and on-line some time after you have issued the remote wipe command. If the phone has been switched off (and stays off) the wipe command is useless.


text:
How do I change the desktop icon created from a website bookmark?
I created a desktop icon from a bookmark for Wikipedia.com.  Here is a screenshot of the result:

The blue background doesn't look great, I'm wondering if this should be transparent.
Here is the image that I think it's using for the wikipedia icon:

Which is being pulled from by this code in wikipedia's page:
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="//en.wikipedia.org/apple-touch-icon.png" />

The Netflix icon that looks like a banner is a link to Netflix.com, and it has the look I would prefer in the wikipedia icon.
Is there any way I can change the icon?

FWIW the wikipedia page for that image file http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia-mobile-icon.png specifically describes it as "The Wikipedia "puzzle ball" logo with a blue background" so I don't think that it is meant to be transparent

Bit of a kludge, but you could create a web page which sends you to Wikipedia and has an icon according to your taste, and bookmark that.

This is a slightly convoluted workaround, but you could use my app Showr. It lets you add any image to your home screen, and one of the actions it can perform is launching a web page of your choice when clicked.
You could add a Showr widget to your home screen, set it to use any Wikipedia icon of your choice (whether it's already saved to your phone, or by giving it the URL of an icon to download), and set it to launch Wikipedia (in your browser) when clicked. Showr is a free download from Google Play.


text:
Split Bluetooth Music Playback and Phone capabilities?
I have a car stereo which supports bluetooth phones, but not A2DP audio playback.
I purchased an A2DP adapter.
I have easily paired my HTC Thunderbolt to the Cicada which pipes audio to the aux jack in the Juke, and plays back. (Sounds great, incidentally.)
However, upon connecting to the Cicada, the phone is no longer connected to the Juke for phone calls.
Is there a way to tell Android to force send HSP data to the hands-free set, and force all A2DP data to the A2DP adapter? The A2DP tells android it supports HSP and therefore overrides the Juke pairing.

I don't understand why this was closed, it's a pretty relevant question to anyone who wants to use different BT devices for calls and audio playback.

On my Android version (6.0) there are check-boxes for each paired BT device which select whether it should handle Call Audio and/or Media Audio. Perhaps checking "Call Audio" on the car stereo and "Media Audio" on the A2DP adapter would help?


text:
Deleting contacts in bulk - Ice cream sandwich
I just got my Galaxy Nexus, and from logging into some service, I can't figure out which,
it automatically imported contacts which I don't want on the phone. Is there a way to delete contacts in bulk? I haven't found one yet.
Thanks

for android 4.0
settings--->storage--->Apps--->Contacts Storage--->clear data
sync the contacts with your gmail account before doing this, remove synchornisation, do the above steps and sync again with you gmail account, will take some time for the names and numbers to come


text:
Is there a way to perceive vibrations more effectively when device rings?
I have an HTC Desire HD. I work in a noisy environment as well as ride a motorbike. I often don't hear or feel the vibrations when the phone rings.  One of my previous phones had a function where it would ring once every 60 seconds until I attended to the message on my phone.
Is there a way that will provide this service?
Another issue is that sometimes the volume gets reduced. I must accidentally turn it off when I put the phone on my belt clip. One day I had 20 missed calls when checked because the device didn't ring for those calls.

IMHO the simplest solution would be using a Bluetooth headset. Right in the ear you should hear the ringtone.

You can try MissedReminder. It's free.

Hate missing txt messages?This will keep notifying of new unread text
  messages
Do you hate it when you are away from your phone or in a loud place
  and miss a text message? This app will keep notifying you when you
  have a new unread text message so you don't miss it. It is
  customizable to notify as often or as long as you want. The default
  settings will notify you every 5 minutes.

There's also Notification plus.
It's made for phones that don't have a notification LED to inform the owner of pending (unnoticed) events. From the Play Store description:

Notification Plus delivers recurring notifications via the phone's vibrator or notification ringtone. This is especially useful for phones which lack a notification LED, such as the Nexus S and Galaxy S variants.
  Because there is no way for the application to receive all notifications in a uniform way, only certain events will trigger the recurring notification. Those events include:
  - SMS messages
  - GMail messages
  - Missed calls
  This application is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL v3. The source code can be found on the project home page:
http://code.google.com/p/notification-plus/


text:
How can I add a reminder to a calendar event at a specific date and time?
On my Samsung Galaxy S2, I can't add a useful reminder time. The calendar only offers 5 minutes, 10 minutes, ... one day, two days, ...
This is utterly useless. What I usually need is "19:15 the day before the event" or remind me 12:00 on the 13th.
How do I do that?

Create a new appointment and then click the green + sign under the REMINDERS section. At the very bottom of the list there's a CUSTOMISE option that allows you to specify the number of minutes / hours that you want the reminder to occur.
Certainly not as good as a fixed time occurrence but it certainly gives you a close workaround.

+1 I wasn't aware that I can switch the MIN to HOUR and WEEK. But as you said, it could be much better.


text:
Kindle Fire Not Recognized when plugged into PC
I have just got a Kindle Fire and I want to root it and Install Android Market on it. I am having a problem that is ticking me off big time. I plug my Kindle Fire to my computer (Windows 7 Professional) and I get the message in the Fire screen that states that I can now start to transfer files to my device but two things are happening:

Every time I plug the USB end to any USB port on my computer my Internet goes down !!! WTF!!!!
When double clicking on my computer the Kindle Fire does not seem to be recognized correctly as it shows under Devices with Removable Storage. When clicking on that drive mapping I get a pop up saying: "Insert disk"

Any ideas?
UPDATE:
I have installed the Kindle drivers by adding 0x1949 to the adb_usb.ini and now under Device Manager I do not longer see "Kindle" under Others. Now I see Android Phone/ Android Composite ADB Interface
I double click on My Computer and I still do not see the Kindle anywhere. I have the letter I: which appears there once I plug the Kindle Fire but its not clickable. What am I doing wrong?
I have followed this instructions to the dot correctly. http://www.jayceooi.com/2011/12/13/how-to-install-kindle-fire-adb-usb-driver/ but yet I cannot see the Fire as an icon in my computer

Those instructions allow you to access the Fire over adb, which is different than using it as a mass storage device. It sounds like you're having an issue with the latter, but does adb interaction work? If you can issue adb devices and see the device serial listed then it's working (the instructions discuss this at the end).

That's true you are right with your comment. I can interact with adb but I could not access it. I went to Best Buy and exchanged the Micro USB cable for another one and it worked.

The instructions I have followed in the link above do the job. The solution to my two problems listed above was:
Replace this Micro/Mini USB to USB adapter
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketfish%26%23153%3B+-+1.5%27+USB+Cable/1000247.p?id=1218207305639&skuId=1000247&st=RF-CC1MC&cp=1&lp=1
...with this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketfish%26%23153%3B+Mobile+-+Micro+USB+Data+Transfer+Cable/2077196.p?id=1218308698225&skuId=2077196&st=rocketfish%20micro%20usb%20&cp=1&lp=3
It sounds weird but trust me do not get Micro USB to USB adapter from the first link. You will not be able to access the Kindle Fire as a storage device, guaranteed.


text:
Why does Samsung Kies say that my device does not support software upgrading via kies?
I bought a Galaxy Ace. It initially came with:

Gingerbread 2.3.3
Build is GINGERBREAD.XWPKY, for regions France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, UK
Unrooted

With that, let me add that I am from the Philippines. And I know that there's a 2.3.4 Asian ROM update (DXKPD) as per here:
http://www.pinoytechblog.com/archives/have-you-updated-your-samsung-galaxy-phones-to-gingerbread-yet
But Kies doesn't show any update. So I thought that Samsung has not released an update for that European region, and concluded that I might need to change it to my region. (Although my local carrier was able to send me GPRS settings while under this region).
So that's what I did. I used Odin on 2 attempts I did so far. I flashed it FIRST with a different region ROM (Germany, I think). SECOND time, I got it right. I now have 2.3.4 GINGERBREAD.DXKPD via Odin and using an OFFICIAL 2.3.4 Asian ROM from this page (MediaFire link):
http://rumah-android.com/new-stock-rom-android-2-3-4-s5830dxkpd-for-asia.html
Here's what troubles me.

Regardless if there's an update or not, Samsung Kies tells me that I couldn't update my firmware even if it's an official ROM.
I can't get GPRS settings now that the region's changed.

Finally, the questions:

Is it possible that my phone is locked to that European region? Is there such a thing?
Or did I use an unofficial ROM?
What should I do next from here?

I'm sorry this is too long. I'm confused and I just need clarifications. I hope I made myself clear. Thanks in advance.

Did it say the same BEFORE you flashed anything with Odin? and if it says there's no update and you already have 2.3.4 then simply there are no further updates for the  Ace based on the ROM you're using. Phones are locked yes by the Regional carrier, most likely your carrier has ties with the European carriers hence your phone coming with an European ROM.

GPRS settings are given to you by the carrier so ask them, what you should do now? go to XDA and find another working ROM.

It said that there are no further updates for that ROM. But I wanted an update. And seeing that an official update for my region was released, I was convinced to flash it to the correct one. But I fixed it already. I found out that the CSC was set to Serbia, changed it to my country, worked like a charm. 3g signals are up, Kies doesn't show that error message and says that I have the latest firmware. But the only problem I have now is that I can't download anything from the Market. I even installed Market 3.4.4 and cleared the cache. Any ideas? Thank you.

Fortunately there is no region-locking for phones, just carrier locking.
If your phone came with European firmware then you should probably stick with European firmware.  Ideally you'd be able to find something from your carrier even if it was re-packaged by someone for Odin.
As for your network settings, there are a couple possibilities.  You may need to supply the APN information, which you can usually find by doing a web search for "<carrier> apn" or similar.  You might also need to flash a different modem if the one you have is buggy or otherwise incompatible with your device/carrier.

Thank you, that problem is resolved now. The only trouble I have left is that I couldn't download anything from the Market after I changed the CSC. :(


text:
Transfer emails from Thunderbird on PC to  Asus Transformer email app
is there any way how can I get my e-mail from Thunderbird on my W7 pc to Transformer? My laptop just died so I am considering Transformer, but without my mails...
Syncing via GMail isnt a solution for me, because I have multiple e-mail accounts on many servers with both POP3 and IMAP.

If your goal is solely to transfer your email, your best bet would be to create a dummy gmail account with IMAP and add it to tbird as a separate account (so that it doesn't go to the general inbox).  Once you had that done, in tbird copy all the folders you want transferred to the dummy account and wait for it to sync with gmail's IMAP server.  Finally, add the dummy gmail account to your choice of email client on your phone and wait for the IMAP sync to complete.
If you want to continue to receive email on your phone from all these accounts, you can add them in as you like to the email client of your choice.  Personally I'd recommend K9 for multiple email account management myself; it has an unified inbox similar to tbird's general inbox and is all around mucho handy.

thanks for solution, i wonder how long will it take to transfer my 20k mails :)


text:
Programming IDE on Transformer

Possible Duplicate:
Is it possible to program on a Honeycomb tablet?

since Transformer has nice resolution (1280x800) and hardware keyboard I am wondering if I can install some programming IDE on it. Not just text books (they are all around the Market) but some serious programming application with syntax hilit, intellisense etc.
Any tips?


text:
Stop applications that are unnecessary
I have a Droid X and this has frustrated me since I got the phone. When I look at the currently running tasks, it seems everything is always running, which is unnecessary.
I know this is a hot topic and most people say, just let it go, it isn't wasting CPU or battery (which is non-sense to a point, if the service is running and constantly updating via wifi or 3G, it is definitely using power).
My bigger problem is that they do, absolutely, use memory, and lots of it, and when I want to use something that is CPU or memory intensive, the program lags because there isn't enough memory available. If I kill everything, the programs runs fine for a few minutes until magically, everything is running again without any intervention.
For instance, why does Maps, Amazon MP3 (which I have never used), YouTube, NHL GameCenter, etc need to run all the time? Is there a way to stop them so they only run when I want to use them?

Not quite a solution, but: Android 4 ("Ice Cream Sandwich") lets you limit the number of background processes; that might help.

I doubt the Droid X will ever see ICS, and I don't want to root it. I haven't gotten a single update since I got the phone. Quite sad really.

First, see my relevant answer over here in regards to "killing tasks", especially the use of task killers.
The only way to stop these background tasks is to either:

Turn off any sort of background notifications the app does (check the settings for each app)
Uninstall the app or if you are rooted, you could "freeze" it with Titanium Backup.

Beyond that, you aren't going to be able to do much more. It's up to the programmer to decide when he needs to have a background task run, and a good programmer will let you have to turn these background tasks off (usually it is caused by polling for notifications).

I'd recommend using TiBU to freeze apps myself.  Works well on all the phones I've done it on.  You don't want to uninstall them if you're using a stock ROM, as this usually will prevent OTA updates from your carrier.

Use Advanced Task Killer! Awesome app.

He's already tried killing the apps and they start up again.


text:
Is there a way to resume music after finishing a call
When I am listening to music and making a call through a Bluetooth device in my car, after the phone call, the music is not resumed. Is there a way to cause the audio player to resume the music after the phone call?

Mine does. What device and OS? Are you using the Google Music app?

I removed "Viber " application and now it resumes music after phone call

You could use the Autostarts app to edit the end-phone-call event and add your music app from the list of apps that get alerted on that event. I believe it requires root.

Could you link the app?

F-droid: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.elsdoerfer.android.autostarts

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.elsdoerfer.android.autostarts&hl=en


text:
Is there a service that rates app security/permissions?
Is there a service/company/app that vets Android apps and reports on their "trustworthiness"?
I recently moved from Blackberry to a Galaxy S2 which does not have an LED indicator light.  I searched the market and found an app that is highly rated and uses the screen to mimic this functionality.  This app requires an abundance of permissions that I don't see a need for.  I don't want to compromise my data if
I understand that the granularity of permission-granting leaves a lot to be desired, so I'm hoping there's a service that rates whether these apps are "good actors"...

The abundance of permissions is probably because the app is not providing a display for the existing Android notifications (because it can't), but looking at all the data sources itself (e.g. checking if you have a new SMS) and deciding to display its own notifications. (I'm not saying you should trust the app — I wouldn't — but that it quite possibly does “need” those permissions.)

Not really a rating – but like Exodus mentioned in this answer offering help to decide trustworthiness yourself:
Appbrain shows which libraries an app does include, divided in "Ad network libraries", "Social libraries" and "Development tools". Except for ad libraries this still means you need to know what a library does, but for many libraries the name makes this clear – unfortunately not for all. They are linked to detail pages, but those focus more on developers to know how "well known" and "wide spread" a library is than on end-users who are rather interested in how much it invades privacy.
If you're looking for apps to cover specific needs you have (such as the OP who just switched to Android), you might find my Android site helpful: IzzyOnDroid's app listings have apps sorted by categories, sub-categories and, at the lowest level, groups – where relevant apps are then "grouped together". Next to each app you see how many permissions it requests, and how many invasive trackers it contains – linked to specific explanations. So you can already determine in the "overview" which apps you'd rather avoid (e.g. due to too many trackers). Information on trackers by the way is collected from both, Exodus and Appbrain. Plus sometimes even other sources.

There's one called Exodus Privacy which has both app (open source) and website https://exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/page/what/
One downside: it scans only apps available on Google Play, you can't upload apk manually.
Here's an example of it's report on one of popular browsers:
https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/50316/
(Click on image to enlarge it)

I prefer to use it together with Yalp Store app (free and open source) which allows you to download apps from Play Store without google account and services and has built in support of Exodus Privacy on app's install/update page:

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


text:
How to import contacts from  Samsung Omnia II i8000?
How can I easily import my contacts from my old phone (Samsung Omnia II). I tried to copy them from my SIM card but I lost some of the contacts' numbers. (The contact name exists but the phone number does not.)
Please advise.

As the Omnia isn't an Android device I don't know that we'll be able to help you. What are your options for exporting from it? Android, if I recall, can import CSV and VCF formats.

I had a similar problem withe my Ace 3, this article helped me a bit. What I had to do was :

go to "contacts"
tap on "settings"
"import from SIM card"
If it did not work (like erase the numbers in your case) try erasing them from the phone and starting again, some bugs can happen. If it still does not work, you will have to ask each person to send you back there number !

Have a nice day


text:
Problem with wi-fi after updating Nexus S to Android 4
My Nexus S phone doesn't detect any wi-fi networks after the update to Ice Cream Sandwich.
Any suggestions?

I've just manually updated my GSM T-Mobile Nexus S and it connected automatically to my home wi-fi, I had all the previous settings stored, and I'm also detecting all the wi-fis from my neighbours.
Could you give more details about your issue?

My nexus S also connected automatically to my wi-fi network, download update and install the package but when it restart my wifi didn't work.


text:
How to change a default application in Ice Cream Sandwich?
I used the ADWLauncher EX by default while having Gingerbread 2.3.6.
Today I have manually updated my Nexus S to Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3, and I wanted to give the new default launcher a shot, but I cannot find anymore where to select / forget the default application for an action.
I've turned the settings of my phone inside out, googled and crawled the forums, but without success.
If anybody can tell me how to change a default application in ICS, I'd be grateful!

Yeah, I never thought I'd want to see that Complete action using... window again! :D

Doesn't "Clear default in Home Settings > Applications > Manage applications" as suggested in the picture you've posted work in ICS?

@roxan no, that's exactly the purpose of this question.

Go to Settings, Applications.  Find the app that has the default set.  Scroll down to the bottom of that view and click the "Clear Defaults" button.

Bryan, thank you so much! I inadvertently touched my screen and chose a horrible option to launch from a bookmark. I googled and browsed my settings for hours 'till I found this post. What a relief... ... and thank you Marius for asking the question I needed an answer for.

@MikeSmuts No problem :)

Try Default App Manager Pro/Default App Manager Lite. They work superbly and make life a little easier.

If for any reason it seems impossible to clear the default settings, there's a simple work-around available: Simply install another app which offers the same service (e.g. to clear the default launcher setting, install another launcher). The system will detect that another "player" is present, and thus the user might want to chose again -- so next time that activity is requested (in our example: the home button is pressed), the familiar pop-up will appear again asking to select the app to launch.
Besides: An update of an existing app of the "same group" will trigger this as well (in our example: if one of the installed launchers is updated, the popup will also be triggered next time you hit the home key).


text:
Hide the Favorites Tray from a specific home screen
At the bottom of my main home screen, I have the Favorites Tray with the default icons (Call, Contacts, Messages and Menu).
This Favorites Tray was only visible on my main home screen, but now it appears on all home screens as I swipe between them.
Question
How can I hide the Favorites Tray from a specific(s) home screen(s) ?

Doesn't the Ace use TouchWiz?

What is "other screens"? Can you post a screenshot?


text:
Can I download Android apps to a computer and then transfer to my phone

Possible Duplicate:
How to download APK file on PC from Market?

I'm wondering if I can download Android apps to my computer then transfer to a phone because I don't have a wifi connection on my phone to download.

Yes. you. can do it.

If your device has Gogle Market installed you could try share an internet connection of your PC via USB (Reverse USB Tethering)

Indeed you can - there are a number of ways - via ADB and pushing it.
A simpler way would be to either connect your device via USB to your PC and copy over the android APK files to a folder on your SD card (either internal or external on your device).
Using a file explorer like ASTRO, Estrongs or some other one of choice, you can then navigate to the folder where you placed those APKs and click on them to install.
Prior to this, you ought to enable the option ALLOW INSTALLATION FROM UNKNOWN SOURCES in ANDROID SETTINGS > APPLICATIONS.

Maybe what this user is actually asking is if he can download apps from "Market" to his computer and them pass them to the android device.
Currently I don't know how to do it, and what is more, market does not allow you to download or push apps to devices that are not listed as compatible with the app, and this is annoying because there are a lot of tablets that are not the the list.


text:
Notification Vibration Bug on Galaxy Nexus?
My Galaxy Nexus running 4.0.2 does not vibrate for any notifications while in "vibrate" mode. Haptic feedback works, and the phone vibrates when I receive phone calls, but not for notifications. The global vibrate setting under "Sound" in the menu is set to "Always", and individual apps like Gmail, Messaging, etc. have vibrate set to "Always".
Any help appreciated! Thanks!

I took the phone to two different Verizon stores, talked to phone support, and even got a replacement- to no avail. Finally I installed the Sound Manager app and set it to "Vibrate Whenever Possible". This fixed the problem!

There is a separate vibrate setting in the menu for sms messaging under Settings.

This didn't help my problem. Both of those settings were set to "Vibrate Always"

Try installing the Llama app then removing it. For some reason it fixes this, I had the same problem. There is a issue on the tracker that could help.


text:
eBooks from Amazon Market or from Android Market?
I have finally succeeded at Rooting and installing Android Market on my Fire, but now I'm wondering if there are any complications with using both the Market and Amazon to purchase ebooks.
Scenario
Say that I want to purchase an eBook and that book is available in the Android Market and the Kindle Market for the same price. I need to build some foundation in order to make a decision, here are my concerns:
Concerns

Does an eBook from Android market have a different format than a Kindle format eBook?
If so, Which one should I buy looking forward? Android Market seems to be more open while Amazon even though they are using Android they follow closed practices similar to Apple. However, Amazon is a big book seller and a strong innovative technology company.
I also have a lot of books in PDF format. Which app do you guys recommend for reading PDF from Kindle or any other Android device?
Which is the best app for reading mobi format eBooks?

Yes, an eBook from Android Market (in Google Books) has a different format from the Kindle. It would seem that you can obtain Google books in either ePub or PDF (more information here). Amazon books are in the AZW format.
This comes down to personal preference. I have read books on both Google Books and Kindle on my Xoom; I see little to no difference in quality. Both can sync to my phone to keep my place. Since you have a Kindle Fire, perhaps sticking in the Amazon ecosystem would be a good idea, since you may wish to un-root in the future.
There are a lot of PDF readers; just recently the Kindle software was updated to read PDFs. I personally use ezPDF Pro for PDF files because of speed and its ability to remember my location in PDF files from read to read.
This again, would be personal preference; however I have loaded Mobi into the Kindle app without problems.  The book acted like any other I had in regards to reading (except it did not sync across devices and had to be manually uploaded to each of them). I would suggest looking at this question as well for more information on eReaders.

So, the Kindle App does what you want it to do overall (Books, PDFs, and Mobi) and also is a major part of the Kindle Fire Amazon Ecosystem they have setup for the device; and may be the way to go if you decide to revert your Fire to its un-rooted state.
Edit (Addition):
Amazon also seems to like releasing updates that Un-root your device (and prevent further known rooting methods - for now). Source states that unless you have changed ROMs, you are susceptible at any time on WiFi to get the update.

Yeah, they push an update to me yesterday without prompting me for it, I was like WTF!! my heart started pumping, but It did not take away my root access nor my Android apps that I have installed. I still like to consume Amazon Store content, I just do not want to be limited to just that though. If they get too pushy and hard to deal with I will end up going with the Asus Transformer Prime. Probably the best thing out there as far as specs, but not for the price of a Fire


text:
Workaround needed: Buying an application for someone else in the Android Market
Reading around I can see that Android Market doesn't yet support Gift tokens or similar, and while Amazon's Android market does, its only available in the USA. So the question is, what sort of workarounds are there for this?
For example, could I log in to android market from the recipients phone with my google credentials, buy and then download the application, then logout again? Would the application still work? Can I pay with my credit card with the other persons Google wallet? Is this consistent with the usage policy of the Android market? What other options might I have?

For some apps, you could buy it on your account, then give them the APK, but this won't work for all apps, as many of them contact the market to make sure they've been paid for. That also might not be entirely legal. At the moment, I think the only option you really have is just to give them the money to buy it.

Apps are tied to the account; so while the app may work they wouldn't be able to get it back if they uninstalled it, reset the phone, etc. There is no simple, good way to do what you want currently.


text:
Where can I find a 2.3.6 stock ROM for Nexus S (i9020)?

Possible Duplicate:
Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

I've installed a hacked version of ICS three weeks ago or so and now I want to switch to the stock 4.0.3 ROM. As it needs the 2.3.6 stock ROM, I'll have to downgrade to it so that I can install ICS again.
I've found a 2.3.3 on ROM Manager. I know it may be possible to update from it to 2.3.6, but I'd like a direct approach.
I have a Nexus S (i9020), bootloader unlocked, clockworkmod recovery installed, rooted, with a hacked version of 4.0.1.

These kinds of downloads can usually be found on the XDA-Developers forum. Usually the stock ROMs are in the "General" section of the device forums and custom ROMs are in "Development". Check out this thread for a pretty comprehensive collection of stock ROMs.


text:
Battery level on Asus eee pad Transformer with dock
I'm wondering if anybody knows how the battery level is measured on the Transformer when the dock is connected.
I fully charged the other day, and after few hours of use the battery level was still 100%, so my first thought is that first uses the dock battery until this one is empty and the continues with the tablet's battery.
Can anyone confirm/deny my guess about the battery level measurement on this tablet?
Also, does it work the same when you charge the tablet though the dock, that is, starts charging the dock and when is fully charged continues with the tablet?

The Eee Pad Transformer will use the battery of the dock to both power and charge the tablet so long as it is connected. You can see this when docked and on battery because the tablet shows its battery as "charging". This gets the most use out of the tablet because when you undock it, it is most likely to have more charge than the dock.
When docked and on the charger, I am fairly sure that both charge at the same time. However, I haven't checked as my TF is docked most of the time.
Incidentally, if the dock's battery goes flat, it gets its power from the tablet (without trying to recharge its own battery).


text:
Reinstalling apps after replacing an SD card
I recently had an SD card die in the field.  I've tried everything I know and can't get anything out of it or have it recognised on any reader with any OS, so I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that it's gone. Nothing irreplaceable on it.
I bought  a replacement 8 GB card and now some of my apps don't work. Is the only way to fix them a remove/reinstall or is there some other option, especially a batch repair/update?  I've had some apps update in the normal way, some work, some don't.
Android 2.3.3
HTC Desire HD, Sense 2.1

Most apps save their settings and preferences to the internal memory.  However, many apps are written to use the SD Card for some storage as well.  This is usually done to prevent taking up too much space on the (often very limited) internal memory.  For example, many apps with "offline" mode (e.g. news readers) will place downloaded content onto a folder on the SD Card.
Some apps handle disappearance of such cache from the SD Card better than others.  In most cases though, you can get away with clearing the app cache and data via Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications menu, then tapping on the app, and tapping "Clear data" and "Clear cache" buttons, if available.
Uninstall and re-install is a last resort option and should always work.

I believe it depends on how that app was using the sd card or if it was installed on it. If the app was moved to the sd card it will probably have to be uninstalled/reinstalled.

This sounds most reasonable to me. If the app was installed to the SD card and you switched to a new SD card, then the app will no longer work.


text:
Can I buy the Samsung official extended battery for the UK Galaxy Nexus?
Samsung have released an extended battery for the US Galaxy Nexus.  I know the US and EU versions have a slightly different shape, so was wondering if this extended battery would fit my UK Galaxy Nexus?  Or if there's a version which would fit?

Where did you read they have a different shape?

@shawn I think I've seen it on Droid-Life. For some reason, I don't think they are compatible

Oh! I now remember: the LTE version is already thick as it is because of the additional LTE antenna.  So putting a LTE battery in a non-LTE version might be too big. I can't confirm if it will work or not, so hence a comment instead of an answer

In the ad I saw for the extended battery it came with a new cover, so perhaps it would work anyways? I'd say just go for it, and post your experience as an answer. :)

Engadget has a great comparison shot of the battery differences between the HSPA+ and LTE versions in their review of the Verizon (LTE) Galaxy Nexus. The short answers seems to be 'no'; the link you provided is to an extended battery for the LTE Galaxy Nexus and therefore wouldn't be compatible with your HSPA+ version.


text:
Changing end-of-list animation in MIUI
I really like the Samsung / iOS bounce at the end of lists, and I really dislike the overglow animation from Google. And since I'm only using MIUI ROMs, I'm used to being able to set up everything the way I want it, I decided to ask them the question:

And as you can see I received a positive answer. But either it's not true, or I'm completely blind.
The menu option isn't there for me. (I double-checked.) So does anyone know if it's still possible, or why she said this?

Download the MIUI control panel.

So it IS possible. I'm not sure if that's what she meant though. If you'd post this as an answer, I'll mark it as answered.

As Uri seems not to place it in an answer, I will do so -- to help other searchers see there is an answer ;)
As pointed out, there is a MIUI control panel, which should ship with most MIUI ROMs. If it is not included with yours, you will find it in an app called Extended Settings.


text:
Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?
There are several reasons to be looking for a ROM:

Upgrading or downgrading your stock ROM
Looking for firmware from a different region/language
Flashing a custom ROM for different features, removing bloat, etc.

But where can one find ROMs in the first place?  What sites are likely to have the ROM I need?
This question is intended to be canonical; please add to the wiki answer instead of posting separate answers.
See also: How do I update Android on my device?

Manufacturer Websites
While they don't usually host ROMs directly, you may find that they have software useful for upgrading stock ROMs, such as Samsung's tool Kies.  If you want to upgrade and stay stock then you should try official methods first.
Google Flagship Updates
Google hosts update packages for the flagship Nexus and Pixel devices at
https://android.clients.google.com/packages

You can't browse that link directly, but a web search is your friend here.  Search for that link plus the code name of the device and the version you want; for example, searching android.clients.google.com/packages crespo ics results in a lot of pages with this link -- the OTA Ice Cream Sandwich update for the T-Mobile Nexus S. Links for various "factory images" for Nexus devices can be found here.
XDA Forums
Probably the first place you should look after trying the official route is the XDA Developers' forums.  Stock ROMs are usually posted in the General sub-forum for your device, and custom ROMs in the Android Development sub-forum for your device.  No guarantees.
They don't have dedicated subforums for all devices, so if you have a less-popular device you should use the site search instead of the subforum search.
RootzWiki Forums
You may or may not want to check RootzWiki before XDA Forums above. Developers tend to move from forum to forum and RootzWiki provides devices for the best developers so a lot have jumped on board.
They have sections for many devices and for those that don't, there is a General section. The forums tend to be divided into 3 sections per device (not always): General, Development (ROMS and such), and Themes.
Android Forums
This site often has ROMs for more obscure devices, as well as popular ones.
PHONEDB
This site provides a long list (about 800 pages) for all kinds of devices, including Android, Blackberry, Symbian, and more. It misses a filtering mechanism, unfortunately...
TheUnlockr
Grouped by vendor, then device. Seems to be quite up-to-date and quite complete -- for sure one of the best resources.
SamMobile
This site posts stock Samsung ROMs from all over.  It does require you to sign up.
Note: you may need to register an account before downloading. If not, then the "Download" button is just pointing to the register page, and no actual file is downloaded.
Google
When in doubt, do a web search.  Make use of quotes (e.g., "vibrant" and "stock 2.2.1") in order to narrow the results and find what you need.
Shipped Roms
A collection of shipped ROMs. Contains ROMs for 40-odd devices.
MIUI
Translated from a popular Chinese ROM, MIUI is a highly customized version of Android with a large base of customization and theme options and a strong iOS aesthetic. Available for many devices and in Froyo (2.2), Gingerbread (2.3), Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0), and Jelly Bean (4.3) options.
AOKP
Android Open Kang Project (AOKP) is just like Cyanogen Mod (CM) a Android Open Source Project (AOSP) based ROM. AOKP focuses on providing extensible settings with the disadvantage that fewer devices are supported in comparison with CM.
Android Central
Another popular Android forum, similar to XDA and RootzWiki.
OmniROM
Similar to CyanogenMod, OmniROM is a committed open-source project that provides ROMs for a variety of devices.
Replicant
Similar to OmniROM, Replicant is a committed open-source project that provides ROMs for several devices (mostly Samsung). It is a fully free Android distribution (with a marked aversion to binary blobs), putting the emphasis on freedom and privacy/security.
Lineage OS
Lineage OS is the successor to CyanogenMod (in the sense that the numbering scheme matches only).  It allows for customization of the buttons at the bottom of the screen and for root access.
Flashtool for Sony Xperia
Flashtool provides an inbuilt tool - "XperiaFirm" that lets you download the stock firmware for Xperia devices. Using flashtool you can even install the downloaded firmware onto your Xperia device.
NeedROM
The website provides original & custom ROMs for more than 65 brands (mostly Chinese). In addition, it contains very useful Tools with their latest updates.
MTK Firmware
Contains a lot of MTK-based brands (mostly Chinese), and tools and drivers also are available there.
Android MTK
Similar to MTK Firmware.

I was able to find functioning build downloads using archive.org's wayback machine. See Samsung Galaxy S4 (T-Mobile) for example.


text:
Use existing contact for "Me" in Ice Cream Sandwich
My Nexus S has just been updated to Ice Cream Sandwich, and I notice that in contacts there is a new space for "me". Is there a way to assign the existing ordinary contact  for me (a contact with my name and details that I sometimes use for sharing with people, and sync with Picasa Photos etc.) to this slot?
It seems related to this question, but that is about the similar HTC specific feature found on some phones.

Same problem here. For some weird reason, it is also not possible to first create the new 'me' and then merge it with the old contact.

After trying forever (the "me" profile was never synced and could not be merged), this worked for me:
Install the Google+ app.
Set it to sync contacts.
Open your contacts again; your contact will now be set as "my profile".
Seriously.
source: https://makandracards.com/arne/7763-android-4-0-how-to-set-me-contact-to-your-existing-contact

How exactly do you Sync contacts? When used in a straightforward way, it didn't helped on my Moto G 2nd gen XT1079 -- but maybe I was doing something wrong...

Nice. After waiting a few minutes for the contact sync to happen, the Me contact was updated as you mentioned (Android 4.4.4).

This is the dumbest thing, but it works. Thank you. Android 5.1.1.

Well, it doesn't really work, it "just" syncs you data from you Google+ account into your "me" profile. The result is not the same

I searched for days and apparently the answer is : no you can't. The "me" contact can be synced with third party apps ( Google+, HaxSync... ) but for an unknow reason you can't merge a "normal" contact with the "me" contact... Maybe with Jelly Bean the problem will be solved.

As a reference, Jelly Bean didn't "change" this.

Still don't see it on 8.1

Not quite the same as "existing contact", but upon installing the Google+ app the phone synced the "Me" contact with everything in my Google+ profile.  This was on my Galaxy Nexus on ICS 4.0.4 with the latest Google+ app.

backup
Hard reset your phone to clear out all contact info (CAUTION - this will also wipe all settings, download apps, etc. on your phone - also be sure to avoid wiping your SD card)
BEFORE signing into Google, Facebook etc. or anything else that may attempt to link to your "me" contact, first reinstall your contacts including your "regular" contact card.
BEFORE signing into Google, Facebook etc. click the "me" contact on phone and (if you haven't done anything else yet that might affect the "me" contact) then on this first time opening the "me" card your phone will ask if you want to "edit" or "link" the "me" contact to an existing contact on your phone and choose the "link" option. (mine did this automatically, but otherwise you may need to choose "menu" option once your "me" contact is open)

This is completely nonsense, the need to reset totally a phone merely to edit a contact info. It smells to me as commercial war between Samsung and Google over user information.

Pull up the contact, open the menu and choose edit, then open the menu on that screen and choose join. You can then choose a contact to merge it with.

Join is not an available option on the "me" contact :(

Oh. Hm. That's odd. Can you do anything with it from your Google account, accessed through a web browser?


text:
Where did the wifi sleep policy go in ICS?
With the update to Android 4.0.3, I noticed that the wifi is always on.
I used to have the sleep policy where is turns itself of when ilse for some time.
Where did this feature go with ICS?

On a pretty much vanilla build on my EVO, I can get to it by going into
Settings->Wifi->(Menu Button)->Advanced. It's listed as "Keep WiFi on during sleep". Just be sure to tap on the left half of the "Wifi" menu item, since the right half is simply the toggle.

Indeed! Thank you! The button on the right was quite confusing. Also, I have a big thumb and whenever I touched the bar, I would simply toggle the wifi on/off.

As it turns out, the wifi is still on all the time! No matter which option I choose... Reset did not help.

@Matt: Hm, well that certainly sounds like a bug!

Holy cow, how long had I been looking for that option!  Many thanks @eldarerathis for the directions, I've now found it and set it.  Nice.


text:
No face unlock for the Nexus S?
I seems to me, that the Nexus S did not get the face unlock feature with ICS?
Why would this not be supported for the Nexus S? Is it the hardware?
I wonder because the code is open source and I assume any other competitor would not restrict this feature just because it's not perfect yet. I mean: There are still quite a few other things that also do not work perfectly.

That's correct: starting Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0.1 and until the curent (at the time of writing) 4.0.3 the Face Unlock feature is not available to any version of Nexus S (NS).
This thread on xda-dev provides various speculations as to why Face Unlock is not available on NS:

lower quality front camera hardware on the NS
the vulnerabilities of this feature
(check out the note on the setting that says that Face Unlock is low-security and experimental)
having this feature exclusively available for Galaxy Nexus

Bottom line: Face Unlock is present in various ported ICS ROMs, but it's reported to be pretty flimsy at the moment.


text:
Delete individual call log
In Gingerbread and before, long-click on an individual call log gave you also the option to delete it.
Now, in ICS, while in the Call log tab, on long-press:

on contact image(red): it opens the Contact details;
on the cal log details(yellow): nothing happen;
on the phone image(blue): re-dial

Now, I've found the Clear call log option in menu, but can someone confirm if it has more options and will let me choose the entry to clear, or it'll just delete my entire call log?
I've also found a lot of new Settings, but nothing about deleting an individual call log entry.

If you touch an individual item in the call log, and press the Menu (vertical ellipsis) you'll see a "clear from call log" option.

I just checked this and it appears to be the only way to remove an individual item from the call log.

Still can't remove from frequently called tho :-(

On Nexus S, touch the call log detail (yellow in OP image) to bring up contact log. Press Menu button to get "Remove from call log" option.

Press on the "Contact image" on the left to bring up the contact. Press vertical dots in the top right corner to get "Remove from call log" (removes all log entries for this contact).

I don't know that device are you using, but on my Nexus S with ICS 4.0.3, there are no dots in the top, and if you were talking about the Menu button, there is no option available while in the contact view.

Go in that particular contact-->press 'Menu button'-->select 'History'
You will see all the calls to that particular contact.
Press Menu-->select 'Delete'


text:
Taking a screenshot in ICS without rooting
Is it possible to take a screenshot in ICS (Galaxy Nexus) without external apps and without rooting? Most apps on the market seem to require rooted phones.
I did find this app which claims to not require the phone to be rooted but it costs $4.99 which is a bit steep for an app that only takes screenshots.

Press the Volume Down and Power buttons at the same time and hold them for a second or so (this is the vanilla behavior, at least; source).
By default on my device it will save to /sdcard/Pictures/Screenshots (or whatever your equivalent "external storage" path is, I assume).

Crazy ... it works from the lock screen, too; so if you find a locked phone and don't value your time, you can fill up the phone's storage with screenshots of the lock screen ...

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

@Gulbahar: How to take a screenshot with an Android phone? That has pretty much all of the screenshot solutions that I'm personally aware of.


text:
How to install custom stable ICS rom on galaxy S2 (rar file)?
So if you follow this link then apparently this is an unofficial stable release of ICS for the galaxy S2. Also it's been tested by the members of XDA and they also say it's legit.
So if I want to test this out, the link to the download is here, how do you install the rar file? You flash it with Odin right? I loaded some custom roms on my phone a while ago but I can't remember if you flash rar files with Odin or put it on your micro sd and run it from there..(Although I think that you do with zip files.)
Any advice would greatly be appreciated! Thanks!

I can't see any obvious mention of that particular SGS2 ICS ROM on XDA's SGS2 pages but there are a few other ICS ROMs there, all with install instructions in their main post.
Have you tried opening the RAR file with something like WinRAR or WinZip to see if there are instructions or a readme inside it?

Yep, you can flash ZIPs through recovery and TARs through Odin, but nothing uses RARs.


text:
How to decide whether a system update should be installed?
An Android device shows a notification that a system update is available. I guess it is shown because the user has to decide - otherwise it would just be installed silently.
How should the user decide whether he wants to install the update?

I've always seen that as giving you a decision whether to install it now or later when it's more convenient, not whether or not to install it. There are times when it wouldn't be convenient for my phone to tie itself up downloading and installing updates (like when I'm relying on it for communication or navigation), and there are times I really don't care what it's doing (like when I'm asleep).

Another thing to consider: You probably don't want an update to be installed silently. If you were to pull the battery during an update, for instance, you could brick the device.

Phone updates are an odd thing. Manufacturers decide if the phone is capable of handling the update (based on the device's hardware) and carriers decide when to push the updates to the handsets. There are exceptions, such as Wifi only devices, where it is solely up to the manufacturer.
However, system updates are generally a good thing. These updates bring bug fixes, security patches, and general improvements to the Android experience.
There have been some bad updates, that have broke existing features; but these have been fixed within a few days and are few and far between on recent devices.
But how to decide? If you are hesitant at all to install the update, do some searching for the device and update. Technology sites such as Gizmodo and Engadget post updates to many devices, especially if the update introduces problems. There are also many Android specific blogs that post information of patches and updates.
If no one is reporting problems then the update should be fine to install.

Mostly it lets you choose when to install it so that you can make sure you phone is plugged in during the update & so as not to tie up your phone for a few minutes if you need it.
Usually you should install an update as soon as it's convenient to do so.


text:
How do I set custom search engines in Android?
For years now, on every browser I own, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Internet Explorer, I've assigned w as a shortcut/keyword to the custom search engine http://www.google.com/search?q=site:wikipedia.org+%s&btnI.  That is, I just type w android comparison to jump to the befitting wikipedia article.  I use many, many other custom searches.
Is there a way to set this up on Android?  Not necessarily with the stock browser?

Have you tried Firefox Mobile? My phone doesn't support Firefox Mobile, but these are the kind of stuffs that Firefox Mobile might be able to do. Opera Mobile and Opera Mini also has custom search, although, AFAICT, not using the address bar but a separate search bar.

Yes, with Firefox Mobile. The search plugins from addons.mozilla.com can be installed directly in Firefox mobile.
If the search plugins from addons.mozilla.com don't cut it, Shortmarks.com lets you make your own search plugins to save on your Firefox install. This guide might help.

I'm afraid, the shortmarks solution no longer works...

With Firefox:

Tap the menu button next to the address bar:
Tap Settings.
Go to Search.
Go to Add Search Engine.
Add a name and a search address (e.g. Wikipedia and  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s)
Repeat the last two steps for each engine you want to add.

Then when you'll tap the address bar you'll be able to choose the engine you like by tapping on it.
The best way to use this feature is through the Firefox widget, which automatically proposes the engines to use.
With Chrome
I found an app that does the job (it can work with any browser), but unfortunately, it is not free if you add more than 5 custom engines.
install SearchBar Ex, then add search engine with ADD > Search > Custom Search.

There are a number of apps that will either give you a Wikipedia search widget on the home screen, or add Wikipedia as an option to the built-in search widget's drop-down selection. Have a look at a few of these: https://market.android.com/search?q=wikipedia+search

Sorry I have many, many, many such custom searches. I only used Wikipedia as a relatable example in my question, but there are no search widget in the market for many, many many of my custom searches.

@WilliamC fair enough, you might want to mention in the question that Wikipedia's only an example rather than the main focus of the question.


text:
Tethering HC3.2 with Windows Mobile
I bought a non-3G tablet because I already have a 3G phone with tethering function: HTC HD2 with stock WM6.5.
When I enable "Wi-Fi Router" program from WM I successfully create the Aldaris network (yes, that one!) that any Windows and Linux laptop can see.
But not my Iconia Tab!!!
Any ideas on how to use a tethered wifi from HC3.2? Thanks

Seems due to a limitation in the OS (Android I mean) that hides (why the hell??!?!?) ad hoc networks like HD2 creates. Solution is posted on http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1060909 and is now working!

It's not really "hiding" it, per say - Android can't connect to ad-hoc networks out of the box. Since it can't connect, it doesn't show as part of the scan for access points.

I'm not an expert in level-2 networking, but I don't think connecting to an adhoc network is very different from connecting to an infrastructure, in terms of 802.11 protocol. Maybe I'm wrong and just Android designers didn't feel the need to connect to adhoc nets from tablets/phones and forgot to tell developers to implement it. +1 to XDA

I have no idea how different it is either, but it's been a long-standing ticket on their issue tracker. For whatever reason, they've chosen not to officially support it up to this point, so you have no choice but to use modified wpa_supplicant files (as you found on XDA).


text:
How can I install Skype on my Acme tablet?
I have Acme 7" tablet. How can I install Skype on it? When I go to the Skype for Android site it seems to allow installation for mobiles only.
Also, when I go to the Android Market and sign in with my Google account it says that "There are no Android phones associated with this account". How do I manage my tablet from the web interface so I will be able to download apps from the Market?

Have you installed and configured the Market app on your tablet?

Have you signed into the Android Market on your device?
also have you ever downloaded anything else via the Android Market on the device?

If you don't want to/can't install the market on your tablet, you can download the .apk file for an app either directly from a website on your tablet or download it on your PC and then transfer it to your tablet.  After that you can use any file manager to navigate to the APK and then click on it to install it (you have to have third party app installation turned on).
I usually get my APKs at Android Community for Devs


text:
Why can't I download anything from the Market after CSC change?
I changed the CSC to my country and after that, I couldn't download anything from the Market.
It gives this error: "app name" could not be downloaded due to an error. (-101)
I tried updating  to Market 3.4.4, cleared the cache, rebooted my phone. Nothing worked. I don't have wifi at home and I get online via free wifi at a local mall. Couldn't download any app for 2 days now (that I've tried after the CSC change) but I'm able to browse.
Please help. Thank you.

I'm not familiar with the term. What's "CSC"?

@AlEverett I found this, appears to be country codes? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=779580

Also, maybe related: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=787163

I fixed it by doing a factory reset, and restoring my personal apps only and not including backups of system data.


text:
How to get more information about Android random restarts
Android randomly restarts - where would I find an error log or some other way of enabling information gathering from this process? I want to attempt to troubleshoot this.

Most logs are stored in catlog, you can use ADB (Android Debugging Bridge) to read it; there are apps on the market can be used to read catlog.


text:
What's the difference between calendar reminder types "alert" and "status bar notification"?
In the calendar reminder settings, these are the two options: "alert" and "status bar notification." However, I'm a little confused between the exact difference between the two. Is alert simply the same thing as status bar notification except that it will play a ringtone if one has been selected? But if that's the case, why is there a ringtone option even when you have chosen "status bar notification?"

"Alert" will cause a new window with the event details (or a list of events with their info, if more than one) to pop up on top of the active one  and take focus when the reminder occurs. It also puts a notification icon in your status bar tray. The "status bar notification" setting causes the status bar icon to appear but doesn't automatically bring up the details dialog.


text:
Help controlling the cursor in swype?
I've got swype pre-installed on my Epic4G, and after a recent update (which also introduced an exasperating auto correction "feature") I'm finding that my cursor won't stay put -- it pops to the end of the word instead of staying where I set it. Say I type twowords and then realize I need a space -- I go set the cursor between two and words thinking that I'll hit the space bar and separate them, but the cursor, which definitely landed where I wanted it, hops to the end of twowords. If I try again it stays, but the first time it consistently hops to the end of the word.
Is there a setting for this anywhere?

When does this happen? I recall seeing it in the web browser, but not in any other applications.

Are you on the latest version of Swype?   I remember this happening on my Droid (2.2.2), but I believe it stopped with a Swype upgrade.   I'm on a new phone now, so I can't double check it.   It definitely does not behave that way on my Droid Bionic on 2.3.

@SaintWacko It happens in any application. I haven't noticed any difference between applications.

@TomG I have Swype 3.4.82.25814.25877.

You may want to check whether there's a newer version of Swype for your phone -- my Droid (Android 2.2.2) has Swype 3.6.84.2668.t100.26699 and my Bionic (2.3.4) has 3.25.91.34176.342744391.Targa_Ver4.

@TomG ... if you offer that as an answer and tell me how I'd go about checking for a newer version of Swype (it was preinstalled) you could get an answer accepted and I could update swype.

I don't know if a preloaded version of Swype can be updated with a Beta or not, but  beta.swype.com is the starting point for downloading the Swype installer, which will then download the actual Swype keyboard (you must register on beta.swype.com first).
Swype also has user forums, this page lists their Samsung-specific boards.  I took a quick look under the Epic section and didn't see anything applicable, but you may find more on a deeper search.

Swype has something that they call the "editing keyboard", which pops up a d-pad, arrow keys, cut/copy/paste keys and other stuff. You can access it by swyping from the Swype key to the Num key.


text:
Wi-Fi icon next to apps in android market
In Android market some app have a Wi-Fi icon next to them.
Some examples are Cordy, Fieldrunners HD, Flight Control, Where's My Water?, Wind-up Knight, World of Goo.
What dose it mean that these apps have this icon next to them?
I'm using Galaxy Nexus.

It means that a Wi-Fi connection is strongly recommended to download them. This is usually because the apps are very large, such as World of Goo which is ~48 MB.
The newest version of the Market (v3.4.4 as of writing) displays a warning that lets you download it anyway, but I think that older versions just wouldn't let you download at all via a cellular connection (not positive on that, but I seem to recall seeing it myself).

It means you can only download those apps when your phone is on a WiFi connection.
If you're on 3G and you attempt to load one of those (I tried Cordy) you'd get the following message:

Download required Wi-Fi This download may be too large to be made over
  a mobile connection. It is likely to remain paused until you are on
  Wi-Fi.


text:
Where can I get Android Market App for my Tablet?

Possible Duplicate:
How can I add the market to my device?

I do not have Android Market App installed on my Tablet. When I try download Google Maps App - it redirects me to link which look like that market://details?id=com.goodle.android.apps.maps and my browser fails on it. I guess I have to have Android Market App installed in order to install other apps. Right? Where can I get Android Market App ?

Which tablet do you have?

Google Maps and Android Market are not freeware apps, and are available only on Android devices certified by Google.  Aside from using other marketplaces, you can try installing 3rd-party custom ROMs such as CyanogenMod (if available for your device) that provide Google apps as an add-on.


text:
Galaxy Tab 7" - can I install the original Android? any version would do
I can't stand Samgsung's bloated customization of Android. It's slow and horrible.
Is there a way to get a custom rom for it? It doesn't have to be honeycomb or icecream sandwich. All I want is the original android system and basic google applications.
Particularly the Calendar and Contacts app are painful to look at. I would like to replace those with the originals, made by Google.
Is this possible? How?

Which exact model of the Tab do you have?  There are at least 5 different models in the USA: two GSM-based (AT&T SGH-I987 and T-Mobile SGH-T849), two CDMA-based (Sprint SPH-P100 and Verizon/US Cellular SCH-I800) and the WiFi-only model (GT-P1010.) There are some other international models as well.  Each model is slightly different hardware-wise, so the custom ROMs are usually not interchangeable across them.

I have GT-P1000, bought in the UK without a carrier. It's WiFi and GSM.

There are quite a few Galaxy Tab roms on the XDA forums, here, most of them with instructions on how to do it.


text:
Ringtones directory won't update in settings
I removed some of the stock ringtones (from my ROM) that I didn't want from /system/media/audio/ringtones and added some new ones that I got from the xda forums via my SD card and RootExplorer.
When I open the Sound/Default Ringtone menus in settings, some of the old ringtones are listed and new ones are listed as well, none of them play. The only ones that do are the few that I left in /system/media/audio/ringtones and a few stored on my SD card.
How can I fix this issue so that my phone recognises that all files are in their proper directories?

Have you restarted your phone since you replaced them?

Yes. Twice already. There's no change.

To update the ring tone directory, the media scanner has to run. Usually restarting the phone will do this, but if media scanner is not checking that directory when the device starts you can try to create a file in the sdcard ringtone directory with an app that triggers media scanner. I think Astro File Manager will trigger it.
If that doesn't work, you could try clearing the cache (I assume root since you are using root explorer and deleting system ringtones), the system may be caching that information and thinks they are still there.

The media scanner running fixed it! Although the media scanner ran when I restarted my phone previously, but for some reason the directory didn't update. Would that be because of the cache?

it could be because of caching, I am not 100% sure it caches the data in /cache, but it makes sense to me that it would because it scans the directory and doesn't update it unless it rescans.

Installing Astro and browsing to the file fixed it for me.


text:
How can I prevent my music apps from launching and playing on their own?
When plugging headphones into my Droid X, I can listen to music for a little while. The issue will start if the headphones rotate while in place. This somehow triggers an event and my Droid X will start to play the default player, sometimes it will play Songbird...sometimes both. Sometimes when it does this it just keeps playing and pausing music. It seems really messed up on the hardware level. I intend to keep the device, as the only real issue is the default players launching.
My question is this: How can I prevent the default player(s) from launching and playing music ever?

After doing some more research, I found a thread with a lot of users having the same exact problem:
Their solution is to use either Headset Blocker or Disable Autoplay apps. This seems to have sort of worked. Just make sure that taskkiller isn't disable either of these.
I am still experimenting on how to fix this issue...
Edit1: I still see the same issue even though both suggested apps are running. I believe the taskkiller app may be causing this issue. I am going to try disable it and seeing if this gets anywhere.
Edit2: Still no luck. I am going to try rooting my phone and installing the Autostarts app