text:
What's wrong with the MHL connector (for HDMI output) on the Samsung Galaxy S3
MHL is an emerging standard for connecting mobile devices to HD displays.  A lot of new smartphones support MHL via a dual-purpose connector that supports both micro-USB cables and MHL-HDMI adapters.
Samsung advertises the Galaxy S3 as having one of these micro-USB / MHL connectors.  The micro-USB works great, but my MHL-HDMI adapter doesn't work with it.

Samsung has changed the "pin layout" on this port so that it is not compatible with standard MHL accessories - even ones made by Samsung.
If you want this functionality (HDMI out) for your SGS3, you will need to buy the Samsung adapter that is made specifically for this phone model, and you won't be able to re-use that adapter with other devices.
Personally, I think it is better to avoid buying the Samsung adapter.  For starters, it is getting such that you don't know what you are getting with Samsung mobile accessories.  They have done this before (e.g. the pseudo-PDMI connector on their tablets) and are now labelling products as MHL that are incompatible with the MHL standard and other products.
As well as causing confusion and extra expense for their users, this undermines this useful emerging standard, is inconvenient and inefficient, and it is bad for the environment as it blocks the re-use of accessories.
But I don't mean to turn this into an anti-Samsung post at all - I think the SGS3 is a great phone.  They are, of course, just trying to increase their accessory revenues.  It is up to consumers now - if this move does not increase their accessory revenue then they probably won't repeat it.
Answer edited to add this site about the issue:
http://www.galaxymhl.com/

Good rant. Proprietary accessories are evil.


text:
Convert number in call log to Gmail Contact
When I get a call from some number I know I want to convert it into a contact. I expected to be able to do something like long press, then type the contact name, but when I long press and select add to contacts, it just kind of disappears into my contact list.
I'm sure everyone does this all the time, and so I am missing a really obvious way, but perhaps someone can enlighten me how to do this easily.
[edit]
Samsung Galaxy S, with Samsung overlay on Android 2.2, TMobile

Both Dialer and Contacts apps can vary per phone model due to Android OS version, as well as manufacturer or carrier overlay.
Usually though, in the call log when you tap on the new number it gives you an "Add to contacts" option.  At that point it brings up a list of all contacts, so that you can add this number to an existing contact. However, there should also be a button to create a new contact, which is probably what you're overlooking.

Ah, so I click the add contacts button and it does carry the number through. That is indeed what I was missing. Thanks.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
In what directory does the Dolphin HD browser store its files?
I already have root access and tried to use ES File Explorer to search for "dolphin" but to no avail.

try searching for thunar :) Are you looking for the data files or the download directory?

Okay I'll try that. I'm looking for the data files. I'm presuming that the download directory is the same as that of the default web browser?

Hm - just tried that and also tried mobotap (the parent company). neither worked.

Applications store their data in a folders named after their package.
These folders are located in data/data.
The easiest way to find out the package name is to look at the Play Store url.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.mgeek.TunnyBrowser

The package name is the part that comes after id=.
You can see that Dolphin's package name is mobi.mgeek.TunnyBrowser, so the full path is:
/data/data/mobi.mgeek.TunnyBrowser

Polished answer... :)

It would probably be worth also mentioning that the location Dolphin uses for backup files on the sdcard is (sdcardpath)\TunnyBrowser.

/data/data/mobi.mgeek.TunnyBrowser

I found it on the SD card in the folder "tunnybrowser"...

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


text:
Battery drains even when plugged in while using Nav app on long road trips
I have a Nexus S running Android 4.0.3 and Google Maps 6.8.1.
When I use the Google Maps navigation app, the battery slowly drains, even when plugged into my car charger.  After 5-6 hours, the phone will shut down due to loss of power.
I have already tried:

Using only 2G mode
Configured all of my (configurable) apps not to check for updates, fetch mail, etc, except when I tell it to.
Reduced CPU speed, changed CPU governor, etc

I've had limited success reducing the CPU speed too much, as it makes the nav app unresponsive when I set it too low.
I have not tried dimming the screen much, as I can already barely see it when driving with sun glasses on.
Is this normal behavior, or is my phone faulty (or misconfigured)?
What else can I do?

Perhaps there's a better way to charge my phone (different charger/USB cable?)
Perhaps there's some way to automatically disable the screen except when within a certain distance of a turn?  I.e. if the screen auto-blanked after 5 minutes, then would re-activate whenever there were spoken instructions, that would be fine with me.
Perhaps there's another nav app that's more friendly on the battery?

EDIT Even in my car, I use an A/C charger with a DC/AC inverter, rather than one of the round cigarette-lighter style chargers.

I've seen this behavior, too; I assumed the problem is that the display uses a lot of power.  Maybe turn off the display, and rely on the voice.

I've seen it to on a Motorola Droid. I've not encountered yet on my Galaxy Nexus, but mostly because I haven't been on any long trips with it.

I have the same problem in both my 2003 VW Jetta and my 97 Dodge RAM 3500.

It's probably your charger.
I tested my Nexus S with the following:

dumb charger (only had +/- lines connected), capable of 2Amps (2.000mA)
Inlined voltage meter to measure currents
Brightness maxed, set CPU to 1.2GHz, performance governor, benchmark running

The device adhered to the USB standard and never draw more than 500mA (0.5A), although the charger is capable of 4x more current. It lost 2% percent during <5mins when the benchmark ran.
I know that apple encodes power settings into their wall chargers by setting voltages to D+/D- pins of the USB connector. I'm not aware of how to tell the phone to just draw more power and dismiss the USB's 500mA safety regulation.
If you have such a charger, give it a try.
EDIT:
I could fix my own Nexus S' charging behaviour by using a kernel with force AC fast charge option enabled (for example Trinity kernel for Nexus S / Android 4.0-ICS) and this Fastcharge widget.

So try a "smart" charger, such as one from Apple?  How can I tell if my charger does this?

Well, good question. That's just what I have observed, I have other chargers, but none I can intercept easily (to measure current) at the moment. Your car charger might be misdetected as USB. See this, it's about USB-charging versus (forceful) AC-fast-charging: http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-1564973.html

FYI, I have used a number of "chargers", including my Palm Pre and Kindle chargers (which are just AC-to-USB adaptors, with a USB-to-micro-USB cable), and have had the same results.  But I also have no reason to think these aren't just as "dumb" as the one you tested.

It seems that you have to have a kernel or rom installed that supports this. There's an app to toggle fast charge for supported roms: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.incredicontrol.fastchargewidget

One more question: What's shown in the settings under 'Battery' when you use your chargers: (USB) or (AC)?

It says it's charging by AC.

At least. I found that with the kernel patched my Nexus S only will draw 0.6A, i.e. 100mA more than before. That might still be too little power. Sadly, I don't know any further actions to improve this.

I have had this happen to me.
What I did that helped a bit was to turn the screen off when I was on a long stretch and didn't need to see my next direction for a long while.

That's what I've been doing, too.  But it's an imperfect solution.

I believe this is a combination of two things, as I used to experience this with my EVO as well.

Crappy charger

as ce4 stated, car chargers are often USB trickle charge, and will not do much. Going for the good, sometimes more expensive powered car chargers or DC/AC converters might help you out there

HEAT

my phone would get so hot just from being in the car and being on (I do live in Florida..) that the battery would function very poorly. Heat also degrades the battery in the long run, so bummer there too.

I just noticed, after a recent update to Google Maps, that there is now an option for Screen dimming when in navigation mode.  The description reads:

Screen dims between instructions to conserve power

I have not gone on a long enough trip to test the functionality, but it looks promising.
Update
This feature appears to only be available when not plugged into the charger, so not very useful in my scenario.

it might just be the cable you use, I recently got a powerbank and I found out that my device charged slower when I use a regular USB cable with it (even drains faster than it charges when using the phone at the same time) but when I plug in the cable supplied with the powerbank it charged as fast as it does when I use a regular AC charger, I tried the same thing with my Computer and the result was the same.
I would suggest you swap your USB cable (which supports data and charging) for one that can only charge the device.

Buy a power inverter for your car and a 10Watt 2amp charger with dual usb ports and plug your charger as you would at home. That is what works for me.
I can use pandora and Google maps or waze at the same time while surfing the Web at times. It makes no difference.

Buy this from Amazon:
Powergen White 2.4-Amp (12 Watt) Dual Usb Wall Charger W/Sviwal Plug Designed For Apple And Android Devices
Plug this in to a power inverter and you can use your phone to its full potential. 100% brightness.  Gps, YouTube, Pandora, surfing, etc. You won't ever run out of power.
My only issue is sometimes i have a bad Android cable. Make sure you have a good Android cable and your set.

This doesn't answer the question. I'm already using a similar charger with the same capabilities.

authors: محمدہادی فولادی


text:
How do I prevent the Browser and Dolphin HD from deleting old history entries?
So I've noticed that for both the default browser and for the Dolphin HD browser, all the history entries get deleted when you go beyond a certain number of pages visited. Does anyone know how I can prevent this from happening? I often do like to look at what I visited in the far past.

There is no more Dolphin HD. It is just Dolphin now (and Dolphin Jetpack). How many history entries do you have? I still have my history from last month.

In the current application, Dolphin Browser,  under settings > Privacy > under  "Clear data" and under "Clear data when exiting"

Dolphin Settings
Well, for starters, I'm looking at my own Dolphin Browser Settings page right now and under Data settings, you have the option to manually clear certain data types like history and cookies and also have the option to manually back the data up to your local or external (SD) storage disk.
Data Backup
In addition, under Sync settings, you can actually backup an unlimited amount of your history, bookmarks, cookies, etc. to your Dolphin Connect Account (which you can connect to Google or other social services). So that may be an option you may want to look into, is data backup so you'll actually have access to unlimited amount of the data you use from any device you use Dolphin on, despite Dolphin's local limit.

Drawing The Line
As far as I'm concerned (and someone, correct me if I'm wrong), at this stage I don't know that there is an option for you. The new Dolphin Browser doesn't have any limit so I'm not sure how much assistance any one of us will be knowing that Dolphin HD is an outdated version of Dolphin which is no longer supported.
The new Dolphin Browser can be found here.
Good luck and let me know if I can help any further! I'll continue looking in the meantime, but it is doubtful that I'd find much.


text:
ES File Explorer suddenly not able to view root?
My tablet is rooted, and all the "root" features on ES File Explorer are on. It's just that for some reason, after I do a search, the root files suddenly (and mysteriously) fail to show up, and then I have to disable the "root" features on ES File Explorer and re-enable them in order to see the root files again. And then it repeats itself.
I'm using a Lenovo ThinkPad tablet. Has anyone else seen this happen, or know what I could do?

Is this still an open issue -- or did the latest updates of the app fix it already?

I've found GhostCommander (open source) to be just as good, and it's smaller (takes up less room on limited flash space!). You can find it on Fdroid repository.


text:
Galaxy S3 Emails showing in different colours
This is an extremely minor but extremely frustrating issue with my Galaxy S3.
Basically the email client out the box (synced to my Exchange Active sync account) has a black background and white text...so far no problem.
However as people have been sending emails to me the phone seems to (arbitrarily is seems) to render either a white background or black background.
I then thought no problem I will switch the font colour to white...which works great when the email is rendered with black but renders the email text invisible when a white background email comes in.......has anyone had a similar issue??

I think I have found the solution to this.
Within Settings -> Power Saving there is a setting for Background Colour for email and internet. Turning this off seems to have solved my issues.
My sanity has now returned!

I just turned the text to grey so if the background is white or black, I can see the text.
You have to open an email and click Menu. There is the option Change font colour, middle one is grey.

I am also having this problem (or something similar) but as I don’t currently have the device I haven’t tried changing the colours yet.
As far as I can tell the problem is not random. It seems to only happen on emails that have been received after the device has been setup with the exchange profile.
If you delete your exchange profile from the device, then set it up again, after re-syncing you'll notice that you can now read the unreadable emails from previous syncs. You'll also notice that this problem occurs on any new emails you receive after setting up the device.
Do you know what version of exchange you are using? I've got exchange 2010.
I'm afraid I dont have a solution, but if anyone reading this does please answer this thread!

Just like to say I am not getting any text on the emails so the background/font colour 'fix' has not had an affect :-(

Also I would like to say I actually called Samsung up over this issue. They admitted there is 'possibly' a problem with the 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich rom upgrade and they have received a number of calls over this issue.

By default, the email background colour is set in black and the font colour in white. I have the problem with no text in white background for my exchange server and windows live emails, but after changing the email background colour to white and the font colour to black when I received the email with no text in white background, the problem has since gone away.


text:
How to see the back cover referenced on page 2 in Google Books?
In Google Books app, page 2 of "Bleak House" by C. Dickens or "Faust" by J.W. Goethe and other public domain books reads:
This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. See the back of the book for more detail.
How do I see the back of the book and what is the information presented there?

Turns out the last paragraph added to the book is meant and of course not turning it in the overview.
This is the information:
This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world’s books discoverable online.
It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subjectto copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain booksare our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that’s often difficult to discover.
Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book’s long journey from thepublisher to a library and finally to you.
Usage guidelines
Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to thepublic and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps toprevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:

Make non-commercial use of the files: We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files forpersonal, non-commercial purposes.
Refrain from automated querying: Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google’s system: If you are conducting research on machine translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage theuse of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.
Maintain attribution: The Google “watermark” you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them findadditional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.
Keep it legal: Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that justbecause we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can’t offer guidance on whether any specific use ofany specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book’s appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manneranywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe.

About Google Book Search
Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readersdiscover the world’s books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the webat http://books.google.com/


text:
How do I disable receiving calls and messages?
I use my HTC Evo 3D (currently Android 2.3, soon Android 4.0) to record cycling workouts (GPS + Endomondo). During workouts, I don't want to receive any calls / messages for the following reasons:

I don't want to be disturbed when relaxing
I want to conserve the battery
sometimes I listen to music and calls/messages interrupt the music, which I don't like, especially when the calls are business-related during my non-work time

How would I accomplish this? The flight mode doesn't allow GPS to be enabled, therefore this isn't a solution.

I use Endomondo as well (albeit with a HTC Desire, Android 2.2) and GPS still works even if Flight Mode is enabled. Of course, the map feature of Endomondo won't work if you do that (as it downloads the map tiles from the Internet), but who uses that whilst they're running...

Also, a fix for #1 and #3 would be to simply put your phone on silent. My music player (Spotify) isn't interrupted by messages/ emails/ calls if silent mode is enabled.

There are several ways to accomplish this:

Airplane mode: You say that it doesn't allow GPS, but it does. You need to enable GPS when you're in airplane mode.
Disable radio: In dialer enter *#*#4636#*#*
Select phone info and pick turn off radio.
Take out your SIM card. This one is only applicable if you have a GSM device.
You can enable call forwarding in Phone settings -> Call forwarding.

If your only problem is that calls interrupt music than you can try using a music player allows you to set how audio focus changes are handled. One example is Poweramp.

I use Google Voice and only give out that number for calls and texts. It has a very nice "Do Not Disturb" feature.

Mr. Number is an app that lets you set profiles based on volume profile (silent, vibrate, etc.) that allows you to block all call/texts for a given profile. When you're done, simply switch off that profile!
Also, as Richard mentioned, Airplane mode + GPS activated would be a wonderfully simple solution :)

On my Nexus S with MIUI ROM I use Firewall: turn it on, select the "reject all calls" behaviour, and I'm set...


text:
Restoring LG Optimus 2X P990 back to stock LG software
I have flashed a lot of custom ROMs onto my phone, like CM7, kangs and such of CM9 before it's released, MIUI, and so on. I didn't want to wait till the third quarter of 2012 before I got some IC on my phone. Now that we're almost that far into 2012, I was wondering how I could restore my phone back to LG's stock Gingerbread software - the one that i had before I flashed CM7 - and unroot my phone.
I have lost my backup so I cant restore. I'll have to use smart or NVFlash or something like that. How can I restore my LG Optimus 2X P990 back to original LG software, so that I am ready for updating it to LG's ICS release?

There is a zip file that is posted in this video description that you can flash via Clockworkmod or your favorite custom recovery that will revert your device completely to stock (including removing the recovery image and such).
The video goes through the process step-by-step, for your convenience, but it's basically flashing that file via CWM, and then being happy :)
It also goes through how to unroot, if needed!

so if i flash the zip file and unroot, i am back into stock, so i can install new updates from lg without problems? It also removed cwm recovery? It says G2X, i have the O2X, will it still work? Or is it two separate files?

As this site points out, they're the same, one is just the international version and one is not. And yes, the .zip file should remove CWM recovery and unrooting should allow you to perform the OTA update.

But it looks like the interface and launcher, etc is completely different on the g2x, than my o2x was. And i dont want that

it should all be returned to whatever the stock one was...

and it should update to ICS soon anyways you said, right? So you'll just have it for a little bit before the update if it turns out to not be what you want.

So, the ics update for the G2X and the O2X would look the same, so, if i'll restore the one for the G2X, like in the video, it would work, and then i could update it to ics when it comes. (By unrooting it first) I can always just root it and flash back to CM7/CM9 if i dont like it, or if it doesn't work

Completely true. Backing up first would be advised, or you could do a fresh CM7/9 if you'd like to revert :)

smooth, i'll download the zip and wait for ics from lg, but you are 100% sure that the G2X version would NOT harm my Optimus 2X P990?

here is another video that is specifically for the Optimus 2X, but everywhere I can find the P999 and P990 are referred to as the same device, except one is T-mobile. I cannot say I am 100% sure this will work however, as you said, if it fails, restoring to a CM image would not be difficult while we look for other options.

I'll give it a go, i can live with a non european looking(G2X) until the update comes, because then it will look normal, right?

Will this also install the lg recovery? It's come to my attention that the T-Mobile G2X and the LG G2X are not the same devices, i THINK, not certain, that the LG G2X has the same layout and stuff as my optimus 2x had

a crap, bootloops without recovery

use the answer to this question to install a new recovery, sorry it didn't work! :(

Fixed it, ended up using SmartFlash to flash stock rom. Got the firmware from XDA

glad you got it solved!

Yeah, me too, thanks for the help though:-) Now i'm ready for ics from LG:-) Tried another update from lg, and it worked, so i am sure ics will be updated safely. If ics from LG comes in this century..... lol

feel free to update my answer with the steps you took, or add your own answer!

I fixed it:
I ended up using SmartFlash to flash stock ROM. Got the firmware from XDA.
Links:
SmartFlash tools & drivers: http://android.modaco.com/content/lg-optimus-2x-2x-modaco-com/335494/13-apr-smartflash-stock-baseband-release-1035-21-20110405/
Firmware: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1035041
Steps:

Download firmware for your location
Download SmartFlash tools and drivers
Connect phone to computer on the S/W Upgrade screen - description below
Let windows install the drivers
Open SmartFlash
Go to "Rom copy D/L
Select CP bin and AP bin files - description below
Make sure "normal mode" is selected
Make sure "erase CAL data" is unchecked
Make sure channels and such are matching your phone - you'll recognize it
Select start and wait till it's completed and your phone will be up and running again with Stock ROM!

CP bin = *.fls file in firmware archive
AP bin = *.bin file in firmware archive
Get into S/W Upgrade screen by pulling your battery out, holding the volume down button and plugging your pc cable in. Hold the volume down until the S/W Upgrade screen appears


text:
HTC One X - recording filters high frequencies
I've got an HTC One X, on which I'm trying to record uncompressed WAV audio.
In particular, I'm interested in a 13.5 kHz sound. Other Android devices pick up that frequency easily, and so do iOS devices, but the HTC One X doesn't.
For example, the spectrogram below shows the same recording from the HTC One X (top) and an HTC One V (bottom), recorded with the same app (called Hertz, but any will do), with identical settings (mainly 44,100 Hz sampling rate).
Why is the One X not picking up the same?

Is the microphone different?
Is there any low-pass filter applied that I'm not aware of? If so, how can remove it?

Trying with different apps (e.g. Audalyzer) doesn't make any difference.

It doesn't say it on HTC's website under the specs for the One X, but this review points out that the phone has dual-microphones, used for sound cancellation during phone calls. My guess is perhaps your recording app is recording from the wrong microphone? Or using both to cancel out the pitch you're looking for?
I'd look for settings in your recording apps about using the dual-microphones. I don't have a phone with two, so I can't test that for you :/
Good luck though!

Thanks for the insightful comment, I didn't notice that about this phone. Unfortunately I haven't yet found an app that can let me choose what mic I want to use, nor any settings that would stop the filtering.

I have the same issue. After playing around with One X a little bit I'm pretty sure the issue is with the noise cancellation thing, most likely software issue.
There are 2 microphones on the One X - one at the bottom and one at the top. I played a high frequency sound on my earphones and tested 2 cases:

I put both speakers next to the bottom mic. Sound level was very low, but it was there.
I put one speaker next to the bottom mic and one next to the top mic. This time sound level was pretty much 0.

So it seems that what the top mic picks up is cancelled from what the bottom mic picks up. I haven't figured out how to disable this feature.
Any luck on your side?

No luck on my side either. HTC confirmed that it's a noise cancelling feature implemented in hardware, so there is no way around it. I found this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=700958, tried but didn't work for me.


text:
Low space on HTC Desire with CyanoGenMod 7.1: how to solve it?
I have an HTC Desire GSM.
This phone has the known problem of limited memory, so that it was impossible to install more than a couple of apps without running into the "Disk space low" problem.
So I rooted it, installed CyanogenMod7 and App2SD. I moved to the SD card almost all of the application (except those that needs notifications: those won'd work if moved to the SD).
Still, I periodically get the "Low space" message; it is as if the apps were storing their data on the phone memory. If I go to settings -> applications and clear some application's data, then clear the browser cache, I get rid of the message for a couple of days.
How can I definitely get rid of the "Low space" notification, while keeping my applications installed?
Please note:

I've read that it could be possible to repartition the SD card and "mount" it so that it extends the phone own memory. I've seen several conflicting instructions about the procedure (and, e.g. the order of the partitions on the SD card) and, while I managed to partition the card, I never managed to have Android "mount" the extra partition. I've also read instructions saying that recent versions of Cyanogenmod don't support the sd partition anymore.
The phone is already rooted, hence solutions requiring root are OK
I installed Cyanogenmod 7.1.0, but I have not particular preference to that mod. If necessary, I am open to install any mod that works on the phone and is stable for everyday use.

UPDATE:
This wiki page is the reference that says that the sd partition is not supported anymore:

Apps2ext (previously called apps2SD) moved all user installed apps to a secondary ext partition on your sdcard. This method had the advantage of being straight forward and simple, However, it had the drawback of being difficult to set up. This method is no longer officially supported by CyanogenMod

This is likely a duplicate of http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/5519/htc-desire-low-on-internal-storage-im-clueless-any-help . Could you have a look over there?

@ce4 my fault, I should have mentioned I had read that question before asking my own. I don't think it is a duplicate because 1) the other question is about using the original firmware and 2) the top answer is about using titanium backup to "integrate" app updates into the rom, but I have no such updates (I checked).

Many ways lead to rome:

Try a ROM that specifically fixes your problems: I use an ICS build, Sandvold's ICS for Desire which comes with 4 different App2SD methods included (XDA thread) which I find rather stable. You can have a look over to XDA's Desire forum, to search for more roms.
Use Link2SD, create a 2nd ext2/ext3/ext4 partition that a choice of your apps get moved to (manually) and symlinked from /data/ to. See app on Google Play, official FAQ.
CM7 also supports the standard move to sdcard method that you can also use (and might already be aware of. Downside: /data get's full anyway really soon)
You could try to flash a different bootloader (called hboot on desire, that has another partition layout. See Alpharev for instructions and downloads, there's data++ with 180MB and cm7r2 with close to 300MB free for apps at the expense of shrinking other partitions (/system, /cache/, ...). Not every ROM fits all of these though. WARNING: Not for the faint hearted! Read about the risks!

I also like DroidSail Super App2SD Lite. On my HTC Droid Incredible, the problem lies in the data partition, not the app. You should post that.

There is a post on the cyanogenmod forum that explains how to solve the problem.
I followed it and have had no more problems! It boils down to this:

use the Rom Manager to partition the SD card
Install S2E and use it to move the caches to the SD card

i was exactly like you but with cm7.2 i partitioned my sd and mounted it easily using terminal emulator writing only one line of on each boot and then quick reboot from link2sd then everything is completely fine that line is:
mount -t ext2 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /data/sdext2
but before all that you should open link2sd and select the ext2 then reboot

Does this mean that you have to do the mount each time you reboot your phone, or turn it off/on?

no. his rom doesn't support /etc/init.d/* scripts (where link2sd would place a mount script). Cyanogenmod supports this, so you just could give that a try. You have to repartition your sdcard though. Plus: You should not run your phone without that exact sdcard anymore (because apps have been moved in a non-standard app2sd way)

@fdierre well I don't reboot every day so it works fine with me

@ce4 he can use the sdcard without formatting or losing apps just use link2sd and it will do it all for you


text:
HTC one X moving to next email
In the HTC one X mail client there doesn't seem to be a way to move up and down to the next email from an open email (as i could previously do on my Desire). Is there a way to do this that i haven't spotted?

which email client are you using?

In the Gmail client, you can go to the next or previous mail by swiping right or left.
In the stock Email client, there is an arrow on the menu bar.

You have to turn off "Threaded View" in the email client.  Once this is done, the "Menu" drop down will have a next and previous option.  Go to the email client and go to Menu > Settings > General settings > Show threaded view.  Uncheck this and you are good to go.

Actually if you slide to the right you get the next email. Similarly if u slide to the left u go to the previous one


text:
Cannot make changes to specific folder
My phone is rooted with aokp build 38 on it. It is a Verizon Galaxy Nexus (toro)
There is a folder /sdcard/data that I can't make any changes to. Some of my apps are trying to use this folder but are not able to because any changes to this folder fail.
I tried deleting it but was unable to. I even used adb shell with root access and tried to rmdir, but it says "Permission Denied"
I also tried to chmod 777 to give full access to the folder, but I still was unable to make any changes to it.
I'm at a loss as of what to do to make this directory writeable again.

Make a backup of your data first.

every folder and file in the /sdcard/data directory is 0 bytes.

This looks like a corrupted filesystem or a defective sdcard (see correction). Especially, folders have a usual minimum size of 4.0K.
I'd suggest you to back up your data first, then check for errors:
Does "dmesg" show filesystem errors on mmcblk0 or similar?
If so try to backup, reformat sdcard (see correction) and restore or replace the faulty sdcard.
(EDIT) Correction:
The Galaxy Nexus has no SDCard but a unified EXT4 filesystem for /data that also includes /sdcard (which is symlinked to /data/media). You might solve the problem with a wipe. But that will also delete all of your /sdcard content too.
You might have luck entering recovery and adb'ing into it to fsck.ext4 your /data partition, I'm however not sure if your rom supports this command

 # boot to recovery first!
adb shell
cat /proc/partitions
 # look for the biggest one and replace the ?? accordingly
fsck.ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk???

Here's an external report about a similar issue:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1541379

How do I get adb to recognize my device when it's in recovery?  It always says device not found.  (I feel like it should just see it, but maybe I'm wrong.)

Some recoveries don't start adb internally but offer an option to do so in the menu. If adb is missing altogether you can start a different recovery temporarily: download a recovery image from https://clockworkmod.com/rommanager and boot to fastboot mode. Then execute 'fastboot boot <recovery-...img>' Adb should work until the next reboot then

I ended up just restoring to stock.  I'll reflash a custom ROM later.  I couldn't get my computer to recognize the phone when I was in recovery.  I believe your answer was correct though so I'll mark it as such.

Try going to /data/media, it should be the same folder as /sdcard. I think the files you're trying to delete might be virtual, I had this exact problem while trying to clean up in /sdcard/Android/data until I realized that I could also find them at the path specified.

what are 'virtual' files on a vfat/ext4 partition? the 0-byte sizes of folders are a rather clear indication of fs problems, most probably some directory inode is not accessible/parseable and gets stuck at 0 byte.#


text:
HTC One X IMAP marking emails as read
I've synced my yahoo account to my HTX one X's mail client using IMAP which syncs regularly every 15 minutes, however if i've not looked at the phone for a while the email will mark itself as read and the notification disappears so i'm missing new emails if i dont open the client regularly. Is there anyway to stop this from happening?


text:
What do the 2 pins on the back of the Nexus S do?
I'm really frustrated with a Nexus S turning off while in my pocket. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the pin positions, or these 2 strange back pins and contacts on the cover that don't seem to do anything:

I guess those tell the phone "the back cover is on", which must mean something to the phone.  When I put a piece of paper between those pins and the back cover, the phone at least doesn't seem to do the (literal 5 minute) "flash disk check" when the phone comes on.
Is blocking these pins from contacting a bad thing? Will it help to stop the phone from turning off in my pocket?

GPS antenna, maybe?

NFC, see my answer :)

@jlehenbauer I was going to say that first and then I questioned whether the N1 had NFC.  Should have searched :P

@MatthewRead haha I guess good thing I paid more attention to the picture, I guessed I assumed he was talking about an S from the picture, as I've seen the inside a million times now (my brother has the Nexus S and the battery falls out all the time). Ignorace wins, in this case! But thanks to eldarerathis for the edits too

This is for the NFC functionality. Those contacts are used to transmit the info to and from the receiver/transmitter on the back cover (seen below outlined in green, though you probably guessed it :) ). They have to put it on the back cover because NFC only works for usually no more than a few centimetres, and they need a way to feed the information back to the phone system itself.
It is discussed more in this post on another Android forum.

iFixit's teardown also confirms this, as they discuss removing the NFC module from the back cover.

The NFC sticker is simply a flat coil acting as an antenna. Its size is a given. It's stuck onto the inner side of the back cover so nothing is in the way to interfere transmissions between the antenna and an NFC device hold tight to the back (the cover's plastic doesn't count).


text:
Is it possible to directly print from Android?

Possible Duplicate:
is there any way to print directly from the phone?

Why can't Android devices directly print to a shared network printer? Or is there a way?

What kind of printer set up do you mean, exactly? My devices can print to my wireless printer, I just need an app for it.

It is possible! Maybe not in the conventional way, but the easiest way would be to set it up as a Google Cloud Printer and download the Cloud Print app.
Also,

if you have an Cloudprint ready printer (Epson, Kodak etc) or HP
  E-Print enabled printer you don't need your pc to be on, for other
  printers your pc needs to be ON.

So you might not be able to simply find a printer on your network natively in Android, but Google has provided us with the next best thing.

Isn't cloudprint only working on Windows-connected printers yet? Also, every cloudprint solution has security drawbacks. The provider sees every printjob which most people seem to forget nowadays. For companies this is definitely a no-go. Someone might also not like to transmit personal documents through the cloud.

OS wasn't expressed as a constraint here, and no, Google Cloud Print can also connect to existing (classic) printers that are plugged into a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer with Internet access (source). And print job visibility wasn't listed as a stipulation either, was it?

I just wanted to point out the privacy issues. I had looked at this already but every printing solution back then did it in the cloud and seemingly still does. Regarding OS support: It just requires Chrome (and a Google account). There's also a python implementatiom for non GUI boxes thats available here https://github.com/armooo/cloudprint .

Am I missing something? How is cloudprint classed as "direct"?

@jlehenbauer The wording is confusing because you say no but then you say can. However, Linux and Mac can https://github.com/google/cups-connector You just need to install a cups compatible print app on android.


text:
Auto scrolling PDF reader?
Is there any PDF reader that does auto scrolling? I have some sheet music in PDF that I want to be able to scroll through

ezPDF Reader Pro has a feature Page Auto Flipping which auto-scroll screen every provided second.

Pro PDF Reader has auto scrolling feature

Have you tried MobileSheets? I use it a lot for music scores


text:
Android failure to boot on LG
I need to recover data from my AT&T LG Thrill Android Phone
Background:
My AT&T LG Thrill phone's battery died a couple of days ago because I forgot to charge it. When I charged the phone and tried to turn it on, it showed the LG logo followed by the dropping balls and the AT&T "Rethink Possible" screen. I then get a mesage that the Application Google Services Framework has crashed and the phone goes into a loop with the dropping balls showing again followed by "Rethink Possible" screen. This sequence repeats itself over and over and the phone does not get out of this loop.
I have been able to go into the recovery screen (both Safe Mode and the Android Recovery Service) and have cleared cache, etc. However, I DO NOT want to wipe user data and restore to factory settings as this will wipe all of my data (pictures, application data, etc).
Solution Needed:
I need a suggestion to a way of accessing my data so that I can back it up onto an SD card/computer. I DO NOT want to root the phone as this may void the warranty. What I'm looking for is a way of perhaps putting the original flash image on the micro SD card and then have the phone read that image. Or some other similar solution that will get the phone out of this loop and allow me to get to the data.

When you are in recovery mode you should be able to use adb to get your data.

There are two suggestions I have for you, both of which involve installing the Android SDK on your computer:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
This is sort of overkill for you, because there is a lot of things in there that you don't need, but the most important thing is adb. If you don't want the SDK lying around, you can install Virtualbox and install the SDK on a Linux VM.
Once you have adb installed, you can do:

Post the output of adb logcat online. This will give you some insight as to what is causing the crash.
Do:

adb pull /sdcard
adb pull /data
This will pull your data off of your phone and onto your computer. Once your stuff is safely off your phone, you can do whatever factory wiping you need to do.

Downvoted because these won't be mounted when the device is booting, and as the device cannot boot there is no way these will be mounted - also, the device may not be in USB Debugging mode.

There is no way to fix this issue without wiping it sorry, and as you cannot boot your device you cannot use the SDK to backup your data partition because:

It is the data that is most likely causing this issue
The data partition won't be mounted during boot time

Also, the above (or below) answer is assuming that you had USB Debugging enabled - did you?
Alas, you will have to wipe your device (including cache, dalvik-cache (if possible) and user data).


text:
Get installed apps as APK within Android?
I'm looking for an application that will let me easily export any application I have to APK format (I'm not rooted). Normally, AirDroid does this easily and I love AirDroid for that. However, one of the downsides was that I need to be around a computer to do the said process. Are there any apps that offer a way for me to output the APK file from within the Android itself? I can see that some backup solutions provide this but I don't want a whole new backup system just to do this one small task. A small utility app of sorts would be really nice which has only one purpose and that is to produce the APK file.

Backup apps using Astro File Manager.
Alternatively, you can use a little app dedicated for this task: App Backup & Restore.

Yup, that's what I needed! Thanks! Shame it can't backup system apps too though.


text:
NVError 0x120002 when flashing system.img to Lenova IdeaPad K1
So I was trying to root the Lenova Ideapad K1 tablet using this guide and it seems I've messed up. I can only boot into APX mode now. Is there a way for me to restore this?
CMD prompt output below:

    Ideapad K1 Honeycomb Rooted Rom + CWM

Baased off the 14_14_120109 build [Honeycomb 3.2.1]

Make sure you have already installed the APX drivers before starting

Power off your K1 and place into APX mode (Vol+, Vol-, Power)

Press any key to continue . . .

Nvflash started
rcm version 0X20001
System Information:
   chip name: t20
   chip id: 0x20 major: 1 minor: 4
   chip sku: 0x8
   chip uid: 0x04289144423fa557
   macrovision: disabled
   hdcp: enabled
   sbk burned: true
   dk burned: true
   boot device: emmc
   operating mode: 4
   device config strap: 0
   device config fuse: 0
   sdram config strap: 0

sending file: flash.bct
- 4080/4080 bytes sent
flash.bct sent successfully
odm data: 0x300c0011
downloading bootloader -- load address: 0x108000 entry point: 0x108000
sending file: bootloader.bin
\ 1648325/1648325 bytes sent
bootloader.bin sent successfully
waiting for bootloader to initialize
bootloader downloaded successfully
setting device: 2 3
creating partition: BCT
creating partition: PT
creating partition: EBT
creating partition: GP1
creating partition: SOS
creating partition: LNX
creating partition: APP
creating partition: CAC
creating partition: MSC
creating partition: USP
creating partition: UDA
creating partition: TMP
creating partition: GPT
Formatting partition 2 BCT please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 3 PT please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 4 EBT please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 5 GP1 please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 6 SOS please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 7 LNX please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 8 APP please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 9 CAC please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 10 MSC please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 11 USP please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 12 UDA please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 13 TMP please wait.. done!
Formatting partition 14 GPT please wait.. done!
done!
sending file: bootloader.bin
\ 1648325/1648325 bytes sent
bootloader.bin sent successfully
sending file: recovery.img
\ 4550656/4550656 bytes sent
recovery.img sent successfully
sending file: boot.img
- 3209216/3209216 bytes sent
boot.img sent successfully
sending file: system.img
/ 17563648/419430400 bytes sentdata send failed NvError 0x120002
command failure: create failed (bad data)

Press any key to exit...


text:
How to change the font without root in HTC Explorer?
I would like to change font in HTC Explorer(2.3.5) without root.
I saw some tutorial on the internet but those are only Samsung galaxy series.
Is there anyway to do that?

You can't. And you shouldn't.
Samsung's proprietary Touchwiz interface, has the hability to change fonts that are distributed as apk files and can be installed like any other app. I'm not aware of any other manufacturer that integrated this feature into their device.
It's also a bad idea to change the fonts. If they have different x-height parts of the letters may get cut. They may not have some special characters that the system or an app expects so boxes or nothing will show up in it's place. Legibility can also be an issue. There are fonts that don't have any of these issues, but they're rare and are mostly the same type as the system font, so you won't notice much improvement.

lol, I kept clicking the upvote button to watch the animation. Pretty nice site over here.


text:
Why / When do I have to log in to Google?
Installed MyDocs, I can select my Google-account and see listings of my documents, but to edit something I need to enter a password.
Why is this?  When does it happen?
(I am constantly logged in to GMail)
I use Android because all this Google stuff is supposed to be integrated!

Edit: How can i know if an app is really integrated, and won't require separate authentication.

From the reviews on that app, it sounds like they're doing part of it in their app, and part of it by sending you to the website. This may well be two separate authentications.
The official Google Docs app is now part of Google Drive, have you tried that to see if it works more how you'd want? It doesn't ask me for any authentication when I use it.

You're right that Android is supposed to be integrated. Well it is, but it doesn't happen magically, developers need to make it so.
This specific app is a beta and it was last updated more than a year ago. It's a safe bet that the developer(s) abandoned the project.
I recommend that you install the official Google Drive app. It does not ask for your password and it is regularly updated.

Applications that can use the integrated authentication system require various permissions in the "Your Accounts" category.


text:
Make Android always ask where to save a file on every download
Is it possible (as an OS-level setting or somewhere in application properties)?
Maybe every time a user action leads to saving a file some system event is fired and it's possible to write an app for that purpose? Or maybe someone already did it ;)?
Any help'd be really useful as I'm really fed up with digging through sdcard/download looking for an md5-string-named file or looking for a folder super_editor/saves or even saves/super_editor that might be located anywhere.

This link might be relevant.


text:
Partitioned sdcard not working with link2sd
I have a 4GB SD card which is partitioned into 3GB and 1GB (Well it's not 1GB it's approx. 750 MB) (I used it through my phone 'cause i didn't have a reader and i used mini tool partition wizard) then I put my data back onto the 3GB partition. Link2SD showed me a screen titled :"select the file system of your SD card's second partition" which has 4 options:

ext2
ext3
ext4
FAT32/FAT16

The 1GB partition is ext2 so I choose ext2 and restarted my phone. It showed the same message every time and it tells me "If you're getting this message after reboot it means that the second partition cannot be mounted automatically at boot"
My phone is a rooted Vodafone 858 Smart / Huawei 8160 it's running CM7.2
I tried to reformat and repartition but nothing worked.

What does logcat say? Try to 'adb shell' into your device and see if your 2nd partition is the 750gb ext2 one: 'cat /proc/partitions', you should see /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 and /dev/block/mmcblk0p2. In a second step, try to mount your 2nd partition manually. 'mkdir /mnt/sd-ext' then 'mount -t ext2 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /mnt/sd-ext'

i tried what you told me i found /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 and /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 but the problem is in the second step i tried "mkdir /mnt/sd-ext" and it told me "can't create directory /mnt/sd-ext : read-only filesystem" so i tried to remount it using "mount -o rw,remount rootfs /mnt" but it told me "mounting rootfs on /mnt failed : invalid argument"

oh, sorry. Just use a writeable fs for the target. Try /dev/sd-ext (it's a temporal location that's forgotten after reboot) and mount there

i tried that and link 2 SD showed me the same message

Hi Mohamed, missed you yesterday, let's see in chat or just reply here...

Requirements:

have a SDcard with a second partition that is ext2/ext3/ext4/... formatted.
be sure /data/sdext2 exists
be sure that mount-scripts are in place (menu->more->recreate mount scripts in link2sd)

If unsure, do as root via adb:
df | grep sdext2 should show you a mounted ext2/ext3/... mmcblk0p2 partition

but it has to quick reboot from link2sd after each real reboot

In my case, I had formatted the partition of interest in ext2 and used on a CM 10.2 build.
I rolled back to CM 7.2 and selected the default ext2 but it wouldn't work.
After rebooting and having the same problem, I selected the ext4 file system and voila!

For CM7, you have to choose ext3 (for CM10.1 and 10.2, none of them works for me).

Please, no leet-talk here.

Try making second partition using your clockworkmod recovery. If it does not help got to step 2.
Ensure that the format of the second partition is not automatically changing itself. To do this you can follow the following steps:

Insert your memory card into your pc with help of a memory card adapter.
Download , install and run mini tool partition wizard.
Backup important stuff from your sdcard.
Delete every partition on your sdcard and click apply.
After that recreate your desired partitions. This time it won't revert to ext3..
Now you must try to use link2sd and see if the problem is resolved. If not, go to step 2.

As described by NaraRockingMyAce at an xda forum :

With help of MiniTool Partition Wizard delete only your second
partition on sd card. (use sd card adapter, don't do it through data
cable).
Create the 2nd partition again and make sure to set it as primary.
Apply and verify if the problem is resolved.

that problem (link2sd unable to properly recognized partition) will and has happened to people who used modified link2sdPLUS. make sure you are using the actual free version or download the free version and pay for actual Link2SD_plus. that's what I've learnt :D

Would you please mention the link (edit) for the "actual free version" where the reader (if willing) can pay?

Fat32 partition must be set as first partition, and ext2,ext3,ext4 set as second partition. It is very important that they be in that order.
After, make sure that you have all partitions set as : primary.
Finally, try all ext2,ext3,ext4 - only ext4  worked for me!!
Good luck!!!

I struggled getting the ext4 partition to mount. I saw the answer from denny mihai above that emphasized the need to have the partitions in the correct order. Mine were ext4 first and fat32 second. I used minitool to delete the ext4 partition, move the fat32 and then create a new ext4 partition (making sure it was a primary) . My partitions were then in the order described by Denny. On the next reboot of the Android tablet, link2sd mounted the ext4 with no further configuration.
Thanks goes to Denny.

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


text:
Can someone recommend a ROM and kernel for the Galaxy S2 that works fully?
I have installed a kernel and ROM onto my Samsung Galaxy S2. However, it's been giving me a lot of problems. First the Compass didn't work, then when the compass was fixed by installing a patch the WiFi stopped working, then when I reinstalled the ROM to get Wifi back, I lost the compass again...
I very much appreciate all the efforts that people who make kernels and ROMs put into it, and I understand that sometimes errors and problems can't be helped. So this is not a complaint.
It's just that I'd like to wipe my phone, start clean, and install a kernel and/or ROM that I can be sure will work.
I've already learned how to flash and install kernels and ROMs, and I've got my purchased version of Titanium Backup ready so I can reinstall all my apps...
Just before I go through the whole effort, I'd like to be sure that the kernel and ROM I'm using are as certain to be fully functional and error free as one can hope.
So can someone recommend a kernel and ROM that I can or should use?
Note: Here is what I have now:
Model number: GT-I9100
Android version: 4.0.4
Baseband version: SC02COMKL4
Kernel version: 3.0.27-Siyah-v3.0.1-ntt

Apart from the obvious - what's wrong with stock ROM (everything works) and Siyah Kernel? You're obviously rooted, so you can then use Titanium Backup and freeze the bloatware.

Leading contenders will be CyanogenMod 9 which just underwent code freeze so RCs will be out soon, MIUI ROM, HydrogenICS, SlimICS and WanamLite

@Sparx: Nothing wrong with it, I just didn't know it was an option. I know a bit about flashing ROMs from having been through the process, but I'm hardly an expert. Where would I get a "stock" ROM? And if I use a "stock" ROM, will I still have root access?

@Sparx: Thank you for the recommendations. However, I've just tried Googling a bit, and I'm not sure exactly what the difference is or where exactly to download. Any chance of a more firm recommendation or breakdown of the differences? Also, are these all ROMs? Is my kernel okay and should I only be looking at ROMs?

For the interested: CM9 nightlies already exist http://get.cm/?device=galaxys2&type=nightly

A big issue in the ROM community is the heavy focus on customization at the price of stability and functionality. I have an awesome SGS2 with a great ROM, it's just that Bluetooth hardly ever works and WiFi will refuse to be turned on every other day. But I get a new boot animation with every update of this ROM! :)

@ce4: Aren't "nightlies" unstable? I thought "nightly" meant they were the versions being developed and worked on.

ROM recommendations are shopping recommendations, and thus not a good fit for this site.

@AlEverett: Except I am not looking for recommendations of just "good" or "better". My current ROM has had specific issues: WiFi, compass, and GPS issues. So is it not specific enough to be looking for a ROM that does not have those issues?

I suppose, since there are specific issues you're looking to solve.

WiFi issues are related to the kernel. The latest Siyah kernel is 3.3.1 for the S2. The dev has now frozen further feature releases for the S2 kernel in order to focus on the S3. The other names are indeed all ROMs. I have stuck with the stock ROM because everything works. I have a replacement homescreen launcher. There are replacement apps for the phone dialer, contacts, SMS, camera etc. Install those and see if they help.

One more thing - most, if not all, ROMs are in continuous development, so they keep fixing bugs and adding/removing/modifying features. Manufacturer or stock ROMs merely tend to be more complete. There's a thread on XDA for stock S2 ROMs. Flash the latest available one for your region and try it out for a week or two.

@Sparx: It seems there's one more update for the S2 kernel, it's at 3.3.2 now. I've installed that. Also, one more question about the stock ROM. The whole reason I rooted and installed a custom ROM was to remove bloatware and release myself from my carrier's USB tethering charges. If I install the stock ROM, will that not include bloatware and also revert me back to the USB tethering system that was in place before?

I'm unsure about whether an unlocked "international" ROM would work with your carrier (it should, IMHO). It would include all the bloatware that Samsung did include but like I mentioned above - freeze them using Ti Backup. I'm not well versed with US carriers, being from India myself. Try posting in XDA for more competent advice. Sorry.

Dave, if you root you can remove the bloatware from a stock ROM.  Unfortunately though this still falls under our ban on recommendations.  If you wanted to rewrite this to ask "How can I solve <specific issue(s)>" that would be OK though.  Another option is to ask in chat.

You mentioned compass issues. What patch did you use? Do you have the Korean version of the GSG2?


text:
Upgrade Samsung Galaxy II  to Android 4.0?
Is it possible to upgrade Samsung Galaxy SII's Android 2.3 to Android 4.0? If yes, how do I do it?

ready to try out other stuff like custome roms ? S2 has the most number of CR out there, and i can assure every one of them will be better than the official Samsung update. Speaking from personal experience with Galaxy Note

See also http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/14766/when-will-my-device-get-the-android-4-0-update-ice-cream-sandwich

Samsung has released an official update to 4.0.3, just do the normal update procedure with Kies or OTA. There may be some delay on the release based on your region but it either should be available already or coming really soon.

Is the update for the I9100G or for the older version of the S2?

At least for the I9100, not sure about the G variant.


text:
How can I set the default Google Drive account used?
I have two Google accounts set up on my phone, both are also present in Google Drive.
When I open the Gallery app and chose to share a picture via Google Drive, it will always be shared with the same account. Of course, I want it to use the other account.
I can not figure out how to do it. I would happily accept it if the wrong account was completely removed from Google Drive on my phone.
I tried disabling sync for the account I don't want in Google Drive, but that didn't have any effect on the problem. I don't want to completely remove the account from my phone, as I have purchased apps with that account and I fear that I won't be able to install/use them otherwise.

I didn't realize you can change the account to use when uploading the file. I don't understand how I missed it, but here it is:

Given that the marked account value always changes back to the other account and I have to adjust it every time, I guess there is still merit in the question. But my problem was finding this UI item.


text:
What is Blackmart, and is it legitimate?
I have an HTC One X. I want to install the Blackmart app, but I'm a little wary about its implications. Can it safely be installed without it messing up root security? Is it a legitimate app source?

Even if the pure Blackmart App is free of any malicious parts, there is still the danger that you will download an infected version. Blackmart has no official page or download site, that's why you can't be sure about that. It's even worse because it needs root. Those types of programs are usually not open-source, and therefore no one can review the code or even build a "clean" version.
Note: Since Blackmark is able to bypass the access restrictions for paid Apps, it's is illegal in some countries. This is likely true in all countries where Google sells Apps on the Play Store.
My personal opinion: A free game of Modern Warefare or GTA isn't worth the trouble and risk of using blackmart.

And if blackmart wasn't risky enough the apps could be modified too.

Almost all paid games from bigger publishers employ some sort of copy protection. Those have to be modified to circumvent he protection schemes. Besides the legal implications you don't know what else was modified and if a malware infection is the real price for 'loading stuff for free'. That's by the way how most of the malware is beeing distributed.

Having never used it, I went and tried it out on a free game (that is also available from Play Store). The only necessity of superuser access is when you install the app you downloaded through Blackmart, because your installing an app that didnt come from the Play Store (Google security measures). Its not justBlackmart, but all 3rd party app sites where malicious apps could be. The biggest form of "malware" seems abundantly amassed right within the Play Store itself, all the apps loaded with ads and broadcast intents. The bottom line is be responsible i n your quest for apps.

You don't need root in Android in order to install Apps from non Play Store places ("unknown sources").

@Flow that's when you use the inbuilt package installer. But Blackmart install app without package manager.

An interesting article here which highlights the potential issues: https://www.techjunkie.com/what-is-blackmart-alpha/


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Is there a PDF/eBook Reader like the "Google Playbook"  Tablet?
I'm a really big fan of the Google Playbook reader, especially for an Android Tablet. I love the 2 columns and the effect when you go to other page. So I was wondering, is there a PDF/eBook reader with similar functionality as the Google Playbook? Unfortunately Google Playbooks don't allow to import documents in PDF or EPUB format.

You can import/upload them:
Uploading the PDF/ePub file(s) to your Library

Go to My Books
Click on 'Upload File' in the top right corner.
Choose the file(s) you wish to upload.

Getting the PDF/ePub files in you App

Go into your Google Play Books App.
Click on the button on the top left ('Read Now' or 'My Library').
Select 'My Library'.
Click on the button just underneath it ('All books').
Click on 'Uploads'.
Click the Android Menu button.
Click on 'Refresh'
When you try to open the file, you may be prompted to download it.

There are several apps you might check (ordered best recommendation first):

Moon+ Reader Pro is the best ebook reader I know. Support for the important formats (txt, html, epub, pdf, umd, fb2, chm, zip -- pdf only in the pro, said to be the fastest PDF renderer on Android), plenty libraries pre-configured to download books from (you can add your own sources), great support, and more. Just no DRM (yet; as Adobe didn't answer to the developers requests). My clear recommendation for this one.
Aldiko Book Reader supports epub, PDF, DRM -- and also can access online sources
Mantano Reader supports epub & PDF, available in several versions, supports DRM
GO Book supports epub, txt, umd, pdf and fb2 (DRM/catalogs support: unknown to me)

There are some more on the Playstore, but not all are recommendable (and some may have escaped my notice).

I tried all of those and found Mantano Reader to be the best.

After Izzy and @Fase comments i tried Mantano Reader and i love it aswell , it seems to support 2 columns but just in some PDFs, so i guess they have that option embedded?

Amazon has just updated their Kindle app to offer a two column layout for tablets. I was thrilled that they did this. Google Pay Book reader has that two page layout and I really preferred that on my tablet.
Kindle app will also read PDF files. I don't think it will do EPUB but there might be a converter out there to make it into Kindle format.
There are several places to find good free Kindle books. I rarely pay for a book anymore.

it seems that this feature only works with native kindle books, i just tried with a PDF and can not shown as 2 column, but yo can with a kindle book


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Telnet from Linux to Android devices
I am attempting to telnet from my Ubuntu commandline to my Android phone and pad using the following syntax:
> telnet 192.168.0.4

Trying 192.168.0.4...

telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused

But, I get that error message above when I try both devices.
Can anyone help with this?

Are you running a telnet server on the Android device? Which one?

I am just executing telnet from Ubuntu on my laptop

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

Android does not include a telnet daemon. Use the included android debug bridge (meant for development or power users). It comes with the official SDK ( http://developer.android.com/sdk/ ).

Install both "tools" packages
Enable USB debugging in your phone settings
run ./platform-tools/adb shell in yor sdk folder (needs approprate USB rights for your phone)

You then have a local shell on your phone.
If you definitely need access over network install an ssh server app (search play store for SSHDroid or QuickSSHd). You might want a secure shell server on a mobile device that connects to multiple maybe unsafe networks like public hotspots.

For the record adb can work wirelessly.

Yes, you're right. It's however not very secure and needs to be switched on after every boot therefore (that's why I omitted it in my original post)

It's like a bomb waiting to blow up :) I'm pretty sure that's why they make you enable it after reboots.

An alternative to the former answer is installing Terminal IDE. Its really nice, but read the description to consider stuff like:

NB: This app CANNOT be installed onto the SDCard because you do not get 'Execute' permissions on that mount. It must run in this app's private memory on the device [Also much more secure]. You can of course still read / write to the SDCard and store files there. ALSO - once extracted it takes up about 100MB. You have been warned.

LOL, has even a telnetd included, but comes with a hefty price: 32MB. It's also a full Development Kit for  Android, you might better try this tinier app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jackpal.androidterm (it comes included with many ROMs)


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Why the Galaxy has 25GB instead of 32GB
I just purchased a Samsung Galaxy S3 32GB, when I check the storage I have only 25.5GB. Where is the other 6.5GB?

Try using Titanium Backup to check the space, it should give you accurate numbers.

Usually this space is taken up by various things that come with the device, like resources for the OS, built-in apps, and just disk information. Even formatting an 8 GB SD card will only get you 7.49 GB. That same logic would leave you with 30 GB, the rest is most likely the OS, and various system resources.

formatting a 8GB SD Card will lead to the same with GB and GiB: 8GB = 7,45GiB but dont forget with what kind of system you format. FAT will lead to a very small table, but e.g. ext will lead to a bigger journal. When you format the 8GB are still the 8GB! or the 7,45GiB are still 7,45GiB.

The 32GB are in 1000Byte = 1KB Logic, and the 25GB should be in Binary Logic, so 1024Byte = 1KB.
which gives at first a "loss" of about 2GB:
32GB = 29,8023GiB
the rest of the space is mostly the android system, reserved space for cache etc...
one small part will be the journal of the ext file sytstem which is used instead of yaffs. So arround 200-400MB i think will be covered by the ext journal.
you have the same problem with harddisks too. The firms write it in decimal logic but the operating system does it in binary. Some Operating Systems nowadays also write the correct GiB or MiB or KiB but not all...


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Browser keyboard refresh shortcut for Android 2.3.7?
I would like to know if there is any way to associate a keyboard shortcut for refreshing a webpage in Android with physical keyboard version 2.3.7.

There are several interesting browser shortcuts available:
Menu + J: Back
Menu + K: Forward
Menu + R: Refresh active page
Menu + F: Find
Menu + B: Open bookmarks
Menu + H: Browsing history
Menu + S: Open browser settings
Menu + I: Zoom in
Menu + O: Zoom out

(Source: Android Browser keyboard shortcuts)


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Asus Transformer slow charge
My ASUS Transformer TF101 charges extremely slowly using the original power adapter.
I'm trying to figure out the cause.
Here are all my knowns:

The power block (wall to USB adapter) charges my mobile phone without issues
The power block plus ASUS cable turns on my Transformer if it is off, or wakes it up if it is sleeping (but charges extremely slowly)
The ASUS cable lets me MTP and all that from computer and tablet
I installed ICS when in April and now its running 4.0.3
The charger does charge, but extremely slowly both on Keyboard dock and Tablet (a few days to get to 20%)
It definitely has not been near water, dust, direct sunlight or particle accelerators

From this I gauge: it's not the power block or the cable, and the only change was ICS a few months back which worked okay (first update was buggy, but the next one fixed this).
Anyone else had this or know why it could be?

If the same adapter charges your phone without any issue it must charge the power hungry table very slowly.

Does it still charge slowly while the phone is turned off? If it is, then you might have a hardware issue, perhaps a damaged battery, you might want to bring it to the store if it's still under warranty.

I shall try a different cable, if it charges fine, it was the charger. If it doesn't then yes the battery is probably damaged.

The issue turned out to be with the charging cable. Asus quickly swapped it over with a longer cable too.

Charging via USB can happen at very different rates depending on what the "host" end is plugged into.  Generally the vendor-supplied wall charger is the "fastest" way, but perhaps something has gone bad with your supplied wall adapter.  You should be able to improve charging times by shutting off wifi, GPS, etc, and making sure the screen is off.
See these questions for more details on what to look for on your adapters:

Why is charging from computer using USB slower than using an outlet?
Galaxy Tab is not being charged through USB Cable

I read randomly that the power brick needs communication from the tablet to supply the 15V it needs for charging. otherwise it will operate at 5V. So it could be the 'host' or maybe the tablet not communicating properly. thanks for your post

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


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Lockscreen on capacitive touchscreen?
My phone (SE Xperia X8) has a capacitive touchscreen, which, I'm told that only reacts to fingers.
So does it have a point to have lockscreen enabled?
I use Cyanogenmod so I can easily disable it.

You're almost right.

Capacitive screens can detect anything that's conductive or has a dielectric difference to air.

Here's a good Wikipedia article about this.
If you carry your phone in a pocket, you can easily activate the screen without noticing it. Try this:
Put some cloth (eg. Jeans) between your hand and the screen, now if you press it hard enough the touch will register.
If a button is accidentally pressed while you slip it into your pocket and you have lockscreen disabled, it's that much easier for your butt to dial someone. And you don't want that do you?

You're right, It registers a touch via cloth

Capacitive or not, the default Android behavior is that the touchscreen is disabled when screen is off so you always need to press a physical button to wake up the screen. If the physical buttons in your device cannot be easily accidentally pressed while the device is in your pocket/bag/wherever-you-usually-put-your-phone and you don't need the security of a password/PIN/Face-Unlock, then there should be no issue to use no lockscreen. FYI, this option is available in stock Android 4.0.

Additionally, the X8's power button is a good engineered one, i.e. it's hard to trigger a butt call with that device if all three front buttons are configured to not wake up the phone (and besides this the touch screen is not too responsive on this device either). I find that a big issue one many devices.


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How to change search engine language?
I'm a native Hungarian speaker, a few months ago I moved to Germany, and I have a problem with the Google search, I installed the Google chrome on my android device but the default search engine is German(google.de), it's so annoying when I would like to get English results, but instead of that I'm getting Germany results. How can I change that?

Set yor language by clicking on 'Einstellungen' or navigate directly to the english localized version: http://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en to set it there (you can switch the 'hl=en' for english to hl=hu for hungarian or any other you want in the link).
Setting your start page is not what you want: This will not affect searches from the widget or from the omnibox (the auto completion, aka instant search).
Edit:
Seems like the keyboard language sets the default... switched from en to german and back.

Your search settings are tied to the location where you first installed and ran Chrome. Currently, it's not possible to adjust the language or country domain. This is a known issue in the current version, and we are working on a fix.
As a workaround, go to Android Settings > Apps > Chrome > Clear Data to reset your location. (Note: Enable Sync first to keep your browser settings.)

For clarification, this is quoted from JL King, one of Google Employee, from Google Product Forums.


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Function of back button after opening URL from (Twitter) application
When opening a URL in the official Android Twitter app it opens the native browser, showing the page for that URL. If I tap the back button in the browser (Galaxy S, 2.3.3, should it matter), one of two things happens:

The browser goes back in its history opening the previous page/url it had opened.
Android switches back to the Twitter app, back to the tweet with the URL I opened.

It eludes me what triggers either situation, it's seemingly random. I prefer option 2 when I'm reading my Twitter feed, can someone explain the logic behind this and perhaps even tell me how to make sure I trigger option 2 while reading my Twitter feed?

One more tip: in case you re-used on of 4+ open tabs, create a (fake) new tab and press 'back'. That will also count as 'history' empty and will return you to the twitter app. Am I correct here? I use this trick with news&weather a lot.

Your problem touches a feature of Android that sets it apart from other mobile OSes and is a very powerful one (see below):
That's all about intents,  activities and the back stack that contains your path of visited activities in order for each app. Basically an activity is a single GUI fullscreen window you see, for example the main activity when you launch an app. If you navigate away from that, lets say to the settings view, the now inactive main view is put on the back stack and so forth.
However: This whole behaviour has many switches that are solely customizable by the app developers.
See this link for the basic information on those things:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals/tasks-and-back-stack.html
Regarding your specific problem:
It might be a difference if the browser was (1) already open, (2) had an active Twitter tab running (that got reactivated) and so forth. Try some of these combinations (use 'force stop' in the app settings to end browser instances and have an/no open Twitter tab in the browser active beforehand), and you will find:

If you have opened the max of four windows in your browser, then opening an URL from the Twitter app will "re-use" one of them. If you hit back in that browser window it will first go all the way back up the history, one history item at a time. Once the history is empty, hitting the back button once more will send you back to the Twitter app.
If you had not opened the max of four windows in your browser, then opening an URL from the Twitter app will create a new browser window. If you hit back in that browser window the history for that window will already be empty, and you will directly go back to the Twitter app.

Some more information:
The unique system are Android's intents. New views are launched by an intent that, for example says 'open this file in a file view' or 'select a picture in a gallery viewer' or 'authenticate a my app with Facebook' and so forth. Without saying which other app should handle it. You see this when you get a choice menu asking you to select a specific browser (native/Chrome/Dolphin/Opera) or one of many file explorers you might have installed.
This one of the very powerful Android features. Apple's iOS is very different to that, apps can't interact with others so closely and Facebook integration had to be done in iOS6 the hard way for that reason (directly integrated into iOS).

No need for a task killer. "Force Stop" in the app settings would more than suffice for experimentation.

Thanks for the hint. applied your suggestion. My main device runs ICS now and I'm now very used to the new swipe to stop feature. Completely forgot that.

Thanks for the great answer! I followed your suggestion and experimented a bit. Now I understand what's going on and how to control things. I've suggested an edit to the answer with the results of my experiments.


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How to remove words from the predictive dictionary in HTC Sense
I have a case of irritating typos such as yoi rather than you etc. being selected by the otherwise excellent prediction, I must have accidentally taught the phone it in the past.
I had previously been able to remove them from the dictionary as described in this answer back on android 2.3 however surprise surprise this menu pathway doesn't exist on HTCs version of 4.0 cupcake. I'm really hoping this isn't going to be another case of HTC quietly hiding features from their menus.
In the language and keyboard settings page, where I believe it was previously, it's not under the options button of spelling correction or the regionalisation button of TouchInput correction.
Does anyone know where this has been moved to?

As I was writing that question I stumbled upon the answer in a really convoluted menu pathway.  I was unable to find it in my prior research on the internet so I'll post it up in case anyone is looking in future.

Open the settings app.
Go to Language & Keyboard.
Touch the Settings Button next to Touch Input under Keyboard & input methods

Touch Personal Dictionary
Touch Edit personal dictionary
Press the menu button then touch delete then select incorrect entries to remove.

Just for the record: I have an Oukitel phone with Android 5.1. The personal dictionary can be found at: Settings / Language & input / Personal dictionary /


text:
Add contact without using "Google account"?
When I got my phone, I imported my old contacts by writing a small program that uses the contacts API. That worked great, and all my contacts were stored locally on the phone (sync with Google is turned off). Now I need to add a new contact manually through the standard contacts menu. I only get the option to add the new contact to my "Google account", there's no choice for local storage. All the contacts i batch-added with my program are correctly listed as "phone only, unsynced contact", and this is what I'd like to happen also with new contacts I add from the standard contacts menu as well.
I'm aware of this question, but there are no storage settings at all in the contacts settings menu described in that question's answer.
What do I do to add new contacts to the local storage? I could of course use the program I wrote, but that seems a bit cumbersome in the long run, and surely there must be a way to do this through the menus?
I'm running stock Android 4.0.2 on a Galaxy Nexus.

Disable the Google Contacts Sync app (Settings -> Apps -> All -> GoogleContactsSyncAdapter -> Disable) and reboot, then try adding a contact again.  If this does not help and you have rooted your Android then you can delete /system/app/GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.apk with a file browser (but take a backup first!).
Either way, next time you create a contact you should be informed that the contact will be stored locally.
As far as I can tell this won't break anything else.
However, if you also use another account with sync function like Microsoft Exchange (for hotmail), you'll have to remove that one too. In case of Microsoft Exchange, it's best to remove the entire account, because just disabling the app prevents you from receiving emails anyway.
Source

Works on Android 7.1, no root needed (although I had one). Application name is slightly different there, it's with spaces and without "Adapter" part.

Does anyone know, if the GoogleContactsSyncAdapter app is activated again (automatically) when installing system or system app updates?

To users using other languages: It might be named different. It probably has a blue address book icon (in Android 7 at least). If it shows com.google.android.syncadapters.contacts on the details page, you're right.

German: additionally you need the three-dot menu, top right, activate "Systemprozesse anzeigen" and look for "Google-Kontakte synchronisieren".
Can't help to rant: why is this necessary, why do I not always have the freedom to choose between local and synchronized. Just guess what this tells us about Google's opinion of our mental abilities.

Compared to my first answer, there is another (simpler) solution that also worked for me:
Use the MyLocalAccount App to create a local account. You can then easily sync your contacts with your PC using MyPhoneExplorer.

Where does MyLocalAccount save its data?

Once MyLocalAccount is installed, go to settings > accounts > add account > MyLocalAccount... the default "account" this creates is "Local Contacts."  I use this with Contact Editor Pro to edit and create contacts because CEP shows what account a given contact belongs to, and lets you change that.

Also note that doing this avoids having your phone connect to google servers for authentication (which is the case with other methods where you create and delete the google account afterwards). Any connection to a google server gives away your location to google, for those concerned with privacy. Now, I'm sure preventing completely your android phone to send requests to google servers would require more work, but that's a start.

There may be a better workaround for this problem, but I just tried this:

Make sure you have all your contacts on a safe place outside your phone.

Create another (than your current) Google account, e.g. Locale.Phonebook@gmail.com.

Add it to your phone. Make it the one that it used for new contacts by default.
Delete the account on Google again.

If you hadn't had any contacts in your normal Google account, you are done. Just make sure that your syncing software uses the correct (new) account.
If you had contacts in your normal account, you'll have to transfer them from the normal Google account to the special new account somehow.
I used the software My Phone Explorer (MPE)  to do it, but it is tricky.

First, you need to set the folder/account used to sync the contacts in the MPE client on the phone to the one still containing the contacts.
Then sync. This will get the contacts over to the PC.
On the PC, copy ALL the contacts to clipboard. Also make a backup with MPE.
Then delete all contacts on the PC (select one, then press Ctrl-A to select all, then delete).
Then sync. This will delete the contacts from the (normal) Google account.

Now change the folder/account used to sync the contacts in the MPE client on the phone to the new one. Also change the folder/account where new contacts go into (to the new account).

On the PC, paste all contacts again into the application.
Then sync again. This will create the contacts in the new account.

Now your contacts are stored in a Google account (which keeps your ICS/Jelly Bean phone happy), but you are certain that the contacts cannot be accidentally synced with Google (which hopefully keeps you happy).
Why do they make us do such things? I think whoever wants to keep his data private should be able to do so without using tricks.
Is someone out there able to program a new content-provider for contacts using a local store?
BTW: MPE is still able to store the contacts on the phone locally the way it worked before ICS when you sync with your PC. However, the problem is, that on the phone you cannot add a new contact to this local store, it is just not being displayed when you are asked where to store the new contact.
Pitfall: Occasionally, you will see a message, that there is a login problem with the deleted account. Instead of being angry about that, you can be happy because it shows you that you just have successfully prevented data leakage from your phone to Google  ;-)

The reason to your question about Google making you do such things is - Cloud everywhere, Google Drive, Google Email, Google Music etc, not to mention that the account is associated with Play Store. You are of course, not obliged to use it! Its part of Google and the manufacturers agreeing to approve handsets to have the Google experience". If the handset has not met the criteria, its simple, can always if wish to, flash gapps instead on top of it. If paranoid, switch off PC + smartphones, bury it in back of garden... :)

@Arno: Thanks for the workaround, but I can't quite accept it. I'm still hoping for a prettier solution.

@t0mm: what an utter load of bullshit. First if all, the functionality is clearly there still - I accidentally got the desired behavior in my little program when I just used all the API functions that looked obvious fot adding contacts! Without a solution to the problem, I am in fact forced to use the cloud (or not add contacts).

@gspr: What part of that are you offended about? Ho wait, are you referring to development as in I accidentally got the desired behavior in my little program when I just used all the API functions that looked obvious fot adding contacts! ...

@t0mm13b: I'm not offended. Your comment just reads like "the cloud is lovely, so you should embrace it and use it, and if you don't, you're simply being paranoid". I prefer to leave feelings about the cloud out of this; local contacts is a reasonable feature (one that is provided for in the API, and used to be exposed in the contacts program, no less), nomatter how I might feel about Google holding a list of every person I know just so I can call those people.

@gspr : Ahhh... understood now! tbh, cloud is a buzzword that drives me batty! Its no different to an ftp site back then when doing it on the command line. But I am in absolute agreement though that local contact facility should be in place, but ultimately, google owns android, and manufacturers who want to push out android handset have to face an approval.. in other words, Its Google way or the high-way, unfortunately... /me shrugs...

One solution that worked for me is the following:
Host your own instance of ownCloud, then sync your contacts via CalDav (Google Play or for free at F-Droid).
Alternatives would be CardDAV for contacts and ICalSync2 for calendars.
For another (simpler) solution see my second answer.

If you have two separate solutions, it would probably be better to have them as two separate answers, so each can be voted on its own merits.

Since ICS, Google stopped allowing you to store contacts locally.
Some manufacturers add this manually to their own ROM's.
You now have to sync it to a type of account.

Looks like there is a bug tracker here: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=26834

You can use Local Calendar from the Android F-Droid FOSS Repository
I am using it without any problems on my phone.

Neat! Does it do contacts, too? It doesn't say anywhere on the website...

No, this app is only for local calendar. A workaround for local contacts in CyanogenMod is disable the "Google Contacts Sync" app, then you can add again device-local contacts. I don't know whether this also works in other Android favours - just give it a try :-)

If you're rooted use Titanium Backup Pro and freeze "Google Contact Sync". It'll be in red text but don't worry about that, freeze it anyway.
Now if you go to WhatsApp, for example, and add a contact it'll give you a message about adding an account, click " keep local". You're done, keeping the contact local will be the default option now.
To reverse the process for whatever reason, just defrost the app from Titanium Backup Pro.

Basically the same as described in this answer, and a fallback in case the procedure described there doesn't work.


text:
TCP/IP tethering over Bluetooth
I have a Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 and I would like to browse the web over a bluetooth connection to my computer. I can connect to the computer but the browser doesn't have internet connectivity even though the computer does. Also, the Bluetooth standards indicate that this is supported.
Anyone ever have this issue?

Bluetooth tethering in both(?) ways is supported from Android-4.0 ICS onwards.
Your device however runs Android 2.3.5+ and most likely will not support that feature out of the box.
As a second requirement you need your computer to also offer bluetooth-tethering via Bluetooth-NAP or Bluetooth-DUN protocol (you will need 3rd party software for that, see link below).
This question/answer also touches your concern: Tethering an Toshiba AT100 to a Nokia E71


text:
Get Facebook app to use full screen in Android 2.3?
Is it possible to make the Facebook app in Android 2.3 use the full screen? I remember being able to do this on a different device with Android 1.6 but I can't find a way to do it with Android 2.3.

I think its app dependent rather than OS version dependent.

Are you talking about the official facebook app? Maybe things have changed

I am talking about the official app, yes.

This answer is certainly not eligible for the bounty, but I'm afraid the answer is: it's not possible.
Even though I can't share resources that do tell us that it's not possible, I can share resources you'd expect to have the answer, but don't:

This Google-fu leads mostly to development threads
Again, with "-developer" added things don't improve much
The help center on Facebook is utterly useless as well, even with more specific queries
The settings for Version 1.8.4 of the Facebook app do not contain any remotely close option (there aren't too many settings, anyway).

Perhaps someone else can refute this answer?

You're almost right ;) There's a way that works for some apps, but I'll have to verify if it works with Facebook.


text:
How do I tether over wifi in rooted Xperia x8?
I would like to tether over wifi rooted Xperia X8 running Android 2.1.
I used wifi tether app but I just saw error message "Sorry, but your kernel does note have all necessary feathers for running this application."
What kind of setting should I change?

Download Barnacle Wifi Tether  This app will load it's OWN drivers and actually use your phone as a modem. I have used it once before with my X8 Android 2.1 also.

Alas, it's not possible officially.
As the message told you, there are dependancies on the running kernel. This belongs to the core of your phone's operating system and is only meant to be upgraded by official updates from Sony Ericsson. Your current firmware is however already the latest version Sony Ericsson provides for the X8 as it has reached end-of-life update-wise. Hence, you cannot do anything about it except installing a non-official community mod.
For the sake of completeness: Such a mod exists, see this for an example. However, it's not an easy path to get it working initially. I would suggest you refrain from installing it if you have concerns to void your warranty and don't want to end up with a broken device.


text:
Google Play Music remove pinned offline music quicker
When starting with the Google Music (or Play Music) app I've selected quite a few albums for offline syncing over time. Is there a way to quickly get an overview of my offline music and remove it?
When having the "offline music" view filter on I see tons of songs that I've to deselect one-by-one and I don't seem to find out how to do a multiple select or any other way to speed up this proces.

If you use a file manager, you can browse to /mnt/sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music and just delete everything you want from there.

But there all songs have a number? How would I know which number is which and how does Google Music deal with suddenly missing music? I presume the app has some sort of internal DB?

If the songs aren't there then Google Play will just download what it needs again. The DB won't get messed up by the deletion.

That is already great, though, the issue remains that this is not a crazy fast/easy way of creating more space as the files have random numbers as names and thus are hard to identify.


text:
Galaxy S3 cell standby is eating my battery
My battery on my new S3 seems to be being eaten up by the cell standby using more than 50%.
I appear to get a decent signal on the phone. Does anyone have any idea why this figure would be so high?

See also: What is Cell standby and how can I keep it from eating my battery?

That is terrible! Drains to 50% only in stanby!
Maybe the apps are not really shut off. You can use the free apps - JuiceDefender to save your power. Packed with smart functions, it automatically and transparently manages the most battery draining components, like 3G/4G connectivity and WiFi.
Or you may need to have a external battery to backup. This one sugegsted:
Small and portable design, Powerful and giant inside. Will be helpful!

XDA recogined contributer bala_gamer has explained and fixed this issue. Check this xda-developers thread and this news item.

It would seem that the issue comes from an error in framework-res.apk.
  XDA Recognized Contributor bala_gamer explains that the power drain
  value setting for Cell standby is erroneouslyset to 34 mA (practically
  impossible) instead of a more reasonable value of 3.4 mA in
  power_profile.xml within framework-res.apk. He then put together a
  corrected power_profile.xml, and provided a quick step-by-step guide
  to pushing the change. Those not excited about messing directly with
  framework-res.apk can thank Senior Member ausdim for providing a
  recovery-flashable update.zip.

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