text:
Is it somehow possible to change MANUALLY the format of a telephone number?
In this question Is it somehow possible to change the format of a telephone number being displayed ? @Edelcom asked to change the format of telephone numbers, but he could get his wanted format just by changing his language. By manually I mean that I want to set it up no matter the language such as the format I want isn't in any of the languages I speak.
By the way: my phone is a Samsung Galaxy i5510.

Not without rolling your own ROM I expect.

Why would you expect so? I don't think it would be "wrong" to be able to customize this.

Because, to date, this hasn't been available in any of the commercially-available versions of Android.

Sorry, I thought you mean expect as "wish"

This is a function of your dialer and contact-saving/editing application. Various ROMs use various applications (be it AOSP Dialer, Motoblur, Sense, Touch Wiz, etc.).
You can install third-party dialers. I've never used it but this dialer supposedly supports what you're asking for. I suggest you browse around the Market for third-party dialers.

I've downloaded it. I can't find how to achieve what I'm looking for in the settings. Could you please tell me where can I find this feature please?


text:
Friendstream App do not update Twitter,Facebook
I am unable to get Twitter, Facebook updates in FriendsStream App (HTC Sense) on my Desire HD.
anyone knows how to fix this?Right now only Flickr updates come and I used to get all the above before.

Please, give more details. Have you saw twitter and facebook messages in the FriendStream before?
I have the same phone. Did you try to take a look at the "Menu->Settings->Show updates" in the FriendStream application? There are checkmarks for every stream-source.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
USB no longer stays connected
I have a Samsung Intercept running 2.2.1. I've been using USB debugging for several months, and recently (no recent changes to the phone) the connectivity just dies after a few seconds, not long enough to load new apks. The same goes for Mass Storage: it dies as soon as I try to transfer files to my computer.
I have a handful of other phones, and using the same setup and cable I'm able to connect via USB to them, so I know it isn't my computer or cable.
Before I try to replace my phone, as I need it for testing, does anyone know of a software reason for this to be happening, or is it pretty much assuredly the usb pins?

I can give you one suggestion. Based on the what you have posted and based on what I understand do the following thing.
*. Backup all your data through Bluetooth and do a Settings Reset.
(Settings --> Privacy --> Settings reset).
And try to connect to Computer using your USB setup. If still no help do the next step
*. Do a Factory Reset.
(Settings --> Privacy --> Factory data reset).
If still no help then that might be Hardware issue. Go to any Samsung Customer service center. They might replace only the Pins section.

Okay. I tried both the resets, and that didn't fix things, but I'll take it to Samsung and see if I can get the usb pins replaced. Thanks!

This ended up being the only solution. Sprint is letting me trade my phone back in.

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


text:
How can I get the market place to allow me to download games compatible with my installed OS?
I've flashed my HTC Hero with android 2.2 but market place will still only show me apps compatible with the official firmware (I think 1.6) and can't download new games.
How can I get the market place to allow me to download games compatible with my installed OS?

Unless you still have the build.prop file from your 1.6 ROM somehow, I don't think the OS version is the issue.  I would guess it's blocking based on your device or carrier, not the OS.
Check out the answer to this question to see how to view and edit the build.prop file.  You can report a different device/OS version through that.  If you want to change your apparent carrier, try the MarketEnabler app.


text:
How to get an apk file onto the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
I'm on a mac, and I have an apk file. When I connect the Tablet to the mac via USB, it does not show up in Finder. How can I get the apk transfered to the device?
I have installed Astro File Manager on the device, but that doesn't help me until I can get the apk file onto the device.

You still have to mount the storage medium within the OS. When you select USB mode after plugging in the cable, there should be a button offering to mount the internal SD card. Until the medium's mounted, there won't be anything for Finder to deal with.

Can you use adb to copy or install the apk file on the Samsung tablet? For example:
$ adb push my_app.apk /mnt/sdcard

or
$ adb install my_app.apk

I don't have a Galaxy tab so I don't know whether /mnt/sdcard is the correct location on that device.
EDIT: Oops. Forgot to say that when you connect your device via USB select the charge only option - don't mount the SD card!

@Claire I tried your suggestion but I get this in Terminal: -bash: adb: command not found

@clua7 adb is in android-sdk-mac-x86/platform-tools. Its exact location will depend on where you installed the sdk on your mac (for me it's in my home directory). Either cd to the directory and then run adb or use a relative path, e.g ~/android-sdk-mac-x86/platform-tools/adb

@Claire thanks for trying to help. I copied the adb file to my builds directory (where the apk is located). I still get adb: command not found

Tried this: ~/android-sdk-mac_x86/platform-tools/adb push myApp.apk /mnt/sdcard.  I get this: * daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *

daemon started successfully *
error: device not found

@clua - that's probably because the current directory isn't in your PATH (echo $PATH to see it). From the directory where adb is type ./adb this should find it.

@Claire, I got it to find adb, but I'm getting error: device not found now. It's connected via the USB cable.

What happens when you type adb devices? This should list all android devices, including running emulators, attached to your mac.

It just says "List of devices attached", and then a blank line

Sorry, I'm a complete muppet. You need to have USB debugging enabled to work. On my phone this is under Settings -> Applications -> Development then there's a check box for USB debugging.

When I connect the device, the device says "Connected. Press the home key to quit Samsung Kies". I have tried listing devices before and after hitting the home key.

@Claire, once I turned USB debugging on adb worked. Thanks!!!

You can also use Dropbox to move a file onto the device.  This will require minimal setup and provide an easy way to push future files to the Tab

The simplest way would be to use Bluetooth or to email the apk to your tablet. You can use adb as suggested by @Claire Swinson if your device is detected.


text:
What useful Android Shell commands do you know?
There are questions pertaining to the use of the Android Shell or to finding a documentation of the Shell commands on Android. Since I haven't found anything convenient, I would like to use this thread to compile a list of "useful" Android commands. I am going to add commands as they are posted.

What defines "useful"? How will answers be bounded or evaluated?

That could be useful for everyday use while working with the terminal. I will turn this into a Wiki as soon as the 8 hours time limit has past...ppl will figure it out than :)

App Management
Use Android package manager pm
usage: pm [list|path|install|uninstall]
       pm list packages [-f]
       pm list permission-groups
       pm list permissions [-g] [-f] [-d] [-u] [GROUP]
       pm list instrumentation [-f] [TARGET-PACKAGE]
       pm list features
       pm path PACKAGE
       pm install [-l] [-r] [-t] [-i INSTALLER_PACKAGE_NAME] [-s] [-f] PATH
       pm uninstall [-k] PACKAGE
       pm enable PACKAGE_OR_COMPONENT
       pm disable PACKAGE_OR_COMPONENT
       pm setInstallLocation [0/auto] [1/internal] [2/external]

Examples
Install the package com.twitter.android-1.apk from the SD card
pm install /sdcard/com.twitter.android-1.apk

List installed packages that contain the term twitter
pm list packages | grep twitter

Show the install directory of the twitter package
pm path com.twitter.android

Processes
top

Lists all running processes / apps with live updates showing CPU usage, PID,...
ps

Lists all running processes / apps and allows filtering using grep
Examples
ps | grep apps

Lists all running apps on your phone
Mounting
mount -o rw,remount -t "filesystem" "Device" "Mount Point"

Allows you to remount your partitions for write access or to mount images.
Examples
Write access for the root filesystem
mount -o rw,remount -t rootfs /

Write access for your /system partition
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system

Write access for /system using busybox
busybox mount -o remount,rw /system

Mount the contents of myimage.img, viewable in the folder myimage
mount -o loop /sdcard/myimage.img myimage

Other
getprop can show interesting details from the device configuration, such as DNS servers, gateways, GSM details, running services, build parameters, version info etc.

netcfg is ifconfig for android..

here is /system/bin
I haven't gone through yet to add documentation though, my apologies.
I have made a google doc where I and some friends plan to put our documentation over spring break. If people want to help out, it would be much appreciated.
Android Shell Commands

/system/bin contents:

BasicHashtable_test
BlobCache_test
InputChannel_test
InputDispatcher_test
InputEvent_test
InputPublisherAndConsumer_test
InputReader_test
Looper_test
ObbFile_test
String8_test
Unicode_test
Vector_test
ZipFileRO_test
adb
am
app_process
applypatch
applypatch_static
asan
asanwrapper
atrace
audioloop
bmgr
bootanimation
bu
bugreport
cat
check_prereq
chmod
chown
cmp
codec
content
corrupt_gdt_free_blocks
dalvikvm
date
dd
debuggerd
decoder
dexopt
df
dhcpcd
dmesg
drmserver
dumpstate
dumpsys
flash_image
fsck_msdos
gdbjithelper
gdbserver
getevent
getprop
gzip
hd
id
ifconfig
iftop
ime
input
insmod
installd
ioctl
ionice
ip6tables
iptables
keystore
keystore_cli
kill
linker
ln
log
logcat
logwrapper
ls
lsmod
lsof
make_ext4fs
md5
mdnsd
mediaserver
mkdir
mksh
monkey
mount
mtpd
mv
nandread
ndc
netcfg
netd
netstat
newfs_msdos
notify
ping
ping6
pm
pppd
printenv
ps
qemu-props
qemud
r
racoon
radiooptions
reboot
record
recordvideo
recovery
renice
requestsync
rild
rm
rmdir
rmmod
route
run-as
schedtest
schedtop
screencap
screenshot
sdcard
sendevent
sensorservice
service
servicemanager
set_ext4_err_bit
setconsole
setprop
sf2
sh
showlease
skia_test
sleep
smd
stagefright
start
stop
stream
surfaceflinger
svc
sync
system_server
testid3
toolbox
top
touch
uiautomator
uim-sysfs
umount
updater
uptime
  vdc
  vmstat
  vold
  watchprops
  wipe


text:
Does my Android phone uses battery or outlet power to operate while being charged?
I am curious about knowing which power source does my android uses up, while it is being charged while switched on..
I know i can test it by keeping it in charging and pulling the battery.. but i am unsure if its safe enough..
Anyone having any ideas??
If it uses outlet/USB power for operation,then i can be assured of keeping it plugged in and use wifi tethering for net surfing for long periods.. without thinking of any battery damage due to prolonged charging..am i right on this?

From my experience, my phone (HTC Desire) seems to use battery while being charged... or at least a combination of both. Reason is, while plugged in, if I am doing something intensive - eg playing games, I notice that either the battery % hasn't really increased or has actually decreased!
Also, not sure which phone you are using, so the behaviour maybe different to the Desire, but I'm guessing it uses a lithium-ion battery - here is some good info on "the best way to use Li-ion batteries" http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/02/ask-ars-what-is-the-best-way-to-use-an-li-ion-battery.ars
Basically:

They don't have memory
Don't worry about overcharging
Don't completely deplete the battery - lowest ~20%
Use your battery - you need to 'exercise' the battery
Try to keep the battery cool

The Nexus 9 actually loses battery while playing games while charging


text:
Is HTC Sensation 4G based on Android 2.2 or Android 2.3 OS?
Is HTC Sensation 4G based on Android 2.2 or Android 2.3 OS?

HTC Sensation comes with the Android 2.3 Gingerbread but "wearing" the HTC Sense (3.0) mod.
Sensation is also in-line for an upgrade to ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0)) early in 2012.


text:
Does Cyanogenmod Kernel support loop devices?
Since I am failing to mount a Nandroid image and since I have read that the kernel needs to support loop devices for that I need to know if anybody has managed to mount a loop device on CM7 or similar. Any information on mounting loop devices in Cyanogenmod or other Mods are highly appreciated.
Cross-posted to the Cyanogenmod forum

I've heard other reports of CM's kernel not supporting loopback devices.  I know the syntax can be slightly different from the standard Linux mount, so I would check to make sure you're using it like this.  If you want help finding a kernel, please post your device make/model.

Oh, and you might try busybox mount as well.

I tried both of your suggestions with no success. I would like to try a custom kernel if it is not too difficult. I am using a HTC Desire (Bravo PVT4).

According to zivmo on the linked thread, Cyanogenmod 7.1 stable and later ship with loop support built into the kernel, so loop devices just work without having to compile or insert a kernel module.


text:
Toshiba AC100 running Android 2.2 wakes up by itself
My Toshiba AC100 running Android 2.2 wakes up by itself after an hour or so.
Is there a way to find out which app is waking it up, or to disable waking up system-wide?

Sounds like the same issue described here: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/10082/droid-x-turns-itself-on-automatically (Sadly, no solutions.)

Apparently its a known issue accordingly to this Modaco thread specifically posting #8

Still have a standby bug, (it has a "self wake up")

Perhaps Toshiba has released a fix by now, or, try another custom ROM, perhaps on xda maybe...

I am not 100% sure about that device, but my Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant would wake itself up when it was on the charger, after it was fully charged. This, to me, was the dumbest thing they did.

no, it sleeps for a while and then it wakes up without a reason


text:
Galaxy S keeps accidentally taking screenshot
Galaxy S on 2.2 supports taking screenshots by holding the back button and tapping the home button simultaneously. However I find my phone occasionally doing it when I only tap the back or only the home button (which I do a lot).
This is inconvenient, but I don't mind too much it taking screenshots, but the bigger problem problem for me is the fact it makes a camera sound. This makes it sound like you just took a picture, and in public spaces it can land you in some embarassing situation. People might think you're a stalker, creep, or in some situation I think you can accidentally got into a fight or problem with police (I haven't landed in any of these situations, luckily). But it's quite dangerous.
Does anyone have the same problem? How to stop this or at least turn off the sound (other than putting my phone on silent mode)

I've had this happen a couple times.  Sometimes when the phone lags button presses get delayed, so pressing back then home can get smushed into being back PLUS home.  I wonder if using a custom ROM with TouchWiz removed would help.  That might remove the functionality entirely, actually.

As suggested here:
Go to the phone application on your phone and enter the following:
*#*#2663#*#*

It will take you to the Touch screen version screen.  Click on the "Touch key FW update" button on that screen.

what is this supposed to do?

It updates the Touch Key firmware.

from where? directly from Samsung?

Sorry, but I don't know where it gets that from.

can you cite a source? so that I can be sure I won't be breaking my phone..

Sorry, I should have done that earlier:  http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s/341718-return-back-soft-key-not-working.html

One guy in the thread says it worked, one other says it broke his keys entirely.  That doesn't sound promising.

Well, I performed those steps on my phone, when I had that problem, and it worked perfectly.

Go to Settings -> Applications -> Running Services and click on ScreenCaptureService to end it.  You'll have to do this every time you boot up your phone, unless you get a task killer or can remove it somehow, though either of those may have other side effects.


text:
Will Honeycomb get an update to add email search (Xoom)?
I am an avid user of Android and resisted the urge to get an iPad in favor of a Xoom - staying loyal to Android.  I was very disappointed to learn that the email function (which I sync with a corporate exchange server) does not have a search function.  Hard to believe.  As a business traveler, getting thousands of emails, it is critical to be able to search my email.  Does anyone know if this will be addressed.  I do not want o have to use a third party app like touchdown.  Please advise.  Thank you!

I don't think this is a Xoom problem so much as it is an Android problem. The non-Gmail Email app with Android has been lacking in features for so long I think it's a foregone conclusion that people are going to go out and choose something else.

I am not sure who should be addressing the issue (Motorola or Android) - but if you can't search email, you cut out a huge potential user base.  How would one go about asking Android?

To address your question in the comments: Star this issue and perhaps leave a comment. Hopefully Google will take notice and improve the email app!
In the meantime, though, I do suggest using a third-party app.  Depend on your company's rules, you could even create a secondary Gmail account and either have your work emails forwarded to it or have Gmail grab mail from your work account via POP3 or IMAP, and then you could use the Gmail app for search.


text:
Only one account showing on Google+ Android app
I have two GMail accounts active on my Android 2.2. Let's call them Acc1 and Acc2.
Acc1 is the default account I set when I got my Android. I didn't know then, that I can't change the default address. My Acc2 is the main Google account I use everywhere.
When I launch the Google+ app, it only shows the default account but my 2nd account has Google+ activated. All other apps show me both my Acc1 & Acc2 accounts to select. I don't understand why Google+ app doesn't see my other account.
Is there a way set Google+ app to see my Acc2 account or a way to change the default android account without losing all my local data?
I hope I've been clear, thank you!

According to information on this question I think you're looking at a factory reset.

I think on some phones it's possible to go in and remove both accounts, then add them again in the reverse order, without doing a factory reset.  But that would probably do a "partial wipe", I expect it would erase all your data and just leave your apps.  Not sure, though.

The app was just updated. There's nothing about what changed in the Market description, but has it made any difference for you?

Version 1.0.2 is out, and appears that it's going to fix your issue.
From the release notes:

What's in this version:

Spiffy new profile icon on the menu screen
Handle multiple Gmail accounts on first sign in
Minor UI polish

(emphasis mine)
Unfortunately, I don't have my own invitation to Google+, so I'm not able to test this.

Great, it works now! I'll send you an invite, just drop me a DM via @edibudimilic on Twitter.

Let's hope they re-open invitation soon.

I was able to select a different account just by clearing the data for Google+ in Manage Applications. (HTC Desire Z running CyanogenMod 7.1 RC1)
I would really prefer to be able to switch accounts on the fly, though, much like the GMail app currently allows.
Also I'm reconsidering my Google lifestyle -- might try to consolidate my many accounts...

Version 1.0 didn't have support for multiple accounts. That was quickly rectified in v1.0.2. And now I have my Google+ invitation, so I'm off to the races.

It's not seeing the default account, just the first one listed, alphabetically.  It's a limitation of the app.  You can work around this bug by temporarily removing Acc1 account.

Go to Menu -> Settings -> Accounts & sync screen.
Tap on your Acc1 account, and tap the "Remove account" button.
Launch the Google+ app and it should see your Acc2 account and allow you to sign in with it.
Go back to Menu -> Settings -> Accounts & sync screen.
Re-add your Acc1 account.

Edit
Google just update the Google+ app to handle multiple GMail accounts.

I've tried that. It gives me an error: This account is required by some applications. You can only remove it by resetting the phone to factory defaults..

I've seen this error on MotoBLUR phones.  Which handset do you have?

I have Samsung Galaxy Ace with 2.2-Froyo. Can't remove the main account so I need to wait for a Google+ App fix from Google. Just found out on their groups they are aware of the problem and working on it now.


text:
Gingerbread Claims Support for Arabic, but I Don't See the Language in Settings
Gingerbread claims to have support for Arabic, but I have 2.3.4 installed on my Google Nexus One, and Arabic is not an option when I go to my language settings.
http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.3.4.html#locs
Anyone know how to enable the Arabic language or is Google not giving us the straight truth?
Thanks!

See also: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/5303/install-additional-language-support-on-htc-desire-hd

See also: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/9757/help-getting-arabic-on-android

Where do you live, what's your carrier, and how did you upgrade to 2.3.4?  Normally US firmware won't have Arabic, for example, since it would be wasting space on 99% of people's phones in the US.
That doesn't mean you can't add it.  I think this page provides a method for doing it, but I can't read Arabic :P

Gingerbread DOES have support for Arabic. I've used it on my phone. However each supported language comes with files and such that need to be downloaded and installed. Each ROM is doing to be bundled with different language packs by default depending on where they expect the ROM to be used. If your ROM is from a country specific carrier, don't expect many languages!
The ROM I use comes in four flavors with about 25 languages each, and you download the version that has the languages you care to use. I use the one that has middle-east languages rather than the one that has eastern European ones for example.

Any ideas where might one find those file? I'm interested in Hebrew, but I assume it's the same situation

@Traveling: Usually this is something best done bundled in the ROM. What ROM do you have? (No I don't know how to do this independently of picking a ROM that's had it baked in.)

I have a Froyo 2.2 standard T-Mobile ROM. They're supposed to offer a Gingerbread update this month. But if it's region dependent, I may have to re-flash with Cyanogen or similar. I was really hoping there's just a language file out there I could just drag'n'drop into my phone... Oh well.


text:
How do I upload multiple pictures at once to Facebook?
Gallery seems to lack the ability to upload to Facebook when multiple pictures are selected.
Is there easy way to upload a bunch of photos at once to Facebook or is it something that you have to do one at a time?

Try this FriendCaster for Facebook app. This has a feature to upload multiple pictures from Gallery.

That works, I dislike allowing third party apps control of my accounts, but it can't be helped in this case.


text:
Is Skype available for the Motorola Xoom?
Is Skype available for the Motorola Xoom?

Please, give some more details. A quick guess... If Skype is unavailable in Market, then probably you need to uncheck "Settings->Application->Fast boot" option.

I just want to use Skype on Motorola Xoom

I just want to help you. Could you please answer my questions above? I mean, provide some more details.

See alist of the various available Android Skype versions and where to get them from on this previous question http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/9664/can-i-install-skype-on-my-xperia note that because a lot of phone networks don't like Skype, it may be your network or country that stops you seeing it in the Market, not just your phone type.

I recently (two nights ago) installed Skype on my Xoom, and it appears to work fine, with chat, video, and audio calling available.
This was on the UK market, Wifi version (so no provider issues), stock 3.2.
This is the market item I have installed.

Yeah, it is compatible, but depending on which country you're in and how tight the laws are there, you may not be able to download Skype. However, there is an app called Market Helper which is for ROOTED devices which allows you to fake your location and download the app.


text:
Wi-Fi sleep policy when mobile networks are turned off
I have a fairly expensive data plan and I don't want my phone to use any of it, so it turned off mobile networks in Settings. When I access the Wi-Fi sleep policy setting, it says it switches to mobile networks when wifi sleeps.
Is that really the case? Does wifi sleep policy override the setting that disabled mobile networks, and eventually use them?

Just some confusing wording.  What they mean is it will turn WiFi off, and the handset will fall back to using cell data (if available).  It won't actually enable the cell data.

According to my experience, it does not turn mobile networking on. I have Android 2.2 on HTC Desire HD.


text:
How do I draw mind maps seamlessly with touch screen only?
Desktop software such as MindManager and FreeMind allows you to easily draw Mind Maps. But their interface rely on much keyboard shortcuts that doesn't work (well) on Android virtual keyboard. Is there a way to draw such mind maps seamlessly with touch screen only?

I've been using the app Thinking Space. Certainly not as efficient but good if i want to map a quick idea out.

Thinking Space is what I currently use. I've recently upgraded to Thinking Space Pro to get the additional attachment/linking feature. However, its touchscreen interface doesn't yet feel fully baked. The on screen menu/submenu doesn't make full use of my Viewpad WVGA screen real estate. The quick tool bar has a gesture button, but gestures are still being revised. However I agree this is my best choice so far, so I'm marking this answered.

Thinking Space on Android Market

Try mind map memo. Easy to add new branches with a simple swipe but not as powerful as Thinking Space.

Positive first look at Mind Map Memo. The screenshots looks nice, since the nodes can connect at four sides (Thinking Space basically connects on left and right sides only). But first feel of the touch screen interface is a bit negative, zoom is only via a slide bar (Thinking Space has multi touch pinch zoom). I'll try it out more ...

Mind Map Memo on Android Market


text:
When was my text message delivered?
In the text messaging application that came with my Android phone, a checkmark seems to appear next to text messages that have been successfully delivered. How can I find out when a text message was delivered?
Update: The text messaging app might be a custom one. It's the default for Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini. A couple of screen caps I've found:

As soon as the check mark is appeared on the message text body, it means it delivered the message.
If you want a confirmation then you can use mysms SMS app. This could deliver the status message.
If you want to track the time when the SMS delivered then try SMS Scheduler. It keeps track of all your previous messages also.

I'm looking for a solution that doesn't require me to constantly watch every message.

@Tim: You mean to say some kind of "Delivered Successfully" message back to your mobile ?

I don't want to be notified when it is delivered. I want to be able to find out when it was delivered, i.e. at which time the checkmark appeared.

@Tim: Please see my updated post.

I was hoping that there was a way with the native application. I'll check your suggestion out.

There are many things that are not there in native Android phones. Its like a framework where we can do lots of things outside.

In the Stock App for Short Messages, there is a way to get the informations you want to have:
Just longtap on the message and then choose "details" in the pop up.
If your manufacturer put another app for text messaging in replace for the android stock app, please tell us the name of it.

You're right, it doesn't seem to be the stock app. Longtapping only lets me choose "Copy message text", "Forward messge" and "Delete message". I've updated the question with some more info.

The SMS system itself doesn't support read or delivery confirmation past delivery to the network.
IOW your phone is notified when the message is received by the network with a recognised recipient, but nothing more.
If your application is like the one on my phone, the mark indicates unread responses to a message you sent (or unread incoming messages in general), not that a message you sent has been read by its recipient.

It might mean that the message has been received by the network, but I'm quite sure that it's about a message being received by the recipient. I know that it's possible for SMS messages to request a receipt.

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


text:
Can I flash a Motorola Charm with a T-mobile update?
I recently bought a Motorola Charm with a Motoblur logo on it, but it doesn't appear to actually have Motoblur installed! There's no message widget, no Facebook update widget, no sign in for first use - nothing. Just a normal Android system. I am wondering what phone I actually have, and if I can update my phone with T-mobile's "Blur_Version.0.2.6005.MB502.T-Mobile.en.US" image.

Yes, you can, but in my experience it does not work well and you can't downgrade afterward. I'd recommend that you do NOT flash that T-Mobile updated ROM.


text:
How to modify functionality (skip song, play, pause) with side phone volume keys?
This is a really requested feature in a lot of forum, but I haven't found any convincing solution.
I'd like that my volume keys:

If simple (short) press both together, pause/play.
If simple (short) press of single key, change the volume up or down.
If pressed and hold change track forward or backward.

My options in order from preferred to less preferred are:

Do it with Tasker
Download an app to achieve this (not a media player)
Develop an app to achieve this (any advice?)
Download a media player that has mentioned functionality.

Thanks, Diego
Note: With volume keys I don't mean keys in the headphone, I mean those which are at the side of the phone.

PowerAmp (http://powerampapp.com/) is open source, so that may serve as a good starting point.

What's the sense of a paid app which lets you unlock it for free? Also: where can I find the source code?.. You can post this as an answer.. I think it will end up resolving my issue.

PowerAmp is an open source app, which may serve as a good starting point for developing your own app.  The code can be found here.

Headset button controller is an excellent app in market which will do all these functions..
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.kober.headsetbutton&feature=more_from_developer

While that does look like a useful app, the OP is looking for something that changes the behavior of the buttons on the device itself.


text:
How check what requests does my App (wireshark for Android)?

Possible Duplicate:
Is there any sniffer aplication for Android 2.2?

Is there any kind of wireshark app for Andorid? I would like to see what requests does one application on my Nexus One do, but I have no idea how to check it. Is it possible?

That other question should have exactly what you need :)


text:
Could a faulty SIM card cause my android to spontaneously reboot
My android (Sony Xperia 10a) spontaneously reboots on a 1m to 15m cycle.   I had a Nokia before and I think it rebooted more often than expected as well.  My Google contacts, a SIM and AT&T are the only things I brought forward from one to the other so I suspect all three.
Does anyone know if a bad SIM can cause rebooting?

this question is too vague to be useful

yes, I have had a windows 8 phone crash and switch off with extreme frequency- got new sim card issued by supplier and phone now totally reliable. it's the simplest thing to check and it doesn't require you to do the whole backup and restore thing.

Perhaps it could but not in this case.  I'm going to go with faulty hardware and here's why.  I have tried the following:
Action.... Rationale

full reset ... installed too many
apps and corrupted OS?
full reset and
reformat memory card ... corrupt file
system on mem card?
full reset and
don't use a memory card ... defective
mem card? new sim card ... bad sim?
full reset + new google account ...
bad data in google account?
full
reset + original google account but
do not activate any location
awareness ... suspect GPS issue

In each case I can get the phone to fail in 5-45 minutes and usually within 20m as long as I'm tranferring some data via 3g (youtube, downloads etc).
So, since I have swapped out everything except the physical phone hardware the problem must lay in the device itself.  Glad there's a manufacturer's warranty

I suppose my card finally caused the phone hardware to fail. it was restarting from time to time, but I ignored it. then it failed completely (restarting all the time when it has any energy, can't even boot into recovery mode). I thought it's the phone fault, so I put the card into another device... and this second device also started to restart. what's interesting, it keep have problems a couple of hours after I pull this problematic SIM out.

Had these symptoms on a Samsung S3 Neo, pretty sure its the card because it does the same in my older phone but only when using 3/4G.
Interestingly it only happens when the battery is below 80% for some reason.
Also had the same problem on older non-smart phones, the guy at the shop asked "what had I done to it" because it refused point blank to even see the card at all.
Best guess is ESD but yet the card worked fine in the same phone for years without issue.

Yes, it happned to me on my Samsung galaxy 6, i change sim card and it's work again

I have an LG G4 that suddenly refused to turn on. I used my insurance and got a new unit sent out, swapped out my battery and SIM, and had the same thing start happening with the new unit. The tech at Verizon said it might be a battery issue, so I went and spent $43 on a new battery. No go. Still the same issue, plus the battery wouldn't charge, even when the phone was off.
At this point, the only original part on my phone is the SIM, so back to Verizon I go tonight see if they can/will replace the SIM.

how have that ended?

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


text:
HTC Desire: Recovery Mode just shows 'Broken Phone' symbol
I'm trying to install the CyanogenMod on my HTC desire. I've temporarily routed it an downloaded the ClockworkMod Recovery and the CyanogenMod with the RomManager app. Everything seems fine.
However when I reboot the phone and go into the Revovery-Mode it just shows me a 'Broken-Phone' icon instead of the recovery options. The symbol it shows is a Phone with a red triangle on top of it. Anyone an idea what could be wrong?
Edit: I used the Vision+ to root. But it was only a temporary rooting-tool. The permanent root didn't work. The Unrevoke-method doesn't seem to work. It never recognizes the phone. HBoot-driver are installed (on Windows). It tells that HTC Sync should be installed. It's not installed in the PC. Do I need it to remove it on the Phone? And how I do that?
Thanks for any leads / tips.

From what I know (and by no means am I an expert on rooting) the phone with the red triangle is the standard HTC recovery mode, not the Clockworkmod recovery. So my guess is that your rooting method is not working correctly.
So, what method are you using and is your desire branded / locked to a network?
When I rooted my desire a few weeks back, I struggled to get Clockworkmod installed - I was using the Unrevoked method. I ended up having to factory reset the device to be able to install it, which is always an option, but you will lose all your saved date (I'm having to replay all the Angry Birds levels).

I used the Vision+ thingy to root. But it was only a temporary rooting-tool. The permanet root didn't work. The Unrevoke-method didn't seem to work. (will retry it again) How do I do a factory reset? I don't care about the data.

Just found out about the S-ON / S-OFF stuff on HTC Desires. Probably need the S-OFF mode. Will try to get to that and then retry everything.

Found the reason why Unrevoked didn't work. The HBoot-driver didn't fully work on my Windows box. Ran the whole thing on Linux and everything worked. Thx for the tipp that the Symbol means that the default revovery mode was still installed.


text:
My phone vibrates 2 times, as some application crashes inside or background
I have Samsung Galaxy Ace running Froyo.
While writing text, installing/removing app or doing any kind of play. My phone vibrates 2 times. Where as I am not using vibration for any event. You have also expirienced this vibration with a popup message that some application stop responding. But I didnt get that message. So that i can identify the porblem area. I guess some inside applicaiton crashes and this vibration happens.
Can any one give some pointer on it? How can I fix it.

Its difficult to find the Problem without the Device.
But you can Activate the Debug mode (Preferences->Applications->Development->USB-Debuging)
Then you can start Eclipse.
Open the DDMS Perspektive and there LogCat.
Perhaps you find there the BuggyApp.

I will try this.


text:
Samsung Galaxy Tab drivers
Where can I find the Windows 7 drivers for the Samsung Galaxy Tab? Can't seem to find them on the samsung website.
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/supportDownloadCenter.do?prd_ia_cd=N0000407&prd_mdl_cd=SCH-I800&prd_mdl_name=SCH-I800
Ultimately, I need to deploy an application that I'm developing :-)

I used the same drivers that I installed for my Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant).

64 bit drivers
32 bit drivers

Just download Samsung Kies and you're good to go!. All the mobile USB drivers come inbuilt along with Kies.

The driver for Samsung Galaxy flagship are all the same, no need a specific driver type for a certain Samsung Galaxy device. Because Samsung has made it simple. You can directly head to the Samsung Developers official website to download the driver for your device from this page and learn to install the driver from this page.
Once you have finished installing the driver then you may be able to transfer files between your Samsung Android device to Windows and installing the stock ROM manually.


text:
Is there any known full device/disk encryption software for android 2.2?
I have not found anything in the app store or other stores, Is there any known full device/disk encryption software for android 2.2, that you have test on your device? if so what is the device?
FYI:I know honeycomb supports this natively, but my device does not support HC.

You wouldn't be able to get it via an app, you'd need it at the ROM level. I doubt anyone has done it.

possible duplicate of Are there any known rom(s) with full device encryption incorporated?

Full device/disk encryption can only be done correct with OS privileges. That's why there is no such App. But newer Android versions and some ROMs provide this features. Have a look at "Are there any known rom(s) with full device encryption incorporated?"

That's why there is no such app. ~> You are saying like there's no root app in the world. Apps can do this with root access.


text:
How to save something to Instapaper with TweetCaster
I have TweetCaster Pro (thank you Amazon Daily App...) and it has a place for me to enter my Instapaper account in the Settings, but for the life of me, I can't seem to figure out how to send something from TweetCaster to Instapaper.
Anyone know how?

This one took me a while. Go into "Personalize TweetCaster" in settings and change "URL action" to "ask".


text:
Are there any known rom(s) with full device encryption incorporated?

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

Are there any recommendable known rom(s) with full device/disk encryption incorporated?
Device specs: Samsung ARM Cortex A8 processor at 1GHz, and 512MB RAM, right now runs Android 2.2.

You mean like WhisperCore? Quoting from it's site:

By default, WhisperCore encrypts your entire data partition at the device level, and can optionally be enabled for your phone's SD card as well. WhisperCore also includes smudge-resistant screen unlock patterns.

Unfortunately it only currently runs on the Nexus handsets.

thanks, I hope them to get out versions for other devices. ;)

As far as I know, Android doesn't do hardware encryption. Software encryption on the system is also not done. Its really something that they should work on.
For you, I recommend using a combination of thirdparty apps to encrypt the individual sections of your phone such as calls, texts, etc. Its a really not a good solution but the best one at the moment. :(


text:
Bricked? Evo 4G while trying to Unroot
I am an idiot, first and foremost.
I was running an older version of CM7 and just bought an Evo 3D. I decided to sell my Evo 4G online, and went to unroot it. I ran the original software RUU (1.06.651.4) on the phone, (because I am dumb and didn't think things through) and now it is semi-bricked.
Symptoms:
The phone turns on with only a black screen (it is "lit up" but nothing appears on the screen). The phone vibrates once, then the phone plays a sound (a little tune) to indicate it is booting up.
The phone plays a sound to indicate a low battery warning. The phone plays a sound to indicate when I connect the USB cable to it.
If I try to boot to bootloader by holding Vol-Down when powering up, the black screen appears with no sound and no further action.
If I try to re-run the RUU, or run a different RUU, I get a USB Connection Error.
I can't run an RUU, I can't flash anything because I have no access to Recovery, etc.
Can anyone help fix my stupidity? I shouldn't have rushed into unrooting. Damnit.

The main thing you need to do is get in to the recovery. I am not sure how to do that as I don't own the device. You can try using ADB and do 'adb reboot recovery'.

he cant use adb if he cant boot the OS. fastboot would be a better solution

Happened to me one on my DHD
my phone had same symptoms
what i did was take the batttery out then Hold the power button and then insert the battery into the phone again (while holding the power button down/ pushing) and my phone rebooted into bootloader and from there i switched to recovery
hope this trick will work for you.
good luck


text:
How does Google map know my direction as I rotate?
I realize the blue arrow on Google map, as you rotate the phone around, it will rotate as well. May I know how does it know the north south direction? It works too even my GPS is turned off.

GPS doesn't understand static direction at all; it can only infer direction from motion.  But there is an electronic compass inside the phone as well as the GPS.
You might want to download the "GPS Status + Tools" program from the Market; you can see detailed status information for both the GPS and the compass.

To add...there's a magnetometer within almost all Android phones. This also allows your device to act like a metal detector. Quite a few apps in the market that enhance this functionality.


text:
SMS messages just have "null"

Possible Duplicate:
SMS messages from one contact displayed as “null”

I have a Samsung Galaxy 5.  A coworker sent me a contact from his Nokia phone, which showed up as "null", and now all other SMS's from him also come through only as "null."  I've tried deleting the thread, deleting the contact, turning the phone off and then on... Any help would be appreciated.
J

Did you add the contact again with a name after you deleted it?

Try this,

delete his contact

then

Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Select the Messaging App
Choose 'Clear Data' and also 'Clear Cache'.

N.B. you will lose all data / txt msg's in your phone
(don't forget to write their number down to save as new afterwards!)


text:
Does Verizon Prepaid Mobile Broadband work on Android PHONES?
According to this page:

Prepaid Mobile Broadband usage is not
  available on any PC cards. Only
  available on Express-Cards, USB
  modems, Intelligent Mobile Hotspots
  and Mobile Broadband Built-In on
  select notebooks/netbooks.

Note how cell phones are missing from that list. Does this mean that Android phones are excluded from Verizon's Prepaid Mobile Broadband?

Update: I found this great comparison chart, but it is still unclear whether Verizon Prepaid Mobile Broadband work on Android phones. Why the ambiguity?

No, mobile broadband is called such specifically to distinguish it from a cell phone data plan.  You might be able to trick them by claiming your phone is one of the tablets they support, but only if you can get all its info (IMEI etc.) beforehand and they accept it, rather than requiring you to bring in the device.
However I believe they are able to detect this sort of trickery on a network level, even if you're not an existing customer and they know that your device is a phone.  I would not expect it to work for long.  I did a similar thing on T-Mobile and my service was cut after 2 days.


text:
Prepaid plans or cards for Android PHONES?
I need to access the Web via my Android phone's cell radio only occasionally. Therefore, I am not interested in a monthly plan (and certainly not in a 2-year minimum contract).
I thought that finding a prepaid web access card (or plan) for Android phones would be as easy as finding one for voice but it turns out way more difficult than I had hoped for:

T-Mobile's attractive Web DayPass
works with phones, but not with
Android ones.
Verizon's Prepaid Mobile Broadband is
not intended for phones at all
(Android or not).

What are my options really as far as minimizing the cost of occasional web access via my Android phone, legally and reliably ?
At this point, I am flexible as to whether the solution is for CDMA or GSM (it is still much less expensive to buy a new phone than to sign for a 2-year contract)

You can get the LG Optimus V from Virgin Mobil for $150 (total) and pay $25/month for unlimited data and texts and 300 minutes/month of talk time. There are three drawbacks. (1) The screen is a bit small. (2) The internal memory is only about 200MB, so you are limited as the number of apps you can have (even moving apps to the SD card). (3) Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint network which seems to be more limited than say Verizon.
Later this month (I think) Virgin Mobile will also off the Motorola Triumph with 2GB internal memory and a larger screen and a faster processor and a front facing camera (which the Optimus doesn't have, so maybe that's four drawbacks). I plan to switch to the new phone as soon as I can.

Thanks for bringing Virgin's unlimited data plan to my attention. Are you sure it wasn't abandoned in January 2011?

I'm not sure of anything. However, their website says "unlimited messaging, email, data, and web on all plans with talk included."

Thanks. Indeed, this is what their website says and it appears that things change so quickly in this field that the article from Jan 2011 is no longer relevant. BTW, I noticed that they mention Speech To Text only, without any reference to Text to Speech. Is it possible that an Android 2.2 phone will not come with TTS?

AFAIK the carriers are simply not interested in doing anything except forcing people with smartphones to pay unreasonable amounts for data plans.
One thing you could do is get Verizon's Prepaid Mobile Broadband in the "hotspot" form.  You can plug it in wherever and it effectively rebroadcasts the cell network as a Wi-Fi network.  You can connect your phone to that Wi-Fi.  It's not perfect, since it's not portable to anywhere without a power outlet (AFAIK it can't use batteries), but perhaps better than nothing.

Thanks to your suggestion I learned about the Intelligent Mobile Hotspot (with a rechargeable battery) and the Mobile Broadband Built-in Laptops. Also, I just learned about something called Verizon Unleashed. Do you happen to know whether it works with Android phones?

@ef2011 Unfortunately it looks like it only works with 3 feature phones.


text:
What to do when the AVD is HUGE and is taller than the screen
I am setting up my environment in Eclipse to do some development for the Galaxy Tab 7", and I have a problem with my Android Virtual Device (AVD).
If I set my target for:

GALAXY Tab Addon - API Level 8

and the Skin to:

Default (GALAXY Tab)

using the Edit AVD button in the Window > Android SDK and AVD Manager menu, when I run my Hello Android app, the AVD window is so huge as to be useless (note, I also think the actual emulated Tab is taller than the window itself...). See screen capture below, in which you see top of the screen to bottom (w/taskbar). My screen size is 1680 x 1050.
Now, if I switch the target to:

Android 2.2 - API Level 8

and the Skin to:

Default (WVGA800)

the AVD window is a reasonable size, but I imagine this is because it's emulating a phone-size device, not the 7" Tab. I am needing to target the 7" Tab though, so that's not really an option for me.
Short of increasing my desktop resolution, does anybody know how to get this window to open up in maybe a 75% size? Or some other workaround?

Why don't you run it in landscape mode? Portrait is not the default orientation for tablets, even if the Android SDK defaults to portrait.  I'm also wondering if you can cut out the body of the device and set the view to screen-only; the Tab's screen is 1024x600, so it should fit your screen like that while in portrait mode.

@Matthew Read - Those are great ideas (especially since my apps will probably require landscape anyway). I'll give them a shot when I get home later and let you know if they work. :)

@Matthew Read - Both of your suggestions work independently, as well as there is an option when using a specific resolution to scale it to a certain size. However, now the keyboard and other stuff that was to the right is gone. Do you know how to get this back, or is this tied to the skin?

No idea, I haven't actually used it :)

@Matthew Read - I found this site, which helped (although I haven't really figured out what I want to do yet). If you post your first comment as an answer, I'll upvote and mark it as the answer. :)

Why don't you run it in landscape mode? Portrait is not the default orientation for tablets, even if the Android SDK defaults to portrait. I'm also wondering if you can cut out the body of the device and set the view to screen-only; the Tab's screen is 1024x600, so it should fit your screen like that while in portrait mode.

Others: See comments under the question for more information. :)


text:
Understanding Sync & Transferring one account to another
I've tried to find information about understanding syncing account information on Android but cannot find any definitive guide to answer the below questions

What does syncing actually mean? Is it the act of an app contacting a server in the cloud and making sure they are both have indentical information?
What information can be synced on Android? The obvious ones are Contacts, Calendars, etc, but can any information be synced?
How do you determine what accounts information is synced to:

Contacts
Calendars
SMS/texts? Are these tied to a specific account or is it just on the phone.

Is syncing limited to Google, or can an App use a properity server?
When deleting an account, all of it's associated information is deleted. So does that include SMS messages, apps?
How do you just transfer all information from one email address to another?

Excuse my ignorance regarding the above, again I couldn't find any information on these topics.
All of these questions have sprung from changing my Gmail account from googlemail.com (which was originally used to activate my phone) to gmail.com and it's caused some side-effects when I've added my new gmail account to the phone, such as calendar no longer syncs, contacts are now duplicated on the phone, etc. I'd like to transfer my googlemail account to gmail on my phone.

Syncing is when you take two different sets of data (normally on two different devices or on one device and one online) and make them "mirror", or be identical to, each other. This way, you always have the most up-to-date version of that data no matter which device(s) you are currently using.
Many things can be and are synced, including a lot of different data from third-party apps, like Springpad (which syncs your notes) or Dropbox (a file storage service). However, for Google applications, I believe that it's just your contacts, gmail, chats (via Talk) Buzz posts, calendar, and documents. You can also upload and download photos from your Picasa account as well. However, I also think that Google has lots of other apps that do not come pre-installed on most phones, such as finance, which (I think) will sync with your online stock portfolio or the like. (I don't use Google Finance, sorry.) SMS is also only on the phone, though they have applications that you can download to backup your SMS to your computer.
No, other apps can use syncing as well, though I don't believe that they can sync to your Gmail account. Often times, these services have you register for separate accounts on their sites using your Gmail to sync with their service and their application on your device. For example, like mentioned previously, I use Springpad as a note-taking application on my Droid. I had to create an account on their site (though I could also log in via services like Yahoo! or Gmail) and it would afterwards sync with the application on my phone, so my notes on my phone are always the same as the ones on my online account with Springpad.
I think that you can add a Gmail account in your Gmail application on your phone. Afterwards, you'd likely be able to delete the old one. Though, you'd probably have to re-purchase or re-install your applications, as those are bought via your Google account. I don't believe it would delete your SMS as those are just on the phone, though it's always a good idea to clean your SMS out because they eventually start to eat up quite a bit of space unless you have them set to automatically delete as you reach a message limit. (For example, 200 messages)
For transferring data, there's a tutorial on transferring mail located here: http://www.consumingexperience.com/2007/09/gmail-transfer-all-emails-to-new-gmail.html (not written by Google, but the next best thing). For contacts, you'd just export them all from your online Gmail account and then re-import the export file into your new one.
Hopefully this answers your question and good luck switching!


text:
Why doesn't my Desire S support RTL?
When I bought my Desire S in Israel I was under the assumption that it's OS (Android 2.3) came with built in Hebrew support.
When I turned the phone on I discovered that there isn't an option to choose Israel as a locale and that I don't even don't have a Hebrew keyboard.  That doesn't bother me (despite the fact that it should be supported) as much as the fact that even after I downloaded a Hebrew keyboard my SMSs and other little things in Hebrew appear left to right and not right to left (RTL).
What can I do to make it appear in the correct RTL way?

Android supports Hebrew, it's strange that the carrier/manufacturer didn't have Hebrew put on the phone for sale in Israel.

From my experience I would guess you've bought a device imported by a private store rather from a local carrier, the people where you bought it should have replaced the stock rom into a hebrew supporting one after opening the package. I had the same thing done to my device after purchase and it won't void your warranty in any way.
either ask them to do so or just root your device and flash a hebrew rom from the web (may void warranty).


text:
all android devices on my LAN can ONLY connect to the gateway
I have a phone running 2.3 and a tablet running 3.1 on the wireles network along with a bunch of computers. I have a bit of a networking mistery.
Here are the facts:

all the devices can get the the internet.
the non-android devices can all connect to each other.
the android devices can connect to only the gateway not to anything else
none of the other device can ping the android devices.
the tablet can connect to local computers on my work's LAN.

on the phone I see only a route to the local netowrk and a default gateway
ip address:
... many rmnet addresses ...
eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdic pfifo_fast static UP plen 1000
inet/ether 64:a7:69:70:76:7b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 192.168.11.4/24 brd 192.168.11.255 scope global eth0
inet <link local ip6>

on the tablet:
# ip r
192.168.11.1 dev wlan0  scope link
192.168.11.0/24 dev wlan0  proto kernel  scope link  src 192.168.11.6  metric 306
default via 192.168.11.1 dev wlan0
default via 192.168.11.1 dev wlan0  metric 306
#
#
# ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: dummy0: <BROADCAST,NOARP> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN
    link/ether 42:cf:a5:fd:26:81 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: usb0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 1e:2e:a2:c3:16:7e brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: sit0: <NOARP> mtu 1480 qdisc noop state DOWN
    link/sit 0.0.0.0 brd 0.0.0.0
5: ip6tnl0: <NOARP> mtu 1460 qdisc noop state DOWN
    link/tunnel6 :: brd ::
6: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether f4:6d:04:39:26:21 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.11.6/24 brd 192.168.11.255 scope global wlan0
    inet6 fe80::f66d:4ff:fe39:2621/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

also on the tablet i see that the problem is arp requests failing:
# ping 192.168.11.100
PING 192.168.11.100 (192.168.11.100) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.11.3 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.11.3 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.11.3 icmp_seq=4 Destination Host Unreachable
^C
--- 192.168.11.100 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% packet loss, time 4005ms, pipe 3
# ip neighbor show
192.168.11.100 dev wlan0  FAILED
192.168.11.1 dev wlan0 lladdr 00:16:01:a1:a4:18 STALE
#

should i move this to server fault?  it's android specific, but also about networking?

Sounds to me like something to do with Android, it's probably OK to stay here.  I just checked and I can't ping my Android phone on my wireless network ... interesting.  Considering I can remote desktop from the phone into my laptop.

Any chance you have MAC address filtering or something else in place that would be blocking your devices from the rest of your network?

checked the router config and confirmed that the mac filtering is off, as well as "privacy separation"

broke out the packet sniffer and determined that broadcast arp request from android devices where being dropped in the access point.
turned out to be a bug with my Buffalo 300n wireless access point.
cheep new AP and problem gone... apparently some APs just don't talk to Android?
solved by using the principal of "replace the cheapest things first"


text:
Is there a way to enter a line break into a long node name in Thinking Space?
When editing a long node name in Free Mind on desktop you can enter a line break by using "shift-enter", then a simple "enter" would confirm the edit.
This same Free Mind mind map when transferred to Android and edited with Thinking Space would display the node with line break correctly. However, I couldn't find a way to enter that line break in Thinking Space. I tried the following input methods: Swype, TouchPal, Hacker's Keyboard.

You have to enable "Multiline text entry" in the options und "look" (roughly translation from german Localisation). After that you can youst hit enter in the node name.
To confirm the node name then, you have to tap outside of the writing area of the node.

Perfect answer. Enabled "Multiline text entry" in "Settings" and it does as you described. Marking this answered.


text:
How to install apps which are targeted for another country?

Possible Duplicate:
How can I circumvent regional restrictions in the Android Market?

I'd like to install an app from the Market which is limited to the USA (specifically Google Music). When I search for the app myself in the Market app on my phone, it does not find the app; it seems to be filtered.
So how do I install apps which are not meant for my country?

Before we got paid apps in the Android Market in Denmark, I used to use Market Enabler (requires root). This allowed me to pretend that I was a resident in another country, and thus buy paid apps from the Market.
Perhaps you can use the same solution, faking the market to believe you are from the US?

works like a charm!

Perfect, and good to know. :)

MarketEnabler no longer works. AndroidMarket checks for IP address as well to find the user's location. Can't cheat any more ;)

If that's the case then maybe you can connect via VPN or Proxy. Though I'm not sure as to how.


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Is Samsung Galaxy S II rear camera Gorilla Glass too?
is Samsung Galaxy S II rear camera Gorilla Glass too?
It sticks out a little above the case, so I would like to know if it's durable enough not to need to buy special case which, obviously, makes the phone thicker.
Thanks!

Hmm, interesting question!

hit it with a hammer and see what happens :). DON'T REALLY DO THAT! But that is an interesting question. I would actually doubt that it is. since it is such a small surface area, I dont think they would pay for the cost of gorilla glass.

I'll answer myself. It isn't. I have observed tiny scratches already :(

Unfortunately it is not, my Galaxy S II already has a lot of little scratches on the camera "glass", and unlike in my old HTC Desire phone, GSII doesn't have extra "glass" in the back plate to protect the actual lens. So when it gets scratched I cannot just exchange the backplate :(.
I treat my phone very gently, so I'm very surprised to see the lens having some many little scratches :(. Clearly in GSII the lens is way too unprotected and near the surface when you place it on flat surface.
As a extra step, I bought case-mate "though" case to add a bit more space between the lens and flat surface. Although the lens is scratched all the pictures seem to be just fine. Phew...

Yeah it's not , have seen scratches on a friends GSII rear facing camera myself.


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Tethering an Android 2.2.1 (Froyo) using Wifi
I'm trying to get tethering to work. I've used the built-in functionality, setup my phone as an AP and connected to the wireless network.
I get an IP (192.168.43.26) and I can ping the gateway (192.168.43.1), I also got a dns server (192.168.43.1). However, I can't access the internet (e.g. surf or ping 8.8.8.8).
Any ideas on what may be wrong?
netstat -r (restricted to en1, the wireless interface)
Destination        Gateway            Flags        Refs      Use   Netif Expire
default            192.168.43.1       UGScI           0        0     en1
192.168.43         link#6             UCS             2        0     en1
192.168.43.1       4:18:f:40:41:7c    UHLWI           0       16     en1    925
192.168.43.255     ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff  UHLWbI          0       12     en1

Some more info

Using WPA2 Personal (since I can ping the phone/gateway/router I should be beyond the encryption layer in the OSI model, so I don't think encryption is the problem)
Wireless AP
No third-party tethering (using native)
Samsung Galaxy
No custom ROM
Don't know if it's rooted (I guess the fact that I don't know means it isn't)

What do you mean by the router?  The "router" should be the phone in this setup.  Either way: Why is the address not 192.168.0.1?  What device do you have?

The router is OS X language for gateway (updated the question). The device is a Samsung Galaxy Gio (not locked to a particular carrier).

I believe what you are trying to do is impossible because of https://android.stackexchange.com/a/14788/8059

If you are on linux, check up the kernel routing table by
typing route at terminal.
if you do not have a default entry in the list it won't work.
For example my kernel routing table reads:
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
192.168.137.0   *               255.255.255.0   U     2      0        0 eth1
link-local      *               255.255.0.0     U     1000   0        0 eth1
default         192.168.137.1   0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 eth1

Type in this command at terminal and see if it works:
sudo route add default gw 192.168.43.1 wlan0
where wlan0 is your wireless interface....
also you could try rechecking the dns server on your machine
and add the following lines to your etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4

Thanks! I've added a routing table. The DNS shouldn't be the problem since I can't even ping public IPs (such as 8.8.8.8)

Let's clear up some terminologies here:

The phone acts is both a gateway (translates between Mobile network protocol and Wifi protocol) and a router (routes packets to and from other devices and the external link). I assume that your phone's IP address is 192.168.43.1. The phone have an internet connection through mobile data connection and want to share this connection with other devices.
The other devices (e.g. laptop) does not have direct internet connection, and is trying to tether through the gateway/phone. In your case, the other devices acquired the IP 192.168.43.26 through DHCP.

Are you using any encryption? WEP or WPA? I suggests setting up an open network for troubleshooting, and only setup encryption after you are able to connect through unencrypted connection. Check that the encryption setting and passphrase matches.
What tethering method are you using? Are you using third party tethering, e.g. PDANet or android-wifi-tether? or are you using the native tethering in Android 2.2 and up?
What phone? Is it custom ROM? Is it rooted?

Yes, good clarification on the terminology! I've added some more information at the top, to answer your questions.

Better to ask clarification questions as comments on the original question. It's hard to find the answer in here.


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android phone or small device with qwerty physical keyboard with Ctrl and Alt keys?
Is there any Android phone or similarly-sized device with qwerty physical keyboard including Ctrl and Alt keys? What do sysadmins use for typing on Android devices?

This looks like a shopping recommendation (off-topic).  That said, why would you administer a system from a phone instead of a computer?

Since Android doesn't really have Control or Alt, you might be able to get a virtual keyboard with them but I very much doubt there's a device with them on a physical keyboard.
Your best bet is a shell with support for these keys. Terminal Emulator does Ctrl+key by holding Volume Down and pressing the key, for example.

Not a physical keyboard, but the Hacker's Keyboard soft keyboard has Control and Alt keys on the keyboard.


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How can I change the account used for contact sync?
My phone currently synchronizes the contacts with my personal Google account. I would like to change that so it would synchronize the contacts with an other account of mine. I added the other account, but in the synchronization settings it's empty. I can't see the same options that I see in my personal account's settings. (My personal account contains Gmail, Google Calendar, and Contacts... there isn't Gmail and Calendar associated with my other account, so don't seeing it might be expected, but it definitely has Contacts.)
What can possibly cause this? Is there a way to still make the synchronization happen that way?
(I use Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini pro with Android 2.1, and I don't want to root my phone and load a custom ROM yet.)

I think Press Menu > Settings > Accounts and Sync > and Select the Account > then it should Display Options with checkBoxes like Calender, Contacts, Email...
Thats what I have got in my Phone Running Froyo Good Luck

As the question states, there isn't any of this there in my case.

You will still see contacts, and gmail, in the account sync. Those items are there even if they aren't "associated" with any of the actual services. Picasa is the only service I have seen that doesn't actually show up, unless you actually use picasa with the account. All of my accounts show Google Reader, Books, etc, and I only use those services on one account.


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Samsung Kies 1.5 not connecting the galaxy fit device
I have Samsung Galaxy fit with android 2.2 I have installed Samsung Kies 1.5 since I want to use mobile internet on desktop PC having Windows XP through USB. But when I connect my phone to PC using  data cable Kies keeps on showinf the message 'Connecting the device Please wait' for long time but it never connects. I have installed USB drivers for galaxy fit and I hope there is no prob with that part. Also USB debugging on the device is on. Can anybody help me out of this?

If you're planning to use Kies to connect to the device, USB Debugging must be off and the phone's USB mode must be set to Samsung Kies, otherwise Kies won't detect the phone.

Thanks for your response! But sorry I was wrong in stating my question. The device is getting connected when the USB debugging is off. But how to proceed for tethering? When I tick USB tethering on phone, Kies starts connecting the device again for long time and then no response. Do I also need to tick on Mobile AP option on the device? When I did it, its giving error. Now can you please help me on this?

I don't have that version combination for testing (running Android 2.3.3 and Win7), but for me tethering works then USB Debugging is on, I plug the device in and then tick USB Tethering. This automatically tethers the devices without the use of Kies. Does this work for you?

Oh, and you probably need this driver: http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=182134

@ onik oh, It really works without using kies. :) Thanks a lot!


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Is the Motorola Xoom tablet suitable for making notes on pdf?
I am considering buying a Motorola Xoom to get rid of piles of notes that I have from uni.
My questions are:

Does the Xoom have a digitizer pen (or can you buy a compatible one)?
Does Android have an app to make notes on pdf files?

It's also worth noting that the Xoom has a "capacitive" touch screen (as do most modern multi-touch compatible devices) most stylus pens are designed for the older "resistive" touch screens and won't do anything on a capacitive screen. See this previous question on suitable styluses for a capacitive screen http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2490/

See also: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/14164/how-can-i-write-in-a-pdf-with-a-tablet-and-a-pen-a-k-a-is-there-a-xournal-alte

I do not believe there are any Android applications that will allow you to make notes on PDF files. You might be better off looking towards a Windows capable tablet, since you would be able to run Acrobat on that.

In fact, there are at least two apps now, that allow you to make notes in PDF files: RepliGo Reader and ezPDF Reader

I dont think the xoom can be used with a pen, it wasnt designed for that, i have a xoom and all i use it for is browsing the internet and playing games, it could be a very useful tool for taking notes and such with the onscreen keyboard and i think it is very handy to have. It has a ton of hard drive space and if you download a good app that lets you take notes then i think it would be good for you, if you dont like typing your notes and you want to actually write them then i dont think the xoom is good for that. you could try using a pen with it but it could scratch the screen, you could ask someone at an at&t or verison store if they would recommend a tablet that suits your needs.


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How can I teach my phone not to capitalise "It's" every time?
I'm using the standard full QWERTY on-screen keyboard on my HTC Desire S, and when typing in to any app it seems that I cannot type it's without manually inserting the ', which is relatively slow and cumbersome, especially considering many other abbreviations work fine (eg, c, a, n, t -> can't).
If I type i, t, s then the default word that is presented is its, but in the word selection list I am presented with It's as a second choice; always capitalised. it's is not presented as a choice anywhere in the list of suggestions.
The phone seems to only capitalise anything else following a full stop or new line, and gets many other abbreviations correct, so why the misbehaviour for it's? And how do I fix it?
I've already tried adding it's to the dictionary (and checked that It's isn't there), but that didn't work.

That's...odd. I've never seen that before.

It seems that asking this question has encouraged me actually make a proper effort to poke around the phone's settings enough to find a workable solution, which is to enable Spell correction for the QWERTY keyboard word suggestions / predictions.
The option is enabled in the location:

Settings
Language & Keyboard
Touch Input

Text Input

QWERTY section

Spell correction

Now, typing i,t,s mid sentence will produce the suggested words its, Its, it's, which is pretty much acceptable for me. it's might be third, but it's listed and that's what counts!
I don't know if this is a common problem or if the default setting for Spell correction is on or off, so I don't know what the cause of the problem was, but at least it's sort of fixed.

check your user dictionary, perhaps you have the capitalized "It's" in your user dictionary?

@Lie Ryan: It is stated in the question that it is not.


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Galaxy S not working with Home Cinema set
I'm trying to connect my galaxy s (froyo, i9000) with usb to a Samsung Blu-ray Home Cinema system. Though, for some reason, the home cinema set won't recognise my phone.
I tried the samsung kies setting, the storage setting, and media player setting, but it just won't recognise it.
With someone else's blackberry it does work.

I would say that this would be somewhat of a "driver" issue. It seems that your Home Cinema system does not know what your device is and it cannot connect to it.
I would try seeing if there is a firmware update for the system (if it supports firmware updates).
It recognizes the blackberry because they have been around for so long, and they probably use the same driver to communicate with just about any blackberry.


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running apps on WiFi with proxy or alternate to ad-hoc network between laptop and phone?
My home WiFi runs behind a proxy.
When I connect to it from my Samsung Galaxy S with android 2.3.3, after entering the proxy and port number in the settings, I am able to run only the browser(not any apps). After searching on Google, I found out that the apps can be run behind proxy only if I root the phone. But rooting the phone would void its warranty. I don't want that to happen.
Instead I connected to LAN from my laptop and created a Ad-hoc network. I thought that if I connect to this network from my phone, I won't have to worry about proxy. Am I right ?
Now my phone was not able to discover this Ad-hoc connection. Again after Googling, I found that it is not possible to connect to ad-hoc without rooting the phone. Is there any other method than creating ad-hoc network to share the internet from my laptop to my phone?
Is there any way to run apps on my phone connected to my home WIFi without rooting my phone ?


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How to use hosts.allow or hosts.deny in Android
Is there a way to use the files hosts.allow and hosts.deny in Android? I've searched over the internet but found nothing.
I have to control access of both wifi and mobile networks. And limit the access to a certain domain. Just like a firewall do. I've tried to insert some iptables commands, but the system became very slow after these commands.
Thanks in advance.

As far as I know, Android isn't setup to use hosts.allow and hosts.deny
However, it is setup to use a standard hosts file in /system/etc/hosts
Unfortunately, it doesn't support wildcards, so it might be difficult to limit the device to a single domain via that method.
iptables probably are your best bet - perhaps you could post the rules you attempted, and I can see if there's anything that could be causing them to run too slow?


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How to backup all notes from the stock notes app in Froyo?
Is there an easy way to backup/export notes from the stock notes app in Froyo? Alternatively, I'd like to know where said data gets stored, so I can manually copy them over to my PC.
Edit: I'm pretty sure the app came pre-installed on my device. The name of the app, as it looks from the app drawer is "Note pad."

I’ve always thought that Android doesn’t have a stock notes app. Are you sure it isn’t a notes app from the market? If it is then the answer will depend on which app it is.

It came pre installed. Im 100% sure. My device is a huawei u8150 and are you sure its not included in android? Because it's name is just "Notes" and looks really much like http://developer.android.com/resources/samples/NotePad/index.html

I did some research and found out that this was pre-installed either by Huawei, or my telecom, as it resided in /cust/tata/in/app.
The notepad app is too bad as it doesn't allow anything else other than adding and deleting notes.
I solved my problem by manually opening each and every one of the notes, selecting all of them, tapping "copy" and then going to a file manager to open a text file. I then pasted it there, and saved them one by one.

My notepad (aka com.example.android.notepad), resident of Motorola xt317 (android 2.3), has a sqlite database living in the phone. Download it with
adb pull /data/data/com.example.android.notepad/databases/note_pad.db ./Documents

From https://android.stackexchange.com/a/73052/241313
Convert .ab into .tar:
adb backup -f com.example.android.notepad.2018-11-05.ab -noapk com.example.android.notepad
dd if=com.example.android.notepad.2018-11-05.ab bs=1 skip=24 > data.gzX
printf "\x1f\x8b\x08\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00" | cat - data.gzX | gunzip -c > data.tar

Extract .tar file:
tar xf data.tar

Optionally, create a .tar.gz file:
gzip -c data.tar > com.example.android.notepad.2018-11-05.tar.gz


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Does the Samsung Galaxy S II come with an unlocked bootloader?
Does the Samsung Galaxy S II come with an unlocked bootloader as earlier promised by Samsung?

XDA has reported that the bootloader is unlocked, and custom kernels have successfully been flashed to the SGSII.


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Is it possible to use 2-step verification with multiple accounts on a phone?
Using 2-step verification with Google Authenticator on an Android handset provides good security for accessing Gmail and other Google services.  What I am curious about is whether Google Authenticator can provide support for all Gmail accounts on the phone (multiple Gmail accounts can be added to a single handset under the Accounts menu in Settings).  Will both accounts authenticate using the same codes?

I know that the Authenticator app does allow for manually entering accounts. I haven't yet set up a second account with 2-step authentication, though.

It supports third-party account too. For example, I use it for LastPass 2-step authentication..

Yes, the Android as well as Blackberry versions of Google's Authenticator app supports multiple accounts.
Press MENU and choose SCAN BARCODE after you've set up your new Google Account for 2-factor auth to grab the displayed barcode or enter details manually.
Details: https://code.google.com/p/google-authenticator/

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.authenticator

Google Authenticator creates two-step verification codes on your phone.
Google Authenticator works with 2-step verification for your Google Account to provide an additional layer of security.
Features:

Automatic setup via QR code
Support for multiple accounts
Time and counter based code generation

To use this app, you need to enable 2-step verification on your Google Account.

Google Authenticator, as well as other 2FA applications, support multiple accounts (not only Google services). In the process of token enrollment, you will be asked to scan the QR code. Based on this QR codes Google Authenticator generates one-time passwords. As QR codes are different OTPs generated by the app are also different. You should create a new token for each account.


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Filter for honeycomb optimized apps
Is there anyway to filter only for honeycomb optimized apps no market? I have a Motorola Xoom and wants to filter for all apps that looks good on my device.

I think the best you can do at this point is to use the "Featured Tablet Apps" page in the Market (this may be region-limited, it seems). The web version seems to have more apps listed than the tablet section on Honeycomb's Market app.
You could also log into the Market website and filter searches based on whether or not the apps are compatible with your device (the Xoom, in this case), but the fact that they're compatible doesn't mean they're "optimized" for tablet so I suppose that's not quite the same.
For games you could also install Nvidia's Tegra Zone app, but it's technically just designed for anything optimized for Tegra chips (so the Atrix would be included but is not a tablet form factor). Most of the games seem to be made with larger devices in mind, though.

The market link you send me results in a not found here in brazil =(. For games I already use Tegra Zone app that is very good.

@Luiz: Can you get to the web version of the Market at all in Brazil? Should be https://market.android.com/?hl=pt_BR for the Brazilian Portuguese version (I think?) or just https://market.android.com for the main page.

I do have access to market here but when a try to access the https://market.android.com/details?id=apps_tablet_featured url I get a not found error. Probably this feature for filtering table apps isn't available here.

@Luiz: That's a really strange decision. I wonder why Google did that :-/ So you don't get a "Featured Tablet" apps tab on the main site, either? Here's a screenshot of what it looks like for me: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16958605/featured_tablet.png

I don't have this tab on my market http://dl.dropbox.com/u/137636/market.png Even if I change the market language to english I'm not able to see this tab


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How to remove app images from gallery

Possible Duplicate:
unwanted folders showing up in gallery (bejeweled 2). can they be removed?

I had installed a few application and games, for example beautiful widgets, and several weather widgets etc just to experiment.
After that I have flashed my phone several times, installed different roms, and wiped cache and phone, and did not re-install the apps. But what I see is that the pictures still show up in my phones gallery. How can I remove them.
And how can I make sure files from apps do not show up in my phones gallery app.

Those apps probably cached the images on the sdcard. You can go though and delete the cache for the applications. Some could be in /sdcard/android/<package-name>/, some apps may just create a directory somewhere on the sdcard root.
You can also look at unwanted folders showing up in gallery (bejeweled 2). can they be removed?. It will tell you how to stop images from showing in the gallery, if you still have the application installed.


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How can I see the browsing history and bookmarks in the stock browser?
I have an SGS with Froyo.  I can't seem to find the browsing history in the stock browser.  I'm also only able to access bookmarks (or favorites, or shortcuts) from inside the browser.
How can they be accessed?

On my Samsung Fascinate I click on this button next to the address bar:

And it takes me to this screen, which also has a History tab (top-right):

The functionality shown above is also available to me on CyanogenMod 7, leading me to think that it's a feature of the stock browser (i.e. not added by Samsung).

Note this is "one way" to get there on a true stock android browser. Samsung, for some reason, removed the Bookmarks menu item. eldarerathis' answer will work for both Stock and the TouchWiz (Samsung) versions of the browser.

Open the browser
press menu key
select bookmarks
here are the bookmarks
There should be a tab that is called "History"

You can also clear the history from that tab.

Do you use a custom ROM? The browser on my stock Samsung Fascinate doesn't work like this ("Bookmarks" is not in the menu).

I think bookmarks menu was removed in the samsung touchwiz browser.

I just looked at the froyo branch of the AOSP source code to make sure, and the Browser menu item is in the Stock browser. Samsung must have removed it from their build of the browser.

I do definitely have it in CM7 (on my EVO), but I do not on my fully stock Fascinate.

Yeah. I know its in CM7, that is what I am running on my SGS vibrant. I missed the "SGS" in the original question. But I just wanted to check AOSP to make sure the menu wasn't something that was added to CM7.

My browser history was at the bottom right of the screen.looked like the bookmark with a star. I think i deleted it by opening the settings where the 3 vertical dots is by the address bar.  My phone says Galaxy prevail LTE on the back

This sounds like you are using Chrome?

Hi    I don't know what version of android or Samsung internet browser you use but on my phone galaxy A7 I found this
 and


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ADW Launcher crashing on home screen
I installed the wrong theme for ADW and now it crashes every time the home screen displays.
Since the home screen keeps crashing, I can't seem to reach the settings pannel to disable the stupid theme.
I've also tried "Safe Mode" but so far it doesn't help.

This should help (may even be a duplicate): http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4910/how-to-get-to-your-settings-without-a-home-screen-app

@Al Everett - That looks like it has to do with the issue that Launcher Pro had where it was saying it was expired. Launcher Pro automatically opened the browser which made it easy to download an update. If the launcher is crashing, there is no real way to open any application.

Try installing another launcher. Then press the Home key and it will ask you which launcher to use. Select the "new one". Then try going in to Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> ADW and Clear the data.
You will probably also want to delete the "settings backups" that are stored on the sdcard, if you created them.
Then you should be able to switch back to ADW.
If you can't get to the market to install another launcher, you will probably have to side load i using ADB.
Or as Lie Ryan suggests, use the Market Web interface to install another launcher.

or try push installing from the web-based Android market.

There's a much cleaner solution to this, which will work if you have email notifications in the status bar, and can turn internet access on from the status bar widgets. I found it in this xda-developers thread; many thanks to aps786 for getting me out of a fix.

Problem already solved but just for others visiting this thread, there is a way to get rid of the issue (which worked for me). when there was crash in ADW Launcher, statusbar still works. This is to key to get back to original theme (as you can't access settings directly to set default theme)

Opened status bar, start internet.

From another device (or desktop machine), send a mail to yourself with google play link for the new theme you just installed

Your status bar will now have new mail notification (assume its activated)

Now access your mail app and open the link from the mail

Now you have browser app opened with google play page

You will have uninsatll option for that theme. Just do it.

Now as new theme is uninstalled, your default theme will come in picture and everything will be normal.

I hope this will help others fall in similar situation after installing new theme.

I suspect you could also do this using SMS, WhatsApp, or any messaging application that can get to your notification bar.


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27 MB + 4.2 MB = 28 MB? Where'd my space go?
After getting the "low on space" message on my Nexus One for the umpteenth time, I went to into the "manage applications" screen to uninstall applications I hadn't used recently. I waited for the screen to fully load before I did anything. It said I had 27MB free on my internal phone storage. I then clicked on the "Fooducate" app I had installed. It said it was using roughly 4.2 MB of my internal storage for the application, plus about 12 KB of data. It was installed on the phone and moving it to the SD card was not an option. I clicked "uninstall" and the uninstall process ran. After that, the "manage applications" screen claimed I had 28 MB left.
What happened to the other 3.2 MB? I would think that if you have 27 MB, and you uninstall a program that's using 4.2 MB of space, you would then have 31.2 MB of free space.
Update:
After turning my phone off and then back on again, and then going to the "manage application" screen, it now says 32 MB free, which is more like what I'd expect. So I guess my revised question is - why wasn't the space immediately available, and is there something I can do to free it without cycling the power?

From what I can make out from your scenario, it seems the culprit is the android's Dalvik Cache.
Quote from a thread in xda forums:-

When Android starts up, the DalvikVM
  looks thru all of your applications
  (.apk files) and frameworks, and
  builds a tree of dependencies. It uses
  this dependency tree to optimize the
  bytecode for every application and
  stores it in the Dalvik cache. The
  applications are then run using the
  optimized bytecode. This is why when
  you install a new ROM, sometimes it
  takes a very long time to boot for the
  first time. Any time an application
  (or framework library) changes, it's
  reoptimized and the cache is updated.

and it seems that each time you reboot, the dalvik cache reoptimizes.

I'm not too sure what relation there could be between the Dalvik cache and actual space on the internal application storage area. From what I've read the Dalvik cache uses its own partition.

@jmbouffard, a separate partition sounds rather impractical. How would it resize if necessary? How would you select a good initial size? Would make much more sense to me if it used the same partition as regular android allowing the user to get messages as you did

In my phone's recovery mode there is a "wipe cache partition" option that I associated with the Dalvik cache. But I've seen other references that states that the Dalvik cache is located in /data of the main partition. So it could be different from a device to another or I misinterpreted the cache partition mentioned in the recovery mode.

From my own experience I also noticed that, even without rebooting, the disk space would have been freed after waiting a little while. So my theory is that the Android OS distributes write operations to the internal memory in time to improve responsiveness of the device.
But the thing I'm still not sure is if the memory was needed right now to install a new application, would it be freed for that purpose or the "low memory" message would reappear until the deleted app gets its memory freed.


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Moving from one droid to another
I have a Motorola droid with issues (but it still turns on) and I'm exchanging it for another.  How can I move contacts, mail settings, etc. to the SD card so I can transfer them to the replacement phone?
Ideally I won't have to root it.

For contacts, the best way is to sync them to your GMail account.
Settings->Accounts and sync
Then when you add the same account on the new phone, it will sync them automatically.
For settings without root, I'm not sure.
If you are willing to root, Titanium backup is very good. It will save the settings onto the SD card. Then with the new phone, install the application and you should be able to restore the settings off the same SD card.

If you go in "Menu" -> "Settings" -> "Privacy" there is an option "Back up my data" that is provided by Google. I cannot say what data is backed up with this option but I guess email settings and device settings will be.
And as mentioned in another reply if you sync your phone with a Google account your contacts will be moved to the new device as soon as you log in.
Also if you have some applications that don't save to the cloud but you want to keep the data, there is usually an export functionality (check in the options menu of the applications) to keep the data into a file that you can import on the new device.
After doing all of this, last time I moved my content to a new phone, the only thing that I lost was the SMS history but I didn't really want to keep it anyway. I know there are some backup applications that support SMS history and don't need root access.

As far as I know this option backs up your background picture, wifi passwords, browser bookmarks and other data that some third party apps save to Google's servers.

Just to mention for completeness: While this backup to Google's cloud may work, restore often fails (see here), and it also not covers everything (apps must explicitly support it by including its API).


text:
Is there any launcher app that behave like Iphone?
I've just switched from Iphone to Android (CM7), and I strongly prefer the Iphone way to manage apps. The separation between Home screen and App Drawer screen on Android is very awkward. Is there any launcher app that behave like Iphone, ie. manage, arrange apps right on the home screen?
Apps I've used: LauncherPro, GO Launcher Ex, and ADWLauncher

I've never used CM, but all the ROMs and launchers I've used allow apps right on the home screen.

Almost every launcher allows adding apps from Drawer to the home screen. What  I want is not having to add apps to home screen: installed apps appear right on home screen like on iPhone and can be managed from there.

Ah, got it.  I'm sure there's an app that will copy them all with one click, but I understand why not needing to deal with that at all would be better.

Since you've already rooted and flashed your ROM, you can give the MIUI rom a go, see http://en.miui.com/
I feel that is sort of the iPhone feel ROM for Android... no app drawer, newly installed apps get put onto the next available space on your screens. Folders to organise etc. Even the settings look iPhone-ish.

Thanks, will give it a try later. I don't need the iPhone look, I just want the home screen to behave like iPhone, it's much easier and simpler concept to understand than the app drawer thing.

@Lamnk He says there's no app drawer and the installed apps get on the homescreen itself.. isnt this the answer you are looking for?

From what he describes then yes it is. However I must try it first hand to find out.

Espier Launcher is very much like iOS.  It has similar icon types, and it doesn't separate the Home Screen from the App Drawer.  It's also discussed here (and is, in fact, how I heard about it).

The link seems to be broken. Could you please update the link?


text:
Suddenly unable to install application from SD card
I have an HTC wildfire. I am currently developing an application which I am consistently testing on my phone. Since yesterday for some reason I am not able to install any apk of that particular app that I am building.
The usual method of installation I use is download to SD card and then install from there. Other apps get installed with this process but not my app.
The error message - App not installed.
I am able to download and install my app from the market.
I have tried deleting all information from the phone regarding the app i.e cache etc but still doesnt work.
Not sure if the phone has blocked my app ? Can it do that ..?

Have you tried uninstalling completely and re-installing? Can you try installing it from a computer using adb install -r [apk]? This will give you a more detailed failure reason.

I did an adb install -r [apk] thanks to the comment by @eldarerathis and I got an install_failed_container_error as the reason for installation failure...
Further searching got me to this link
http://eatingbits.se/articles/2010/11/16/install_failed_container_error-when-installing-an-application-on-android/
The solution being a temp file inside .android_secure folder not getting removed. So once i deleted the file app installed properly. Thanks everyone for helping out!!

Awesome! Don't forget to "accept" this answer so it can act as a signpost for future readers.

I will!! Though I have to wait for a couple of days

Sometimes I think that Google needs to make it more publicly known that adb install gives you a detailed error message instead of "Oops, didn't work!" like the GUI does. That's such a esoteric reason for the install to fail that I can't imagine how anyone would figure it out otherwise (I had never even heard of this error). Not to say that you didn't already know this - I'm not sure if you did - but plenty of questions on Stack Overflow can be diagnosed the same way and most people seem to have no idea.

Go to Apps>Settings>Applications, there look for Unknown Sources that is first option. Make sure it is ticked.

Yes it is, I've been installing the apk without any problems for quite a while now.

there shouldnt be other ways your android should block the apk.. maybe its the app that's not properly developed

Unfortunately even the previous versions which used to work fine aren't installing. Plus when I tried it on a different phone Samsung Galaxy I9000 it worked fine and there were no issues