text:
Verizon Droid X Stopped Sending SMS
I have a Droid X running Gingerbread on Verizon and it is completely unable to send SMS messages. It receives them fine but every message I try to send is rejected. The details of the message reveal the following:

Cause Code: Addr.Vcnt., 0

Rebooting the phone seems to fix the problem, but only for a day or so.
I also seem to have completely lost 3G connectivity on the phone as well when it is in this state.
*228 on the phone fails until I can reboot it, but once reprogrammed there seems to be no lasting positive effect.
Has anyone seen this before? Does anyone have a resolution?
EDIT: I've just discovered all outbound calls immediately fail as well with no details as to the failure.

If you are on a stock Droid X (not rooted) have you tried calling VZ support?

I've been having this issue regarding calls. Sometimes calls immediately fail until I reboot, then everything works fine. I can receive calls with no problem. I don't have text activated on my account so I don't know if the issue resides there as well. My wife's Droid X has been experiencing the same thing. Randomly failed calls until reboot. I can't seem to find a reason for this behavior and have been putting off a reset but maybe there's no other choice.

This was a semi-known issue on 4.5.585 Gingerbread (Verizon's first official Gingerbread update).  Rebooting the phone when it happens was the only remedy.
The problem (I too was affected) appears to be fixed in the latest Verizon update. (4.5.602)

I called VZW, and they actually told me it was a bad Google update pushed to my phone prematurely, and that "Google would be fixing it in a couple weeks." Amazing that Verizon won't even take responsibilities for their OTA updates, but blame it on Google.

A couple weeks? Nice. Thanks for finding this out and posting a reply.

I hate to say it but if you have tried all those other things I would say the next thing to try would be a factory reset...

+1 - It's going to be the first thing that VZW support suggests anyway.

I had this issue quite a bit after I first loaded GB with an OTA update. I did a factory reset a few weeks ago and didn't have it happen again until today. I also contacted VZW and the first thing they wanted to blame it one was an app that I must've loaded that was behaving badly. It's all over Moto's support forum and all over VZWs. Hopefully they'll have an incremental update that will fix the issue.


text:
Can I open a route I created in Google Maps in Navigation?
I'd love to be able to open that map on my phone in such a way that I can get turn-by-turn navigation, like what is available in the Navigation app.
However, despite my experiments, this seems to be impossible. I would have thought Navigation and Maps would be based on the same formats and code, but there appears to be a wall between them.
Is there any way I can create, edit, and save a map on the Desktop, and then have it viewable on my phone for turn-by-turn navigation?
The key is that I use this for biking, and I can not see my phone while I'm riding. So I want to have an earpiece and be able to hear instructions for turns.

See http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/8499/gps-app-to-follow-a-prepared-itinerary for suggestions

Thanks, but that guy seems to have slightly different issues. He needs offline (I don't), he needs to work in Android 1.5 (I have 2.2), and I must admit, I'm a little confused by the suggested apps. Are they supposed to supplant Google Maps or Navigator? I don't clearly see how they would open or use maps I create in Google Maps on my desktop.

Have you tried Chrome-to-Phone?

No, but I'll try it and see what it does.

Google Maps for Android does have a bicycle option.  You just have to select it from the drop down menu.

Your interface is different from mine. I don't know how to take a screenshot of my phone, but mine (version 5.5.0) has a search box, and three icons along the top (one is for "Places", one is for layers, and one is to get my current location). I don't have the Maps and Navigation icon like you do. What do I do to get your interface?
(Also, while I appreciate this answer, I would still like to be able to import created routes, so I couldn't call this a direct answer to my question.)

First login to your Google account in desktop and open Google maps find the route you want to drive and to your left you can see save to my maps click it and save it in your google account
Then open your Google maps in your Android mobile in options you can see My places options click on it (assuming you have internet connection) the route will be opened in your map you can select get driving directions from there and it will be loaded in your Android maps ;) cheers ..........

This navigates from your current location to the start/end that you choose.

This works for me on 4.0.3

I have the same experience as @cjk. This method will take a saved location, and then determine a route to that location from one's current location. This is not the same has plotting a whole route, and then being able to follow that route, which is what is hoped for in the question.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to upgrade Android 2.2 to Android 2.3 on Samsung Galaxy S?

Possible Duplicate:
How do I update the OS on my device?

I have a Samsung Galaxy S (LCD version) with stock Android 2.2. How can i upgrade it to Android 2.3?

See related, there are a lot of posts about android upgrading.

AFAIU, it must be possible to upgrade the OS even without connecting the phone with a USB cable to another computer -- http://android.stackexchange.com/a/27773/13117 . If you have the file with the update.

Install KIES from the Samsung website and connect your phone to the PC via the USB cable. If a system update is available, KIES will inform you and walk you through the upgrade process.
If you'd like to install an alternative ROM like CyanogenMod, you'll need to follow relevant installation details on the site or alternatively use an app like ROM Manager that can help do the needful.
As with all upgrades, back up your data to another location.

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


text:
Preventing mobile data use for select apps on non-rooted phone?
I have a number of apps that are fairly chatty on the network, and with a limited data connection I would like these apps to not use the 3G connection (WiFi is fine).
I know that rooting the phone and installing DroidWall would do the trick. However, is there a way to accomplish per-app data permissions without rooting it?
FWIW, I have a Droid 1 on a CDMA network.

Related: How to view network traffic requested by a specific app?

Not quite answering your question, but switching off Background Data usage should stop chatty apps from doing anything in the background, and restrict it to just apps you launch and use, rather than apps that are syncing and checking for status updates all the time.
If you add the Power Control Bar (built into Android since 1.6) to your home screen it's just one tap to switch the background data on and off. Just hold your finger on an empty space on the home screen, select Widgets, Power Control, and the second icon from the right (two round arrows in a circle) controls the background data usage.

If you have Android ICS, you can set the "Restrict background data" setting for each app. Go to Settings > Data usage, select the Mobile tab, then scroll down and select the app that you want to restrict. You can set the option at the bottom of the page that appears.
If an app is built properly, setting this option will disallow the widgets and background services of the app to access the internet via mobile data (but not via WiFi). If you launch the app it can access the internet via mobile data.
Also note that not all apps play nice and some do not respect this setting.

A firewall application is suitable for this task. There are other firewall options for non-root users:

NetGuard firewall (no root )

Features:

No root required
Android 4.0 and later supported
IPv4/IPv6 TCP/UDP supported
Tethering supported
Optionally block when roaming
Optionally block system applications
Optionally record network usage per application per address

Screenshots

NoRoot Firewall

Features

Host name/domain name filtering
Fine-grained access control
no suspicious permissions on the firewall app itself.
(currently doesn't support IPv6) may not work on LTE.

Screenshots

In Xiaomi phones it is possible to restrict background data in Security app from Mi.
You can also restrict background data for every app also!
I have used it many times when my left data is very less.
Don't know about other smartphones security app !!

You can also try this Opera Max app. Despite having a lot of features that you might use, the feature below mentioned is what you need right now.
Block data-hungry apps - Find out which apps use the most data - you can even choose to block them from using data altogether


text:
Android 2.2: Avoid disappearing of home shortcuts to apps into SD card. Restore app list items
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy i5510. The space in internal memory was just about to finish so I decided to move some apps to the SD card. After I did it a lot of the apps moved (not all of them) disappeared from the application list. Also did the shortcuts from my desktops.
I don't think this is a problem with the SD card because the applications are still installed (I can see them in apps management).
Thanks for your help!
Update
Tanks to @GAThrawn's answer now I know that it is expected to disappear the home (desktops) shortcuts when the SD card is unmounted. But it is not expected that they disappear from the application list. So the questions:

Is there anyway to recover the icons in application list other than reinstalling all apps?
Assuming that this wont happen any more and will only disappear from the home / desktop. Is there anyway to avoid that? I would like to have my apps in my SD card but with shortcuts.

Try rebooting your device. Sometimes Android seems to get confused when apps are moved from / to SD card.

@user4188. Thanks, but already tried and nothing :(

I have an EVO and had this problem as soon as I started moving a lot of apps to my SD card. Basically, apps moved to an SD card are stored in a secure area and it apparently takes Android a while to make this "secure" area available at boot, and this may not happen before your launcher starts. The more apps you have, the longer it takes to do whatever it's doing, and at some point you will find none of the SD card apps available at boot.
Restarting your launcher may or may not be necessary; the one I use, Tag Home, does seem to notice apps becoming available on the SD card... sometimes. I found that a hot reboot (a partial restart that only reloads the phone's UI; you can find apps that do this in the Market, though you need to have rooted the phone) would usually help, but I had to time it properly, or do it multiple times.
I read somewhere that Gingerbread (Android 2.3) makes this better. The EVO came with 2.2 and recently a 2.3 OTA upgrade appeared for it. I haven't yet installed that for a couple of reasons: first, as I said, I rooted my phone and need to be cautious with this, and second, there were some bugs reported in the upgrade which will be fixed later this month. So I don't yet know firsthand if this is true.
I have had much better luck partitioning my SD card (adding a dedicated 1GB partition for apps) and using an app from the market called Link2SD.  Not only do the apps usually seem to be available by the time the launcher loads, you can move the ENTIRE app to the card (did you ever notice that apps take some internal memory even after moving them to SD?) and even moves apps that can't be moved the usual way. (HBO GO wants 15 MB of my internal memory? Not anymore! I even moved Adobe Flash to SD and it continues to work fine.) However, you have to root your phone to do all this and it is fairly advanced.

is Tag Launcher an app from the market? Is it free? Can I install it without rooting? If yes to all, I'll accept your answer because (I'm guessing) it works as mine but I avoid restarting the TwLauncher (it the one I have right now). Anyway I'll keep all your answer in mind in case I root my phone, but without rooting it, still prefer my way despite the annoying part. +1 for all the information, THANKS!

Yeah, Tag Launcher's in the market. It is kind of bare bones compared to some of the other launchers, but it has a feature I can't live without: it lets you assign tags and priorities to apps, and filters and sorts apps in the app drawer. Without that I'd never be able to find the app I want.

Is this the one: Tag Home (Launcher)? https://market.android.com/details?id=com.stain46.taghome22

Yep, that's the one. Sorry, it is in fact called Tag Home, not Tag Launcher!

The apps will disappear from your Home screen if your SD card is unmounted from the phone for any reason, they won't automatically come back on their own.
The most likely reason is that the SD card can't be mounted to both your phone and your PC at the same time, so if you plug your phone into a PC, and your SD card is mounted as a drive so you can copy files to and fro, etc then that dismounts the card from your phone temporarily and you'll lose the home screen icons.
The apps should still be in your Applications list and you should be able to add them back onto the Home screen the same way that you did it when you installed them.
This is a combined limitation of the way that the Android OS handles SD cards, and the way that most home screen launchers (like Samsung's TouchWiz that you're using) cope with apps moved to SD.

Thanks for the answer. I didn't manually unmounted the SD card and also didn't connect the phone to the PC, but I'll have it mind for further occasions. How do I put the apps back into the menu? (In the home there is no problem, but in the menu they were added automatically when installed).

@Diego I don't know which screen you mean by "menu". The home screen is the one with the picture on the background, this is where they may have disappeared from. The Applications screen is the big list of apps you see after you press the "Applications" button at the bottom of the home screen, they shouldn't have disappeared from here at all, all apps that you've installed should show in this list. The apps might not be in alphabetical order, so you might need to swipe all the way to the far right screen to see newly installed ones.

Sorry. By  menu I ment Applications list. They actually disappear from that list, however in the application manager I can see them in three of the four lists ("Downloaded", "All" and "In SD Card"). I can't see them in the "In use" list, but that has an obvious reason.

@diego ah that is odd then, I haven't seen that before. Are you sure you've searched all through the applications list? Samsung's application list doesn't add apps in alphabetical order, and when you remove an app it leaves a gap in the list that the next app you install goes into. This means that apps can be almost anywhere in the list depending on when you installed them, and if you'd removed something else just before.

Yes, I've check lots of times even before asking the question.. this shouldn't be happening, right? :(

The answer to both questions turned out to be Force to stop the app TwLauncher. Then when I close the apps management it started again and I get all my icons (and shortcuts) back.
So now when I have my SD card unmounted I can't see the icons. When it is mounted back, I have to restart TwLauncher. It is very annoying but at least I know I have not lost all my apps.

It works for the apps installed by Amazon Appstore! App icon in app drawer (launcher) returns after force closing "TouchWiz Homepage" application.

I have the same problem, the partial solution is open the task manager and clear the "level 2" RAM memory, this will close and relaunch everything and the apps in the SD reappears.

I recommend to to gibe it a try to Tag Home (Launcher) ;)

I'm using ES Task Manager on Samsung gt-i9300, custom rom Lollipop 5.1.1 and from User Apps, I just select an app and from the menu at top right corner (3 vertically aligned dots)I select Add To Desktop and the short-cut is created on the phone desktop at first free space.

I loaded Ram Booster Pro for this problem, and after letting the phone boot up, click "boost" in the app. With one click it clears your RAM. Android Lollipop doesn't add this feature, so task manager is of no help. When you go back to your home screen you will see your app icons as you have placed them.


text:
How to fix broken display on Samsung Galaxy Tab?
My Samsung Galaxy Tab felt on the street and the glass on the touch screen is broken. The display still works fine, but it is "danger to touch it", especially for kids.
When I visited repair shop, they asked for the price almost equal to the price of new device.
As it seems to work still fine, my hypothesis is that only the glass is broken, and actually display (electronic device) behind it is ok. And if I would be able to remove the broken glass and get new one (from some ordinary "window maker") and glue it on the display, everything should be ok.
Is that crazy idea or do I have a chance?

How is it an Android issue?

@SachinShekhar Strictly speaking it isn't, but neither is the myriad of questions regarding batteries but I haven't seen anyone complaining about those.

@Richard It doesn't mean this one becomes on-topic. Those questions should be closed too.

but, only if Android isn't responsible for those battery issues...

Well, maybe it is not Android issue per se, but "Android Enthusiasts" are the most likely people to give reasonable answer (and indeed answers below are correct ones). The best fit of the question topic and audience, who might know the answer, is something evolving and not necessarily following the definition of "right question". What should we do with these questions, which are not right, but otherwise they are perfect fit for audience?

There is a video for replacing the screen on the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Tab 2 at:
http://youtu.be/fJpNcrpmi_E Its the same process for both and is very easy.

If the glass is the only thing broken, and not the digitizer, you can replace the glass for probably less than $30. With that said, it requires patients, time, a heat gun, and a careful hand. You have to separate the glass from the digitizer by heating the glue, then slowly pulling it away with a playing card or something firm but thin. Most samsung devices become expensive to replace the screen when the digitizer is broken. Glass ~$20-$30, Glass+Digitizer ~$250. The digitizer includes most of the components to "make the phone", that is why it is so much more expansive.

You can get a new screen through eBay. Here's one for ~$77.
Also, here's a YouTube video that shows how to dismantle and replace the screen and digitizer.

Ok, it looks interesting (and challenging) :-)
But I will try and let you know how it worked...
Do you know anyone who tried and succeeded?

You can pick up a replacement on eBay for ~$80. It looks like they all come with the glass + the digitizer, from what I have read, they are a "combo" item. Then you can find tutorials on how to replace the screen.

If the digitizer still works and the only issue is the sharp edges, I know a bunch of folks that have (device agnostic) cracked screens with a screen protector serving as more of a finger protector on them.


text:
Can't access emails in Gmail labels
This is a problem that suddenly appeared (or rather didn't!) on my Nexus One running Cyanogenmod 7.
It was fine and then all of a sudden I could no longer load any emails in any of the labels, it just says "loading conversations" but never loads or times out. Search is affected the same way.
I don't often have to use labels so I put up with it. However, it is still happening on my new Samsung Galaxy S2.
Choosing to sync specific labels for offline access means I can get to them fine, but it's impractical for all labels.
As suggested by Google mobile help I tried deleting the data for the Gmail app (though there is no additional "gmail mail storage" app)  and rebooting before re-syncing, to no avail.
During all this I have always been able to access labels on my 2.2 tablet and having just reinstalled CM7 on my Nexus One am now able to access them fine.
Any ideas?

Well, looks like the issue resolved itself, though I'm at a complete loss as to how. If anyone has any ideas, I'd still be interested in case it happens in future.

Ok, so this problem reoccurred a couple more times until I realised it seemed to happen after my phone restarts and sorts itself out after killing a few running services I didn't need.
I narrowed it down to an app called Announcify.
The lesson for me, and others, is to try selectively killing services to troubleshoot any such problems in future.


text:
Google Latitude History is telling me that I'm living on the next block
Today was looking over the statistics on Latitude history and I noticed that it registered another place as my home, it is actually one block away from the adress it says.
Is there a way to change or set my home's location manually?

You can manually set the location using an iGoogle gadget or through Firefox.  What you are probably seeing when the location is "one block away" is that GPS is not actually turned on on the handset.  The phone is probably using positioning that is determined used cell phone tower location, so it will get you in roughly the correct place, but not the exact location you would expect if GPS was turned on.

Im sure that im using GPS

If you go into Maps on your phone, press Menu, press Latitude, press yourself, press "View your location history", then press Menu you should see an option to change your Home and Office/School locations.

Turn Wifi on if you haven't got it on already. You don't need to actually connect to it, just to have it enabled. Google uses the known locations of wifi points to help its GPS calculation (don't know if anyone else does, mind you)

Pretty sure the Wifi locations are used by anything that uses the "Coarse Location" but most apps don't nag you to turn Wifi on like Maps does.

If your internet is from a VPN or a server it shows the location of these servers instead of yours using the same method as the new Geolocation function in HTML5 i suppose

It'd be quite a coincidence if your VPN gateway was only a block away from your house...


text:
How do I send a group of contacts via bluetooth?
It's possible to send individual contacts via Bluetooth with Contact -> Send Contact -> Send contact - Bluetooth.
But I don't see a way of doing this (on the HTC Desire) with a group of contacts?
Is this possible?

Yes it is possible. You have to install one application from market. There is an option to send all contacts via Bluetooth or Email. But I don't see any option to send a group of contacts in Android system.
There is an application called Go Contacts with which we can group the contacts and send it via Email,SMS or Bluetooth. Its a free application available on Android market.


text:
Why can't I download apps from the Android Marketplace?
I just bought an HTC Desire S and cannot download apps from the Android Marketplace. I tried to download Skype and it stalled saying "Starting To Download" - nothing happened. Then I tried downloading another app and then it said that app will be soon downloaded, but nothing happened.

Does this happen regardless of whether you are using 3G or WiFi? If you are using a WiFi connection, it may be getting blocked.

I think i found the problem. I turned option off that lets use 3rd party apps internet connection as was recommended on one blog on power plan optimization on Android.

The thing is, with that off you should ONLY be able to get apps from the Market.

Yeah, sounds like that even if this works it's still a bug in your operating system. If you don't want to upgrade to a custom ROM, I'd suggest looking for any official updates available from HTC for your device.

Try clearing the cache and data of the Market application.


text:
Default group on Samsung Galxy S II does not sync with Gmail
The default groups on the Samsung Galaxy S II: Friends, Family and Co-Workers do not get sync with Google Contacts. Any thing I can do in order to solve it?

Have you tried going to your contacts - menu - more - display options? You should see your various accounts where there is an arrow to expand and check boxes for those particular groups (well, there is on mine! :-)


text:
Synchronizing Call log with Gmail
I have noticed a label in my Gmail with name Call Log. And it contains the some Call Logs of my Phone. I haven't created that Label. I thought it was because of the Mails synchronization. But the same thing isn't happening now-a-days. The Call Logs label mail box contains the information about only few days. After that it stopped logging the Call Logs information.
I want to synchronize the Call Logging information on my Gmail. How to do that ?

Finally found the solution and the reason.
I installed SMS Backup + application from Market sometime back.
This application syncs the messages, Call logs and Contacts with Gmail.
I installed once and removed. In that time span it sync the contacts, Call logs with my Gmail. Thats why I can see the Call logs label in my Gmail.

Can't shed any light on your current experience I'm afraid. It's possible that Timescape has some sort of feature built in but I have just the app for you. Call Track syncs all your calls to your calendar, including time duration and number (and name if they're in contacts) and will import your existing call log. You can select a specific calendar or label to sync with. Hope that helps. :-)

I don't see any such option in Timescape.

@XperiaMiniPro Just a thought, I have no experience with timescape. I hope Call Track is useful to you. Give it a try, though there seems to be a paid app call Backup to Gmail that you might like if it's not what you're looking for.

This may have been answered by now.
I use SMS Backup+ noticed the same problem.
My Gmail label "call log" stopped logging.
The app settings were no help.
The solution:
Settings, apps, SMS Backup+, permissions, turn on the switch "telephone".
I'm on android nougat and one has to provide more permissions.
Hope this helps.


text:
HTC Desire S on Android Marketplace - "the requested item could not be found"
I cannot download, not update apps. I get the above mentioned message.

As far as I know "The requested item could not be found" status comes when the particular app/game is not compatible with your android mobile or its not there in  Market. I don't know if there are any other scenarios the same will occur.

Not really. Is Skype not compatible with my Android device? Today i somehow installed it successfully.

Because I got the same issue more than couple of times. And I rechecked that and found that thats happening because its not compatible with my mobile and not available in Market.

@Boris_yo Skype is compatible with very few phones and disallowed on many carriers.


text:
Are all SGS phones able to detect a car dock?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S I-9000 (the international version) and I have a car dock manufactured by Samsung for this phone (given to me by the Samsung representative who works with my cellphone provider, so I have good reason to believe it's the real thing).
I know that most car docks have a magnet that the phone uses to detect that it's been docked.  Mine seems to have one because when the phone is docked, the magnetic compass always points north, and when it's not docked, the compass points in the right direction (I checked this using Car Dashboard, which uses the internal compass when the phone isn't moving).
The problem is, my phone does not seem to detect that the phone is docked.  I have some triggers in AutomateIt for when the car is docked, as well as in Car Dashboard, and they don't seem to work.
The question is, should me phone detect the car dock?  How can I check this? If it should, but doesn't, how can I troubleshoot it?

Checkout the "Car Home" App from Samsung, which can be found in the Samsung Apps App. I assume that this App is designed to work with the genuine Samsung Car Dock. IIRC someone told me that the App is able to detect that the smartphone has been docked.

You can test that the triggers work like they should with Dock Simulator (Market link). Run it and try "Car dock" to see what should happen when you dock the phone. If nothing happens, it might be a problem in your triggers. Otherwise, it's the dock or your phone's magnetic sensor. Try dialing *#0*# and selecting Magnetic to access a self test of the magnetic sensor.

I installed the Dock Simulator, and I see that when I "dock" it in the car, the triggers work as expected.  The self test said that the magnetic sensor test passed.  Any ideas?  How can I check the dock?

Probably should test the dock with another phone or your phone in another dock, besides that I can't help any further. Except that it seems weird that the dock would mess up the internal compass, since that would affect navigation/GPS...

In fact the SGS detects the presence of a car dock by checking for a 619k Ohm resitor between PIN 4 and 5. See also: http://www.android-hilfe.de/zubehoer-fuer-samsung-galaxy-s/60473-automodus-mit-ladekabel-dockingstation.html (in german)
The magnet solutions sounds counterproductive since the SGS uses the  magnetic sensor for direction and location determination.

@Flow: Good to know, just makes me wonder what is the purpose of the magnetic sensor in docks then, especially if it doesn't improve the compass functionality but rather impedes it...

That's odd, because my car dock is 100% mechanical.  there's no plug, no connector, no nothing.  It's just a plastic clip.

Well, I assumed we are talking here about the only car dock from samsung for the
Galaxy S that I am aware of (that is sold in Europe): ECS-V968 http://www.google.de/search?q=ECS-V968&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1676&bih=959

I don't even know the model... the Samsung rep happened to be in the store when I was there, he saw my wife and I were buying two SGSes and he gave us a gift of a car dock


text:
What are some of the effects of flashing my HTC Desire with cyanogenmod?
Recently rooted my HTC Desire (GSM) and considering flashing it with cyanogenmod. However I have a few quick questions related to flashing with cyanogenmod (or any ROM in general I suppose).
Firstly, will flashing with the ROM delete my apps/data? ie. will I be starting from a "fresh" state? (I have done a nandroid backup and also backed up all system apps + data with Titanium backup, but just curious).
Secondly, got my phone online so it's actually from Taiwan, thus it has a locale=en_TW keyboard. I quite like this 'keyboard' because it allows me to input Chinese in many different ways - namely: handwritten, pinyin, zhuyin and strokes. Will flashing with the ROM remove this 'feature' from the keyboard?
Thirdly, according to cyanogen's wiki it says:

NOTE: the ClockworkMod version 2.5.0.7 installed by Unrevoked3 is widely reported not to work with new "PVT4" batches of the Desire.

I checked and I am in that boat - have 2.5.0.7 and a PVT4 Desire. So does that mean I need to follow the below steps to install a newer version of clockworkmod?
Also, once flashed, how will I get future updates of cyanogenmod? Will I have to reflash the phone to get the updates?
Thank you!
pyko

Strictly speaking, you could try to keep your apps around, but it is generally a bad idea. During the install process you'll want to wipe the /data partition in order to prevent application crashes and weird permission issues after flashing. If you skip that then your apps and data should hang around, but it causes a lot of strangeness. The best thing to do is simply to backup anything you don't want to lose and then restore it afterwards. You will lose your /system apps because the install process will blow away the partition before copying over the CM files. Titanium backup is, in fact, the recommended way to backup your stuff, so you're set there already. Also be aware that your Google apps (Market, GMail, Maps, etc) will be gone since CM does not have permission to package them with his ROM. You can, however, download them here (bottom of the page).
I don't believe that is a standard Android locale, so you won't have that keyboard on CM (I don't see it as a choice on my phone). You might be able to pull the .apk file from your device and install it, though I wouldn't personally know where it is or what it's name is. If you dig around in /data/app you might be able to find it, though.
I generally try to stay on the most recent stable recovery versions, so upgrading is certainly not a bad idea. You can try to do this from ROM manager if it has the most recent version available (3.2.0.1 as of writing, it looks like), otherwise you can find it on XDA.
Updates can be acquired in two ways. One is to buy the premium version of ROM Manager and use it to download updates. In theory it's supposed to allow you to register for push notifications when a new update is released (akin to a typical OTA), but it's still kind of buggy. I can't personally attest to how well this works because I do not use it. The alternative is to simply download the .zip file of the newest version and flash it. You generally don't need to wipe /data or anything when performing incremental updates, only when going from one major version to another (6.x -> 7.x for example), so it's fairly painless. Making NAND backups before flashing updates is always a good idea, though.

Just an update for #2. Flashing insertcoin rom (htc sense rom) kept my original keyboard with the new gingerbread goodies. Flashing cyanogenmod (aosp rom) meant my keyboard was lost - there was no quick/easy way to get it back.


text:
Where does "Places" get all its information?
In my Nexus S, there is an application named "Places", which it is able to provide me the restaurants information near by me. Surprisingly, the information are very localize and accurate.
May I know where does Google get all these information?

Places is part of Google Maps (and was introduced with Maps 4.4 about a year ago), you should be able to see and search for all the same businesses and attractions in the main Google Maps app, Places just puts a nicer interface on it.
Much of the data came from what used to be called Google Local. Businesses can add themselves to Local/Maps/Places and update their records themselves, here http://www.google.com/local/add/promo Google Maps has had a "Add your business to Google Maps" link on the page pretty much forever, that links to http://www.google.com/local/add?hl=en&gl=us
Also just like other local business discovery services like Foursquare, users themselves can add places into Places, check into them and rate them through the app or http://www.google.com/hotpot
See also the announcement page from when "Place Pages" were first added to the web version of Google Maps back in 2009 which has some more details http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/place-pages-for-google-maps-there-are.html including that you can add them through community edits or Google Map Maker.

At my locality http://www.google.com.my/m/places shows that at least some of the places are "Business listings provided by Super Pages Malaysia". That provider information is not shown in my Places application though.


text:
what is A2SD+ and how to use it?
I'm using the MIUI ROM on my HTC Desire and it has an option called A2SD+ which is supposed to be an SD partition that the device treats as internal memory.
I don't know if it comes from the ROM or from Android (2.3.4).
How can I use it? Do I need to partition my SD somehow with an outside tool like I saw on some posts here?
If yes, how do I then tell my device that the 2nd partition is for A2SD+?

If it works like older roms that used to support the "apps2sd" before the google implementation, then yes, you need to format your SD card outside of your phone, on a linux distribution. You can use like an Ubuntu Live CD if you don't have linux installed on a PC already. Then you open up a partition tool, like GParted, and set up your partitions. IIRC, the first partition must be EXT2/3/4 in order for the device to use it like it is actually part of the internal memory. Then you can partition the rest as FAT32.
Back before Froyo, when the custom ROM I used supported this, there was nothing else to do. Just put in the sdcard, boot the device. It would pick up the partition and mount it automatically. As for MIUI, I do not know if it does that. I am actually surprised that they still support this. All ROM devs I know have dropped support for it since google introduced the "built-in" method. I personally hate the built-in apps2sd. I dont feel that it works very well.
While the ext2/3/4 method has the drawback of not really being able to remove your sdcard, it does still give you the ability to mount your FAT32 partition, if you choose to, to your PC and still let the device have access to the ext partition.


text:
Can I retrieve files from the voice recorder app after they've been deleted?
Is there any way I can retrieve files that were accidentally deleted from the voice recorder on an HTC Thunderbolt?

You deleted them. Android doesn't have a 'trash' that deleted files go to. If it didn't delete the actual file (which would surprise me) you can use a file browser like File Expert (my favorite) to open it.

If the files were stored on a physical microSD card, you may be able to use file recovery software on your computer.  There are a number of undelete and recovery software options, but many cost money. http://pcinspector.de has a flash memory recovery tool for free (Smart Recovery handles flash memory).
Writing more data to the card increases the chance that the file will be overwritten before you recover it.


text:
Can I use Kies with a Samsung Nexus S?
Kies is not detecting my Samsung Google Nexus S phone. Any idea why? I want to use Kies to sync my outlook contacts and calendars.

Has Kies worked with your Nexus S in the past? I actually thought it wasn't supported.

Kies does not work with the Nexus S. I'm glad it doesn't require it, being a Linux desktop user.

As the Nexus S is a "Pure Google" Android phone it works the way that Google intend Android to be used, this means that it is designed to sync everything constantly via the internet, it doesn't have any built in way to do old-fashioned occasional cable syncs with a PC.
What sort of account is your Outlook connected to?
If it is a corporate account, then it is probably connecting to a corporate Exchange server? If so then, depending on whether your company allow it, you can add your corporate account to your phone and sync your mail/contacts/calendar directly with your company's mail server.
If your Outlook is being used with a personal mail account, with mail coming from your ISP's mail servers (or similar) then you can either redirect that mail to a GMail account, and then sync your phone with that, or use tools to sync your Outlook's mail/calendar/contacts up to a GMail account whenever your PC is on, such as Google Calendar Sync, Google Apps Sync, Google Apps Migration for Outlook or use one of the third party tools that will sync Outlook with a GMail account, like Plaxo.

See also these previous questions: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1673/sync-setup-question-android-outlook-2010-gmail-calendar-and-contacts and http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/5421/is-there-any-way-to-sync-my-outlook-calendar-to-my-samsung-galaxy-s-without-kies

I believe eldarerathis is correct being that it is a pure google branded experience rather than Samsung but make sure you don't have USB debugging on, which is the problem some people run in to with Kies.


text:
How can I see only phone contacts, not SIM contacts?
I have a Dell XCD35.
My phone book was showing phone contacts as well as SIM contacts.
So when I see the list it shows some contacts twice. I don't want that, so in display option of contacts I just unchecked SIM contacts, which solves the problem in the Contacts app.
But I face the same problem when I am composing a SMS message. When searching for contacts it shows both Phone and SIM contacts.
Is there any way to disable SIM Contacts everywhere?

I solved this by erasing all contacts on the SIM. Here's how:

Contacts app -> Menu -> View. Uncheck all but SIM, press OK.
Menu -> Delete.
Menu -> Select All.
Press Delete.

After a while all SIM contacts are gone. Now re-enable showing the Phone and/or Google contacts and you're good to go!
(My phone uses Swedish so maybe the menu items/buttons above have other similar names)

Go to contacts -> press menu button and choose more -> then display options -> there you can choose either SIM or Phone. And say DONE

this will work only for contacts but when you go for compose message at that time it will show both phone and SIM contacts.

Try this SIM Contacts Manager application from Android Market. It is going to manage all your contacts which are in SIM card.
There is one more possibility of having duplicates in your contacts list. If you are importing/synchronizing the Contacts from Facebook/Gmail/Twitter then it will show the contacts twice or more. In this case use this Contacts Merger which merges the duplicate contacts.

@Mihir: Please search in the Android market. If there is any free app is available. If I find I will share that with you.

Try this app. This does duplicate contacts merging job. https://market.android.com/details?id=com.jbapps.contact

In case this helps anyone:
The above instructions did not work for me,
on my Sony Xperia L15, Android 2.3.3
I think this is because of my ancient Android OS. :-)
I manually see which contacts are phone-only, by:

Open contacts
Menu
Delete contacts

The Delete window has a little status line beside each contact, to tell you where the contact is stored:

Google
Phone contact
Joined contact (think this means the contact was originally 2 or more contacts)

Hope this helps!

This is does not seem to be an answer to the Original Poster's question. This seems to be a comment for someone's answer instead. But useful information, nevertheless.

Some old phones have options hidden in the "square" button of the phone i.e. there's no "..." button in the app, you have to press the "square" button of your phone

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


text:
App To Scan Hyperlinks|Content On A Web Page?
The concept is same as scanning QR codes, but only hyperlinks and content. Is there such an app?
Sometimes i see long hyperlink on a web page that i would like to have copied to my smartphone.

FYI we prefer questions that are "how can I do X" questions, rather than "I need an app that does X" questions. While the answer to the first type may well be an app, the second is too narrow and smacks of a shopping recommendation. It is hoped that questions asked will be helpful to people facing the same problem in the future.

Scanning a hyperlink on a page (visually, as QR code usually is) can be problematic.  After all, almost every link on the page you're reading does not present a full URL that can be used by the handset (e.g. http://www.google.com doesn't bring you where it says that it does).  In light of this, the Chrome to Phone extension for the Chrome browser can send  a page to your phone where you can bookmark it.  In addition, you get several other nice features (send a highlighted number to your phone's dialer from the browser or launch Google Maps links on your phone from a browser link). Very handy.
If you aren't thrilled with Chrome, Firefox even has an add-on

Chrome to Phone is nice, definitely +1

Google Goggles
You can basically scan text with it and it is copied to the device as raw text.

@slhck: But internet/mobile packet data is required.

Worth mentioning, yeah. But where's the sense in having an Android phone without data plan anyway? :)

@Xperia how do you use a hyperlink without a data connection?

@GAThrawn - I am sitting before a Computer. I saw a hyperlink which I want to copy to my mobile. There are two options. One is that open the same web page on mobile and copy the link. Second one is taking a picture. And Itsn't worth. Because we cannot copy the text from a Picture. Using Google Goggles we can read the text anywhere not only from Computer. This is what my understanding is.

Google Goggles does not copy raw text, it only takes pictures.

... and converts text in that picture into raw text.


text:
Why does my Android device generate more heat on an AC charger?
My Huawei IDEOS u8150 is new and ever since I used the AC charger that was supplied with it, my device gets a bit hotter (a noticable 5 degrees Celsius extra compared to charging via USB from laptop).
Why is it not that hot when I try to charge it through PC/laptop?
I hear a whirring noise from the AC charger always and the adapter gets a little warm too.
Also, my device charges faster on the AC charger compared to the laptop charge method. Is this normal on all devices in general? Or all Huawei devices? Or is this something faulty I should worry about?

See also: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/5262/why-is-charging-from-computer-using-usb-slower-than-using-an-outlet

I'm not an electrical engineer, but I'm pretty sure there's either

more current flowing through a wall charger than there would be a USB charger or...
the same amount of current which is just flowing faster from the wall than from the USB port

which is why the wall charger will fully charge your battery faster.  That heat is totally normal and nothing to worry about (unless it gets hot enough to burn skin, then I'd recommend not touching it).

Wall chargers typically provide a greater current, I believe.  The charger for my Fascinate is labeled as 700mA, and I think my EVO is 1A. A standard powered USB2 connection will provide ~500mA.

Indeed, I know that USB 2.0 standard is to provide 500mA.

so is it bad for the battery health (quick charging)?

@Power-Inside: Don't think so.  What's bad for a battery is over charging, so don't leave your phone plugged in all the time and you'll be fine.

I think i've read somewhere online that said Heat deteriorates a battery's life.. So I guess its safer ,if not, better to go for laptop charging?

@Power-Inside: Well, I think it depends on the actual construction of the battery in question.  Car batteries, for instance, die a lot faster in constant heat.  I also think the length of exposure to heat is an important variable in how it will affect a battery's life, but if you just want to play it safe then go ahead and use the slower, cooler charging method.


text:
just got a galaxy few hours ago and have two questions

Possible Duplicate:
How can I check the OS version of an Android device?
How can I uninstall applications that are locked by phone vendor?

How can one know which android version is installed on the phone?
How can i remove the 20+ apps which installed on the phone? The remove button is disabled.

Go to Menu -> Settings -> About Phone and in the list you should see Android Version
You would have to root in on order to do that since they're built into the ROM.


text:
Create custom profile for audio / configuration
I've just bought a Samsung Galaxy I5510 with Android 2.2. I haven't seen anywhere (so I assume it is not possible) some profile management. i.e. "Reunion" (Notifications maybe without any alert and calls and messages vibrate), or "Sleeping" (Notifications and messages without any alert and calls with sound and vibration), and so on.
I've a few default profile: sound (in)active, plane mode and driving mode (the one which "speaks to you"). But I'd really like to can create my custom profiles as described above.
In the title I put " / configuration" because it would be awesome that the profile also let me to set up each app. I.e. different configuration on the same application based on which is the active profile.
So here are my questions:

Is that functionality already in my phone and I am missing something?
If not, is there any app with this functionality? (If it is free, better, if it is not free I'd like to hear about it anyway).
If not, is this possible to be done by an app? (Because I may be interested in developing such app if it doesn't exists). Any advice? (I'd never developed anything for android).

Thanks!

I'd been using Tasker, but it was really difficult and worked to maintaining the profiles. I found PhoneWeaver. Much simpler!

Try Tasker!
It does this and much much more :)
Developer website:
http://tasker.dinglisch.net/
Android market:
https://market.android.com/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm
If the learning curve is a little steep for you I'd suggest "Setting Profile" even if less powerful than tasker.
Also "Locale" could be of help.
I think you need to combine more apps to achieve your result or just use Tasker as I've suggested :)

Does this Tasker app has any free version? Does it needs the phone to be root? Also in its features it says that phone settings can be change by app, time or location. It is also possible to do it manually between predefined values, right? What about settings of each app? Is that possible?

Hello Diego! You can find all the answers here: http://tasker.dinglisch.net/ anyway: no need of root and all you get is a trial to value if the software is worth your money. :)

An alternative to Tasker that I have used is AutomateIt, which unlike Tasker is free. With AutomateIt (and similarly with Tasker) is to define triggers that will causes actions to happen, for example, you might want to set the Media Volume to 80 when you plug the earphone and then mute it when you unplug, or you might want to setup different screen brightness for different time of the day (useful if your phone doesn't have a light sensor), or you might want to set different Notification Volumes when the phone is connected to the Office Wifi than to your Home Wifi.
You can freely mix and match these triggers and events and have very complex configuration; or you can simply use it to turn on and off your volumes.

I haven't seen anyway to create an icon to launch a task, so how would I manually launch a task? Is entering the app the only way?

@Diego: Yyou can long press on a rule to show a menu one of which is for manually executing the associated action, but I don't think it's possible to start an action through desktop icon (though I think it's a worthy feature request)


text:
My android phone was stolen. How worried should I be with all my google data inside the phone?
Ok, so my samsung galaxy 5 was stolen. I had gmail, calendar, twitter(tweetdeck), facebook, ... all my personal data in it.
I didn't have any app installed that could wipe this information from a sms (tried to install PlanB through the market, but I don't think it'll work).
I already changed my google password and I'm proceeding to change facebook and twitter as well.
Is this enough? How much of this information (old emails, tweets, ...) are saved in the phone's memory? Can I prevent access to this just by changing my passwords?
I've blocked my SIM card with my provider, so I guess the phone currently have no internet or telephone line access.
Here in Brazil we can also block a stolen cell phone with the IMEI number, but I don't know exactly what this means. Will this brick the phone or just prevent it from being registered in the network?

I suspect PlanB won't work after you change your Google password.

Remote wipe programs like Plan B only work if your phone still has battery and still has a data connection through the internet to download the app, if you'd pre-loaded a program like LookOut then it would work without a data connection but would still need a phone network connection to receive an SMS text message or something like that. If you've blocked your SIM and/or blocked your IMEI then it's too late to use a remote wipe program as you don't have any way to get any kind of message to your phone any more, you need to do the wipe before getting anything blocked by your phone company.
Did you have any kind of unlock code (pattern or number, or something like that)? If so that should stop the thief easily getting to any of the data on the phone itself, and if they enter the wrong code/pattern a number of times it totally locks the phone out, and you need to go online (and log in with your Google account) to unlock it. They can apparently still get to data that's directly saved on your phone if they plug the phone into a PC that has the Android Developer tools on it and use the ADB command, but even then some things like the central Accounts database are encrypted to stop them getting your passwords.
Blocking the phone via IMEI will stop anyone else being able to use the phone on a phone network, it won't do any wiping or bricking at all.
There's also your SD card, the thief can just pop that out of the phone and straight into a computer or another phone, nothing on there is protected, see this previous question for a discussion on what personally identifiable info might be on the SD card: Is there any contact information on the SD card?

The phone storage should be readable as well via ADB.

@Matthew is it, I thought you had to enter your lock code before it would allow direct access, like Blackberrys and similar do? Not something that occurred to me, as my phone removes the lock totally when I'm at home via the Unlock with Wifi app I assumed that was why I was never prompted for it. Bit of a security hole in that case.

I've never had to enter the code on my phone, and I can't find anything to suggest that it's different for others, although some do want the option. In the end, there's not a lot you can do to thwart someone with physical access unless you encrypt everything.

@matthewRead USB debuging has to be enabled  on the phone in order to use adb. This is off by default.

@Flow Only when the phone's booted up. I've accessed my phone via adb from either recovery or download mode while USB debugging was off, since obviously those modes don't check OS settings.

If you have your sasmung account setup, you can track, lock and wipe your phone from the samsung website.
This is the one : Samsung Phone Locator
But remember, this would need you to have setup the Samsung account already.

If your mobile was stolen you can use Android device manager to erase data on your stolen mobile, ring the device, find exact location of mobile.
It requires mobile to be online for it to work.


text:
Cannot install from market applications I used to have
I changed my ROM to cyangenmod 7, and I cannot install some of the applications I used to have (like skype for instance).
Here's what I got so far:
When I'm downloading it from the market it starts to download and than it disappears, and thats it.
When I am using root explorer, looking for files with the name "skype" in them I find a skype classes.dex file in sd-ext/dalvik-cache/.
So here are the questions:

Does anyone know this problem and has any idea how to fix it?
I'm thinking that deleting the dalvik-cache will fix it, but I'm not sure, and I don't know what it means (its consequences on the device and other apps).

Thanks a lot for your help! :-)

Deleting the cache shouldn't do anything.  The only thing I can think of is that CM doesn't have your proper device string, so the Market thinks you don't have a phone supported by Skype.

Thanks :-)
But how do I check my device ID?

I'm not sure if there's an app to easily edit/view it, but it's in the build.prop file.  See http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/5078/is-there-a-way-to-trick-the-android-market-into-thinking-im-using-a-different-de/5080#5080

Fixed it.
I'm writing my fix if other people will encounter the same problem.
Also, that I must stress that this fix will work only for Cyangenmod users!
The problem is that there is not enough space in /cache/, so when the market wants to download a "too large app", it throws an exception saying "there is not enough free space".
You can see that error if you have the android SDK and you run "adb logcat", and try to download an app (you will get "not enough free space in internal download storage").
So how to fix it?
The easiest way I found is to download an app called "S2E". You can try to download it from the market. If you can't, look for the APK, and install it from the SDCard.
Once you installed it, you can choose directories that will be moved to the sd-ext instead of the phone's internal memory. Check "Download cache Location: /sd-ext/download". Than click on "menu" and than "Reboot".
That is it! :-)

+1. Many thanks for that ! S2E didn't worked for me, but I figured out another "simpler" way to make it work, thanks to your answer. (See my answer below)

Thanks to @strDisplayName, I figured out how to make it work:
If S2E doesn't work for you either, you can launch an adb shell and type the following commands:
# cd /cache
# mv download download.old
# mkdir -p /sdcard/cache/download
# ln -s /sdcard/cache/download download

And it should just work :)


text:
Launch app on start (even SD card apps)
I'm pretty sure (despite of haven't seen them) that there are a few question about running some app when you turn on the phone. But I want a something a little more complex here. I have a few apps to run on start. Some of them have no trouble because they are installed in the phone, but the rest is installed in my SD card. As we all know (I think thats normal) after starting Android takes a few seconds to load all information saved in the SD card. How can I do to run some apps from the SD card after Android finishes loading information from the media device?
If changes something I'm using Android 2.2
Thanks!

I achieve on this using Tasker. For the apps in the SD card I created a profile with the context Events -> Hardware -> Card Mounted and it loads all apps I want. For the apps in the phone I created a profile with the context Events -> System -> Device Boot and it loads all apps I want.
Note: The first thing you MUST do before anything in both of this contexts is wait a few seconds. In the "Card Mounted" event is to let Android load all the apps installed in the memory (I'm guessing) and in the "Device Boot" is because after booting Android is too busy doing important stuff (I'm quoting Tasker guys).


text:
How can I download apps again after changing my Google account password?
I changed the password for my Google account earlier, and since then, every attempt to install an app results in a download was unsuccessful error. I have not been prompted for my new password anywhere, so this is highly likely to be the problem. How do I fix this?

You cannot remove the "main" account that is linked to your market account, at least I have never been able to when I tried.
I would try rebooting the device, then turn off all "syncing" for that account. I would even reboot again after turning it off. Then turn syncing back on.
[edit]
I've also read that someone did the following:

Changed Password via web browser
Opened gmail application
hit Menu -> Refresh
The refresh will fail, but there will be a notification to enter new password.

Depending on your version, try going into home -> menu -> settings -> Accounts & sync.
You may need to remove and re-add your Google login as I don't see any option to change the password (in v2.3).

Perhaps try using the Gmail app and see if that triggers the password re-entry.

I have, it did, didn't carry over to Market.

@Macha Ah. I would try clearing the data for the Market app now that the device has picked up the change.


text:
HTC Sync fails to start when phone connected "updating htc library"
I have an HTC Desire S wich is failing to connect to HTC Sync. I have downloaded and installed the latest version but one of 2 possible scenarios occur:

The phone is connected to the pc. USB connection sound chimes and I see the phone in my Windows devices list. I then start HTC Sync. It will show the splash screen and use about 40-50% CPU power, but it will not go any farther... It only shows the message "Updating htc library".
The phone is not connected to USB. I start HTC Sync and wait for it to fully load. Then I connect the phone. Once again the phone shows up in my devices list, but HTC Sync will not recognize it, nor will it show my phone.

I am using Windows 7 x64, HTC Sync v3.0.5551 (june, 6th update by HTC).
Any help is greatly appreciated...

This thread on the HTC forums makes it seem like it's something of a common issue with the 3.x releases, but I haven't the faintest idea of where to download the older 2.x versions. Google isn't turning up much that's, er...reputable.

Your problem is due to errors related to HTC Sync, Windows 7 and Adobe AIR. There is a bug opened on Adobe site: https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm?event=bug&id=2966976
The workaround should be to downgrade Adobe AIR to 2.6.xxx version. You can download it here. Upgrading to Adobe AIR 3.0.0.3880 RC1 didn't worked for me.


text:
How do I delete draft SMS text that keeps reappearing on my HTC Thunderbolt?
My question is essentially the same as that discussed here, but I have tried everything mentioned in the discussion there and none of it has solved my problem.
To briefly summarize the problem, every time I open a thread to send a text (SMS) message to my wife, the same fragment from a previous draft text I once prepared but did not at the time send re-appears in the text entry box as the beginning of my next reply.  I have repeatedly deleted all drafts appearing under Menu/Draft (floppy icon).  I have deleted the entire thread of prior texts with my wife and started a new thread, hoping to break the connection, only to have her send the first reply in the new thread, and find the fragment there again when I began to reply to her.  I have tried just sending the fragment to my wife to "clear the pipes" (warning her that it wouldn't make sense but I was doing it to solve this problem).  I have edited the fragment and kept one word of it mixed into an otherwise new message, hoping it would consider this draft to be completed and sent once and for all.  You name it, I have tried it.
Please help!
My phone is a stock HTC Thunderbolt on Verizon.  I previously had the Handcent SMS app installed but deleted it, and the problem is still occurring in the regular Android (or Sense, I am not sure which) messaging app.

Go into Settings -> Applications -> All -> Messages.
Clear the cache and the data for the app the restart the device.
I was having the same issue with messages to my wife and it cleared it up.
Hope this helps!


text:
What's the difference between Android 2.2 Froyo and Android v1.6 Donut?
I am really new to Android and I barely know about it.
I now want to buy an Archos device that should be an alternative to iPod and its size should be like the iPod.
I saw there are different Archos devices.
I am doubting between the Internet tablet (Android 2.2 Froyo) 43 and the 48/5 (Android v1.6 Donut).
What is a better OS? What is more advanced?
My desires:
Mandatory:

Audio/Video playback (flash)
Wifi (Gmail, GCal sync)
eBook reader
Pocket size (iPod size or so)

Desired but not mandatory:

Voice mic (for potential web conversation, and recording)
Video/photo camera
FM receiver

BTW, I just saw Android 3.1 is out, is it possible to update these devices with the new OS?

There are HUGE differences between 1.6 and 2.2. 1.6 is also a pretty old version of android. Flash is only available for 2.2 and later, so if you have to have flash then you need to go with 2.2. But the archos 43 does not have an FM receiver, the 48 has a receiver, and transmitter.
The UI had big improvements in 2.2 compared to 1.6. The ability to install apps on an external sdcard is also available on 2.2, but I don't think you will really need that as the 48 says it has 500GB (that seems like a lot for a device like that...). I have also read that it is possible to install froyo on the 48.
3.x is currently only available on select devices as they have to "partner" with google in order to have access to Honeycomb (3.x). So I wouldn't expect to see an update on these devcies anytime soon for 3.x.

+1 I see. So bottom line, according to my desires listed above, what device is best for me (I don't care what brand or even OS, just a device that will give me the above features, anything in the market)? In fact, I would surely buy the iPod Touch 4, but I heard that transferring media from PC must be thru iTunes, this is evil and I cannot accept this. Any recommendations on any device that suits me would be really welcome. Thank you.

Really, product recommendations are off topic, which is why I tried to stay away from that in the answer. you will have to take the differences between the devices you are looking at and see what features are best for your.

Android 2.2 also introduced a better just-in-time compiler, so the system runs quite a bit faster than before. Features list here.


text:
How do I enable NFC for my Phone
There have been a lot hype about NFC lately, and I am eager to try it out, but unfortunately I dont think my HTC Desire HD supports NFC. Is there a way to enable NFC for HTC Desire HD ?

Negative. The HTC Desire HD does not have an NFC chip.

At this time there is no external accessory for android phones that provide NFC to phones lacking this capability and your phone does not have this capability, so no, you can't use NFC on your phone.


text:
How do I set a custom SMS tone for a single contact?
If it matters any I have an HTC Desire Z with the original Sense install.
We have this monitoring service at work that keeps an eye on the various servers and starts frantically SMS'ing me whenever things aren't working right.
I'd like to set a separate notification tone for SMS's from that one contact. How do you do that? Under the contact I have an option for the Ringtone, but there doesn't seem to be an option for the SMS notification tone.

As pointed out by bstewart below, there is a no "3rd party app required" solution built into android. It's just a little buried is all.

In android 8.1 stock phones, you can achieve this as follows. Tap "new message" icon on the desired contact, then go to top-right menu in the new message screen, tap "Details" and you will see an option for notifications which allows you set a custom notification setting just for the selected contact. You can verify it later by navigating from the settings app  to see notification settings for Messages app. It shows up under a new section "Conversations". Enjoy!

Go into your contacts.  Open the contact you want to personalize the message tone.  Click "edit".  Then scroll down to the bottom and click on "ADD ANOTHER FIELD".  Tap to put a check mark beside "Message tone" then tap "OK".  Then tap on "Message tone" and your options should come up e.g. Media storage, Zedge, etc.  Tap which option you want to choose the message tone for that person.  then choose the ringtone for them and tap "set ringtone".  Make sure you then "save" that contact.
That worked for me with my Samsung Galaxy S5.  Hope this works for you.

Answers that have built in solutions are always the best. Came here because I was looking for this feature. I thought it existed but couldn't find it. Thanks @bstewart that's exactly what I wanted. Now, to find a fog horn sound for the Mrs' SMSs :)

This needs to be the correct answer! Thanks!!!

Does not seem to work with Android 6.1.0. There's no "Add another field" action in Contacts, anymore.

Ryan is correct and I would recommend SMS Popup. Been using it since my G1 days. Lots of options like quick replies, custom vibration, and alert repetition to complement the custom message tones. You will need to turn off the native message notifications though, but it's definitely worth it.

Plus, as I understand, the author tries to maintain it using only user donations. Thus it doesn't contain any ads as Handcent does, for example.

Another option is Ringo (Play Store, developer's site), which I've been using for over a year and it works great for just this purpose (I have a server that yells at me too). The free version has everything I need, though there is a paid version with more options as well.
Update if you use Hangouts as your messaging app: As of Hangouts version 2.1.2 (June 2014), you can customize the sound for each conversation. To do so:

Open (or start) a conversation with the contact you'd like to edit
Tap the three dots in the upper right corner
Tap "People & options"
Tap "Chat message sound" and select the sound you'd like

Update if you use Messenger as your messaging app: As of sometime in 2015 or earlier, you can follow the same instructions as for Hangouts above, except in #4 you select "Sound".

Thanks! Ringo is fantastic, does what I wanted.  I've set it to play the sounds and the messages app to notify, but without sound. So now I get the nice notification and custom sounds.

Link is dead, and I am not sure if this is the same Ringo google finds -- "low cost international calls".

@greenoldman - Sorry I hadn't seen this sooner. Updated the link and added info about Messenger. Thanks for the heads up.

You cannot change the notification tone for a single user, only the Ringtone. You may be able to find a 3rd party SMS that will allow you to set up different notification sounds for specific users, but I am not aware of any.

I think Handcent will allow you to do it.

Handcent is an additional SMS app. Technically you disable sounds from the built-in app and use Handcent which has more configuration options, including the option to use custom notification sound for each person.

Use Go SMS Pro to change individual customization for notification.

If you don't want to download a new messenger app, you can try using Contact Alert. It allows you to set custom notification sounds per contact and runs parallel to whatever messaging app you currently use. You will have to turn off sounds in your current messenger app to prevent your phone from playing 2 notifications at once.

this is what I did without any 3rd party apps.. for a long time I used go sms.. but.. if you go into and make your own file folders by coopying and pasting.. voile'!

Open My Files application (The default file manager on Samsung devices)
Under Local Storage, open the Device Storage option
Browse the audio file, long press on it, tap the 3dot icon, and select the Copy option
under Device Storage, find the "Notifications" folder, open it, and Paste the copied audio file
Now, open the Messages application
Tap the 3dot icon and Settings after that
Tap the Notifications option, and then the Notification Sound.
On the opened list, you should now see the name of your audio file, and you just need to select it.

The answer changes all notification sounds, not just the desired contact's notifications.


text:
What's my solutions if i brick my android phone?
Are there any tricks (general or not) that I can use if I brick my Android phone? e.g.: when updating android..

This can vary a lot depending on what kind of phone you have.

This pretty subjective.  It usually depends on what you did to "brick" it and also varies by phone. For instance, there would be a difference in perma-bricking the device by flashing the wrong radio, vs flashing a rom and getting stuck in a boot loop or having issues flashing a recovery, etc.

As you haven't mentioned your phone related information, I can share my view.
When your phone is not responding or bricked then you can use your phone PC Compassion or PC suite or whatever depends on what your phone model gave you.
I own Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro. Sometime back while installing another ROM the phone bricked. I googled and read lots of articles to unbrick the phone.
Especially XDA Forum helped me in unbricking the phone. Sony Ericsson has SEUS(Sony Ericsson Update Service).  Using this we can unbrick the Sony Ericsson phones. I am guessing the similar kind of set up is there in all the other phones also.

For samsung phones, Kies is the software for Unbricking

I Hard Bricked my phone yesterday when I went to flash a custom ROM. I think I was trying to flash a ROM for the wrong model or something, not sure. Whatever, totally bricked. I had two options as I saw it:
Option 1
Go to AT&T, play dumb, and see if they would give me a new phone. (it worked) Since it was hard bricked, they could not even turn it on, they simply gave me a new one. My default 1-year warranty covered it.
Option 2
Send my phone into the Mobile Techs. They came highly recommended and said they could unbrick a hard bricked Galaxy s3 (my specific model).


text:
selectively make contact groups silent
At work , i would prefer to set my phone in such a way that only the calls from my family group will ring , while all other contact calls should be silent. And later i should be able to switch it back to normal.
In general , there are sound profiles for phones, but the profiles are not specific to a contact or a group, i need a work profile which will set Family - Normal Others - Silent . etc
Is there any app in the market that would help me with this??

If you use Tasker, you may be able to create a profile that will silent certain contacts during work hours.  Just a "heads up" - Tasker will require a little work to get it to work the way you would like for more complex tasks, but they have a very good community that will support you if you run into issues.


text:
 Samsung Galaxy Player comparison
I noticed 3 devices all featuring same Android ver.
What is the most advanced device of these 3? Are their features overlapping each other, or they are three devices that are meant to serve different needs?

Galaxy Player 4 (YP-G1)
Galaxy Player 5 (YP-G70)
Galaxy Player 50 (YP-G50)

Any other versions missing in that page?
I wanna buy the latest and most advanced Android version that has the most features of that device.

From what I remember the main difference between the models is screen/device size and battery capacities, the version of Android isn't a main difference (specially as Samsung can update these freely without the networks blocking them like they've done with phones). Will see if I can dig some specs up and put a proper answer in.

According to the Galaxy Player Wikipedia page the differences are:

Galaxy Player 4 (YP-G1) The Galaxy Player 4 features a 4" Super Fine LCD.
  It had a flash internal storage of 8
  GB or 16 GB that can be expanded with
  microSD card.
Galaxy Player 5 (YP-G70) The Galaxy Player 5 features a 5" TFT LCD.
  It had a flash internal storage of 8
  GB or 16 GB that can be expanded with
  microSD card.
Galaxy Player 50 (YP-G50) The YP-G50 model carries a 3.2" LCD TFT
  instead of the AMOLED which is used by
  Samsung in most of its phones. The
  screen has a 240×400 resolution. It
  has a flash internal storage of 16 GB
  or 32 GB that can be expanded with a
  microSD card.

So the main differences are the size and quality of the screen (and the device), and the internal memory capacity.
Essentially the "50" has the smallest, worst quality screen, but (depending which capacity you get) has the most internal memory, the "4" and "5" are larger devices with better quality, larger screens but (potentially) not as much internal memory.
According to another review I found:

...4.0 and 5.0 have almost the same specifications... the 4 inch version has a battery
  capacity of 1200mAh, whereas the 5
  inch version is 2500mAh

So the "5" has a larger battery which should last longer, though this may be offset slightly by the larger screen, and will also make the device slightly bigger and heavier than the "4". Battery life should be better than equivalent phone models (especially if you switch off wifi when you're not using it), as the phone's wireless radio is one of the largest battery hogs in the device. Full size and weight specs of the devices are in the sidebar on the Wikipedia page.
So it looks like none of the devices are "better" than the others, they all appear to have their own benefits but are aimed at different buyers.

I now own an iPod Touch, I hate iTunes and decided to move to Android. I will appreciate any other highlights on my scenario.

I am confused about these product's name comparisons for international and US distribution.
None of these Galaxy Player models have been released in the US.
I have seen what you refer to as the Galaxy Player 4 & 5 labeled
as Galaxy S Wi-fi 4 & 5 in trade show videos on YouTube as well as Samsung's UK site, e.g. http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/tv-audio-video/mp3-digital-audio/mobile-internet-players/YP-G1CW/XEU/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail.  In mid-May, Samung's US site http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/mp3-players/ had the Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0 listed with full specs, price and even reference to Best Buy as an official retailer before yanking down references to the Galaxy Player only a week later.  Very confusing.
I search Google daily for signs that the "Galaxy Player" 4 or 5 has been released in the US.  However, I am uncertain as to which search terms I should use because I have seen what appears to be the same product referred to both as the "Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0" and the "Samsung Galaxy S Wi-fi 4.0".
Does anyone have evidence indicating what Samsung will be calling the "Galaxy Player" 4 or 5 equivalent for the US market?

They are out in the US and have been for a while. I'm not sure when they came out but I saw one at Best Buy months ago and wanted one ever since and just finally got one a few days ago.


text:
Do Android Stock Browser, Firefox Mobile and Opera Mobile use proxy server to perform rendering
It is quite interesting to know that, Opera Mini is using Proxy Server to perform all the rendering work, instead of relying the phone itself to do it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Mini#Functionality) This will help to reduce required processing work, especially in lower end phone.

Do Android Stock Browser, Firefox Mobile and Opera Mobile also employ the same technique? Current Android Phone is having powerful processing capability. Does the above technique will bring more harm than good?
Will request having to go through an additional will slow down the whole process, compared to letting the rendering work done by phone itself?

In Opera Mobile, you can enable Opera Turbo to use the same proxying technology as used by Opera Mini.
Android Stock Browser does not use compressing proxy at all and I believe neither does Firefox Mobile (though given that Firefox Mobile has plugins system there might be a plugin for that).
Several lesser known browsers in the Market does use similar proxying technique, but I can't recall off the top of my head which ones though.

Amazon's "Silk" browser which is pre-installed on the Kindle Fire tablets also proxies the traffic and pre-renders page elements in a similar way as Opera Mini, see http://amazonsilk.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/introducing-amazon-silk/

The stock android brower uses WebKit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit as rendering engine.
The solution adopted by Opera assumes that network speed is there, whilst processing power is not.
These days this is not a given, the new dual core phones have power to spare (SGSII has a hardware accelerated browser!) whilst the 3G network is often congested in main urban spots.
It might improve things on lower end android devices.

Opera proxying tend to reduce the size of the total downloaded bandwidth as well, which will be advantageous when used in congested urban areas.


text:
Setting an external keyboard to the Colemak layout
I have found soft keyboard applications that provide the Colemak layout for the virtual keyboard. However, I need the layout when touch-typing on a physical keyboard.
In my case, I'm using a regular USB keyboard plugged into an Iconia A500 tablet. The keymap should be freely customizable by modifying system files, but I'd prefer to do this without rooting.
How can I remap the keys of a physical keyboard to the Colemak layout?

See also http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/5128/how-to-switch-keyboard-layout-for-external-keyboard

Looks like the External Keyboard Helper app lets me switch layouts of an external USB keyboard on my Nexus 7, no root access needed.

Thank you for mentioning this app! I'm currently use an Apple Wireless Keyboard on my Android device. And that External Keyboard Helper app allows me to remap the useless upper-right Eject CD to Del. Tips: when trying to setup this, the Del key can be chosen by a key name "Forward Delete".

According to the first Android related link on the front page of http://colemak.com/ the AnySoftKeyboard app (market link) is their main recommendation for Android phones. One of the bullet points in the featuireslist on their home page is:

Physical keyboard is supported
  as-well.

It sounds like that could do the job for you?

This doesn't seem to work. My external USB keyboard still has US QWERTY layout when I am using Colemak AnySoftKeyboard.

I can confirm that ASK doesn't work for physical keyboards. They have an issue open in their bugtracker: http://code.google.com/p/softkeyboard/issues/detail?id=181

I have a similar issue trying to get my physical keyboard to work with Dvorak. I came across the following links:
http://www.mjvanderwielen.com/?p=1321
http://jahrome.free.fr/index.php/keyboard-mapping-android-htc-desire?lang=en
These essentially describe how to create your own keyboard mapping file. You'd need root access to do this. I haven't tried this myself though (yet.)

As a partial solution...
I've had some success with extkeyboardremapper (AKA laurent2o1o Keyboard). I successfully swapped Q with A by following the translated French instructions.
I haven't got as far as creating a full layout, but I wonder if I could just copy layouts from somewhere in Ubuntu.
Edit: On Ubuntu and probably most other Linux systems, these files are found in:
/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/

For non-Linux users, here's the web repo of the source:
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xkeyboard-config/tree/symbols?h=2.2-branch
The files aren't directly compatible with extkeyboardremapper, but they can serve as a guide for making the k2g.cfg file. Colemak and Dvorak can be found in the us file, other files such as gb just amend the US version it seems.
Edit: Using the X11 keyboard layout files as a guide, I made a k2g.cfg for Colemak, to complete my solution.
Here's how to use it:
mkdir /sdcard/keyremap

Make this file:
/sdcard/keyremap/s2k.cfg
86 => 773

This is because Android doesn't seem to have a keycode for <LSGT>, so let's call it 773 for now.
Make this file:
/sdcard/keyremap/k2g.cfg
==== USA - Colemak ====

0 68 ` ~ 0303 ~
0 8 1 ! ¡ ¹
0 9 2 @ º ²
0 10 3 # ª ³
0 11 4 $ ¢ £
0 12 5 % € ¥
0 13 6 ^ ħ Ħ
0 14 7 & ð Ð
0 15 8 * þ Þ
0 16 9 ( ‘ “
0 17 0 ) ’ ”
0 69 - _ – —
0 70 = + × ÷

0 45 q Q ä Ä
0 51 w W å Å
33 f F ã Ã
46 p P ø Ø
48 g G 0328 ~
53 j J đ Đ
49 l L ł Ł
37 u U ú Ú
43 y Y ü Ü
44 ; : ö Ö
0 71 [ { « ‹
0 72 ] } » ›
0 73 \ | ~ ~

0 29 a A á Á
47 r R 0300 ~
32 s S ß ~
34 t T 0301 030B
35 d D 0308 ~
0 36 h H 030C ~
38 n N ñ Ñ
39 e E é É
40 i I í Í
74 o O ó Ó
0 75 ' " õ Õ

0 54 z Z æ Æ
0 52 x X 0302 ~
0 31 c C ç Ç
0 50 v V œ Œ
0 30 b B 0306 ~
42 k K 030A ~
0 41 m M 0304 ~
0 55 , < 0327 ~
0 56 . > 0307 ~
0 76 / ? ¿ ~

0 773 - _ – —
0 62 0020 0020 0020 00A0

==== United Kingdom - Colemak (extension) ====

9 2 " ² ⅛
10 3 £ ³ £
11 4 $ € ¼

75 ' @ 0302 030C
68 ` ¬ | |

73 # ~ 0300 0306
773 \ | | ¦

The prepended 0's effectively comment out the line. I've commented out all but the necessary lines due to this bug, but if the bug gets fixed, or you use the AltGr characters more than Ctrl shortcuts, then just uncomment them.
US users can cut the UK extension at the end, others will have to replace it with their own.
If you really want to duplicate your Backspace key, you need to add this line to s2k.cfg:
58 => 67

...but you may find that the backspace function is merely added to the CapsLock key.
Now just install extkeyboardremapper, enable it, and select it!

Just discovered a bug that CapsLock doesn't work for mapped keys.

I have the same problem with External Keyboard Helper: I just can't manage to make Caps Lock another Control. Although I can choose it in the custom layout, it simply doesn't seem to be applied.

Apparently, Android 4.1 has built-in support for changing the layout of USB and Bluetooth keyboards, /and/ allows users to install custom layouts without root.
Not much use for devices without Jellybean, but it's good to know that up-to-date devices don't have this issue anymore.
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=17119

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


text:
How can I connect my A500 to an iMac for charging and file transfers?
I have a Acer Iconia A500 and I am using an iMac. I cannot charge or share my device as mass storage with my computer over USB, though I am able to use bluetooth for transferring data.
Are there any special drivers needed? How can I get it connected with my machine?

I'm not familiar with the mass storage issue, but I don't believe it's designed to charge via USB. A lot of tablets aren't.

But my friend owned the same A500, he said his tab is getting charged via USB in his windows machine.

As eldarerathis mentioned, you need to charge the tablet using the charging adapter rather than USB.
The A500 has 2 USB ports.  A regular one, like you'd find on a laptop, for connecting USB devices to the tablet (memory sticks, for example), and a Micro USB port for connecting the tablet to a computer.  Make sure you're using the Micro USB port.
(Your mileage may still vary - the support site isn't very forthcoming on using the tablet with a Mac)

Motorola Xoom also does not charge via USB. It charges via power adapter that came with the device.


text:
Get notification audio through headset

Possible Duplicate:
Block all sounds going out through speaker when headphone connected

I listen to music and audiobooks a lot on my HTC Incredible, and the phone rings through to my headphones, but the notification alert plays through the external speaker.
Is there any way to get it to play through just the headset like the phone ringer does?
Android version 2.2

IIRC cyanogenmod provides this feature


text:
Why does Android download pause, and only continue after restart?
Sometimes when I download apps (from the market), the download gets paused. After the download gets paused, I am unable to continue the download. But after the restart my device and then retry downloading, it works fine. What could be the reason behind this?

are you rooted?

@jlehenbauer, yes

I see that sometimes. What happens if you long-press the download progress entry and choose "Cancel"?

Closely related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/9024/unable-to-download-applications

It happens generally when Kernel discards Market from memory. In Android, there're many ways to achieve multi-tasking. Market app achieves it by running its service in background. This way Market app isn't killed. But, when kernel runs out of memory, it has no other choices. It kills other apps (even having running service) to reclaim memory, otherwise device would be crashed. Such power killing returns unstable & unexpected results.
So, to prevent it lower down running app load from system. You can hunt down running apps from Settings ~> Applications ~> Running Services. Simply uninstall all unwanted always-running apps.
Plus, Market might have memory leaks etc. type bugs on your device. So, its better to contact Android support if previous step doesn't help. They really respond (don't think its Google).

Perfect answer. Never occurred to me that there app could get killed. Nice

This very much depends on your device and your version of Android.
As a temporary remedy you could try and force a stop of the market application instead of having to reboot your device manually every time.
Pressing menu - settings - applications - manage applications - all - market - force stop should close the market and restart the download when you retry.

I have a solution... reboot the device , but  that's not my question at all

I had this same exact problem. They start, they pause, they quit, and you have to try again. The solution for me, albeit a little overboard, was to flash a new ROM. This was not the only reason, and i noticed this download issue only happened after my device got pretty bogged down (not much internal storage left), but regardless of the reasons, reflashing took care of the problem.
i know erasing your phone is obvious and not optimal, but a fresh start is always good :)

come on... that is not an answer. :)

haha i know it's not a fun one, but it completely solved the issue for me :) i think it has something to do with storage space and the fact that the phone is rooted; the market was made to work with standard versions of android, so modded ones can get messy sometimes :)

I just figured it out, just go to the download manager from settings-apps and turn of notification and again turn on notification that's all, it work or me.


text:
Camera app that records EXIF
Is there a camera app that records EXIF information? In particular, I would need the following:

GPSLatitude
GPSLongitude
GPSImgDirection
SubjectDistance

I've checked that all these fields can be saved via android. I'm just wondering if there is a camera app that actually DOES save this information in exif for a photo. Most apps I've tried only save max the latitude and longitude.

Which apps have you tried? That'll help us avoid duplicate suggestions. To start, see Camera FX Pro or GPS Essentials - it has support for Geotagging, although unsure about exact capabilities. By default, the Camera app also can store location data provided you've turned it on in the app options. Which phone / Android version are you using?

Camera360 Ultimate works fine for me. Just, make sure to check "Record GPS Information" from Settings ~> Preferences.

Camera 360 doesn't seem to record GPSImgDirection. I'm still looking for a program that does, though there are several that claim to ... and don't.

The short answer here is that the GPS system only provides direction if the receiver is moving.

GPS doesn't provide any direction. It only provides coordinates for an object sought by the user. When an object moves, its coordinates changes, thus, it appears that GPS is tracking the movement, but it is only providing the coordinates, that is all. The  tracking is shown in the application. The coordinates can be used in the EXIF information.


text:
My phone has an error when I want to delete drafts, what should I do?
So, here's the problem: when I want to delete drafts from HTC Wildfire S, I go to drafts and press the three-line-button, which always offers more options. It says "Delete drafts". I press that and it says that there's an error and that I should either force close everything, or report it to HTC. I can delete drafts by opening them and selecting discard from the menu, but I don't want to do that every time, and the lag is just irritating.
What should I do? Does someone have the same problem? Thanks in advance!

I assume you mean 'draft' txt messages.
Try this:

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

If not you could also factory reset the phone.
Otherwise report it to HTC support

Note that this will delete ALL text messages, sent, received and drafts.


text:
How to remove apps from android market website?
There are a few apps that even though I uninstalled them (through android market mobile app) still remain present as 'installed' when I go to my website market account (they are not on my phone any more).. I tried installing and removing them again, but it didn't help.. Did anyone have the same problem? Is there a way to fix this so that they don't show up any more?

Well, Now you CAN remove the unwanted apps from your market website as well as from the market history. All you have to do is delete from your all apps list.
Goto your play store app and select My Apps Then swipe the screen to your left to see the ALL apps list.
Just click the crossed circle icon (pointed with the green arrow) to remove the desired app.

Make sure you have uninstalled the app before removing. You can uninstall the apps directly from the All apps list as well.
Note: It seems that this list only contains market installed apps. (i.e. apps other than user installed .apk apps)

@pootzko, you're welcome. :)

If you want them removed from the Market app list of previously installed applications, you will have to clear the data in Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> Market.
To get them to not show as installed on the Market website, I would think that this will "clear" once your device does a sync and then the site processes that sync. You have no control over how the website shows applications that are installed. I'd say way a few days and if they are still showing as installed, you can try contacting google about the issue.

edit: this answer is outdated, please see Sid's answer

I reported this to Android Team, and got this reply:

Hi,
Thanks for writing in. I understand
  that some apps are still showing on
  your account even after being
  uninstalled.
Keep in mind that all the apps you
  download will always show on the
  Android Market website for history
  purposes. Uninstalled apps will be
  removed from the Android Market app on
  your device after a few days.
Regards,
The Android Market Team

So, that means they will never go away from the Android Market website...

Please see the new answer


text:
Is it possible to combine address bar and search bar of opera mobile into one
I had been using stock browser all the while. Recently, I found out that opera mobile is much more faster when I double tap to zoom in. I would like to switch my daily use to opera mobile. However, the shortcoming I found out is that, they do not have a single bar for me to search and type address. Is there any workaround or plugin for me to do so?

I don't know of any way to physically combine the two fields. However, the most recent update (11.1) added the following:

One field does it all
You can now type both web addresses
  and search queries in your browser's
  address field. Or, if you prefer, you
  can still use the search field with
  your favorite search engines.

So if you start typing into the address bar, you'll now be given the option to perform a search for whatever you entered. You just tap on the "Search: [text]" item that appears under the address bar:


text:
NEXUS S (t-mobile version) 2.3.4 / GRJ22 -- IS ROOT POSSIBLE?? can't mount /system mount /data
I have the Nexus S (t-mobile version) that is 2.3.4 / GRJ22 and just wanted to ask, is root actually possible now??  I see lots of posts about how to do it under 2.3.3, but all the posts I have seen so far mention doing a mount /System mount /data and these ARE NOT options on the bootloader screen under GRJ22.
(these instructions do NOT work:
http://www.techwhizz.com/root-google-nexus-s-android-2-3-4-gingerbread-grj22/
)
Am I totally missing something here?  I'm usually pretty good at figuring this stuff out, but I am at a total loss here and any help would be very much appreciated!!
Thanks!

Related: How can I root my Nexus S?

Try this tutorial, http://theunlockr.com/2010/12/17/how-to-root-the-samsung-nexus-s/

Thank you!  That looks like it will work.  I will report back how it turns out.

Unfortunately I fall into the group of OS X users who find nothing when they type $ adb devices   I did verify of course that I have USB debugging checked on the phone.  I tried restarting the adb server, the phone, the computer, all to no avail.  Will try with Linux in the next few days, hopefully that will work better.

The Nexus S is a developer phone, so yes it can be rooted by unlocking the boot-loader first. That always work.
However, many users wishes to root the phone without unlocking the boot-loader. And that is currently (18.06.2011) not possible with Version 2.3.4. Not with the Nexus-One, not with the Nexus-S.
If you decide to unlock then  Lie Ryan answer shows you how.


text:
is Google map navigation only available to selected country
I love using Google map to give me direction. however, I would like it to provide "turn left, turn right" voice while I am driving. I heard Google map navigation able to provide such feature. I search from android market but cannot find one. is it only available to selected country? is there any workaround, or other software I can try out?

It's limited to specific locations, and only available with a data connection.  See this question on the location limitations and this question on alternatives.

Google's official list of countries with Google Maps Navigation (Beta) available is here:
http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=172221
Currently 29 countries are listed there.
If your country is not in the list, the simplest workaround I found is brut.all ownhere modified changepn Google Maps apps on XDADev .


text:
App with tail Command?
Is there an app that will let me run the UNIX tail command?
I want to be able to monitor a text file on a remote web server as it gets written to.

I don't know the syntax, but Terminal Emulator on my Samsung Galaxy S lets me run tail.  I would assume any console app would allow it.
As noted in the comments below, tail is part of BusyBox so you can get it from there.  There is a root app on the Play Store  that includes BusyBox if you don't want to search for a package to sideload.

When I run tail in Terminal Emulator on my Galaxy S it says 'tail: not found' :-/

@Techboy Hmm. Are you rooted? It's possible that tail could be part of Busybox.  Or maybe it's my custom ROM or my specific variant of the SGS (T-Mo Vibrant). I'm not sure.

I checked, it is part of Busybox, so you need to be rooted...

I'm not rooted - but I might do that... Thanks.

You don't need to be rooted. Busybox should work without root, but you'll need to call the busybox tail explicitly, e.g. by /sdcard/busybox tail.

The BusyBox description explicitly says it needs root - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=stericson.busybox&feature=related_apps#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwOSwic3Rlcmljc29uLmJ1c3lib3giXQ

@studgeek That app needs root, and some BusyBox utilities might need root (situationally), but tail does not require root to access apart from if you want to use it on protected files.  As liori mentions you can just stick the version of tail compiled for Android somewhere accessible and run it.