text:
How do I turn off geolocation when taking photos?
Is there a way to turn the geolocation feature for photos off? Is this per application or phone-wide?
edit I have a Droid X. I would like to have geolocation off even if my gps is on. Is there a way to do that?

What phone do you have?  Most manufacturers that I know of have custom camera apps.  (It's per-application).

If GPS is off, does it still attempt to put in the Geo Location data?

This video seems to cover it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUV31pKOZcg&feature=player_embedded
To recap:

Open Camera app
Open Menu
Tap "Tags"
Uncheck Auto-Location tag
Done.

For the camera in Jelly Bean it's a little easier:

Open the Camera app
Tap the "Circle" in the lower right to open the menu
Choose Settings
Make sure the toggle for "Store Location" is set to Off

I understand the camera for Jelly Bean 4.3 is a little different (it presents the options as an arc instead of a circle) but the steps should be the same.


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Why is my Galaxy S stuck on downloading 'do not turn off target'?
I was updating the firmware on kies for my galaxy s and it got half way through and then said error and is no frozen on the downloading 'do not turn off' screen, I have taken out the battery and put it back in, and tried the hard reset, which leads me to a phone symbol, a computer symbol and an error symbol in the middle, help plzzzzzz

I had the same problem (except I didn't use Kies, I had the problem after the first OTA Update)
Here are the steps I did to get my device back in a usable state:
Keep in mind, this will revert your phone to a rather old (android 2.1) version of TouchWiz. You may want to see if there are newer ODIN files available.
You will probably need different files anyhow, as the ones I have below are for the Galaxy S Vibrant.
Also, I take no responsibility if this does not work for you, or your phone explodes in the process. These are the steps I took, and they worked for me. Good Luck.

Download ODIN3 1.0

Download 512 PIT

Download JFD tar

Note that all 3 of those are from the same thread. It also wouldn't hurt for your to read that post too.

Open Odin, plug in your phone, then put it into download mode.

To expand on this because a lot of people were asking "how to put in download mode". The easiest way I found to actually do it, if you can can connect via ADB is to do the following:

# reboot download
If you can't get that to work, try how i mention below (phone off, battery out, hold vol+ & vol-), or try searching these forums for "vibrant download mode" you will find other things that "work" for people

load the PIT file in appropriate area.

load the .tar file in the PDA area.

DO NOT check 're-partition'.

Click start, let it finish.

At this point ODIN failed on me. and I got the "mobile-!-pc" image.

Now, pull your battery and unplug USB

I also took out the SIM and sdcard at this point.

bring the phone to download mode again

plug the USB back in (the phone should be off)
Hold down vol+ & vol-
Put battery back in
press power

re-run ODIN as mentioned above

Don't give up if this doesn't work. If you get the device to boot, even if it is to the "Error Screen", there is a possibility of recovering.

You should experiment with rebooting via the various key combinations / battery pulls / USB plugged-in-ness below first.  Sometimes the phone can be jolted out of the bad mode it's in by doing that.  If the firmware was partially written though, you'll have to do Odin as Ryan suggests.

I basically agree with Ryan's answer, but I'd use at least Odin 1.5.  Here's Odin 1.7, it includes the 512 PIT file.
For the GT-i9000 (international Galaxy S), get firmware from this XDA thread.  You probably want the newest for your region (excluding Gingerbread, since it hasn't been officially released).
I also recommend checking re-partition in Odin.  This will wipe 100% of your data, however.
I think the easiest way to get into Download Mode is through key combinations.  For the i9000, just hold Power + VolDown + Home until the phone reboots, then let go of Power only; after a second you'll get to a yellow triangle with an Android in it.  For the Vibrant, remove the battery, plug into USB, hold VolDown + VolUp, and insert the battery.

Yes, finding the latest ODIN is a good idea. I really just posted the exact steps and tools I used when I had this problem.

Yep, I upvoted your answer ... I just had too much to put in comments (and didn't want to take over your answer through edits).  I've spent way too much time playing with Odin :P

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Is there any way to install android app without having internet?
I just bought a Samsung Galaxy Mini S, but I don't have 3g or wi-fi internet - I have internet only on my computer. Is there any way to install android apps without internet, via bluetooth or using the USB cable? (I do have bluetooth on my computer).
If it's possible to install the apps than where could I download the apps? The Market doesn't let me download them to my computer.

And you haven't considered something like Internet Connection Sharing to get your phone on your laptop's internet connection? That would be the easiest way IMO.

Two questions: 1. how to install 2. Where to get.

Yes: you can connect the phone to your computer via USB, click the notification on your phone to mount the USB storage to the PC, move downloaded apps from your computer to your phone (easiest if you put them on the SD card), and browse on your phone to where you put the apps and click on them to install them.
Your phone should have a file browser, but if it doesn't I recommend Explorer.  You'll need to enable Unknown Sources in Settings -> Applications as well.  You can download apps to your PC most easily from alternative markets like GetJar.
If you have installed something like Download Crutch so that you can download any type of file, or are using a non-stock browser that will ignore Android's restriction on downloads, then you can of course just download the .apk's directly to your device and skip the PC.

You can also transfer the files from PC to device via Bluetooth, and then those files will be in the folder /sdcard/bluetooth.

"Your phone should have a file browser, but if it doesn't I recommend Explorer." - very well. And How do I install Explorer? I guess you didn't think about that...

If your computer has internet access via ethernet, and also has a wireless adaptor, you can use Connectify to set up your own wifi hotspot for your phone to connect to. You can then download and install apps normally.

Actually you can download from Google Play to your computer. All you need is the Google Chrome Extension - APK Downloader. Just select an app on Google Play then on the top right corner will have the APK Downloader symbol. Click it and download the app in .apk format. Then just transfer the app to your phone with either Bluetooth or USB then install the app like normal using App Installer on your phone. Simple way to install is just click on the file in your phone then click Install.
Also when you are trying to use the APK Downloader. They will ask for a Device ID for your phone. Enter ##8255## in your phone dialer then you will see your device ID. Just insert your name, E-mail and Device ID in the APK Downloader settings in extension list and you can use it.

I also faced the same problem when I brought the Android Smart Phone.
There is no way to download the apps to your Computer from Android Market. You should have internet on your mobile to download the apps directly to your mobile.
There are some websites where you can download the apps into your Computer.
For Ex: Mobiles24, GetAndroidStuff, etc..
And more over some of the Android Apps need internet connection to work.

install MOBOGENIE software  fro, their official site its free and easy to use and install every app for android java etc

Would you bother to provide a link to that "official site"?

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


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How can I output video from my HTC Thunderbolt to a TV?
Could somebody please detail for me a system using which one can output video to a TV from an HTC Thunderbolt? It has no HDMI port so I'll (almost) certainly need an adapter, I know. I don't really need HD quality but at least 720p would be nice.

I've found a cable for this, finally.

The Thunderbolt has DLNA, so if your TV supports DLNA you can use that.  On my Samsung phone, you use the AllShare app for DLNA, but I think the Thunderbolt has another app built in.  Page 275 of the User Manual describes how to use DLNA.  This droidforums thread has a discussion of ways to use DLNA without a compliant TV, I'm not sure how well other ways will work.
There's also a "multimedia dock" that is supposed to be released shortly, it's "out of stock" until then.  That should provide a cable-based way of video output.

If your TV doesn't support DLNA and you have some other DLNA capable device, like an Xbox360, PS3, or DLNA capable blu-ray player, you can use that as a bridge between your TV and the phone.
Just set your phone to use wi-fi and run whatever app comes w/ the phone (or download some other app on the market) to stream via DLNA. Your DLNA capable device should detect the media server from your phone. Once that happens, you should be able to stream from your phone to the capable device, which would then display to your TV.
Check out these posts on Droid forum for more specific info.


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What is Dalvik cache?
When installing custom ROMs most recommend clearing the Dalvik cache.  What exactly is Dalvik cache?

The Dalvik cache is the set of saved .dex files.  A .dex file is basically a compiled bytecode version of an app that has been built for the Dalvik Virtual Machine on which Android's apps run.  It's similar to the Java Virtual Machine and having saved .class files.

Is it thus normal for a freshly installed ROM with wiped Dalvik cache to take a long while to boot the first time? because ParanoidAndroid is sure taking its sweet time; five minutes and counting.

@badp Yep, my first boots were often that long with various ROMs.  I wouldn't give it too too long before assuming something's wrong though.

Found very insightful information on dalvik-cache at stackoverflow from reputed sources(Google's employees who worked on Dalvik virtual machine platform).
Below is the summary of it, more from Android User's perspective in (hopefully) simple words.
Where is dalvik-cache located in my Android device ?
In a typical Android device, there is a directory named dalvik-cache. Since Android is based on Linux, it uses a file-system structure of the linux kernel. Hence, this directory is located in /data folder.
So the path to access this Dalvik cache in Android device is /data/dalvik-cache
What is purpose of Dalvik cache?
When a user installs new application on Android, Android performs some modifications and optimizations on that application's dex file (the file that contains all the dalvik bytecode for the application). It then caches the resulting odex (optimized dex) file in the /data/dalvik-cache directory, so that it doesn't have to perform the optimization process every time it loads an application.
What if I clear Dalvik Cache?
There is no effect, other than increasing the next load time of an app, as it is rebuilt.
So an application will take more time to load as it needs to rebuild it's Dalvik Cache. Hence, its is OK to clear dalvik-cache when installing custom ROMs, as the system will anyway re-build it with a new partition.
On an additional note, Starting from Android 4.4(KitKat), Google introduced new Android Runtime called ART which is going to ultimately replace the Dalvik Virtual machine. Source
The ART which uses the same bytecode and .dex files compiles the dex file into native code. That compiled code is what is now stored in dalvik-cache


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Phone calls - the other person can't hear me
My phone has just started having a problem where on phone calls, the other person can't hear me. They just hear some static. I can hear them just fine. It's the same whether I call them or they call me. I tried restarting my phone, I looked at the settings and couldn't see anything obvious whereby I could have muted myself. I tried turning the call on Speaker and off again - no difference.
Any ideas?
If it's relevant, my phone is a Samsung Galaxy S running Froyo.

Check the microphone.  Can you record yourself with the Voice Recorder app?  If not, I would suspect you damaged it somehow.

Yeah, that would be obvious! Don't know why I didn't think of that. Well, without a headset, it only records static. With a headset, I can record voice. I guess that means the default mic is damaged?

@pfctdayelise Probably, unfortunately :(

I faced a similar problem with my LG Optimus One (P500). I first suspected the microphone and hence attempted to use voice recorder as suggested by Matthew Read. Since it was working, I became clueless.
After struggling a lot, I realized that I had installed a call recording software.  This call recording software was installed months before and hence I did not suspect it. Even after disabling the software I could not receive calls.  However, the problem was solved once I uninstalled it.
Later I understood that Android SDK does not provide clean solutions to hook into mic (unlike Symbian platform).  Hence call recording software developers are left to use any sort of dirty means (which I am not aware) to make their app work.
So, if you have any such application which plays with mic, just uninstall them and try.


text:
Are there any log files you can examine do determine why an unrooted Android device is rebooting repeatedly?

Possible Duplicate:
Where are log files located on Android?

Yesterday evening I left wi-fi enabled overnight. This morning I found my Archos 101 rebooting over and over again (eating up the battery power very quickly).
I managed to shut it down, plugged in the power, rebooted and now it's running fine.
But of course I would like to know what caused this.
Are there any log files I can examine to determine the cause ?
My device is an unrooted Archos 101.
Last thing I installed was the Flash 10.2 player update and a quickpix update.

UPDATE:

Although I searched for it before posting my question, I obviously didn't find the following question: where are logfiles located, which is virtually the same (as pointed out by Matthew+. I stand corrected.
This question may be closed.

Maybe not an exact dupe, but I think that should answer your question.


text:
How can you determine what programs you installed last?
Following my question about logs I wonder if there is a way to determine the last updates and applications which have been installed.
Does Android keep a chronological list of installed programs and updates ?
I am running Froyo 2.2.1 if that should make a difference.

AFAIK, Android Market shows the list of installed apps in chronological order. So the latest app you've installed should be on the top (first) of the list. The app that was installed before this - should be the second.

This is only so when you only have one device. And, although much more unlikely, you can install applications outside the market , or come to think of it, you could use f.i. Amazon market ( not we in Europe, but even so ).

Note: This is a partial answer.

Android keeps a note on when an app was last update or first installed.
Setup adb in PC, enable USB debugging in the device, connect the device into PC using USB cable, launch a shell on PC and enter:
adb shell dumpsys package | awk '{if(/pkg=Package/) {print $2} else if(/firstInstallTime/) {print $1" "$2} else if(/lastUpdateTime/) {print $1" "$2"\n"} }'  | tr -d '}'

dumpsys package gives detailed information about all the packages installed in the system. Each package et al. is listed with firstInstallTime or lastUpdateTime.
Your output would be like:

com.estrongs.android.pop
firstInstallTime=2015-07-04 15:49:50
lastUpdateTime=2015-07-04 15:49:50

com.google.android.syncadapters.bookmarks
firstInstallTime=2013-04-24 13:33:43
lastUpdateTime=2013-04-24 13:33:43

com.sika524.android.quickshortcut
firstInstallTime=2015-06-01 01:14:17
lastUpdateTime=2015-06-01 01:14:17

com.google.android.youtube
firstInstallTime=2013-04-24 13:33:47
lastUpdateTime=2015-06-26 18:29:27

After every blank line the first line is the package name of an app (e.g. com.estrongs.android.pop). Follow the bullet points at the bottom of the answer here to know how to get the app's title/label from package name.
As for sorting the time in descending/ascending order, I don't know anything about that.

I use the App Brain app on my phone, https://market.android.com/details?id=com.appspot.swisscodemonkeys.apps&feature=search_result you can choose which order to show installed apps (name, date installed, size, storage location)

OK you will probably tell me why do I bump an old thread, but this is still relevant and comes up in google.
I use application Nofitication History which acts as a kind of event log because it records all notifications. In cathegory com.android.packageinstaller you can see history of all system installations and updates.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evanhe.nhfree

You can also search by keywords like added, removed or updated


text:
legitimate version Android 2.3 available for developers?
I have seen a bunch of posts online saying that you can download some hack of android 2.3 on your phone..are these safe to use?
or better yet, is there a legitimate version that I can download and use from the android dev site?

possible duplicate of When will my phone get the Android 2.3 update (Gingerbread)?

There are many custom ROMs that are perfectly legitimate. They are built by dedicated people who put a lot of effort into the work. I wouldn't disparage them by calling their work "hacks".  CyanogenMod is the most popular, but there are plenty more.
There is not an installable phone image available for you to download from the Android Dev site.  Those are emulator images only.

I disagree with the idea that "hack" is necessarily a disparaging term.

Hack itself is not disparaging, but in the context of the OP's statement, "some hack" suggests "any bit of thrown-together ROM". I'm sure you have your own interpretation.

It depends on your phone. I have been using Android 2.3.3 for about a month now on my N1, and it is not hack, but Google's own version.

If you download the source for Android 2.3 you can compile it and install it on your device.  You can even make any modifications that you want before building it.  This is what the folks who make all of those custom ROMs do.
Unfortunately even downloading and installing vanilla Android is a bit more involved and complicated than it sounds.


text:
How come some apps can't be written to the SD card?
A question that has bugged me is why app developers (especially Google) do not allow apps to be written to the SD card.  I understand there are a few that cannot; however, I think there are still quite a few apps that can run from SD, which would benefit those of us with small amounts of internal memory.

Is there a question here or are you just ranting?

Google Goggles has app2sd.

Here is an excellent list of characteristics of apps which should not be installed on SD card, with reasons, from the Android developer site. Hope it helps.

Ah, great find.  "Services" rules out most of the Google apps: Gmail, Voice, Talk for example.  I'm not sure I entirely agree with it (if I want to dismount my SD card and not use the apps on it, that should be OK) but at least they have a reason.

Normally, apps that need to run constantly or in the background are considered to be unsuited to run from a storage card. This is also probably why most "system" apps are prohibited from doing so. Consider, if the card was unmounted, those apps would remain unavailable until the card was re-mounted.
As to why an app developer wouldn't make his/her app storage-friendly is a question better answered by those in the know.


text:
App for running a (simple) web server on Android?

Possible Duplicate:
Viewing web pages offline.

Hi,
I just got a new Acer tablet, and was looking forward to reading HTML files in addition to PDF on my tablet during my commute: case in point being the Android documentation which is available in offline form in the doc/ directory in the sdk install.
So I copied the doc/ folder from my PC to my tablet, and browsed to it using Astro, but was saddened to find that HTML files on the SD card are not easily accessible by the browser, which brings me to my question:
Is there an app (preferably open source), which can provide a basic web server (only localhost, simply serving HTML, JS, CSS and image files) so I can access files by typing URLs such as http://localohost/android-docs/index.html ?
I have looked at iJetty, but it seems to be doing too much. I just want to serve files, not do much Java.
Thanks in advance.
-A

Rather than asking for apps, we prefer questions that ask how to solve a specific problem. In your case it seems you just want to open local HTML files and have them properly rendered. As such, the accepted answer to this question would seem to solve your problem.

I think a web server is too extreme to solve a simple problem like viewing files.  See if the other question can help you.  Edit: Good timing Al.

Also related (linked in the question Al added): How can I can open local files in the default Android browser?

Hi all: Your points are valid. Indeed, I should have asked how to access local HTML files in the browser. The file:/// method worked for me. Should I delete this question?

No...close it instead.

I do not know if this will help you but.... I have a similar problem with my Droid X.  This is what I did--it might work for you:

On your home computer or notebook, download Opera, the free browser.  Install.
Go Opera Unite within the browser.
Install the proxy server (may be named web proxy).  The Unite web server app will also work.
Follow the instructions.  Choose a folder on an attached drive (example C:\nameoffolder)
Fire up the app.  Note the URl which is generated.
If you did this correctly, you now have a webserver installed within the Opera browser.  You can configure whether you want this to be public or private.
Now, go to the Acer tablet.  Open up any web browser --it need not be the Opera browser.
Insert the URL you previously copied.

If your html files are hyperlinked, you should be home free.

As long as Opera browser with the Unite apps are running on the "original" computer, you can access them as a web page on your tablet.
Good luck!

He wants to read the files offline, not have to connect to a PC.


text:
How do I root Samsung Galaxy Tab? (Verizon)
I need to install an app which requires root on my Samsung Galaxy tab(Verison).  How can this be done?

I have not attempted this myself, but here are the steps that I found and seems pretty close to how I rooted my Samsung Galaxy S.
I am not responsible for any issues that arise from following these steps, including, but not limited to your device spontaneously bursting in to flames. I suggest you do additional research and see what others say about using the tools below and read EVERYTHING TWICE before doing it. And follow the instructions step-by-step.

The firsts step is to make sure that you have KIES installed on your computer.
Now download SuperOneClick Root App from here and save it on your desktop.
Once this is done, turn your Samsung Galaxy Tab on and connect it with your computer. Make sure that you have USB debugging mode disabled and sync with KIES.
Now disconnect Galaxy Tab from computer and enable USB Debugging mode. You can enable the USB debugging mode by Settings>Applications>Development>USB Debugging.
Now reconnect your tab again to your PC and tap the Home button so that your Tab loses sync connection with KIES.
Once done, launch SuperOneClick.exe and click on root. Please wait for 5 to 10 minutes while the application roots your Galaxy Tab.


text:
Troubleshooting 802.1x EAP connection
I actually have observed two issues, which most likely are related:

When I try to connect my phone (Motorola Cliq 2; Android 2.2) to 802.1x EAP protected network then the connection attempt seems to fail ~95% of time (the connection state changes from "Connecting"--> "Disconnected"--> "Connecting" --> "Disconnected" ... till it gives up). Five percents of time I am able to establish connections successfully (the connection state changes from "Connecting"--> "Obtaining IP address"-> "Connected")
Another interesting thing here is that Skype still works those 95% of time when my Android thinks that it is actually offline. I can send and receive Skype messages. Albeit Browser or any other WEB application does not work. The WiFi signal is at 80% and I do not have any data plan (once I leave the WiFi range then Skype stops to work)

I am new to Android platform so maybe anyone could give me hints where to look to troubleshoot these two issues? Maybe anyone could recommend tools which can extract internal information of WiFi connection state (the phone is not rooted yet, but I would not mind to do that if I have to).
P.S. The phone works perfectly fine with my WPA2-PSK configuration at home.


text:
Does anyone have experience wireshark running on Samsung Galaxy Tab? (Verizon)
I need to get detailed request data times on Samsung Galaxy Tab on Verison network.  Does anyone know what is invovled in getting Shark to run on this device?

Shark doesn't work?  Can you tell us what happens?  (Make sure you aren't running the native version, I assume that would be more unlikely to work).  Also, your best bet is to contact the developer.

I run tcpdump command on my rooted Galaxy tab and capture the output onto SD card. When I have captured enough, I pull the captured file from phone onto a Linux box using adb pull  and view the output using Wireshark.

I know how to do it.. With "Linux Installer" software you can install chrooted debian. Then I had to re-build my libpcap and wireshark on GTab because my Overcome kernel did support mmapped packet ring buffer.
I can give detailed instructions if anyone needs...
Oh, I forgot about X11.. You'll have to start X11 vncserver inside chrooted debian on your Android, and then connect to 127.0.0.1 from your Android with your favourite VNC client in order to access "X11".. Let's call this approach X11.99_pre_alpha_8 ))

Without those detailed instructions, this isn't much of an answer.

@eforezz So your first step is to remove the Android OS and replace it with Debian Linux? That's a drastic move just to get network timings from a device, and probably totally changes the results you'd get?


text:
sync htc / android phone with macbook / mac os x
I use MacBook (which have Mac OS X 10.6 - Snow Leopard). How can I sync data between my HTC phone and my MacBook.
I have HTC Wildfire, and HTC Sync software only supports Windows.

Well...Don't Macs have the ability to run Windows via BootCamp?

@Sparx: Macs do have ability to run Windows, but I don't want Windows on my MacBook

As of now, there's no counterpart on Mac for HTC Sync.
You can however try MissingSync for Mac - which allows for syncing of contacts, calendars, notes, tasks etc. on Mac

It's not recommended to even attempt to do syncing Windows. Android have a very different design than, say, an iPhone; Android is designed to sync over the air with cloud services like Google Contact, Gmail, Google Calendar, etc. In Android, you shouldn't need to tie your device with a computer. What you need is a Wifi or 3G connection, and you don't need to worry about syncing.

Well said...however a lot of people feel better about having their data stored locally and not on the cloud. In the end, it all boils down to user choice. :-)

For data not including contacts, email, etc since they're already synced for you thru Gmail... you could try Dropbox or some other cloud service. Dropbox would appear as a folder on your computer (Mac or Windows), and Dropbox would run as an app on your phone. So, whatever files/data you have in the folder on your computer would be accessible from your phone, and vice versa.

If you want to sync media files, I suggest you to connect your device in Storage mode or use Dropbox. If you mean that you want to sync contacts, appointments and this kind of stuff, just migrate all that information to Google Contacts, Calendar and others using iCal and Contacts on your Mac.
If you really want something like HTC Sync you have two options:

Install HTC Sync on a Windows using Bootcamp
Pay for MissingSync for Mac


text:
HTC Mail:  Move Messages Between Folders, Not Synced on IMAP Server
I'm seeing some odd behavior on Android...running 2.2 on HTC Incredible.
I have an IMAP account configured through the built in "Mail" program.  First of all, when you send messages from this program, it copies them to a local "Sent" folder, and there is no way to specify a remote IMAP folder for this (e.g. "INBOX.Sent").  So then, I try to move messages manually between the local "Sent" and the IMAP "INBOX.Sent" folder, and it appears to work fine, but when I check from another IMAP client (e.g. Thunderbird), I don't see the messages in "INBOX.Sent".
Has anyone else run into this?  Any idea how to resolve?

Sounds like it's just not copying sent messageinto your mailbox at all, only keeping them locally.  I would assume that's just a shortcoming of the app and you'd need to use a different one that supports that feature.  The default client is very basic and buggy.  Have you considered using Gmail?  You can configure it (through the web) to get mail from an IMAP account, and then you could use the Gmail app (which is very good).

great, so assuming I switch client apps, how can I get the "trapped" emails out of my local Sent folder when moving them doesn't have any effect (except on the local device)?

Good question ... I guess you could forward them to yourself.  I'm not sure there's a simple way to get the messages themselves.

There's also the most excellent and customizable K9 mail client that supports IMAP, POP3 and Exchange 2003/2007 (with WebDAV). Lots of features and its freeware too. I think you can specify folders on your server for special items like Sent, Drafts etc.
Also, it has push mail or you can configure it to poll at intervals.


text:
Is there a way to avoid disk space errors when batch updating apps (using 'Update All')?
This is related to the question 'Is there any way to force market to update and install apps one at a time?'. That question asks specifically if apps can be queued to update, rather than all run simultaneously, which I suspect is a possible (but perhaps not only) solution to my problem. The answer seems to be no for that particular potential solution.
When I go to the market and am notified of many of my apps having been updated, I have the option to 'Update All'. If I do this when I have a relatively low amount of internal storage available, I often end up with a lot of apps failing to update due to disk space problems. I have noticed in the past that updating each app one by one has allowed me to perform all of the updates without a problem.
My intuition is that updates are probably being downloaded to internal storage, so in the case that many updates are being performed at once, the internal storage fills up with a mixture of applied updates, and in-progress downloads.
Performing the app updates one by one allows each app to in turn be downloaded, applied, and then the download removed, before moving on to the next update. If the app is stored on the SD card, doing it this way should mean there is as much room left on the internal storage as before the previous update was applied, so the next can proceed and hopefully succeed.
Given that there doesn't seem to be a way to queue apps for updates (according to the answer to the above linked question), are there any other ways to avoid this problem?
Checking for updates more frequently in order to have smaller simultaneous batches is all I can really come up with for now.

possible duplicate of Is there any way to force market to update and install apps one at a time?

This seems to reduce to exactly the other question...

@Matthew Possibly, but my question is trying to ask whether there might be any other ways to avoid the problem. There could feasibly be a setting to download updates directly to the SD card, for example.

I suppose that would be the only solution other than the original app being deleted before the update is downloaded, which is probably not desirable.  But OK, I withdraw my complaint.

Based on my experience, and a quick look at the UI, I don't think this is possible, even in the relatively new Market that appeared on my Froyo system this week. (Could not find a version number, but it is styled as big tiles on black background vs. the older white, game-console-ish look of before.

This is something I run into quite a bit. (Original DROID.) I don't think you're ever going to get around it short of a rooted solution.
Two things come to mind that, while not ideal, might help ameliorate the problem:

Set up auto-update for more apps. That way they'll get updated when released and will stagger the updates so you don't have as many at once. There's a few developers I trust to not hose me with updates. Google, for instance; I have all of their apps set to auto-update.
Check the Market more often for updates. In other words, don't wait until you get the notification that there are updates before you check. Then it's less likely that there are a lot of app updates to do.

There's also the obvious advice of removing apps so you have fewer to update.
Something else I often do when there are a lot of updates: First, I make sure I'm on wifi. Then I just go ahead and "Update All", knowing that one or two updates will fail due to lack of space. Most won't, so once those complete, I just tap the notifications for the failures and re-attempt.


text:
How do you get Android OS bugs fixed?
I recently got an HTC Shift from Sprint. Within days of getting it, I noticed very bad issues with the phone losing sync to 4g, 3g, and wifi; it would not reacquire data connections unless I manually turned 4g on and off. Their tech support people immediately reset the phone to defaults, blamed my problems on an app, and declared victory.
I don't call this a victory. They treated symptoms, but the real problem (assuming it was an application issue) is that the Android OS allowed an application to routinely get their networking stack in a foobar'd state.
Assuming I can reproduce this problem, what is the best way to resolve it?

It's a huge mistake thinking that Sprint (or any other carrier for that matter) actually cares for your user experience. Their interest in your user experience ends when you hand over your credit card number and sign a 2-year contract.
I would not bother with the carrier, and submit the issue directly to your handset's manufacturer instead.

@Chahk, that's why I'm doing all this within my 30-day right of refusal.  They have another three weeks to resolve issues, or I consider other alternatives.

Practically speaking, if you want turnaround on bug reports through to actual deployment of updates on your device, you're going to need to run an unofficial rom where you can if necessary make the fix yourself.

I assume from your posting that resetting the phone fixed the problem (temporarily).
If you want the problem fixed for good, you can help by trying to narrow down the problem further. This will allow you to address the right people with a very specific request of what needs to be fixed. You should:

Try to reproduce the problem. Install the apps you previously had on your phone one by one until the problem re-occurs.
If you can't reproduce it, there is not much chance of getting this anywhere further. If you can reproduce it:
Try the offending application on a different type and brand of phone.
If the problem exists on all phones, contact the author of the application about the problem and consider raising an issue with Google on their Issue tracker.
Otherwise try the offending application on a different phone of the same model and brand. If the problem occurs there too, contact HTC telling them which application has that effect and on which phone is does have that effect. Also consider filing and issue with Google as above.
Otherwise, if only your phone is affected, it's probably save to assume it's a hardware defect with your phone. Return it for repairs.

As I see it you have some options. I dont know if they will work though.

Return your phone if it has an internal error, demand your money back and get another phone.
Android OS is build by Google. HTC etc. only patches the OpenSource version of the OS from Google. So if you want something in Android fixed, I think Google would be the place to "place your demands" - not that I think it will matter much, but they do have a forum for Android too.
If you know its an application that made the phone faulty, then dont install that application?

Thats what I know/think - dunno if its of much help, but its my answer.

so "what is the best way to get in touch with someone who can drive (the Android bug) to resolution?"

hard to say, it depends on the situation. I cant tell you the answer, as I dont know. I just gave you what I would choose from in your situation.


text:
How can you restore the default icons after installing a home replacement like Open Home 6
I have installed Open Home 6 as a home replacement on my Archos 101 apad.
Is there a way to revert to the default icons for gmail / market / contacts and the like ?
Are icon sets a system wide setting ? Or are those sets specific to the software application which displays them.

AFAIK, OpenHome icons are specific to OpenHome. If you switched to another home scren app, the icons would revert to the default icons. If you want to keep OpenHome but not their icons, you would need to replace the icons through OpenHome.


text:
Use android as xbox360 wireless adapter?
I have a rooted cynogen mod Lg P500.
I can connect my xbox360 to my laptop for bridging a connection. but have recently moved to ubuntu so the bridging is a mission and a half.
So I was wondering if it was possible to use an android phone as an xbox360 wireless adapter.
By this I mean:
My android is connected to my networks wifi.
I want to connect my xbox360 to the android and connect to xbox live.
Is this possible?

Why don't you ask on http://askubuntu.com/ about bridging with Ubuntu? It really shouldn't be very difficult, I've done it on the command line often enough.

This will almost certainly be impossible.  Your XBox doesn't have USB drivers for your Android phone.

This would be possible if your rooted your phone and wrote an installed a new kernel usb driver which made it look like a supported network adapter.  Needless to say that would be a project requiring quite a bit of expertise and effort - it's probably going to be cheaper to get a supported adapter, and not tie up your phone in the process.


text:
Why does phone keep switching off?
I have an HTC Desire Z which I have bought 3 months ago and I usually use it for phone calls. I don't have many apps in it. Sometimes when I call from my phone it switches off and then I have to remove and reinsert the battery to restart it.
What could be going wrong here? I have Android version 2.2 on my phone.

Sounds like a kernel panic.

Wats the solution?

Hacker solution: Root it and flash a new kernel. Mainstream consumer solution: Restore to factory settings and see if that helps, or go to your wireless carrier store and have them flash your phone.

@kchau Feel free to post that as an answer.

Hacker solution: Root it and flash a new kernel.
Mainstream consumer solution: Restore to factory settings and see if that helps, or go to your wireless carrier store and have them flash your phone.

Install Battery Monitor Widget, and the companion app Process Monitor Widget.
These will display and log the battery temperature and CPU usage respectively.
Process Monitor will also let you see a list of the most active processes.
This may help you learn what's happening on the phone before you go as far as restoring factory settings or flashing.


text:
How to update the picture of my contact from Facebook in HTC wildfire?
How to update the picture of my contact from Facebook in HTC wildfire? I am able to update all other contacts but not able to update my contact from facebook. I am using android version 2.2

Are you trying to grab a more recent picture from Facebook, or to select a picture saved on your phone?

@Mathew Read a recent pic from facebook..

On your phone go to people.(or phonebook) choose your contact card. Press menu button/edit. Press on your photo/Facebook. And it will be updated.

This doesn't work on my Gingerbread Droid X. Editing a contact and clicking the contact icon produces a menu with 3 options: "Use this photo" / "Remove icon" / "Change icon" I'm guessing it's a Gingerbread change.

I know this is an ancient question, but I just found out how to manage default contact photos in Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) and had to share.
For Linked Contacts, select the contact, but don't edit it.  Press Menu → Mark as default.  It's counter-intuitive, but this lets you set the default Name, Phone, Email, and Caller ID (aka. contact photo).  Click Done and profit.


text:
Does a HDMI splitter exist that will split hdmi into video and audio?
I'm trying to hook up a GoogleTV to an older Sony TV and the TV has an HDMI input but just below it are the familiar red and white RC jacks for audio. I remember trying to hook up my XBox and the audio not working and now I'm having the same issue with GoogleTV and I think it's because this was made before the audio was integrated into HDMI or something.
I look all though the TV setting and couldn't find a "use RCA jacks for audio option" and was wondering if anyone ran into this before and if maybe there is some sort of splitter I could buy.

The Sony doesn't have the yellow video jack?

4x2 True HDMI Matrix Switch w/ Analog Audio Output
or
1 x 2 HDMI Splitter Distribution Amplifiier with Toslink Audio Output

$200! That's 20% of buying a new 55 inch TV! Thanks though.

The first one is $59 and splits the audio and video as you requested.  You may be able to find something cheaper direct from China.

I found that:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5Ft-HDMI-Male-to-5RCA-5-RCA-Audio-Video-AV-Component-Cable-Gold-Plated-/390383800639?pt=US_Video_Cables_Adapters&hash=item5ae4b0113f
I'm still waiting for it but that can be good for you too!
Regards!

That seems very unlikely to help. As the item description points out, the cable just puts the digital HDMI signal on some RCA (phono) connectors. It doesn't transcode it into the analogue signal a receiver would be expecting on RCA inputs. I don't know of any A/V receiver that can understand a digital audio signal on RCA inputs.


text:
How to sync an Android phone with anything other than Google?

Possible Duplicate:
Suggestions for syncing data to someone besides Google? Funambol?

As I understand, the Android phone can only sync with Google (GMail, Google Calendar, etc.) out of the box. I can imagine corporate users having a problem with their data residing on Google's servers — despite their "do no evil" credo.
Is there any Android application that lets you sync with the desktop (either Linux or Windows) or corporate server applications (think Exchange)?

How is this a duplicate, if it was asked 2 years before the question it's marked as a duplicate of?

Finally, I can Sync Android contacts & calendar plus notes & tasks on other platforms...
I've tried all sorts of ways to sync my rooted Android HD2 with Outlook but nothing seems to work, not even HTC's Android sync works particularly well, and it's complicated by the fact that I have other devices (Nokia etc) that I also want to sync and often the software clashes or records get deleted or duplicated....
And then I stumbled across Funambol (http://www.funambol.org) which is a free server that runs on Linux (in my case) and I think there might be a windows version too.  I think there is also a hosted version (http://www.funambol.com) if you don't want to go to the trouble of hosting your own server, but I don't have any experience of that.
So I downloaded the funambol server binary, ran it on a CentOS system and that was pretty much it!  I then downloaded the android client from market place and the symbian client (for my Nokia) from the Ovi store and grabbed the Windows Outlook client.
The installation of these clients was straightforward and now all 3 systems (PC Outlook, HTC HD2 on Android, Nokia on Symbian) all sync up against Funambol with no problems and the phones sync over the air!  And yes, there's a client for iPhones too.
This has really been a life saver for me so I hope others out there discover it and find it as useful! It's a shame it doesn't yet support notes and tasks on Android but hopefully that will come and in any case I sync tasks using Toodledo and GotToDo so no biggie.

Thanks for the hint, finally i can break free from google calendar!

Root the phone
Flash CyanogenMod firmware on it
Go to the "Work Email" app, put in your Exchange Activesync credentials, Bob's your uncle.

The "Work Email" app is by HTC, the device manufacturers, and I believe has been nicked from the firmware of another Android device. Unfortunately that .apk doesn't install on "standard" G1s.
If rooting/flashing isn't an option for you, then use an IMAP client, plenty available free in the Market. (With the Work Email app you get Exchange global address list integration, which is just fab)

Ok for the email, but what about contacts, calendars and sms?

Mark/Space is coming out with a software that will directly sync with your desktop:
http://www.markspace.com/products/android/missing-sync-android.html

You are wrong! Android itself does not sync with Google - the G1 and Magic contain Google proprietary software that syncs with Google. If you wanted to sync with something else, the API is there for you to program it yourself.

To not lose your contacts when disabling sync or deleting from Gmail, select "Phone" for Contact type when adding a new contact.  This contact will not be synced with Google.

Telling us which phone you have would help quite a bit, I think.
That being said, I use the out-of-the-box functions with GMail and they do the job perfectly. If you don't trust Google, don't put any sensitive material on your phone. After all, phones might just get lost and then your data is gone as well. I'd rather put my money on Google than putting it on me not losing my phone, ever.
If you'd have a HTC phone, HTC Sync does the job for windows machines just fine. Not entirely sure if there's a Linux or Mac version for the software.
HTC also let you sync with Exchange, I've used it for a couple of days and it worked great, but then we started working on our OCS implementation and it broke - haven't had time to fix it.
One last piece of software you might want to check though:
NitroDesk TouchDown: http://www.nitrodesk.com/
I've only briefly installed it so no experiences to share, but I've read and heard good things.
Good luck!

How about also synching gMail, contacts and calendar with Thunderbird, this way even if your Google gets lost for some reason, it will stay in TB local cache. gMail can be synched with TB by either POP3 or IMAP (yes, TB can cache IMPA). You also have TB extensions to synch with gMail Contacts and Google Calendar.

I don't want to sync my contacts and all my personal informations to gmail. I’ve been looking for software that can sync my Droid with the Outlook Calendar and Contacts for a while now. I recently stumbled on android-sync. It seems to be the only software that really works for my Droid to directly sync Outlook 2007 via the USB. For more information: http://www.android-sync.com/

Down load JEYO Mobile Companion, Attach phone, select export from file menu, select option, select Symbian vcard format, select destination.
Copy all and save in SD card, goto contacts select vcard, select import from menu, select import from sd card.
thats all.

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


text:
Upgrading LG P500 (Optimus/Maximo One)

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

I've thinking about rooting my LG Android for a long time but I've been hesitant because I use it on a daily basis and I'm afraid I might mess it up and not be able to restore it to the previous condition.
The main reason reasons I want to root it are:

Get rid of my providers' bloatware.
Upgrade to Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
Possibly overclock it (how safe/risky is this [on this phone/model]?).

I've never rooted an Android phone before and I would like to get some answers on these questions:

How do I root it?
Sorry if this question seems lame, but I honestly have no idea. I read some threads on the XDA forums and from what I gathered the SuperOneClick application seems to be the way to go, right..? Is there any precautions I should take? Also, I think I also need a to get a new Girgerbread / Froyo ROM compatible with my phone model. What is the "place to go" to get this?

Can I backup the current ROM / state of my phone?
So that if anything goes wrong I can restore it?

Exporting / Importing Contacts and SMSs
I'm not very worried about contacts since most of them are also stored my Google Account, but what about SMSs - is there any way / tool I can use to avoid losing them?

EDIT: Thanks to the links @Matthew posted I've managed to root and save all my phone data, however I'm still stuck regarding the ROM upgrade, I've found a forum thread on XDA that has a 2.3 ROM compatible with my phone model, but it still has some annoying bugs I would rather avoid. I see a lot of hype around CyanogenMod but it doesn't seem to be compatible with my phone (is it?).
So, can I get a 2.3 (or even 2.2) ROM that works on my phone without any major problems? Thanks!

OK, to answer the part of your question that wasn't answered by the questions I linked in the comments: Yes, you can unofficially upgrade to 2.2 or 2.3.  This XDA thread has a relatively comprehensive list of ROMs.  It looks like all the 2.3 ROMs are pretty buggy, so you should probably go with a 2.2 ROM that looks good to you; after a brief look, the one I would probably try is called "AmberHome".  The thread for each particular ROM should have installation instructions.


text:
How do I fix problems when going from 3G to a Wi-Fi connection that requires a login?
Whenever I'm in the basement of my university's science building, I have no cell signal, so I am forced use the school's WiFi network to get internet.  However, for what seems like the better part of an hour after connecting to the hotspot, my phone refuses to show me the login page so I can connect to the internet at large, simply saying:

Data connectivity problem  The server failed to communicate.  Try again later.

If I just go to class in the morning and let my phone connect to WiFi while still having a cell signal available if needed, I occasionally have this problem, but usually by the end of the hour it will play nice and show me the login page.
Is there something I can do to force my phone to wise up to the fact that I need to login without just waiting around?

Restarting the phone does work, but takes a fair bit of time and seems excessive
Clearing the cache in the browser (Menu, Settings, Clear cache) does nothing

Have you tried rebooting?

what browser are you using? Compressing proxy browser (e.g. Opera Mini) cannot be used to log into login systems since they rely on their proxy to compress the HTML to a simpler format they understand.

Some university's hotspots are unencrypted but require a web-based authentication (nocat or similar). Before auth is done https traffic is blocked (or redirected with a fake certificate) and http is redirected to the login page. Thus Opera mini  and all SSL based traffic fails. Fix: open any unsecure http only site, get redirected to the auth page and login at first.

@nickT is your problem solved meanwhile? If so, would you mind to answer your own question and then accept your answer -- so others can see how to deal with this issue when affected? Thanks!


text:
Is there a standard place for the Owner Information on an Android phone?
I found an lost Android phone - is there a standard place on Android phones for owner information so I can contact the person who lost it?

If you go to Settings > Accounts & sync settings, you should be able to see their gmail address and possibly Facebook. You can probably contact them through one of those.

Settings / About Phone / Status shows the device's phone number. Call it and leave a message. Maybe the owner will check their voicemail from home.
Or call people in the contact list, especially ones that show recent history. "Your buddy lost a phone..."
Or call the carrier and tell them you found the phone. They will be able to contact the phone's owner and relay your contact information.

There is now a standard place for Android phone users to set their owner information:
Menu -> Settings -> Security - > Owner Information
There is also a checkbox that makes this information show up on the lock screen.
There is an article about it at CNET with this useful screenshot:

(source: cbsistatic.com)

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


text:
How to make programs be aware of network connection provided by USB tethering

Possible Duplicate:
Android USB reverse tethering: How to fool the apps

I use USB tethering to connect my HTC Hero to a computer. And the cellphone can surf the Internet through the computer. But some programs cannot find the network connection. I can ping any IP address on the Internet in ConnectBot, which means the connection doesn't have a problem. I think it's due to some options not being toggled that makes these stupid programs not being able to find the connection. More specifically, the notice is:

Connection failed
This application requires network
  access. Enable mobile network or Wi-Fi
  to download data.

How can I make these programs use the USB connection rather than mobile network or Wi-Fi?

can you clarify whether you want to use the phone's data connection from another computer (what most people understood as tethering) or you want to use the computer's data connection from the phone (reverse tethering), since I had the impression that you might be referring to the latter.

Definitely sounds like Reverse Tethering to me. The problem you're facing here is that I don't think that reverse tethering is officially supported by Android, there are various workarounds and apps that can get it working, but as it's not an official feature apps may not even be aware it's possible, so you'd need to talk the dev of each app and request changes from them.  Have you thought about sharing the computer's connection out over wifi, that way your phone would just be connecting to a normal wifi network and everything should work as normal.


text:
Unsupported File Type: Why did my Samsung Galaxy S suddenly stop supporting MP3s?
All of a sudden my Samsung Galaxy S claims to not support mp3 files (the phone has been idle for a few hours, I did not touch anything). Ogg files however still play without problems. When this happens, no app can play mp3 files, e.g. my custom ring tone is not played anymore (it just vibrates as if it were muted). A reboot of the phone fixes the issue but within 3-4 days the problem comes back. It does not make a difference if files are stored on internal or external sd card.
This also affects video playback, I'm just not sure if it happens at the same time or independent of each other. The youtube app can no longer start videos (unknown playback problem), and the video player app claims all video files as unsupported. I suppose the issue may not be the video playback itself but the audio codec used in the video (mp3).
Any idea how to fix this or debug this? I don't want to reboot my phone every couple of days - it takes 2-3 minutes to do this and a phone should just work.
I applied 2.2.1 firmware lately and this only seemed to make the problem worse. I had this before 2.2.1 (with 2.2) but only very rarely.
I'm curious if TitaniumBackup may be the culprit as the backup scheduler seems to stop processes sometimes. Maybe others experiencing this issue use scheduled TitaniumBackups, too? The hint was that since upgrading to 2.2.1 I also upgraded to the licensed TitaniumBackup version and scheduled daily backups. But this may just be coincidence. What contradicts this theory: Backups are scheduled at night but last time I saw this issue it happened during the day - mp3 worked in the morning, failed in the afternoon. The phone was idle during the time it "decided" to no longer play mp3.
Looking at forums (I only found a few hits in Google), people having the same problems suggest to simply reboot the phone - but that is no fix at all. Or they suggest to send the phone back for replacement - and guess what: It has not fixed the problem for people experiencing this issue. So I suggest it is not a hardware issue (neither related to sdcards nor to the phone itself).

I had the same problem happening to me twice now, but I am unable to force the issue. BTW: I don't use Titanium Backup, so you can probably strike that of your list of culprits.

@Matt I don't think this helps. On the one hand, there's my contradiction, on the other hand there's @bjoernz confirming it's also happening without TB installed.

BTW: I suspect the MediaFly app or the Adobe Flash is the culprit...

@bjoern I don't use MediaFly so you can strike that out. But how does Flash fit into the picture?

Maybe it was unfair to suspect Flash... I went to a website with video on it (twitvid), after that I was unable to play media files, but I am not sure if that was the cause... I'll have to reboot my phone soon and see if that was really related to the problem.

I just tried to repeat the steps that I thought were responsible for the problem, but everything still works fine...

@bjoern Maybe just a side effect of what Flash is doing, and it may be a side effect of what Titanium Backup is doing to the system. Maybe memory constraints?

This is getting ridiculous. Ever since I commented on this question I can observe this effect every 2-3 days... and I am still not able to enforce this behaviour. BTW: It does not only effect MP3s, video files (*.mp4) are also affected.

Could you please post the logcat? * Install SL4A (from Market, also called ASE, or from here: http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/

Open SL4A, Menu->View->Logcat
Menu->Share->{Your favourite method for sharing}

I installed SL4A and it seemed very taxing on the battery...

I loose mp3 support with in few hours. I too have twitter, titanium back up , winamp apps. Is there a way yo unload the mediaplayer class from jvm?

I think I found the problem.
Like bjoernz said, some application is creating many objects from MediaPlayer class and it's not releasing that after. So, I opened an adb shell, became root (su) and I found the PID (process ID) of mediaserver, using the command:

ps | grep mediaserver

The mediaserver's PID, in my case, is: 84
Then, I listed all resources used by that PID with the command:

lsof | grep 84

And I got the following result:
So, it became easy to identify that the official twitter application (com.twitter.android-1.apk) was the problem. Then I removed twitter application and I installed TweetDeck instead and the problem disappeared since last week.
Hope this can help you.
[]'s

This is interesting...

A last resort is always a factory reset, which should fix this problem. You could also have a look at the logcat output, maybe this will give you a hint about the cause of the problem.

When upgrading to 2.2.1 I did a fresh factory reset - essentially this is why I bought the TB license (restoring 100 apps by manual confirmation went beyond my patience)

Even though I didn't really wanted to do a factory reset, I tried it on Friday and the problem has not occurred since. While I am not sure, if the problem is gone for good, I will award you the bounty, so it won't go to waste :-)

The problem still persists :-(

@bjoern: I was already sure that a factory reset does not help.

@hurikhan77: I wanted to do it anyways ;-)

I have finally had a chance to look at the logcat while the problem was occuring. The error message reads:
Completed command PLAYER_PREPARE status=-17

According to this forum "it’s caused by having too many MediaPlayer objects active at once." Unfortunately I have not yet found a fix. The only known workaround seems to be rebooting.
I am still not sure, which app (or combination of apps) reproduce the error reliably.
Edit: I guess that any application, that uses the MediaPlayer class can cause the problem. Those apps probably never reach a state where they call MediaPlayer.release(). Maybe we need to contact the vendors of applications that use the MediaPlayer, so they make sure they call release().
My superficial research did not lead to a solution, that would fix the problem without a reboot.
Edit 2: I have updated to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and unfortunately this problem still persists.
Some logcat messages around the error:
06-08 20:03:08.785 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): CommandCompleted
06-08 20:03:08.785 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Completed command PLAYER_INIT status=1
06-08 20:03:08.785 V/PVPlayer( 2377): run_set_video_surface s=0, cancelled=0
06-08 20:03:08.785 V/PVPlayer( 2377): run_set_audio_output s=0, cancelled=0
06-08 20:03:08.785 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Send player code: 5
06-08 20:03:08.785 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Create realtime output
06-08 20:03:08.785 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): CommandCompleted
06-08 20:03:08.785 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Completed command PLAYER_SET_AUDIO_SINK status=1
06-08 20:03:08.785 V/PVPlayer( 2377): run_prepare s=0, cancelled=0
06-08 20:03:08.789 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Send player code: 7
06-08 20:03:08.789 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): disable natpkt - 0
06-08 20:03:08.789 D/        ( 2377): After GetDurationFromRandomScan: clipDuration=8716644
06-08 20:03:08.789 D/        ( 2377): After GetDurationFromRandomScan: clipDuration=8716644
06-08 20:03:08.804 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): HandleInformationalEvent: 26
06-08 20:03:08.804 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): HandleInformationalEvent: type=26 UNHANDLED
06-08 20:03:08.804 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): CommandCompleted
06-08 20:03:08.804 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Completed command PLAYER_PREPARE status=-17
06-08 20:03:08.804 E/PlayerDriver( 2377): Command PLAYER_PREPARE completed with an error or info -17
06-08 20:03:08.804 V/PVPlayer( 2377): check_for_live_streaming s=-2147483648, cancelled=0
06-08 20:03:08.804 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): HandleInformationalEvent: 27
06-08 20:03:08.804 W/PlayerDriver( 2377): PVMFInfoErrorHandlingComplete
06-08 20:03:08.804 W/MediaPlayer(22989): info/warning (1, 26)
06-08 20:03:08.804 E/MediaPlayer(22989): error (1, -17)
06-08 20:03:08.808 I/AudioService( 2471):  AudioFocus  abandonAudioFocus() from android.media.AudioManager@480f3630null
06-08 20:03:08.812 I/AudioService( 2471):  AudioFocus  abandonAudioFocus() from android.media.AudioManager@480f3630null
06-08 20:03:08.812 D/PlayTo  (22989): opening content://dtmedia/media/1553 with Android Player
06-08 20:03:08.812 D/PlayTo  (22989): About to set Android Player datasource to content://dtmedia/media/1553
06-08 20:03:08.812 E/PVPlayer( 2377): isDrmfile playing 0
06-08 20:03:08.812 V/PVPlayer( 2377): reset
06-08 20:03:08.812 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Send player code: 18
06-08 20:03:08.812 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): handleCancelAllCommands
06-08 20:03:08.816 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): CommandCompleted
06-08 20:03:08.816 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Completed command PLAYER_CANCEL_ALL_COMMANDS status=1
06-08 20:03:08.816 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Send player code: 11
06-08 20:03:08.816 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): handleReset
06-08 20:03:08.816 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): CommandCompleted
06-08 20:03:08.816 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Completed command PLAYER_RESET status=1
06-08 20:03:08.816 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Send player code: 17
06-08 20:03:08.816 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): handleRemoveDataSource
06-08 20:03:08.816 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): CommandCompleted
06-08 20:03:08.816 V/PlayerDriver( 2377): Completed command PLAYER_REMOVE_DATA_SOURCE status=1
06-08 20:03:08.816 V/PVPlayer( 2377): unmap file

I've switched to DarkyROM 10.2, now on 10.3. Both versions are Gingerbread based (2.3.3 and 2.3.4) and do not exhibit this behaviour. So it seems to be something specific to the Samsung stock ROM.

I have the same problem here, using Galaxy S with Android 2.3.3.
Looking at the log, we can see the PID (proccess ID) used by PlayerDriver.

V/PlayerDriver(   84): Completed
  command PLAYER_PREPARE status=-17

So, I've killed the PlayerDriver process and it has fixed.
In order to do that, you need to root your device and connect with adb as root. Ex.:

adb shell

su
Next time I'll try identify what files and pipes the process is using through lsof command
Hope this help.

The same problem is on my galaxy s. I've noticed that if I use Google Listen and have some queue, mp3 stops playing. After clearing queue it was getting ok! But... It seems Adobe Flash  influences on media playback too. If I use it them any media playback fails, before rebooting. Maybe 2.3 will fix the problem. Almost tired to find the solution for 2.2 on Galaxy S

I just deinstalled Flash Player and will keep you informed when the problem occurs again.

I have flash installed but almost never use it. Plugins are loaded manually in my browser so it is never triggered. I doubt that flash itself is the problem, it is probably related to memory usage. If I do many parallel market updates, mp3 stops working. If I use memory intensive apps, mp3 stops working. It seems android kills an important service (which is normal behaviour according to its task management description) but never restarts this service.

I just started every app that I have (start app, press home button, start next app, ...) and my mp3s currently play anyways. BTW: Flash was not uninstalled apparently, only the updates. It got updated today again.

I found that the official Twitter app could be a culprit Youtube Forum

I experience the same problems, and I can't seem to get a consistent cause. After rebooting my phone, I don't see the problem again for another 12-24 hours. Because I use custom music as my alarm clock, I've adopted the habit or rebooting my phone before going to sleep. It's caused many late days to work before I figured out what was going on.
I started with a factory fresh install. Tested it out for a few days with no problems. Begin installing programs one-by-one with no problems. Eventually I started using Widgets, with no problems. I installed Launcher Pro with no problems.
But now the problems have started up again. I uninstalled Launcher Pro altogether to no avail. I removed all of my widgets, which appeared to work. I added them back one by one and I didn't seem to have any problems. But the problem came back. Over the period of two weeks, I couldn't isolate one widget that was causing the issue, so I ruled widgets out all together.
I have custom ringtones for my SMS, notifications, G-talk, Gmail, and ringtones. When this problem occurs, I can't even get my voicemail to play, much less anything else.
I use a program called "Soundhound" to discover music I haven't heard before. I think it might be related. Then again, I also use Advanced Task Killer, but even when I had that installed before it didn't have problems. I think when I use Soundhound, it is setting off some kind of strange chain-reaction which eventually---hours later--causes my phone to have this error.
I don't know enough about the logs or how to access them actual debug the phone, but I do know droves of people have had this issue and there seems to be no fix. In the meantime, I've uninstalled Soundhound and I'm checking to see if I still have the problem.

I noticed this problem on my galaxy s, it took a while to piece together, but it appeared to have started when I began using third party task managers. It happened with advanced task killer and watchdog installed.
I went back to using the native task manager and the problem appears to have gone away.... Hasn't occured in the past week. I'm running 2.2.1.
What I thought was the strangest was it happened on days I didn't even use the task manager, just The mere presence cause the problem...
Unsure of the technical reason behind this, but don't care... Native task mgr is fine.
Hope this helps the rest of you.

It's always a good idea to remove any third party Task Manager or Task Killer apps, Google specifically recommend against using them. There's evidence that they cause a lot of problems, and with Android's already aggressive memory management barely solve anything.

Have you tried testing for individual media files causing the problem?
Many moons ago I had a problem where certain files would corrupt the database of music and eventually cause problems for the whole library. This is very hypothetical as my experience wasn't on an android device and my Galaxy S works just fine. Despite this I thought you could try loading only a small subset of your media on and see if you still get the problem. It doesn't look like a codec problem and perhaps the media scanner cleans the database when you restart the phone. Sorry I don't have a better answer.

I will try and let you know, if it helps. But since I cannot reproduce the problem at will and I do not change my media collection on the phone at all, I doubt that it has anything to do with the files on my phone.

The problem still occurs if I have no "external" media files on my phone. I have just been streaming a podcast in mp3-format and after some time/some action mediafly will tell me that it is unable to stream the file and that I should download it (even for the same episode that previously worked). It is not a network issue, because I can download the episode without a problem and than I am still unable to play it unless I reboot.

Well, humpff. Perhaps 2.3 will resolve your problem? If I ever see it on my Galaxy S I will be sure to come back


text:
Phone doesn't respond to ping
I'm trying to develop an application that knows when I am home based on my phone being on my wifi network or not.  I'm running into a weird issue in that I can only ping the phone if I have recently (within the last minute or so) tried to access a web page on the machine I am pinging on.  I'm not even able to get an ARP reply unless I've tried to recently access the machine.
So, do Android phones have a very restrictive firewall by default?  Is there any way that I can change this?
I don't believe it to be a network issue, because I can ping the phone at any time from my router, it just doesn't respond to other clients on the network.

I believe this is simply because Android puts the Wifi to sleep to save power when the screen is turned off. You can try setting the Wifi Sleep Policy: Settings > Wireless & Network Setting > Wifi Settings > Press Menu button > Advanced > Wifi sleep policy to Never and see if your problem still persists.
Alternatively though, instead of having your server ping your phone, I think it will be easier for the phone to "ping" (or make a HTTP request or through other methods) the server when it is connecting to your Wifi network. Your application can register to the system to receive a broadcast Intent when certain Wifi events occurred.

Yes, that was it.  I was trying to avoid having an application running on the phone, because I really don't like writing code in Java.  It seems it may be necessary though.

You could use Tasker or Locale instead of writing your own app.   Both allow you considerable flexibility in setting up rules, which could include making an http request to your server when in range of your wireless network.

If you have Droidwall, allow access to "(kernel) - Linux Kernel".
On my phone this is definitely the reason why Android answers or not to a ping or tracert.

The fromer "Droidwall" App is now renamed or developed as AFWall.
And yes putting the check mark for WiFi column at "(kernel) - Linux Kernel" solved it also for me.

I've been experiencing this still with Android Q still today (2019). I'm going to go with an IFTTT solution using webhooks to send the REST command I need sending. My original script was written such that I checked when my phone was "away" over the course of a minute. If it came back "home" within that time I wouldn't flip the security cameras on. Now, I'll have to shift that programming to a different type of device (Universal Devices ISY). The timer feature is important as a phone may need to be rebooted, etc.

Solved: need to make the phone aware is on a lan network. Install a whatever network management app "Ip Tools" and click on "Lan scanner" you will see all the other devices connected in the network, and now check again ping will works!

I have the same issue with my Android device that runs Android 11 only. I don't know if this is Android 11 issue or my new phone issue.
On other devices that runs Android 10, I never have problem.
I've to install PingTool to ping my PC first so that the PC will have the ARP entry of that device. I really don't like this.
Because of this, it gives extra step to connect Android Studio to that device through ADB.

Android doesn't accept connection from ip addresses missing in arp cache. I think that's a bug.

Can you provide more details please?


text:
Can I use the Nexus-S GPS as an external GPS for another device (via Bluetooth)?
Is it possible to use the Nexus-S GPS as an external GPS for another device (via Bluetooth) ?

Have you tried these apps:

GPS 2 Bluetooth v.2
Bluetooth GPS Output
Tether GPS Lite
GPS Tether

Great answer from Lie Ryan.
Just adding one more option : blue NMEA


text:
Why does the vertical size of the scroll bar change?
When I scroll down a web page the scroll bar appears and constantly changes size as I scroll
 What does this size relate to?

Some websites load new content as you scroll down the page, to prevent new page requests thus reducing bandwith. i.reddit.com is one off the top of my head, the Market app does this also.

Are you sure about this? The messaging view does this as well…

Yes, it definitely happens. Try going to i.reddit.com in stock browser and see what happens as you scroll down - you never run out of content.

The scrollbar is related to the size of the content of the webpage you are looking at.  If it the scrollbar is changing size, then that means the content on the page is likewise changing size (via asynchronous calls that retrieve more data for that webpage as you are browsing it).


text:
Mount PC folder on my android, then serve audio/video through my Android to my TV via USB?
My plan would be to allow me to connect my Android to my TV by USB, and then be able to play videos/audio from my Computer that is mounted over wifi on my Android. Is this currently possible, or is there a better way that I can accomplish this task (using only a USB cable/wifi and not having to copy files to my Android)
Thanks for any advice :D

There are definitely Android DLNA clients and servers which will allow you to share or receive videos or other media over a wireless network, see these previous questions:
DLNA enabled media player?
What can I do with DLNA on an android smartphone?
Can I get DLNA on my Droid?
What is the Android Answer to Air Video Server?
If you have a TV with a USB port, you should definitely be able to mount your phone's SD card as a drive and play the files on it (assuming they're encoded with codecs that your TV understands).
Also if you have a phone with video or HDMI out functionality you can play videos direct to the TV over a video or HDMI cable.
But, I don't think you'll be able to do things quite the way you describe. I don't know of any TVs that will mount a USB device as anything other than a mass storage device (USB drive) or a network adapter (normally only specific manufacturer approved adaptors), and it sounds like you want to stream movies via your phone rather than just play them from its storage. One problem you're going to face is that on an unmodified Android phone the moment you mount your phone as mass storage to one device (eg your TV) it's no longer accessible to other apps on your phone (such as whatever's receiving it from your PC).
TL;DR three realistic options:

Plug phone into PC copy movies onto SD card, unplug phone, plug into TV play as files
If your phone has TV-out, video-out or HDMI-out, plug your phone into the TV that way instead of USB and then either play from its storage, or from a streaming video client
If your TV is network connectible, use a DLNA client on your phone (see above question links) to push the movie from a DLNA server on the PC (eg Windows Media Player on Win 7, or Twonky server) to a DLNA compatible, network attached TV (or media streamer box attached to TV).

Hmmm, currently my method is to copy to USB key and play on the TV so I've got that angle covered, I was simply hoping to cut out the copying part of the process :) Also no DLNA for me, thanks for trying :)

@Danh which phone have you got, a lot of the higher end phones have video out via an adaptor cable?

HTC Legend for the foreseeable future, which as far as I can tell isn't cool enough for video out :(

This is possible, if the phone is rooted.  And I suppose it might even be worth doing if you can get an old G1 off craebayslist, but probably not with the device that is your "phone".
Normally when you connect your android device to a computer (or the TV) and enable mounting, it mounts the SDHC card or non-removable equivelent.  But that's not the only possibility.  With some root level reconfiguration (replacing vold) the usb storage driver on the phone can actually be pointed at anything that looks sufficiently like a disk - ie, a physical disk, or a file containing a disk image.
Since there are also ways to get the linux underlying a (rooted) android device to mount a filesystem served over the network from your pc, you could now point the usb storage driver at a file on your pc containing a disk image of a FAT filesystem containing the media you want to serve.
(There are some potential shortcuts to merge the steps, but it will be easier to get the PC-to-android and android-to-tv parts working separately first)
You would still have to create disk image files on your pc much like you now copy things to usb sticks, but you could automate that and only eat up hard dive space having duplicate copies in the images, and you wouldn't have to physically move the USB stick.


text:
Why does Wifi show an error whenever I try to reconnect (Galaxy Ace)?
I'm using a Galaxy Ace.  When I turn off WiFi and try to turn it on again it shows an error.  I need to restart my device for it to work.  Any ideas?

Can you give the specific error?

I believe this is a problem of the ROM itself (Android 2.2 in Ace). Even with only the basic applications it would show the same error.
Anyway this problem is solved for me. I upgraded my phone to Android 2.3.4. After that, up to now (nearly 5 month) I haven't come across that problem.

I believe this is a problem with Samsung's UI, TouchWiz; I experienced this on a couple ROMs for my Galaxy S.
I don't know of any way to fix it without replacing your ROM, but I did find that going to Settings -> Wireless and network -> WiFi settings and toggling WiFi there seemed to work.  Settings is a standard Android OS app and thus bypasses whatever problem TouchWiz has when you try to toggle the WiFi from the notification area.

You can try this, on the dial pad, enter *#*#526#*#* this will automatically load the wifi drivers. Once you see that driver loading successful, you can then turn on the wifi and it might work...

I did have a problem a few months ago where I'd keep getting an error when I tried to turn Wifi on, which needed a reboot of the phone to fix.
I traced it back to an app that I'd installed recently, the app in question monitored the wifi connections and did funny things ensuring you connected to specified wifi points when they were available. After I uninstalled the app the problem went away (the app in question was the BT FON app, in case you have the same one).
So it's probably worth thinking about when the problem first started, and then working out which apps that have anything to do with wifi you may have installed or updated around that time, and removing those apps for a few days to see if it helps.

@GATwrawn: what you are suggesting is installing BT FON app, uninstalling it and that it? My WiFi issue should dissapear? Also, could you please give me the link to download that app (there is more than one which starts with "BT FON" in the market).

@Diego no, what I'm suggesting is that a problem app could be causing this, so try uninstalling any apps that interact with Wifi or networking in any way. BT FON was just the app that turned out to be causing my problem.

OK, I'll try. Would this be any app which uses internet? If not, how can I know when an app intercat with Wifi?


text:
Use Google Talk with multiple accounts
(Motorola Droid, Android 2.2.2)
My new employer uses Google Apps to manage e-mail etc. They're also big into instant messaging for intra-company communication.
On my device I have my personal account and have added my company account so I can use Gmail for either, have consolidated calendar, etc.
However, the Google Talk app is tied to my main (personal) Google account. I can't see a way to get it to use the company account or, better, allow both accounts to be active.
How can I use Google Talk with a secondary account?

Are you asking for alternatives to the official app?

@MatthewRead: Well, yes, if the official app won't do what I want.

EDIT: Looks like this is coming, according to Google employee Colin Gibbs, on this Google Mobile Support forum thread:

Thanks for being patient while we work
  on this feature.  When we launched
  Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), we added
  support to Google Talk for multiple
  accounts.  We're currently working on
  bringing the feature to phones as
  well.

So it looks like it should work on a Honeycomb tablet, and they may be backporting it to Gingerbread phones (video chat over GTalk has just been enabled for 2.3.4, so they're definitely porting Honeycomb Talk's features back to phones).

Original Answer:
Not a great solution, doesn't do all the alerting and notifications in a way that's integrated with the Android OS, but the only way to do this currently seems to be to use the built-in GTalk client for one account, and access the other via the web page.
For a standard GTalk account use this URL to sign into the mobile webpage:
http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/m
For a Google Apps Gtalk account use this URL to sign into the mobile webpage:
https://hostedtalkgadget.google.com/a/YOUR_DOMAIN_HERE.COM/talkgadget/m
Or use a second IM client for the second GTalk account, as suggested by Matthew Read.

Nice find from the support thread, been looking for this ever since the 2.3.4 update. Brilliant stuff.

As you've pretty much said, the official Google Talk client doesn't have any way to select an account for it.  Unless you want to be constantly resetting your phone and changing the primary account, you won't be able to use it with multiple accounts.  You can of course request the feature; see the comments below.
I recommend using eBuddy Messenger instead.  It's the best IM client I've used so far on Android, and easily handles multiple accounts regardless of which service(s) they come from.  Just be careful to sign out properly; if the app is force-closed, Google never clues in to the fact that the client is gone and you'll still appear signed in to your contacts.  (I have no idea why it handles this fine with every other client).

One avenue to request the feature: https://services.google.com/inquiry/talk_suggest

You can also star this feature request: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4832 although apparently the Android team refuses to look at Talk issues

Thanks for those. Feature requested, feature request starred, eBuddy Messenger marked for download in the Market.

@Matthew looking through that, I find it bizarre that the Android team have no way to redirect that request to the relevant team's queue, rather than just rejecting and closing it down.

@GAThrawn That was my first thought as well.

Well, I've played with it a little bit and I'm disappointed. Yet another account/password to manage, and I need to trust it with all of my IM credentials. I'd much rather it use the existing account on the phone. Still, I expect that all other third-party solutions are going to be similar.


text:
Why my app disappear at reboot?
When I reboot the phone, often, some of the apps a get generic icon and won't load anymore.
A reinstall solves the problem but I'd rather not have to do that.
Device is an Acer Liquid Metal with Froyo.

I finally found out why! :D
When the phone boots - at least if I use go launcher - if the sd card is not completely mounted apps "get lost".
I've completely solved the problem activating my phone card pin code.
I turn on the phone, wait on the pin code screen without entering it for a minute and then I enter the pin: everything is perfect.
I think the problem can be also solved killing and restarting the launcher but I didn't test.

I want to confirm that the suggested answer/explanation works for me too. I've had this issue with my Acer Liquid Metal from the start, and sometimes it would be just one or two apps disappear, sometimes more. If you wait awhile before entering PIN code for SIM, all the apps are there.

Horray! I'm glad you did it too :D

you can also solve it using Tasker. See here: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/10497/launch-app-on-start-even-sd-card-apps/11033#11033

@Diego Doesn't that just run apps?  How does it cause the launcher to reload the app info?

Waiting does not help. It helps only to uninstall the app and reinstall it again. Installing it above the existing one, without uninstalling it first, helps until reboot. After reboot the app disappears.

Have you moved them to or from the SD card?  My app icons disappear from my home screen when they are moved.

Yes I did...
But I'd like to find a solution for this behaviour and keep my app to the sd.
I got just a little memory on the phone side (Acer Liquid Metal)

Create the shortcut after moving it to the SD.  Or delete the shortcut and re-create it.

The problem is that applications in Application manager turn into gray like they're not correctly installed :/

@Pitto Oh, that's definitely a bigger problem.  Hmm.

I sometimes have this problem with my LG Optimus V. I used to re-install the app(s), now I just reboot the phone again--works 9 times out of 10 (and with those odds, the a second reboot handles that 10th time).

Finally I found it
Settings > apps > apps settings > disable all apps > apps settings > enable all apps


text:
Android tablet as music remote
I imagine a setup where I use an android tablet computer as a remote control for my hifi system - at least for selecting music. I have connected a low-power, cheap and small linux computer to the amp. The low-powered computer holds all music on a USB stick, SSD or similar. The computer has no screen or keyboard permanently attached.
Can something like this work? All solutions I have found on the net require streaming from a NAS or the internet (internet radio) - e.g. Sonos. Ideas regarding hardware and software are welcome.

This previous topic covers similar but not quite the same ground as your question, might be some pointers there http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4853/client-server-android-audio-remote

You could try something like VLC Remote. It can apparently even be configured to work with an MPlayer install instead of VLC if you prefer (according to this project, at least). There's also a remote app for Songbird available, and you can find it in the Market as well.

Sounds like you're looking for mpd (music player daemon). It doesn't require X and there are lots of different clients/remotes for all kinds of operating systems including Android.


text:
Default browser / update to support google cloud printing
Is the default browser on the android platform Chrome? And if so, does anyone have an idea how to update it or get it to work with the Google Cloud Printing?
In the settings area I am not able to see anything for the Cloud printing options.
If the default browser on a Android phone is not Google Chrome, What is the best way to get Google Chrome installed so I can use the Cloud Printing? And make it the default browser!

For the "is the default browser Chrome" part, see this previous question http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4271/android-browser

It's not Chrome and you can't install Chrome.  Chrome and the Chromium project have been coded for the x86 architecture, i.e. the PC, and all the UI code is specific to either Windows, Linux, or Mac.

Thank you. How about a plugin to work with the default browser to config the Google Cloud printing. I have searched but I may not be searching for the right key word.

@Chris The Android browser has fairly limited plugin support, so I wouldn't hope for anything.  Firefox Mobile has plugins though, so maybe in the future there will be one for Cloud Print.

Do you know anything about this app, Cloud Print BETA?

@Chris Wow, I'm really surprised that exists.  It's free, so I'd give it a try!

You can download and install Firefox Mobile and then add an extension/add-on that allows printing pages with Google's Cloud Print: http://www.androidcentral.com/cloud-printer-extension-enables-printing-firefox-mobile
In Honeycomb (Android 3.0) Chrome bookmarks sync with the device, so additional Chrome features, if not the entire browser, may make the leap to Android in the future.


text:
Galaxy S not responsive after an aborted firmware update
I just bought this Samsung Galaxy S, installed the Kies software, then it automatically downloaded an update for my phone.  I plugged in my phone and it began the update.
After a few seconds the client said something like 'Error: DLL not found.' (I can't remember exactly what it said.)  The update stopped. (In the client.)  On the phone's screen, it said "Downloading...".  It said this for around 2 hours before I eventually decided to take the battery out and attempt the update again.  But, when I restarted the device, the following symbol was displayed on the screen:

I plugged the phone into my PC, and Kies and it said "update failed, Emergency recovery." The client couldn't connect and told me to refer the the manual on how to boot my phone into recovery mode.  I tried it and nothing happened. The same symbol is still on the screen, all I can do with it is turn it on and off.
Is there any way I can use my phone again? I don't care if I have to do a factory restore and lose all its data.

The below assumes you have the GT-i9000 (international Galaxy S).

Go to this XDA thread and download the newest 2.2 firmware for your region.  Download Odin for Windows (search for "Heimdall" if you are on Linux).  Then do the following:

Put your phone into Download mode

Remove the battery
Hold VolumeDown plus the Home key plus Power.  While holding,

Reinsert the battery.
Release the Power button, still holding the others, about 1 second after the white "GT-I9000" text appears.
After a few seconds a yellow triangle with an android in it should appear, this is Download Mode.  If it doesn't, try this again while holding Power the whole time.

Start up Odin.
Attach the phone to your PC via USB so that Odin recognizes it.
Load the .zip file you downloaded (the ROM/firmware) into the PDA field of Odin.
Load the 512 .pit file into the PIT field of Odin.
Check "Re-partition".
Hit Start.  Odin will tell you when it's done; if it fails, reboot your phone and try again.  (This happens occasionally).

Note that you do this at your own risk; Odin is very powerful and misusing it can damage your phone.  I've used it dozens of times myself safely.

Connect to kies in this mode as shown in your photograph.
Follow instructions for emergency firmware recovery.

It worked for me.


text:
How do I get my picture to appear in message threads?
In the stock messaging app, the contact I'm messaging has their picture next to their replies, but mine is just a grey box; how do I get my picture there? I have a contact called 'me' with my picture and phone number, but it's not making the link.
I'm running Gingerbread 2.3.4 on Nexus S.

Assuming the answer to my comment above is Talk, you need to change your picture in your Google Account.  This is most easily done through Gmail's settings on a PC.
If you sync your contacts from Gmail, that picture might possibly show up in your SMS app as well.

I created a contact with my name, full telephone #, and email and added the photo to my contact. My photo now shows up in txt messages and in gmail app. I have no clue if it will work with other email and sms apps.

I stumbled across getting my picture to show in a very weird way.  First of all I use Gtalk and my phone is connected to my gmail and my gmail happens to be firstname.lastname@gmail.com which I have a picture for.  So I went into contacts clicked add new contact.  For first name I put in only my first name and filled nothing else out then I hit the button that brings up the settings on my phone and there was a join option.  When I hit join option it gave me suggested contacts which i'm assuming recognized my first name and pulled up gmail account to join and I saw myself show up with my gmail picture voila!

I am facing the problem as well on 2.2.3. I have gone through different suggestions and from them it seems that the owner's phone number needs to be in the SIM itself. The original post is here : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=687011 .
I could not try it myself since I am yet to find a phone where I can assign my number to self.

Hmm that sucks you can't do this in Android, is there an app which can do this?

Yes, there is one such app, but I could not recall the name of it. Also it didn't install on my device. Not sure whether that will work for you or not. But if you want, you may try at android market.

App doesn't work on Nexus S :(

This worked for me (CM71 firmware):
For users of CyanogenMod-6 go to Settings -> Call Settings -> Additional Settings -> My phone number. Have a try, this should solve you all problems.
Source: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=8519

I had the same problem, I was very frustrated with all the postings that kept directing me to facebook! Not all of us want to be that connected... Anyway I kept at it on my own and this is what worked for me:

Go into your text message history
Tap on your "shadow" figure
Tap on your menu icon at the bottom of your phone
Tap on "Edit"
Tap on your "shadow" figure
Tap on "Gallery"
Tap on photo from your gallery
Save

Jeez couldn't believe how long this took me to work out, it's not in the manual that comes with the phone in fact almost nothing is in the manual I have had to find just about everything I needed through forums such as this.  That being said after it's all figured out I am ultimately happy with the HTC Wildfire S.
Thanks to all of you who took the time to help us out.
Good luck!  :-)

Can't tap the blank picture on my phone, doesn't do anything :(

it wouldnt let me click on the grey box is there another way??

Mine was similar to, but not exactly like, Kimmy's above:

sms history / view a specific conversation.
tap gray image.  phone wanted to add a new contact.
tap menu button.
select insert image - select image from gallery.
select OK - I never did assign the contact a name, phone number, or email address.

Now all my sms messages show the image I just assigned.
Note - I already had my own contact with an image, which was sync'd to gmail, but for some reason the sms app wasn't picking it up.
HTC Droid Incredible
Hope this helps somebody out there...

Note: referencing another answer with "above" or "below" makes no sense, because answers can be sorted in a number of ways.

If you get the error Toast message "The contact does not exist" when you click on your gray profile image (in the Messaging app), then do this:

Open the "Contacts" app (it has a blue icon that looks like a stack of cards)
It should list all your contacts, with an entry "Me" at the top, with a gray icon
Click on the gray icon at the top, in the section "Me"
Add a photo from the Gallery or from an installed file browser app.
This photo will now show in the Messaging app.

Turns out that if you log into the Google+ app, then your local account ("Me") will be synced with your profile account (Google contacts).
So just download the google+ app (if you don't have it aldready) and log on to it should solve the problem.
I am using Android 4.0 by the way.

G+ option didn't work for me.
I just went into contacts and added my mobile number as a contact.
That way you can set what pic shows when that person talks. And it's you.. so :p

This works with the default Apps on Android version 6.0.1
•   Have the image you want ready on your phone.
•   Open Contact app.
•   Create a record for yourself if not already there.
•   Tap your contact and tap edit, the pencil icon.
•   Under "My local Profile" tap picture icon.
•   Under "Contact photo" tap Image (other options available here).
•   On the left hand column Choose "gallery" or choose the image you want if the image is already present.
•   Image appears in right hand column.
•   Tap the image for size editing.
•   Choose Done.
•   Choose Save.
•   Image should immediately show up in any Messages conversation.


text:
How to manage a screencast with two Android devices?
I need to do an oral presentation which involves demoing an Android application that requires showing two devices at the same time. I know about the Android Screencast as a way to capture the Android screen to my computer output but don't know how to manage two devices.
Any idea?

If both devices are rooted, you can use AirDroid, which offers an...

Realtime Android screen (experimental feature, root permission required)
  View your Android's screen, take a screenshot, or even record a screencast.

As you connect to the device using a web browser, you can just have two browser windows open - et voila, both devices should be shown simultaneously.
Alternativ solution: droid VNC server (and other VNC servers). Again, requires rooted device -- plus a VNC client on the computer.
There are several more solutions, but they mostly fall in either of the mentioned categories.