text:
How can I delay the screen's password lock on my Stratosphere?
I need my to have my screen be password locked, but I want it to kick in after only 5-10 minutes (i.e., if I lock my phone and unlock it a moment later, I don't want to have to put in my password again).
With my old Droid Pro it was very easy to set that up. On the Stratosphere it doesn't look like that option is available, so I keep having to put in my password every single time I go to unlock my phone. Am I missing something? Is there any way for me to do this?

On the RAZR, it's separate from the display timeout. It's in "Security->Automatically lock". Not sure if that is unique to the RAZR or not.
If you have the SDK installed, it might be possible to push an alternate property with "adb shell setprop", but it would not be persistent across reboots.

With CM7.2 on my Droid 2, these settings are in Settings -> CyanogenMod -> Lockscreen -> Unlock Options. No such thing like Security -> Automatically lock. So it might well differ from device to device to Android Version to ROM to... we live in interesting times ;)


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How to restore/add google search to android browser - Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830L
I own a rooted Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830L.
My carrier decide it was a good idea to remove Google search from the default android browser replacing it with a absolutely useless search engine they provide (which I hate with the burning passion of a thousand suns).
If I go into the browser's settings > Select search Engine, I get the carriers engine as the only option.
Is there a way to install google search or restore the browser back to a non carrier customized version?
I already have Opera mini installed but I want to use both so please do not suggest this as a solution.

Since you are rooted, you could try to replace the Browser app with one from a "stock" rom that doesn't have the different search engine. The problem would be if the device is odexed, you might not be able to just replace the app. in which case you would have to install a completely different ROM for the device.

Installing a custom ROM was my next attempt, but I like the idea you suggest about replacing the Browser app with one from the stock ROM, could you elaborate more on that, please?

i will post more on it later, but basically you will get an APK from somewhere else and put it on the device. as i said though, most stock roms are odexed so you wont be able to just use any apk file.

Are you able to access the Google Search app to install it from the Market? This will allow you to add the Google Search box to your home screen, as many Android devices have it set by default. I'm pretty sure that this should also add it to to the browsers list of search engines for those who want to search from the address bar.
Other than that you'd just need to change your browser's home page, which (assuming your carrier hasn't locked that down) you should be able to change in the browser's settings (open the browser, press Menu, scroll down to and click on Set Home Page and change to http://www.google.com (or your regional version)).

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How do I decrypt files on my SD card that I encrypted using the Settings?
I have files that I used to copy from my SD card to my PC using the USB Mass Storage option under the "USB connection" pop-up.  I checked the flag under Settings->Location & Security->Data encryption->Storage encryption and now I can't read new files of these types (e.g., .jpg and .txt files). I tried unchecking the box -- a message appeared saying that future files will be decrypted, but existing files will remain encrypted.
How do I access the files that are currently encrypted and/or decrypt them?

may be relavant: Decrypt folder, that was encrypted using EncFS, on Android. I am not sure what device you have, so i dont know if your device is using encfs (but it probably is)

Thank you for your comment.  I looked at Decrypt folder, that was encrypted using EncFS, on Android, and it doesn't seem to apply.

what is the encryption that is being used then on your device? what device do you have?

I have a Droid Bionic.  I'm not sure what encryption is being used.  I assume that it's part of the Android Operating System.  I'm using version 2.3.4.

i have read that other motorola devices use encfs for the encryption, to that link may have applications that can help you. I dont recall that the encryption is part of the OS, well, the "vanilla os", I believe this is something that motorola added.

I sent this question into Verizon Wireless as well.  Here is their reply:

Thank you for contacting Verizon Wireless through our website...I
  understand that you've been having an issue trying to decrypt files on
  your handset.  At this time Motorola hasn't provided an update for
  your phone to be able to do this.  Without that, we're unable to
  assist you because this is a phone issue and not a network issue.

So it looks like Ryan was correct in his comment that this is an issue with a Motorola OS add-on, not vanilla Android.
Since originally asking my question, I experimented some more with my phone.  My phone has 2 check-boxes for setting encryption: one to encrypt the SD card (that I mentioned in my original question) and one to encrypt the main phone memory.  When I unchecked both boxes, my phone decrypted all files, both on the phone and on the SD card.  So, that is my solution for now.
Thank you Ryan for your comments -- they helped lead me to this answer.

I'm using Samsung Galaxy Note, ICS 4.0.3.  There's a Decrypt option.
Go to Settings → Security → Encryption, there's a "Decrypt Device" and "Decrypt SD Card" option.
After you select "Decrypt SD Card", just uncheck all the boxes on the next screen (see screenshot below).
(Click image to enlarge)

Got a downvote for sharing my knowledge :( Anyway, I just decrpyted my Galaxy Note's SD Card a few minutes ago, because I can not access or edit my files stored on the SD Card (by attaching the USB cable and access as Mass Storage Device).  After decrypting for around 25mins, I now have full access to my files. No files were damaged, back to normal.

Summary: With a Motorola Droid series phone using encryption, you have to click to use the phone as a "Media Device", not as Mass Storage, in order to decrypt files for transfer or viewing on a USB connected PC.
OP has stated he is using a Droid Bionic with encryption enabled.
To view or transfer the encrypted files to his PC -- but in a decrypted state -- while the phone is plugged into his PC by USB connection, he should:

Plug in Droid phone via USB to PC. Make sure phone is unlocked by entering passcode, etc.
When symbol appears in notification bar at the top showing a USB connection of phone to PC, he should drag down from the top of the screen, and click on "Connected as a mass storage: touch for other USB options".
He should then click on "Connect as: Media device (MTP) -- Lets you transfer media files on Windows, or using Android File Transfer on Mac". (He may be prompted to install Motorola connection software, which he should allow.)
In Windows, he should then access My Computer, and, under Portable Devices, click on Droid Bionic. Within there, he will have access to "Interal storage" and "SD Card" (if any), and he can begin viewing or transferring the files in a decrypted state.  (Note: the decryption process can take a noticeable amount of time, say, 1-2 seconds on each folder viewed.)

Source: I have a Droid phone with encryption enabled, and did this procedure to transfer files in a decrypted state.
(Click image to enlarge)

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


text:
gmail app not updating emails
My Gmail app that I have installed in my Android 2.3.5 phone has stopped receiving or sending new emails since the last couple of days. What can I do to fix this synchronization issue? Any suggestions?

did you check in Settings->Accounts & sync and make sure that email is still set to sync?

What changes have you made in the last couple of days? Updated anything on phone?

I've had the same problem since upgrading my ROM.
The solution i'm going to present will lead to the loss of unsent emails, so copy them to somewhere.
You have to clear the application data.
To do that you go to:
Settings > Applications > Manage applications
look for Gmail and Clear Data
It will synchronize again with Gmail servers and the problem should be solved.
Send a test e-mail to yourself.

There are some other things you can try with a truculent app.


text:
Is there a way/app to block outgoing international calls, without activating the network provider's International Call Barring?
I 'accidentally' dial international numbers a lot - don't ask why, long story :). Is there an app that would restrict me from calling international numbers, or warn me before connecting the call?
I can put in a request for International Call Barring with my network provider, but that disables calling premium UK numbers as well (I'm with O2 in the UK). Plus I'd like to make the odd intentional overseas call.

there seems to be a range of apps that may do what you are trying to accomplish.
here are a couple that look like they have potential.

Root Call Blocker Pro
Call Guard
Call Blocker Gold
Outgoing Call Blocker

all the apps listed are outdated (removed from Play) now. Do you know any relevant for 2019?

Thanks Ryan for listing the App. I was searching for a similar app for couple of days and I found the "Call Blocker Gold" works exactly what I needed.
Ace,
you can install the app.
there are 3 sections.
1) Bar incoming - leave it
2) Bar outgoing for the IDD you can add 2 rules
+*
00*
3) Never Bar outgoing . One rule for the local calls.
+65* (for singapore, as this is not an ISD. you can similarly put all the local patterns like in UK it could be +44*)
Other wise local calls with +will be also barred considering as ISD.


text:
How do I root my Samsung Galaxy S?
How do I root my Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000?

Enable USB debugging from settings -> Applications -> Development then connect your phone to a machine that has SuperOneClick installed. Open SuperOneClick, click the root button and...viola :)


text:
What are the advantages of a separate tethering app over the built-in tethering controls?
I just rooted by AT&T Galaxy S2 (SGH-i777) to troubleshoot battery usage. I also would like to tether my laptop (OS X Lion) to make use of my phone's data connection intermittently while traveling.
I see both "USB tethering" as well as "portable WiFi hotspot" under Settings --> Wireless and network --> Tethering and portable hotspot. Should I use this feature or install an additional tethering application?
What [if any] are the advantages of a separate tethering app over the built-in tethering controls?

This is probably largely a preference thing, but a couple of things I can think of off the top of my head:

The built-in tethering may only be usable with an extra fee on top of a normal data plan, whereas third-party apps with work regardless. I'm not really privvy to AT&T's plans these days, so I can't say for sure in your specific situation. This mostly only applies to stock ROMs, as a non-stock ROM usually also subverts any kind of tethering fee (e.g. CyanogenMod).
Many third-party tethering apps will give you a display of data in/out when running so you can keep track of your data usage. Some also display battery level and temperature.
The built-in wireless tethering provides WEP/WPA encryption and the like, but some third-party apps support additional security such as MAC address filtering and the like.
Not all devices are supported by all third-party apps, but the stock tethering should obviously work on your device if it's enabled in the settings. Third-party apps may in some cases require a custom kernel in order to function the way you would expect (in infrastructure mode) and will create an ad-hoc connection on unsupported devices/kernels (not really ideal).
The built-in tethering may have better widget integration. On CyanogenMod ROMs, for example, you can enable/disable the wireless hotspot from the power control widget, whereas you'd need a separate one for a third-party tethering app.

If you don't need the "power" tools and such then the stock tethering should function fine. I've generally used that on my EVO and I certainly have no complaints about stability or speed as compared to other apps I've tried. From that standpoint I've not noticed any real difference.

The built-in tethering controls in CyanogenMod do not incur extra fee with AT&T on my Nexus S - this probably does not apply to a stock ROM.


text:
How do I back up (and restore) my phone before installing a custom ROM?

Possible Duplicate:
How to backup an Android device?

I am thinking of installing a custom ROM such as CM7 on my AT&T Galaxy S2 (SGH-i777). I have already rooted it.
What is the best practice for backing-up (and potentially restoring) my phone?
Notes for answerers:

I'm interested in step-by-step instructions to obtain a canonical answer rather than links into forum threads.
Will the method described be able to recover the phone if the ROM install process fails and "bricks" the phone?
Can the backup be moved to external storage (such as a computer) or is it only resident on the phone's internal memory. If it can be preserved off-device please describe this process as well.

This is going to vary a bit by device and recovery system, but in general if you want to perform a full, 1-to-1 backup of your phone's internal memory you would need to:

Root your device and install a custom recovery. The most popular recovery is probably ClockworkMod. How you install it will vary widely by device, but ROM Manager can do it for you on most popular devices. You simply launch ROM Manager and select "Flash ClockworkMod Recovery" from the main menu.
If using ClockworkMod, open ROM Manager and select "Backup current ROM". This should do all of the work for you.
If not using ROM Manager or if you use a recovery other than ClockworkMod:

Reboot your device into recovery mode. This again varies by device, but ROM Manager has a "Reboot into recovery" option that works regardless of what recovery you have installed. Another option is to issue adb reboot recovery from a connected PC with ADB configured and set up. There may be other requirements for getting into recovery depending on your device (e.g. the Kindle Fire is very different from others).
Navigate to the "Backup/Restore" or "Nandroid" menu (or similar).
Select "Backup" and (if needed) select which partitions you would like to back up. Some recoveries will also give you the option to compress the backup.
Select "Perform backup" (or similar) and wait for the process to finish.

Once the backup has been performed you should be able to use it to recover from many "soft" bricks. However, the two situations you would not be able to recover from with a backup alone would be:

Your bootloader is invalid/corrupted/etc
Your recovery partition is invalid/corrupted/etc

In both of thse scenarios, you would first need to fix the offending partition (bootloader or recovery) before being able to restore the backup. Basically, anything that prevents you from accessing your recovery partition will also prevent you from using your recovery to restore your backup. Such situations are, I would say, fairly rare. You can use a backup to recover a bad /boot or /system partition, so flashing a kernel or ROM should have an extremely small likelyhood of permanently bricking your device (unless it modifies your recovery or bootloader, as noted above).
You may be able to flash an uncompressed backup from fastboot but this would depend on what recovery you are using and how it performs its backups. As I recall, ClockworkMod simply uses dd to create the image and they actually will flash correctly on some devices. However, I would strongly advise researching this before trying as a bad fastboot write could soft brick you as well. Of course, as long as you don't try to overwite your bootloader you won't lose access to fastboot, so in some ways this could be a "nothing ventured, nothing gained" situation.
To actually restore a backup you can:

In ROM Manager select "Manage and Restore Backups", then select the backup you wish to restore from.
If not using ROM Manager or not using ClockworkMod:

Reboot into recovery
Select "Backup/Restore" or "Nandroid" (or similar)
Select "Restore"
Pick the backup you would like to restore from (if more than one)
Select the partitions you would like to restore (if givent the option)
Select "Restore" and wait for the process to finish

Nandroid backups are, by default, stored on your external storage device in pretty much every situation. Some exceptions may be devices with no separate external storage (e.g. devices like the Galaxy Nexus) where the /sdcard directory is actually on the physical internal storage. In any case, though, it will save to your /sdcard directory, which is readable from a PC as USB mass storage or adb. You can copy a nandroid backup off of your phone and onto a computer for safe-keeping, then copy it back over later if you need to restore.
To do this you can simply plug in your device and look for a path like /sdcard/nandroid (or /sdcard/TWRP for TeamWin recovery, possibly elsewhere for others). Then you can copy the contents of the folder over to your computer. Alternatively, you can pull it with adb by plugging in the device and issuing something akin to:
adb pull /path/to/backups

...from a PC shell.

Clockwork Mod Recovery will work on the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II.

@Broam: I never said it wouldn't, I was simply trying to phrase this as generally as possible since there are other recovery options out there (f.e. I don't use ClockworkMod myself).

I know - but I figured the OP would want a specific response to your very detailed & general answer.

The dupe I added doesn't have a good description of Nandroid (specifically CWM), you may want to consider adding this answer there.

@MatthewRead: Hm, so it does not. Delicious copypasta has been served.


text:
Alternate (keyboard) task switching method for CM9
I frequently switch between a terminal and a web browser/kindle while working on the device with a bluetooth keyboard.  The method I used on the stock 3.2 (with TouchWiz) ROM:

press the home key on the keyboard
down-arrow, which selects the top-left icon on the current home screen (generally the terminal)
arrow to the app I want
press enter on the keyboard.

CM9 foils this method by putting the focus on the search bar and voice search stuff at the top of the homescreen; I can't arrow-down from there to the icons I'm interested in. (EDIT: if I remove the search bar, focus still does not go to the app shortcuts.)
I use both the Logitech Tablet Keyboard for Android 3.0 and Samsung's own keyboard/dock.  At least on the logitech, holding the home key has only the effect of delaying the 'go to home' action.  It has Fn-keys for mail, web, calendar, music.  I really only need a quick method for three apps.
What are my options for task switching on CM9, using a keyboard?
Misfeatures of a method:

Tasks are presented with changing order.  This means that I have to examine the screen to make a choice - it foils muscle memory.
Tasks are linearly presented. This wastes three of my arrow keys, and - already, with just three tasks - creates an artificial distance between the first and the third task.  I'd like to create my own sense of distance between tasks - as I did in the 3.2 method above, by having terminal first, kindle to its right, the browser just below it, and then secondary apps arranged elsewhere.
Every recent task is presented.  I generally don't want to switch back to Settings - or to the app I just tested, am now rebuilding,  and will launch as part of the installation process.

The other answer works (to remove the search bar and rearrange icons below the ::: button) works fine, but only in a landscape orientation.  Even in landscape, pathological arrangements of icons can be stumbled upon.
I've settled on this method:

Use a firewall (e.g., DroidWall) to block 'Google Search', which I never use, and which I don't want broadcasting my task-switching.
To switch to another app, press the Home key and then begin typing the name of the app (the search button isn't necessary.)  When the app shows up, down-arrow to it and press Enter.

How convenient this is obviously varies depending on the names of the apps you wish to switch between, and on the other apps you have installed, and on whether you indeed do not ever use Google Search.  It's also about half as fast as the 3.2 method.

My 3.2 method does work with CM9, and the default launcher (Trebuchet), with these adjustments:

Go to Settings->Launcher->Homescreen->Search Bar, and remove it.  Keyboard focus will default to the apps button (the ::: icon) at the top right
Arrange icons on the right side of the screen instead of on the left.  Down-arrow, from the apps button, will go to the top-right icon in the same way as it used to go down to the top-left from the search bar in 3.2

Other launchers are also an option (Go Launcher EX duplicated the old behavior, although it forces phone UI elements), but this is the shortest path if you're otherwise content with Trebuchet.


text:
Milestone outperforming Galaxy Nexus on mobile data connection speed
I recently switched from a Motorola Milestone to a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and it seems the quality of my mobile data connections drops considerably between the devices without any apparent reason. The Motorola device can get up to 2mbps, while the Nexus struggles at ~150kbps.

The  *#*#4636#*#* menu on both devices shows no noticeable differences.

The tests were made 20 minutes apart using the same SIM card.
In summary:
Is there any configuration that can interfere so heavily on the way the data connection operates? If not, can it be a Radio/Baseband problem?
I'm using the 'stock' Google Rom (yakju) on the Galaxy Nexus, while the Milestone is using a custom Rom (ShadowMod 2.3), although it's behavior was the same on stock Froyo 2.2.

That ping is massive.  I would suspect network issues, even though they were just 20 minutes apart.  You should test multiple times to confirm and perhaps run some ping or trace tests.

Just did more tests on both devices. The ping went down on the Galaxy Nexus, varying between 100~300, although the speed kept the same. No changes on the Milestone, also.

Have you unlocked the Nexus? If so I would recommend trying a new radio image. You can find a nice list here . It's a fairly safe procedure, you can flash US radios to EU devices and vice versa without any issues

Yes, if you would share the information on your Bootloader, it would likely confirm what benwh is saying.

While this might not be the complete answer to your issue, it appears that the Galaxy Nexus is connected to an HSDPA:9 radio (10.1mb/s theoretical speed) while the Milestone is connected to an HSPA radio (14mb/s theoretical speed, not HSPA+ which can have a theoretical speed of between 21 and 42 depending on the network). While the theoretical capacities of the networks are similar, it does seem that they are using different radio tower connections, which could explain the difference in bandwidth that is being experienced.

HSPA most commonly refers to HSDPA+HSUPA.  Are you meaning HSPA+ by it?

No, I was referring to early HSPA networks which were 3.6-7.2-9mb/s theoretical. HSDPA+HSUPA I think of as a newer revision.

But you said HSPA was 14 mb/s.

Sorry I meant HSDPA early networks. HSPA commonly is held as having a 14mb/s speed. After doing some further looking HSDPA:9's theoretical speed is 10.1mb/s.

The screenshot one is using a different radio band - one that is more popular than the camera one.
This means that is is more congested, and therefore has slower speeds.
This is the most likely explanation.


text:
Why have some of my apps started coming up as tiny shrunken windows
Sometime in the last week a few of the apps installed on my Galaxy Nexus are coming up as tiny shrunken windows that are completely unusable. Here's an example:

Very boring picture, the point being that the little white rectangle halfway down the left side is the rendition of the application that should be taking up the whole screen! I can click on the little detail that is visible there and the little white rectangle changes a bit. It seems the application is running but it is obviously unreadable and unusable. And it doesn't respond to resizing gestures. Tapping on the options button brings up a bar at the bottom of the screen with tiny unreadable icons.
FWIW, the apps that are doing this are zipcar (the one I first noticed; perhaps the installation of that app caused the problem?), a banking app and Ibird Pro. Both the banking app and the bird program worked fine in the past.
I'd be delighted to hear from anyone who has seen this, or better still know what caused it and how to fix it!

I assume you've done the usual: power on/off the device, clear app cache and/or data, remove and re-insert the battery

Let me guess... you turned on GPU Rendering in the developer options? Some apps that don't properly support it will do that. Try turning that off.
Also, on an unrelated note: you can take screenshots by holding power and volume down.


text:
Vibrations or not depending on phone position
Is there any chance to disable phone vibrations when phone is in straight horizontal position? (eg. on the table).
I want to have vibrations turned on only when I have it in my pocket, close to the body, in other situations turned off.
Is there any app for this? Maybe there is some profile switcher based on the phone position?

You could do that with Tasker. This app matches defined conditions with tasks -- i.e. you can tell it to execute a task (which is a set of actions) whenever a (set of) condition(s) is met.
Under conditions it lists "Orientation".
As actions, it e.g. describes:

Vibrate On Notify: Whether to vibrate with a system notification.
Vibrate On Ringer: Whether to vibrate on an incoming call.

So you could create a task named, say, NoVibrate, which says:

Vibrate on Notify: Off
Vibrate on Ringer: Off

Then create two profiles FaceUp and FaceDown (there's no "OR" connection possible with conditions, hence you need two profiles), each with the respective orientation, and have them execute the NoVibrate task.
What happens then? As soon as the phone is FaceUp or FaceDown (where "face" is the display), vibration is turned off. And as soon the orientation changes, the prior setting gets re-activated.
Problem solved with the 6-letter-solver of (almost) all Android problems: Tasker :)


text:
How can I edit values in memory?
Is it possible to edit values in memory used by an app?  I would assume this requires root.

what do you need to do this for? I would assume that trying to do this would be very difficult due to android's sandboxing structure.

Which type of values you are talking about?

@SachinShekhar like counters? for example a button press counter or something.

That may be possible without root if the app you want to manipulate allows debugging via Android Debug Bridge (ADB). If an app can be connected to an debugger is specified in it's AndroidManifest.xml in the android:debuggable entry.
If the app is enabled for debugging you can enable the USB debugging mode on your device and connect to it via adb. Then you can connect an standard Java debugger to the app and inspect/modify variables.
If it does not allow debugging you can try to decompile it using apktool, change the debuggable value in AndroidManifest.xml and the re-build and sign the app (using a custom generated key pair).
A second alternative would be to include Frida Gadget into the app and load it at run-time. Then you can use Frida to connect to the app on an unrooted device and hook Java or native methods as well as modify app memory.

Should try it with a dummy app to see!

In Android the system memory is just another file, so with the appropriate rights it's just as simple as vi -b /dev/mem (device node may vary for your system). The result of changing a running system's memory could be one of a nop, a touch of an electric fence, a system crash or a simple nuke resulting in an unusable device.

how can you get an unusable device? I'd imagine the running apps would be in a different device from the actual ROM stuff?

You can use a program called ACE Engine
to scan and edit memory value of any running app or program in android
which can be download here
you need to install  the program
with adb and run the program in adb shell

run ACE engine and select a process which you want to edit its value.

scan for value in process's memory,
like a coin, health or anything

you may got a couple of matches result
you can reduces the matches, by changing
the value in the game and scan for the new value
to reduce scan results

repeat the processes until you got 1 match

write any value to the address to change
the game/apk's value

you can find more details in the tutorial
here
DISCLAIMER!!!: I am the author of this program

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


text:
Can I change the dalvik cache location e.g. with a symbolic link?
I currently use Link2SD since my phone's onboard storage is insufficient for more than a few essential apps. It is very effective but limited to when the phone is on.
While changing ROMs, the dalvik cache is wiped and when the phone restarts you see a progress bar saying Android is optimising applications. So given a reasonable number of applications, the dalvik cache fills up the storage long before link2sd can do anything about it.
So is there a way that mounts a sd card folder as the appropriate cache location before the system gets on with booting and doing its business? I know it might involve creating a symbolic link but I just don't know when things are mounted and in what order.

Of course you can. Although it seems like there's no problem to migrate dalvik-cache to a normal SD card filesystem (the most common, vfat), it still is highly recommended that you format your SD card to ext4 (or the same as your /data) to ensure everything works fine.
So let's go. A full backup of all your apps is recommended before proceeding though if you feel lucky, it isn't required. Assuming that you have a terminal emulator to do the necessary jobs.
First, create a folder that you want to migrate your dalvik-cache to. Then chmod and chown the new folder to match /data/dalvik-cache. If you're running a SELinux-enabled Android OS, don't forget to change security contexts correspondingly. Run
ls -dlZ /data/dalvik-cache
ls -lZ /data/dalvik-cache

to see the original permissions, owner/groups and security contexts of dalvik-cache folder.
Next, copy all files from /data/dalvik-cache to your new location, for example /storage/sdcard1/dalvik-cache. You can use cp -a command to preserve file attributes, which would make things simpler.
Ensure no new apps start during the process of the following step.
Then, rm -r /data/dalvik-cache and create a symbolic link to the new location using
ln -s /storage/sdcard1/dalvik-cache /data/dalvik-cache

That's all. We're done. Reboot your phone (not required but recommended).
Some notices about this process:

The busybox may not always work well as Android is based on a highly modified Linux kernel. For example almost all SELinux-related functions do not work properly. You can test it out as shown below.
toolbox ls -Z /data
busybox ls -Z /data
toolbox getenforce
busybox getenforce

However these may work properly, depending on Android version:
busybox chcon <context> <files...>
busybox runcon <context <program> [args...]

Never remove your SD card. If you re-format your SD card, make sure it's still ext4 AND create the dalvik-cache folder back before booting your phone for the first time.

I had no idea how wrote this comprehensive answer when I see it again after a year. Guess I've forgotten much about Android (which is of course, impossible).

There are some nice Howtos available, which might prove helpful to solve your issue:

How to move dalvik cache to sd card (completely move all apps to sd card)
Moving data and dalvik-cache to sd card to fix market issues

According to several forum threads, A2SDGUI - Darktremor A2SD GUI should be the app of choice to move the Dalvik cache to your SD card.

Would be nice if you could add some information from the links into your post

That's a bit too much stuff to integrate with my answer -- which is why I only extracted the basic hint, i.e. the app to do the work with.


text:
How can I set a new app as my default launcher on a Galaxy Ace?
I downloaded a launcher app on my Samsung Galaxy Ace (iPhone Locker; actually its a locker app but it pretends to be a launcher). Now when I press the Home button, the list of launcher apps pops up. This list contains iPhone locker, and when I select that it is set, but the next time I click on Home the launcher list pops up again. I checked in my application settings and iPhone Locker's Clear Default button is grayed out, so it looks like it has not yet been made the default app. How can I make this my default launcher?

Usually there is a checkbox on the list of possible defaults that says something to the effect of "Make this the default app for this action". Do you see something like that? Are you checking that box?

yes i do check the checkbox below the list, it remains in effect for sometime and after that it again asks for the launcher app to select

Go to menu > settings > applications > manage applications > your current launcher and tap Clear data button. Then, after pressing "home" button, a dialog should pop out, asking you, which application should be used to complete the task.
If this won't work try reinstalling the application. And do not move it to SD card ;-)

You can use Default App Manager Lite or Pro. It can solve your problem.


text:
Disable all software installation
Is there a way to block (by a password/PIN code or what else) all kinds of software installation on an Android tablet/smart phone?
I understand it is possible to block by a PIN code Market app instalation, but that only works for paid apps, and there are other ways to install applications other than the Market.
Rooting is not a problem.
Thank you!

Unfortunately Android doesn't offer this functionality out of the box.  There are several 3rd-party apps on the Market that can help though.
I personally use App Protector Pro on my son's tablet.  This app allows you to set a PIN and then set up a "block list" of any installed apps, including system ones.  Among other apps, I added Settings and Package Installer to this list.  This presents the "password" prompt upon installation (or un-installation) of any apps, including from alternative markets (Amazon Appstore, GetJar, etc.) and even side-loading APKs.  App Protector Pro itself is also by default set to be on the "protected" list.
Of course if your device is in the hands of a person that is somewhat knowledgeable of Android OS, they can do a bunch of things to circumvent this sort of protection, such as a factory reset from Recovery console, for example.
[5-year Edit]:
Android 5.0 introduced restricted profiles feature. This allows you to block new installs from Play Store, and disable already installed apps for restricted users.  Unfortunately this feature is only enabled for tablets.  Phones still have to rely on 3rd-party "lock" apps, with varying degrees of success.

That's pretty much what I was looking for. Thanks so much, again ;)

@Chahk Is there a 2017 version for that answer please?

@MinNaingOo Added a more recent update.


text:
What does debug.sf.hw in build.prop mean?
It is advised here and there to add debug.sf.hw=1 to build.prop.
They say that this "makes Android render GUI with GPU". This looks very suspicious because what does it debug then (and since when debug speeded up anything)?
So I'm just curious about what does this setting (property) actually means?

I believe what it stands for is "Debug SurfaceFlinger Hardware", and there's only one (that I know of) reference to it in the Android source code (in DisplayHardware.cpp):
// debug: disable h/w rendering
char property[PROPERTY_VALUE_MAX];
if (property_get("debug.sf.hw", property, NULL) > 0) {
    if (atoi(property) == 0) {
        ALOGW("H/W composition disabled");
        attribs[2] = EGL_CONFIG_CAVEAT;
        attribs[3] = EGL_SLOW_CONFIG;
    }
}

Or, in English terms, the system reads the value of the debug.sf.hw flag. If it has a value and that value is equal to zero it disables hardware compositing, otherwise it skips over that block of code.
I think there's something of a misconception in that the default should be to have hardware compositing enabled, but you can set debug.sf.hw=0 in order to disable it. So really it is a debug flag, but setting it to 1 (strictly speaking, any non-zero value) would explicitly cause compositing to remain enabled. As far as I know, though, the only time it should really have an impact is if the device's default value is 0 for whatever reason.


text:
Why do I see less memory on my Asus tablet then specified?
I have asus eee pad transformer tf101. In application/running I see 195mb used+ 366mb free = 560mb. But it should be 1 gb by specification!
Then in Quodrant in section memmory I see:
Total: 745932 KB
Free:106624 kb
inactive: 256736 Kb

Summing them up I get 1109292. btw what does inactive mean?
So why there are different amount of using memory and specified?

An part of the RAM is reserved - often for the GPU - and not useable by the dalvik VM and Apps. This is not uncommon: Samsungs Galaxy S has also 512MB but only 334MB are useable by Apps. This can differ from ROM version to version.


text:
Are apps in SD card available after a factory reset?
If I move some applications to a SD card and perform a factory reset, will they be available when I plug the card back again after the reset, even if the device's primary account changed?

I think apps moved to SD are encrypted?  Even with ext2SD or whatever you would still need to re-install the apps, at least.

To add to @Mattthew 's comment, even if you move the apps to SD card part of them always reside inside internal memory. Also the system needs to know what apps are installed, apps like Market need to know about them. So, no they won't work after factory reset.
For big games like from gameloft the extra data you downloaded from inside the game will work though. I don't know what will happen to this with the new Market policy of allowing upto 4GB files.


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changing x10 mini pro keyboard from querty to azerty CM7 pro's ROM
I've just managed to install CM7 Ron on my Xperia x10 mini pro
but when I type with the physical/slide keyboard I can't seem to change it from querty to azerty
any ideas?

You may want to try 3rd-party keyboard apps that support transliteration of physical keyboards.
I've previously used AnySoftKeyboard, and with the appropriate language pack (e.g. French with has the AZERTY layout) it will transliterate physical keyboard as well.

I found out how to do it, slightly harder than your answer most likely but it corrects the problem rather than suppress it
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18283445&postcount=21

@MikeBryant The drawback of doing it "the hard way" is that reverting back to QWERTY layout is just as difficult (and requires a reboot of the phone.)  With alternate keyboard, it's just a matter of picking a different layout in app settings.


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Do I have to do anything different when flashing a ROM with Odin if I'm coming from CM7?
When I first flashed CM7 on my SGS, I had an issue with my sim card and had to revert to stock.  However, Odin got stuck and I my phone refused to go into download mode (see my comment in this question for some details).  When I finally got it to go into download mode, I did the same as before but without re-partitioning, and it worked.
Does the fact that Odin got stuck on me last time I came from CM7 mean that I did anything wrong?  Should I have done anything differently due to the fact that I came from CM7?

I don't think so.  Usually repartitioning solves this kind of issue, so it's strange that the reverse was true.  I've seen recommendations that you should do a factory reset before and after flashing a new ROM, so you might want to try that.


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<HTCData><Facebook> auto sync after changing ROM
I had stock rom for my HTC Wildfire S with HTC Sense and facebook. I had joined contacts - Google account and Facebook friends.
Now I flashed to Cyanogen mod 7 and they are not synchronised. But I noticed, that every contact (which was synced before) has Note with hash like: <HTCData><Facebook>id:xxxxxxx/friendof:xxxxxxx</Facebook></HTCData>
Is there any way to put it back together automatically?
Thank you

CyanogenMod does not use the <HTCData><Facebook>id:xxxxxxx/friendof:xxxxxxx</Facebook></HTCData> tag as HTC Sense does, so this can just be deleted.
The Facebook contact sync is setup inside the Facebook for Android app (Settings -> Sync friends with Contacts). This should automatically add Facebook pictures and contact info to Contacts.
However, I have experienced that the contact pictures do not always sync after a reboot, until I have opened the Facebook app and scrolled through my friend list (then the images are loaded). Therefore, I installed another app called SyncMyPix for the picture synchronization.

Ok, thanks, I'll try SyncMyPix app, pictures are the main reason, why I want to synchronized it.
But it's strange, when I synchronize my contacts with facebook contacts manualy, there's new Note, the same like the older.. So, I think it's possible some reversal sync...

@ajgarn is right, only htc contacts app is capable of using the  for linking accounts (it actually does not synchronize them, only "link")


text:
Active auto correction like in iOS
I'm pretty new from Android, just dumped my iOS device.
I find it pretty annoying with this feature missing that is auto correction and auto-complete.
In iOS whenever you misspell a word or type a keyboard key near the desired one, the system will automatically change it to the correct word unless demanded otherwise.
Also the auto complete contains hell of a bigger dictionary.
Do you know of a similar app/setting in Android? It takes me much more time to type in my Android.

Please take a look at this to see how to use OS version tags: http://meta.android.stackexchange.com/q/868/1465

Stock keyboard (as well as most 3rd-party keyboard apps) has both auto-correct and auto-completion (a.k.a. "suggestions") built in.  Access the keyboard settings via Settings -> Language & input -> Android keyboard.  From there you can enable and fine-tune the auto correction and suggestion options.

I did play around with the settings but is not even getting close to the iOS auto correction and completion capabilities.

Try different 3rd-party keyboard replacement apps from Android Market...  I mean Google Play Store ;)  Some have better auto-correction and suggestion features than others.

You have no idea how much you save me (from throwing my phone to the wall).


text:
Mark as unread button in email application?
is there a hidden "Mark as read" button I'm not aware of in the email app in Android?

This probably depends on the device, as devices with custom UIs (TouchWiz, Sense, Motoblur) will have different email applications. On CyanogenMod (and I believe vanilla Android) you simply tick the checkmark next to the message or messages you want and the button slides in from the bottom.

Thanks. Is there an in-message button as well?

@Shimmy: Again, may vary, but on CyanogenMod/vanilla there should be a "Mark Read/Unread" button if you open an email and press the hard Menu button.


text:
Outer-shell music buttons like in iOS
I just dumped my iOS device for the sake of Android (iTunes, flash lack and other reasons).
I'm trying to retain the features I got used to on the iOS.
One of them was the ability to start, pause, skip etc. in music while screen is locked:
Important:
I'm an Android noob (I'm a .NET dev), I believe there has to be a way to control the device's music in a player-agnostic manner, so I'm rather looking for a "music controls lock-screen" or "music controls FOR my lock-screen" application rather than a "music player with ls controls".

Is there any similar app/feature on Android?
My device: Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 (YP-G70).
Note my device is locked with a lock pattern.

*Pictures are downloaded from the web and are for illustration purposes, they do not reflect my own phone / settings.

Have you simply tried this? It works out of the box with the default Music app on, like, every device I've seen.

@eldarerathis Yes I tried this. and it's cucumbers. I mean it's close to sulfur but is like warehouses. Got me? I didn't get you either.

Didn't get what? Start the music app. Lock your screen. Turn it back on. Have you tried that? Do you see music controls when you turn the screen back on? Every reasonably recent device I've ever seen has them. If you don't then you may want to include your specific device in your question.

I didn't know what you mean, sorry. Be sure I tried that. I tuned on the music, while it's playing I lock the screen, when I press the on/off button I only see the plain lock screen - no music buttons.

@eldarerathis the default Music app on my Gingerbread Galaxy S has never supported this, I'm sure many others don't too

@GAThrawn: Yeesh, that seems like a pretty glaring omission.

I found my solution. This feature is provided in Go Locker.
It's so great, and works with Google Music as well!  Very customizable and there are zillion of themes out there.
And most important, it's free.
I'm sure you now think I'm affiliated with them, the truth is yes, I use their products and I'm addicted to them, that's it!

If your built-in music app and lock screen doesn't do this currently, then you can try using WinAmp as your player, that was the first music app I saw that added the transport controls to your lock screen.
Go into WinAmp's settings to find this option:

Then it should look a bit like this when your phone is locked:

These days most music apps include this feature (I believe including Google Music or Amazon MP3 if you're in the US), try searching the Market for something like lock screen music control to see a selection.
This feature either needs to be built into which ever app you're using to play your music (as above) or you need to switch to using a different lock screen that supports widgets, such as WidgetLocker and then you can choose from available music control add-ons like Media Buttons or Phantom Music Control.

Yeah, Google Music should definitely do this (does for me). So do Songbird and Amazon's music player/MP3 store.

OK. Do you know of any app that will enable lock-screen buttons for the default player?

@elderathis they'd be a great option, it's a pity neither are functional players unless you're in the US

@eldarerathis I have GMusic installed, but no buttons. Just lock screen.

@Shimmy: I wonder if that's got something to do with Samsung's Touchwiz interface, then. Is it the version of Google Music (I guess "Google Play Music", now...ick) that's in the Market or something pre-installed?

@Shimmy see the edit with options for placing widgets on alternate lock-screens

I didn't install the WinAmp player and don't mean to. I need to have the Android player + GMusic do it. BTW, note that the screen is locked with a lock pattern.

@Shimmy See my final paragraph where I mention ways to add lock screen widgets that will work with the built-in player. As far as I know all of the klock screen music controls work fine with a pattern lock, on my screenshot above pressing the padlock icon hides the music controls and takes you straight to the pattern.

@Shimmy : try https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.miui.home . Some of it themes gives you the option of opening the music player on the lock screen

Missed the the same thing when I switched from IOS to Android.
Don't know if this solves all of your issues, but supports generic controls (notification, widgets, etc) for most media applications.
Media Utilities

Well what i love about Android is that you can be assured you kind of get more than what you just got out of the box. You are not limited to only what has been shipped. My suggestion is go download widget locker. it allows you to add widgets on lock screens.

I never pay for apps :}
And yes, I'm a dev too. Public apps should be paid by ads :P

Try N 7 player, it supports what you desire and a lot more..

I'm looking for a lock-screen that will be integrated with device music status, I believe there should be a general way to control music of the device in an application-agnostic manner.


text:
Android hangs after rebooting when upgrading to 2.3.5
I used HTC's update software functionality to upgrade my Android to version 2.3.5. Though, upon reboot all I get is the cryptic icon (a phone and a red triagle with an exclamation mark inside). When entering System Recovery (volume + power button) I see:
Copying fotaBoot to /data/system for customize reload...
Verify current system...
  assert failed: apply_patch_check("/system/framework/com.htc.resources.apk", ..., ...)
  E:Error in /sdcard/download/OTA_Marvel_S_HTC_Europe_2.13.401.3-1.33.401.3_release_237845pg2016qpaadczbkc.zip
  (Status 7)
  Installation aborted.

And four options are given to me:

Reboot system now (which I have done)
Apply update from sdcard
Wipe data/factory reset
Wipe cache partition

I am tempted to select "Apply update from sdcard". Though, I cannot imply if I will find sideffects in doing so as I do not understand the meaning of "Status 7".
Any help would be appreciated!


text:
Personalized Mass Text tool (app)?
I want to: Send massive personlized text messages.
Example of what I want to do: Send the same template to George & Juan

Hey Juan, how are you doing?
Hey George, how are you doing?

without having to type the same text twice, if not more.
What I have found so far:

Group SMS: a far from finished and polished App.
Mass Text Personalizer: a relatively finished but not polished app. It is
very buggy indeed.

Why I need it: When mass messages are personalized, there is a bigger chance of people replying back.
I need you to: Give me other alternatives to these apps... if there are... better ones.
Thank you.

One nice alternative to the ones you already have is Group SMS by Tur Han available from Google Play Store.
It allows you to compose the message and:

add first and/or last name to the message text;
select the recipients individually.

Works pretty good, it's a free app (small publicity banner), with no bugs on my end. Shows the progress of each message being sent.

If you go to the PRO version, things just keep getting better and better:

create groups of contacts for quick sending (friends, family, work...)
History keeping & management
enhance search bar
select/deselect all your contacts with 1 touch
template management
history track of all messages with statistics
add Free


text:
Install built-in system languages
I open Settings->Language and keyboard->Samsung Keypad->Input languages and there is a very limited range of languages there.
In my friend's phone there are more locales I'd like to support in my phone, is this possible (not via installing an external keyboard like MultiLing Keyboard etc.), in my friend's phone, my native language appears there and is integrated in the system.
Note: I've just rooted my phone.

If your question is about global language support, you might want to check How do I add a new language?
If you however simply refer to keyboard layouts: This very much depends on the keyboard/IME used. There is e.g. TouchPal Keyboard available on the playstore -- and also a lot of language packs for e.g. Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, or even handwriting. Same applies to some other keyboard apps, like e.g. AnySoftKeyboard (which even offers a pack for BB-Codes used in forums), Ice Cream Sandwich Keyboard, Perfect Keyboard, and others.
Though your question says you are probably rather looking for the former: If it is just for the keyboard, the latter is the easier approach. While installing a complete language pack may provide you with support for your language in other apps, you should be aware the language must also be explicitly supported by that app itself.


text:
Suspend a phone
I was wondering if I could suspend my phone.
Let's say I'm running out of battery and I'm also expecting an important call in a few hours time. Instead of shutting down the phone and starting up again, it would be better if I would be able to suspend it like normal Linux laptops.
I'm using HTC Desire with official 2.3.3 update.

Nice question.. Smartphones are smarter than traditional mobile phones, but not that smart.. :)

There really is nothing a "suspend" mode would give you over simply shutting the phone off, other than maybe a slightly faster resume Vs. boot-up time.
With that said, most Android devices are engineered with battery life in mind.  However a phone still must function as a phone, so cellular and data radios must be enabled, touch screens must respond to input, etc.  All these things are a drain on the battery.
There are many apps on the Market that can help with mitigating this drain, especially when the battery is low on power.  With an app like Juice Defender, for example, you can set up profiles that automate disabling data connectivity and only enabling it once in a while for short periods to check for e-mail, etc.
There are lower level tweaks as well.  Custom kernels combined with 3rd-party ROMs allow you to underclock (opposite of overclocking) and undervolt the CPU when the phone is not actively in use, take advantage of different CPU governors that are more battery-friendly, etc.  However these require a phone to be rooted, with an unlocked bootloader in order to install these custom kernels and ROMs.

Yes you are right but even with all the power saving and CPU undervolting, the phone still consumes power. There are times when you really want to turn off the phone for that one important call. With your power saving ideas, you don't know when some unwanted calls come up or even with airplane mode on the battery will be consumed keeping the OS running. So my point is there is sometimes that you really want to turn off the phone, instead of that a sleep would be awesome.

The Motorola Razr has a sleep option which works like that so it is possible to do though it probably has to be done at ROM level.

Awesome!, I wonder if there is something like that for Desire running Gingerbread.


text:
Why is it that Android still can't be installed as regular OS?
Are there any technical or others reasons why Android is still a firmware and not an OS which can be just installed without a lot of hassle?
Why there is no universal image which could detect appropriate drivers (kernel modules), partition NAND in some standard way and configure boot loader to boot updated OS version?
What stops Google from making a real (less firmware-like) OS (an OS for small ARM, x86 etc. devices)?

It's worth noting that this isn't exclusive to Android, other OS's that focus on ARM devices (even Microsoft's Windows 8 RT) can't just be installed on any other ARM machine, but are treated more like firmware.

It's the header files:  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/29/google_android_and_the_linux_headers/

Also see this: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/205072/bootloader-bios-flashing-rom-and-correlated-risks-why-android-devices-are-more

What stops Google from making a real OS (an OS for small ARM, x86 etc devices)?

It is a "real" OS.

Why there is no universal image which could detect appropriate drivers

How do you detect drivers that don't exist?  Someone has to write them.  Unlike PCs, phone hardware varies wildly, largely because it isn't feasible for end users to construct their own from parts and size constraints.  Customized parts instead of interchangeable ones and special chipsets mean very specific drivers are needed, and an OS can't just ship default ones.  Imagine the bloat as well — someone with a cheap HTC phone with 20 MB for apps doesn't have room to host drivers they don't need.

and configure boot loader to boot updated OS version

Bootloaders also vary wildly between devices; you'd have to get all the manufacturers on board in order to use a single one, and manufacturers are unlikely to want to give up their power in that area.

… but they could make distribution with very modular kernel and then install just needed stuff. PC hardware also varies from pentium with buggy CMD640 IDE to Core i7 with usb3. They could make installer which reads VendorISs:DeviceIDs from existing OS on device and then just compiles kernel on QEMu and then just transferes it to device with new stuff. I guess you right even if it's possible for a person to just use menuconfig to make good enough kernel for specific device, that is hardly can be made automatically by some script.

@OleksandrBolotov: Bear in mind that the Linux kernel also contains a large number of open source driver implementations that are compiled when you run a build. The vast majority of the drivers used by mobile devices are proprietary, so even although you certainly can build Android from source for any device given enough time, you'd have to implement all the drivers. In addition, Google may run afoul of intellectual property agreements if they did this themselves (I don't know for certain but it may certainly be in their contracts with various manufacturers).

@OleksandrBolotov I certainly agree that they could do something to mitigate the issues, but we can only assume that the issues are why they don't ;).  I think speculating further would be beyond our scope.

Yes, tl;dr it's a driver issue. Someone has to make the drivers.

By design, or the perfect scenario per se, the kernel would contain all the drivers, while the Android OS is universal, both could be flashed separately, or flashed together in a bundle as stock firmware (which we see a lot today). If the kernel was separated from OS, could we be able to flash kernel-less AOSP directly onto any device that has its manufacturer kernel flashed first? Maybe this already exists? Idk

In order to provide what you seem to be asking for, an additional layer (or a more robust)of abstraction would have to be added to the operating system so that it would be less tightly coupled to the hardware. Adding this would require more memory and consume more CPU cycles on a platform that has little of either to spare.

Google's ongoing lawsuit with Oracle!
Google does have a plan for bringing Android to PC's - but it's not quite what you are envisioning: Google wants to add the Android execution environment to Chrome.  Android could -with a lot of work - by made to be installable on PC's, but bringing it to Chrome instead means it could be easily deployed to 25% of all computers immediately (25% being Chrome's ~ market share).
If you don't believe me, look at the smoking gun e-mail that Google is currently fighting to keep out of lawsuit - it refers to Google needing Java for Chrome.
I'm not suggesting that Google is going to suddenly drop Java if they lose the lawsuit - they are way too far committed to Java to do that - but they would like to at least know what the terms of using Java are going to be before they take a step that would significantly increase their dependence on it.

Google just suffers from bad decisions made long time ago by Android Inc. That was such a horrible idea to use Java for app development on NEW OS. Wasn't it obvious enough that Java is just a proprietary trap and they even don't need it to make non-java VM bytecode for Dalvik. I guess they just have traitors in management that explains everything.

It would seem that adding the Android execution environment to Chrome might not be that hard if this is anything to go by...  http://bluestacks.com/ - Android apps running on a Windows desktop!

Do you have any evidence for all of this, or are you just speculating wildly?

Certainly, much has changed since I wrote this answer.  Most importantly was Pachai replacing Rubin and associated re-org at Google.  All the signs seemed to change after that, and IO13 was much different than IO12: clearly they are now pushing Chrome as a mobile platform in-of-itself, so I no longer believe they will bring Android to Chrome.

Other people than Google are working on porting it to the x86 platform already. If you check out the Android-x86 Project you can see various builds available albeit for a limited number of hardware devices. I tried to download a couple of the images and get them running in VirtualBox on my computer (CrunchBang Linux based on Debian on Dell Latitude D520) but couldn't get it to load. You might be able to, though. GL!


text:
Can I limit Kindle purchases to only 1 device on my account?
I have 3 kindle devices linked to my account for my kids to read books as well. We each buy our own books on the one amazon Kindle account however at times we dont want to share our purchases onto each others device. Can this be done?

You can always just not download the items (or remove them if they were automatically downloaded) on specific devices.

I am assuming that you are talking about Kindle Fire which runs (heavily modified) Android OS.
All purchases made on a Kindle are linked to whatever Amazon account you are signed in with, not the actual device.  If you wish for your purchases to be separated, you will need to have a different Amazon account for your second Kindle Fire.
Now the problem is that there is no way to share purchases between accounts. As far as I know, you cannot add a second Amazon account to the Kindle (like you can with multiple Google accounts on plain Android.)


text:
How can I stop an ongoing sync process on my Desire?
yesterday I decided to upload all my phone's photos using PICASA. I thought the task would have required one hour or so but instead it is still running and is extremely slow! I would like to stop it but it seems impossible, I have the 'notification' of the ongoing process and whatever thing I do (reboot phone, shut down, advanced task killer, android assistant) as soon as I start an internet connection the process appear. Please help me close it!
Thank you!

I've tried but they didn't seem to make the icon disappear. After wandering through settings and application as suggested by Matthew this is what I finally did and it seems to work: Settings --> Application --> Manage App --> Running --> myuploads --> Force Stop and eventually the icon of ongoing process was gone! Thank you for the important clue!!!

I'd go to Settings -> Accounts and sync and if you have an entry for Picasa, shut off sync for it.  If that doesn't work disable Background data in the same place, then go to your Media app or wherever you set up the sync and shut it off.  If you can't then you should go to Settings -> Applications -> All and clear the data for the relevant app(s).

Go to your Setting and from there click on the application manager
Once you are on application manager, swipe across the categories to find All. This will give you a list of all applications on your phone. Your application manager has three categories - a) Downloaded b) Running and c) All.
Once you select All, scroll down the list of applications to find Download Manager.
On Download Manager, click on the button that says Clear Data. Once the data is cleared, the download notification on the notification window will go away.


text:
How to determine which app is creating a notification
I am running Android 2.2 on HTC Legend. I have a LOT of applications installed on it.
Today, after I changed my mobile operator, a notification appeared in the top bar. When I click on it, it says that my connection to Google is wrong and asks for the password.
However, since this is a dialog overlay, I have no mean to know if it is an application that I can trust (like a native one), or some sort of scam.
Any idea on how to identify from which app/service this message comes from?

It might say which app created it in the logcat.

Could be somewhat related to Is there a reliable way to detect the app responsible for an Airpush ad? If not Airpush then it might be another push-based advertising framework.

Ok, I have just added a bug to Android :
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=26587

@nomen I don't remember where I read it that it works on Android 2.2 as well but via [tag:adb], the command adb shell dumpsys notification would definitely give you good results.

I too noticed this behaviour in Android 2.2 times. Whenever the active sim is replaced, system prompts for Google account password. Maybe android was too early at that time to display which app gave which notification from the device. I don't think it is malicious because it used to be that way at that time.

This method does not work on Android 2.2.
Tested on Kitkat Android 4.4.2
Long press the notification and select App info.
It will take you to the settings app and show the details of the app the notification comes from.
on Lollipop
A long press shows you the name of the application instead of the notification.


text:
Getting "Authentication is required" when trying to access the Play Store
Over the past week, whenever I try  to open the Play Store/Market app on my phone, the app thinks for a while and then displays this error message:

Authentication is required. You need to sign into your Google Account.

But I am indeed signed into my Google account, as seen in other Google applications running on the phone, and as seen if I open the menu in the Market app and click the "Accounts" button.
I suspect this might be related to the fact that over the past few months I've had two different Google accounts synced to this device, and I have recently removed one of them from the phone. No other Google application has had any problems with removing one account.
Does anyone know how I can solve this issue? I can still install applications by using the market website (now "Google Play"), but this is still a big inconvenience. I also think I stopped getting updates.

Are you signed in to talked?

@roxan I don't know what "talked" is. I'm signed-in in Google Talk, if that's what you mean, as well as other Google apps such as Gmail and Docs.

Yes, sorry I meant that :)

I'd try clearing the data for the Market, Talk, Google Framework, and anything else that seems potentially related.  If that doesn't work I'd say this is one of those ridiculous Market issues no one knows how to fix without a factory reset.

@MatthewRead what do you mean by "clearing the data", and how can I do that?

Go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications -> All and you'll see a "Clear data" button when you click on an app.  It removes all the data used by the application (settings, etc.) except what it stores on the SD card, if anything.

For me it was simply that I -unknowingly- was not connected to the wifi network. Reconnected and it worked! This particular error message is rather misleading....

I went to Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications -> All, chose the Market application in the list, and clicked on "Uninstall updates" button which appeared there. It gave me an old, but working, version of the market app. I hope it will update itself in the future and will continue to work properly.
Thanks to Matthew for inspiring me to look over there.

It doesn't work!

I had to roll back updates, restart phone then re-update and it let me access the app that had the issue.

This worked for me: System settings > Apps > "All" (tab at top) > Google Play Store
Then press buttons in order: "Force stop" and "Clear data"
Exit Settings. Start the Play Store. Press at the top left top open the menu options.. Verify you have the correct account selected.

These exact steps worked for me immediately. Thanks.

You have to remove all your accounts from your device and re-add them. Or, just re-sync your google accounts from the Accounts & sync menu.
Go the Settings > Accounts & sync > Click on your account then remove account.
I removed all of my accounts that I had at that time, hopefully you haven't forgotten your passwords for your account. After I had done this, I restarted the device.
When my device came back on, I clicked on my Google Play Store, from there I was asked to sign in my account.

You just need to remove your offending account. Click on it and then you have a menu option to remove it.

This happened to me when I changed my Google account password. A simple phone restart did the trick for me. (Android 4.2)

If you have a firewall application installed, it may be set too strictly. Try disabling it (or loosening up the rules). Once I did that, trying to open the Play Store popped up a notification about Access Requested, which (when clicked) prompted me to re-enter my password.

I guess this happens when you change your Google account password, please see below steps that was helpful for me.

Tap (touch) on Play store icon
Touch menu key (key on the left side of home key on bottom) of the phone
Select Settings
Select  "Content filtering" under user controls
Tick your selection or select all, and
Click- OK.
Then it might ask your new password,
Enter your Google password, then you can open Apps (Play Store).


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How do I save images from google search on my Galaxy Ace (Android Version:2.2.1)
When I want to search for an image and I get the image results, I do not see a download option when I select a particular image (although the URL is of a .jpg file)
Is there an app for that or some way to do it with the existing options?

What happens if you long press on the image?

Google Image Search seems to be doing something funny with the way it shows you image previews.
What you need to do is when you run your image search you should see the grid of all the picture results:

Tap the picture that you're interested in and it should appear larger on a black background. When that first loads you should see something that looks a bit like a toolbar above the image. The toolbar disappears after a few seconds, just tap the image again to get it to reappear.

You should see a View Full Size "button" if you tap that the image appears actually full screen and now you can long-press on it and save it as normal.


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What happens when an SDcard is inserted?
I have a rooted Sony Tablet S, and one of my issues with it is that there is little onboard storage. The Sony-recommended way of dealing with this is to transfer files between internal and external storage, as many apps do not have access to the external storage.
Having rooted the device, however, I am able to use mount -o bind /mnt/sdcard2 /mnt/sdcard/2 to mount this. I was then intending to rename the media folder on my external sdcard to .media, and use mount -o bind /mnt/sdcard2/.media/$F /mnt/sdcard/media/$F/external for each folder $F in that directory. The problem with this is that on removal of the external sdcard, or on reboot, these mounts are lost.
On my Maemo phone I did something similar, and was able to have this mount behaviour occur when the external storage was attached. As Maemo5 is a truly open OS I was able to do this fairly easily, and there was a lot of community support.
When trying to do the same under Android I have come across an app called Tasker that performs actions as I would need, however this is paid software and I would prefer not to have to install something that performs actions which should be build into the operating system.
TLDR;
I'd like to know what is actually happening on my device when an SDcard is inserted - are scripts run? Are signals sent which could be used to trigger scripts? Has anyone attempted to do similar (I don't understand why this would not be the default behaviour to be honest - the fact that external storage is hidden from apps is frustrating to say the least)

Android in general handles SD cards more nicely than this, I think it's just your device.  That said, there are events broadcast when the SD card is inserted; that's what Tasker would use.  You could certainly write your own app to do the same.

@Matthew if you could point me towards some of the resources that would be useful for this, I would consider that enough for an answer. I have experience writing software but am new to Android, I have not found it easy to find resources on what this would require.

Dev questions are off-topic here unfortunately, and I haven't done any Android development myself.  However, this might help: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Intent.html

If your intention is to have your script run each time the card is inserted, or the device is booted, I'd recommend the already mentioned app Tasker, maybe in connection with Scripter. The latter can be used to execute (and manage?) scripts, but AFAIR you can do that part with tasker as well.
You would need to create 1 task (execute your script), and 2 profiles using this task (as there is no possibility for a logical OR with the conditions). One is for the boot_completed event, the other is for the inserted SD-card. That should do it.
In case of trouble (or hard understanding), just comment and I see what I can do :)


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Is Google Play Music the same as the stock Android Music App?
Is Google Play Music (formerly Google Music) the same app as the stock Android Music app?
I have a Nexus S running Android 2.3.6. I live in a country, Italy, where the Google Play Music service is not yet available. Some time ago, due to an Android Market glitch, then Google Music appeared among the apps installed on my phone.
The Market kept nagging me to update to the latest versions, which always failed because the app is not installed and I can't install it from the Market in my country. Before uninstalling the Google Play Music app entry, I'd like to make sure it's not the same as the stock Music app, which I instead want to keep.

No, it's a completely different service.
In fact, it's a cloud service with an Android app; whereas the Music app is simply a local music app.

Google (Play) Music is a separate and quite different app from the stock Music app that comes pre-loaded on most Android handsets.  It is possible to have both installed alongside each other without any issues.  Uninstalling Google Play Music should not in any way impact the stock Music app.

Interestingly, I am unable to uninstall Google Play Music. The Play Store (formerly Market) entry for this app under My Apps only includes the buttons Open and Update, but not Uninstall. And the app is not listed under Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications, not even in the All tab.


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Getting "The application [APPLICATION NAME] ( [APPLICATION ADDRESS] ) has stopped working unexpectedly. Please try again"
I have a Motorola Razor running on Android Version 2.2.2.
Over the past 3 days, whenever I turn on the phone, the following message appears on the screen:

"The application [APPLICATION NAME] ( [APPLICATION ADDRESS] ) has stopped working unexpectedly. Please try again". Application name: Email, Messaging, Google Services, Market, The Weather Chanel, etc.

After force closing the initial message, up to 10 similar messages appear until the home screen finally opens.
If I click on the Google browser or any app, the error message(s) again appears and as a result I cannot access the Internet or run any apps.
Does anyone out there know how I can solve this issue?

Sounds like a database got corrupted, but perhaps it's just cache.  Try clearing your cache via ClockworkMod Recovery if you have it or an app like this if you don't.  Running "Fix permissions" in CWM or ROM Manager might also help if you're rooted.
If that doesn't work take a look at your logcat and see if there are any errors that are more clear about what the problem is.  Otherwise I'd probably opt for a factory reset; unfortunately, I don't think it would be easy to track down what exactly was corrupted without more info.


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Update Market Application to Google Play Market Application
I have the problem with latest update which re-brands "Market" app
to "Google Play Market" app.
At one moment "Market" icon disappeared from both home screen and applications.
I was seeking for the solution to that, found some (weird at the time) "Play Market" update installed
and have uninstalled it. This brought back "Market" application.
Later I have seen that this was a silent patch which I should not uninstall!
Problem is, that, when I start "Market" app it ONLY displays following page in browser:
https://play.google.com/about/android-developer-policies.html
I am stuck here with this page, and the app is not updating again to "Play Market"
Does anyone know how to resolve this?

Have you tried clearing the data for the Market? Settings->Applications->Market->Clear Data button

Yes, tried that...

Try clearing the data for the Market and rebooting the phone.  Then log in to the Market, wait a minute, then back out and continue using your phone with the internet connection active.  Hopefully the Market should update itself within a few minutes.
Or, you can just download and install the .apk.  I rely on Android Police for the latest version; they've posted 3.9.16 here.

Thank you very much.
Problem was a big Android nonsense.
I was connected to internet via USB pass-through.
Once I turned on WiFi option (with no internet) it worked and updated instantly!
Cannot believe this!

Thank you, it also worked for me, the whole stuff with clearing the Market data and restarting the phone and leaving the Market app in peace for a few minutes was necessary.


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Problem purchasing android apps
I bought humble bundle for PC, which comes with some games available on android market, played the games a bit, uninstalled, then I went to market and wanted to buy a second copy of OSMOS HD, but it still shows as purchased and I don't have it on my Galaxy S2 anymore, and yes, I cleared cache, uninstalled market updates, cleared dalvik cache, reinstalled and uninstalled game to see if it worked...I wanted to buy it again because of the easier updates, but market won't allow me.
Also, I installed another game, Generation of Chaos which I didn't pay for it, then uninstalled, did the same procedures as OSMOS HD above, and I want to buy it on market, but it still shows as purchased and will not download.
Any ideas/tips ?

You said you cleared the cache, but did you clear the data for the Market?  If that doesn't work and everything is uninstalled, I'd contact the HB people.

That's pretty odd that they show up as purchased. I also bought the bundle and the Market will prompt me to update Osmos, but then it will specifically tell me that I have not purchased it and it won't let me update.

The issue is that the Play Store falsely linked some apps to your account that you installed from third-party sources.
This has been in some 3.5.x version, and now it works as expected.


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Alarm which could Ring even when Device is Off
Android smartphones are smarter than traditional mobile phones in all aspects, but I am unable to find this smartness in one aspect: In those classic mobile phones, there was an option to ring the alarm even when device was off. The device was turned on temporarily to ring alarm, then turned off.
How to do this in an Android device? I know, its not possible by app unless supported by firmware. So, I am asking for ROM hacks etc.
Please, don't answer if its "You Can't" or "Not Possible" etc..

Some related discussion: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4206/does-the-alarm-work-when-my-phone-is-turned-off

Also http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/4739/whats-the-reason-that-the-alarm-clock-isnt-working-when-the-phone-is-turned-of

Does your phone support Scheduled Power ON or OFF?

NoMoarPowah! (alternative link) can boot the phone up based on your scheduled alarms, in time for them to ring.  It only works on certain Samsung devices.

Brave answer, but.. The app works only when device is charging (as it replaces battery status firmware program).

@SachinShekhar I'm assuming that running something similar while the phone is not charging would require a hardware change, but perhaps that's incorrect.  You're essentially looking for a low-power micro-OS to be running as long as the battery is not dead ... that may be nigh-impossible as well without manufacturer support, since the bootloaders aren't open-source and thus difficult to work with.  If you're shutting the phone off to save battery you may want to consider other battery-saving methods.

BTW, it can be done without involving bootloaders and manufacturers, as I think. Micro-OS type instance can be attached with recovery. And, shut down function can be replaced with "reboot to recovery". Its just one idea..

@SachinShekhar That's quite an interesting idea, actually!

Just FYI, the app is not available on the Play Store anymore.

Thanks @AndrewT., added an Aptoide link as well.  (The Play link still works for me, presumably because one of my devices still has it installed.)


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ICS upgrade for Asus Transformer should be available OTA
I can read everywhere here in France that the OTA version of Ice Cream Sandwich is available for the Asus Transformer TF101. But when I check for a new firmware, it finds nothing. Is there a step I missed?
My Transformer is currently working with Android 3.2.1.

Sounds similar to How can I get my ASUS Transformer 101 to see upgrades? Also appears to be waiting for the ICS update.

I finally got it OTA yesterday.

OTA upgrade has been stopped due to several SW issues. A modified upgrade is expected within weeks, be patient.
(I do have the upgrade, but not installed as I have read about the problems... now I am refusing it every day :(

Ok, that's what I wanted to know. Could you add a link to the said problems?

Do you have a link to this information csababp ?

If you go to the ASUS web site, there are downloads available (choose Android as your OS. I got confused thinking that Windows was the right choice for the upgrade, they mean Windows for the drivers, and Android for the firmware).
Download the right localized build. I am in the US, so mine was the US build.
Copy it to an microSD card in a directory ASUS\Update\patchFile.zip
Then when you pop the card in, the tablet should notify you that there is an update available.

Right, here the link: http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?m=Eee+Pad+Transformer+TF101&p=20&s=16

geoffc - I should put in the sd card the file I directly downloaded or should I unzip it first?

@RafaelS.Calsaverini You unzip the first level file, should have a second ZIP'ed file in it.  Then you put that on the SD card in ASUS\Update directory and try it then.

Thanks. I tried that, but unfortunately my tablet is not groking the update. After some minutes it returns "There was a problem and the firmware was reversed to the previous state" or something like this. My eee pad is WW and I got the WW file. Maybe there was a problem with the download and a checksum error. Don't know. I will try again later. :(


text:
Is Google Play rebranded app being pushed to India?
My Android Market is still Android Market. I am eager to update it manually, but I prefer official way when payment is involved.
In India, only app store is available.. no music, book and movie store. So, I have been guessing maybe it'll not be pushed to India. Is there any such policies?

The "Market" to "Play" renaming is just a re-branding of the store.  It won't change any of the underlying availability or features.  You will have to ask Google (good luck!) about if/when additional feature will be made available in India.  So there is nothing to be gained by "upgrading", other than satisfying the Google marketing department.
Here are some details from the Google Play FAQ:
Q: What types of content are available in my country?
* Paid Apps: Available in these countries
* Movies: Available in US, UK, Canada, and Japan
* eBooks: Available in US, UK, Canada, and Australia
* Music: Available in US

Today, I've got update at last... I've been asked to accept Google Play TOS.. And, everything is same. Even launcher icon is still labeled as "Market"..

Finally, I have got fully rebranded app. But, only Apps and Games are available..

As PT says, the update will be made in India, but the movies etc, wont be available in India. Its only the name and the icon of the Market/play app which will change.. Maybe sometime in the future we will get the other services...


text:
Is there a voice action shortcut in ICS?
Android 4.0 doesn't have a magnifying glass search button like most pre-ICS phones.  I'm actually one of the people who used the long-press search button often with voice actions.
Is there a similar shortcut in ICS, now that it doesn't have the search button, or am I stuck going back to the home screen/app list?

Are you using the Galaxy Nexus?  On your home screen you will see the "Google Search" bar.  On the right, inside this bar, you will see a microphone symbol.  Tap it.
I believe you are stuck going back to this screen.

Not directing this at you Wayne but I want to comment and don't want to leave this as an answer.
Using the search bar is a horrible step backwards in user experience. I used the magnifying glass many times per day to do searches and set alarms with voice actions. I really hope I can find a way to get this back next to the hardware soft keys.


text:
What's the Android Devices section of Google Dashboard for?
I noticed the Android Devices section of Dashboard is empty for me. I've had 3 android devices so far, all synced with my Google account. The Android Market section of Dashboard correctly shows my download count.
What is that section for? Why don't my devices show up under it?

On my dashboard it shows my devices and a list of application data that is stored on the server.
Do you have backup enabled to Google servers? It is usually a setting in the Privacy menu.

My account stuff like Contacts are, but I'm not sure it's called a backup. Are your devices ICS? My latest phone is Gingerbread.

Both mine are Gingerbread. The contacts and Calendars are part of a regular sync with your Google account. The backup is a separate setting that backs up thingslike Wi-Fi passwords, Keyboard and dictionary settings, etc.

Huh, I have that set to back up too. IS there some way to check that it's working? Still nothing in google dashboard


text:
Phone not updating Market to Google Play?
I have the TELUS Samsung Galaxy S2 X (T989D) running Gingerbread (v2.3.5). Today my friend (who has the Samsung Galaxy S2 (TI9100)) told me that they changed the Android Market to Google Play. I opened my Android Market to see if it would update to Google Play and all I got was a message asking to accept the terms of Google Play, which I pushed "Accept". After trying the following to have it updated to Google Play, still no cigar:

Deleting data and cache
Removing and reinstalling all previous Market updates
Turning off WiFi and using only 4G
Rebooting phone (several times)

I dont understand why its just not updating like everyone elses is? Maybe it has to do with the model of my phone?
EDIT: I also forgot to mention that I am in Canada.

From the official announcement on the Android Developers blog (emphasis mine):

We’ll be rolling out Google Play to devices in a phased OTA update, starting today and continuing over the days to come. With the update, the Android Market app will upgrade to the Play Store app and the Music, Videos, and Books apps will upgrade to Play Music, Play Movies, and Play Books. This update is for devices running Android 2.2 or higher, and users on other devices will continue to have the same access to your apps as before.

Just give it some time to work. For what it's worth, I got the upgrade almost immediately after I read the blog, and the new Google Play appeared in the apps instead of the old Market. It's pretty much the same as the previous Market app, bar the new branding. Also, check the version of your market app -- Google Play is version 3.4.6 or later, the old Market is 3.4.4.

Thanks Martin. I guess I will have to wait for it to get updated. I checked the version of the Market app and its 3.4.4, so I guess I am just 2 behind from the current one.

I went into the Market today and it finally updated to "Google Play". I guess TELUS was just a little slow to get the update.

Just wondering if anyone with a HTC Desire running the 2.3.3 upgrade that HTC begrudgingly release last year has managed to get Google Play onto their phone.  I've tried the steps above but I still have the regular market.  I get the feeling we've been abandoned and are expected to get slightly faster phones which are 7% more shiny (for another £500 or so) but I remain optimistic.

@Poldie: I do have a Desire, but with CyanogenMod 7.1, and I got the new market very quickly. AFAIR, Market updates are pushed by Google in their own discretion and are not dependent on device makers or carriers.

I might check it out.  Last time I looked at CyanogenMod the instructions were scary. Noone seemed to agree on how to perform the steps; the included links to other sites (with no guarantee whatever was being pointed at was still relevant), required downloads from file sharing sites etc.  I'd do it in a heartbeat if it were simple but I can't risk bricking my phone for (by all accounts) a new icon to load a freshly renamed market.  Or is it simpler now?

@Poldie: it's quite easy really, the scary part is the rooting, and that's quite simple now. Just remember to make a backup of everything, and you should be fine. Here's the official update guide: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/HTC_Desire_%28GSM%29:_Full_Update_Guide FWIW I'm very happy with Cyanogen and I don't regret switching. Much more space on the device, at the very least, and some nice root-only apps -- and of course running the latest Gingerbread.

Thanks for your advice/help. I will investigate this evening.

If your device is not detecting an update yet there is manual update as well.
You just have to download apk from the link and install it in your device.
Here is a link: Google Play Store 3.9.16
Note: After installing apk to your device if app started force closing

Clear data from app i.e go to settings->manage app->play store->clear data
If it is still force closing reboot your device

This works for me hope works for others as well


text:
Change sort order of contacts
I have a HTC Legend with Android 2.2. My contacts usually have first name and last name filled in. The ordering and display consists of <first name> <last name>. Since I know most of my clients by last name primarily, that doesn't really help.
I know of the combobox when editing a contact name where I can switch that. However, the last time I received an update of Android that was changed back to <first name> <last name> for all contacts. Obviously I want to avoid that.
Is there a way to change the display and hopefully the sorting order to <last name> <first name> that survives updates and whatnot?

Try using a third party contact program? A light contact manager I'd recommend would be: Exdialer

@thunderror Yeah, I thought about using other programs, but IMHO it would be better if I could make the installed default app work. Thanks for the suggestion.

In the Contacts app (or Phone app if you don't have a direct link in the launcher) press the 'Menu' button then select 'Display Options'.
You should find two categories to choose from, 'Sort list by' and 'View contact names by'.

I don't have that :( All I have is (translated into English): Contacts, Call list, Shorcuts, Phone Setup, Hints. In case you are wondering, Hints doesn't really show any hint and Setup doesn't provide anything remotely close.

Go to the Contacts tab, then press the Menu button and see if you have the option. It might also be under 'Settings'.

I have checked all Menu-screens in all tabs and I can't find anything. So I guess somebody turned off that feature, even though it's not clear to me why that makes any sense.


text:
Improve barcode scanning on a low resolution camera (3.2MP) without auto focus
I have two phones, one has a 3.2MP camera, and the other has an 8MP camera. I downloaded the 'Barcode Scanner' app on both phones, it works on the 8MP phone but the 3.2MP phone sometimes doesn't pick up any barcodes at all.
Update: from the discussion in the comment thread, it seems the phone doesn't pick up barcodes because it doesn't have Auto Focus. Is there a way I can get around this?

I suspect it's a focusing/lighting issue. My 1-year phone also has trouble sometimes picking up a barcode in suboptimal conditions. Changing the distance to the barcode and holding your phone still should help.

QR codes are designed for phone cameras, so it's no surprise it works with those. You need a pretty good image for standard bar codes to work. Have you tried getting very close to the bar code? Bad lighting can also do it.

3.2 mp camera should be able to pick up bar codes fine... as Martin said, it's probably a lighting or focusing issue.

ok, seems like a focusing issue, the specs say it doesnt have 'autofocus'. is there a way around this?

Try another app, NeoReader works pretty well on every device I've tried it

You could try Google Goggles as well.

Does tap to focus work from the app you're using? Tapping the barcode should focus on it

what's the particular model of the phone?

(I'll address your 2nd edit below...)
Some cheap camera modules don't include an auto focus feature, i.e. they are fix-focus'ed to infinity.
Barcode scanners need a near focus though and cannot (or hardly) scan the resulting blurry images that result from infinity-focused fix-focus cameras.
The only way around this would be to attach a macro lens specifically designed for smartphone cameras (also works with fix focus). Search for smartphone macro lens to see some samples.
I already tried that once with an older (also fix-focus) Sony-Ericsson Xperia X8 and it worked back then.

FREE solution:
I've had success with a fraction of a drop of water or oil over the lens of the camera on my ZTE Score.  It causes bar codes close to the camera to be in focus, and they read reliably.  Enough to form a convex surface, but not so much that it drops off.
The ZTE Score has a smooth back; I dip my finger in oil and, with the lens aimed up, touch the back of the phone where the lens to put a droplet of oil on it.  Then I can turn the phone face up (lens down) and I can scan bar codes.  If the outer surface of your camera lens isn't flat, this likely won't work, but it's worked with my ZTE score and should work with most low-end (fixed focus) phones.
A clear convex on one side, flat and sticky on the other side piece of plastic would do the trick too; I recall seeing stick-on rubber feet that would have served well, but haven't seen 'em and haven't tried that.
I got tired of doing this every time I wanted to scan a barcode, and just ordered a macro lens.
If the codes don't fit on the screen when in focus, your drop is too big; use less.

As I know, if you put a distance between the phone and the barcode far enough so there's no need for auto-focus, the phone should recognize it. But in some cases, the barcode distance may be far from the specific rectangle by the app, so it will not be recognized. In this case, this situation will differ from one phone to another, and btw I had this case in the past, and it never worked for me.

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


text:
Where can I find local installation files?
I'm rather new to Android development.
Where I work there are pretty tight security measures (firewall etc) preventing me to download API 15 from within Eclipse. We configured Eclipse's proxy settings to match IE's, but this didn't fix the issue. Finally, I took my laptop home to circumvent the issue. Everything works great now, except for the fact that my colleague has a company desktop and needs to work with android as well. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to perform an update on his pc? / Does anyone know in what system folder the Android SDK stores the API15 installation files?
Thanks alot!

I think this is really off-topic for this site, as it is not related to the Android OS itself and development questions are off-topic here. Consider asking this on Stack Overflow instead, or possibly Super User.

I know it's off topic, but the instructions are on the Android developer pages here. See the section under "Troubleshooting ADT Installation".

If you are still unable to use Eclipse to download the ADT plugin as a remote update site, you can download the ADT zip file to your local machine and manually install it:

Download the current ADT Plugin zip file from the table below (do not unpack it).
Follow steps 1 and 2 in the default install instructions (above).
In the Add Site dialog, click Archive.
Browse and select the downloaded zip file.
Enter a name for the local update site (e.g., "Android Plugin") in the "Name" field.
Click OK.
Follow the remaining procedures as listed for default installation above, starting from step 4.

To update your plugin once you've installed using the zip file, you will have to follow these steps again instead of the default update instructions.

Just download the zip file to a USB drive, follow these instructions and you're good to go!

You could also just copy the Android SDK folder from one pc to another.


text:
market links to google play in browser
I just bought a desire HD. I did the factory reset. When I click on Market (old app or at least old icon), it opens a new window in the browser with the policy of google play. At the moment I click, I see the accept and decline buttons shortly but can't click on them, they then disappear.
Basically I can't use market. There is no google play app on the phone either...
Does anyone else have this issue? Does anyone know how to solve this?

After trying several times I managed to click accept before the link opens. Then I had to accept google play terms and now I still have the old market app and logo but when I open it it seems to be new like google play... really weird...

So your problem is solved? Maybe you want to put your solution into an answer and accept it, so it can be helpful to others?

I found if I went in and cleared the Market Data (from settings -> applications), it then let me accept the terms and then started the same browser.  The next time after that, that I clicked on Market, it took me to the proper interface.