text:
Hacking HoneyTab
I found this strange "anonymous" device: HoneyTab.
Never wishing to discuss whether it's worth to buy or not (it would be totally OT), my questions are simple and straight: does somebody know if this tablet can be rooted or not? Does somebody know if and how is it possible to upgrade its ROM to future versions of Android or just to modded ROMs?
I have little experience with HTC devices only but I never really understood if the same ROM can be used with multiple devices, and if rooting is a standardized procedure or not (I have Android on SD on my HD2, so it's rooted already)
Thank you.

How do I root my Android device? contains our collective knowledge on what devices can be rooted, with links to methods.  It's incomplete, of course, so if anyone knows how to root this tablet please add the info to the answer there, even if you post it here.
ROMs cannot generally be used with multiple devices.  Each device normally requires its own drivers and kernel, due to different hardware.
Rooting is also not standardized; it depends on how Android has been modified on your particular device, as well as how your bootloader behaves.  There are, however, methods of rooting that take advantage of exploits common to most flavors of a particular version of Android.  For example, "Gingerbreak" worked on most devices that had the original version of Android 2.3.  How do I root my Android device? contains a list of those generalized tools as well.
The device looks like it's not Google-certified, and from searching around it looks like very few people have it.  Information on it will be sparse and rooting that much harder if none of the common exploits work.

Has Honeycomb 3.2 been rooted yet, at least?

http://www.acertabletforum.com/forum/acer-iconia-tab-a500-help/1287-root-a501-honeycomb-3-2-a.html# looks like it's not yet rootable as of today

@djechelon Oops, I misread your first comment.  There are methods for rooting the Motorola Xoom on 3.2, and some other devices, but they look to be device-specific.  So I would guess that a general exploit for 3.2 has not been found, you're right.


text:
Phone is slow to respond after waking up
Many times when I unlock my phone to wake it up, there seems to be a lot of lag shortly after.  For instance, simply trying to make a call or opening an app seems to take about 5 to 10 seconds or so.  I can't really look at the memory usage or anything because it is only within the first 10 seconds or so.  For the most part, other than this short time period, operation of the phone seems fine regarding speed.
This behavior seems to occur more frequently when I leave an app open, such as a messaging (Handcent) app or Browser.
Is there a way to identify what is slowing my phone down?
I am running a Gingerbread 2.3.3-based ROM on a Samsung Galaxy S (Captivate).
Edit to add:  Steps I've taken so far:

Removed any widgets
No longer use Live Wallpaper

Seems similar to: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/777/why-does-my-phone-peg-the-cpu-every-time-i-wake-it-up

@P.T., Yeah, you're right. didn't see that one.

After updating to a 2.3.4-based ROM that is not 2.3.3, this issue seems to be solved.  See more details in the answer to this question.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
PanDigital Novel - how to replace/update certificate store?
After the DigiNotar fiasco, the Guardian Project put out the CACertMan application which allows a user to modify their certificate store on a rooted device.
It doesn't work on Android 2.0, which is what the PDN runs. What are my options?

The CACertMan application, while it does not support 2.1 as compiled, is trivially modifiable to compile against 2.1 SDK and minimum version can be dropped with no seemingly ill effects.
Now to get that patch submitted.

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


text:
"USB Connected" constantly flashing on screen
The USB connection keeps coming up on the top bar of my Samsung Galaxy S. It wears down the battery and the phone turns itself off randomly, sometimes its hard to get it to turn back on, I have tried connecting the USB cable to the computer then disconnecting which did nothing.
Can someone help?

Try different USB cables and different ports (on you computer) or even different computers. I had a similar problem (with a different phone) but only with a specific USB hub. Using a different USB port on my computer made the problem go away.

Your usb port is bad - this is a hardware issue. Take the phone in for warranty service.
Edit: I had this happen on my Nexus S as it came out of the box today. I flashed the latest stock ROM, then re-installed CyanogenMod over top (and restored my data). It seems to be a little less flaky. You may not be able to do anything of the sort, but it may help others.

this could also be caused by a cheap or bad cable. I have a cable that I bought that doesn't seem to fit perfect and if i move the cable/phone the littlest bit, it "unplugs", then plugs back in.

His phone is likely no longer under warranty. I'd suggest, just in case, doing a factory reset. If that doesn't resolve it, your phone is likely on the road to total failure. Random power-offs signal kernel panics (CPU faults - unfixable) or damage to the components which deliver power to the phone from the battery. Either way, the outlook for your phone isn't great.

I assumed, Ryan Conrad, that OP did not have a cable plugged in.

I have one thing to say. Before even concluding it as a hardware issue, you can do one more thing.
Go to Settings -> Privacy -> Settings Reset -> Reset Phone
It doesn't remove any personal data on the phone and resets the Settings only.
The phone restarts itself. Now plug in your Cable to the PC and see if the same issue continues to happen. If it happens again then it is purely Hardware issue.

resetting my Sony Z2 has resolved that problem

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


text:
open and accept calendar invitations
How do I open and accept calendar invitations?  Phone is a Samsung Galaxy S  SCH-I500  2.3.4 firmware.  US Cellular carrier, I'm using gmail app and email app; neither recognize format.  phone's native calendar and google cal online.  All else synced and working beautifully.  3rd party software for ical attachments (buy me a beer guy) didn't parse correctly...

You need to be way more clear here.  What service are the invitations originating from?  Are you attempting to send a response?  Are you attempting to add them to your calendar (and which is that)?

Invitations sent from google calendar and from lotus notes calendar.  Attempt to view them fails; therefore can't accept and add to resident calendar - included on phone, synced to web google calendar

.ics attachments "not supported for viewing" even when they come from google calendar.  Still egg on google face IMHO

This is only partially the case.  Although there's no convenient way to do anything with an ICS attachment directly from your phone, you can have Google Calendar automatically add a corresponding event to your calendar when a .ics pops up in your inbox.  Just enable the setting, Automatically add invitations to my calendar in your Google Calendar settings (from the Google Calendar website).  Then when you receive a meeting invite, it'll already be in your calendar by the time you see the email.  You can then RSVP from Google Calendar (the site or the app).

Use the free app ics Databridge. It works perfectly. The size is just 25kB.

You can use Invitation Plugin to open ICS files directly in Google Calendar application. It can open ics invitations from email attachments or from files on sdcard.
It requires at least Android 4.x+ (Ice Cream Sandwich) to run.
Note: I am an author of this app.


text:
Why doesn't my Macbook see my phone (droid incredible, cyanogen)?
I an Android newbie and software developer.  I just got this used HTC Droid Incredible and installed cyanogen on it.  I read that when I plug it in to the laptop with a USB cable I should see a notification at the top of the phone's screen, and then be able to copy over music, etc.  But I plug it in and nothing happens.  What's wrong?  What can I do?  The first thing I wanted to do was load some music.

Try a different USB port, try rebooting the phone, try a different cable.

Tried 2 of 3.  I'll report back when I've found a different cable.

That was it.  The non-working cable was a brand new cable from the store, but it was part of a boost mobile car charger.  It works for charging.  Are some USB cables power only, and not data?

Not that I know of, some are just shoddy :P

It was the cable.  The store gave me a new cable, but it was power only.  I didn't know some cables were power, but no data.   I'll be returning that.   Thanks to Matthew for his suggestion in the comment.


text:
Is there any way to save a raw image from my phone's camera?
I have an Android mobile with a 5MP camera. Is there any way to save raw images (similar to Canon CR2, Nikon NEF, etc.) from my Android device?

Unfortunately, unless someone (almost certainly the sensor manufacturer in conjunction with the camera manufacturer) has provided methods to get RAW data from the sensor level all the way up through the Android stack, it's going to be somewhere between very difficult and impossible.
Even if you did get RAW data, most processing suites probably aren't going to know enough about the sensor data to do a good job of processing it into a decent image.

There are camera reverse-engineering efforts, but they're focusing on the HTC Dream/HTC Magic camera, which isn't 5MP.


text:
How do I take very long exposure photos?
I would like to take some long exposure photos using my Android phone (Moto DROID v1 running Android 2.2.2) of the night sky.  I experimented with the settings for the default camera app, and I found that I can set the focus to infinity, but the exposure time has only three settings: 0, +1, and +2.  If I  set the exposure to +2, I can get a recognizable photo of a full moon, but I am unable to capture a field of stars.
Is there any way to extend the exposure time beyond +2?

Note: there's a misunderstanding between exposure compensation and shutter speed. The exposure setting on the camera app is the first one, not about the duration of the exposure.

You cannot do this from with Settings of the default camera.
You could look at another camera app like Camera Streak (Blog).
Or you could roll your own, here is the relevant details you need to change:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/Camera.Parameters.html
setExposureComponent()

I tried camera streak, but without tight control over ISO I just wound up with either a black image or a bright, fuzzy blob.

You can use Long Exposure Camera 2. This app can be used to achieve very long shutter exposure.

You could try Camera FV-5. It only lets you go up to 1 minute exposure, but it has ISO control, and the Lite version isn't restricted or watermarked.


text:
My default voicemail number somehow changed to *74274, which gives an error message. How do I switch it back to *86?
At some point during the past 2 months the drag-down default voicemail number on my Droid X inexplicably changed from *86 to *74274 - a number that returns the pre-recorded message: "Your feature update could not be completed."
How do I change the default voicemail number back to *86?

Try Settings->Call Settings->Voicemail. On my Fascinate this pops up with a dialog box where I can enter a new voicemail number immediately. On my EVO (CyanogenMod) I have to go into Settings->Call Settings->Voicemail Settings->Voicemail Number to get the same box, so it's very similar but does take an extra step.

Heh, I always made voicemail a contact, but that's a holdover from having a FreeRunner :)


text:
What is the difference between Widget and program that can be added to the home screen?
When I hold the home screen on a spot a set of options appears to add to Home. Two of these options say program and widget. To add my calendar app which syncs with my google calendar I had to use widget on the home screen. To add my task app which syncs with my google tasks, I added a program to the home screen.
What is different from a Widget and a program. They both must be programs. Is a widget something which is dynamic all the time, and loads on boot so the viewer can see it on the home screen live and updated like a clock?

You basically answered the question.  A widget is a 'view' on an application that will update and can be embedded in apps like the home screen.  A 'program' in the home screen sense is a static link to an full-screen application startup.
See the first para of the Android developer docs for more details about what a Widget is:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/appwidgets/index.html


text:
Downgrade 2.3.6 to 2.2.2 - Nexus One
I would like to downgrade my Nexus One to 2.2.2, because I've had non-stop problems with Gingerbread. I have the 2.2.2 update from android central, and going off the comments from a previous question, I'm under the assumption that this is doable.
So I've gone through the Bootloader -> Recovery -> apply sdcard:update.zip steps, and it fails with the following message:
assert failed: file_getprop("/system/build.prop", "ro.build.fingerprint") == "google/passion/passion/mahimahi:2.2.1/FRG83D/75603:user/release-keys" || file_getprop("/system/build.prop", "ro.build.fingerprint") == "google/passion/passion/mahimahi:2.2.2/FRG83D/91102:user/release-keys"

E:Error in /tmp/sideload/package.zip
(Status 7)
Installation aborted.

I would guess the OS is checking if I'm on either 2.2.1 (updating from the previous version) or 2.2.2 (reinstalling the target version), is this assumption correct?
This begs the question, how do I go from 2.3.6 to 2.2.2? Do I need to factory reset, and apply updates sequentially?

Factory reset won't help, it keeps the current software version.

Ok, good to know. So what would you recommend I try? I haven't been able to find a good resource on how to downgrade, all I find is how to upgrade.

Generally, phone manufacturers will not allow you to downgrade for various reasons.  The stock recovery does indeed validate the update image, so that it's of a greater (or same) version than the installed system.  With the Nexus One being a developer phone, you can unlock the bootloader and replace the recovery image with the one that doesn't perform this check, and will allow installation of any image.  The caveat is that unlocking the bootloader voids your warranty with the carrier (and sometimes the manufacturer too,) and wipes all user data off the device.
Unlocking the N1 is dead easy. Just install Android SDK and the USB drivers (located in "google-usb_driver" directory.)  Then restart the phone in bootloader mode by shutting it off and powering on while holding down the trackball, hook it up to the computer via USB, and in command prompt issue the following command: C:\<path to Android SDK>\platform-tools\fastboot oem unlock. You will be presented with a confirmation screen with further instructions.  Upon successful unlock, you can flash a custom recovery that will allow you to install any custom ROM, including downgrade to 2.2.x stock version of Android OS.
To flash ClockworkMod recovery, download the latest version for Nexus One from here, reboot into bootloader mode (power on while holding the trackball down,) and in command prompt issue command C:\<path to ANdroid SDK>\platform-tools\fastboot flash recovery C:\<path to downloaded img>\recovery-clockwork-5.0.2.0-passion.img
Reboot to bootloader mode again, and then use the Volume keys to highlight the "Recovery" option and press Power button.  You are now in ClockworkMod recovery, and can flash any custom ROMs via the "Install zip from sdcard" option.
Here is a "stock" 2.2.2 ROM (with root) off XDA-developers forum.

This is awesome info, thanks! I'm going to try this out when I get a chance.

Just in case anyone else comes to this later, fastboot is now in "platform-tools" not "tools" in the newer SDK versions

@littleFluffyKitty: Thanks, edited to reflect the new path.


text:
How to know how much battery in terms of hours and minutes is left on my phone?
I want to know the remaining time of my cell phone battery. Android only gives me how much battery in terms of percentage has been consumed since the last charging.
However, what I want is to know how much more time I have before my phone goes off? How can I get that information?

The phone drains different amount of battery depending upon the state it is in like, idle, screen on, WiFi, playing Video and such. So it is difficult to predict how many hours the battery will last before dying out.

@roxan, yeah, you're right. But just like the battery of a laptop, it can give us an estimate based on the current battery usage rate. This way, I can get sure that I can continue listening to my favorite music, for another 20 minutes, for example.

Battery Indicator Pro or a similar alternative might help. In addition to showing the remaining battery in numbers, it also tries to "guesstimate" the remaining minutes, depending on light/medium/heavy usage.


text:
Is there a way to disable touch temporarily?
Imagine that you want to do something, while the display in is action (not in sleep mode) and at the same time, you don't want to do anything else. This situation is like children lock, in which, all buttons fail to react, temporarily, to disable any kind of interaction by a child.
Is there a way to achieve this in Android? Do we have something like lock screen?

If your talking within your app, this is impossible as you cannot override the home button even if it is soft or hard button. So a full lock is always impossible.
This is to stop rogue app's taking full control of the phone.

Actually the built-in camera app can do this. If you press the power button while in the camera app it locks all other buttons and the touch-screen, while still showing the screen display. However, I have no idea if 3rd party apps can do this or if it's only available to system apps to prevent rogue apps misusing the feature.

What device is this? Pressing power on the N1 whilst in the camera app - does the usual - locks the phone and turns the screen black.

Galaxy S with official Gingerbread, only found it by accident a couple of weeks ago when I was taking a few pictures in a row and then suddenly none of the buttons worked. Hadn't looked into whether it was stick or a Samsung TouchWiz change, but either way it shows this is possible for a system app.

Yeah well it makes sense for system apps, as the 'lock screen' itself is a system app :-)

There are several apps on Google Play that can do that, such as, TouchBlocker.

Does anyone know which Android SDK APIs can be used to achieve such kind of Touch Blocking?

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


text:
Show/Hide Keyboard on the Samsung Galaxy S2
I used to have a HTC Magic, and I recently switched to a Samsung Galaxy S2.
One thing I miss is the ability to Show/hide the keyboard, on the HTC Magic, a long press of the menu key toggled the keyboard's visibility, is there a way to achieve the same thing on the Galaxy S2?
(I tried several long presses and various swype up or down gestures to no avail...)
Thanks!

Posted my question too quickly, I just found a way to do a bit the same, when the keyboard is out, a press on back will hide it, this is handy when filling forms with numerous entries, to make the keyboard pop out again simply click in a text field...
This is enough so far, and a long press on the menu will bring out the search window.


text:
Filesystem created and last accessed times
Why doesn't Android keep track of the created and last accessed times as well as the last modified time for files in the file-system?

It doesn't store creation time because UNIX filesystems (generally speaking) simply don't store this anywhere, and Android doesn't seem to be any different. This Stack Overflow question has some discussion about this fact (you can ignore the fact that it's talking about Python - the answers are still relevant), and the man page for stat describes what times are typically stored in the data structure.
As for the last accessed times...well it does keep track. Try ls -l in any directory you have proper permissions for:
$ cd /sdcard/
cd /sdcard/
$ ls -l
ls -l
drwxrwxr-x system   sdcard_rw          2011-04-27 14:31 LOST.DIR
drwxrwxr-x system   sdcard_rw          2011-04-27 14:31 DCIM
drwxrwxr-x system   sdcard_rw          2011-04-27 14:31 Android
drwxrwxr-x system   sdcard_rw          2011-04-27 16:14 glogs
-rwxrwxr-x system   sdcard_rw    49152 2011-05-27 16:04 AndroidBytes.txt
drwxrwxr-x system   sdcard_rw          2011-06-28 16:28 vim
-rwxrwxr-x system   sdcard_rw        0 2011-09-11 16:48 su-2.3.1-bin-signed.zip
$

If you have busybox you can also use the stat command for more detailed info. It also lets you use some additional ls flags like -u, -c and -t (see man ls if you're not familiar with it). Here's a sample from stat:
# stat databases
stat databases
  File: "databases"
  Size: 2048            Blocks: 4          IO Block: 4096   directory
Device: 1f06h/7942d     Inode: 454         Links: 1
Access: (0771/drwxrwx--x)  Uid: (10079/  app_79)   Gid: (10079/  app_79)
Access: 2011-09-29 09:07:44.000000000
Modify: 2011-09-29 09:07:44.000000000
Change: 2011-09-29 09:07:44.000000000
#

When using stat on a file on the sdcard one gets 'Uid: (0/root)' .

"It doesn't store creation time because UNIX filesystems (generally speaking) simply don't store this anywhere" -- what??? UNIX systems DO store creation time! You can access them with the -c option to ls.


text:
PDF reader with text wrapping
Is there any PDF reader in the market that has text wrap functionality?
What I'm talking about is the way text wraps when you zoom-in on a webpage.
Most of the PDFs are meant to be read on a computer monitor, so a line of text in a PDF document is too long for a small phone screen. And scrolling horizontally for each line is too much of a pain.

Could we re-open this? It seems like a good question to me.

I am pretty sure Mantano Reader and ezPDF do this as well. I recommend the former though.

Mantano Reader has the text wrapping feature I was looking for. Thanks for the suggestion @Ayman

Than, why didn't you accept his answer/ Doing so would help others who read this question in future.

Adobe's Reader for Android has the Text reflow feature that you're looking for.

Adobe's Reader has one major problem: it shows current page number in top left corner for a few secs when page switching, which disrupts your reading flow (you have to wait to see the text behind the page number); they should have put the number on the bottom of the screen. I also don't like the way it splits a single page in multiple pages instead of creating one long column per page through which you could scroll vertically.

I have just installed Adobe Acrobat DC but I can't find the text wrapping option.

The viewer that's part of ThinkFree Office has a "reading view" that does this, and it's easy to toggle between that and the regular page view.


text:
How can I change the naming convention of the stock camera/gallery app?
I just switched from a Droid1 to an HTC Evo 3d, and despite all the positives, one negative is sticking under my nail. On the Motorola Droid, the camera/gallery (I am not sure who is responsible for the naming of the image) had a naming convention that included a time/date stamp (i.e. 20110930122900). Unfortunately, the Evo does not use this naming convention (although all of the information is stored in the EXIF data). Having the time/date in the file name is very convenient when posting the images on my site (Squarespace editor doesn't simultaneously display EXIF) and captioning them.

Short of rooting the device, is there a way to change the naming convention on the Evo 3d to include this information?
Is there a camera app that is as fully featured as the Evo 3d stock app (although it's not amazing, I'm looking for it to have multiple filters and be compatible with the 2d/3d camera capture/display modes) that already has this naming convention or has one that can be configured?

That is not currently possible on the stock camera application, however there is an open ticket with the Android project team to make such an option exposed.
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=10561
Meanwhile you can try some custom camera applications like "Camera Folders" which allows custom file name conventions in addition to folder groupings.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.phasip.camerafolders&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5waGFzaXAuY2FtZXJhZm9sZGVycyJd

As a side note,  last night I developed a rather stupid application that you load instead of your default camera application. It then asks your default camera app to take a picture named X, where X is customizable.  It repeats that loop (asking for a new picture named X, saving picture you took with camera) until you back out.     Any way point is I would be happy to upload it for you if you cant find something on the market that works.

Hello; is this answer still up to date regarding the last version of Android (4.1) ?

I would use Vignette. It will let you change the naming convention in the settings. The pictures end up in your gallery so no need to go searching for them.

You can either have new camera app which gives you in required naming convention or use filenamer and rename pictures.
Option 1: Camera 360 has this naming convention 2011-12-12-0215-4-20.jpg - https://market.android.com/details?id=vStudio.Android.Camera360
Option 2: Try this re.*(Renamer) which accepts regular expression for rename - https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dnsdojo.mokkouyou.android.renamer

try our new app Rename Photos. It is an app that quickly and easily rename photo and video titles in the DCIM directory, where the Camera App stores it to the selected format.
There are two renaming formats to choose from: Standard and Expert
Standard:

photos: img_DATE_TIME.jpg, dsc_SERIAL_NO.jpg
(e.g. IMG_20190615_124530.jpg, DSC_1234.jpg)
videos: vid_DATE_TIME.mp4, mov_1234.mp4
(e.g. IMG_20190615_124530.mp4, MOV_1234.mp4)

Expert:

photos: DATE_TIME.jpg, SERIAL_NO.jpg (e.g. 2019-06-15_12-45-30.jpg, 001234.jpg)
videos: DATE_TIME.mp4, SERIAL_NO.mp4 (e.g. 2019-06-15_12-45-30.mp4, 001234.mp4)
this expert format allows better sorting, because videos will also be placed between
photos alphabetically, not separately at the end of the directory.

Download link on Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.bukacek.renamephotos

This is BRILLIANT! Such a relief to get readable filenames and lexicographical order coinciding with date order.


text:
How can I browse old mails in an IMAP folder?
Both the build-in mail client (Android 2.1) and K-9 mail, display the most recent n messages received during the last m days, where m and n are configuration items. Messages older than m days are invisible.
It's certainly sensible to hide old mail my by default, but how cannot I lookup an old message in INBOX or another folder? Even if the INBOX folder is huge, retrieving all headers should be an option.

In K-9 Mail, if you scroll down in your inbox, it shows the option "Load up to n more", and by repeating this you can go back further and further.

No. This only loads some subsets of the mails (I suspect recent)

Weird, on my phone it goes 100 mails back chronologically with each load (I've set my mailbox to show 100 latest).

When using both features i.e. n messages in the last m days I have always found it to be buggy.
If you want to pick up loads of old messages would suggest going into the account settings for that account, removing the m days option and changing the fetching option from xKB to just headings. Would also suggest changing n messages to a higher value, one that is likely to pick up however many you want. Then refresh your account - you should get exactly what you need now.

I have set “Sync messages from” to “any time (no limit)” (which is the /m/ in your answer) but still don’t get the one old message I can access via pine (a desktop IMAP client) to show up in K-9 Mail 5.006 (using the very same IMAP settings)…


text:
How do I transfer contacts from my PC to my phone, without putting it in Gmail?
I have a Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo. I want to copy my outlook contacts to my phone without gmail. This is my first time I bought a Android. It seems great, but one thing I do not like is that I have to sync my whole life with google first, before I can transfer it. The previous software allowed me to copy back and forth between PC and phone,without going onto the internet.
Hopefully it is something I'm doing wrong, because if it is not, I'm changing OS!
Please help
es

AOSP/Stock Android builds allow importing contacts from SIM cards, or VCF files (which are just text files.)
I am unsure the SE Xperia Neo allows you to do this - if so, it's relatively easy to build a VCF file.

Have you tried the Sony Ericsson PC Companion suite?  The latest version's Sync Zone should be able to work with Outlook.
There are other packages on the market that can do this for you, but most are paid like for example CompanionLink ($49, free 2 week trial) with its Android app DejaOffice.

Sony PC Companion really could be better. From your phone, goto contact list them do a back up contacts. It will writes all your contacts to a VCF file on the SD Card. Then you may merge it to whatever application dealing with VCF files.

Move your phone contacts list to the root folder of SD card
Tap on the People option on your phone and select import contacts from SD card.
Choose the list previously uploaded, then all the contacts will be imported.


text:
Flash is not working with Firefox on Android

Possible Duplicate:
How do I make Adobe Flash work with Firefox?

I installed Firefox on my android from the market app, then I installed flash from the market app, and Firefox still does not display flash on sites like charlierose.com for example.
Any idea what it is I need to do in order to get flash to work on Firefox?

Current version of Firefox for Android does not support Flash content.  Mozilla developers said that they are working on it, and eventually Flash will work in some future version.  No ETA was given though.


text:
How can I convert my music to show up OGG Vorbis tags?
What command with FFmpeg should I use to ensure that all of my metadata (Currently, most of the Artist tags are ignored) and music will play perfectly on Android? (Preferably using Ogg Vorbis!)
I'm running the latest stable version of CyanogenMod (7.1) but the majority shows up under "Unknown Artist" on my device, but shows them on the computer. I just use Banshee to sync the music, as I'm a linux user (so DoubleTwist is not a solution ;__;)

What format is it in now?

Ogg Vorbis, however some of the tags do not show up. The tracks play correctly though

You should rephrase your question, like: How can I convert music to ogg so that the tags show up in the Android Music App/Player or Why do my tags don't show up when playing Ogg files on Android?

What extension do the problematic files have? .ogg or .oga?

Ogg is supported by default.
Supported Media Formats

Yeah, it's a case of knowing what formats of tagging are supported

It's clearly not supported. I have the same problem.


text:
Can I use the stock SMS/MMS app on an Android tablet without UMTS module?
I just got my Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet. It does not have a GSM/UMTS/3G module but there is an SMS/MMS icon. What is the purpose of this app? Does Android allow me to send and receive SMS/MMS over my Wifi Internet connection, or is it just a leftover?
I am not interested in any alternatives to the stock app. I am more curious if it serves any purpose on a device without a UMTS module and if so, how to configure and use it.
So the questions could also be phrased like: What purpose serves the stock Android SMS app on an tablet without GSM/UMTS module?

I can't speak to the stock app or the device in particular, but it depends on whether your carrier has something like UMA for extending services like SMS over the public Internet.

As for now I consider the stock SMS/MMS app a leftover on tablet devices without an GSM/UMTS module. I serves no purpose on such devices.

You can download an app such as TextPlus from the market for free and then send MMS & SMS from that app. I am not sure what app you are talking about since I don't have a ThinkPad tablet but I know that you can use TextPlus.

Ayman: It looks like the Tablet has the original Android SMS/MMS app installed and it claims to be able to send and receive SMS although I have no UMTS module and couldn't find any preferences regarding configuration of the app (SMS-Call center ID, etc.).

Another app/service to try would be Google Voice.  You can get a phone number and send/receive SMS (and voicemail).  This may only work (or work well in the US, though).

P.T.:Thanks for you answer. :) But I am not asking for alternatives to the stock app. I edited my question and made that more clear.


text:
Communicating with a device via USB port , is it possible?
I am new to Android Platform and I Like to know whether it is possible for an Android device (App) to communicate with Linux/XP system via USB port for 2 way communication. If yes how can it be done?
What I want to achieve: I have a PC running Linux and I want to write a small App in my Android device to send and receive data from PC via USB.

This depends a little bit on what you mean by "communicating". Are you looking for devices that support USB host mode, or are you just looking to send data packets both ways over the wire? The latter can be accomplished with ADB and port forwarding

This isn't possible on most devices, since they don't support USB Host mode. Some devices have USB OTG support or a USB Host port, but these are relatively rare devices so far. In theory you could write an application on Win/Linux to access the phone via USB but not the other way around.

While this is generally correct from a USB host standpoint, I just want to point out that you don't necessarily need host mode if you simply want to send data packets across a USB cable. You can use a client/server setup with a desktop app and ADB's port forwarding to send data packets both ways. This is essentially how PDANet works.

Yes, this is why I mentioned the possibility of writing an application for the desktop. I just forgot to mention the client/server architecture. Good clarification.

Android Devices as USB Hosts has been a point of interest for all the developers. Until the Android's HoneyComb OS (OS 3.0), there have been no signs of possibility.
The latest HoneyComb API (OS 3.1), however, seems to provide possibilities to support Android devices being used as USB Hosts. An API has been included for the same.
Therefore, though as of now very few Android devices support the USB Host capability, it will be possible in all the upcoming devices.

3.1 is Honeycomb, not ICS. It's already been deployed to many devices, and several are in fact at 3.2 already. 2) Several Honeycomb devices absolutely support USB host mode, including the Xoom. You just need an OTG adapter if the device doesn't have a full sized USB port.

+1 to that... I was probably referring to older documentation. But, yes, new devices do support USB Host capability. Thanks, @eldarerathis !

Android doesn't directly expose USB device-mode to applications, but apps can transfer data indirectly via IP when using tethering. This sometimes requires an additional custom 'proxy-like' software/driver on the host to unwrap the data. For example to interpret ipMIDI as MIDI on Linux, multimidicast/QmidiNet is needed.
Host-mode however, has been exposed since 3.1 (in android.hardware.usb).
Hopefully Google will eventually support device-mode (sigh). See these issues in project Android (and star them if they interest you!):
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=10176
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=30198


text:
How can I delete my /sdcard/.xiaoniubook/ directory?
I downloaded a free book app from the Android Market and it installed just fine, but when I went to open it it told me I needed to try to delete the /sdcard/.xiaoniubook/ directory and restart my phone. Where (or what) is that and how can I delete it?

Have got a android sdk. If you have got it, then go to tools directory, and type:
adb shell
rm /sdcard/.xiaoniubook

First install this awesome file manager program called ES File Explorer. link
In there browse to /sdcard.
Now press Menu and Select Settings. Go to File Settings and check Show Hidden Files
Now you should see the folder hidden folder .xiaoniubook. Long press it and choose Delete from the menu.
And just for your information, in Linux any file/folder starting with . are considered as hidden file/folder.


text:
Can I update my handset from gingerbread to honeycomb

Possible Duplicate:
When will my device get the Android 3.x update (Honeycomb)?

I am using  Motorola Fire XT. It runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
Can I update Gingerbread to Honeycomb.

Because it very slow in streaming youtube videos
Some times it strucking.

There are not currently any phones that have Honeycomb, it has only been released on tablet devices, and all signs point that it won't ever be released on phones. The forthcoming Ice Cream Sandwich is likely to be the next big upgrade for phones when it is released. See this list for all the currently known devices that can be upgraded to Honeycomb http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/7680/when-will-my-device-get-the-android-3-x-update-honeycomb

I doubt it, since Honeycomb is only meant for tablet devices. You'd be better off waiting for Gingerbread updates for your phone, assuming you're not running the very latest version, or for Ice Cream Sandwich, which is meant for phones and tablets.


text:
Why does my Samsung Galaxy S lose data for some applications?
I am very happy with my Galaxy S, which I have had for about a year now. Recently I noticed that some of the installed applications seem to lose data. Because I do not know the file system nor the inner working of an Android device, I will give the specific apps in the hope that someone recognizes this or at least can tell me something to try.

The first program I noticed was Friend Caster. This is a (very good) Facebook client which worked fine for some weeks. But now I have to, at least once a day, re-enter my user ID and password. The technical staff helped with some things to try (related to the Facebook integration), but nothing helps.

The second program I noticed was Business Calendar Free. Every once in a while (and I really can't put my finger on why) this program starts up as if it is just installed - i.e. it produces the start help screen, and I lose the settings I chose (f.i. the chosen colours for Saturday and Sunday). Although the installed and active calendars are kept. Also, the widgets of this program, stop updating themselves, which is rather useless for a calendar widget, of course :)

I have lots of other programs installed, and all of those seem to work correctly. None of them has an obvious function which could cause this.
Samsung Galaxy S - GT-I9000 - Firmware 2.2.1 - Kernel 2.6.32.9 -  phone is not rooted
The problem can be specific to those two programs, of course, so I also installed both of them on my son's Galaxy S, on my wife's LG, and on my Archos 101 tablet. None of these phones present the same problem.
UPDATE
I have upgraded my Android version to version 2.3.3, but this has not solved the problem.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
UPDATE 2
I received the following answer from the nice guys from the Business Calendar support. Can anybody verify this (or knows a solution to the problem):

This is a well known problem on some Samsung devices, since the update of Android version 2.2.1. The settings of some apps are not saved permanently. Once this problem occured, this will happen again and again.
As the problem seems to be caused by a bug in Samsung's version of the Android OS I am afraid to say that we can't do anything against it. We hope that Samsung is about to fix the reason of this in the future.
Maybe you can contact the Samsung support, that they hopefully accelerate working on that issue.
So unfortunately your device is affected by this problem. Some people
told us that a factory reset helps them out of this really annoying
problem, but I won't guarantee for anything. That's up to you.

Is there no 2.3 update for you (carrier branded ?) Galaxy S?

I think there is, yes. I will install it and report back.

Hmm, do you install any of this stuff on an SD card?

@Chance AFAIK Samsung Galaxy S stil has a problem with SD cards in so far that you cannot move applications to the SD card (although programs can use it for writing data). Upgrading my Galaxy from 2.1 to 2.2 to 2.3 did not solve this problem (and I don't want to root my phone to solve it myself - another question here on this forum explains how). Maybe that can be the problem , although my son who also has a Galaxy S does not have this problem. Problem is, I don't know where to start looking for a solution.

It may actually be a Samsung problem.  Here's a similar problem report (app on Samsung becomes forgetful) with DropBox: http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=37207
The DropBox folks claim they fixed it (though perhaps they just worked around it).  I couldn't find any details, so it may not be the same underlying mechanism as the apps you're having problems with.
Assuming the apps in question store the login data in an sqlite database internally, here's a SO question about a similar problem:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5886019/android-application-samsung-galaxy-tab-2-2-does-not-sometimes-write-to-the.  Sadly, it is currently unanswered.
The Samsung developer website does not have any mention of sqlite or persistence problems that I could find.  (But there isn't a whole lot there.)

I can't answer why this is happening to your Galaxy S. Mine works just fine and I'm also able to transfer apps to the SD. But here is how I would approach the problem:

Look in the system log, either via adb or an app. Maybe there is a hint about what's going on.
Try installing a custom rom. I have heard that cyanogen mod has pretty good support for the SGS. This will likely also change the filesystem to ext3/4.

All in all it sounds like and hardware problem of the flash storage. The system log will maybe reveal some unreadable sectors.


text:
Google Voice : Your phone number couldn't be verified
After I sign in, i'm asked to set a voicemail PIN, and immediately after that i get the error:

Your phone number could not be verified. Please try again.

How do I verify my phone for Google Voice usage on my Android?
Note: I'm using Nexus one with the latest 2.3.6 update. I'm not a US citizen. And I can make calls from my PC.

You mentioned that you're not a US citizen, but do you live in the US and have a US phone number? If not, Google voice is not yet available outside US, and you just have to wait for them to expand the service.

If you already have GVoice via other means, then the app should pick up the saved phone number from the web service.  Don't try to use your non-US number (see onik's answer).
If you do have a US number, try to activate via the website instead of the app.

There are some guides online about activating a non-US phone number on Google Voice.  It usually requires acquiring of a US phone number, and installation of IP-spoofing software on your PC.

Is it a one time setup, and once I activated it I will be able to use it? Or I will have to use IP spoofing on my android as well?

I'm not sure as I haven't tested this myself, but from the instructions it looks like you only need to spoof the IP address for the verification step.


text:
Motorola Atrix 4g reboots itself
I've just got a new Motorola Atrix 4g and have experience random reboots of the phone, this generally happens when it is in my pocket or otherwise unattended.
Usually during the work day when browsing, playing games, listening to music or using the GPS it behaves itself.
Anyone got any ideas?

Mine is doing this too. Did you get yours replaced?

Yes, I contacted my network provider (Orange UK) and they send me out a new handset.

Sounds like a hardware issue.  I suggest promptly replacing it with your carrier before your return grace period is up (30 days with AT&T, for example.)  You will need to do this at the same store where you purchased the handset.
I have the exact same problem with my new Atrix.  Unfortunately (for me) I unlocked its bootloader, so AT&T is refusing to honor the warranty.  I sent it in to Motorola for repairs, but it's still doing the same thing (Moto was nice enough to re-lock the bootloader, but AT&T is still not budging.)  In my case, I have a feeling that it's either damaged battery contacts on the phone, or perhaps a faulty battery itself.  I am planning to send it to Motorola again (on their dime this time) to see if they can fix it for real this time.

Nice to know AT&T is definitely not going to honor warranty on unlocked phones.

I guess it depends on the in-store clerks (some are more sympathetic than others,) but AT&T's official corporate policy is "F.U." when it comes to unlocked bootloaders.

Started to get a dead spot on the camera sensor as well, so it is being replaced by my carrier tomorrow.

I've been noticing this too - it seems to only happen when I'm enabling > 2G data access.
I've managed to cut down the amount of reboots by installing Cyanogenmod 7 and a custom kernel, which I found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1156040
It's down to 1 or 2 reboots a week now, which is manageable.

Since I've had a replacement handset I only had around 1-2 reboots every couple of months, usually when downloading and installing apps.


text:
How can I get a busy tone when dialing a number which is actually busy
I usually dial a number and then put the phone in my pocket (using a headset).
That doesn't work very well when the destination is busy since I never get a busy tone. I just get a "number is busy" message or something like that in the display for a couple of seconds.
Is it possible to get a busy tone instead?

I have exactly the same problem.

I have never been able to find a solution to it, unfortunately. But fortunately for me I will be ditching HTC altogether very soon when I get a new phone.

Now, as for the busy tone problem, if you listen very carefully, preferrably in a very silent room, and you dial a busy phone line you most certainly will be able to hear a very very weak "busy tone". So it's not really true that there is no tone, the busy tone is actually there! But it's completely rubbish and inaudible, so you can't hear it in a busy room or even less when walking down the street so it's completely useless anyway. But it is there. If you are ready to listen carefully for it! ;) Perhaps use a spy kit to be able to hear it.

I will post back if I find a solution to this. But the only thing that could solve it for sure is rooting the phone and dumping the old ROM for some custom ROM like CyanogenMod.

This sounds like it may be something your carrier is doing when the number your calling is busy. If I call a number that is busy, I get a busy tone.

do you have a HTC Desire? If so, which version of Android/Sense.


text:
How can I record touches?
Is there an existing app I can install that will record my touch interactions in the background?  I just saw this and it made me want to play around with my touch data to see what it looked like.  Didn't turn up any likely candidates here or in the Market.  Google seemed to indicate that it is certainly doable if you write your own foreground app (which I have no interest in doing because I want to record my touches in the entire system), and that it might be possible using a custom-developed background app, which might be a fun project but I'd rather install an existing app if possible.

if there is anything like that I'm pretty sure it would require at least rooted phone, as it is a security and privacy issue if any application can record touches (e.g. a malicious touch recorder app will be able to record your password that you typed on the on-screen keyboard).

Yeah...  I know what I want it for, but I'm not sure I would trust it if someone else gave it to me anyway...

Related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/45121/is-there-a-way-to-record-and-playback-a-set-of-touches

In Ice Cream Sandwich, I noticed a few cool features in the Developer options that are related to touches: Go to Settings -> Developer options.  There is the Pointer location option.  This shows an overlay of touch information such as coordinates and drag path.  There is also Show touches, which shows where your touching the screen.  The former might provide you some good information, but doesn't record the data for analysis later.  The latter is more for when you're recording a video so it's clear where the user is touching.

AFAIK, based on the android sandbox security model, you can't track the screen touches when your application is not the active app.
With that said, I have done some work (still in progress) on a PC based application that injects a jar on the device (has to be rooted) and from the PC I can send "touches" to the device, no matter what application is open. But, it is still using android code to send the touch events to the device. There is nothing in there for me to get the touch events from the device unless it is "my application" and i am capturing them as the user touches areas of my app. Once they exit or open another application and my app is not longer "on top", I am no longer capturing the touch events.
As I said, I have done work on a "remote control" type app that runs on the PC, and I have toyed around with using my android device as a "touch pad" to control the mouse on my PC so I have done some research in to what you are talking about, and this was my findings.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2270795
Lol, I'm a little late, but here you go!
The app is RepetiTouch; requires root, but should be compatible from Android 2.3 upwards.

Check out the Screen Filter app on Market.  Screen Filter lets you overlay the screen with a transparent layer so you can have a dimmer screen.  This doesn't let you record, but I suspect that the same approach they are using to dim the screen could instead be used to capture touch data and record it.  Might be worth looking into developing, depending on why you need such an application.

Check out my new app Tap Counter (by DenizenApps). It counts every time you touch your screen.

Does your app only count taps inside of the app or throughout the whole OS?

The whole OS. I'm using the same system overlay as apps like Screen Filter and Volume Control


text:
What is preventing my Android phone from going to sleep? It is eating through the battery quickly
My phone is the Motorola Droid 1, rooted and modded with CyanogenMod 7. This problem did not occur before I modded it. When I check the battery stats, the awake bar is always solid, so something is preventing it from going to sleep. On some advice, I ran dumpsys power through adb. Here is the output:
dumpsys power
Power Manager State:
  mIsPowered=true mPowerState=0 mScreenOffTime=3537164 ms
  mPartialCount=1
  mWakeLockState=
  mUserState=
  mPowerState=
  mLocks.gather=
  mNextTimeout=198995292 now=202518891 -3523s from now
  mDimScreen=true mStayOnConditions=0
  mScreenOffReason=3 mUserState=0
  mBroadcastQueue={-1,-1,-1}
  mBroadcastWhy={0,0,0}
  mPokey=1 mPokeAwakeonSet=false
  mKeyboardVisible=false mUserActivityAllowed=false
  mKeylightDelay=6000 mDimDelay=47000 mScreenOffDelay=7000
  mPreventScreenOn=false  mScreenBrightnessOverride=-1  mButtonBrightnessOverrid
e=-1
  mScreenOffTimeoutSetting=60000 mMaximumScreenOffTimeout=2147483647
  mLastScreenOnTime=0
  mBroadcastWakeLock=UnsynchronizedWakeLock(mFlags=0x1 mCount=0 mHeld=false)
  mStayOnWhilePluggedInScreenDimLock=UnsynchronizedWakeLock(mFlags=0x6 mCount=0
mHeld=false)
  mStayOnWhilePluggedInPartialLock=UnsynchronizedWakeLock(mFlags=0x1 mCount=0 mH
eld=false)
  mPreventScreenOnPartialLock=UnsynchronizedWakeLock(mFlags=0x1 mCount=0 mHeld=f
alse)
  mProximityPartialLock=UnsynchronizedWakeLock(mFlags=0x1 mCount=0 mHeld=false)
  mProximityWakeLockCount=0
  mProximitySensorEnabled=false
  mProximitySensorActive=false
  mProximityPendingValue=-1
  mLastProximityEventTime=230765884
  mLightSensorEnabled=false
  mLightSensorValue=-1.0 mLightSensorPendingValue=-1.0
  mLightSensorScreenBrightness=70 mLightSensorButtonBrightness=0 mLightSensorKey
boardBrightness=0
  mUseSoftwareAutoBrightness=true
  mAutoBrightessEnabled=false
  mScreenBrightness: animating=false targetValue=-1 curValue=0.0 delta=-5.0

mLocks.size=1:
  PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK              'com.commonsware.cwac.locpoll.LocationPoller' a
ctivated (minState=0, uid=10069, pid=14026)

mPokeLocks.size=1:
    poke lock 'PhoneApp': POKE_LOCK_IGNORE_CHEEK_EVENTS

Is a particular app locking my phone awake?

I got an answer on another forum. The part keeping the phone awake was shown here:
mLocks.size=1:
  PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK              'com.commonsware.cwac.locpoll.LocationPoller' a
ctivated (minState=0, uid=10069, pid=14026)

and by grepping the process id like so:
ps | grep 14026

I found the name of the app that was causing the problem.

Don't leave us in suspense. What was it?


text:
How do I make my phone play a ringtone over my headphones despite being on "silent"?
I'm running Cyanogenmod 7.1RC1 on my Desire.
When my phone is not on silent, I can hear the ringtone on my headphones when someone calls me, which is great. However, when my phone is on silent and my headphones are plugged in, an incoming call will not produce a ringtone over the headphones. I would prefer it if my phone, despite being on silent, would play a ringtone over my headphones if they are plugged in. Is there any way to make this happen?

You could create a tasker profile that sets the ringer volume when a Bluetooth headset is connected.
I'm not sure how to handle the case when you disconnect the headset,  though.  You would only want to set the volume back to zero if it was zero when it was connected.
Edit: tasker gives access to current ringer volume via variable %volr
In a profile with condition Bluetooth connected:
Set a variable %savevol to %volr
Set ringer volume to desired level, if %volr = 0
Exit task: set ringer volume to 0, if % savevol = 0

Alright, that sounds like an interesting idea, with the obvious drawback of having to purchase Tasker and learning to operate it :) I can see myself going this route though, so thanks for the answer. When I get around to it I'll update the question with the exact procedure.


text:
Motorola Defy in a reboot loop
I bought a new Motorola Defy today. The phone switches on then asks to be connected to a Google account, I try to type in my login details and it reboots.
The battery shows 100% but when in switch off it moves from 0-20 and then stays at 60%.
And the phone doesn't work when not connected to a charger. Is it a battery issue?

I would return the phone and get a different one. I doubt it is a battery issue since you say that it reboots and it does it when you go to the login screen.

Since it's a day, return it back and get another one is the best solution, AFAIK.
Update
It's a battery issue and AFAIK, nobody in this forum is going to put fixes on battery issues. And if I were in your shoes, then I would definitely return that phone and bring back a new one from the seller.

"And the phone doesn't work when not connected to a charger.. Is it a battery issue? " - Its a battery issue and AFAIK, nobody in this forum is going to put fixes on battery issues. And If I were in his shoes, then I would definetly returned that phone and bring back a new one from the seller.

Please add that explanation to your answer -- and I'll meanwhile remove my comment :)

@updated :-)....


text:
Battery usage problem in Android 2.3.6
Since the update to Gingerbread the battery of my phone has the half duration than with the 2.3.4 version.
The "Battery Usage" in settings don't show anything abnormal.
Anybody have the same problem? What can I do?
Edit:
My device is an HTC - Nexus One

i've had this problem with CM7, but it depends. As in my phone behaves like an old woman, happy on few days and giving a good battery backup and angry on others and killing it real quick.

Jajaja. I think there is a problem with the "Battery Usage", now it show my the Maps app at the top of the list! I don't open this app since two days! I waiting for a savior update that fix this =/

@GojaN: What device are you using?

@AlEverett I edit the question to answer your question. Anyhow, this question has some time and there seems not be any progress. May this question be closed?

@GojaN: Why close it? Someone may still come along with a solution. It's not like we have a limited number of questions we can have open.

Check native email app. Sometimes it starts running and never stops, eating the battery to the end. I don't know how to solve it, so I keep checking and killing it when it starts to behave like this.

You can download & install the app BetterBatteryStats from XDA:

BetterBatteryStats -
  http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1179809

from the app you can see the partial wakelocks and whats the program that use most of them.
After using this program and found the app that causes the battery drain, you can uninstall and then re install it or freeze it.

Install some Task Killer (I use Advanced Task Killer), change its settings to see low level/system processes too and see the loads of processes running in background. Terminate the unnecessary ones, if required.

You shouldn't ever run a task killer.

Why? Can't I run it for user installed apps?


text:
Sort  contacts by different field (not first \ last name)
Merging the gmail contacts with the phones address list has many advantages, but also one nagging problem.
While the gmail contacts contain full names, and in English, I want the display name in the dialer to be in Hebrew and I often use nicknames or first names only. Is there some workaround?
The easiest method I can think of is to use another field, such as nickname, for the Hebrew name. But this requires a contact manager that lists contacts by nickname, and not just first \ last name.

In Gmail, why can't you input your contact in Hebrew to begin with?

Dw contact manager supports this feature
http://crowdin.net/project/dw-contact-group-manager


text:
How to get rid of "SD Card blank or has unsupported filesystem" notification
My Samsung Galaxy S II phone crashed and after I restarted it, there was an SD card notification icon that says "SD Card blank or has unsupported filesystem" with the only option of formatting the card.
However, the contents of the SD card like photos taken or videos is accessible just fine UPDATE: the card seems to be corrupt, at least it's not visible from my computer. I'll try formatting it.

I'd try: shut down, remove the card, start up without it, wait 5 minutes, shut down, insert the card, and start up again.

To my surprise, when I removed the card I can still browse both /sdcard and /sdcard/external_sd paths from the built-in file explorer. What is going on? What's the filesystem path for external SD?

/sdcard is the path to the internal storage on the device. and /sdcard/external_sd is the external, but if you dont have a card in there, then it is just a "folder".

SD Card blank or has unsupported filesystem means your SD Card has corrupted data.
The only way is to get it normal is to Format it.
Now what about the Data on SD Card ?
If you are using Linux Machine then there is something called TestDisk. Install it on your PC. Now connect your phone with SD Card inserted to you PC. Run TestDisk and follow the options that it shows. Backup the Uncorrupted Data to your PC and format the SD Card from your Phone.

Formatting the card wasn't possible as it was probably corrupted but I managed to copy data from it using the TestDisk software, thanks.


text:
Unlocking the Bootloader on a Nexus One with S-On
I'm interested in rooting my (Very recently bought) nexus one, and installing Cyanogenmod over Fastboot.
However, on the boot screen of my device I've noticed the first line tells me that security is on, which disables the USB Interface in the bootloader:
Nexusone PVT Ship S-ON

On the Cyanogenmod wiki page on Fastboot, the instructions say before starting that I need to have a device with S-OFF. However, I've got the impression from trawling through forums that Nexus One phones generally come pre-set with S-OFF (in contrast to the one I just bought).
How do I turn off the Security mode on the Nexus One? i.e. How do I change S-ON to S-OFF?

Nexus Ones do not ship with 'S-OFF', they ship with a "locked" bootloader which then must be unlocked. You can actually use fastboot to unlock the bootloader, just run fastboot oem unlock on your PC using ADB (Android Device Bridge). MoDaCo has a post here with complete instructions and a multi-platform download of the needed tools.

Could you please mention something about S-On in your answer. While this is a way to get to the end goal, I'd still like to know what this line does, and why I should or shouldn't care about it.

S-OFF is "security off" which means the bootloader will allow you to flash ROM images that aren't signed by HTC. Fastboot oem unlock will get you S-OFF on the N1; it's one of the easiest S-OFFs to get


text:
Can I tether my Macbook (Lion) to my Verizon Droid Bionic using either USB or WiFi?
I'm trying to use the Verizon tethering app (and have tethering enabled on my Verizon account).   My MacBook sees the hotspot, but does not connect successfully.   I'm using WPA mode.    The phone sees the Mac, but apparently never issues an IP address.

Standard question: Are other devices able to tether with your droid bionic?

I've just been going through other devices; my work Win7 laptop initially exhibited the same symptom, but I ran the connection repair wizard and it cleaned up.   I'm going to try a restart of the Mac just in case it helps.

update:  after turning wifi off and back on, it's now working.   Previously, I had switch back and forth between this and another network, but hadn't turned the adapter off completely.

Marking for close.

Feel free to post that as the answer when you can, this might help someone else.

I resolved this on the Mac by turning wifi off and then back on.   On the Win7 PC, running the network troubleshooter (which I believe turned the adapter off and on) also solved the problem.    I believe it may be related to some state left over from a previous connection in both cases.
Off-topic: with a 4G (LTE) signal, internet access was comparable (maybe better) to my 6Mb DSL access at home.


text:
Android USB reverse tethering: How to fool the apps
USB reverse tethering = Cellphone gets network connection from PC via USB.
I know how to do USB reverse tethering except for one problem: Many Android apps will check network connection using the code below before doing any useful work:
ConnectivityManager connectivityManager = (ConnectivityManager)context.getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);
NetworkInfo info = connectivityManager.getActiveNetworkInfo();

The problem is that, when using USB reverse tethering, the above code will report no network connection. However, there IS a network connection (which is the USB reverse tethering itself), and ping, wget and all programs not doing this stupid check work well.
So the question is: How can I hack the system to let this network connection check return success (so that I can fool these apps)?
BTW. I use Cyanogenmod 7. And any solution specific to this MOD is also welcome.

This question is addresses the same problem as http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/11728/let-android-believe-it-is-connected-to-internet

Tony Beta Lambda posted a valid solution—you should consider accepting it.

I see that this is a rather old question but in case someone googled and got here.  There is a fairly new module called FakeWifiConnection based on Xposed framework.  The installation and usage should be quite straightforward.

That is great; you should post the same answer in http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/11728/let-android-believe-it-is-connected-to-internet

@Michaël I think that question was marked duplicate

I'd say that there are only Mod specific solutions. Nearly every App that I know uses this Android API, and therefore the code snipped in your questions, for network connectivity checks.
One would need to change the Cyanogen source so that the OS (Android+Cyanogen) is aware of the USB reverse tethering network connectivity and returns the right information to app requesting the current network state. I don't believe that this can be done with some artificial layer between the API and the app that "fools" the app into this. It's more realistic that Cyanogen implements the handling of reverse tethering by imitating an active WiFi connection. You should ask them to address this topic.
Maybe in the future Android has official support for reverse tethering. :)


text:
StackExchange apps and LaTex rendering
Is there any app which allows to browse Stack-Exchange sites and is able to interpret and render latex formulas inside the posts?
I have already tried StackAniwhere and Droidstack which apparently can't do it, unless I'm missing something.

Are those the fancily formatted formulas they use on the Math site? They work fine for me in the mobile browser formatted version of the page, what are you hoping to get from one of the view-only apps that you can't get from the webpages?

Yes I can see them correctly on the web browser but I find it more confortable to open an app rather than open the browser and go to a web page.

I doubt that there is one one and that there will be one in the (near) feature.
A look at stackwrap4j, the only Java Stackexchange Library that runs on Android, shows that the body (the content) of a post, which can be a question or an answer, is returned as plain String. The Tex equations are just included as plain Tex in that String and get rendered on the client side by the browser.
So, for example, Droidstack would need a Tex library that parses the tex code and returns a picture with the compiled tex. And I am not aware of such a library for Android.


text:
Anyone knows where Shazam stores tags?
I have an android and all of a sudden shazam doesn't work.  It crashes whenever I open it up, so I want to clear the data but I have a lot of tags in there and I want to download the songs but I can't even look through the list...  Anyone know where the tags are stored and if there is a way for me to retrieve them?

Ok, so it seems the only way to do this on android is to contact shazam customer support, give them your IMEI number and they will send you the list.


text:
What Android distro can boot from USB stick in PC/Laptop?
I have an old HP Pavilion dv2000 laptop with a busted hard drive. I want to put a compatible Android distro onto a USB thumb, plug this in to the laptop and boot into it and use it for casual www browsing.
Firstly, is this possible and if so, is LiveAndroid my only option?

Just curious, why would you want to use a mobile OS for desktop browsing?

I am interested in applying the OS - no matter the intended purpose - to other uses and applications.

http://www.android-x86.org/
This is the only android distribution for Intel/AMD processors that I am aware of. It has little support, but is actively maintained. The latest version is a release candidate for Android 2.3. Obviously hardware support is hit and miss. For what it's worth it runs very well on my EEE PC.
You can install the ISO to a USB drive with Unetbootin, or use a drive imaging tool with the .img file.

Fantastic, thanks for your help Brendon. As it turns out, my computer is not supported but it was worth the effort.

It's not the only one - see the other answer.

You can install Remix OS or Phoenix OS - both are Chinese distributions based on Android-x86. Here you can find the differences between them.
There is also Console OS, but it seems not ready yet.


text:
Revert from MIUI to Motoblur
I am a proud owner of Motorola Defy. A few months ago I upgraded my defy from 2.1 to 2.2. Although it had new features it became a bit laggy and so finally I decided to root my defy and install MIUI Gingerbread.
I was using MIUI Gingerbread all this time and suddenly it started itching me and a thought came to my mind that I want to experience Motoblur again.
I had already created an image of my Motoblur Froyo before installing MIUI Gingerbread. So I went ahead and reverted the Froyo image back on my defy.
But then some of the things stopped working: e.g. Camera is not working now.
I found that the Foryo image did not copy the Motoblur Froyo Kernel and when I reverted back my defy is still having the MIUI kernel.
Can someone help me getting back to Motoblur Froyo or can I download the original kernel and re-install it back to my defy?
Anything would help....
Thanks.

There is this tool called RSD Lite, which is (AFAIK) an internal tool from motorola to flash their phones. You should be able to find it around the googles.
And here you should be able to pick up a stock firmware for the Defy.
This method worked for my Moto Cliq XT, but don't let this be a  guarantee for your Defy!

thanks a lot buddy...i will try and will let you know if it works..thanks again


text:
Why does Kies say that there is no official release for my Samsung Galaxy Mini (GT-S5570)?
Why does Kies say it does not support updates for the firmware on my Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 as it is "not official release". On the phone it says android version 2.2.1 and
Kies calls it:
PDA:KC1
PHONE:KB1
CSC:KC2(CPW)

Will I ever be able to upgrade?

If Kies tells you that you have a unofficial release it usually means that you have an unofficial release. :) This is usually the result of flashing the device with heimdall/odin and an prerelease firmware that was never official released for you device and/or region. But there can be other reasons for this too.
You could flash an offical ROM, which can be obtained for example from samfirmware.com. Instructions on how-to flash and what release is the current offical for your region can be found on this site too. Be aware that flashing can leave you device in an unusable state and it will do a factory reset, so save your data prior flashing. Also you may lose your warranty.


text:
Battery life in dual-boot HTC HD2
I own a dual-booting HTC-HD2 with MIUI on SD card.
I already knew, from tutorials, that in order to maximize battery life I should first-boot Android only with 100% of charge.
This is currently unclear to me. First, I run Windows Mobile 90% of time, and I use Android occasionally only for some programs that are not available in WM.
It happened that I needed to boot Android when on the street, with less than 100% battery. However, I recently noticed that my battery is descharging really fast, for example today from 7:30am to 10am it ran from 100% to 68%, and I really wonder if it could have lasted till 8pm (when I get back home).
Is it because Android should always be booted with 100% of battery, or because I run 24/7 Skype and Windows Live Messenger in HSDPA from Windows Mobile?
Thanks

No, it is because at first boot (ie: inizialization), Android creates a Battery stat file to calibrate the battery.
After the first boot, you can start Android with any battery percentage.
If you think that after a long time, the battery percentage is not correctly reported, you can force Android to recreate the stats file with some root utilities available in the Market
Skype/MSN do draw a lot of battery, anyway, if you are using them from Windows Mobile, they are not running from Android.
You could try using greenpower or juicedefender to see if the data connection is the problem


text:
How can I set a default contact for a phone number?
In my contact list I have a number of contacts that share the same home phone, because they are family members.  For instance:

my mother
my father
my brother
the family's house

I keep the home phone number for each contact so that when I want to speak to one of them, I can choose the contact and then where to try to reach them.  I keep a separate contact for the house so that I can call there when I don't want to talk to anybody specific.
When anybody calls from the family home phone, I want the phone to display the family house contact, not anybody in particular.  Is there any way to specify that a phone number has a default contact?

Nine years later, Android still doesn't have a decent solution for this common problem.

New contacts are added to the internal contactslist at the bottom.
They are displayed in the way you want: FirstName/LastName or LastName/FirstName.
When you are called by the family's House then the phonenumber is searched in the internal contactslist and returns the first match found.
What you have to do is: Make sure that the family's house is the first contact te be found.
You can't do this by changing it to another name, because that doesn't change the order of the internal contactslist.
One way to do it is: Export all your contacts and edit the .vcf file so that the family's house is above all other contacts. Erase the contacts in your phone and import the edited file.
Another way is to erase all your contacts and type them in by hand, but make sure the family's house is before the other contacts with the same phonenumber.
You must actually do this with all contacts that are not one person, but multiple persons (i.e. Father and Mother) or a place (such as the family's house).

I solved this problem by renaming the contact that gets listed when I receive the call. In other words, one of my colleagues was listed each time I received a call from Work instead of listing "Work Landline", so I edited that colleague's contact info to be named "Work Landline" and then I created a new contact for that person. This achieves exactly what Fred described, but may take less work depending on your situation.
The downside to this is that you may need a call in your log to determine which contact to edit.
More explicitly, here is what I did (note that you can do 3 and 4 from your phone instead of the web and then you don't need #5):

Called my mobile phone from my work landline
Identified the contact that was displayed (our office manager)
Used Google Contacts website to change the name of my office manager to "Work Landline"
Used Google Contacts website to create a new contact with my office manager's name.
Waited for my contacts to sync to my phone.
As a final confirmation, I looked in my call log and saw that my office manager's name had been replaced with "Work Landline"

Sure, just open a contact, and long press the number that you want to make as a default contact, then choose default contact
(actual words may differ according to the ROM you are using and the contact application, but the way to do it, at least in the standard Android is this)

The long press on the number only allows me to define the standard number for a contact and not the standard contact for a number. Did you confuse these two possibilities or have some ROMs really support for this nice feature? At least my Galaxy S has no support for this. :(

If you set the contacts standard number to their cell number, and the houses contact's homenumber as standard, it should work

Ah, i misunderstood the question; sorry english is not my main language


text:
How can I stop the Android Market from showing bad/naughty apps?
I am using Honeycomb with Xoom, it's very annoying to see all the bad naughty apps all over the market, for example in the category "Libraries and Demos". Although we can ignore them and not download, I do not think those things should be there, because children also use the OS.
Is is normal for the Market to have all these (e.g. Korean Sexy girls, etc.)? Or is my Xoom breached? I also have an HTC Desire, and these apps do not appear on that device.

The Android Market has an included content Filter, which should filter most of these Apps. Ratings are

Everyone
Low Maturity
Medium Maturity
High maturity

Android 2.3 and lower

Open Android Market.
Press Menu and touch Settings.
Touch ‘Select filtering level’ and choose your desired setting.
To lock the settings, touch the lock icon and enter a PIN code.

Android 3.0 and higher

Open Android Market.
Press Menu on the upper right corner.
Touch ‘App Content Filter’ and choose your desired setting.
To lock the settings, touch the lock icon and enter a PIN code.

Source

Thanks, for your answers, but I was under the impression that..maturity means regarding usage, more advanced. Not the kind of maturity here. And the "so called apps" are still there with low maturity. Thanks.

Android or not: You may want to have a look at this question: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/6190/what-methods-can-i-use-to-block-adult-content But this question is more about general blocking of adult content. If you give a kid a smartphone with internet access, the nudity market apps will be your least problem. The internet is full of bad things...

@Androidornot if you read the definition of High Maturity on the Market help page it says "Applications in this category may focus on or include frequent instances of sexual and suggestive content; graphic violence; social features; simulated gambling; and strong alcohol, tobacco and drug references. Applications may collect user location data for the purpose of sharing or publishing with the user’s consent." so it is to do with content filtering rather than advanced usage.

@Flow sorry looks like we posted at the same time with similar answers and linked to the same Market Help page!

Thanks.. My opinion here is that such content should not be included in the Android market, having their own website is ok. Thanks for all your help. "Open" is good, until malicious people ruin it.

Apps in the Market should be pre-rated for their "maturity level". If you go into the Market app and then into its Settings, you should have a Content Filtering option.
Taking the tick out of "High Maturity" should remove all "adult-only" apps from your view of the Market.
See this Google Help article for more info: Application Content Ratings


text:
How can I upgrade my Samsung Galaxy S2 to the latest kernel?
I have an SGS2 with Gingerbread 2.3.4 and kernel version 2.6.35.7-I9100XXKG1-CL349526 se.infra@SEP-39 #2.
I heard that I can update the kernel to a newer version, but I have a few questions before I do it:

Which version should I update to?
What are the changes? Is there a change log ?
I'm using GO Launcher and have lots of apps installed. Should I back up these apps beforehand?

My sgs2 still have 2.3.3, and your kernel also seems newer than mine, maybe you already have latest version... Could you post a link to where you've learned that you can update?

@Smugrik http://androidadvices.com/update-samsung-galaxy-s2-gt-i9100-xxkg6-gingerbread-234-firmware/
But i really dont know what's newer XXKG6 or XXKH3...

The version number come alphabetically, so a XXKH# is newer than XXKG#.
If you installed your apps from the market, they will be memorized and even installed back after update.
If your update comes through kies, just go ahead... But if its more complicated and you're not sure what it brings then why bother?

I heard it has better battery life, and Kernal update wont come from Kies it can only done manual..
So XXKH3 is the newest ?

Yes XXKH3 is newest.

You might want to wait for the next big android update for SGS2. Its called Android 4 or "Ice Cream Sandwich". For the 15 biggest changes in ICS, you can take a look at this website.
If you want to backup everything before a upgrade or reinstall, use "MyBackup pro". You can get it here.

Get Titanium Backup Pro before you experiment with kernels & ROMs. It's a paid app, but the best one for backup/restore of all your apps and settings.
You can wait for ICS as patchie says, or you can head to XDA Developers to look for custom ROMs and kernels.


text:
how do I set up adb with MyTouch 4g?
I have a mytouch 4g running gingerbread.  I want to set up adb to work with the phone over usb, but I can' figure out how to do it.  Frankly, I don't really know anything more so I'm not sure what else to say.  Any help is greatly appreciated

Have you installed the Android SDK?  What exactly is not working?

Windows, Mac OS or Linux?

First, ensure that "USB debugging" option is enabled on your phone by going to Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Development.  On some devices this option will be grayed out while your phone is connected via USB, so disconnect it first.
Next step is installing the USB drivers on your computer.  Assuming you are running Windows, the drivers for MyTouch 4G should be located on the SD Card that came with the phone.  Look for file named "HTCDriver.exe" then copy to your PC and execute it.  If you can't find that file, look for the drivers on Google.
After you successfully install the drivers, download and install the Android SDK.  Pick a folder that's easy to type, such as "C:\AndroidSDK" for example.
Now open Windows Command prompt by going to Start -> Run, typing "cmd" (without quotes) and pressing Enter.  In the Command Prompt window type in cd C:\AndroidSDK\platform-tools and press Enter.  Connect your MT4G to the PC via USB, and in the command prompt type in adb devices and press Enter.
If everything was correctly installed you should see messages like these:

* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
  * daemon started successfully *
  List of devices attached
  XXXXXXXXXXX    device

where "XXXXXXXXXX" is a combination of letters and numbers, signifying your phone's ID.
This means ADB is seeing your phone, and you can now issue commands to it.

Try HTC Sync Manager
http://www.theandroidsource.com/my-touch-4g-root-rooting-roms-hacks-overclocking-etc/292-latest-htc-mytouch-4g-sync-driver-download.html
https://support.htc.com/alerts_downloads/en/HTC_Sync_and_Sync_Manager_for_all_HTC_Android_Phones
joslloyd

Link-only answers are not recommended, because if the URL dies or changes, the answer is worthless. Please edit your answer to include at least an outline of what the links contain.


text:
How can I determine storage directory from ADB?
Is there a way I can use ADB to determine the external storage directory (equivalent of the Android API call Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory())?

adb shell echo $EXTERNAL_STORAGE.  All credit goes to Flow for leading me to experiment and find this.
Naturally you can use cd $EXTERNAL_STORAGE or whatever else you might need during an adb shell session or from a terminal emulator.

Good Teamwork :) +1

Very good! Thanks! Note, though, that if you may need to escape $ depending on your shell. example: adb shell echo $EXTERNAL_STORAGE

Hmm, it turns out that my samsung vibrant gives me a different value for $EXTERNAL_STORAGE than it does Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory(). This isn't the first nasty bug I've found on this phone.

@stephelton That's disappointing.  Which one's incorrect?  $EXTERNAL_STORAGE is correct for me, /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/.

I don't think that this is possible. See Matthew's Post
But let's have a lock on how Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() returns the external storage directory. A quick look in android/os/Environment.java shows that all this method does, is returning a static constant File member called EXTERNAL_STORAGE_DIRECTORY. This constant is initialized by
private static final File EXTERNAL_STORAGE_DIRECTORY
        = getDirectory("EXTERNAL_STORAGE", "/sdcard");

which calls getDirectory()
static File getDirectory(String variableName, String defaultPath) {
    String path = System.getenv(variableName);
    return path == null ? new File(defaultPath) : new File(path);
}

So the external storage directory is nothing else then an java System environment variable (or a predefined default). You could try to follow this trace further. Maybe the external storage directory is just a hard coded path in some configuration file on the filesystem. Or maybe there is a way to read out these environment variables via adb that I don't know.

I figured out the adb command using this info, +1.


text:
Can the Netflix app be loaded on an Acer Iconia A500 without rooting?
Acer recently released an official upgrade to 3.2 for the Iconia A500 tablet, but the Netflix app is still not visible in the market.  Is it possible to get the Netflix app on this tablet without rooting?

The hacked apk from here works: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18058380&postcount=147


text:
Install zImage on Android 2.2 devcie
How do I install zImage on Android 2.2 device? I have one galaxy tab 7.0 and one NVIDIA Tegra 250 delvel kit.
I was trying to using fastboot on NVIDIA Tegra 250 but I failed.
I could load zImage using following command
fastboot boot zImage

The device shows that it downloaded the image but nothing happened. If I forced to restart then the kernel wasn't updated.
As for the Gallaxy Tab, I was trying to load the zImage with odin. But the input format should be either .tar or something else not the zImage.
I have been trying to figure this out for two weeks and I am still stuck.
I will be very appreciated if you guys could help with that.
Thanks in advance..

I think you might be able to flash it directly to the device with fastboot flash zimage /path/to/zImage. I don't have a means of testing this at the moment, but you could give that a try.

I've attempted to answer but could you provide more information on what source you're using for this kernel and how you're producing it?  (We can't help you with the dev side, but the info may help us tell you why the flashing isn't working.)

The Odin-able kernels for my Galaxy S are simply the zImage in a .tar file.  But the zImage has a peculiar format, and I believe it's specific to Samsung devices.
I would assume that either the kernel you've compiled is the wrong format, or simply doesn't work and the system is restoring the stock kernel from the recovery image.

fastboot boot zImage

is for testing purpose only. It will boot your phone to the kernel for only once. The next time you boot your phone, it will use the original kernel.


text:
Unable to login and load web page in Sony Ericcson W8
I am using a Sony Ericcson w8 Android phone. I am unable to log in and load a web page (like Google, GMail, etc.) even after selecting "clear cache." There is just a blank screen with a progress bar.

Can you load any web pages? Are you actually connected to the internet at all at the moment? Are you using a 3G connection or a wifi connection?

well, the similar problem with me -- cant open secure pages through pdanet or easytheter. for example, can open yahoo, but cant access own account...

I assume your selecting Browser > Menu > Settings > Clear Cache ?
You can also try clearing the full app memory from your home screen (outside the browser):
Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Select the Brower App
Choose 'Clear Data' and also 'Clear Cache'.
If all else fails you could also factory reset the phone.

It sounds very much like a connection issue, I wouldn't resort to a factory reset before diagnosing the connection.

Yeah true I assumed he had the sense to realise his net was working. I'll drop my assumptions!


text:
Can't install new apps, all incompatible with Android phone (ZTE Blade)
After spending a few moments moving some apps from my phone's internal storage to my SD card, I'm no longer able to download/install apps.
Every time I try to get one (like the Wikipedia app) I get the bellow weird alert, saying that my phone is not compatible with the item I'm trying to download.

I can update apps already installed, though.
How can I solve this problem? This is my first Android phone (ZTE Blade, commonly known as "a5" in Portugal) and I have no idea how to solve this issue. I have Cyanogenmod installed and all caches have been dumped.
EDIT:
I've simply uninstalled the updates for the Market app, downgrading it to the 'old' Market and it just worked!! I could easily download and install new apps, but when the Market app re-updated itself automatically, I couldn't download/install any apps again.

Did you move the 'Market' app?

Have you tried wiping and reflashing?

No I didn't, @P.T. I'm not even sure what that is, Demizide, but I'll google it and try it out.

EDIT: I've simply uninstalled the updates for the Market app, downgrading it to the 'old' Market and it just worked: I could easily download and install new apps, but when the Market app re-updated itself automatically, I couldn't download/install any apps again.

@JoãoRamos: Don't apologize for your written English. It's better than a lot of native speakers.

Which Android Version are you running?

When the market re-upates itself. Goto:
Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Market
and select 'clear cache'
Now go back into the market and re-signin with your market account. See if this helps.

just get a way to download Mobomarket, and you can use that app to download others, infact it works more or less like google play app. its not necessary to delete anything, unless you cant download the app(mobomarket) itself.


text:
Reading all SIM setting
Just out of curiosity I'd like to see all the settings on my SIM-card. And I'm not talking about an SMS stored on the card, or my phonebook. I'd like to see for example the Preferred PLMN list and Forbidden PLMN list.
I'd think you could get access to it with an API or smth, but I couldn't find it (yet).
Anyone got a clue how?

From within code? From an adb shell? From your Settings menu? If you're looking for a Java API then this is off-topic here as we don't cover development questions.

Doesn't really matter how I can access it. Anyway would be sufficient. :)


text:
What happens when bluetooth headphones run out of battery while playing music?
I have a Motorola Xoom 3G with Android 3.0 and use it with a bluetooth headset. I'd like to know what happens when the headphones run out of battery? Does the music just stop in the same way it does when I unplug wired headphones?

Do you mean run out of battery on the Xoom or the headset?

I go running with my Motorola Droid and a bluetooth set of headphones (Motorola ROKR S9-HD).  When the headphones die, my phone will stop playing the music.  So it basically acts the same way as removal of normal headphones.
Do note, that this does depend on the app's behavior as the developer has to actually code in the listener for headphone removal. I know this because I have had to do it myself when writing a music app (radio reddit). But most music apps I've seen have implemented this behavior in their apps.

Do you know if google music app has this behavior implemented?

@Luiz As far as I know, it should.  Is it not doing it for you?

Yes the Xoom should stop transmitting as soon as the Headset disconnects. (Although it may start playing out of it's own speaker).
( And in this case it would disconnect as it had ran out of battery and turned off! )


text:
Does encrypting the Xoom tablet use battery faster?
I recently decided to encrypt my Xoom tablet.  The process went smoothly (full power, plugged in the whole time, took about an hour) but since the encryption, it seems like my battery life has decreased.  With moderate usage, I used to get close to two days worth of usage before the encryption, but now my battery usage meter has me at 15% after 23 hours.
I found this thread on the Motorola Owners' Forums but that is about it.

Contrary to that linked thread, to me it seems intuitively that it is more work for the CPU to read files from the disk when it's encrypted than if it's not, so this is likely to use slightly more battery than otherwise. Whether that would be a noticeable amount or not I don't know. But a CPU doing slightly more work than normal means it's switching into high powered mode at times that it wouldn't have before, so will use slightly more power?

@GAThrawn I absolutely agree; more ops = more power expended.  I also didn't think it would be noticeable, but it definitely is to me.  I see a factory reset (the only way to un-encrypt on the Xoom) in my future.

Encryption is a fairly CPU intensive process, so using more battery is not unexpected.  Though it depends a lot upon the apps you use and how much they read/write to the storage.  I would expect that an 'idle' Xoom with encryption would last just as long as one without, but if you use an app that does lots of little writes to disk, it will end up using more CPU.
The encryption happens at the block layer.  This means that small writes to the disk require a read, a decrypt, an update, and then writing the block back.
I don't see any useful stats about the actual CPU overhead.  (Android is using the 'dm-crypt' module of the Linux kernel to do the disk encryption.)

Wow, great technical page on encryption process. Thanks.

There is a bug with encryption on the Xoom.  I have been working with a Google engineer to identify the problem.  Basically some of the low level kernel worker processes are not sleeping properly.  If you use the full version of SystemPanel you can see which processes are prevengint your Xoom from going to sleep.  Hopefully there will be a fix baked into ICS.  According to Motorola it should be released in early December.

That would be pretty wild if it is true.  Thanks for the info.

Is there a bug report that tracks this problem somewhere?

@shambleh Is there any technical stuff (bug reports, etc.) on this? Any news?


text:
How can I prevent my Wi-Fi connection from glitching?
Occassionally my Wi-Fi goes into this weird state where the phone "thinks" I'm connected, but the connection simply doesn't work.  Apps still seem to think I have connectivity, though they can't actually connect to anything, and the status bar still shows that I'm connected to Wi-Fi.  Turning Wi-Fi off and back on resolves the issue, and this occurs on multiple networks.
It seems sort of like whatever service manages the Wi-Fi connection gets killed occasionally.  It usually happens when I've been playing a game (that doesn't access the Internet) for a while or if my phone's been sitting for a while; it never happens while I'm actively using the connection.  I have my Wi-Fi timeout set to "Never" and the normal timeout isn't the issue since my phone regularly lasts several hours without the Wi-Fi dying.  Sometimes it dies a couple times in a day, and recently I went a week or so without it happening.
How can I fix this or prevent the service from being killed (if that's indeed what's happening)?  Shouldn't that be a system process that never gets killed?  (Does Android ever kill system processes other than when they crash?)  Could it be related to TouchWiz?  I have an SGS Vibrant running 2.2 (Bionix NextGen v1, but this has occurred on multiple ROMs).

My wife's Galaxy S Captivate has been experiencing a similar issue.  It's running CM7 nightlies, so it doesn't look like it's limited to TouchWiz.

Have you considered that it may be a problem with the custom ROM? I don't think that android is to blame for this. But this behavior sounds like an old/buggy WiFi driver, which is where the sock rom may be better.

@Flow My ROM is heavily-stock based, as are others I've tried; the drivers are stock, anyways.

FTR, I've gone through two Captivates.  The first one was so buggy, that practically nothing worked (including this WiFi issue).  I took it to ATT; they verified it was defective and replaced.  However, I still had issues with WiFi.  I've installed the app and look forward to wifi improvements.

This could be a solution, but it's more a hint at the issue:
The ZTE Blade suffers with losing it's Wi-Fi connection when it comes back from sleep. Perhaps you have a similar issue?
The app Blade Wifi Fix by AA Android available from Google Play Store, fixes it on the Blade, you could give it a try:

Some people with the ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco phone find that the Wifi doesn't always come back on after the phone wakes up from being locked or asleep.
Install this and you wont know its there until you wake up your phone and the Wifi jams, at which point it will flash a message to tell you its fixing it.